[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

odd that the statue's eyes were closed.
Didn't I hear something about that, somewhere, in a street tale? That
someone in Ganesh's temple once offended him, and the statue of
Ganesh closed its eyes to show that Ganesh would no longer answer his
prayers?
She was immediately distracted by the sight of her aunt, however, who
now bore no resemblance to the old apple woman at all. Shivani, the
Priestess of Kali Durga, was, in fact, remarkably young-looking;
except for a very few fine lines at the corners of her eyes and
mouth, she looked just as young as Maya. Her hair was black and
glossy, plaited into a thick braid along with thin gold chains. She
might have been considered a handsome woman except for those lines,
which gave a cast of cruelty to her features, and except for her
eyes, which were hard and cold. Anyone seeing her would have known at
once that she and Surya had been sisters-and would have known at once
that they were nothing at all alike.
The woman knelt at a brazier just in front of the altar, casting bits
of this and that into it so that smoke rose in thin curls from the
charcoal. Beside the brazier was a tube of red-Maya's own blood,
still in the syringe. Involuntarily, Maya strained toward it.
"You are awake," the woman said, in a calm, and silky voice. "Do not
trouble to speak; you cannot."
Do not trouble to boast, I am not impressed, Maya retorted, forming
the words and thinking them fiercely at her captor, as she had
learned to do when her spirit went deep into the realm of Earth
Magic.
Startled, the woman looked up from her task in spite of herself.
Their "eyes" met, and Maya strove to put nothing in her own gaze but
defiance as she held her thoughts behind a tightly woven shield.
"I will have you," Shivani said quietly.
You will not. You cannot overcome me. You may kill me, but you will
never have me. With that challenge, and before Shivani could react to
it, Maya gathered her strength, and drove her self down into the
earth below, searching for a link into Earth Magic.
It was tainted, stinking with blood; she drove down further, sensing
that behind her Shivani had leaped to her feet and was belatedly
trying to prevent her from going in this unanticipated direction. She
felt her progress slowing, as Shivani "pulled" against her flight,
using whatever hold she'd put on Maya's spirit to drag her back.
She strained against the pull, striving to inch herself clear of the
polluted soil, trying to get even a fraction of her "self" into a
place where she, and not Shivani, had the advantage. It was like
trying to swim to the bank of a stagnant cesspool with a rope around
her waist and someone pulling her deeper into the pool with it.
She would not submit! Never!
Her progress slowed-stopped altogether-
Slowly, Shivani began to pull her back.
In one final effort, Maya hurled herself forward- not all of her
self, but just a tiny thread connected to a miniature javelin, a
little anchor, the most invisible of grapples to connect her to a
source of additional, clean strength. And the thread caught, held,
fused-
She gave up the fight, and let Shivani bring her back like a dog on a
leash, or a fish on a line. But behind her that thinnest, barely
perceptible thread unreeled, and the magic of the Earth pulsed up it,
giving her renewed strength and hope.
Shivani, however, gloated in triumph as she brought Maya back to her
place above the altar. "You stupid, stubborn brat!" Shivani crowed.
"I am older, stronger, and far cleverer than you! And very, very soon
you will know just how little you can do against me. Look there-"
She gestured to the side of the altar, where there was a small mirror
of black glass lying on a square of red silk. Maya looked closer at
what seemed to be an entirely innocuous object, and to her horror,
she realized that there was-something in it.
No, not something. Someone. A tortured spirit, more than half mad,
imprisoned within the circle of ensorceled glass. A movement of
Shivani's hands caught Maya's attention, and she saw that Shivani
held up a similar mirror for her inspection.
"This one will shortly be your home, English witch," Shivani said
sweetly. "Examine it as much as you please for the next hour or so.
It will be the last time you see it again from the outside."
With her own laughter ringing through the temple, the priestess of
Kali Durga went back to her magics, leaving her victim to contemplate
the fate her captor had designed for her with a sinking, terror-
filled heart.
ALMSLEY passed the falcon Mala to Gupta, glove and all, and peered
around the corner of the building from the place where their party
huddled in the alley. Peter was already burdened with Charan and
Rhadi, Norrey with Sia and Singhe. Almsley would lead the initial
assault force of Norrey's "mates," breaking into the building and
distracting the dacoits, while Norrey, Gupta, and Peter tried to find
the temple and the priestess. It would, of course, be hidden-but the
moment that Gupta had pointed that out, Rhadi had leaned down and
whispered into Peter's ear a single clear word.
"Guide."
From that moment, Peter had no doubt that they would be able to find
the temple.
Footpad stealth and Almsley's magic had gotten them here from the
place where they left the cabs without being detected, so far as they
knew. Nisha the owl had made several flights to ensure that they were [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]