Page 115 of Lost and Stolen Gods
“Leela, this is Pooja,” Araz said fondly. “She ascended a few months ago and made it to elite almost immediately. She is one of our best.”
“Thank you, Guru Araz.”
“I’m no guru,” Araz said.
“You helped train me. To me, you are a guru.”
He’d trained potentials? “You did training?”
“Yes, he did,” Pashim said. “But he stepped down a week before your arrival here, and I took his place.”
“Why?”
Araz’s eyes flinched, and realization hit me. He’d planned to be free.
Pashim quickly changed the subject. “Passing through the boundary might sting a little. We are not human, and it will recognize that, but it will also recognize that we are not a threat and admit us.”
He was right; passage was like being pinched all over, but the discomfort was short-lived, probably because my brain was distracted by the huge domed structure that lay beyond it. Its base was a wall that had to be at least fifteen feet high. The spokes that connected to make up the dome sitting atop it glowed with an ethereal light. It reminded me of a greenhouse without the glass.
“Wow,” Joe said. “Is that glow magic?”
“No,” Pashim said. “It’s bijli harnessed from the earth. The second line of defense against an attack.”
“You need guns,” Dharma said. “I’m sure bullets would work on a revenant.”
Did the drohi even know what guns were? A quick glance at Pashim and Araz’s confused faces was answer enough.
“Guns are weapons from our world. They expel projectiles. Bullets made of metal that pierce a body and damage organs.”
“Your technology does not work here,” Araz said. “And your bullets would not stop a revenant. Only an astra weapon can, and only a god is gifted one of those.”
“Wait a second,” Joe said. “Are you saying that the weapons we have now are useless?”
Jasha chuckled. “I like this one. He makes quick connections.”
“They are not useless,” Pooja said. “They can inflict damage and maim. Enough for you to make an escape. But you will not succeed in a killing blow with one.”
“Great,” Priti said.
“You have your drohi for that,” Pashim reminded us. “A drohi can banish a revenant. Until you receive your astra,weare your lethal weapon.”
“Our objective was to keep the humans safe, not kill monsters,” Dharma reminded us. “The elite team can do the killing. We just need to be smart.”
The dome grew larger and higher the closer we got,and the air fizzed with power. A huge arch was built into the structure, and a gate sat in the center with a single-story gray building beyond it. A man came running out as we approached.
He looked to be in his late twenties with the kind of face you could trust. He grinned at us through the gate.
“Mihir, you made it.”
“Anu, it’s good to see you again.”
“One moment, old friend.” Anu dipped out of view, and the sounds of cogs turning followed as the gate slowly slid open. We followed the elite into a courtyard area that was walled off. There was a fire pit to one side of it with benches and a well to the left.
A set of double doors, closed and bolted with a thick length of wood, cut us off from the settlement proper.
Anu closed the gate with a turn of a wheel built into the side of the arch. “I will inform Zar that you have arrived.”
“The convoy is packed and ready to leave?” Guru Mihir asked.
