Tiger's Destiny

  Kishan leapt toward us but he slid in a sudden pool of oil and fell hard as threads wound around his body, trapping him in a tight net. He kicked and struggled, trying to get loose while Sunil headed toward Kishan with a spear.

  I raised my bow and arrow but threads shot toward me and ripped them from my hands. A rope tightened around my ankle while another slithered around my waist and I was yanked from Ren’s back.

  “Anamika! Stop!” I yelled as I raised my sword to her throat. “I don’t want to hurt you!”

  She knocked the sword from my hand and gracefully slipped the Rope of Fire from me and wrapped it around her own waist. She used the Scarf to tie me down. One by one, her eight arms grabbed mine and wrestled the other weapons from me. When she was done, she turned to Lokesh.

  “What do I do now, Master?”

  “Tell me, my girl,” he cooed in her ear, “what is the secret of your power?”

  “Our power lies in the weapons,” she explained in a mesmerized voice.

  “Does Kelsey have a power of her own?”

  My eyes widened, and I gasped for air as she clutched my throat and squeezed.

  “No more than I do,” Durga replied.

  “Ah, then perhaps . . .”

  Lokesh screamed as Ren sunk his claws into his back. The evil sorcerer fell to the ground and rolled but not before Ren slashed at him with his claws and bit his shoulder. Violently, Lokesh twisted back and forth and used his horn to pierce through Ren’s armor.

  Ren got to his feet while blood dripped heavily from his side. His tiger limbs shook, but he gathered himself for another leap.

  Lokesh rose and bellowed, “Today you meet your death, Prince Dhiren.” He raised his arms, and spears lifted into the air, shooting toward Ren.

  I yelled and summoned the only power I had left: fire. I raised my hand and shot a flame at Durga but she didn’t even react when I burned her skin. Aiming my fire power at Lokesh didn’t work either. He immediately created a shield of stone. Ren leapt toward Lokesh, claws extended and teeth bared. The dark demon twitched his fingers to redirect the spears to hit Ren mid-flight.

  “Ren!” I shouted.

  I could actually feel the sharp pointed tips enter his body. Some of the weapons glanced off his silver armor, but one sunk into his hip, another penetrated near his neck, and a third pierced his exposed underbelly. Ren cried out and fell heavily to the ground. Lokesh slammed his cloven hoof down on Ren’s foreleg, and the bone snapped.

  Pain flooded Ren’s mind and I screamed. A few seconds passed and I felt him shutting me out until all I could sense of him was a weak mental voice. I felt a surge of power enter my body and knew that he’d given me all the remaining strength he had. He strained to push one final thought into my mind. I love you, Kelsey. And then his voice was cut off completely.

  The threads from the Divine Scarf tightened around my limbs as Lokesh approached. He leaned over me and ripped the crown from my head. My hair fell in waves and he picked up a lock and rubbed it between his thick fingers. He touched my cheek with a jagged, filthy nail and trailed it down to my collarbone, leaving a wicked scratch.

  “You’ve deceived me, my dear. I can’t let that go unpunished.”

  With a rough snap the last piece of the amulet was ripped from my neck.

  “I’ve waited a long time for this.”

  Tears slipped down my face. Anamika was under Lokesh’s power, Ren was incapacitated if he was alive at all, and Kishan was tied up somewhere. I was all alone.

  A glint of gold wrapped around Durga’s upper arm caught my eye. Fanindra!

  “Fanindra, help me,” I begged, weeping openly.

  Green eyes flashed, and the golden cobra came to life. She launched herself from Durga’s arm and with jaws wide open sunk her fangs deep into Lokesh’s hand. He screamed, but she managed to bite him again before he ripped her away. The golden snake disappeared in the grass.

  Immediately, the dark sorcerer’s hand began to swell and golden venom dribbled from the puncture wounds in his palm. He dropped my piece of the amulet onto the ground and clutched at the medallion controlling Durga. “Kill her,” he ordered.

  The goddess raised the chakram above my head. I closed my eyes . . . and then felt something hit us hard and push us over. Claws scratched my thigh. It was Kishan! Shaking the last remnants of the net from his body, he leapt onto Durga while Lokesh bellowed in frustration. He tried to use his magic on Kishan but he screamed in agony and clutched his hand.

  I hoped it was a permanent situation, while acknowledging it was probably not the case.

  Kishan and Durga struggled together, and she slashed him with the chakram. Lokesh called out for Sunil, who inched forward, a mangled leg slowing him down.

  One of Durga’s arms flailed near where I lay bound on the stony soil. I grasped the edge of the Scarf. Instantly the threads holding me captive melted away. I inched my fingers toward her and took hold of the Rope of Fire trying to move as little as possible. I clenched the Rope, knowing this was my last chance.

  Sunil drew near and hollered in anger, but Lokesh tossed him like a rag doll.

  “Never mind! I’ll take care of the black thorn in my side myself!”

  Manipulating his good hand, Lokesh grit his teeth and created a dozen shards of ice that he aimed at Kishan. I could see that using his power cost him. Lokesh moved back a step, almost tumbling over Ren. In retaliation, he kicked my white tiger brutally.

  Ren lay quietly, spears sticking out of his body at every angle. I could no longer feel Ren’s presence at all. Closing my eyes, I called out in my mind.

  Ren?

  Nothing. No warmth. No heartbeat. Not even a whisper of thought.

  Blinking, I looked into his tiger eyes. Their glassy stare reminded me of the stuffed tiger I’d purchased so long ago. Tears ran down my face in rivulets, and I shook with grief. Ren was gone.

  Anger shot through me, and I felt a wave of power flow through my frame. Using the only power I had left, I repositioned myself behind Lokesh, drew back the Rope, snapped my arm forward, and whispered, “For Ren.” With a crack, the Rope of Fire wound around Lokesh’s neck.

  Lokesh screamed in agony. He lifted his hands to the Rope and tugged on it, trying to remove it but it only tightened. The zombie medallion was still clutched in his fingers. I channeled all of my remaining power into it. Light coursed through my body, and I felt Ren’s spirit. I closed my eyes, and it was as if he were standing behind me, pressing his cheek against mine, one last time. Our combined life-force was greater than earth, wind, fire, water, or space. I knew this power was love.

  Golden light poured from my hands and streamed along the Rope. Lokesh’s medallion turned into ash. A wave of golden magic picked him up in the air. The light was so intense that it shot out in a blast and filled the sky with color. A sonic boom accompanied the flash, causing the mountains to shake and funnels of water to erupt from the nearby lakes.

  With a final terrible scream, it was over. The lifeless body of Lokesh, the demon Mahishasur I’d been destined to defeat, dropped heavily to the ground.

  My energy waned, and I felt ghostly hands slide away from my skin. My hot cheek became suddenly cool.

  Ren? I begged. Please don’t leave me.

  You are in my heart. Always. His warm voice whispered softly and then faded away.

  I collapsed to the ground, my body quaking with torrential sobs.

  30

  amulet united

  A warm hand slid over my shoulder.

  “Kelsey?” Kishan’s loving voice trembled.

  I shook my head back and forth wildly, not able to comprehend what had happened, not wanting the comfort of anyone but Ren.

  Kishan stumbled to the body of the white tiger. Carefully tenderly he pulled out each spear.

  “He’s really gone, isn’t he?” I asked.

  Kishan looked at me, tears filling his golden eyes, and nodded. Swallowing, he stared at the lifeless body of his brother. Then he d
ashed the back of a hand against his eyes and let out a terrible roar. He yanked out the spear buried in Ren’s chest, which jostled Ren’s tiger body, and spun.

  Running a few steps, toward the inert form that was once Lokesh, he lifted the spear and thrust it into the sorcerer’s body. Weeping openly, Kishan sunk to his knees.

  Durga crawled toward Ren and poured elixir from the kamandal into his mouth. But the liquid just dribbled out onto the ground. I knew there was no point. The elixir couldn’t revive the dead. She shook him a few times and spoke in her native tongue. Tears filled her eyes as well. An emotion welled in me, and I shoved her arms away from Ren.

  “Get your hands off him! You betrayed us. If it weren’t for you he might still be alive.”

  “I tried to stay back,” she explained, “Kishan—”

  “Don’t you dare blame Kishan for this!” I pointed to Ren then I jabbed my finger angrily into her direction to emphasize my point. “This happened because you were incompetent! I had to come here to this time and do your job. Some goddess you turned out to be. Well, I have news for you. I am done being your chosen one. Do you understand?” I spat.

  She brokenly nodded then murmured quietly, “I loved him too, little sister.”

  “Love? Love? How dare you speak of love! You’ve known him for what . . . a month? He was mine long before you set your eyes on him, and he was mine when he died. The only thing that ever kept us apart in the past or the present was you. You stole his memories just like you stole him here. If it hadn’t been for you, we would still be together. Ren was never meant for you.”

  Tears spilled over her lashes. “But I never . . .” she began and then stopped as I turned away, completely uninterested in anything she had to say.

  I shook with a righteous tension, fists tightly clenched. In that moment I think I could have killed again. She sat back on her heels and gaped at me, but I ignored her. Instead I picked up one of Ren’s paws and smoothed the fur with my hand, pressing my lips against it.

  My many arms got in my way so I wrapped the Divine Scarf around me and asked it to make me Kelsey again. That’s all I’d ever wanted to be—just a girl from Oregon who went to college and had dates with the boy I loved. But that would never happen now.

  Tapping the brooch, I whispered instructions and my armor and the plates covering Ren shrank down. When it was done, I flung the shining piece of jewelry, hard, at the ground near Durga’s feet. She seemed shaken, traumatized, but I didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for her. Without a word and with great effort, she picked up the brooch, pulled herself up, and slunk off into the brush.

  I scooted closer to Ren and lifted his head onto my lap. Crying, I played with his soft ears and told him that I loved him over and over again. “Please come back,” I sobbed. “I need you.”

  I was surrounded by death like in my long-ago dream. Dead soldiers lay scattered across the field. Ashes from the cremated demons stirred in the breeze. My parents, Mr. Kadam, Ren. They were all gone, and I wasn’t sure what else I had to live for.

  I held Ren tightly and rocked back and forth. Kishan crouched down next to me, hurt radiating from his eyes. I felt a twinge of guilt, but it was quickly enveloped in my overwhelming anguish. He pulled a strand of hair away from my sticky cheek and tucked it behind my ear.

  A movement in the grass caught my eye and a golden head parted the blades, moving toward me. I smiled as I stretched out fingers to touch Fanindra’s golden head. The fire amulet was wound around the snake’s delicate body. I pulled it off, and Fanindra slid over Ren’s back. Her tongue flicked several times as she looked into his glassy eyes.

  “Can you heal him?” I asked.

  She turned her head to me and left him, gliding over my arm and legs and then resting her head on my thigh.

  “I guess that’s a no.”

  I held out my left arm and she took the invitation, winding her body up the limb, circling until she was in her favorite position and then she hardened, becoming her jeweled version.

  “We wouldn’t have defeated him without you. Thank you,” I said softly and her green eyes glowed for a moment before becoming hardened emeralds. Kishan stood silently at my side, waiting for me. I smoothed the fur on Ren’s brow and pressed a lingering kiss on top on his head.

  “I love you,” I whispered.

  “We need to leave, Kelsey.”

  My hands clenched in Ren’s fur. “I won’t leave him here.”

  “I’ll carry him,” he volunteered.

  I nodded, tenderly set down Ren’s head, and stood.

  Dusting the amulet off and removing the broken chain, I handed it to Kishan.

  He cupped it in his hand, touched it with a finger, and mused quietly, “This was the first gift I ever gave you.” Closing his fingers over it, he looked at me and said faintly, “I don’t think it can be fixed.”

  Something about the way he said it made my throat tighten, but I pushed that feeling aside and used the Scarf to make a ribbon. When the amulet was tied around my neck once again, I felt better.

  “Get the rest of the amulet,” I instructed Kishan.

  Lokesh lay on the ground, his two sets of sharpened horns pointing skyward. Ren’s blood still glistened on one of them. Kishan ripped open the top of Lokesh’s robe and tugged the amulet loose. He placed it in my open hand. It was an almost complete circle with a carved tiger in the center.

  I squeezed the disk tightly between my thumb and forefinger and said, “The blood of Captain Dixon, Mr. Kadam, Ren, and countless others has been spilled by this . . . demon. He needs to be destroyed utterly.”

  Without knowing exactly how or why, I knew what to do. Using the fire piece of the amulet, I cracked the Rope of Fire against the ground. A chasm opened, widened, and deepened to the molten core of Earth. Terrible flames leapt from the fissure. Lifting my hands, I commanded a gust of air to pick up Lokesh’s body, which rose and hovered in front of us.

  I looked into the monster’s eyes one last time. I could almost hear his derisive laughter, and I wondered if this creature would haunt me for the rest of my days.

  Kishan touched my arm, breaking my trance. I stepped back and sent the demon king into the flames. Lokesh plummeted through the chasm. When he was nothing but ash, I cracked the whip once more, and the earth closed over him.

  “I am glad he is gone,” Durga said quietly as she walked slowly toward us, this time accompanied by her brother.

  Sunil leaned heavily against his sister and watched us with a look of awe, but I wasn’t in the mood for introductions.

  I turned away from the pair. “Can we go now, Kishan?”

  “Just a minute, Kells.”

  The goddess quickly handed Kishan the kamandal. It was then I saw the terrible wound in his side.

  “Drink,” she commanded.

  He took hold of her wrist and her eyes darted up to his. “Drink,” she said again, softer this time.

  Kishan sipped the mermaid’s elixir and then she brought it to me. I pushed her hand away.

  “You need to heal, Kelsey,” she said.

  “The pain I feel isn’t going away.”

  “Please, take some.”

  After glaring at her and seeing she wasn’t going away, I took the kamandal and drank. Immediately the pain in my muscles started to diminish.

  As I handed the shell back to her she asked, “Is there anything you can do . . . for them?” She indicated the troops that stood around us, frozen in stone and ice.

  “I can try,” I replied.

  I rubbed the amulet between my fingers and sensed through the pad of my thumb which piece represented water. The power of rivers, streams, oceans, and rain filled me, and at that moment, I felt as if I could dissolve my body and sink through the ground I stood on.

  Though I stood still I felt the movement of rocking water as it swirled through me. Stretching out with my mind, I found the men who were frozen and slowly breathed warmth into their bodies. Water molecules quickened, and the men beg
an to move.

  My thumb shifted and I found the Earth piece. My body suddenly became heavy, unbreakable. Earth’s power grounded me, gave me a center. Earth does not despair or feel loss, I realized, for all living things come from it, and all living things return to it. Refocusing, I found the stone objects dotting the area around me and asked the stone to return life to these beings. The stone obeyed and melted back into the landscape. The men took a breath and lived.

  Durga wove between each man and bid them drink from the kamandal. She was full of compassion, and they each dropped to their knees and gazed upon her with worshipful, trusting eyes. I folded my arms across my chest, determined not to be moved by her display.

  When she had administered to every man, they gathered close and she turned to us. “These people need rest and food. We must lead them to camp and help them recover.” Then the humble goddess turned to Sunil in deference. “If that is acceptable to you.”

  “No. You’re right, Mika. We should take care of them,” he replied, stepping back.

  She nodded and gave instructions to return to the camp. Flanked by Durga and Sunil, the men set off immediately.

  With a graceful sweep of his arms, Kishan lifted Ren’s tiger body, and we solemnly followed our troops. Ren’s white tail brushed the ground and his head lolled as it hung over Kishan’s arm. My breath caught and I had to swallow several times.

  Back at camp, I used the Pearl Necklace and the Scarf to create a bucket of warm water and cloths and cleaned the blood from Ren’s fur. Kishan had left me alone for a time, saying he’d return to bury Ren after the camp was settled. There was something comforting about being alone with my tiger and preparing his body. It was a final act of service I could do for the man I loved and I spoke softly to him as I worked.

  The light dimmed and I started when I heard a noise.

  “How long have you been standing there?” I asked Kishan.

  “Long enough,” he answered with a tight expression.

  He came into the tent and was followed by Durga and her brother.

  A moment later, the tent flap parted and a bald head poked through.