LITMIR.BIZ

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a dishevelled young man, who broke through the crowd and rushed to Ravi’s side.

      “Mohan,” said Raka in a stern voice. “We know Ravi was like a brother to you. But you cannot blame Zarku for what happened to him in the forest. Zarku is only trying to protect us. Get a hold of yourself and stop talking nonsense.”

      “No,” said Mohan, shaking his head, wiping his streaming eyes and nose. “He is the cause of this, I know it. I know it ...”

      “Thank the Lord that you have my protection,” said Zarku as he strode forward and scooped up the body in both hands easily, as if he were picking up a child.

      No one came forward to help him.

      “No one is to enter my hut while I treat this boy,” he said, his whiteless eyes sweeping the crowd. His gaze stopped on Mohan. Mohan returned his look defiantly. Then Zarku turned and walked away.

      Tara and Suraj stood at the edge of the crowd as she watched the receding back of Zarku and noticed that Mohan was obediently shuffling behind him.

      At that moment, Tara knew without a doubt: Morni was in very grave danger and they were running out of time. She had to brave the forest and reach the one place Prabala might be. She had to find him and bring him back!

       CHAPTER 6 FREEDOM

      “Let’s go,” Tara muttered to Suraj under her breath after Zarku had walked away.

      Suraj was unusually quiet and very pale. Everyone looked the same. Murmurs and whispers spread through the crowd like ripples in a still lake.

      “What happened to Ravi?”

      “The Vetalas, they’re here.”

      “What is going to happen to all of us if we cannot go to the forest? How will we get food and firewood?”

      Unease hung in the air like a black cloud. The sky was a deep grey. People drifted away. Tara saw Shiv, Kali, and Layla in the distance. Her father had a deep frown on his face. Kali tried hard to maintain a blank expression, but her eyes sparkled and Layla played with her new bangles.

      “Let’s go home, everyone,” Shiv said. “It has been a long day.”

      Tara was silent as she walked slowly behind her father. Suraj slipped a small, warm hand in hers. She raised an eyebrow.

      “As long as we’re together, Didi, I can be as brave as a lion. I will protect you,” he said with a slight swagger in his walk.

      Tara glanced at the scrawny body of her brother as he uttered the words and smiled. He looked more like a weak kitten than a lion.

      “Thank you, Suraj,” she answered him with utmost seriousness. “I love you. You know that, right?”

      “I love you too, Didi. Even more than mangoes!”

      Tara squeezed his hand. She saw the implicit trust in his eyes and made a promise to herself: I cannot fail him! I have to take him to safety and back to our real mother.

      Suraj grabbed her hand and pointed.

      “Look Didi — Dhruv Nakshatra, the North Star. Let’s make a wish.”

      Tara closed her eyes and prayed in earnest.

      “Lord Ganesh, keep us safe till we find Mother and Grandfather,” whispered Tara.

      “Didi, about Ravi,” Suraj started to say.

      “Shhhh, lets not talk about him. Not now,” said Tara gently.

      Darkness was seeping across the sky like an inkblot as lizards and crickets heralded the arrival of night. The sweet fragrance of the raat-ki-rani flower scented the air. Tara inhaled deeply.

      Suraj stopped and scooped up something from the ground and straightened up.

      “What is that?” asked Tara, suspicious of the mischievous glint that had suddenly appeared in Suraj’s eye.

      “Shhhhhh, watch!”

      He quickened his step and reached Kali’s large back, which swung like a pendulum as she waddled along. Suraj walked up close to her and gently placed a large greyish white lizard on the edge of her pallu, the part of the saree that was draped over her shoulder. He did it so carefully that Kali did not feel a thing.

      He waited for Tara to catch up to him, his chest heaving with silent laughter. The lizard hung on to the edge of the saree, swaying precariously from side to side. In a blur of movement it shimmied up the remaining cloth and jumped onto the bare patch on Kali’s shoulder. Kali felt the pattering of tiny feet and clapped her hand to her neck. Her heavy hand landed on the lizard’s head and, dazed, it toppled forward into Kali’s ample bosom. She felt it wriggle next to her skin. She gave a deafening shriek and desperately tried to shake the lizard out of her clothes.

      Tara and Suraj had tears running down their faces as they tried to control the hysterical laughter that welled up within them at the sight of that huge mound of flesh, for once, engaging in an activity more strenuous than sitting. After a few minutes of furious groping down the front of her blouse, Kali managed to grab the wretched lizard in her pudgy hand and dump it unceremoniously on the road.

      “Bloody lizard,” swore Kali.

      She glared at Tara and Suraj, who kept straight faces as they continued walking.

      “Come on Kali, it was only a lizard,” said Shiv. “You probably frightened it more than it frightened you.”

      A fresh wave of mirth went through Tara and she had to stuff her knuckle in her mouth to stop from giggling.

      They reached home just as night fell. A cold wind had started up and they all hurried in and shut the door. Shiv lit the lantern while Tara groped her way into the kitchen to start dinner.

      “Get all our things into the shed,” Tara whispered to Suraj as she handed him their shoes in the semi-darkness.

      He nodded and ran off.

      “Call me as soon as dinner is ready,” snapped a winded Kali, sitting on the cot trying to recover from the lizard encounter.

      Tara got to work. Plans of their escape gave her a sense of hope that no amount of unpleasantness could extinguish.

      When dinner was ready, Tara called everyone into the kitchen. Kali ignored them completely. Their father had gone out for a short while and returned with troubling news, which he shared with Kali and the children as they ate.

      “Ravi is dead. Zarku could not save him.”

      “Did Ravi’s family cremate him?” asked Kali.

      “Apparently Zarku performed the last rites. He did not want to upset Ravi’s mother by showing her the deformed body again.”

      “That is odd, Father, isn’t it?” asked Tara. “Only family members are allowed to set fire to the funeral pyre, not some stranger, even if he is the village healer. It is against tradition.”

      Her father frowned at her for interrupting.

      “Mohon has disappeared. No one knows where he is,” said Shiv as he tossed a ball of dal and rice in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.

      “Probably gone to the forest to seek out the Vetalas single-handedly, the fool,” said Kali as she slurped her food.

      For some time there was silence. No more was said about the disappearance, but Tara’s stomach churned. Tonight was the last night they would have a roof over their heads. What would they find in the forest? Would she be able to find Prabala and her mother before the Vetalas found them? Her panicked mind darted about like a caged animal. Try as she might, she could not forget Ravi’s mutilated body.

      That night, when all were asleep, Tara and Suraj tiptoed into the kitchen and sat by the glowing embers of the kitchen fire.

      “Is everything in the shed?” asked

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