Page 124 of The Burning Mountain
An emotion finally showed itself on Virat’s face in all its glory—a towering anger that he had been thwarted.
“Vihari…” He snarled, forcing the word past gritted teeth, understanding immediately. The kite soared over the lip of the crater. Its mighty plumage extended.
Chandra looked up finally, her eyes glinting gold, revealing her connection with him. As they had hoped, Virat couldn’t control her when she shared her consciousness with Vihari.
“You would ask your pet to form a bond with her?Her? When I never got the same courtesy, even when I asked a million times?” Jealousy dripped from Virat’s words, although his face didn’t move.
“Vihari is one of the divine kites and he voluntarily chooses who he forms a connection with,” said Veer. “I have no say beyond a suggestion. If he had never shown any interest in you, perhaps you ought to reflect on yourself and figure out why that is.”
“Chandra,” called Veer, eyes narrowed and trained on Virat, watching his every move. “It’s time. Go. Do not stop. Do not look back.”
She gave him a short nod of understanding and climbed over a rock that partially blocked the bridge, making her way to the mechanism, picking her way past the obstacles.
“Wait! Don’t you want to know what I want? Or why I’m here?” called Virat, taking a step toward her, a strange desperateness in his actions.
“Why don’t you explain all that to me, Virat?” asked Veer, blocking him by drawing his sword.
Virat stood stock-still, and his mouth opened before it twisted into an imitation of a smile.
“Why not, Veer,” he said. The magical four-skulled staff in his hand transformed, elongated into a spear, the skulls resting just below the head of the blade. He hefted it expertly in his hands.
“I see you’ve come prepared,” said Virat, his eyes darting, as their weapons met in a clash. Several mountain birds had appeared silently. Eagles, hawks, buzzards, condors, vultures, and other species of kites. Some flew in lazy circles in the sky,some perched on tall rocks on the lip of the crater, waiting for Veer’s command.
They separated briefly during their skirmish. Virat grabbed a fistful of small stones from the pouch at his waist. The stones trembled once he breathed on them. And then they rose into the air and kept climbing until they disappeared into the clouds.
“As have you,” said Veer. “What are those?”
“Sangrahastones that capture my weather magic,” said Virat, swinging his spear, blocking Veer’s expert sword thrust. “I found our magic that allows for mind control can’t be trapped inside the stones. More’s the pity. I would have loved to control more than one person. I’m envious of you in that regard, Veer. At least you can control more than one bird. But weather magic…you’ll see shortly, just what I can do with them.”
Chandra was almostto the mechanism when lightning flashed and the charge traveled down in a blinding blue fork, splintering the bridge at her feet, melting the metal and leaving a narrow gap. She had to revise their earlier observation that the metal was resistant to lightning. But then, this didn’t appear to be ordinary lightning.
Apparently, the unique metal of the bridge seemed to halt the electricity from conducting, but the lightning bolts were strong enough to smelt metal. Thunder rumbled ominously, warning there was more.
The mechanism towered over her, a giant cylinder against the backdrop of the overcast sky. Veer’s bone-eating vultures flocked in the sky overhead. Vihari was airborne, too, circling around the summit, a massive presence dwarfing all the other giant birds summoned by Veer.
Bare minutes were left before she needed to insert the Lotus Key into the slot that appeared at intervals as the cylinder rotated.
She glanced back and found Veer and Virat still locked in a struggle. She couldn’t resist wasting a couple of moments watching their fight, amazed and terrified in equal parts to see the battle between the two dueling wizards. They fought with their sword and spear and seemed to be evenly matched.
But their magical talents gave the fight an extra edge. The mountain birds were aloft in the air, hovering, spotting weak moments, diving into the fray when possible, deftly avoiding the random flashes of lightning that Virat was generating.
Even at her distance, Chandra saw Veer’s eyes were a kaleidoscope of colors. She had no idea how he was able to control so many creatures at once.
How theybothcould spare enough attention to the battles happening on the physicalandmagical fronts.
Virat gave a sudden cry and pushed Veer away with his spear, who stumbled back a few steps. Chandra squinted. Unless her eyes were mistaken, a mountain marmot had snuck into their fight and seemed to have bitten Virat on his ankle before scrambling to safety, toward the rocks that lined the crater. She observed a pair of snow leopards at the crater’s edge, making their stealthy way, taking care to blend with and to hide behind the rocks.
Virat’s head turned toward her, and surprise crossed his eyes as he seemed to register her proximity to the mechanism.
Lightning screed down, with an accompanying boom of thunder. She stepped away just in time but still felt the brush of charge. Agony streaked through her, and she dropped to her knees.
Another bolt made its way down and Veer had to sacrifice one of his birds to intercept the lightning.
Veer took the brunt of this attack. The bird he was controlling died, burned to a crisp before plunging to its death in the molten magma. Veer crashed onto the bridge, his nose bleeding profusely and a grimace of pain twisting his face.
Chandra felt her heart stop. She remembered he said he felt whatever his connected animals went through. Not just impressions of feelings, but physical hurt as well. It was a miracle he didn’t drop dead.
The chaotic wind brought her snatches of their conversation. She heard Veer’s “don’t like to hurt my animals” and then Virat’s “spare me. Lucky I still need her too much to kill.”
