The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter XXIII: And the truth shall set you free

Far away on the shores of Benaras stood the Dutchman on horseback, watching the golden rays of the morning sun sparkling on the waters of the mighty river. He took a deep breath and galloped his way through the city. He wore a hunter’s uniform as one of his many disguises and cleaned himself up to look like a high ranking govt. official. He had two bags strapped to the either side of the horse and a Walther rifle wrapped in a piece of cloth. His skin was pale and scarred, his hair was red and he had a deadly look in his eyes. Since the last two days, he has been hunting Carey, as ordered by the League. His mission was to keep an eye on Carey and follow him to Shamballa. Once Carey has located the place, the Dutchman was to end his life and bury him in the mountains and recover whatever secrets he had uncovered and deliver them to the League. They didn’t like to keep loose ends and they definitely didn’t want him to talk about the secret place in any manner. In his decade long career as a highly skilled assassin, the Dutchman has never failed his mission. He was highly trained in all types of modern warfare, including special sniper guns, automatic pistols, blades and knives and hand to hand combat and not to mention his uncanny ability to disguise himself. And within two days of his arrival, he had already found out somehow as to where Carey was and with whom he might be travelling. He had his ways and sources and the five dead bodies of the ‘Hounds’- the secret police, was evidence of his abilities. Disguising himself as a soldier in the regiment, he boarded a government ship and was on his way to Champaran- towards the jungle that Carey and his friends were travelling.

All the way back in Calcutta, Governor John Cunningham was in deep thought over the recent façade that had occurred at the Nawab’s palace. The Princess has escaped and the property of the palace was directly under his command along with all its goods and belongings and yet he wasn’t happy. Something didn’t seem quite all right to him- why would the Nawab kidnap Carey and release him soon afterwards? Clearly they must have made some kind of secret deal. But about what? What was Carey researching and where was he travelling to? He assumed that he must be on some kind of secret treasure hunt, which is why he left in such a hurry. If that’s true than he couldn’t let him have it all for himself, he would bargain for a share or better he would have the entire treasure for himself. According to the recent reports lying on his table, the train that he had left on was attacked by Thugs and most of the government officials were killed but they couldn’t find his body which means he is still alive and on some secret mission. He smelled something fishy about this man called Arthur Carey. What if the Nawab did sent him on a treasure hunt, or worse, what if he was an agent or a spy of the Nawab planning to overthrow the government? He started to think of a plan to intercept Carey and bring him in on charges of conspiring against the government…but first he needed to find out where on earth is Arthur Carey!

Somewhere in his palace, the Nawab rested on his bed and looked out of the window with sad eyes. He was sick and dying and he had no idea where his daughter was anymore. But he believed that he had trained her enough to be able to spend the rest of her life in hiding. But he also knew that she wouldn’t remain in hiding forever and try to rescue his kingdom. The foreigner, Arthur Carey, was his only hope. The English doctor, who has been kind enough to treat him has given him a couple of months to live. His sickness was incurable and his organs were failing systematically. He hoped to god that the foreigner will be successful in his mission and return with the secret to immortality. The face of his daughter flashed before his eyes and he began to recall the memories he has had with her and how he had raised and trained her. But there’s something which he never discussed with her- the story of her birth, a secret that he hoped to take to his grave. She was not her biological daughter but an orphaned baby that he had found on the streets of a massacred village. A village that he himself had destroyed during his youth. He had his army wipe the entire village clean looking for spies while they executed innocent villagers in the process. The child was the only thing alive, a ten months old baby girl, upon whom he showed pity and took her with him and raised her as his own daughter. And now that girl was the strongest most capable female warrior in his kingdom. He was proud of her but he also knew that the truth would be devastating upon her…

Back on the mountain, the five of them were scaling the ginormous piece of ancient landmass with a sense of urgency. Who knew what deadly creature would appear next and threaten their lives? Kali quietly followed the group, something was changing in him. His cold and killer heart was beginning to melt, something that has never happened to him before. He thought about how he was supposed to let the Princess know about his feelings and if she would ever accept him. Then there was this foreigner, who seemed to be equally interested in her and knew how to talk to her in a civilized manner and he thought that maybe the Princess liked him too. Raised amongst the killers of the jungle, he was picked up as an orphan by the elder master of his clan and trained among them all his life. He was always taught that the rich had plenty to spare and so it was rightful to loot them and that the foreigners were overtaking this country and that it was necessary to wipe them out. But what about this strange foreigner, who seemed to be interested in his culture? Nevertheless, he would get rid of him too if he seemed to be any trouble.

The mountain had vegetation growing all upon it and it was a treacherous journey uphill. Any wrong step would drag them down the hill and that would be the end.

“Mr. Carey, what now? We are almost at the summit, what’s to see here?” asked the Princess trying to catch her breath.

“Eh, I think a little bit further, over there- I see an opening, that must be the cave,” replied Carey from behind.

Five meters up above, lay a small opening- a cave like structure, four feet in height. As soon as they reached the cave, they looked at it with worried eyes. The thing looked spooky and dark and they had no torches- what if there were more monsters inside. Carey kneeled down and tried to peek inside- he felt a gentle breeze coming from inside the chambers.

“Right, I’ll go, you stay here and keep watch,” he said to the others.

“Oh, I’m coming with you, don’t know what’s inside, Kali- keep watch over these two and get some rest, we will be back soon, come Mr. Carey, there’s no time to waste,” she said to him.

Carey couldn’t stop her, she always took the lead and whatever she said, goes. And so he went into the dark cave, half crawling on his knees, removing cobwebs from his face as he went. The Princess followed him from behind, her heart leaping with anticipation of what they would find inside. Ten minutes later, it seemed that they hit a dead end. The road ahead was blocked by a giant boulder. It was suffocating inside and Carey tried his best to find a way ahead but there was nothing but rocks all around him. He tried to push the boulder with his hands, thinking that it might be some sort of secret door but it didn’t budge.

The Princess came up and helped him push it and suddenly the boulder began to move back and the harder they pushed, the farther back it went, until suddenly it disappeared into the darkness. A strong gust of wind brushed against their faces and when they opened their eyes, they saw light up ahead. The boulder gave way to a huge opening, large enough for them to walk through. Carey looked at the Princess with nervous anticipation and stepped forward…there was a huge cavern ahead, hollow and well lit with artificial light- there was a small fire at the centre- he saw an old man seated in meditation…