Page 83 of The Burning Mountain
“The seas can be unpredictable. I don’t know when we’ll find the Makara. We have only two months, if that, left to complete the key. I need your help, Chandra.”
He extended the Lotus Key toward her.
Her eyes widened. “Why are you giving me this? You’ve carried it on the journey so far.”
“Because I trust you as much as I trust myself,” he said gently. “Better this be as far away from Virat as I can get it. And I would feel better if you are too.”
Chandra took the Lotus Key carefully. The edges of the petals flared with a blue light reacting to her presence, but the bud remained closed. Even if she didn’t feed it her blood, the lotus seemed to recognize her. Already it seemed fuller than a half-plucked flower from before.
“King Pourava will provide us with assistance,” continued Veer. “I’ll write out a missive to ask him. Billadev can accompany you.”
Chandra took a fortifying breath and nodded. “Very well. I shall do as you instructed. But promise you’ll come back to me,” she added fiercely.
“I promise, Princess,” he said and then kissed her.
He knew he was doing the right thing. Vivismati would be safe. She wouldn’t be in danger there. After Thianvelli, Veer swore he would never put her in danger. Finding her brother was a stroke of luck—it meant he didn’t need to take her with him on another dangerous journey.
Veer suddenly remembered the yaksha’s warning about the Seven Lives Curse and his prediction.
“You both will be back and what’s more, you will be the one to bring her here. Continue your quest or not, but she is going to be in danger. It is inevitable.”
Veer didn’t believe in reincarnation. Or destiny. But it didn’t seem to matter. Because the fear of losing her took root in him, growing steadily. And for someone who had never cared for another person to this degree, it felt unsettling, bordering on paralyzing at times.
PART III
VIVISMATI
38
THE VALLEY OF MUSIC
The waterfall rose to a great height, its thunderous sound muting the various calls of birds and animals that made this place their home. Sheer spray from the fall moistened every blade of leaf, so the plants interspersed among the rocky islands looked like they had taken a dip in the pool beneath the waterfall. The sun rose in the sky and when it reached its zenith, it threw a filament of light into the hollow, creating a brilliant prismatic rainbow on the blue-gray rocks.
Chandra sat cross-legged, under a small rocky ledge providing a vague shelter from the waterfall, deep in meditation. She felt herself ascending to a higher plane and knew all six of herrudrakshabeads were levitating in the air. A calm serenity stole over her, despite the fact there was one more plane that was barred to her—she could almost sense the way that led toward it—but no matter how hard she tried, the path evaded her, shrouded in thick mists.
Behind the darkness of her eyelids, her senses sharpened. At first, all she heard was the thunder of the waterfall. Then, gradually, like stars peeking out from a dense black sky, she became aware of other cadences.
She felt thetalaof the water as it crashed over the stones with blissful abandonment. The rapidtap-tapof the woodpecker resonated in her bones. The plop of the fish made her almost taste the coolness of water on her tongue, and she felt the flutter of a dozen dragonfly wings on her skin, weightless and ethereal. The three-note melody of the cuckoo bird filled her with nostalgia. As did the buzzing of the bees, and lastly, the strangely soulfulraagaof the wind reverberated all around her.
She was here and yet, she was there. With nature. Both an element and the whole.
Situated a short distance from one of the border villages of Vivismati, the Valley of Music was easily identified by the presence of those pillars made of the same strange material as the Lotus Key. The perfectly smooth cylindrical structures were embedded into the rocks at various heights and interspersed throughout the length of the falls.
The nearest village, Swara, had several legends regarding this place, but despite the serene beauty in abundance, many actively avoided the area.
Whether there was some truth to the legend that this was hallowed ground where gods walked, or it was simply a superstition that had seeped, over time, into the general conscious fabric of the village, she didn’t know.
She sensed a shadow and opened her eyes.
“Apologies for disturbing you, Princess,” said Billadev, ducking to reach the rocky ledge where she sat. “I just wanted to see if you were doing all right.”
Chandra smiled. “It’s all right. I was almost done anyway.” She lifted her wrist and the sixrudrakshabeads floated over to clinch around it. All, except the seventh one that stayed stubbornly on the ground in front of her. She scooped it up and added it to the bracelet.
Chandra had given up hope that she would be as blessed or as powerful as her brother, Bhupathi, who had mastered all seven chakras and didn’t need something like therudrakshabeads to channel the power granted by the goddess.
Billadev came forward and sat facing her. “You’ve been doing more meditation than usual, Princess. Is anything the matter?”
“I’ve been feeling a little…anxious. About a couple of things. Don’t we have a little more than a month left before Meru explodes?” She didn’t mention it aloud, but she was worried about Veer and her brother, who had left on theGajagaminiin search of the Makara. Virat was with them, and that terrified her more than the sea monster. She prayed to her goddess every night to keep them safe, and she felt an odd sort of comfort in that worship and her dreams remained mostly undisturbed.
