Page 64 of Tiger's Destiny
I, for one, had had enough. With Fanindra’s eyes aglow, I turned and ran. I heard Kishan and Ren following behind me, and we quickly distanced ourselves from our pursuer.
As we moved through the cavern, we found other bodies in various states of decomposition. A woman lay over the rocks as if she had fallen in a swoon. Moist flesh still clung to her bones, and her liquefied brains were oozing from her ears and nose. The syrupy smell of musty blood and rotting flesh stayed with us long after we left her behind. We found bleached skeletons with some sort of vegetation growing in the bones and a skull that had had some kind of rodent gnawing on it.
Most of the bodies weren’t moving enough to bother me too much, though every once in a while we came across one with rupturing cells, sloughing skin, and the smell of ammonia. When we saw them, we skirted them widely. Still, their heads, when able, turned to watch us.
After passing one particularly ghastly looking fellow, I asked, “What do you think they want?”
Ren answered, “They seem interested in Fanindra. Perhaps they crave the light she casts.”
I shivered and clung to his arm as we made our way through the cavern.
Kishan mused thoughtfully, “The Phoenix said this was the Cave of Sleep and Death.”
“I’ll have to thank him for his literal translation,” I remarked.
We skirted another woman who was reaching toward us with an almost motherly expression on what was left of her face. As we moved past, she lowered her arms and her long hair covered her ghostly countenance.
“I’m not afraid of them anymore,” Ren said.
“What? Why not?” I asked.
“I think . . . I think they could be us.”
Kishan replied, “What do you mean?”
“When the two of you fell asleep, your skin turned gray. If you had never awakened, perhaps either one of you might’ve shared their fate. They can’t help what is happening to them. I feel sad that they are somehow aware enough to experience the decay of their own bodies.”
I added softly, “If I was trapped in the dark for years, I’d want some light too.”
“Perhaps it is better for them to be spared from seeing their flate,” Kishan said.
We moved through the cave quietly. The once frightening feeling of being surrounded by decaying zombies had been replaced with a somber melancholy, and as I passed around the gray bodies, I whispered the quiet words of respect I would have said in the cemetery where my parents were buried, knowing every moment that the difference between one of them and me was simply the slight gesture of closing my eyes.
18
rakshasa
Asmall light appeared far ahead of us and, for a time, I thought it was an illusion. The brothers headed in that direction though, so I assumed they could see it too. Fanindra had decided to remain safely wrapped upon my arm and only gave us the eerie viridian-green light from her eyes, muting her golden luminosity after it had attracted too much cave-of-death-zombie attention. Without her bright glow, we stumbled on our way through the blackness a bit more, but we also remained blissfully ignorant of our surroundings.
Despite the creepy knowledge that I was surrounded by death, and that the smell of rotting corpses had permeated my clothes, hair, and skin, I became numb enough from my exhaustion to not only ignore it, but also to start thinking that laying down next to a rotting skeleton for a brief snooze was a pretty good idea. Ren caught me closing my eyes as I walked, took my hand, and began pulling me along. Kishan moved into a position behind me and gave me a pushy nudge on my back every time I started to slow.
We finally neared the cave opening and peered through to the other side. Thick fire trees stretched ahead of us as far as I could see. Ren and Kishan scanned the fire forest for movement while keeping us hidden in the darkness.
“What is it?” I whispered. “Why aren’t we headed for a long nap in the forest?”
Kishan answered, “We have to look out for the Rakshasa. The Phoenix warned us. Remember?”
I glanced out at the trees, looking for scary demons. “I don’t see anything.”
“That’s what worries me,” Ren answered.
“Well, what’s the big deal? We’ve faced demons before and survived. They can’t be worse than the Kappa, can they?”
“Rakshasas are hunters,” Ren explained. “They’re night-walkers, blood drinkers. Their hunger is insatiable.”
Kishan added, “They’re demons from Indian mythology. It’s said that they were vile, evil humans cursed to live for eternity as monsters. They can only be destroyed by using special weapons or with a wooden arrow through the heart. They’re tricky and use mental powers to confuse their victims and draw them out of their homes.”
I blinked and said quietly, “You’re talking about vampires.”
