Dragon of the Mangrooves (24 page)

Grass sometimes rustled in the refreshing breeze. It mixed with the birdcalls to make a peaceful, rural tune. Then a whiz of a cannon abruptly reached his ears again, muting all other sounds. The war wasn’t over yet. An explosion came up from the northwest and shook his insides. The next one impacted on one of the ridges of Hill 604 and blew off many clods. An enemy mountain gun was firing there. Some friendly units were hiding themselves in the hill. He knew he must go right now.

He undid two buttons of the new white shirt to get more wind. Pondgi’s figure lingered in his mind, smiling gently. Sumi heartily wished for this boy’s safe return.

When Sumi opened his eyes, Pondgi’s face melted away into the blue sky, and Yukiko’s face appeared instead. She was also smiling. Flashing the same white teeth when he had choked on the soda pop, she was smiling sweetly. She would accept no matter what may happen with him from here. This was the kind of girl he had chosen.

The moment he started running, another shell exploded on the ridgeline, and a blast reached him this time. Grasping the Sten gun, Sumi came closer to the pagoda. With an elaborate coat of plaster, it had a brilliant white shine. Its scale was large, though the area stayed away from the settlement. Here stood the stately big tower with a cellar that could admit several people at a time.

Stopping to catch his breath, he casually looked up at the sky and saw a few vultures circling.

They say a custom of the celestial burial is still practiced among descendants of Zoroastrians in Tibet or Bombay. People feed remains to vultures to let them deliver the soul to Heaven. If it’s true, every soldier who met his end at Myinkhon Creek would be saved. How he would die didn’t matter anymore.

Sumi turned his eyes to the spire of the pagoda. It was crowned by a cast-metal ornament, elegantly designed and gilt. The figure looked like an antenna for him, shining brilliantly against the azure sky of Bengal. It must be the antenna transmitting every prayer of agonized living in this world to Heaven. Those who saw a crocodile in the mangrove could tell these things.

Sumi breathed deeply and started running toward the hill again.

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