The Destiny of Shaitan Read online

  “Let’s get out of here,” he says.

  Yudi has not moved from his earlier position by the window. As the fire continues to burn in the distance he tells Athira, “we must get her.”

  Athira looks at him “Who?”

  “I can’t leave without her,”

  “Are you out of your mind, boy?” Hardly are the words out of Athira’s mouth when Yudi walks over and left hooks him.

  “Ouch!” Athira gasps in surprise.

  “Don’t say that again!” Yudi warns him.

  “Wow. Perhaps it is true love after all,” exclaims Athira.

  “You have no idea ...” says Yudi. Then he turns his horse around and mounts it. “Are you coming?” he asks Athira.

  “We are going to regret this!” Athira swears.

  But seeing Yudi’s obstinate expression he gives in. They run out of the house, lead their horses out of the stables and mounting them race back along the beach, retracing Yudi’s earlier route. In just a few hours the scene looks very different. The beach is filled with the bodies of dying human soldiers and the peculiar gooey, messy remains of the slaughtered saturnine snake beings. Some of those who are not yet dead try to attack them and they pull out their swords, cutting them down. One particularly tenacious gets onto the saddle behind Yudi, and rides hanging off it, for almost half a mile, before Athira gets close enough to kill it from behind, taking care not to hurt Yudi.

  Finally, they arrive at the palace and dismount. Athira shakes the sweat out of his eyes.

  “This is bad, Yudi! Really bad!”

  Yudi does not reply. He runs into the palace through the bodies of dead guards and wounded maids moaning for help. The corridors and rooms seem untouched. It is as if someone took a sharp blade and carelessly let it scratch against the walls all the way through, as running through it all is a single trail of destruction. It’s as if the troops ran through in an orderly line. They follow the line zigzag fashion, cutting diagonally through the rooms and up to the room on the balcony of which Yudi stood less than twenty-four hours before. With a sinking heart, Yudi enters. The bed is in complete disarray, but the rest of the room seems untouched. Tiina is such a vital presence that her very absence seems to have sucked all the energy out of the room. It’s the quiet at the centre of the storm.

  Yudi stands there shell-shocked, not believing that he was late on the scene.

  Athira, who had fallen, behind finally bursts into the room, brushing by Yudi. He takes a quick look and tells Yudi, “She is not here.”

  Yudi does not reply.

  Athira turns to look at him sympathetically, then walks up to him and says, “We must go.”

  Yudi looks at him with tormented eyes. “And leave her here …?” He stands his ground.

  Athira’s voice softens further. “I am sure she escaped. She is too smart to be captured. And you are of no use to her dead.”

  “I am no use to myself alive!”

  “Get a grip on your emotions. It doesn’t help if you give in to your feelings.”

  Yudi nods and with an almost physical effort pulls himself together. “I will find her,” he says.

  “I know you will.” Athira hugs him, then turns around and runs back the same way they came in, pulling Yudi with him.

  This time Yudi is hard pressed to keep pace with him. On the way out they encounter three of Shaitan’s soldiers. Before Athira can react, Yudi pulls out his sword and swings, his pent up emotions powering his arm. Within seconds all three are beheaded. The head of the last one rolls along the corridor, coming to rest at Athira’s feet. He kicks it out of his way and sheaths his unused sword. He walks up to Yudi who is panting heavily, his eyes still fixed on the figures on the ground. Yudi blinks as Athira silently takes the sword from his hand, shakes it so that the blood drops scatter, and then places it back in its sheath. With an unspoken understanding they break into a run out of the palace, and within minutes are at the horses. They race back to the house with no further incident.

  They reach the house, pass the stables and with Athira leading race across the field behind the stables to, where it backs into a small hill. Yudi watches in growing surprise as Athira dismounts. He walks over to the side of the small hill places his palms together, closes his eyes and goes into a meditative state. After a few moments of utter stillness, he opens his eyes, rubs his palms together and, walking towards the rocky plane of the hill, places his right palm face down on a prominent boulder. Nothing happens for a few seconds then the mountain seems to shake and dissolve. It fades away leaving a massive shining globe in its place. The globe catches the sun and reflects the rays into Yudi and Athira’s eyes. For a few seconds they shut their eyes. The glow dies down and they open their eyes adjusting to the scene in front of them.

  “You have a spacepod?” asks Yudi in awe.

  “We,” Athira corrects him, “We have a spacepod.”

  “How did you do that?” Yudi asks in wonder. “Obviously you grow more than just flowers...”

  “I take it you like our new means of transportation?” Athira grins at Yudi, with all the pride of a new father.

  “What’s not to like?” asks Yudi. He walks around the gleaming vehicle. “It looks … uh … fast.”

  “It is … I think!” smiles Athira.

  “You think? Meaning …?” Yudi asks in alarm. “Don’t tell me that you’ve never been on it before,” he says, as Athira shakes his head.

  “I did take it for a spin, once … after a fashion ... well, I only finished fixing it up a few days ago!” He exclaims in his own defence.

  “How long have you been working on it?”

  “Since you were born,” says Athira. Yudi looks at him in surprise. “I found it very close to where I found you,” Athira adds.

  “And you’ve been fixing it up ever since?” Yudi asks in a disbelieving tone. “You just knew that we would need it someday?”

  “Something like that,” says Athira. “I have followed Shaitan’s progress across the galaxy. It was only a matter of time before he came here to Ka Surya. A small, healthy, rich planet such as Ka Surya is an ideal target for him to take over and use for his own greed.”

  Athira goes up to the spacepod and taps the side closest to him. The panel slides open with a healthy lack of vibration and no hint of sound.

  Yudi is about to follow when he hesitates. “The horses?” he asks.

  “What about them?” Athira asks back impatiently. Then, recognizing the stubborn glint in Yudi’s eyes, he says, “OK. Go on then … hurry!”

  Yudi flashes him a wide smile, then runs post-haste to the horses, unties them, and leads them as quickly as possible to the spacepod. He makes sure they are secure on board and are comfortable for their journey.

  Athira has the spacepod ready for take-off by the time Yudi drops into the co-pilot’s seat next to him.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Pluto,” he replies, “we’ll stay with my brother till things calm down.”

  Athira pulls forward the lever and the craft rises lightly up into the air a few feet, then settles back with a thump, the lights on the console clicking off.

  “Oops, sorry,” says Athira, smiling in embarrassment. “Let me try again.”

  Once more the craft rises up into the air, this time a few feet higher than the last time. Just as it feels that it is about to take off, the craft drops back, as if a dead weight.

  “Dad!” cries Yudi, impatience writ large on his face. “Why don’t you let me take over?”

  “You?” Athira asks in surprise. “And where did you learn to fly spacecraft’s? You barely know how to ride a horse.”

  “You are not the only one with secrets,” grins Yudi. “Come on,” he says, coming around to Athira’s side of the craft, “let me just give it a try.”

  Athira reluctantly takes the seat vacated by Yudi, who confidently slides into the driver’s seat and flicks on the controls. In seconds the craft vibrates healthily and takes off effortlessly up int
o the air, rising straight into the sky. Yudi positions it at the correct height and moves forward smoothly so that they are now sailing straight up over the trees, with the sea dropping away rapidly below. In minutes they are above the shoreline of Ka Surya.

  Athira looks at the navigation console before him and plots a course to Pluto. As the spacepod pulls away into the atmosphere Ka Surya fills their frame of reference on the screen, and just for a few seconds looms large in front of them. Then as they pull away it becomes smaller. Soon it is a circular planet, its surface a healthy green interspersed with blue. Then, as they watch, the bottom of the circle begins to fill up, as if a large tap has been opened and the water flows through, first slowly, in drops, and then faster, as if the faucet has been opened full force. The blue rises very quickly right in front of their eyes.

  They both look at it, at first admiring the spectacle, until they both realise at the same time that the planet is being destroyed.

  Yudi exclaims, “The Sea of Infinity!”

  Athira nods “It is rising, overrunning the land, wiping it out.”

  “Is that really possible?” asks Yudi.

  “I’ve heard about it, read about it, never thought that it could really happen.”

  “Isn’t Ka Surya supposed to be indestructible?”

  “Water … It was foretold that Ka Surya would meet its end through water.”

  “Clichéd.....but it seems the prediction is true.”

  “Only Shaitan’s powers could have commanded the very seas to rise up and devour the land that has protected and nourished it for so long,” says Athira. “And that’s what we are now, a mere statistic in the history books.”

  “So we will not be returning for a while.”

  Athira shakes his head. “When the land rises again …” He lets the statement hang in the air. “I will be back,” vows Yudi as the planet recedes in the distance a tear running down his cheek.

  Thalia

  He is named Darich after Keane Richards, of the Rutting Drones, the most infamous Rock act in the galaxy thus setting the tone of his life. Yet with his first drawn breath, Darich renounces any association with the band. He insists people call him Rai. He claims it is shorter, easier to pronounce and translates easily across all cultures around the galaxy.

  Thalia, Rai's mother, is the favourite groupie to the Rutting Drones, the most infamous rock act in the galaxy. She is their designated navigator, showpiece eye-candy, sometimes stand-in stage performer, carrier of equipment, pleasure partner, and, on occasions when the driver is too inebriated, even spacecraft pilot. She has followed them all around the Universe.

  On this occasion, the Drones are on their way to perform for Shaitan. It is the once-in-a-lifetime gig that all bands dream about, at the court of the king of the universe. The reward for a successful performance is a planet to call their own. The smallest celestial body in Shaitan’s kingdom; an empire which has now grown to gigantic proportions, stretching from Neptune to deepest space.

  Shaitan is the new Alexander. A self-crowned king of all he surveys changing lives for the better everywhere.

  The Drones are in thrall, deluded by the fantasy of a life lived in freedom. They are not aware of being manipulated by Shaitan. His mind-control is absolute. Weaving dreams of ecstasy from thin air. Giving them what they want to feel.

  Thalia is the highlight of their act.

  A naked human female swinging on a trapeze high above the crowds.

  In addition, as they look on, at the climax of the show, she loses her balance and falls into the crowd.

  Straight into Shaitan’s lap. She holds onto him tightly, and stays, to become legendary for their vigorous love-making.

  What Thalia does not realise is how much of an end of the line place this is. She wakes up one morning pregnant.

  A rare mistake made in the heat of passion. All her covering cast aside. She has nothing to hide behind. Her every intimate space invaded.

  As a possibility never considered blooms to life Thalia makes the decision.

  She is about to walk into Shaitan’s rooms to tell him the news but pauses to hear a conversation between his two guards plotting the best way to kill her. It is all very clear now.

  A weird feeling runs through her. It is a payment for the sins of your past type of realisation. How could she have missed that Shaitan always kills his mistresses. As she stands there, hearing the guards talk, one says, “I thought everyone knew about the curse of Shiva.”

  The second guard shakes his head “No. I didn’t know either.”

  Taking a more comfortable stance so as to give his entire attention to the story, the first says, “Legend is that, angry at Shaitan’s impudence in claiming that he was as powerful as Shiva, the God had cursed him …’Your own son will kill you one day,’ he said.”

  “Really?” says the second “Cursed by Shiva the supreme, himself. And yet all these years Shaitan lives without any worries that it may come true?”

  “Yes,” says the first, “because in response to Shiva’s outburst, Shaitan simply bowed his head.”

  “Ha! That’s a surprise. Shaitan’s temper is second to perhaps only to Shiva.”

  “Like father, like son!” the other chuckles. Pleased at his own wit the first guard continues, “Yes, no tantrums from Shaitan, he doesn’t lose his cool, this time.”

  “A rare display of sanity”

  The first guard nods. “You bet! Shiva, too, is surprised by his calm acceptance. He asks Shaitan if he isn’t worried by what this will mean for him.”

  “And?” asks the second, intrigued.

  “And Shaitan replies that life finds a way, it always does.”

  “Now that is really rare... Shaitan quoting philosophy.”

  “Ah, but he is smart. He obviously knew how Shiva would react to this.”

  “And then?”

  “Well, of course, Shiva’s generosity takes over. He is impressed by Shaitan’s cool acceptance. And feels perhaps he has been rash. So he tries to make amends for his earlier outburst,” grins the first.

  “This is really impressive. You know my esteem for our dark lord just went up quite a few notches. I could have never predicted this from what I have seen of him.”

  “Shiva throws him a lifeline. He tells Shaitan that there is one way to avoid the earlier curse.” He pauses for effect.

  “Well? Go on,” says the second, impatiently.

  “He tells Shaitan that the only way to avoid his fate is to not have any children … this is, still in his hands. Shaitan realises that he really could overcome the curse and its consequences. So, in reply, Shaitan simply bows and accepts.”

  “Go on...?”

  “Well, he leaves but Shaitan being Shaitan, cannot hold back from his usual actions can he? He resumes his bid to rule the Universe and continues on his expedition”

  “So there is no change whatsoever to his cruel ways?”

  “Ah! But there is. He takes a vow — which, by the way, he seems to have just broken with Thalia — of not letting any of his lovers live. Just to be sure that there are no children.”

  Their conversation is interrupted by a shuffling noise from the far end of the corridor. They come to rapid attention and snap out of their earlier jovial mood. It is as if a mask has dropped down over their faces. They run towards the source of the sound to check on it and then understand that it must be Thalia. They run into her rooms to find it empty.

  The full impact of the conversation she has just overheard has Thalia rooted to the spot. She realises the enormity of the situation. All at once it makes sense to her. Shaitan mates and kills. He doesn’t leave anything to chance. There are no messy endings. She had not expected him to be happy at the news, but had hoped for his support....but realises that there is nothing left now.

  “So this is why our lovemaking is always so intense” she thinks “It’s almost like he dies a little death with each climax. This is why he really does see only me when we are together.” It is
as if only during this most intimate of occasions Shaitan reveals his true self. All of his experiences are distilled into those few seconds for there is no hope for him after. She feels very protective of her yet unborn child. And then she gets really angry. “He will not hurt my son” she makes up her mind.

  That night, Thalia makes love to Shaitan as if it is the very first time. Matching him move for move, she is the exhale to his every inhale. The touch of her hand sets his skin on fire, maddens him to a passionate high from which he can only look forward to going all the way down. She circles his neck with her fingers in affection “You and me, we are the same, yet so very different” she says. Still inside her, Shaitan looks at Thalia through eyes glazed with passion. She reaches for the knife on the side and plunges it into his neck. Stunned, Shaitan falls unconscious. Thalia runs out into the corridor, past the guards. They look at each other in alarm and run into Shaitan’s room.

  Meanwhile, Thalia runs to the other end of the corridor and onto the adjoining rooftop quadrangle, towards Shaitan’s personal spacepod. Clambering into the driving seat, she fumbles around the controls, trying to start up the machine. Glancing outside the window, Thalia sees to her horror that the guards have already run purposefully out of the palace and onto the open terrace, intent on stopping her. One of the guards drops to one knee, the other remains standing. As one they raise their bows, slip out the arrows from their quivers in well-rehearsed fashion, and take aim.

  The sweat pours down her face, as with a sob on her breath and a prayer on her lips, Thalia hits the pale blue button just below the steering control. Instantly the ship fires up and rises into the sky, hovers for a second then, as if making up its mind, it suddenly gains momentum and zooms straight up into the heavens. The soldiers on the ground let loose their arrows in pursuit.

  Making a trajectory that takes it halfway over the city in under a second, the spacepod gathers even more speed. It pushes Thalia back against the seat with its force and, breaking the light barrier, instantly catapults her out of that dimension. One of the laser arrows which has locked onto the follows it through the empty space and into the next dimension and, just as it seems that it is about to hit the spacepod, it vaporises.