The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter XXXVII: The Black Witch

Ten years ago in the dense jungle of Kathmandu, an orphaned girl found her way into a cave. She was hiding from the men who killed her entire family and were looking for her. She hid for two days in the cave, without any food or water until the men gave up and went away. She was dying from hunger and her wounds were bleeding out. Some strange old lady took mercy on her and took her along. She brought her to her home and fed and dressed her wounds. When she woke up, the little girl looked at the woman who saved her- and screamed in horror. The old woman was horribly disfigured and could barely walk. She told her not to be afraid and explained how she saved her life. The little girl relaxed and thanked her for it and then she began crying and explaining how the evil men killed her parents.

“What’s your name, sweet child?” asked the old woman in a trembling voice.

“Shanti!” replied the little girl.

“Um, Shanti means peace, do you want those men to be at peace after what they did to you little girl?” asked the old woman.

“No! I want them to die a horrible death, just like my parents did,” she replied.

“Then from now on, you will be called Ashanti, which is the opposite of your name and it means trouble and death and all things horrifying! I will teach you little girl, the secrets of the dark arts, and it shall make you invincible, no man shall ever hurt you,” said the old woman.

That day, was the first day of the rest of Ashanti’s life and she grew up to be the most dangerous assassin in the valley- feared by all and rivalled by no one. As the days passed by, she mastered the dark arts under the old woman- a witch who had lived for a hundred years. Her knowledge was passed on to Ashanti and she considered her to be her Godmother- and evil Godmother! After she died, Ashanti became infamous for always killing her targets and being able to disappear without a trace- but no one really knew how powerful a witch she was… And now she was after Carey and the others- it would be a deadly encounter…

It was 2.30 a.m. The night was long and dry, the summer heat had somewhat cooled down and a slow wind was blowing across the valley. Ram and Raza snorted in their sleep like pigs, while Carey watched the fire burn out slowly to its embers. Kali however was rolling in his sleep. He had been silent for the most of the journey but provided the current situation, he was not sure when would death come knocking at his door. He was rather uncomfortable at the Princess and Carey getting friendlier with each other. But what could he do? He was simply a lowly Thug, no royal Princess would accept her. Finally he made up his mind to have a few words with her and maybe express his feelings, for he might not live another day to tell her how he felt. He was a trained killer and a fierce fighter, how hard could it be to express his feelings?

He got up and walked towards her, she was sitting on a small boulder, resting her eyes. He coughed a little to let her know about his presence and she immediately noticed him. But before he could utter a single word, he heard a terrible roar echoing through the jungle which was unlike anything that he had ever heard. The sound seemed to be approaching towards them. The Princess looked at Kali and they both knew what it meant- more trouble- they rushed towards the others and woke them up. Before they could gather their belongings and run, a loud crashing sound made them pause and turn around. A monstrous figure slowly approached them and then followed the other. Two rock monsters slowly pranced towards them, blocking their exit. There was nowhere to run, on the other side was the edge of the hill which led into a steep descent of about a fifty meters.

The monsters growled and shook their heads from side to side, their eyes lighting up in a purple rage. Ashanti watched from afar.

“Kill them all!” she whispered and the Golems suddenly rushed at them.

Everyone began to scatter away. Carey held the Princess’s hand and ran to the left. Kali ran to the right. Ram followed the Princess and Raza froze in fear and bowed down while the monsters jumped over his head.

“What on earth are those? What do they want with us?” remarked Carey catching his breath.

“Rock monsters! They are made of dark magic, someone is controlling them- come with me, both of you, we need to run as far as we can from those things,” replied the Princess.

“Why can’t we just kill them? They are just rocks and clay?” remarked Ram Babu naively.

“Because they are indestructible, the only way to finish them off is to stop the one who is controlling them,” replied the Princess wisely.

The three of them kept running towards the bushes hoping to outrun them. But one of the Golems began to follow them and the other began following Kali. Nobody cared about Raza, who lay there shivering on the ground, covering his head with his hands. Ashanti watched as the group scattered in fear and panic. Not only she could control the golems but she could see through their eyes as well- meaning she could see everything that they could see.

“Who wants us dead now?” remarked Carey sarcastically.

“I don’t know, perhaps the whole world! God, I regret following you in this mission,” replied the Princess as they kept struggling through the bushes.

Carey was shocked to hear her response, she seemed really cranky. But the Golem was right behind them, there was no time to think.

“Where are we going?” said Carey

“Far from that thing, look we could climb up those rocks,” she said pointing towards a pile of rocks ahead, stacked to almost 20 metres height.

The three of them climbed up with great difficulty as the rocks kept slipping off and they kept losing their grips. The Golem tried climbing the rocks but it kept slipping and falling down. The first rays of the sun were peeping through the edge of the mountains- dawn would soon be upon them. After reaching the top, the three of them pushed a heavy rock at the Golem underneath which knocked its head and the monster went crashing down the rocks. It was knocked out but not for long, they had to do something quickly for it wouldn’t rest until it had crushed them completely.

“Oh! Heavens, phew! What on earth! What! I don’t believe this, a Golem? No!” exclaimed Ccarey in disbelief.

“A what?” asked the Princess catching her breath.

“Golem! From ancient mythology, I have read about them in books, never thought I would get to see one!” said Carey panting.

“Whatever it is, we have to find the sorcerer and stop them, that’s the only way- wait, where’s Kali? And Raza?” she said.

Kali ran as fast as he could but it was useless trying to outrun the monster- it was unstoppable. He saw that there were huge trees all around him and long climbers hanging from them. He thought of an idea. The Golem was about 500 metres behind him. He quickly took a bunch of the climbers and tied them together to a tree. He was thinking of trapping the monster’s leg and slowing it down by making a trap from the climbers which would snap when the monster would run through them. The monster was approaching at full speed towards him. He only had about 30 seconds before it crushed his skull. He tied the climbers’ ends on the trees and stood before it hiding the trap. The monster ran towards him fiercely and just when it was about to smash on to him, he jumped out of the way. The monster ran straight into the trap and got itself entangled on the climbers and crashed down. It tried to get itself free but only got itself entangled further, its bulky body did the rest- it began to struggle like an overturned turtle. Kali wasted no time and ran back the way he came. He had to find the others before it’s too late. Ashanti clenched her fist in anger as the golems were immobilised. She had underestimated them but they were yet to see the full extent of her powers.

“How do we find the sorcerer? They could be hiding anywhere?” Carey asked a good question.

“Use your abilities!” said the Princess.

“What?” he replied.

“Sahib! You got abilities? Powers? You know witchcraft?” asked Ram Babu with genuine surprise and fear in his eyes. Carey wasn’t surprised at his innocence.

“No, Ram, I am not a witch! And your highness, I don’t know what to do?” replied Carey.

“You told me, you can see auras of people around you, and that you once travelled into the spirit realm, use that, get creative!” said the Princess, Ram Babu gasped in shock.

“I don’t know how and what to do, I have no control over them,” replied Carey.

“Just relax and meditate for a minute, see through your mind not your eyes, feel the surroundings and look for a dark energy around us, now sit down here,” ordered the Princess.

Carey sat on the side of a boulder and tried to relax, half- heartedly. He did not believe that he could do it. He closed his eyes and thought about the Orb and prayed for help. Nothing happened for a couple of minutes. The monster underneath the rocks was waking up from its slumber. Carey was feeling the cool morning breeze touching his face. Within another minute, he was completely relaxed- he was in a trance. He couldn’t believe it would be so easy, maybe the pieces of the Orb were helping him. Even though his eyes were closed, he could see the entire landscape through his mind. It was all colours and smoke in his mind. The trees, the mountains and the rocks appeared in yellow and his team members appeared in orange coloured smoke. He saw exactly where they were, even though he was far. And then as he was looking around, he saw a black smoke emanating from the southern side of the forest and it was approaching towards his direction. The Golems below appeared nothing but lifeless rocks to him but the black energy filled smoke had sensed his presence. He suddenly opened his eyes and pointed towards the general direction.

“She’s over there, she’s coming, the black witch!” he said.