* * *
“How long was I down?” asked Veer after finishing his recounting of events.
“Sixteen minutes,” said a brooding Shota, propping his chin on his hand.
Veer’s mouth dropped open. “That’s impossible.”
“I know,” said Shota, a touch of sternly. “We were all worried. How did you manage to stay underwater so long? Just because you can borrow the abilities of a fish, doesn’t mean you can sprout gills to breathe underwater.”
“I honestly don’t know.” Veer shook his head in bemusement.
“You sure it wasn’t Lord Brihadeeshwar working one of his miracles?” asked Shota, frowning, only half serious with that statement.
Veer was annoyed at the suggestion. But he didn’t have a better explanation, so he kept quiet.
“Can you bring me the temple map, Shota?” he asked.
“Why?”
“You will know in a moment,” said Veer as he unrolled the parchment containing the temple map and held it against the drawing he had made for comparison.
“I knew I’d seen this before,” he said with mounting excitement.
“I’ll be damned.” Shota whistled. “It is indeed a map of the temple. But what does that mean?”
“I think it’s supposed to reveal the hiding place of the key piece.”
“Uh, Veer. We already know that. The lotus showed us this temple, right?”
“Yes, but this felt different. Like something had changed. Like something had clicked open, you know, like a key in a lock.”
Shota still appeared skeptical.
“Look, I know it sounds fantastic, and you are right to be skeptical. But there is a way I can prove it.”
“How?”
Veer glanced at Chandra. “Can you open the lotus?”
She nodded and did as he directed.
The blue light reflected off the confused faces of Chandra and Shota. Before, the image in the central receptacle was that of the temple as a whole. But now it was showing three horizontal perches in parallel atop a pillar.
“Thedhvajastambha,” exclaimed Shota and Chandra simultaneously and then looked at each other in surprise.
“I can believe that this is where the key piece is hidden,” said Shota, excitement creeping into his voice. “The topmost part of the pillar is made of the same metal as the idol.”
“We need to see this pillar right now,” said Veer, attempting to stand up, but it set off a coughing spell that ended with his wheezing.
“Idiot…you have just survived a near drowning. Take it slow for a while at least. Leave this to me,” said Shota.
“There will be festival celebrations going on for the next few days. The pillar will be decorated, and many people will be visiting the temple, prostrating before it. It will be hard to approach the pillar right now,” Chandra reminded them.
“Then we shall wait until later to retrieve the key piece,” said Shota, standing up to make his leave.
* * *
Steel-like claws flashed, and Chandra ducked the onslaught as the kite, Vihari, dived for her. His screech rang out as the big bird flew in the cramped space of their hut, his large wingspan upsetting several objects in the vicinity.
