The Kailashanath Diamond

Chapter 25

Swati was always wary of blondes. Now she had to face like tens of them. Obviously this wasn't her idea of a trip to the temples of Angkor Wat. Ashwin, she noticed, had already started chanting whatever he could fiercely under his breath, and she could discern the Sanskrit for destruction and protection. At least it isn't me who has to cram all that, she mused to herself, and took out her discus, shaped like a sharp Punjabi weapon. This would be perfect: Swati wasn't the kind who could bear direct battle, so an object that could be thrown was her perfect weapon of choice.

Nandita, she saw, had already taken out Trinayan and was brandishing it wildly at a grinning blonde. 'Who in Naraka are those?' Jasnoor muttered from a safe distance, her voice shaky. Vignesh, also standing quite far away, answered her.

'They're the lagatirakshasah. They aren't mentioned anywhere in our myths, considering they roam these lands far away from India. Their name literally translates to 'devils of light'.' Ashwin muttered a particularly loud curse (or was it a mantra?) and one of the creepy-blondes-lagati-thingies clutched her eyes and burst, just like that, into a million shards of light.

'How did you do that?' Nandita gasped, through a few more slashes at the lagatirakshasa before her, who dodged them all with ease. 'I-I think I targeted their ability to see. I blinded them. Oh, devas and the Samaj! They need light to survive. Honestly, I'm stupid,' with renewed vigour, he started chanting, but his phrases seemed visibly shorter now.

'What?' Swati asked, throwing her discus with as much force as she could muster. It, sadly, didn't find its mark, and hit the demon's shoulder, chipping it slightly. The blonde yelled in anger, ripping out her hair. Swati noticed that it shimmered like a dragonfly's wing when exposed to the weak sunlight filtering through the windows. How can such evil things be made out of something so nice as light? Thankfully for her, the discus (which she hadn't named yet, as per tradition) returned to her hand like a faithful boomerang.

'There you go. Nandita, careful!' Nandita barely missed the edge of the crescent-shaped discus the light-lady was using. She yelped as it sliced through her already injured little finger, cursing in Sanskrit all the while. The lagatirakshasa, seizing the opportunity, aimed her discus at Nandita, who looked dizzy and unfocused.

'OH NO YOU DON'T!' With a quick, unexpected leap, Gaurav dashed out from the back where everyone else was observing the fight, and put himself between the discus and Nandita. 'Gaurav, no!' Madhumita yelled, but the discus didn't harm Gaurav. In fact, it sailed harmlessly through the air and broke into a thousand shards. The demon snarled, and before Gaurav could react, she pressed a clump of her golden hair onto his face.

Gaurav's yell could have easily reached the Cambodian capital.

He clutched his face as if something burning-hot had been pressed to it, screaming in agony. He fell to his knees, groaning and twisting, gasping as he tried to withstand the pain. Ashwin's strained expression now gave way to a confused one. He opened his mouth, but another demon-lady walked up to him from behind, and he once again fell into his ritualistic chanting.

'Vignesh and all of you, what in the name of Yama do you think you're doing? Help him, goodness gracious, look at him!' Swati, who had her discus safely tucked underneath her fingers, pointed furiously at Gaurav as she tried to explain the situation to everyone else. Gods, they are stupidity personified. Someone's in pain and there they are, gaping like village folk from the third century.

 Madhumita was the first to react. She got her oh-my-gods-a-history-test look, and conjured a bowl of water and cloth. Jasnoor and Parvati took the cloth, wiped it clean and pressed it onto Gaurav's expressionless face, now devoid of all the pain that it had once held. 'What has she done to him? Ashwin, answer me! What has she done to him?' It was Nandita who looked fierce now, asking Ashwin.