'Yes, I do,' Melcorka said. 'Matsyendranath is the man who made me put my sword down a pool so I would come back to him.'
'Open your mind to me,' Machaendranathar said. 'I want to see your history.'
'You won't,' Melcorka said. 'You can't see my history. The kanaima blocked it.'
'Mel,' Bradan said and stopped. This young-minded Melcorka would not know about the kanaima. The original Melcorka, his Swordswoman, was missing. So who could supply this information? It came from Melcorka's mouth, so the only source could be that black-and-white mist that had entered her.
'Do you know of this island?' Machaendranathar asked Bradan.
'I was there when Melcorka lost her sword,' Bradan answered carefully. 'I do not know if the man who took it was a Siddhar or not.'
'Describe him,' Machaendranathar said. 'Give me as many details as you can.'
Bradan recounted their experiences on the white island as Machaendranathar listened, his eyes gentle yet piercing. 'Your friend was correct; that is Matsyendranath,' he said. 'Could you find this island again?'
Bradan shook his head. 'It moved,' he said. 'It moved when we tried to sail away.'
Machaendranathar smiled. 'The island did not move. It was never there except inside your mind. Could you find the patch of sea where you think you landed on the island?'
'Oh, yes. I took sea-marks – that is, I took note of the salient points on the nearest coastline – and if I see it again, I can sail to the same angles.'
'That will do,' Machaendranathar said. 'Take me there.'
'I no longer have a boat,' Bradan said. 'The Thiruzha took it.'
Chaturi had been listening closely to their conversation. 'We can get you a boat,' she said.
Chapter Twelve
Bradan rechecked the sea marks. They were a couple of miles off the green coast, with a distinctive double-peaked hill directly to starboard. He checked the angle between the boat and the double-peaked hill. 'Here we are,' he said. 'This is the exact spot where we found the white island.'
The sea stretched all around, unbroken to west, north and south and level as far as the coastline to the east. There was no island. A flight of birds passed so close overhead that Bradan heard the whirr of their wings and saw the glint of their eyes.
Chaturi looked disappointed. 'Are you sure, Bradan? All the sea looks the same. It might have been a different mountain that you saw. The Ghats are only a little to the north. Could it not have been one of them? Or a hill inland?'
'It was here,' Bradan said. 'That double-peaked hill is quite distinct.'
'There is no island in this patch of sea,' Banduka said. 'I know this coast. Dhraji makes us dive for pearls here.'
'Maybe it sank,' Kosala said. 'Maybe it's one of the sinking kinds of islands. Did you see a sunken island when you were underwater, Banduka?'
'No.' Banduka took the question seriously. 'No, I did not.'
'You have to call for it,' Melcorka said. 'If you call, it will come.' Raising her voice, she shouted out as the others watched her.
'Look!' Bradan pointed to a gleam of white that had appeared on the surface of the water. 'That's what we saw.'
'Is that an island?' Kosala was sceptical. 'It doesn't look like an island.'
'Steer towards it, anyway,' Chaturi ordered.
The Singhalese boat was more cumbersome than Catriona. Bradan steered as Kosala and Banduka worked the sails. The white smear got no closer.
'It's in your mind,' Machaendranathar told them. 'It's there if you wish it to be there.'
Melcorka stood up. 'I remember,' she said, as the boat slid up the white sand that only a moment before had not been there.
Bradan saw the man sitting beneath the palm trees watching them, as if it had only been a few minutes since they last saw him.
'Hallo!' Bradan shouted. 'Are you Matsyendranath? Are you the Lord of the Fishes?'
The man remained still, with the palms rustling above him and the sea hushing along a beach that seemed to have no end.
'This is very familiar.' Bradan began to walk toward the sitting man, with the others following a few paces behind. The man remained static; the distance neither diminished nor increased.
'Look. There are two men now,' Melcorka said. 'Machaendranathar has got there.'
What had Machaendranathar said about the island? It's there if you wish it to be there. 'Think yourself there,' Bradan said. 'Come on, Mel, we've done this before.' Taking Melcorka's hand, he stepped onward, while trying to envisage himself standing within the copse of trees.
'You're back again.' The sitting man had not moved. He was only an arm-span away.
'We are,' Bradan agreed. 'Are you Matsyendranath?'
'I am,' the sitting man said.
'You are wanted in Sathuragiri,' Bradan said.
'I know.' Matsyendranath did not move.
'Have you always known?' Bradan asked.
'I have always known,' Matsyendranath said.
'Why do you stay here?' Bradan asked.
'A rakshasa has trapped me,' Matsyendranath said.
'There was no need to stay trapped,' Bradan said. 'Melcorka and I had a boat. We would willingly have taken you away last time we were here.'
'My body was not the problem,' Matsyendranath said. 'A rakshasa had trapped my mind.'
'Can we free your mind?'
Matsyendranath pointed to Machaendranathar. 'That man has freed me by his presence. I needed him here. That's why we sent for you.'
'Nobody sent for us,' Bradan said.
'Why do you think you are here?' There was humour in Matsyendranath's eyes. 'The nine Siddhars have to be together on the Sacred Mountain to restore the balance of the world.'
'So I have been told,' Bradan said.
'Seven are on Sathuragiri, one was locked in an iron cage, and I was trapped here. I cannot be freed without Machaendranathar's help, so I had to get him here.'
'Was there nobody else that could help?' Bradan thought of the horrors of the past few weeks. Had this Siddhar been manipulating them all the time?
'There was nobody else with your unique gifts,' Matsyendranath said. 'Nobody except Melcorka could climb to rescue Machaendranathar.'
'Melcorka is not herself,' Bradan said.
'Melcorka had you to look after her,' Matsyendranath said. 'A kanaima
