Page 134 of Tiger's Destiny
He came into the tent and was followed by Durga and her brother.
A moment later, the tent flap parted and a bald head poked through.
“May I come in?” Phet asked.
“Please!” Durga responded.
Phet caught sight of Ren at that moment and shook his head. “This is a most unfortunate turn of events,” he said as he lowered himself on a cushion.
“You have a gift for understatement,” I replied with fresh tears.
Phet took my hand into his wrinkled brown ones and said, “There is hope, my flower. Do you have all the pieces of the amulet?”
“Yes.”
“May I see them?”
I took the fire piece from my neck and placed it in his hand then I picked up the one worn by Lokesh that I’d set down next to me and handed that to him too.
As he removed the fire piece from the ribbon and handed it back to me with Kishan’s golden key, he explained. “The Damon Amulet is an Astra. An Astra is a cosmic weapon or a tool, if you will, that channels great power when properly invoked.”
“Invoked?”
“Yes. A deity will respond to an incantation and endow a weapon with their gifts. For example, an Agniastra creates inextinguishable flames, a Suryastra generates brilliant light, and a Varunaastra produces vast quantities of water. The greater the god, the more power the Astra wields.”
“Well, which one is this?” I asked. “And how do we invoke it?”
“You have already used many of the forces contained within these individual amulet pieces, but what you haven’t had access to is the power of the combined amulet.”
With a snap, Phet fit the fire wedge into the empty section of the amulet disk. The edges of each piece briefly glowed with a white light, and then the five pieces became whole. He held the Damon Amulet up, and firelight glinted off the stone.
He handed it to me, and I ran my finger over the carved tiger in the center. “We know that Lokesh had power over elements and even living creatures,” I said. “Now that the amulet is whole, what do you want us to do with it?”
“Well, the first thingIwould do is bring back your handsome prince,” Phet said with a wink.
I gaped at him.
Softly, I asked, “Can I really do this?”
“Youcan’t. The Damonastra can. But you must invoke the power of Damon.”
“Damon as in Durga’s tiger?”
The shaman hesitated and carefully chose his words. “The one and the same. Damon sacrificed himself, giving the tigers life in the very beginning,” he explained gently. “He can grant the same gift again. All you have to do is read the incantation.”
I squinted at the Sanskrit words circling the amulet. Nervously I wet my lips and looked up. “Kishan? Could you read it?”
Kishan nodded, sat beside me, and gave me a quick but tender embrace.
Pursing his lips and tracing the words around the amulet with his forefinger, Kishan murmured,“Damonasya Rakshasasya Mani-Bharatsysa Pita-Rajaramaasya Putra.It says:
The Amulet of Damon
The Father of India
The Son of . . .
Rajaram.”
