Tiger’s Destiny (40 page)

General Xi-Wong said that he first learned of the demon when he began recruiting in China. Whole gangs of criminals went missing and then entire towns would simply disappear. Multiple cities seemed to be swallowed up by the earth, and even the women and children were taken. A few survivors reported that a sorcerer had come and enslaved all the people. Later, men spoke of a monster, a half man and half bull, that had terrorized the countryside.

I spilled some ink on the corner of the page and blotted it away as Kishan and General Xi-Wong finished and introduced Jangbu, a Tibetan, or someone from the area I thought of as Tibet.

Jangbu preferred to be called Tashi, and his army was completely made of volunteers recruited from various tribes living in that region. They specialized in archery and guerilla warfare. Jangbu’s boots, fur, vest, and hat were edged with shaggy brown fur. I briefly wondered if he was wearing an ancestor of the brown bear Kishan and I had faced on Mount Everest.

Zeyar and Rithisak were from what would be the modern countries of Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, and Cambodia if they were all combined. They’d journeyed here from the Mon capital of Thaton—a port on the Andaman Sea. I noticed worn holes in their boots and that the warriors were thin. If the leaders of the armies were starving, then I imagined their men were far worse. I made a side note to have Kishan ask if they needed more food.

According to Zeyar and Rithisak, their greatest strength was their defense. They built strongholds and advanced only when they recognized an opportunity and could achieve it with minimal loss. Interestingly, they claimed to be skilled in the use of fire as a weapon, had great faith in Anamika, who they thought was a goddess, and they also believed the demon was raising the dead to fight again. They seemed very frightened.

Kishan listened to the last group who spoke and then announced, “This is General Amphimachus, who was a Parthian and now serves under his king called Alexander.”

My hand froze. “As in Alexander the
Great
?” I whispered.

Kishan translated my question into Greek before I could stop him. The general leaned forward and stared at me in a very uncomfortable way before Kishan added, “He
is
a wise and
great
leader.”

I squeaked at the man’s direct gaze, slouched down, and began scratching furiously with my writing utensil. The general introduced his men as well: Leonnatus, Demetrius, Stasandor, and Eumenes.

“We have not heard of the lands you come from. That is, except India, of course,” he said with a politician’s smile. “My king will be . . . pleased to learn more of your cities.”

Under my breath, I mumbled, “I bet he would be.”

The general went on, “Perhaps when this battle is over we can speak of establishing trade?”

The men from Tibet and Myanmar seemed interested in this offer but not General Xi-Wong.

I kept my eyes down and scribbled furiously. I had to tell Kishan what I knew. Several facts that I’d memorized in college and high school sprung to mind, and I was alarmed that the Macedonian Empire might become interested in Asia. As far as I knew, Alexander the Great never conquered anything beyond the Himalayas. We could be changing the course of history by being here, and I’d seen way too many
Star Trek
time-travel episodes to be fooled into believing that was a good thing.

I took notes dutifully and was shocked at the numbers and resources the various battle leaders provided. What worried me the most about working with them was the interest they had in Anamika. General Amphimachus seemed to believe that a goddess with her power needed to be seated on the throne next to Alexander. I grunted and perused my notes.

Amphimachus spoke of his assets. He had deadly Persian chariots, catapults, and panoplies, and he said that his men could fight in heavily armored phalanxes with spears, pikes, and
sarrisas
. Continuing to brag, he recounted how he lost an eye in the Battle of the Persian Gate. As a reward for his bravery, he was granted property and a foal sired by Alexander’s famous horse, Bucephalus. I couldn’t help but be fascinated. He smiled and lifted his patch to show me the gaping hole where his eye used to be. I shuddered and shifted closer to Kishan while Amphimachus delighted in my discomfort.

Finally, it was Kishan’s turn to talk. He shared his philosophy of battle, some I recognized from the training Mr. Kadam had given us, and some was new to me. Anamika’s numbers surprised me. He spoke of forty thousand horsemen, one hundred thousand footmen, over one thousand chariots, and two thousand battle elephants. From what I’d seen, Anamika didn’t have anywhere near that number of men. Her army had almost been annihilated. I wondered if it was standard wartime practice to exaggerate numbers.

I did some quick calculations. According to what the leaders had said, combined they had fifteen thousand archers, two hundred fifty thousand cavalry, almost one hundred fifty thousand infantry, a thousand chariots, fifty catapults, and two thousand elephants. We were just shy of a half-million soldiers.

Plans were then made to have each leader return to his camp in a week and march his army to the base of Mount Kailash, which is where Lokesh had reportedly taken up residence. In the meantime, everyone was to enjoy the hospitality of the goddess and witness firsthand the skills of Anamika’s soldiers.

As the leaders of many nations stood, Kishan thanked everyone for his contributions and said, “Each of you has experienced great losses, but I feel that together we will achieve victory and rid our lands of this demon.”

He clapped General Xi-Wong on the shoulder. “My friends, we will be as fast as the wind, as silent as a forest, as ferocious as a fire, and as immovable as the mountain itself.”

General Amphimachus was the last to leave. He leered at me when Kishan was distracted. One of his men fastened a black cape made of raven feathers around the general’s shoulders before he exited with a flourish.

As they made their way to their tents, I complimented Kishan. “You were amazing. I think they were all impressed.”

Kishan grinned. “I borrowed that speech from one of my old martial arts instructors. Technically, the daimyo in Japan who came up with the concept of
Fūrinkazan,
or wind, forest, fire, and mountain, won’t be alive for another century.”

I wrung my hands nervously. “Well, maybe you were meant to be the ancient source that inspired him.”

He gently pried my hands apart and held them in his own. “What’s wrong, Kelsey?”

Sighing softly, I said, “I know that we were destined to do this, to defeat Mahishasur or whatever Lokesh is calling himself these days. I just want to be careful that we’re not rewriting history. I mean, what if Alexander the Great now decides to go off and conquer China? What if we mess up our future so badly that we can’t even go home?”

Kishan pressed his lips to my fingers and studied me with his warm golden eyes. “Would it be so bad if we can’t?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean other than Nilima and missing some of your friends, could you,” he paused, “learn to be happy living here, with me, in the past?”

“I . . . I suppose I could learn to live without modern day comforts as long as you and Ren were here.”

He let go of my hands, took hold of my shoulders, and smiled. “There’s a part of me that feels at home here, Kells. Don’t get me wrong. If you were in the future, I’d move mountains to get there, but as long as you’re at my side, I feel . . . well, I want for nothing. There’s nothing else I need in the universe except you.”

Kishan kissed me softly before he led me off in search of lunch. I sighed, knowing that there was something else in the universe I needed. It wasn’t really appropriate given the circumstances, but the something else I needed was . . . Ren.

After lunch, I went in search of him. Kishan had said that he was showing Anamika how to use all of our weapons. I touched the Pearl Necklace and swallowed the guilt I felt at keeping it to myself.

It took a while because our cell phone tracking devices no longer worked, but I finally found a soldier who told me of a clearing where Ren and Anamika might be practicing. As I wound my way through the trees, I heard the sounds of quiet murmuring ahead.

“I don’t know how I would have done all this without you. Surely the gods sent you into my life.”

“Something like that.”

“Then my hope,” the female voice responded softly, “is to never give you cause to leave.”

I skirted a prickly bush and stopped dead in my tracks. Ren and Anamika stood entwined. She was enrobed as the goddess Durga in a gown of royal blue and had all eight of her arms. Each set of them were wrapped around Ren. Golden weapons lay at their feet except for Fanindra, who was coiled on the ground. She was awake and watching Ren and Anamika as they embraced.

For a brief moment, I stood there numb but then the shock pierced me. Tears blurred my vision. The salty liquid trembled there, threatening to spill over my lashes. Ren, still holding Durga, opened his blue eyes and saw me. I gasped softly as I recognized for the first time a sort of resigned distance in his glance. I couldn’t even look at Durga, for that’s who she was when she turned.

As the tears spilled onto my cheeks, I dashed them away angrily and looked down at the ground. Fanindra turned her head toward me and tasted the air with her tongue.

“Fanindra?” I whispered and held out my hand toward her.

The golden snake considered me for a few seconds and then unwound her body and began moving. Mistakenly, I thought she was heading toward me, but instead she made her way to the goddess, who leaned down and lifted the snake into position on her arm. As Fanindra wound her body around the dainty limb, something inside me snapped.

I felt utterly betrayed. Not even Fanindra wanted anything to do with me anymore.

Messily, I dashed my hand over my eyes, yanked the precious Pearl Necklace from my throat, and threw it at the goddess’s feet. I could feel Ren’s gaze, but I refused to look at him.

As the new Durga picked up the Necklace, I spat, “You forgot something.”

Then I turned on my heels and fled back to camp.

war

A
namika called out to me, but I ignored her and ran back to my tent.
Her
tent. Scanning my sleeping area, I realized that there was nothing there that belonged to me. Ren had the backpack. All I owned in the world now were the clothes on my back. My pulse pounded as my vision turned red. I clutched the amulet hanging around my neck and realized that I wanted to burn something. I swallowed thickly, tamping down my inner fire. Destruction might ease the pain, but causing damage would undermine what we were doing and I knew it would only be a temporary fix.

Closing my eyes and pressing my fists against them, I whispered, “Mr. Kadam, if only you were here.”

Kishan found me an hour later after a passing soldier tipped him off that he had seen me near the supply tent. I had confiscated the tent and attempted to set it up myself. Failing that, I took the heavy canvas, climbed a tree, and made a makeshift shelter. Stubbornly, I sat inside with my back against the trunk, cross legged, my chin resting on my fists.

Kishan sat down and watched me for a full minute before saying anything.

“What are you trying to do, Kelsey?”

“Get some distance,” was my abrupt reply.

“From me?” he asked softly.

“From . . . everything,” I mumbled.

Kishan tugged gently on my tent wall. “The canvas is heavy. I’m surprised you got it up in the tree by yourself.”

I grunted, “Hell hath no fury . . .”

Kishan sat with me for a while, but I refused to talk, and he finally gave up. Confused and hurt by my silence, he prepared to leave and said quietly, “If you would like your own tent away from all of us, I will arrange it, but I won’t leave you unprotected. I will assign soldiers to set one up for you in the midst of those I trust. Will that be agreeable?”

Not being able to meet his eyes, I nodded and he disappeared. A short time later, a man escorted me to a tent of my own, complete with my own pitcher of water, blankets, and wash basin.

I was left to myself for the rest of the week even though it appeared that either Ren or Kishan or both were checking upon me through the bodyguards who had been assigned to watch over me. I still trained with the women every day, but Kishan had selected a replacement instructor as he was spending much of his time with the other military leaders.

Sometimes I passed the training grounds and heard the clash of swords or the cheering of soldiers, and I skirted the area without investigating. I just couldn’t bring myself to see Ren and Anamika together or to see her with all of
my
golden weapons. I longed for my bow and arrow, though I acknowledged that I mostly wanted to sink a golden arrow into Ren’s unfaithful heart.

After a week had gone by, the leaders of the other camps left and preparations were made to relocate Anamika’s camp. When it was time to move, my personal bodyguards packed my tent with a small bag of supplies and helped me onto my beautiful dapple-gray horse with its beautiful black mane and nose.