Dorje Druk

9.Paritta

The two stepped off the train in Bodh Gaya and made their way to street level. The thirty hour bus and train trip drained the two, especially Rangwang who was plagued by nightmares whenever he would try to sleep. The image of his dead parents turning into shadows frightened him. Around them were fellow monks in colored robes. Some were southern Buddhists in saffron robes, some were Japanese monks in black and he saw his fellow Tibetans in their maroon robes. Panzer and Rangwang stopped at a roadside cafe for coffee and to plan out how they would find the next relic. "Ok so the next relic is  conch shell. The conch is considered to be one of the auspicious symbols as it represents the teachings of the Buddha on right speech. I think the shell is inside the main temple held by a statue of the Buddha. The problem is that the main temple is crowded so we can't exactly sneak it out in your bag"  Rangwang said drinking his coffee. Panzer replied "So why not say we need it for something? Like clean it or something?". Rangwang rolled his eyes "It is not that easy to just take a relic with crowds of monks and laymen around looking at you". People passing them eyed the maroon clad dragon. "I have an idea. Care to hear it?" Rangwang suddenly said after a few minutes of silence. He whispered it into Panzer's ears and he had to admit it sounded pretty good. 

The two shuffled into the main temple with their fellow monks trying not to stick out. After they all made their way in they all bowed to the Buddha statue at the front of the temple. To the right near the middle of the room was a smaller statue that had the white conch beneath it. Panzer and Rangwang sat near the statue but not too close. A senior monk made his way to the front and started chanting in a language Panzer did not know but that Rangwang could somewhat understand, Pali, the language of the Buddha himself. "Homage to the Blessed, Noble and Perfectly Enlightened One" the abbot chanted three times and the rest of the monks followed along. After a few minutes of letting the monks chant Panzer got up and moved towards the Buddha statue looking like he needed to leave for a couple seconds. As he edged past the statue he carefully swiped the statue with his back to the statue. To the monks he looked someone just trying to get past the crowd and outside. He slowly stuffed the conch in his bag, the crowd of monks and laymen did not take notice. Rangwang was still towards the middle of the temple chanting whatever it was he was chanting. He looked around to see if anyone had taken notice and he made his way to the door, pushing past laymen from around the world. Some were locals by the way they dressed and how they spoke and some were Americans. 

"By the power of this, may you have triumph and success and may all your dangers be destroyed" the monks chanted on. Rangwag saw out of the corner of his eye that Panzer had taken the conch shell and was making his way to outside past the laymen and laywomen. He saw one, a black puma with a backpack that had a flag of Pakistan patch on it move forward a bit and sit down. The tourist bowed and reached into his pocket and pulled out prayer beads. They did not look like Buddhist beads. No one seemed to notice that the puma looked a little skittish with his tail flicking slightly. "Avoiding evil.."

The monks did not finish the quote before an explosion from the backpack knocked everyone back and causing the temple to shake violently. Shrapnel from the bomb shot everywhere and cut through everyone near the bomber. Some were blown apart completely while other had limbs cut away or arteries severed. Some died immediately from the blast and others were killed by the falling stones as the roof cracked and started to cave in. A fire started due to the igniter in the crude bomb being a mixture of gunpowder and gasoline. The terrorists designed this to bomb to not only maim but to set the temple on fire. Panzer was thrown forward and hit his face on the stone floor. He felt his nose start bleeding and a intense heat behind him. He felt someone on top of him choke and go quiet. After whomever went quiet he felt a warm liquid trickle down his back and from his nose. He felt his nose, not broken but hurt. He tried to feel his back but whomever was on top of him would not move. He pushed them off and saw that a young tabby cat had fallen dead on his back. Her body had multiple puncture wounds and one in her neck. He gagged and vomited from the sight. He started choking on the thick smoke that was starting to fill the temple. All around him he heard the moans of the inured and saw the still bodies of the dead. "I am in hell" he thought as he started looking for Rangwang. "Rangwang..Dude say something. Come on say something" he shouted as he trampled over bodies. He saw a wolf monk that looked like Rangwang crushed under a pillar. He was the same shade of grey and had reddish robes. 

"Oh my God...say something. Please don't be dead!" he shouted as he grabbed the monk's paw. He tried to pull him out from the pillar but he was pinned. He put his ear to him, he was dead. Panzer sobbed and gave up on trying to pull him out. He started to make his way out when he stepped on a body "OW!" it screamed. It sounded like Rangwang with the Tibetan accent. Panzer reached down to help. He picked up the body and realized it was Rangwang. "Oh my God! I thought you had died!" he shouted. Rangwang only coughed from the growing smoke. They stumbled towards the exit only to see that it had caved in. They looked up and saw that part of the wall was blown out, an exit. Panzer summoned all the strength in his body, unfurled his wings and jumped. He just made it above the clearing when they slammed into the ground hard. Already Police and Firefighters had arrived on the scene along with various medical and search and rescue teams. A medic spotted them and dragged them away to a waiting ambulance. Other than having the wind knocked out of them and Panzer having a bloody nose the two had minor cuts and burns. As they were being patched up they saw the dead and wounded being carted out. "I guess we lucked out..My good God that was horrible"Panzer said shaking a bit. Rangwang patted his shoulder "Very horrible. I'm happy we made it out and that the injured are safe now". 

The two left the emergency room that night after getting checked for internal injuries of which they were cleared. They found a seat at a cafe and Rangwang looked over the list of items. "We are almost done finding everything." he said. Panzer replied shakily "I don't think I can do this anymore. You almost died back there and many more were killed or injured. Last time you almost went crazy getting a vase with ghosts. All for some quest!". He got up to leave Rangwang there alone and go back to his stable life in his town. Rangwang stopped him "Look I know you are not a believer in all this. I know and I get it. I know that you want to leave and go back to your normal life and well...I will not stop you from finding your peace.". Panzer was surprised at how Rangwang just let him leave. He went back to drinking his coffee and his list and Panzer started to walk away. He made it a few feet away when he froze in his tracks when a tall golden retriever in saffron robes approached him. "So, you give up? Throw in the towel like a coward? Well you are certainly a disappointment to the Druks. But if you must then leave your friend alone" Adi said disapprovingly. Panzer made it to the bus stop and waited for a bus but those words kept nagging at him. He was a failure. He just left someone alone in an unfamiliar city that had suffered a terrorist attack. His parents would have told him to do the Christian thing. "What the hell is the Christian thing then?" he said to himself. A police car sped past him on the way to the bomb site. There was no way a bombing would occur at random when they are relic hunting and at the right site. "There has to be some type of connection there. The chances of that happening are astronomical...No they can't be connected that's just crazy....Satan or whatever that demon's name is has to be pulling something to throw us off track". He ran back to the cafe where Rangwang was getting ready to leave. "Hey wait, I made a mistake. I want back in..This bombing there's no way it was random. It was done to stop us. I'm sorry". Rangwang smiled and just said "Thank you. We have a train for Bhutan to catch in five minutes. Let's go my friend".