They did so, nervously, shaking with reaction, cursing as arrows hissed and bounced around them. Bradan took a deep breath. 'Hold the shield above your head, Mel, and when I say so, run. Run as if the devil himself was after you, and don't stop until you reach that tree there.' He indicated a taller than usual palm that marked the edge of the pass. 'Don't run straight, jink from side to side. Don't stop for anybody or anything. Do you understand?'
Melcorka nodded. 'Run and jink and don't stop.'
'On the count of three, we run out,' Bradan said. 'Don't keep together. A group is an easier target than an individual. Are you ready?'
Only after they nodded, one by one, did Bradan slowly count: 'One, two, three!'
They exploded from the overhang. Bradan had expected the arrows. He had forgotten about the other missiles and swore as a large rock smashed down a few yards from him, disintegrating in a mass of splinters. Something sliced into his thigh and he gasped, hopped and continued, fighting the pain.
'Run, Melcorka! For God's own sake, run!'
He heard Melcorka giggle, saw Kosala help Machaendranathar over a rough stretch of ground, and then he was at the trees with his left leg throbbing and the breath rasping in his throat. Melcorka was right beside him, holding her shield with both hands.
Chaturi was there to greet him. 'Hurry,' she said. 'The demon's army is returning!'
Chapter Eleven
'I can't run another step,' Bradan gasped.
'You'll have to,' Chaturi said. 'Now that we've freed Machaendranathar, the rakshasa Dhraji will never rest until she kills or captures him and us. We have to flee quickly.'
Two Singhalese produced a litter, placed Machaendranathar on it and trotted away in that ground-covering pace that made light of obstacles and distance. Banduka gave Bradan a wide grin and joined the others.
'We did well.' Kosala checked the edge of his sword. 'I wondered about you, Bradan.' He nodded. 'Maybe I was wrong.'
'Are you coming?' Bradan asked.
'I'll go last.'
'As you wish.' Bradan said and moved on. Melcorka ran at his side for the first few hundred yards before she staggered. Bradan caught her, wincing in pain.
'You're bleeding.' Chaturi glanced at Bradan's leg.
'It's nothing,' Bradan said.
'Perhaps. Don't let it slow you down.' Chaturi shouted for two of her men, who bundled Melcorka onto another makeshift litter and trotted on.
They pushed on along a winding forest track, with birds squawking around them and insects clouding at their faces. Monkeys watched curiously and once, a small herd of deer bounded in front of the column.
'Watch out for snakes,' Chaturi said. 'There are a lot around here.'
'Dhraji can call them up.' Machaendranathar spoke quietly from his litter. 'Where are you headed?'
'Anywhere,' Chaturi said. 'We're headed anywhere away from the Thiruzha.'
'Permit me to guide you,' Machaendranathar said. 'Open your minds. All of you – open your minds.'
'How do I do that?' Bradan asked, and felt the jolt as Machaendranathar entered his head. Unsure what to expect, he saw a map of the country spread out before him, with a clearly marked paththat led through the maze of forests to a narrow pass over the Ghats. The Chola Empire waited in the east.
'Follow the path,' Machaendranathar ordered. 'Don't think – let your mind guide you.'
The forest paths straightened as Bradan followed his feet, with the Singhalese moving without a sound. When Melcorka slipped clear of her litter and walked beside him, it seemed natural to hold her hand, although whether it was as a child or a woman, Bradan did not know. Nor did he know how long that journey lasted. It seemed natural to walk and keep walking as if in a dream, with one footstep following the next and the trees a blur around him and Melcorka at his side. Time did not matter; weariness was accepted; the pain in his thigh was as much a part of his life as the clouding of insects and the green-hazed light though which they passed.
The forest path rose beneath them as they weaved through the foothills of the Ghats, but this time, the pass was too narrow and steep for any army, and there was no fort to avoid. Birds of prey screamed and circled overhead and twice, Bradan saw that shapeless black-and-white mass hovering between him and Melcorka before dissolving into nothingness.
The pass rose higher until it seemed they could touch the sky, levelled out and descended in a dizzying zig-zag towards a vast forested plain, smeared with the smoke from a hundred village fires.
Welcome to the Chola Empire. The words came to Bradan's mind. With his invisible guide in control of his feet, he had no need to worry about direction or time. Step, step, and keep walking until they saw the mystical mountain.
Sathuragiri. Again, the word formed itself as everybody stopped to stare ahead. The mystical mountain rose four-square from a bed of mist, with waterfalls and clear streams easing down its flanks. Sathuragiri: the name eased itself across Bradan's mind, like balm soothing his worries. When he pulled Melcorka closer, she came willingly.
'We can rest here, safe from Dhraji,' Machaendranathar said.
An aura of peace descended on Bradan as Machaendranathar led them to a small temple set beside a bubbling spring. Birds called all around, and monkeys chattered and played without any fear, watching these newcomers through inquisitive eyes.
'We will eat.' Machaendranathar clapped his hands.
Bradan did not see where the food appeared from. He only knew it was delicious and that he was hungry. He ate with relish, wondering at this new sensation of total tranquillity.
'This place is holy,' Bradan said.
'It has been holy in the past, it will be holy again in the future,' Machaendranathar said. 'At present, it is incomplete. The rakshasas have damaged us.'
'It is a place of great wisdom and knowledge.' Bradan crouched to touch the ground. 'I have been searching for knowledge all my life, wandering the byways and highways
