Page 50 of In Just a Year
Ben blinked, his confusion evident. “Pad … what?”
“Padparadscha,” Vati repeated, eyes sparkling with excitement. “A unique variety of sapphire named after the color of a lotus blossom. Its hue is a mesmerizing blend of pink and orange like a sunset. And this one”—she gestured to the largest jewel in Ben’s hand—“is the legendary Chintamani Triad, the most fabled Padparadschas of all. Only three exist in the legends.”
“Aren’t these incredibly rare?” Ben’s eyes widened as he admired the gems. “I don’t think anyone knows they’re real.”
Vati nodded, her gaze never leaving the stone. “Indeed, it’s one of the rarest gems in the world.”
“And these three are evenly matched.” Ben could tell that their shades were identical despite the dim light. Small triangles of blue hues sparkled in the stone, even in the dim light.
Vati smiled softly, her eyes reflecting the glow of the Chintamani Triad. “Ben-Ben. Take them away from here, please.”
“How can you say that? They belong here—”
“Nobody thinks they’re real. As long as people believe in the myth, it holds magic and gives energy. If anyone thought it really existed, they’d become greedy and try to find it.” Heavy with the weight of the stone’s history and beauty, her words echoed through the hidden passageway. Their discovery marked a moment that would forever be etched in the annals of their adventure.
But then a gust of wind startled Vati and she lost her footing.
Ben reached for her, but she slid out of sight with a faint scream.
CHAPTER22
Ben’s heart pounded in his chest like a gong, each beat echoing through the stillness that suddenly enveloped him. He lifted the lantern and scanned the dirty gupta path, eyes flitting across the large brick walls that felt eerily unfamiliar without Vati’s presence. The settling dust on the ground, still wafting to Ben’s nose, bore silent testimony to her abrupt disappearance. The lingering fragrance of her floral perfume hovered in the air, a ghostly reminder of a conversation truncated, of words left hanging, unsaid, and unfinished. The silence hung heavy, and in that silence, he found himself echoing the question of where she’d gone. Or, truly, who had taken her?
“Let me go!” Vati’s scream echoed in the distance. Ben dropped the lantern and ran through a dark corridor. Spiderwebs and vines brushed over his head.
He ducked below after a twig swept across his face as he ran down a narrow tunnel following her voice.
The labyrinth passageway, a forgotten remnant of the old palace, seemed to swallow Ben whole. He tried to remember Vati’s architectural sketches. If the foundation of the old palace was under the new one, it had to end and lead to the larger, newer structure above it. In the dark, moved by panic more than direction, Ben tried to remember. He had to think about the rice paper atop the sketches and where they ended. Usually able to recall images, he shut his eyes but continued to run in the direction from which he’d heard her voice in the underground passageway. The ridges of its overgrown stone walls were clammy and cool to the touch, providing the only lifeline in a world bereft of light. As he plunged further into the bowels of the palace, his lantern’s glow began to dwindle, consumed by the oppressive blackness. The suffocating silence was punctuated only by the rustle of unseen creatures and the echo of Vati’s screams.
A harrowing wave of dread washed over him, as Vati’s cries abruptly descended into a muted whimper. It was a chilling, unnatural silence that seemed to consume the air around him, leaving in its wake a deafening echo of reality—she was in peril. His heart pounded in sync with his pounding footsteps, a frenzied drumbeat in the otherwise silent catacomb.
The darkness seemed to take on a palpable quality, seeping into every pore and prickling at the edge of his vision. His mind conjured images of Vati, her eyes wide with fear, her voice choked into silence. The fear was palpable, a tangible entity wrapping its cold, icy fingers around him, but he pushed onward, the echo of Vati’s muffled scream guiding him through the darkness. His heart pounded in his chest, each beat a reminder of the urgency of his task. His own fear was eclipsed by a single, driving force—he must reach Vati.
He slipped onto his side, then ducked below a spiderweb that swept across his face as he ran down a narrow tunnel following her voice.
“Let me go!” Vati’s scream echoed in the distance. Ben dropped the lantern and ran through a dark corridor.
Suddenly, a loud crack echoed through the cavernous maze, causing Ben’s heart to lurch. It was followed by another, this one closer, and Ben instinctively turned in its direction. A fresh, open-air scent wafted through the passage, replacing the stale, dusty smell of the gupta path. The scent guided him forward until the walls of the passage began to recede until, all at once, he was bathed in the cool night air.
He had emerged into the lush palm garden, the moon’s gentle light casting an ethereal glow over the scene. The small pond, nestled amidst the greenery, shimmered under the moonlight, the reflection dancing on the water’s surface and providing a much-needed respite from the oppressive darkness of the passage. Familiar noises of the macaques and the whistling of nocturnal animals above gave Ben a moment to breathe out in relief that he’d escaped the narrow, dark passageway.
As his eyes adjusted, a figure separated itself from the shadows. Vati. She was sitting huddled on a large rock, clutching a monkey to her chest. She was a sight for sore eyes, but then Ben blinked and realized that her hair was in wild disarray and her cheeks stained with the streaks of countless tears. Ben’s relief was short-lived as he noticed a familiar figure lurking in the shadows behind her. The bearded servant was a threatening silhouette under the moon’s glow, his presence a stark reminder of the peril they were still in.
Ben inhaled to say something but Vati cast him a threatening look, her eyes so wide open that the white surrounded the dark irises. Her lashes were stuck together by tears and then Ben realized that the limp body she clutched was blood-stained beige fur. The servant dug his fingers into her shoulder, but in his other hand, a small saber glistened in the moonlight.
Ben’s eyes searched for direction in Vati’s face but she looked small and defeated.
“The Thakurain will be here shortly, I sent for her and the Ravi. They will decide what to do with you,” the servant said.
Ben took a step back.They’d decide what to do with her?
“I told you, nothing happened. He just wanted to see the gupta path,” Vati said with a wobbly voice and more tears dripped from her face onto the dead monkey.
Suddenly, an angry chatter pervaded the air, growing louder and more urgent. Vati’s head snapped up, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and recognition. “I can hear my parents,” she whispered, the words barely audible. Ben strained his ears but all he could make out was a language he did not understand. It was sharp, filled with the cacophony of harsh syllables and guttural sounds.
Vati turned to him, her eyes glistening under the moonlight. “Go away, Ben-Ben,” she implored, her voice choked with emotion. He stared at her, disbelief washing over him. But the urgency in her gaze left no room for doubt. Greg had told him that he wasn’t welcome there and he didn’t want to cause Vati even more trouble. With a final look at Vati, he turned and disappeared into the dense foliage of the palm garden.
His fist closed around the three sapphires in his hand, their cold, hard edges a harsh reminder of the reality of his situation. The darkness of the garden engulfed him as he pushed through the undergrowth, the cacophony of the approaching chatter still ringing in his ears. He couldn’t shake off the image of the desperate girl he was leaving behind with the murdered macaque in her arms. The realization hit him like a punch to the gut - the price to find this treasure might indeed be high and the lesson important. Yet, considering what had occurred, he couldn’t figure out what Izaac Pearler could have possibly wanted him to learn there but a lesson in life’s cruelties, injustice, and inequality. And as bad as Ben felt to leave Vati behind, he knew not to get involved in her life because the position she held was dictated by a culture he didn’t comprehend, for he couldn’t even quite understand his own.
