(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the Pancharatna

18.1. An Uphill Battle

Author's Note: Intense Violence Alert.

Nazira

"Where is the Pride?"

Nazira squirmed. The tightness of Shashi's grip on her hair strained her scalp, giving her acute migraine. She attempted to look aside, feeling petrified with the worried nerves for the safety of the baby. Shashi's huge body blocked the view. She cursed. The image of the baby's death sneaked up on her. "He doesn't deserve this. Leena doesn't deserve this! Please let him go. He is just a child!" She cried. Nobody listened. Probably the most striking thing to remember at this point was that Haima had failed to mind-talk with mages, and now as Nazira, she had the hunch to make that as her definite goal.

Despite the throbbing headache, Nazira tried to shove herself sideward, energy flowing. For a split second, Shashi's touch sent a few desolating images into her mind. Images of a place littered with filth and pollution. Images of a few people sleeping on the stone bed, struggling for life, persevering without food and water, choking to breathe, twisting with pain and fury. Nazira saw faces. She knew them. She recognized them. Her throat went raw with realization. Then she saw plumes of smoke rising in the air, masking the faces of these people. The smoke twirled and reshaped into the wings, the two-eagle-headed face, and the paws. Nazira stared into the intense eyes of the creature. Her stomach knotted. She knew how Shashi created these creatures.

"Last warning," Shashi's said, spit spraying out of his snarling lip. "Did you or did not give it to the Samagraha?"

She banished the images and shook her head, bluntly refusing to speak the truth.

He leaned over, the whiteness of his eyes painted angry red, his putrid breath filling in the gap between them. Her stomach recoiled with disgust. "You don't understand, do you?" he said. "This willful side of yours...no, I can't hate you just yet, Nazira. Your magic is way too precious for me to give up. You and I could have become a team had your loyalties been not so defective. Perhaps a little mollycoddling might produce more sense of duty towards me."

His nails dug deep into the skin on her upper arm. A sense of fragility found its way into her bones. "You were just an empty mass of oblivion without magic," he continued. "A submissive, spineless, timid little girl. Now look at you. How strong and confident you've become, strong enough to make a deal with me! Magic has brought this change in you, had it not? What a brilliant example to me you are. Soon every normal human in this country will look to you as an example and reward me with their loyalties. All you need to do is to work at my bidding. Give me the Pride. And I'll make this country a better, more improved place to live. Every human will be equally beneficial as a mage. Become as strong as a mage. Isn't that what Haimavati Roksana ever wanted?"

Her eyes narrowed. Was he taunting her? Energy began to flow through her body. Take a step! Hayden's words of advice began to compel her once again.

Shashi pressed on. "For all the grapples and burdens I'd shouldered, I would find consolation in my ambition once I turn every human into a mage. I've successfully seized the rest of the four Third-Eyes. It's only the Pride that I need."

"What?" she signaled with one hand, an incredulous thought occurring to her, something akin to suspicion. To turn humans into mages? 

"Yes." His lips moved slowly. "I've counted enough years now. Try and walk with me, Nazira. Don't be such a hurdle in my way. Transforming these normal humans into mages is the only solution to demolish this brutal impression this country has created on mages like us. And that will happen only when the High Demoness walks free from her preservation."

Nazira felt her lips parting, her heart pounding in her temples.

"That's right," Shashi continued, as though been able to read her mind. "With the help of the five Third-Eyes, I'm going to release the spirit of Lady Drishtika from the Molten Vault."