Page 72 of The Burning Mountain
“I’m the last person who is qualified to give such advice…” he began.
Chandra bristled. “But you’re going to give it anyway, right?”
“I was there when Veer fought with the demon, Ilavasura,” said Shota, unbothered by her barely concealed hostility. Although his eyes were on her, his gaze seemed far away in the past. “I know how hard he took Virat’s death. He knew there was a significant chance he would die or worse, but he took it anyway, because he felt it was better to fight a literal demon than deal with the guilt.”
Chandra took note of his somber expression. She didn’t really agree with Shota over a lot of things. Veer had dubious morals, but Shota was unambiguous. He had only one goal, one aim—to help Veer succeed in his mission. His first and last loyalty was to Veer and his cause. And this often led to himbutting heads with her husband, but Veer respected and loved him a great deal.
He also kept his cards close to his chest. Chandra was never sure what he really thought of her or if he approved of her.
“Why are you saying this to me now?” she asked grudgingly.
“I’m just saying to maybe cut him some slack. Imagine if someone like your friend…if Sameera died and returned, wouldn’t you feel the tiniest bit happy? Or inclined to believe them?”
“It depends on what reason they have for deceiving me,” she retorted.
“All I am saying is that Veer loves deeply. His trust, once given, is not easily shaken. It will take some time for him to get used to Virat’s duplicity after all the years he spent mourning his death. You knew the truth all along, but Veer must come to terms with it in a short time.”
“Are you saying you believe me about Virat?” Cynicism edged her words.
“I don’t believeyouper se, Princess,” said Shota, giving her a small smile. “Unlike Veer, I wasn’t blind to Virat’s true nature. I didn’t trust him, neither then, nor now.”
“You don’t trust anyone, do you?” she asked, wondering what happened to turn him that way.
Shota shrugged. “It helps to question the motivations of everyone. It helps me be good at my job.”
But that sounded so lonely, thought Chandra, glancing down at the manuscript in her hands once again.
“Where is the rest of the manuscript?” she asked him.
“That is the entirety of the manuscript we were given. Virat claims this is a copy that belonged to the great library of Nalanda.” A grudging respect lit his eyes. “How did you figure out that it is only a partial copy, Princess?”
She ran her hand over the string that bound the loose leaves together and rattled the hollow desiccated tear grass seeds that were also threaded over it.
“These seeds indicate the number of pages in the manuscript. It is how most of the texts in Amaravathi are bound.”
Shota took the manuscript back and examined it more thoroughly. “Ah. I see. I figured it out because the script ends abruptly. There is no mention of how to get the key piece from the last location listed. Perhaps it was written on those lost pages.”
Chandra said nothing. Something about the book filled her with unease. The sort of fear that lingered after the dream had dissipated and you struggled to recall the important portents that were so obvious when one was experiencing it.
“Remind me, where did Virat say he found the book?” she asked, frowning.
“It was actually stolen from the great library at Nalanda a few centuries ago. Virat said he tracked the descendants of the person to get at the last remaining copy. The rest of them have been lost.”
“Lost?”
Shota shrugged. “No one knows what has happened to them.”
Chandra bent her gaze to the manuscript again. The book certainly would have been a tremendous help if they had gotten hold of it early in their quest.
“It has always been the duty of rulers of Amaravathi to preserve the knowledge of the key, to make sure it is passed down, to ensure the continuity of the mechanism of the Lotus Key.”
She remembered Guruji’s words from months ago when they were just starting on their journey. Why then were they finding out about it now?
Were the rulers of Amaravathi lax in their duties toward the key? Was the information about the Lotus Key relegated to not being important enough? Chandra remembered the first time Guruji had mentioned about Meru—she had thought it was merely a fable, a children’s bedtime story. And not until she saw the magical lotus with her own eyes was she able to come to terms with it.
What happened in the centuries since King Amarendra last used the key? Why did he dismantle it? Why was important information about such questions left to disappear in the passage of time?
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