Her arms began moving, and I took a small step back. She attached a conch shell to her belt and then began rotating the weapons in her hands. Passing them from limb to limb, she inspected each one carefully. When she came to the one she wanted, she stopped. She looked at the weapon lovingly and ran a free hand down the side of it.
It was the gada. She held it out in front of her and indicated that I should take it. I reached out, wrapped my hand around the handle, and lifted it toward me. It looked to be made of gold, but, strangely, it wasn’t heavy. In fact, I could easily hold it in one hand.
I ran a hand over the weapon. It was about the length of my arm. The handle was twisted and carved in a golden spiral. The hilt was a smooth, thin, gold bar two inches wide that ended with a heavy sphere about the size of a softball. Tiny crystal jewels dotted the entire surface of the orb. I was stunned to realize that they were probably diamonds.
I thanked Durga as she smiled benevolently at me. She raised an arm and pointed at the pillar, then nodded, encouraging me.
I pointed and asked, ‘You want me to go to the pillar?’
She indicated the gada in my hand and then looked at the pillar again.
I sucked in a breath. ‘Oh. You want me to test it out?’
The goddess nodded once and began petting her tiger’s head.
I turned toward the pillar and lifted the gada like a baseball bat. ‘Okay, but, just so you know, I’ve always been terrible at sports.’
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and swung weakly. I expected it to hit the stone, bounce off, and jar my arms painfully. I missed. Or, so I had thought.
It all happened in slow motion. A thunderous boom shook the temple, and a chunk of stone shot across the temple like a missile. The piece hit with an echo and shattered, exploding into a million pieces. I watched as gritty dust rained down on the pile of rubble. The pillar was left with a huge gouge in its side.
My mouth gaped open in amazement. I turned back to the goddess, who was smiling proudly at me.
‘I guess I’ll have to be really careful with this thing.’
Durga nodded and explained, ‘Use the gada when neces-sary to protect yourself, but I expect it will mostly be wielded by the warrior at your side.’
I briefly puzzled over how a tiger would use a gada, and then carefully set the weapon on the stone floor. When I looked up, Durga had extended another delicate arm adorned with a golden snake as alive as the goddess herself. The serpent’s tongue darted in and out, and it hissed slightly as it curled around her bicep.
‘This, however, is for you,’ Durga announced, and I watched with horror as the golden snake slowly unwound itself from her arm and traveled down the dais. It stopped there and raised its head, bringing half its body up off the floor. It flicked its tongue, sensing the air around it. The eyes looked like tiny emeralds. As it fanned out the sides of its neck into the telltale hood, I trembled, realizing it was a cobra. The normal markings of the cobra were still there, but instead of brown and black scales, the markings of the hood were beige, amber, and cream swirled on a golden background. The skin of the belly was buttermilk white and its tongue was ivory.
The snake wound its way closer to me. Ren backed up a few steps as it slithered between his paws.
I was terrified. My mouth was dry. My throat closed, and I felt as if a stiff wind could easily blow me over. I looked up at the goddess. She had a serene smile plastered on her face as she watched her pet draw nearer to me.
The snake approached my shoe, flicked its tongue again, and wound its head around my leg. It circled my calf and twisted its body around several times. I could feel its muscles clench my limb tightly as it undulated and slowly ascended. Around and around it went. My limbs were quaking, and I wavered like a flower in a hard rain. I heard myself whimper. Ren half-growled and half-whined, apparently not knowing what to do to help me. The snake reached the top of my thigh. My elbows were locked stiff, and my arms were quivering as I held them slightly out and away from my sides. The snake gripped my thigh with the lower half of its body and stretched its head toward my hand.
I watched in rapt alarm as it reached my wrist and quickly shot over. Curling under my arm, it continued its slow progress and began climbing up that limb. The scales felt cool, smooth, and polished, like onyx disks slipping over my bare skin. The snake was gripping me in a powerful vise. As it squeezed my arm and moved up, my blood flow stopped, and then began pounding again, as if I’d wrapped a faulty tourniquet around the limb.
When most of its body was bound around my upper arm the snake stretched its head up to my shoulder and brushed against my neck. Its tongue shot out and tasted the salty perspiration on my throat, causing my lower lip to quiver. Beads of sweat trickled down my face as I breathed heavily. I could feel its head pass my neck, brush against my chin, and then, there it was, open hooded and looking right in my face with its jeweled eyes. Just when I thought I was going to pass out, it descended to my arm again, wrapped itself around two more times, and then froze, its head facing Durga.
I cautiously dropped my eyes to look at it and was awed to see that it had become jewelry. It looked like one of the snake armlets that ancient Egyptians wore. Its emerald eyes stared unblinkingly ahead.
I tentatively reached my other arm over to touch it. I could still feel the smooth scales, but it felt metallic, definitely not living flesh. I shuddered and turned toward the goddess.
Like the gada, the snake was relatively light. If I have to wear a golden snake on my arm, at least it doesn’t weigh me down, I thought. Now that I was brave enough to look more closely, I could see that the snake had shrunk. The large serpent had diminished in size to become a small wrap-around piece of jewelry.
The goddess spoke, ‘She is called Fanindra, the Queen of the Serpents. She is a guide and will help you to find what you seek. She can conduct you on safe paths and will light your way through darkness. Do not be afraid of her, for she wishes you no harm.’
The goddess reached out to stroke the snake’s immobile head and counseled, ‘She is sensitive to the emotions of others and longs to be loved for who she is. She has a purpose, as do all of her chil-dren, and we must learn to accept that all creatures, however fearsome they may be, are of divine origin.’
I bowed my head and said, ‘I will try to overcome my fear and give her the respect she deserves.’
The goddess smiled and said, ‘That is all I ask.’
As Durga gathered her arms and began to return them to their original positions, she gazed down at Ren and me. ‘Now, may I give you some advice before you leave?’
I demurred, ‘Of course, Goddess.’
‘Remember to stay by each other. If you get separated, do not trust your eyes. Use your hearts. They will tell you what is real and what is not. When you obtain the fruit, hide it well, for there are others who would take it and use it for evil and selfish purposes.’
‘But aren’t we supposed to bring the fruit back to you as an offering?’
The hand stroking the tiger froze on his fur, and the flesh dulled until it became rough and gray. ‘You have made your offering. The fruit has another purpose, which you will understand in due time.’
‘What about the other gifts, the other offerings?’ I was desperate to learn more, and it was obvious my time was running out.
‘You may present the other offerings to me at my other temples, but the gifts you must keep until—’
Her red lips seized in midsentence, and her eyes dimmed and became sightless orbs once more. She, and her golden jewels and bright clothing, faded to become a rough sculpture once again.
I reached out and touched Damon’s head, and then I dusted my hands on my jeans after grazing over a gritty ear. Ren brushed up next to me, and I trailed my fingers over his furry back, deep in thought. The sound of pebbles falling brought me out of my reverie.