Her hair hung wild down her back and her warrior’s gaze was fierce. We kept the amulet on us at all times, and since we’d recently time traveled, we already had the Rope of Fire, which she’d worn as a belt, and the Divine Scarf. The last thing we needed bumped against her bare foot. Leaning down, Anamika said, “There you are.”
As the goddess held out an arm, the golden cobra wound her body around it and settled into place. Fanindra never became jewelry when the goddess went about doing her work, seeming to prefer to remain in snake form. It didn’t bother Anamika to have a live snake on her arm like it had Kelsey.
Fanindra often stayed behind in Ana’s room, even when we left to help others. It was almost as if she knew she wouldn’t be needed. Most of the time we’d find her coiled up and sleeping in the sunlight of Ana’s window. Only rarely did she grace us with her presence. Anamika stroked her pet’s head, and the snake settled down, her tongue flicking out as she looked at me with jeweled eyes.
Ana stepped next to me then, placed one hand on my neck, and channeled the power of the goddess. Dozens of images flashed before us. Shouts and prayers, death and destruction assailed our senses. Both of us reeled from the impact. At first, we tried to shuffle through the requests to see which needed to be attended to first, but we learned that sometimes the loudest pleas were not always the ones that needed help first.
We’d discovered soon after she accepted her role that the power Kelsey and Ren had wielded, the power once shared between a pair of goddesses and tigers, fell upon us completely. We got it all. As a result, every prayer uttered in every temple, no matter the decade, flooded our senses. It took a monumental effort to shut it off, but we found we were able to do it together. Turning it back on was like breaking open a dam. We dialed back the power until only the most dire, the most frequent supplications rose to the surface.
“We have been lax in our duties as of late, Damon.”
We have, I replied in my mind.
Lifting the Rope of Fire, Anamika wove it in a circle, and a gateway into another place opened before us. When it was stable, she climbed onto my back, and I raced forward, leaping into the breach. We landed with a heavy thump onto a worn trail and I sped toward a city.
Smoke billowed overhead as soldiers set thatched roofs on fire. Ana used the scarf to gather the winds. The scarf billowed out behind us, bucking and kicking, as large as one of those hot air balloons I’d seen on television. Ana didn’t even need to hold it as air rushed into the bag, filling it to bursting. Then, with greater ease than either I or Kelsey had displayed before, Ana twitched a hand and shot the terrific gusts ahead of us to blow out the fires.
With great bounds, I maneuvered through fallen soldiers covered in the red rust of dried blood. We’d entered the battle when the tang of prayers was a burnt scent on the breeze and the day was stained with the first coloring of purple night. It leached across the sky like contusions beneath the skin. The smoke that hung over the ground like thin fog stung my nostrils and eyes.
By the time we reached the crooked stones and the ruined buildings that looked like broken teeth, I knew we were too late. Fresh blood spattered the ground like paint. We came upon soldiers in the act of wanton destruction. Children and babies had been slain along with the elderly and the infirm.
I sensed a few survivors cowering in the shadows of homes not yet ravaged, but the village was surrounded. There would be no escape. My paws slid on the slime of death and I sunk my claws in and roared. That served to bring all action to a resounding stop.
It only took a moment for the whispers of recognition to turn to naked horror. Many soldiers dropped their weapons and fled headlong into the darkening night. They ran like an uncovered nest of rats, each one scurrying toward the nearest hole—a jangle of boots, creaking leather, and hooves. But there were many who remained. They licked their lips and turned feverish eyes on the beautiful goddess. I snarled, gnashing my teeth and snapping at the air.
Durga rose from my back into the sky and hovered above me, her body held upright by a cushion of air. Lightning crackled at her fingertips. Her shadow danced on the lingering smoke from the fires that had consumed the village home after home. In her eyes, I saw naked fury and burning embers. With a cry she called forth the lightning power once wielded by Kelsey and struck, taking out the first wave. A clap of thunder shook the ground and many fell, but others rushed forward into battle.
Deftly, she landed on her feet beside me, and we began our deadly dance, striking down soldier after soldier. The hired mercenaries met her sword to sword and sword to trident, but she was too lethal, too magnificent for anyone to gain headway. Those who came close quickly learned that Fanindra was a force of her own. The snake slashed out with lethal bites.
Anamika fought six, seven men at once, ducking and weaving and moving her arms and body in such a way that all I wanted to do was sit down on the bloody battlefield and watch her, but I had opponents of my own to fight. The pile of bodies around her grew, some dismembered, some bitten, some stabbed.
When the bodies obstructed her, she rose in the air and levitated to a new position, but always, she remained close to me. I should have felt emasculated knowing she was protecting me as much as I was her, but I also felt proud to be the companion of such a warrior.
One man spun away from me, his chest oozing blood. Another clutched his spilling innards after I ripped him open with my claws, while a third screamed when I clamped down on his neck. His cries were cut off with a gurgle when I snapped his spine. Leaping into the air, I came down on one man, crushing him beneath me with my weight, and then I circled back to Anamika to swipe at the legs of two men attacking her.
I could see the moment when their violent natures turned inward. The fear they’d inflicted gnashed and bit at them, turning their resolve to water along with their knees. I bit into the arm of one man trying to escape and his weapon fell to the ground useless. Then Ana slashed through his arm with her sword, severing it from his body. He shrieked and clutched at the stump where bare bone peeked out.
Despite our efforts, there seemed to be an endless supply of men seeking their death. We took them down, one by one, suffering barely a wound at all, save for one on Ana’s arm that somehow managed to get through her armor. Her blood gushed freely from a lucky cut someone had gotten in.
The idea that a soldier had stolen past my defenses enraged me, and I lashed out with renewed fury. I struck with raw power again and again, taking down men with tooth and claw. I was unmitigated lethality wrapped in fur. We fought together, our movements a fluid dance. My only regret was that I wished I could fight alongside her as a man. Though I enjoyed fighting as a tiger, I would like to face my enemies as I once did long ago. I imagined standing with Ana, my back pressed against hers as we took down all our opponents.
Finally, the battle was over. Ana stood, panting. Not even the dirt and blood on her cheeks could mar her beautiful features. There were a few who’d been smart enough to escape but they weren’t worth a chase. We’d slain the leader, the one who’d caused the trouble in the first place. Greedy man.
We’d discovered that the village mined the mountain for ore. It was a meager income for them, and yet the warlord wasn’t happy with his returns. He decided to punish the village as an example to others under his reign. If it hadn’t been for the cries of the faithful, we wouldn’t have even known where to go. The runner could have been talking about any mountain, any village. It was luck that we’d found the right one.