Page 23 of The Legend of Meneka
His fingers click, and a rhythmic chant emerges from him. I gasp, an identical response to the queen’s.
The rain pauses.
It doesn’t stop—itpauses, as though Kaushika has frozen the entire world. Globules of water hang motionless in the evening, as far as we can see. Leaves stop swishing, the roar of the downpour silenced. The horses stop whickering, their tails suspended midmotion. Above, lightning freezes too, a jagged golden shard held back from growing into a bolt. The quiet is unearthly, deafening. My breath seizes in terror. Can Indra feel this? Is the lord panicking?
The queen’s head snaps from side to side, her face draining of color. Light dances through the suspended gray water droplets, but it is the light of Kaushika’s aura, a billion rainbow shimmers visible perhaps only to me.
“Well, Queen?” Kaushika says, smiling guilelessly.
“I—I—” the queen stammers, her eyes wide.
Stories of powerful sages return to me, ones the gandharvas sing only when drunk on soma. Brighu, who made the stars obey his will. Kashyapa, who drained the valleys of the Himalayas, making themuninhabitable. Atri, who tamed the River Ganga to make her flow from the heavens. Though still young, Kaushika is nearly at the level of those great men.He can do it, I think.He can destroy Amaravati. He can end my magic. Dizziness makes me lightheaded.
“Understand that I do not need weapons, Rani,” Kaushika says. “I do not need your soldiers. Consider why a sage is asking you to change who you should offer allegiance to. Consider what we do. What we protect.”
“Us,” the queen whispers. “Sages protect us.”
Her voice is raw, hypnotized. Its cadence is similar to how I have been spellbound by Indra. She turns to Kaushika, and the words seem pulled from her. “Sages give wisdom, their only agenda to increase knowledge in the world. It is how they protect us beyond our years.”
Kaushika smiles. “What knowledge can be unleashed when the world is no longer controlled by heaven’s tempestuous moods? Will you stand in its way, or be the one who leads the charge for your people?”
The change in the queen’s face is startling. She blinks, and a tremor passes through her. Trembling, she lowers her gaze from Kaushika’s and joins her palms.
“Forgive me, guruji,” she whispers, and my brows rise at the honorific she affords him.
Lazily, Kaushika spins his hand. Some of the motionless rain shimmers, coalescing, creating a shield around the queen and her unmoving horse.
“Go. Return to your people. Confer with your council. I’ll await your decision.”
The queen bows lower, and Kaushika utters another chant. Sound and movement blast back into the dusk so suddenly it makes me jump. Lightning crashes over and over again, and I imagine Indra raging in his court, the vajra sizzling mercilessly. The queen’s suddenlyanimated horse neighs in terror. She kicks it forward, and they disappear around a bend in the road. Kaushika watches them leave, then the calm expression on his face falls.
His shoulders slump. His eyes close like he is confronting himself. I watch his mask drop, leaving behind true vulnerability. Kaushika breathes hard, lifting his face up to the rain. He clutches the holy thread around him, like he is trying to remind himself of something.
Curiosity fills me about this man, and my mind grasps desperately for the shape of his seduction. Kaushika on his knees, head bowed as I loom over him. Kaushika holding me down, turning me over. Kaushika mesmerized as I dance for him. Kaushika indifferent as I create illusions. The seduction rebounds, one image to another, never settling, and a frantic dread grips me. Who is he? What does he like? What does he seek? Urgency, urgency—these questions must be answered.
The next second, alarm replaces my curiosity as Kaushika looks toward the temple. I suddenly realize why he chose to have this conversation here. Shiva’s temple, its power consecrated tenfold by being so close to the hermitage, has helped Kaushika perform the difficult magic he just did. He is a sage, after all, his path that of Shiva’s own.
Kaushika nudges his horse toward me.
My shallow gasps echo within the cave. My gaze darts around the rock walls. This won’t be like the time I overheard him at the lake. There is nowhere to hide now. No camouflage nor cover. No subterfuge. I have already witnessed the edges of his temper, and it is never wise to rile a sage. What can I do?
A risky idea sparks in my mind, and I spin around and sit down. I face the lingam, my back to the entrance, but my entire body is alert. My palms are joined in prayer, but the lines of my shoulders grow rigid. There is no time to think of anything more subtle. Swallowing hard, I listen to Kaushika dismount and enter the temple.
CHAPTER 10
He stops the instant he enters. “You!” he spits out. “What are you doing here?”
“Kaushika?”
I turn slightly to see his shape outlined in the doorway. He is impossibly tall, and if it weren’t for his aura, the cave would become dimmer with the light he blocks. Instead, a radiance invades the temple. I blink to breathe in, momentarily dizzy from adrenaline and fear.
He does not know I have been eavesdropping. I am still safe. I turn fully to him, making my eyes wide, standing up slowly.
He scowls as he shoulders his way inside. Rain still drips from him, and the tiny cave becomes smaller. His light burns into me, and my skin feels scorched with his potency. It is so intoxicating that I want to lean in and inhale him.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he continues, eyes flashing. “How dare you leave the hermitage? If you want to leave, I can make it permanent right now, but do not think you are above the rules simply because you contain raw magic.”
“I’m praying to Shiva,” I say. “I only wanted to—”
