The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter XVIII: The Last of the Keepers

“We are the Keepers of the Ancient Magic,

We have been around for a thousand years,

For generations we have sworn to protect,

The powers of this ancient land,”

“Halloa! What’s this?” Carey cried out in excitement.

The others turned around to look at him. He was surrounded by little kids who were amazed to see a friendly foreigner walking in the streets. Some of them offered him sweets made of jaggery, others touched his clothes and giggled, soon he was surrounded by a parade of kids who followed him like they have seen a magical creature. The Princess immediately grabbed Carey’s hand and pulled him aside.

“What are you doing Mr. Carey?” she remarked.

“What? The kids- look at them, they like me-whoa!” he replied but the Princess dragged him towards the corner of a street.

“You are drawing too much attention, have you forgotten about the Hounds? Now move quickly, there’s a carriage up ahead, it will take us to the jungle and that will lead us to the mountains,” she ordered.

“Are you sure Princess?”

“Yes, Raza has already arranged transportation for us while you were busy with the kids, now come on,” she pushed him forward.

Minutes later, they got on a horse carriage- Carey, Meena, Ram and Raza, while Kali thought it best that he should ride on a horse that he stole. They were headed to the forests when Raza said-

“Madam, eh, forgive me but you haven’t introduced yourself and this strange foreigner over there,”

“Well if you must know, I am of royal blood, a princess and this foreigner here is a friend of mine, we are going towards the said mountains to travel and we hope to do it privately,” she replied rolling her eyes.

“Oh! Yes, yes but Raza feels that he should warn you about the dangers ahead,” he said.

“What dangers? More Pirates? Thieves? Robbers? We are well equipped to face them all,” she replied proudly.

“Oh no your highness, the dangers you are about to face are barely human, eh, in fact I think I should stop talking now!” he said.

Carey was carefully listening to him, even though he was speaking Hindi, he understood every word, being the expert linguist that he was.

“What do you mean?” he remarked in English and then translated in Hindi, “Kya Matlab?”

“Oh, sir you understand me, oh, I was just joking sir, he he,” he replied.

“Answer his question,” ordered the Princess taking out her knife and pointing at him.

“Well sir, Raza had been to the forest once and he hoped to never go there again… I mean, people say that there are Pisachas and Prets that haunt the forest and are active during the night but that is the least of your worries, some say that there is an ancient Naga that presides deep in the forests- fangs as large enough to impale a man, eyes so sharp and hypnotizing that if you look into them, you will freeze with fear, nobody knows how big it is because nobody has seen its tail, some say that it lives deep in some underground cave near the mountain. They say that the cave is so deep that it leads to hell where the Naga lives… people are forbidden to enter the jungle even during the day because once you encounter the Naga, it is sure and certain death!” he narrated the story with such animation that it sent chills down Ram Babu’s spine.

“What rubbish? Nagas? Which age are you living man? You see Mr. Carey, he’s talking about Pisachas and Prets, which are-“she responded.

“No, no, I understand, Pisachas meaning Ghouls, Prets meaning the undead and Nagas, hmm, ancient mythological shape shifting serpents, carry on!” he replied.

“Yes, go on, why are you so scared of some folklore, have you ever seen one of these beings?” she asked him half expecting an answer.

Raza didn’t reply but from the opposite side of the seat, he rolled up his sleeve and showed them his left hand. Everyone else looked at his hand in surprise, a deep and long scar ran up his hand, up to his shoulder.

“You see these marks, your highness, this was from the last encounter I had with one of those beings, I didn’t see its face but I saw its claws, I managed to escape somehow, bleeding profusely until some of the villagers rescued me and saved my life,” he replied gravely, his face turning somber, as he recalled that horrible incident that almost killed him.

“Ah, I don’t believe this nonsense, it must be some wild animal, maybe a brown bear,” she responded trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

“But, Princess, there are no brown bears in this part of the country! Only foxes and maybe hyenas,” replied Carey.

“Oh! So now you are an animal expert too? Clearly he’s trying to scare us and we will not listen to his tall tales!” she replied and fixed her gaze out of the window.

Raza turned to his usual jovial self and began conversing with Ram Babu. While Carey scratched his chin and said to the Princess.

“Myths, legends of deadly creatures, if they truly exist then this only supports my theory that there is definitely something going on in those mountains,”

“How so?” she asked.

“These tales, or supposed facts that we just heard are proof that something or someone is trying to keep people away from the mountains, there is something there that they want to keep secret, hence these tales, to scare people and keep them away… Every legend or myth is based on some sort of truth, I think we are headed in the right direction,” he explained.

“Bravo!” she said sarcastically and looked away, she was clearly upset.

Carey couldn’t understand this strange behavior, what did he say to upset her? He had deciphered hundreds of codes in his life but the mysteries of women remained secrets to him…

He looked at Raza and saw a black smoke engulfing him all over his body, a yellow flame burnt in his chest.

“Not this again!” he said to himself and rubbed his eyes, the smoke disappeared.

Deep inside some dark place, sat the sage praying and meditating, the mysterious metal piece still hovering in the air. He opened his eyes and saw a vision of Carey approaching the forest. He smiled and whispered-

“The Keeper has arrived, go Rakshak, keep an eye on him, make sure he crosses the jungle safely,”

A giant hawk flew out of the darkness and let out a cry as it spread its wings and began to fly towards the dark skies.