And She Kissed a God

10. Arrow

I threw up in my mouth. The eyes from the severed head were staring at me. The robust white box was on the floor, a clean-shaved head lay tilted in the box, inside stained with blood dripping from the loose ends of the chin muscle, and a name scraped on the forehead.

Samidha.

I ran away from the crowd, chose a drain that carried excess water from the garden, and bent into it. I closed my ears and the smell of my vomit only worsened my situation.

Sam rushed to me, bringing a water bottle.

I cleaned my mouth, poured a few on my face. "What the hell was that?" I asked, panting with a heavy chest.

"A message," Sam said. Her eyes turned pale, face muddled. She ran her hands up and down my back. "And I don't know from whom."

She turned to Anil. He fixated his eyes on the head. Sam called him, but he hadn't responded. Staring at it, perhaps puzzling his old head, he remained frozen. The men were running around. The head of the security seemed concerned. He was yelling at people to close the gates and bring out the machinery.

I had no idea what machinery meant.

If the goddess were here, I could've felt better. Despite Sam's immortality, she might not be enough to save all these lives.

"Granny," Anil called. He looked different. He unbuttoned his coat. "This is Katrina," he announced. "They are coming."

My mouth still tasted bad. I gargled with a mouth full of water. Then I noticed the increase in the population of men. Bulletproof vests came out and machine guns floated around in their hands.

So that was the machinery.

Sam asked, "Who is Saurav?"

Anil explained to her. He narrated the back-story of a mad scientist and his crazy daughter, who were on a timeless quest to find her.

I was expecting her to panic and shout at him. However, she nodded and turned to me. Then she turned back and advised them to send me away, hide me before they could use me as leverage. She sounded like a military officer. The cuffs of her shirt went up as she strolled back and forth in the garden.

"We still have—"

The whirring of the helicopter blades cut through her words. Everyone looked up and there was a black helicopter circling the palace. Our men pointed their guns at it.

Sam walked backwards to me.

She looked Anil in the face and said, "Atharva."

Without a second thought, he dashed inside.

For a man of his age, he was fast.

***

This is how we ended in such a mess:

After hearing about her missing prophecy, the glass in Samidha's hand fell. A shatter filled my ears. I could tell she was on the brink of losing it. Her cheeks were dangerously red and her right hand already formed a fist.

"Your father was a greedy man," the goddess continued, "As his trades increased, he couldn't let his family return to poverty. Although I pity his low self-esteem, he shouldn't have done this to you."

It was getting dark and the lights in the garden blazed. Like a cricket stadium, the vast garden was shining under heavy floodlights from long poles.

"No, God has not abandoned you. Not even the God of winds, who brought you down, has forgotten about you. Doing miracles was never been your purpose. You served your purpose until the village existed. Every soul who prayed lived a cosy life.

You weren't just lucky, Samidha. It never was that simple. The gods are your power; the wind doesn't allow the bullets to touch you, the earth doesn't let any vehicle drive over you, the water won't suffocate you and the death would never reach you. That's not luck, that's every god in the universe looking after you since you were born. Your prophecy was clear—if you want to return, you just have to ask."

She listened to the goddess, facing the other way. She was emotionally absent.

Then she turned to us. "I need you to leave." She told the goddess.

"Samidha, I'm trying to—"

"I know." Sam approached her. "Thanks for telling me the truth. I know gods aren't supposed to meddle with humans. But you are here meddling, then it's serious. And I refuse to be part of it."

The goddess glanced at me.

"Neither do I allow Aditya into this," Sam added.

The goddess searched for Anil, but he wasn't with us. I too hadn't noticed him leaving. Perhaps he couldn't comprehend that the legacy he lived to protect was based on a lie.

"As you wish," The goddess said and walked back.

She took the saree to her front, joined her hands, and chanted. The lights blinked above as she kept chanting.

"Before I leave," said the goddess. "Samidha . . ." Her body became transparent. It went on and off. "All you need to do is ask." With that, she vanished and a red spark went off before us.

"She's just trying to help," I told Sam.

She shook her head. "After five thousand years, it does not help anymore."

Then through the glass wall, I saw Anil jogging along with his men. They were bringing a white box toward us. He seemed petrified.

***

The garden was so beautiful, if not for the helicopter. Palm trees took the centre line, and each separated by ten rose plants. The grass had worked as a paper to the painting. A thin drain went through the entire garden with openings besides plants. One corner had chrysanthemums falling to the west. Now, the wind from the blades bent them to the earth. The view became a tilted 3D version of reality.

I studied Sam. She stood before me, staring at the sky and waiting for them to make a move. The confidence of an immortal.

Anil was rushing back, meddling through, and carrying a bow and an arrow.

Thud!

Even between the cacophonies of those blades, I heard one loud thud. It was a bullet from a huge machine gun hanging on the edge of a helicopter.

And the firing began. The men below scattered like ants, taking shelter behind the walls and trees and firing back.

I hadn't had to run. I was standing in the middle of Sam's shadow, which meant the bullets kept going in other directions. It was then I realised Sam's luck could be other people's bad luck. The bullets projected out of her kept hitting our men.

Anil, sandwiched between two of his men, reached Sam and handed her the bow. She tested the golden string's elasticity of the bow. It danced between her fingers.

She took the arrow, smiled at me, and glued it between the thread and her finger. Cutting the sound of those bullets, a whoosh escaped along with the arrow. Sam stood still, her empty bow aimed at the helicopter. The men stopped firing as the arrow mercilessly made its way. I couldn't tell because of the lights or I was hallucinating, but the arrow kept increasing its size.

Then it protruded into the metal piece and appeared out top, taking a piece of the rotating blade with it.

*******

Thanks for reading.