The War of the Grail (48 page)

A light flashed in Jack’s eyes and his nose went numb. It felt as though warm water were pouring over his face.

Jhala raised his fist again. Jack brought the Lightning yantra to mind and prepared to strike, but Jhala hit him before he could hold the design steady.

Jack scrabbled to recall the yantra, but Jhala was already pounding him again. Darkness flooded across Jack’s eyes for a second.

He couldn’t let Jhala beat him now. Not after Jhala had threatened Elizabeth. Not after he’d forced Jack to hunt William. Not after he’d bombarded the fortress day after day, slaughtering hundreds of English men and women.

Jhala would have to pay for his crimes.

Jack bunched his right hand into a fist and was about to throw a punch, when Jhala suddenly stood up.

He beckoned to Jack with his finger. ‘Get up. I’m giving you another chance.’

Jack clambered to his feet. He could feel blood coursing from his nose and running over his lips. His heart was beating hard and his face was growing hot. The pain in his foot, the roaring of the giant avatar, the shouts, screams and distant pop of muskets were all far away from him now. His sole focus was Jhala. And the only thing he wanted to do was kill his old guru.

He ran at Jhala, gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain in his foot as far as possible. Despite his limp, he moved faster than he’d expected and lunged at his old commander.

But Jhala had plenty of warning. He stepped to the side and struck Jack on the side of the head with his fist, so hard it made Jack’s ear ring. But Jack had anticipated this move and elbowed Jhala in his undefended flank.

Jhala breathed out sharply, groaned and stumbled away.

Jack spun round and faced Jhala again. Pain welled in Jack’s foot and the centre of his face. But he pushed all this aside.

Jhala had to die. Had to.

Jack summoned the yantra and blasted lightning. Jhala once again blocked the attack. Jack tried again, but again Jhala defended himself.

Enraged, Jack tried a third time and again Jhala parried the attack easily.

But now Jack saw black spots circling in front of his eyes, and his head was reeling. His mind felt drained, drawn. And he realised that he’d used up all his sattva. He was depleted and wouldn’t be able to fire lightning again for some time. And even worse, he was on the verge of passing out.

He shook his head and pulled himself back from the brink. He glared at Jhala. He couldn’t give up. He had to keep trying.

He raised his hand and attempted to hurl another bolt, even though he knew he would fail.

Then darkness passed over him. He fainted and fell backwards.

J
ack woke to find Jhala standing over him, gazing down.

Jack spluttered. How long had he been out for? It felt like seconds but could have been longer. He could still hear the avatar raging in the background, as well as the sound of muskets. The battle was continuing.

But, for him, it looked as though the war would soon be over. Jhala was pointing his fingers straight at Jack’s chest. Clearly Jhala was ready to fire lightning, and Jack was so depleted and weak there was nothing he could do to defend himself.

Jhala gave Jack a small smile and his eyes moistened. ‘I’m afraid you have used too many powers today. I’m becoming depleted myself, but it looks as though I’ve been lucky enough not to have drained myself entirely.’ He shook his head. ‘It is such a great pity that it has come to this. I never wanted this to happen. You understand that, don’t you?’

Jack clenched his jaw. Rage was burning in his chest. He struggled to get up. He couldn’t give up yet. While he was still breathing, he had to do anything he could to fight against Jhala – even though the situation now looked hopeless.

He managed to sit upright, then clambered to his feet. He could barely put any weight on his injured foot, pain still welled in his face, his nose was still bleeding and clouds of darkness kept threatening to draw him back into unconsciousness. But he clung on and remained standing.

‘Good.’ Jhala nodded slowly. ‘It is good you are standing. You will die honourably.’

Wincing at the pain in his foot, Jack lurched forward a few paces.

Jhala stepped back, still holding his arm up.

Jack’s vision became blurry and he had to blink to make out Jhala properly. Why was his old commander delaying? Why didn’t he fire a lightning bolt now and finish it?

Jack forced himself to take a few more paces forward. If he could make it over to Jhala, he could still attack him, still try to kill him.

Then a shriek erupted nearby. Jack looked past his old commander and saw the giant avatar looming no more than fifteen yards away. The beast was hunched over a mound of rubble, staring into a hole at the top. It reached down with its claw and plucked out a woman, holding her about the waist. The woman screamed, struggled to free herself and kicked her legs. But the avatar held her firm, lifted her up to its face for a moment, and then dashed her head on a rock. It threw her limp body aside, reached into the hole again and dragged out another woman, who wrestled furiously to escape, before the beast squeezed its claw shut and cut her in half.

Jack swayed as he watched the avatar. The beast was already bending over the opening and reaching in again. Jack thought he could hear the faint cries of people inside. They must have thought they’d found a good hiding place, but now they were trapped.

Jhala glanced back and took in the scene.

‘Is that the dharma you’ve brought to England?’ Jack’s voice croaked. His mouth was so dry now, it was difficult to speak. ‘That monster’s killing trapped people. Women.’

Jhala frowned. ‘That is not our concern now.’

‘Isn’t it? You’re happy to let that go on, then?’

Another woman screamed as she was sliced in two.

Jhala pursed his lips. His men still stood to either side of Jack, all of them now gaping at the horror taking place just yards from them.

The avatar wrenched out a boy, aged about eight, and crushed him against a rock, blood streaming down the stone as if the beast were squeezing juice from a piece of fruit.

Jack felt bile rise in the back of his throat. He said to Jhala, ‘You can’t stand by while that happens.’

Jhala took a deep breath. Then, without acknowledging what Jack had said, he strode towards the creature. He raised one hand and barked commands in a language Jack didn’t understand.

The avatar had already lifted yet another woman out of the hole and now held her by the neck. The woman kicked and writhed, but was unable to free herself.

Jhala held up his hand again, barked more words in the strange language, then shouted in Rajthani, ‘I command you now to stop!’

The avatar turned and stared at Jhala. Its eyes throbbed brighter and the numerous layers of its maw slid open. It gave a hiss, exhaling hot, coal-scented air.

‘Stop now!’ Jhala called out.

The beast gurgled. The fire in its centre, just visible through the gaps in its armour, glowed more brightly. Then, in a single fluid movement, it snapped its claw shut, severing the woman’s head from her body, while at the same time swinging its other claw at Jhala.

Jhala ducked and avoided the blow – he was still remarkably agile for a man of his age. Then he stood, voiced the command and launched a blast of lightning at the avatar. The bolt smacked the creature in the head and sizzled about its maw for a moment. The beast looked to the sky and bellowed.

‘Run!’ Jack shouted to Jhala. He knew the creature couldn’t be defeated with powers. He’d tried himself, and so had Kanvar.

But Jhala either didn’t hear, or he ignored Jack. Instead, he raised his hand to fire again.

The beast lowered its head and swung a claw. Jhala stooped again and the claw flew past. But now the creature responded by jabbing at him with its leg.

Jhala was caught off guard. The leg knocked him to the ground, where he landed on his back. He looked up in time to see the beast slamming its leg on top of him. He cried out, lifted his hand and went to shout the command again. But the creature stamped down, pressing its full weight on to him. With a sickening squelch, the leg crushed Jhala, popping him like a marrow.

A murmur passed through the soldiers standing about Jack.

‘Shoot the thing!’ a sergeant shouted.

The men lifted their muskets and fired at the beast, the muzzles coughing and spraying smoke. Bullets rattled against the avatar’s carapace but did no damage at all.

‘Reload!’ the sergeant shouted.

As the men were biting open cartridges and pouring powder into the barrels of their firearms, the avatar growled and turned. It stared at the men, its eyes flickering, then it bounded towards the party.

Jack knew there was no point in him staying where he was. The creature had gone mad. The musket balls would continue to glance off it – and the soldiers would be butchered, if they remained where they were. He hobbled as quickly as he could towards the ruins lying on the outskirts of the courtyard of the Great Yantra. He half expected one of the soldiers to fire at him, but instead he heard the firearms blast at the creature. The bullets chimed as they bounced off its armour.

And then he heard shouts, screams and the squeal of metal against stone. He looked back once and saw that the beast had ploughed into the soldiers lining the wall, crushing several and scattering the others.

He didn’t look back again but kept limping towards the crumbling walls ahead of him. If he could make it into the ruins, at least he would be able to hide, recover a little and decide what to do next.

A head poked out from a crumbling archway ahead of him. It took him a second to realise it was Saleem.

The lad was beckoning furiously and shouting, ‘Run!’

Jack heard drumming on the ground behind him. He shot a look backwards and saw the giant avatar was now charging straight at him.

His heart jumped and he felt faint again for a moment, but he pulled himself together and pressed on. He lurched through the entryway and saw that Saleem was carrying Cecily in his arms.

Why did Saleem have Cecily? Why had the lad come down from the wall?

But there was no time to ask questions. The avatar gave a roar so loud that dust danced across the stonework and shivered to the ground.

‘Over here!’ Saleem shouted.

He led Jack through a second entrance, across a chamber and towards a wide archway, through which Jack could see the rubble on the south side of the courtyard. The oak tree rose from the far side of the broken stones.

As Jack ran, he slipped into the powerful stream. The sattva churned around him, forming eddies and whorls. Once again, he was within the Great Yantra.

Grimacing at the pain in his foot, he followed Saleem out of the entryway and then saw a strange sight on the other side of the rubble. Elizabeth was sitting cross-legged beneath the oak tree, her eyes closed, her back straight and her hands on her knees.

Jack grasped Saleem’s arm. ‘What the hell is she doing?’

Saleem looked at him with wide eyes. ‘The Grail. She’s trying to use it.’

‘What?’

‘She said she knows the necklace off by heart. She’s been looking at it all her life.’

Jack stalled. He’d never considered this, but it made sense. Elizabeth knew the design of the cross as well as he did. She’d seen it hanging from her mother’s neck since she was a child.

Could Elizabeth really use the power? She’d never meditated before, she wasn’t sensitive to sattva, and she wasn’t a siddha. And yet, maybe it could be possible. Maybe, after all, she would be the pure knight …

And if she really did manage to use the power, would that mean she would ascend to heaven? Would she die?

The ground seemed to drop an inch and Jack’s head spun. Elizabeth could be in grave danger. But, at the same time, she might be on the verge of saving the crusade.

‘She asked me to look after Cecily,’ Saleem continued. ‘Then I saw you over there, fighting those soldiers, and I came to try to help you. I didn’t know what to do.’

Jack patted Saleem on the arm. ‘You did all right.’

Then the ground shook and the air quivered as a rumble blasted to Jack’s right. The giant avatar was lumbering round the outer edge of the knot of ruined buildings. It spied Jack and Saleem, gave a screech and charged at them.

Jack pushed Saleem, still with Cecily in his arms, back into the entryway they had just come through. ‘Hide! I’ll draw that thing away from you.’

Saleem opened his mouth, but Jack shouted, ‘Do it! Now!’

Jack didn’t stay to make sure Saleem did as he’d asked, because the avatar was racing towards him, mouth open in a scream. He tried to run but could manage little more than a jog. Each time he pressed his wounded foot against the earth, the pain streaked up his leg.

He ran across the open ground between the buildings and the rubble, heading in the direction of the west wall. He vaguely thought that if he could get closer to the wall, Fletcher might fire the guns at the beast and knock it back. But this plan was fraught with risk. In truth, all he was trying to do was to draw the beast away from Elizabeth and Cecily. It didn’t matter if the creature killed him. He would accept his fate.