But the surrounding kingdoms had signed a pact to keep the temple city from the threat of occupation. None of them would openly dare to make a move.
Which raised more questions. Did someone else besides them know about the lotus key? And what was their interest in completing it? After all, the lotus key served only one purpose. To halt the explosion at Meru. Was someone trying to stop that from happening?
The intruders came, like they must have when storming the city gates—silent, stealthy, and methodical. Their dark clothes blended into the night. None of the party of roughly fifty men seemed hurt or maimed.
With dismay, Chandra came to the realization that the other intruders, were probably a distraction to lead off the majority of the temple guards, so these men could strike the temple when there were only a few left to defend it. It was a good plan, she had to concede. But it just drove down their chances of success.
Breaking open the lock on the temple doors didn’t take them long. Too late, Chandra remembered that Veer had deliberately tampered to weaken them. And he didn’t have enough time to repair his mistake.
The men gathered at the door right underneath thegopurawhere she was hidden. She leaned a little to see if she could get a good shot, but the awning of thegopuracovered them.
They moved into the courtyard, fanning out.
Chandra gave the signal, a piercing whistle that cut through the air.
A lit arrow sailed in the darkness and landed in front of thegopura.
The dying light from the arrow revealed the confused looks of the intruders a split second before realization widened their eyes. They attempted to move back, but the explosion lifted most of them off their feet and scattered them clear across the courtyard.
Right in front of themandapa, they had stacked all barrels of oil within the temple, draining the oil of even theakhanda deepam, despite its function to serve as a light all through the night.
A volley of arrows came from the hidden archers in thegopura. The guards at the temple moved forward, engaging the few that weren’t affected by the explosion.
A great sheet of flame rose to the skies. If Veer and his friends were there somewhere within the city and unhurt, they would see the flame and hopefully hurry here.
Although things seemed to favor them right now, Chandra knew they didn’t have inexhaustible resources. Or men. They needed help. Even now, the intruders were aiming toward the concealed archers. The doors of the sanctum opened, and the people of the temple city streamed forward with their makeshift weapons.
They needed to strike hard and fast.
Chandra made a cut on her palm, smeared her finger with blood, and drew the half moon mark on her forehead. Herrudrakshabracelet warmed against her wrist as she bent her arm to pick an unusually heavy arrow from her quiver.
She aimed it high into the sky, her eyes briefly closed, as she concentrated; themantraon her arrow flickering in the darkness.
“Hreem,” she whispered the activating seed word before releasing the arrow.
A shrill whistle cut through the air.
The men of the temple city brought their shields over their heads, leaving their enemies flabbergasted for a minute.
A roaring sound filled the air, like the approach of heavy rain, minutes before a hail of arrows rained down on them, striking everything that was uncovered.
The arrow she released was asata banu, one hundred arrows, fused together by a spell. Once activated by the seed word, themantracaused the arrow to separate mid-flight into their individual components.
Her attack brought them a few moments. Chandra climbed down from thegopura, releasing her twin blades.
* * *
Veer put a foot on the fallen intruder and wrenched the blade stuck in the man’s stomach. He crouched and flipped over the cloak that partially covered the weathered face of the dead man.
Underneath the cloak was armor.
There was a lull in the battle. Most of the intruders had been killed.
“Well, that’s it, then. We have won,” Aradatta said wiping his forehead across his sleeve, as he came to stand beside Veer.
“Not quite.” Veer turned the dead man’s hand to expose the tattoo on his forearm.
A serpent coiled around the lotus bud.
