Chapter 30 FightFlee?
Chandra was back in travel clothes, a dark shirt under leather armor and a dhoti that allowed for greater freedom of movement. Sturdy slippers covered her feet and leather gauntlets adorned her forearms instead of bangles. They had decided to depart from the temple city that evening.
Chandra realized with a pang that they were leaving without at least a thanks to their hosts, but informing them of their departure would raise more questions.
Veer entered their hut.
“I’m ready—” She stopped when she saw his expression. “What’s wrong?”
“There are intruders inside the city. They have broken in through the city gates,” Veer announced grimly and beckoned her to follow him.
“How do you know this?” she asked, following him outside where the rest of their group of friends waited. Shota and Billadev, too, were in their travel clothes, sporting weapons and armor.
“I sent Vihari scouting to make sure the way was clear when I spotted them. They seemed well organized.”
“Maruthi tells me it is not one of the brigands of the Borderlands. There has been no talk recently about invading the temple city. What do you want us to do, Veer?” Shota asked.
“What do you mean? We should obviously alert the temple guards. They need to know they are under attack.” Chandra’s gaze moved from Veer to Shota, incredulous that there could be another option.
“If we alert the guards, we run the risk of blowing our cover, Princess,” explained Shota. “We will need to reveal who we are and what we were doing here. On the other hand, we can still leave under the cover of this attack with no one being the wiser. We got what we came for.”
Her mouth dropped open at his callous suggestion. “But these people have offered us a place to stay. They have been our hosts. How can you not take that into consideration?” she said in indignation.
Chandra and Shota both looked toward Veer, who stood in deep contemplation. His eyes still burned with the gold of his kite.
“We fight,” he decided. “I want to know who is behind this attack.”
Chandra watched the people huddled inside the temple compound. The ringing of the bell had alerted everyone and directed them to the temple, but a substantial number were still outside, at the mercy of the intruders.
The temple doors were closed a while ago, as the number coming in trickled down and the sounds of fighting grew ever closer. Now, all that was preventing the intruders from entering the temple complex were the majestic gopuras and the twelve feet concrete walls.
Fear and worry pinched the assembled faces. Most of them were women and children. The menfolk had gone to intercept and fight as soon as it became clear the enemies had broken into their city.
A few temple guards remained, since the idol needed to be protected at all times.
Agrani was there, along with the temple elders, but Aradatta was conspicuously absent.
He was the captain of the guards, in charge of all security, so he went to fight the intruders once Chandra had finished explaining why she had rung the bell.
Veer and the others had accompanied him.
Before leaving, Veer had given her strict orders to stay at the temple and to not venture out. Chandra wanted to protest but decided to pick her battles when time was of essence.
“What do we do now?” asked Radha, Agrani’s granddaughter.
She wore a pinched and frightened look, still carrying all the manuscripts she had carefully written over the summer months.
Matangi was among the crowd, too, her eyes wide with fear.
With a short knife in one hand, she gripped Radha’s tightly with the other.
Chandra realized that for all Matangi’s street smarts, she was still a girl in her teens, practically a child.
Chandra counted the number of remaining guards. They didn’t have enough to adequately protect both the temple, and the people assembled here.
Agrani clutched her wooden stick and hobbled her way to the front of the crowd. She met Chandra’s eyes but didn’t say anything.
Agrani hadn’t asked any questions about Chandra’s presence this late or how she came to know about the attack. Nor did she comment on the clothes worn by Chandra or the weapons in her hand.
“The women, the children, and the weak must all move to the inside, to the temple proper, the garbhagriha,” she said, her raspy voice steady despite the situation. With thick stone walls and sturdy doors, the chamber that housed the actual idol was the most secure room in the temple.
“But…Agrani…” The head priest’s face showed reluctance at the thought of allowing all manner of people entrance into the most sacred of the temple chamber.
Agrani seemed to understand his objection. “Got a better idea, Head Priest? Let’s hear it, then,” she snapped. “They’re our people, for heaven’s sake. Surely lives are important to you, too, or would you rather just save the Lord’s idol but not the people who worship him?”
Chandra couldn’t keep silent any longer. Their game of disguise was up, anyway.
“I’d like to offer help, but we need to round up everyone here who is willing to fight. We need to be able to defend the temple.”
“What’re you saying? Why would the intruders come this way to the temple?” asked the head priest, looking around nervously.
“Because the idol is the most valuable thing in this temple city, isn’t it?” Chandra pointed out logically. “We need to be prepared.”
Everyone looked to Agrani for guidance. She nodded at them. “Do what she says.”
“I hope you have a good explanation for all this, once everything is over, Chandra. If that is indeed your name,” Agrani said quietly, once Chandra finished giving out instructions.
A gentle breeze began blowing.
Chandra waited in silence and stillness, crouched on one of the gopuras. The new moon provided them with enough shadow to cloak themselves in.
From her vantage position, she observed the city, wreathed in smoke that came from the decimated huts and buildings on fire. Muted sounds of battle were borne by the breeze, drifting the charred smell of smoke toward them. The streets were dark and lifeless, not a stray dog or cat roamed them.
The few trained guards who elected to join the fight were up with her, hiding on these four tall gopura, one for each wall surrounding the temple.
The rest, who wanted to stay guarding the idol, had given up their long-range weapons, like arrows and spears, knowing they would need their swords more.
These went in arming the few able-bodied citizens
There was an air of still expectation inside the temple courtyard. The customary lone lamp, the akhanda deepam, which was always kept lit, was dead, its oil used up.
Briefly, she wondered how Veer and his friends were faring. Technically, she wasn’t breaking her promise to Veer. She was still within the temple.
Chandra couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was more to this. Especially when you took into consideration the attack at the three-river confluence. It appeared as if someone else had a vested interest in the idol. Or perhaps, the key piece.
But it was too bold a plan. The thieves roaming the Borderlands were mostly displaced people of Thianvelli, ordinary people who turned to a life of crime out of necessity.
They wouldn’t suddenly throw away their beliefs and launch an attack on a temple.
No, this spoke of meticulous organization and planning.
But the surrounding kingdoms had signed a pact to keep the temple city from the threat of occupation. None of them would openly dare to make a move.
Which raised more questions. Did someone else besides them know about the lotus key? And what was their interest in completing it? After all, the lotus key served only one purpose. To halt the explosion at Meru. Was someone trying to stop that from happening?
The intruders came, like they must have when storming the city gates—silent, stealthy, and methodical. Their dark clothes blended into the night. None of the party of roughly fifty men seemed hurt or maimed.
With dismay, Chandra came to the realization that the other intruders, were probably a distraction to lead off the majority of the temple guards, so these men could strike the temple when there were only a few left to defend it.
It was a good plan, she had to concede. But it just drove down their chances of success.
Breaking open the lock on the temple doors didn’t take them long. Too late, Chandra remembered that Veer had deliberately tampered to weaken them. And he didn’t have enough time to repair his mistake.
The men gathered at the door right underneath the gopura where she was hidden. She leaned a little to see if she could get a good shot, but the awning of the gopura covered them.
They moved into the courtyard, fanning out.
Chandra gave the signal, a piercing whistle that cut through the air.
A lit arrow sailed in the darkness and landed in front of the gopura.
The dying light from the arrow revealed the confused looks of the intruders a split second before realization widened their eyes. They attempted to move back, but the explosion lifted most of them off their feet and scattered them clear across the courtyard.
Right in front of the mandapa, they had stacked all barrels of oil within the temple, draining the oil of even the akhanda deepam, despite its function to serve as a light all through the night.
A volley of arrows came from the hidden archers in the gopura. The guards at the temple moved forward, engaging the few that weren’t affected by the explosion.
A great sheet of flame rose to the skies. If Veer and his friends were there somewhere within the city and unhurt, they would see the flame and hopefully hurry here.