Page 102 of Tiger's Destiny
Kishan grunted. “Then it’s simple. You and Anamika will stay here while we kill Lokesh.” He stood and went to the backpack to retrieve his weapons.
“No,” I said as I scrambled to my feet. “The demon Mahishasur could not be killed by a man. Remember? Durga was created to defeat him.”
“So what do we do now?” Ren asked.
I gave him a tight smile. “We convince Anamika that she is a goddess.”
The first step in convincing the Amazon that she needed to be a goddess was easier said than done. First, we had to locate her. It took several hours to find the woman. As soon as we’d arrive at one tent where she’d been tending to a wounded man, we’d discover she’d moved on to carry firewood to add to the stockpile. After questioning her men there, we learned she had set out hunting.
Tired of chasing the woman around the campsite, Kishan caught her scent heading into the forest. An hour later we came upon her returning to camp with a freshly caught rabbit slung over her shoulder.
Anamika briefly stopped in her tracks when she saw us, but stuck her nose into the air and kept walking. “What’s wrong now?” she asked as she passed us. “Are your accommodations still lacking? Here to complain about my brother bruising your precious fiancé?” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
This time her words didn’t bother me. She brushed her hair back from her face, and I noticed the dark circles under her eyes and a purple welt on her jaw. Kishan growled and stepped forward to confront her, but I put my hand on his arm.
“We’re here to help you,” I said.
She paused and looked down at me. “And how can one as weak as you be of assistance?” she asked.
I scrambled and said the first thing that came to my mind. “Ren and Kishan are good hunters. Perhaps they can find some meat.”
She sneered and thrust the dead rabbit in my face. “This skinny creature is more meat than we’ve caught in weeks.”
“Trust me. They are exceptional hunters.”
Anamika peered at Ren and Kishan, not bothering to hide her expression of doubt and then waved her hand. “I do not care how you amuse yourselves. The forest is yours.”
With nimble leaps, she made her way down the stony path and headed back to camp.
“I thought we were going to talk to her,” Kishan said while I removed the backpack from his shoulders and dug through it.
“We need to get her to trust us first, or she won’t believe anything we say.”
I handed Ren the Golden Fruit and said, “You two go off and hunt down some food via the Golden Fruit and bring back as much as you can carry. I’m going to help Anamika take care of her men. May I please borrow this?” I asked Kishan as I fingered thekamandal.
He kissed my hand, took the charm from his neck, and pressed it into my palm.
We agreed to regroup at sundown.
The first thing I did was head to the outskirts of camp. Once there, I used the Divine Scarf to create a tent filled with stacks of clothing in a variety of sizes, blankets, soft slippers, thick socks, mittens, hats, and a giant stockpile of bandages.
Once the tent was full to capacity, I sought out the perfect location for a hot spring. Using the magic of the Pearl Necklace, I used steam to blast loose dirt away from a rocky steppe and called forth bubbling mineral water from deep beneath Earth’s surface. Then the power of the amulet flowed through my fingers, heating the ground below. I made the bed of rocks beneath it hot enough to last for several days. Finally, I dribbled several drops from thekamandalin the water. I wasn’t sure if it would work topically, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. The spring could be used for bathing as well as for soaking muscles sore from battle.
My next task was healing those who were too weak to bathe in the spring. I found the camp’s main water supply: fifty barrels full of cold water. Picking up a dipper, I uncovered the top of one barrel and poured several drops from thekamandalinto the water. After a quick stir, I moved on to the next barrel and the next. It took about an hour to finish with all the barrels, and then I sought out Anamika.
She was kneeling at the side of a soldier who had just died. Tears flowed freely down her face as she spoke with his friends. I felt immense guilt overwhelm me for a moment and berated myself for not seeing to the worst cases of the wounded first. Seeing the concern Anamika felt for her mourning men and the way they responded to her with obvious devotion and loyalty made my calling clear.
She will be the one thousands look to, and I am here to help her.
I was saddened that I could not save the man, but I knew that if I constantly second-guessed my actions, I would miss opportunities to save others.
Finishing with her soldiers, the warrior woman saw me standing at the tent opening and stepped outside.
“What do you want?” she asked testily.
“I’m sorry for your friend’s death, Anamika.”
“Your sorrow does not give me back his life.”
