Karnan rushed through the narrow street, with Shri sprinting by his side. This was the third time he was taking a detour. The men no longer followed, but he didn't want to take any chances. The gully ended at the workers' district. Not stopping for a breather, he turned right and kept running. The large road was as usual empty. The people living there were at their jobs. As he crossed, windows would slam open with children sneaking glimpses from within. He took a left and entered the street on which the tavern was. Karnan slowed his pace; his heart throbbed, but not like before. The increase in drops had strengthened his body. He could now run twice the distance with less effort.
The rickety door to Vanu's place was wide open. He stopped, expecting an ambush. Vanu coughed from inside, negating his fears. He stepped in. The place looked better than when he had first entered.
Vanu was wiping a table at the far end. He turned his head. "You both are late. The guests were not happy." He had put on his tavern uniform. A cloakless vest and baggy cotton pants.
Karnan, close the door and sit down. We need to check the slab.
The door swung shut with a croak. Karnan doubted its capabilities in case of an attack, but heeding Vanu's feelings, he didn't voice it. The Vanar adored his tavern.
He sat on the floor near the bar and laid the black tablet on the floor. He breathed in and pushed the prana into the tip of his index which he then touched the slab with. White mist spread over it randomly before evaporating.
He did it again, and the result remained unchanged.
Shri wrinkled her nose, baring her teeth. Baal. Is this one of your tricks again?
She looked at Vanu. Vanar, come here.
His head jerked with surprise before bowing splendidly. Vanu walked over to them. "Mistress, I am honoured to hear your voice within me."
You knew Baal was here? Shri asked harshly.
Vanu nodded. His hands were behind him, and he looked guilty.
You knew we were going to the library. You and Amitabh, yet none cared to warn us?
A sigh heaved Vanu's chest. He said, "We had orders. To not tell you anything about this world unless you specifically ask."
Shri's answer was a growl, low and menacing. Vanu arched his head up, showing his jugular. She crouched, her eyes fixed on Vanu's throat.
Karnan shouted, "Master! No!"
Like cold water being thrown over fire, the impending violence was wisped apart. Shri's body relaxed. Vanu clambered back with shaky legs.
"Master. Who and what are you? What is the wolf-guard, this Baal and why am I being kept in the dark?" he barked.
What he could call as fear flashed momentarily in Shri's eyes. She folded her ears and made a low-pitched moan. Do you trust me?
Yes.
She sat, it's for your own safety. The less you know about us, the better it is for you.
Not convinced, Karnan banged his fists on the floor. Sixty-three days. He had wasted sixty-three days without earning a single gold. He kept thinking about the promise he had made, without having the slightest capability to fulfil it. Like a scavenger, the memory preyed on him, mocked him, it showed him his worthlessness. His weakness. It urged him to give up, as there was never a chance for someone like him. And now, even the damn slab had turned out to be fake.
He stood and folded his sleeves. The blue shirt he wore was green on the inside, and both his arms now seemed to be wearing green bracelets. He moved towards the door.
Where are you going? She sounded concerned.
"I need to arrange the money. I will ask for a loan from Ravim's parents," he replied without looking back.
And what of learning the arts?
With a swift turn, he faced her. Rage boiled like lava inside him, and he tried his very best not to lose control. He really tried, "What arts? The ones that you won't teach me? Or this stupid black stone, about which you'd not explain."
Vanu glided towards him, his hands lifted him up by his throat. He snarled, "Don't you ever talk to her like that." His canines were sharp and cruel, just like the tongues of people.
Karnan flailed, kicking at the Vanar's chest, failing spectacularly to impose any damage. Vanu's grip tightened, Karnan screamed in anger and pain.
Drop him, Vanu.
The Vanar looked to his right, where she was.
She repeated, Let him go.
Karnan landed. His throat burned; Vanu's fingers had imprinted his skin with a red rash. He picked himself, returning Shri' stare. "I want to be alone," he breathed and opened the door.
"Hoy!" waved a burly man. His hands were stained with limestone dust. He wore a tight-fitting black vest and white knee-length trousers. His vest was mottled white with the same white paint, and so was his jet black hair.
He flashed a toothy grin. "Hoy bard! Howey are we?"
"Bard?" Karnan asked, furrowing his brow.
"Ya! Bard! Ye sing, so ye bard! Ye good?" his head wobbled up and down with each word.
Vanu's hefty prosthesis skreeched on the stone behind him. "Lado. What brings you here?"
The man greeted Vanu with another wave of his hand and said, "Master Vanu! I came to meet ye bard! I meet him! He is good! I came to give tidings!"
Vanu shooed him, "Lado, this is not a good time. Come back once the tavern's in business. That will be after two more bells. Okay?" he pulled the door to shut it.
"Eh, eh, no master." Lado interrupted him by jamming his hand and a foot in the doorway. "I came to pay im. I didn see him last day. Perhaps we didin paey him. Here! And more as sorry from me. The other lads think so too. But, I was the first to beat them, he he!"
From his pocket, he pulled out a couple of jots and opened his palm wide before him. The silver coins glittered like pearls out on the sand. Karnan cupped them, slowly. They were warm. He counted fifteen, meaning half a gold. A considerable amount for someone like Lado.
"This is too much. I can't accept." Karnan said, proffering the coins back to Lado.
He did a vehement shake of his head, "No no! tis for ye. I have aplenty. With the arena being painted, no worry for coin."
Vanu grumbled, "The arena huh. A waste of resources, for what? Showing off? Isn't the Mangal clan already suffering civil strife?"
Lado shrugged, "duuno. The city's been asked to host. We get coin. We are happy."
Karnan turned to Vanu, "Arena? Paras City never had an arena. Is it newly built? And where?"
Vanu crossed his arms and smirked, "It's for the Mangal clan's yearly combat festival. Our city will host the junior division. The city wasn't a big enough place. So, they are building it at the foot of the purple forest. A perfect recipe for a skirmish with the Moon dynasty."
Paras was one of the few cities the Mangals ruled in the Moon kingdom. The areas outside the city walls still belonged to the moon. So, hosting their annual festival in the purple forest was, as Vanu said, sheer battle mongering. Something the Martians were infamous for.
"But why Paras?" he asked.
"Why of course, for the first time since annexation, someone from Paras has been selected by Mars. You know her." Vanu said.
Karnan's heart spoke what his lips feared to utter. Nina.
Shri's sigh was loud. He heard her nails click over the stone and soon her head snuck out between him and Vanu.
Lado yelled and jumped back. He raised a trembling finger, "A, a, wolfie?'
Finally, someone knows what I am. Shri said to him. Though Karnan wanted to taunt back. He held himself back.
Instead, he ignored her and asked Vanu, "Isn't the prize for the winner huge? I had heard about it from Nina once. When she had gone to Purandhar to catch a fight along with her father and mother."
Vanu lifted ten stubby fingers. "A hundred thousand gold."
Karnan pursed his lips. A thought brewed inside him. He had a way, an absolute way to pay his debt and help his clan. But, it was a thorny, laden with despair and life-threatening way. The combat festival attracted martial artists from all directions. Like ants, they would bee-line towards it, weilding arts beyond anything he could fathom. The junior division was open to Pathiks and Sainiks only. As a three-drop Pathik, he may survive the initial rounds, but winning it? Shame stung like a scorpion all of a sudden. How could he have even thought about winning? And with a disability like his? Where cosmic light poured like rain for others, it trickled for him. One fight and all his stored power will be gone, leaving him dry for the next one. He decided to drop the idea of participating in the arena. Begging, even though abhorrent, was his only salvation.
You can.
He twisted his head at Shri. What?
She blinked, I said, You can have a fighting chance. It won't be easy. But you can.
Fight with what? My minuscule light? Even my so-called unstoppable growth is nothing but a farce because of the star's distance. And, even if that damned thing comes closer in the future. Who knows how far it is from today?
Your problem is that you can't think outside your preconceived notions. I said we can't wait for the starlight to reach us. But what if we force it to? She narrowed her eyes.
Karnan frowned, You are not making any sense, master.
She growled, looking up at the sky before swerving towards Vanu. Vanu see this good man out. Then she addressed him, Follow me, Karnan.
Karnan bowed to Lado, who returned it with a grin. Vanu stepped out and whisked him away from the tavern. Karnan shut the door without latching it and followed Shri back to the slab on the floor.
For you to keep fighting, you need more light. She stated.
Karnan nodded.
She tapped her claw over the slab. This is a blood slab. The library was housing an artefact of Baal.
Karnan sat down; she hadn't asked him to. But, he did.
Baal was an asura and one of the lieutenants of the night queen, whom you people fear so much. He was a master of illusions, and I am sure that one of his creations is still distorting the prana in the library. Back then, he had created a helmet that could retrieve memories, desires and even plans of the prisoners. A very potent tool used by the night queen to interrogate.
Wait, wait. Karnan interrupted her. Asura? Like in the legends?
Yes, those things, also called demons by your people. Baal lusted for knowledge; he wasn't a warrior but a scholar, an inventor and a manipulator. Why do these fools use such a powerful relic in the library is beyond me. The helmet distorts your mind, makes you see your worst fears.
"But for some reason, it has been giving the students the exact art that's suitable for them for all these years," Vanu added. Karnan hadn't noticed his arrival.
Because it knows all their desires the moment they enter. Remove the artifact, and you will see they will themselves make the right choice. Shri said.
But what does it have to do with me and this slab? I wouldn't have chosen this if I had an option. Karnan voiced his concern.
Shri again tapped her nail over the stone slab. It zinged as if hollow from the inside. This is a slab for a blood art. This was made by a demon, and it activates not with one's prana but blood, thus binding the user to the demon's will forever. If Baal's power chose this for you.
"I become his doll?" Karnan's tone peaked with shock.
More than that, it means that Baal might still be alive, and he wants you. Shri's eyes shone as she slowly said the words. Karnan's blood turned into ice. A primal sense of survival took over him, and he began to make the pattern for a heat strike.
Shri, perhaps sensing his dread, softened her tone. This is just a speculation. Don't think too much about it. I told you because you deserve to know.
Karnan agreed, not with relief but as a bargain. Shri still hadn't said anything about the tournament.
Coming back to your problem. If we can't have enough light, we can always find other ways of ingesting it.
Like sunrays through a freshly opened window, hope barged into his heart's chamber, shoving out the fear. He leaned forward, both his palms clasped together in expectation, "Master, what are you suggesting?"
It's ancient. Maybe, lost now. But it will work nonetheless. The reason I didn't tell you before because the process will put a lot of strain on your body. But, you can fight with its help without relying on your star. With her paw, she swept away the black tablet. It skidded under the bar counter, out of his view. I cannot say if you'd win and it will be painful. Very painful. Are you still going to do it?
Logic suggested that he refuse and find other ways. But his heart had already decided. He exhaled, "I will."