the immortal of maluha
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tried to ga<strong>the</strong>r his wits, his overwhelmed and helpless mind took one obvious decision — <strong>the</strong>re<br />
was no way he was leaving <strong>the</strong> temple before getting ano<strong>the</strong>r look at her. He sat down on <strong>the</strong><br />
steps once again. As his breathing and heartbeat returned to normal, he finally began to notice<br />
<strong>the</strong> surroundings that had been consecrated by her recent presence. He stared once again at<br />
<strong>the</strong> road on <strong>the</strong> left from where she had turned in. She had ridden past <strong>the</strong> cucumber seller<br />
standing near <strong>the</strong> banyan tree.<br />
Incidentally, why is <strong>the</strong> cucumber seller not trying to hawk his wares? He just seems to be<br />
staring at <strong>the</strong> temple. Anyway, it is not any <strong>of</strong> my concern.<br />
He followed <strong>the</strong> path that her chariot had taken as it had swerved to its left, around <strong>the</strong><br />
fountain at <strong>the</strong> centre <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> courtyard. It had <strong>the</strong>n taken a sharp right turn past <strong>the</strong> shepherd<br />
standing at <strong>the</strong> entrance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> garden.<br />
Incidentally, where were this shepherd’s sheep?<br />
Shiva continued to look down <strong>the</strong> path <strong>the</strong> chariot had taken into <strong>the</strong> parking lot. Next to <strong>the</strong><br />
chariot stood ano<strong>the</strong>r man who had just walked into <strong>the</strong> temple complex, but had inexplicably<br />
not entered <strong>the</strong> temple itself. He turned to <strong>the</strong> shepherd and appeared to nod slightly. Before<br />
Shiva could piece toge<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> information that he had just seen, he felt her presence again. He<br />
turned immediately to see her walking down <strong>the</strong> steps, with Krittika walking silently behind. Still<br />
finding this rude, caste-unmarked, obviously foreign man staring at her, she walked up to him<br />
and asked in a firm but polite voice, ‘Excuse me, is <strong>the</strong>re a problem?’<br />
‘No. No. There’s no problem. I just felt that I had seen you before somewhere,’ replied a<br />
flustered Shiva.<br />
The lady was not sure how to respond to this. It was obviously a lie but <strong>the</strong>re appeared to<br />
be a sincere voice behind it. Before she could react, Krittika cut in rudely. ‘Is that <strong>the</strong> best line<br />
you could come up with?’<br />
As Shiva was about to retort, he was alerted by a quick movement from <strong>the</strong> cucumber<br />
seller. Shiva turned to see him pulling out a sword as he tossed his shawl aside. The shepherd<br />
and <strong>the</strong> man next to <strong>the</strong> chariot also stood poised in traditional fighter positions with <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
swords drawn. Shiva immediately drew his sword and stretched out his left hand protectively,<br />
to pull <strong>the</strong> object <strong>of</strong> his fascination behind him. She however deftly side-stepped his protective<br />
hand, reached into <strong>the</strong> folds <strong>of</strong> her angvastram and drew out her own sword.<br />
Shiva glanced at her, surprised, and flashed her a quick, admiring smile. Her eyes flashed<br />
right back, acknowledging <strong>the</strong> unexpected yet providential partnership.<br />
She whispered under her breath to Krittika, ‘Run back into <strong>the</strong> temple. Stay <strong>the</strong>re till this is<br />
over.’<br />
Krittika protested. ‘But my lady...’<br />
‘NOW!’ she ordered.<br />
Krittika turned and ran up <strong>the</strong> temple steps. Shiva and <strong>the</strong> lady stood back to back in a<br />
standard defensive-partner position. They covered all <strong>the</strong> directions <strong>of</strong> any possible attack. The<br />
three attackers charged in. Two more jumped in from behind <strong>the</strong> trees to join <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r three.<br />
Shiva raised his sword defensively as <strong>the</strong> shepherd came up close. Feigning a sideward<br />
movement to draw <strong>the</strong> shepherd into an aggressive attack, Shiva dropped his sword low. The<br />
shepherd should have been tempted to move in for a kill wound and in response, Shiva would<br />
have quickly raised his sword and dug it deep into <strong>the</strong> shepherd’s heart.<br />
The shepherd, however, moved unexpectedly. Instead <strong>of</strong> taking advantage <strong>of</strong> Shiva’s<br />
opening, he tried to strike Shiva’s shoulder. Shiva quickly raised his right arm and swung