Page 123 of The Burning Mountain
Chandra replied slowly, as if choosing her words with care. “What you just said applies to you, too, Veer. If it’s written in our fate to die, then nothing we do can stop it. Have you thought about what would happen if Virat were to succeed? Do you think I would be protected then? If you die or if Meru explodes, then none of us are safe. And in your heart of hearts, you know this. It is why you were ignoring me, isn’t it, Veer?”
She touched his cheek and stared into his eyes. “I can’t promise I won’t get hurt or worse. But I swear I will fight my hardest to get out of this alive. There can be no greater incentive for me than a lifetime at your side.”
Veer was silent for a long time, thinking and holding her close. “Is this what you really want, Chandra?”
“Yes.”
He sighed and tightened his arms around her. “I don’t like it. But for you, I will agree to almost anything.”
“Almost?” she asked, smiling up at him.
“I’m not a fool,” he said, returning her smile, trying to humor her attempt at lightening things up. But no matter what he did, he couldn’t let go of a terrible foreboding that seemed to have his heart in a strangle hold.
60
THE DUEL BETWEEN WIZARDS
“He’s here,” said Veer.
Chandra threw him a sharp glance but didn’t dispute his words.
Veer took in the nightmarish landscape before them—it was as if the bowels of the earth had opened, spewing their collective fury out. His eyes scanned the terrain for signs of where Virat might be hiding.
They were on the bridge that led to the central cylinder of the mechanism, having taken the shortcut through the icy cave that opened into the crater of the volcano.
A year ago, when he had visited Meru, this crater had only cracks and fissures that hinted at an imminent explosion. But now it was filled with a pool of lava. Rocky islands jutted out but even they were in danger of disappearing as the crater filled with more molten rock.
The multiple bridges radiating from the central cylinder hadn’t escaped damage either—falling apart in some places and impeded in others by solidified melted rock. Turning the bridge into a precarious structure, barely held together by the magic and skill of ancient engineers.
The heat was intense enough to vaporize the thin sheen of sweat that formed on his skin, but as soon as they stepped onto the metal bridge, it had faded to a tolerable level.
The sky above was dark as pitch, but overcast with thick thunderclouds, hardly visible except for random streaks of lightning illuminating their undersides in dense electric-blue flashes, signifying how low lying and charged the clouds were. Gusts of wind picked up ashes and flickers of embers and swirled them hot in the crater. Explosions of fissured, pressurized stone showered molten spray into the air as brilliant crimson sparks against the dark sky. The sound of shifting rock resonated in his bones.
The twelfth hour of the night was drawing near. Before they left Rajgarh, Sage Aswi had cautioned them to use the key at the right time. A few minutes past midnight. Not before. Not after.
Chandra removed the Lotus Key from a pocket inside her leather armor and held it up. It was fully unfurled and blazed with a blue light, not needing her blood to activate it. It seemed to know its purpose for existence was drawing near.
The mark of Amarendra blazed on her forehead, golden and bright. Chandra took a step toward the mechanism.
A bolt of lightning forked down and struck the bridge at their feet, making them jump back. Fortunately, the strange metal of the bridge seemed resistant to lightning.
“Hell of a welcome, right,seheri?” Virat climbed up from over the lip of the crater, his four-skulled staff leading the way. “Don’t be starting without me.”
Virat “wore” the body of a strapping young man, like Veer had been expecting, but his mouth pinched into a line when he registered Rajgarh’s livery on the man, the meaning not escaping him.
Virat looked between the two, and although his face remained blank as ever, there was the faintest hint of surprise.“You broughther? I thought after my last warning, you would keep her hidden from me. Or perhaps you don’t care for her beyond her usefulness?” His voice changed, shedding the light mirth as if it never existed. “Where is Prince Bhupathi?”
“Are you finally going to say what your interest is in all this?” asked Veer, countering Virat’s question with one of his own. “Stopping us from using the key won’t serve you, either, once Meru explodes and your body disintegrates.”
“Calm down, Veer,” said Virat. “I have no interest in watching Meru explode. I want you to use the Lotus Key. That much of what I said was true.” He turned to Chandra. “It would have been better if your brother were here, Princess.”
Chandra stood unconcerned, eyes downcast, mirroring Virat’s expressionless face, the fully unfurled lotus held up, in the palm of her hand.
“His mind was so open,” continued Virat, narrowing his eyes at her. “I carefully cultivated his trust, never once invading his mind, even when I wanted to…several times. But it doesn’t matter. You’ll do just as well. You will submit—like you did seven years ago.”
For several moments, they all stood still, facing each other. The moments trickled past. Veer felt the brush of Virat’s magic as it attempted to breach Chandra’s mind, and even when it wasn’t directed toward him, he was able to recognize that Virat indeed had grown more powerful.
But nothing happened.
