Page 81 of Tiger's Curse
One of her golden limbs stretched out and gestured toward us. “Welcome to my temple, daughter.”
I wanted to ask her why I was her favored one and why she called me daughter. I wasn’t even Indian. Phet had said the same thing, and the concept still baffled me, but I felt it was better to keep quiet.
She pointed to the bowl at her feet and said, “Your offering has been accepted.”
I looked down at the bowl. The food shimmered, sparkled, and then disappeared. Durga patted her tiger on the head for a while, seeming to forget we were there.
I chose to say nothing and let her take her time.
She looked at me and smiled. Her voice echoed like a tinkling bell through the cavern. “I see you have your own tiger to aid you in times of battle.”
My voice sounded weak and frail compared to her rich, melodic tone. “Umm, yes. This is Ren, but he is more than just a tiger.”
She smiled at me, and I found myself entranced by her splendor.
“Yes. I know who he is and that you love him almost as much as I love my own Damon. Yes?”
She tugged on her tiger’s ear affectionately while I mutely nodded in agreement.
“You have come to seek my blessing, and my blessing I will give. Come closer to me and accept it.”
Still frightened, I shuffled slightly closer. Ren maneuvered his body between the goddess and me and kept his attention trained on the tiger.
Durga raised all eight arms and used them to beckon me closer still. I took a few more steps. Ren came nose to nose with Damon. They both sniffed loudly while wrinkling their faces to show their dislike of the position.
The goddess ignored them, smiled warmly at me, and announced, “The prize you seek is hidden in Hanuman’s Kingdom. My sign will show you the gateway. Hanuman’s realm has many dangers. You and your tiger must stay together to make it safely through. If you separate, there is great danger for you.”
Her arms began moving, and I took a small step back. She attached a conch shell to her belt and then began rotating the weapons in her hands. Passing them from limb to limb, she inspected each one carefully. When she came to the one she wanted, she stopped. She looked at the weapon lovingly and ran a free hand down the side of it.
It was thegada. She held it out in front of her and indicated that I should take it. I reached out, wrapped my hand around the handle, and lifted it toward me. It looked to be made of gold, but, strangely, it wasn’t heavy. In fact, I could easily hold it in one hand.
I ran a hand over the weapon. It was about the length of my arm. The handle was twisted and carved in a golden spiral. The hilt was a smooth, thin, gold bar two inches wide that ended with a heavy sphere about the size of a softball. Tiny crystal jewels dotted the entire surface of the orb. I was stunned to realize that they were probably diamonds.
I thanked Durga as she smiled benevolently at me. She raised an arm and pointed at the pillar, then nodded, encouraging me.
I pointed and asked, “You want me to go to the pillar?”
She indicated thegadain my hand and then looked at the pillar again.
I sucked in a breath. “Oh. You want me to test it out?”
The goddess nodded once and began petting her tiger’s head.
I turned toward the pillar and lifted thegadalike a baseball bat. “Okay, but, just so you know, I’ve always been terrible at sports.”
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and swung weakly. I expected it to hit the stone, bounce off, and jar my arms painfully. I missed. Or, so I had thought.
It all happened in slow motion. A thunderous boom shook the temple, and a chunk of stone shot across the temple like a missile. The piece hit with an echo and shattered, exploding into a million pieces. I watched as gritty dust rained down on the pile of rubble. The pillar was left with a huge gouge in its side.
My mouth gaped open in amazement. I turned back to the goddess, who was smiling proudly at me.
“I guess I’ll have to be really careful with this thing.”
Durga nodded and explained, “Use thegadawhen necessary to protect yourself, but I expect it will mostly be wielded by the warrior at your side.”
I briefly puzzled over how a tiger would use agada, and then carefully set the weapon on the stone floor. When I looked up, Durga had extended another delicate arm adorned with a golden snake as alive as the goddess herself. The serpent’s tongue darted in and out, and it hissed slightly as it curled around her bicep.
“This, however, is for you,” Durga announced, and I watched with horror as the golden snake slowly unwound itself from her arm and traveled down the dais. It stopped there and raised its head, bringing half its body up off the floor. It flicked its tongue, sensing the air around it. The eyes looked like tiny emeralds. As it fanned out the sides of its neck into the telltale hood, I trembled, realizing it was a cobra. The normal markings of the cobra were still there, but instead of brown and black scales, the markings of the hood were beige, amber, and cream swirled on a golden background. The skin of the belly was buttermilk white and its tongue was ivory.
