(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the Pancharatna

26. Partner Up

Hayden

Ashwant had been searching for Breaking Samagraha the world over and they were here, right in front of my eyes, held captive in Shashi's lair.

My mind screamed with questions and uncertainties. To say I was confounded was an understatement. But I needed to gain a greater perspective, to take a step back and see the wide-angle version. Ruchin's hand gently shook, his fragility in the gloomy room was much like that of a fluttering leaf in the dead forest. His skin was paler than I last remembered, cheekbones sucked in, eye sockets sunken, liveliness snuffed out. Seeing his condition made me forget all the pain my bruised arm caused. His body was strapped tightly to the bed, forcing him to keep his back straight and immobile. He was in no condition to talk whatsoever. Yet, his lips moved. "Please...please..."

"Shh.." I insisted and removed all the straps around his bed. Also, everyone else's.

Beside Ruchin, sleeping as dead, was Maahir. Once a fellow Samagraha-plump and over-enthusiastic- was now reduced to skin and bones. He looked old beyond the natural lifespan. Painful moans were coming from another side of the room. Naomika, Donavan, Ezhil, Blythe, and Anila-they were all here, their bodies on the verge of self-destructing. Surely, they were separated from their stones. That much was clear and they needed urgent medical attention. They needed Ashwant, or at least their stones. Where were their stones?

I shot an incredulous look at the two people standing in the corner. "Answer me. What's going on here? Who are you?"

The couple split apart, wary yet looking suitably nervous. "Shashi hired us to keep an eye on the Samagraha," the man said, his voice low-pitched.

"Are you mages?" I asked.

"Y..yes."

"Where are the Samaratna?"

He shook his head, and a trace of panic rounded his eyes. "Don't know."

I swallowed, mind racing like a calculating machine. Ruchin and others were not dead, they were being tortured to death. Shashi was after Samagraha's power, wasn't he? Is this the part of the ritual he had been meaning to perform? "What else can you tell me?" I asked. "Why has been Shashi planning to do with Breaking Samagraha?"

The man took a pause and dropped his nervous gaze down to the floor. The woman sniffed and began to wipe the tears from the corner of her eye. Patience began to wear right through me. I snapped my fingers together. Singh roared, sounding like an original lion in the distance ready to swallow them both.

That startled the man. "Shashi's been performing magic to control the creatures," he stuttered. "And for it, he needs Breaking Samagraha's stone as one of the ingredients."

A sudden coldness hit me at the core. For once I thought his words might take forever to sink into my mind. I turned around to Shourya. His face was bleak and hopeless, eyes squinting from one Samagraha to another. "Did you know about this?" I asked, seeking his attention.

"No," he said sincerely.

I needed a moment to think. To make sense of everything I'd been learning today. God knows what else I might know about Shashi and his warped plans for the country. This piece of information was like a heads-up for what the future might hold. My friends were out there and I'd specifically told them not to return without making any progress. Then I remembered the rumor Yuvan must have started circulating. An unnecessary turmoil would elicit if I went back now. Simplistic though it may seem, in the current situation giving even an elementary explanation in the Panchayat for perpetuating the hoax seemed like another full-blown job. 

"Change of plans," I said to Shourya at once. "You will have to take these seven Samagraha out of here. They need medical help, so take them directly to Ashwant."