Nandita was sad, and then got a shock. Had it not been her sense of insecurity, she would have been sitting calmly in her cabin, oblivious to the fact that the horses of Indra were attacking them. What had Ashwin called them? Ah, yes, he’d called them ‘Uchchaihshravas’. As if she had asked him for a tongue twister early in the morning.
These— seven-headed horses— Uchchaihshravas – were powerful enough to carry Indra’s chariot across the heavens, then of course, they were also powerful enough to leave a ship in flames.
As the nearest one breathed fire, Nandita yelled, ‘Get out of here, now. It is vulnerable to advanced mantras only. And long swords. So, my Trinayan is only of use here.’
Ashwin was frantically and haphazardly mumbling words in Sanskrit, which seemed to be more like an essay or a speech rather than a short spell. Vignesh was doing the same. Swati— with a jolt, Nandita realized the bitter truth, Swati was nowhere aboard. She obviously was still in Naraka.
Gaurav was nowhere to be seen. Probably dozing in his new cabin.
Madhumita and Jasnoor seemed to be only pushing their willpower to run away. Jasnoor pushed Madhumita, and Madhumita somehow joined the battle. Seven- seven headed horses? There was no way they could defeat it. The mantras were not powerful enough, they were hopelessly outnumbered, and the time limit was also quite less.
Nandita was slowly losing hope until she heard it.
‘Nandita! What are you doing? Water attacks fire,’ said a voice of a girl. Nandita doubled over, almost fainting with shock.
‘Don’t tell me!’ said Ashwin.
Standing beneath the deck, quite out of the visibility of the Uchchaihshravas, was Swati, carrying what seemed like a hump, and with another jolt, and an involuntary shudder, Nandita realised that it was Jyoti’s limp form.
‘Shuklam Bharadaram Vishnum!’ she shouted.
WHOOSH!
A huge wave swished aboard the ship, submerging two of the Uchchaihshravas, and immediately, they turned to cement statues. How, Nandita didn’t want to know.
Swati’s appearance put a new heart into everybody. Ashwin and Vignesh starting chanting with more vigour and confidence, and Nandita and Parvati’s blows became stronger. Madhumita now created lesser number of paper cups, and started summoning more water. Slowly, the Uchchaihshravas were reduced to only four in number.
Ashwin chanted, ‘Vidya Devi mam Abhilasham Jagrati! Javargo! Javargo!’ and one of the four got beheaded. Just like that.
Vignesh added his power of chants, and together, Ashwin and he killed (made a sculptor’s masterpiece, more likely) them. This seemed to be nothing compared to the occasional ‘Whooshes’ on board, or the tangle of metal against skin every few seconds.
Jasnoor lay whimpering behind the curtain leading to the cabins.
Madhumita summoned six—seven and more amounts of water balloons, and splashed them more than two times apiece. Soon the Uchchaihshravas could only sputter smoke and had no power at all.
‘Vidya Devi mam Abhilasham Jagrati! Javargo! Javargo!’ Vidya Devi mam Abhilasham—’ chanted Ashwin along with the furious battle cries of Nandita and Parvati. ‘Shuklam! Bharadaram! Vishnum!’ chanted Swati. ‘Creation- now! Brahmane! Namo Brahmane!’ said Madhumita. Jasnoor shrieked in the background. With one furious ‘UH!’And another ‘Swoosh!’ and a powerful ‘Javargo!’ the last horse turned to stone. It glowed a brilliant blue, and turned into a zigzag blue sword.
YOU ARE READING
The Kailashanath Diamond
FanficThe world is much bigger, and millions of celestial beings who were thought to be just that - celestial turned out to be real. And there's a war brimming in the horizon, and mere teenagers are thrust into it. Things don't go their way. If a story wa...
