The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter VI : Grudges

“A never ending pit of darkness that squeezes every last drop of hope from the human soul, so deep is my despair that wrought my body…I do not see the end…”

A strange dream again! This time Carey woke up around 3 in the morning with a terrible pain on his neck and shoulders, sweaty and out of breath. He wiped his forehead and looked around. The room was dark, the lantern had burnt out and the window was still open. A faint beam of moonlight fell upon the floor and all he could hear was the sinister hooting of an owl nearby. He began to recall his dream but it was getting harder by the minute. But he could remember that it was similar to his previous dream, being chased by goons to the edge of the cliff and a strange shadowy figure obstructing his path. Only this time he saw that the figure had some kind of a sharp object in its hand and he could tell that it was meaning to harm him. The rest of the details were getting blurry- maybe he fell down from the edge of the cliff and maybe he saw blood in his hands; he couldn’t remember. But whatever it was, it was scary enough to make him sweat like a pig. Carey dismissed these dreams as mere figments of his imagination and the fact that he hadn’t had a proper night of sleep ever since the incident in Awadh. He walked towards his bed and laid down and began to think about his expedition. He knew he had to leave at the earliest towards the location of the river and find the map so he thought he should get some much needed shut eye before a long and tedious journey. He kept wondering how safe it was to carry with him a bag of gold coins across these Badlands…

Hoot!

Hoot!

The owl kept crying. Carey recalled that according to local folklore, sometimes, these strange cries of a midnight owl meant an ominous forewarning- something bad was coming his way…

Thud!

“What the!” Carey remarked as he opened his eyes to the sound of something falling on the balcony.

The room was still dark, except for the slanting moonbeam on the floor. He reached for his pocket watch and got up from his bed and tried to figure out the time by holding it in the moonlight. It was 3.30 a.m. almost an hour till dawn. He walked towards the window very slowly and stared out- nothing! He thought he was dreaming again but he couldn’t shake off this feeling that somebody was watching him.

“Ah! I really need some sleep,” he said to himself and turned his back from the window.

Suddenly he heard footsteps near his window. This time he opened the door that led to the balcony and walked out. He looked hard but couldn’t find anyone.

“Who’s there?” Carey asked as his voice echoed in the darkness.

There were armed guards all around the perimeter, so he said to himself that it was impossible that anyone would try to penetrate this compound. But now he heard the rustling of papers coming from inside his room. Carey rushed in and saw a dark humanoid figure standing near his table. He noticed that it had some of his papers in its hand.

“Thief!” he cried out.

The thief immediately dropped his papers and tried to get past him. Carey managed to grab him by his waist and tackle him on the ground while calling out for help. But the thief managed to unhand himself from his grip and elbowed him in his face.

“Ow! Stop thief!” Carey kept yelling.

The alarm bells started ringing. The guards began to move and the governor was woken up. But the thief jumped out of the window acrobatically and disappeared into the night. Carey tried to follow it but his left eye was beginning to swell up…

Within the next few minutes everyone in the bungalow was awake. Ram Babu was tending to Carey’s eye while the governor was strolling up and down in his room in his night robe and a smoking pipe in his hand. It was dawn already- around 4.30 in the morning.

“Terrible business this is Mr. Carey,” said the governor smoking his pipe “you haven’t been here for 24 hours and you already have been abducted, robbed and who knows what it was that tried to break in just now… I’m beginning to think that you have something valuable with you,”

“Valuable? Bad luck tends to follow me around wherever I go, Mr. Cunningham, I don’t possess anything worth even a penny, I am an academic, not a businessman!” replied Carey annoyed at the fact that the governor was being suspicious of him.

“That maybe so, but for someone to dare to break in to my fortress, that’s some audacity, I shall inquire into the matter, see you at breakfast,” said the governor and walked out of the room hastily.

Carey walked up to his table and silently picked up the scattered papers on the floor. Ram Babu helped him too.

“Sahib! Are you ok Sir?” asked Ram Babu politely.

“Yes I’m quite fine thank you, I need you to pack up our things as quickly as possible, ask Mr. Cunningham to fix us a carriage,” replied Carey.

“Where are we going Sahib?” he asked.

“To see the Ganges, my friend” replied Carey.

Within the next few hours, Carey took a shower and cleaned himself up. He packed his belongings and had a hearty meal and bid the governor adieu. He and his valet were off to the train station at around 9.00 in the morning. Another carriage filled with five armed guards led the way at the suggestion of the governor. While on the road, Carey was scribbling on his diary when he suddenly thought about the thief.

“Sahib, your eye is all good now,” remarked Ram Babu smiling.

“Huh! So it seems,” replied Carey touching his face.

“But I do not understand what the thief was looking for Sir? Maybe he knew about the gold?” said Ram Babu.

“It was a she, not he,” replied Carey.

“Sir?”

“Well it was woman!” replied Carey.

“How do you know Sir?”

“Well we were struggling and I grabbed her waist, and she fell on me so I held her tightly and my hand fell upon her- her- umm- ahem- her chest- so that’s when I knew it was a her not a him,” replied Carey feeling embarrassed.

“Oh! Sir, the thuggies have women too, Sir, they are following you here too, it is good that we are leaving,” replied Ram Babu completely missing the point.

“Ah! Not the thugs, she wasn’t a thug, she was not like those brutal maniacs, had a certain grace about her, she moved like the wind and she fought like she was trained, no, she was not a thug,” said Carey.

“I’m completely not understanding Sir,” replied Ram Babu shaking his head.

“Don’t sweat it old friend, we shall find out soon enough,” replied Carey.

The carriage went through the busy market streets of Calcutta, where it was almost impossible to pass due to the overbearing traffic of people and street hawkers and snake charmers all cramped into one place. While the sweet and spicy smell of various sweets and exotic spices filled the air with aroma, the colourful dresses adorned the footpaths while people bargained for a fair price. It took more than an hour to reach the train station and when they got there Ram Babu and the guards began unloading their luggage while Carey began to look for his compartment. He liked to travel cheap and chat with the local people along the way, just like a commoner, this way he could learn more closely about the local traditions and customs and know about the conditions of the local people. The governor had arranged for him to travel in first class but being in the country for more than a year, he had grown an utter dislike for the Company (British East India Company) and their policies.

And so he sat there with the local people in the regular compartment where he took the window seat while Ram Babu sat opposite to him. It was a crowded train with all sorts of people travelling together along with their various goods. Carey counted fifteen people in the compartment comprising of the old and the young, some married women, with their veils on and everybody staring at him- the white man never travelled with them before!

The sun was out in full glory and the cool wind blew through the open window. Ram Babu dozed off after some time, while Carey took out his diary and began scribbling down about his journey. It was a long journey ahead, the river Ganges ran through the busy city of Benaras and it would take them at least half a day to reach there. An hour later, he closed his diary and stared at the scenery outside, they were halfway across Calcutta, when he noticed an army of soldiers marching towards the forest. Minutes later, he heard gunshots coming from across the valley, there was some kind of battle going on. It was impossible to make out what was going on out there but he soon forgot about it and dozed off…