Haimavati
Haima caught the fragrance of linseed oil and turpentine as she approached the shrine room.
A couple of knights clattered out of the door that was adorned with sparkling multicolored runes and asterisk. Their mouths twisted with scorn, lowly grumbled names amongst themselves, and hurtled past her. So Lady Chandrika's already been informed. Haimavati simply stood at the threshold for long moments, waiting for her presence to be acknowledged. Fingers clenched to fists and her heart found an uncomfortable spot in her throat. She was purposefully being waited on.
"I see you invited yourself over," a voice then chimed from inside. "Come in, Haima."
Haima walked inside the luxurious chamber loaded with delicacies, her footfalls light against the wooden floor, yet giving an eerie beat to the chilled silence. She went through the extended part of the floor, covered with ornate rugs, supporting an enormous desk lit by the glow of a variety of fragranced art candles.
A deadly thin, lanky but amazingly lithe and flexible woman sat behind the monumental desk. The older woman with attitude did not spare a look at the guest but calmly put the soapstone chalk aside and scrolled the palm leaves, a small smile lingering on her face. Then she pulled the veil of her elegant cotton saree and covered her jet black but with several patches of white hair. The candles gave a sudden flicker and the simple golden necklace around her neck dazzled in soft glow. It was late in the night, and tiredness hadn't caught up with her yet. She still looked tenacious and high-powered as in the day.
Their eyes met, and Haima gazed levelly at her former master. That relaxed posture, that unreadable thin smile, Haima regarded with ire and the heat inside the room increased more and more. However, she amused herself imagining this lanky person lying dead in a shapeless form in a casket. Almourah could build a perfect one for her. Back down and end the feud! She blinked recalling the conversation with Bhagwad. His words suddenly brought her out of the stupor.
"Ready for tomorrow?" Lady Chandrika asked, her voice expressively melodic and pleasant that Haima craved for herself, the voice that meandered with a purpose to make anyone fall in her charm.
"Will it matter a trifle if I say no?" Haima asked.
Lady Chandrika leaned back, her smile deepening. "Absolutely not. Tomorrow's event is going to represent a revolutionary breakthrough in Paramarashtrian magic. For the very first time, a certain dark magic is going to be accepted in the Panchayat, and will be practiced by the Clan of Maya hereafter. And you, Haima, must start showing some gratitude to me. Believe me, everything I'm doing is a favor to you for all those times you've helped me in my missions. The Great Hunt, how can you forget the best times we had together."
The Great Hunt. The unforgettable mission that first brought Haima to perceive the other side of Lady Chandrika, and had their successful working partnership dissolve into acrimony and mistrust.
A little over twenty years ago, the country was savaged by numerous invisible beings causing indeterminate sickness, cruelly turning normal humans into vicious beings processing magic. This was believed to have been started in the small suburbs of Uttarameer, and the victims' own cursed touch was spreading to others, sickening them. Evidently, the sickness had the potential to develop and escalate seeing the growing number of humans suffering. On the High King's approval, who was Haima's husband at the same time, Lady Chandrika and Haimavati partnered together to put an end to this transformation by killing each and every transformed person. Not to mention, they were indeed successful in stopping the sickness from spreading to the entire country.
This was however done in secrecy, meaning- magic was meticulously used, which dissuaded the mass panic from consuming the people. Haima, known for creating a variety of abnormal but safe-to-humankind invisible beings, sent a troupe of her army to slaughter the transformed humans down. The mission was a great success, extending Haima's sphere of influence throughout Uttarameer and also had given her the status of High Priestess.
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(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the Pancharatna
Fantasía"Mrs. Zutshi, how different was Zarina Khan from you? She was a clairvoyant, that makes her a witch too, right?" "Mages have their own history, Hayden. They have categories too. Since the time of Lady Chandrika's authority over the sections of the p...
