The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter XII: The Hounds of Benaras

The scorching heat of the sun was making it harder for them to travel through the busy city streets and soon they decided to stop for a moment to reconvene in an empty shade near the bazaar.

“So what’s next?” asked the Princess.

“Huh? Um… yes, yes, the map,” Carey fumbled, he was getting nauseous and soon he completely blacked out and fell on the ground.

When he woke up, he saw Ram Babu and the Princess tending to him.

“What- what happened to me?” he asked.

“When was the last time you had something proper to eat?” asked the Princess.

“I don’t remember,” he replied.

“Can you walk?” she asked.

“Yes I think so,”

“Good, I know a man, he lives nearby, he should be able to help us, you still have the bag of gold with you?”

“Yes but why do you ask?” asked Carey.

“Good we will need it, well at least some of it,” she said smiling at him.

Carey wanted to ask her about the details but when she smiled at him, he had forgotten all about it and followed her like a moth towards the fire. Both of them followed her towards a two storied building that stood in the middle of the busy market street. The three of them were equally tired and hungry but the Princess had a better constitution, she could go on for three days with just some water. But she realized that Carey needed to be in proper shape in order for them to complete the mission. It might be just an exploration for him but it meant everything for her. There were people looking for her, she might be imprisoned or even assassinate for defying the governor, her poor father might live out the rest of the days in his palace with no honor or dignity left. Which is why it became imperative for her to complete the mission with the help of Carey.

She took them through the narrow stairs of the building and towards a corridor that had many doors. They could hear music playing and people chatting in the rooms.

“What’s this place?” asked Carey.

“A brothel,” replied the Princess.

“Broth- what?” said Carey.

Ram Babu took a huge gulp down his throat, being a pious man, he had never entered a brothel in his life. He grabbed the bag of gold and stood silently.

“Shh! Both of you, don’t say anything, just follow my lead,” she said and went towards a door and knocked on it.

“Who the hell is it?” cried a voice from inside and a short and chubby man with half of his clothes on had opened the door.

The man looked at the Princess and froze for a moment, she pushed him aside and the three of them entered the room. There was also a lady inside, who was shocked to see the strangers.

“Get out! Now!” ordered the Princess.

The lady quickly collected her clothes and went out of the room. The man closed the door and fell down on his knees and bowed down to the Princess.

“Long live the Princess! Oh! Your highness, forgive me, I will never sin again,” he cried.

“I knew I’d find you here, now shut up and put on some pants, you i***t, I have guests with me,” she ordered.

The man quickly did as she said; Carey and Ram made themselves comfortable and sat down on the sofa, while the Princess stood with her arms crossed.

“Oh! Great Princess, may I ask, what brings you here?” asked the man bowing down gently.

“I need your help Chotu, I’d never have come to this place under normal circumstances but these are desperate times,” she said.

“Of course your highness, anything for you,” replied Chotu.

“You have helped my father before, no one knows this city better than you,” she said.

“Yes, yes your highness, there’s nothing that your faithful servant cannot do, just say the word, I’ll get you anything you want,” he replied smiling and looking at Carey.

“We- me and my friends here are travelling and we need a place to crash in for the night and also we need some good food and some privacy and also some change of clothes would be nice,” she explained.

“Of course you highness, of course, Chotu knows just the right place,” he replied.

“Here, take this, I don’t want to owe you anything,” she said and took out four shiny gold coins from Carey’s bag and threw them on the floor.

“Oh! You’re too kind your highness, hehe, come with me, follow me,” said Chotu grinning and picking the coins from the floor.

Half an hour later, the three of them had settled down in a cozy apartment somewhere in the outskirts of the market. Chotu had arranged for them a room in a lodge of some kind that housed dignitaries, he sneaked them in through the backdoor and paid the staff not to say anything to anyone. Then he got them some fresh new clothes and brought in some delicious food. The room was huge and well lit and the three of them got busy in cleaning and feeding themselves…

“So what’s the next step? What does the map say?” asked the Princess.

“I need a moment with the map, I still have to decipher it,” replied Carey.

“Well we got 12 hours before the secret police finds us here, so I suggest you hurry,” she said.

“Secret Police?” he asked curiously.

“Oh, Mr. Carey you have no idea of what’s going on in the country now, do you? There are these secret police in every town and city, whose job is to report any odd happenings in and around them, they don’t know about us yet but soon they will find out, they are like rats- everywhere,” she said.

“The Hounds, Sahib, they are called the hounds!” remarked Ram Babu pouring him a glass of water.

“Yes, the Hounds, men who hide in shadows, assassins, detectives, informers, they have eyes and ears everywhere- dangerous,” the Princess added.

“And they are sanctioned by the government?” he asked.

“Their sole job is to keep the government informed about anyone who dares to revolt against the British Colonial empire and crush them at their roots- after the recent mutiny in Awadh, the company is enforcing stricter rules over the poor people of the country, huh… anyway I suggest you get a good night’s sleep, there’s a long journey ahead of us,” she said and went off to her bed.

Carey went to his bed and so did Ram Babu. He took out his watch- 9.30 pm, after a heavy meal he should have naturally felt the need to doze off but he couldn’t. Instead he lay down on his bed with his eyes wide open and thought about what happened earlier. The destruction of the ruin, the naked Aghora, the secret police! He felt like that the entire world is conspiring against him and there were only a few people he could trust. But he couldn’t forget what the Aghora had told him earlier- something about the return of the lost one? What could he possibly mean? He recalled what the Princess had told him earlier about him being destined to find the map, why him? He was only a foreigner in this country and had only been here for over a year; how could someone who lived miles across the ocean in a different continent could possibly be destined to find an ancient Indian ruin? It didn’t make any sense to him… And why were the locals so scared of entering the ruin, what kept the robbers and grave diggers away from it?

A small earthen lamp burnt at the corner of the room, its flame flickering in the distance as if it was about to go out. Carey didn’t realize when he fell into a deep slumber but soon he began dreaming again- the same dream that had been giving him nightmares since he had decoded the map. Strange men chasing him towards the edge of a cliff, a haunted figure standing in front of him but this time the figure took out its sharp blade and cut him on his chest, he could feel the pain and the figure standing tall in front of him…soon he found himself lying in poppy fields and as he stood up, he could see the house he was born, his parents sitting in the lawn…he looked at his hands and he saw holy beads wrapped around both of his wrists…the next moment he stood before a mirror and looked at his face, he had grown a beard, his hair fell down to his shoulders and he had strange white markings on his forehead, much like the local saints and sages…

“What the hell is going on?” he whispered.

A bright white light engulfed him all around and he suddenly woke up. When he opened his eyes, he could see the Princess opening the window curtains to let the sunlight in. The rays of the sun fell upon her neck and her shoulders and her skin glowed in the ephemeral light…

“Sleep well Mr. Carey?” she asked tying her hair towards the back of her head.

“It’s morning already?” he asked.

“Get ready, I have ordered us some breakfast and after that we leave here,” she replied and went out of the room.

Ram Babu was cleaning the room and dusting the clothes when Carey went into the bathroom to clean himself. After a while he sat down to decipher his notes. The copy of the painting he had made earlier was a rather detailed one, so he had no difficulty in deciphering it. The map was drawn in a complete circle at the bottom of which lie some wavy lines, indicating a water source, which he assumed was the river- the source where the map was located. He counted five such coded markings all around the circle. Some indicated valleys and mountains or rivers and lakes. Above each such marking was a peculiar symbol which he had never seen before. He assumed that this could be the name of the place in an ancient language. But it would take him some time to decode it. Ram Babu brought him some Chai and biscuits while he tried to decode the symbols…

“Waves equals water- yes- stones must equal to mountains? Are they really stones? Must be, hmm- then next we have a concave shaped piece of land- must indicate valleys, then a waterfall, hmm-but where are they located- Ah! These symbols, they must mean something but what?” Carey talked to himself while observing the notebook.

“Sahib? You copied this from the temple? Good picture Sir,” remarked Ram overlooking at his notebook.

“Yes, I’ve quite the experience, well go on, pack up, we have to leave soon,” he said.

Carey did copy the painting on the floor exactly as he saw it but even if he hadn’t, he could have easily recalled it later, thanks to his eidetic memory. He could understand the pictures on it but not the symbols which is why he took out another large manuscript of dead languages that he himself had created in the last decade or so. It was like a giant dictionary of sorts, containing letters and alphabets to every ancient language he had ever come across ranging from ancient Sumerian to Sanskrit. For half an hour or so, he tried to match the symbols on his notes with that on the manuscript and finally he had a vague idea of what the symbols could mean. The script was similar to Sanskrit but it seemed that it was manipulated and coded, without the symbols, the map had no actual meaning- it would be just a fancy piece of ancient art.

Sanskrit was the oldest language in the world that dated back to almost 5000 years and is the mother of all major languages on earth. So he assumed that it must have its in Sanskrit. Another interesting fact was that Sanskrit just like any other language needed more than a single letter to make a word but these were single letters.

“What if the base is Sanskrit and the rest of the scribbling is the coding?” he asked himself and moved forward with that assumption in mind.

“Mr. Carey! We have been made, the hounds have gotten out scent, let’s leave now!” said the Princess rushing in through the front door.