Nasteya Page 9

  ‘We bring good news, Mother!’ Baka said.

  ‘Have you slayed all those eagles? Is this the good news?’ the queen said angrily.

  ‘The good news is that we won’t have to kill them or fight them anymore. They aren’t our rivals any longer,’ Baka said.

  ‘What are you saying, Baka?’

  ‘Yes Mother, you heard correctly… Much happened at the Gateway last night, strange and unforeseen things... Those eagles were never our enemies and whatever it was that we kept fighting over was nothing but lies and misunderstandings!’ Baka said in a single breath.

  From the look on her face it was apparent that the queen was trying her level best to grasp Baka’s words. It seemed hard for her to believe what she was hearing.

  ‘Baka is right, Your Highness. Lay your anger aside and just give us a chance to elucidate everything,’ Tejas said. The queen agreed, though she was still enraged. As he passed the queen, Ayaan faintly said to Nasteya, ‘Forgive me, but I did all I could.’

  ‘Be proud, not sorry! You are a little warrior with a big heart,’ Nasteya said picking him up in his arms and bringing a big smile to his face.

  ‘What happened at the gateway? Tell me everything!’ Ayaan said as he adjusted himself in Nasteya’s arms.

  ‘You will know everything,’ Nasteya answered as he stepped into the palace. As soon as the queen stood in front of the crowned yeti’s statue, Baka started to narrate everything to her.

  ‘How did this happen?’ the queen asked after Baka ended the narration.

  ‘We talked to Garud,’ Baka replied.

  ‘Garud has never talked to us before,’ the queen said.

  ‘We never game him a fair chance,’ Baka replied at once.

  ‘I wonder how it happened after so many hateful years of enmity and suspicion,’ muttered the perplexed queen.

  ‘Nasteya made it happen,’ Baka answered.

  ‘Do you mean to tell me that Garud agreed to everything?’ the queen asked with suspicion. ‘After all these years of rivalry, a man made him see reason?’

  ‘Yes! My queen, there’s nothing to be vexed and worried about,’ Nasteya said, reassuring the queen who still couldn’t digest this unexpected truth.

  ‘If you have more questions, I request you to keep them until we eat something. We’re starving,’ Baka said.

  Now that the immediate problems had been handled by Nasteya and Baka and I could relax, my stomach started to scream for food even more loudly. Except the queen who was still dazed, we all moved towards the dining hall. But then the silence was broken by a guard who came hurtling into the palace. He stopped and with laboured breath, gasped, ‘Your Highness!’ And then he paused. After regaining his breath, he continued, ‘Garud!’ We all turned back as we heard Garud’s name.

  ‘Is there something wrong?’ Baka asked.

  ‘Those eagles… they’re damaging the arch!’

  TWELVE

  SURPRISES ARE NOT ALWAYS GOOD, NOR ALWAYS BAD

  ‘Iknew Garud was not worthy of our trust!’ exclaimed the queen jumping up from her throne in rage.

  ‘Are you sure of what you say? Are you sure that is exactly what you saw?’ Nasteya demanded of the guard for he was stunned to hear the news; we all were.

  ‘It is true, we have seen it ourselves!’ the guard replied in panic. If by any chance this turned out to be true, we were in for big trouble, I thought. Looking at Nasteya, Baka said, ‘I trusted Garud chiefly because you told me to.’ Nasteya replied, ‘We will have to rush to the gateway. Until then, I can’t say a thing.’

  Whenever it felt like there would finally be some peace, there was some new form of trouble ready to knock at our doors again. I wondered how long the queue of troubles outside our door was...

  A carriage took us to the borders of Kanchana. It would not be able to manoeuvre the mountainous terrain so from there, we dashed on foot towards the gateway, urging our weary limbs onwards.

  ‘If what the guard said turns out to be correct, there will be a war the likes of which have never been seen in the history of yetis and eagles,’ Baka said in frustration.

  ‘There will be no war. It is I who began everything and only I will draw it towards an end,’ Nasteya said calmly, yet he was infuriated as well. Even I kept wondering why Garud would do such a malicious deed. We sped along the path towards the gateway. My hunger had been forgotten. A couple of hours later, the arch came into view. There was nothing on or above it and it seemed as unscathed and unharmed as it had been a night ago. I heaved a deep breath of relief.

  ‘That guard must have mistaken after all,’ sighed Baka.

  ‘I doubt it,’ Nasteya said, peering steadily at the arch. ‘It is time to climb up.’

  We all trekked along the steep slope and climbed the arch. Our relief now turned into turmoil as we reached the top of the arch: A huge block from the core of the arch was missing.

  ‘They finally stole it!’ growled Baka menacingly. His eyes were on fire. ‘How will I answer mother? She is already exasperated! What are we going to do now?’ Baka sounded desperate.

  After a long pause, Nasteya said, ‘We wait.’

  Baka swung round to face him. ‘Wait for those eagles to strike us and to plunder Kanchana with the powers of Kushya’s sword?’ he thundered.

  ‘Garud has sworn to send someone. Until some eagle arrives, we wait,’ Nasteya said.

  Now it was Enakshi who exclaimed in disgust and anger: ‘His promise is empty! You need to wake up, Nasteya. His primary purpose was to get his hands on the sword and we wouldn’t let him do this, so he niftily fooled us. Now that he has the ever-powerful sword of Kushya, he doesn’t need to meet anyone. I had warned you earlier to not have blind faith in him—what did he have to gain by meeting you?’

  ‘We will wait until noon,’ Nasteya said firmly. It felt like something was still holding Nasteya’s faith. Or was it just his hollow hope?

  ‘No one will come, Nasteya,’ Tapan said in a despondent tone. ‘Preparing ourselves and our people for an attack would be much better than waiting.’

  ‘Go then, prepare yourselves. I will stay here,’ said Nasteya, unmoving. ‘I believe my wait won’t be futile.’

  After a pause, Baka walked to Nasteya and laying a hand on his shoulder, he said, ‘For one last time, we will go with what you believe, Nasteya. No disquieting words will reach mother’s ears. If you wish to wait, then we shall wait. I just pray it will be worth it.’

  Tapan was charged with the errand of carrying back the news that everything was all right and notifying the queen that the guard had been confused about what he had seen.

  But I was less generous of heart and worried—what if Garud actually attacked Kanchana? If this happened, regrettably, the blame was going to be on Nasteya’s head. However, if Garud intended to attack Kanchana, he would have begun already...

  Two hours of waiting had passed and Baka was now asleep. No matter however tense he was, he loved his sleep more than anything as was quite evident from his loud snorting.

  ‘Wake up Baka, Garud is attacking!’ Enakshi whispered in his ear in an urgent tone.

  Baka leapt to his feet, alarmed. ‘Where are they?’ he cried, his eyes swivelling in all directions. Chuckling at the success of her hoax, Enakshi sat back. Everyone giggled as Baka, too, sat back, muttering in displeasure. Our nervousness faded but anger grew as time passed without any sign of the eagles. Soon, sunlight streamed over the forests and we saw Tapan coming towards us, a sack on his back. As soon as he stopped, he put the load down and asked, ‘Did the eagles come?’

  ‘There is no sign of them,’ said Baka with a sidelong glance at Nasteya. ‘What is it that you carry?’

  ‘Food,’ he replied and all my attention was pulled by his words. It was hard for me to wait any longer and as soon as he opened the sack, I stretched my hand into it and pulled out the first thing I could get—it was a hunk of roasted meat. Without waiting for the others, I gobbled it, almost without chewing. Everyone else
ate too, except Nasteya.

  In point of fact, he was worried. Would the eagles come at noon? I could sense his tension, but now that my hunger was satisfied, I felt like dozing for a while, so I slept. When I woke up, the sun was right above us and Nasteya’s head was bowed.

  ‘No eagles, huh?’ I asked. I turned around and stared towards the horizon. Just then, the dark shadow of a winged figure showed up against the pale sky and descended towards us. Everyone else rose too, ready to face whatever fate now came our way. There was an expression of relief on Nasteya’s face.

  ‘He is Sankara, Garud’s son,’ Baka said as the eagle landed before us. Stepping forward, Baka asked in rage, ‘Where have you taken the sword?’

  ‘Who is Nasteya?’ Sankara asked, paying no heed to Baka’s question.

  ‘Tell us where the sword is or we will kill you!’ Baka growled in fury.

  ‘I have instructions to answer to no one but Nasteya,’ Sankara said.

  ‘I am Nasteya,’ Nasteya stepped forward ‘Where is Garud?’

  ‘He has sent me to take you and your friends to him,’ Sankara said.

  ‘Where is the sword?’ Nasteya asked.

  ‘It is in safe hands and we have no intention of using it against anyone,’ Sankara replied, which made me wonder why they had then bothered to steal it in the dead of night.

  Baka had the same question: ‘Why did you steal it then?’

  Sankara looked at him and then turned back to Nasteya and said, ‘Father will tell you everything. For now, you must know that no harm will come your way.’

  ‘All right then,’ Nasteya said. ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘Wait!’ Baka said as he gestured to Nasteya to come aside so that they could talk without being overheard. ‘Do you not smell something wrong?’ he whispered.

  ‘Nothing is wrong. You have trusted me with my decisions and I need you to trust me one more time,’ Nasteya replied. Where Nasteya himself never trusted anyone without verification, he had immense power of making others trust him.

  ‘What if this is nothing but a conspiracy to harm us?’ Baka said.

  ‘First of all, if Garud had such shrewd plans, he would have never saved me. He possesses the sword and he would have attacked Kanchana by now if he had any intention of doing so. Secondly, sometimes we need to have faith in God,’ Nasteya replied and there was nothing else that Baka could say. Faith was what had brought us to where we were; it didn’t matter if it was more of Nasteya’s faith than mine.

  ‘We are ready to go with you,’ Nasteya said, to which Sankara replied, ‘Then follow me.’

  We walked for a while over the thick snow with the giant eagle walking by our side. He walked rather than flew and I wondered why. However, we walked in silence. We crossed several hills and crawled down several slopes and then climbed even higher (though gentle) slopes. A walk with four yetis and a giant eagle was a very strange experience for us. I might forget a lot of things but by no means was I going to forget this.

  At last, the eagle said: ‘We are almost there. Nasteya, never in the history of eagles has any man or yeti cast his shadow on our homes.’

  ‘Well, then it is my immense honour to be the first one,’ Nasteya replied. There was nothing in front of us except a cliff, a vertical slope that fell steeply down into a deep valley layered with clouds.

  ‘There is nothing beyond,’ Baka said looking over the edge.

  ‘I know, which is why I have to push you off the edge.’

  Sankara didn’t even complete his words before he pushed Baka off the edge. His sudden movement startled us and we turned on him ready to draw swords.

  ‘Before you do anything, turn around!’ Sankara commanded and then we heard Baka’s voice saying, ‘I will kill you!’

  Sankara started to laugh. We turned around to see Baka in mid-air, sitting on the back of another eagle.

  ‘Transportation,’ Sankara said. ‘But more than that, I have always desired to push a yeti off this edge.’

  Five other eagles ascended from the valley and landed in front of us. We were told by Sankara to sit on their backs. Soon, the eagles lifted us into the air. As we flew through a narrow gorge between two massive mountain ranges, with the eagles dipping and darting, I felt butterflies in my stomach. The chill wind tore at our limbs and faces. Was the wind blowing so hard or was it because the eagles flew so swiftly? It was undoubtedly the second option. At times, the eagles overtook each other and flew either above or below one another. I was holding the eagle’s neck tightly. Besides that walk I mentioned earlier, this flight was going to be the most memorable moment for me. We were definitely the first amongst men to have ever flied, I thought. Through the narrow gorge we went at great speed. The straight gorge now snaked. A thick blanket of clouds floated just beneath us and just when I was starting to enjoy this flight, Sankara cried out, ‘Hold tight!’ and at once, all the eagles took a dive.

  THIRTEEN

  FICKLENESS OF FATE

  We fell through the blanket of clouds and the mountains came into view again. When I regained my breath, I saw that Baka was about to throw up and so he did. It was quite evident that he hadn’t enjoyed this flight. But then my attention was attracted by the huge openings I could see along the sides of the two adjacent steep slopes. There were more than fifty such holes.

  They didn’t seem to be natural.

  ‘What’s this?’ asked Nasteya loudly.

  ‘This, my friend, is our home,’ Sankara replied.

  Strange creatures, strange dwellings! Now it was clear why the yetis had never discovered where these eagles lived. Then the biggest opening came into view and all the eagles landed. Unlike dark caves, these were well lit. The walls were etched and carved. The floor was smooth and clean. Other openings that went deeper into the hole, or whatever it was, led through one such hole, and we found ourselves in a big hall where we waited quietly for a while until Garud arrived.

  ‘Make yourselves comfortable,’ he said politely, as he walked towards us.

  ‘Not until you tell us where the sword is,’ said Nasteya bluntly.

  ‘You must not worry, Nasteya, the sword is secure and untouched,’ Garud said.

  ‘You broke your promise! We trusted you!’ Nasteya said.

  ‘Your trust is unharmed, young man. You just require a little explanation,’ Garud said wisely.

  ‘Is that so, clever bird? If you never intended to breach our trust, then what made you steal the sword?’ Baka asked, the venom of his frustration in his words.

  ‘I can understand your frustration, Baka, but I had two vital reasons for doing what I did,’ Garud replied calmly. ‘One of which was to verify whether Nasteya trusted me thoroughly or not—somehow I knew he did and that is why he waited unwearyingly till noon today.’

  ‘It doesn’t justify stealing the sword, Garud. You could have tested my belief in some another way,’ Nasteya said. ‘Why would you steal the sword after everything that happened last night? It was you who assured us that the arch was impenetrable!’

  ‘I didn’t steal it, I just took it out of there to hand it over to its real master and this is the second reason that led me do such deeds. Well, the arch is still impenetrable, for it won’t let us dig the sword out. You shall know soon,’ Garud replied mysteriously.

  ‘Who is the sword’s master?’ Baka asked.

  ‘Nasteya,’ Garud answered.

  It stunned all of us. Nasteya? Master of Kushya’s sword? There was nothing that linked Nasteya with the sword, as far as we knew! Nasteya, dumbstruck, stared at Garud in disbelief.

  ‘The fact that this sword belongs to you is beyond your understanding at present. But it is true. Let me explain,’ Garud said.

  ‘What I am going to tell you might answer the questions that you have for me,’ Garud continued. I had my gaze fixed on Garud’s face. I could sense that Nasteya was as curious as me to hear what he had to say.

  ‘But first, I too have a question. What brings you here?’ Garud asked. Nasteya sank i
nto silence for Garud’s question had reminded him of Saarah’s agonising fall, something that he never wanted to speak of… But he couldn’t ignore Garud’s question either.

  ‘It is a long story about which the less I speak, the better. Baka will tell you everything later. All you must know is that I am on a quest to unravel some mysteries for there is nothing else left for me to live for,’ Nasteya answered.

  Garud was wise enough to understand. So, breaking the prolonged silence, he said, ‘You will know all that my memory still bears. Does anyone know who forged the sword of Kushya?’

  ‘I reckon no one knows. It has remained hidden in the great arch for ages,’ Baka replied.

  ‘That is true, yet the truth lies beyond it,’ Garud said, leaving Baka confused. Then he continued, ‘Even before the city of Kanchana existed, even before the age of men in Aryavarta, this sword was forged in the hot hearths of the deep and dark abyss by my grandfather, Kushya. Blessed by God Indra, the God of Wind, he was able to plant unusual power in the sword. Such a weapon was sorely needed. Four hundred years ago, the dark rulers of earth allied. Their evil power grew beyond the control of mortal men. They raised armies of devils and immortals. They tamed giant deadly beasts and predators. Men fled to safer lands. But even the safe land wasn’t far from the reach of those dark rulers. So, a great warrior was selected from among men to use this sword in the wars against those brutal rulers. Therefore, the Great War began in which a mere hundred brave souls were led by that warrior to fight against dark armies of immortals and ferocious beasts…

  In those wars, the warrior realised the supreme power of this sword when it led him to victory overnight. Within days, the tyranny of those evil rulers was uprooted and that warrior was enthralled by the extreme power of the Kushya’s sword. With the possession of such a powerful weapon, he felt superior and invincible. Then, what had been feared by some wise men, happened. After all, he was a man and greed was inevitable for him— his greed for power made him take all powers into his hands. He started declaring war on any empire which wouldn’t accept him as its emperor. In other words, he started misusing the power of Kushya’s sword. My grandfather felt the need to stop him. So, he conspired to take away the sword from him and then eventually, kill him. Fortunately, the plan worked. The warrior was assassinated and the sword was taken away. He decided to hide it, keep it away from men. This huge Gateway of Eesh was built with the help of the yetis. Since then until today, the sword has been resting in the arch. Baka, even though I took out the sword last night, there was no way I could use its power. This is because of two reasons. The first one is that the chest in which the sword was kept hundreds of years ago has a lock whose key I do not possess. The second reason is––something you need to listen to very carefully.’