do this to a person?” asked another shrill voice.
“We are all going to die. Someone call Raka. He will tell us what to do.”
Confusion and panic abounded as someone ran to get the members of the Panchayat.
Raka came striding up to them. He looked calmly at the misshapen body lying on the ground. Tara just could not understand how he could be so unconcerned.
“What happened?” he asked.
The villagers told Raka what had happened while someone led Ravi’s mother away from her son’s deformed body.
“Call Zarku,” said Raka calmly. “If anyone can cure Ravi, he can.”
Another villager ran off for Zarku. He returned shortly, calling out, “Make way, make way for Zarku.”
Tara saw a bald man in a long, flowing, black robe stride up to the crowd. This was the first time she had seen him since Diwali night.
His black eyes assessed the scene within seconds. They rested on Tara and Suraj momentarily. Tara could feel hate and anger pulsing out at her and she was stunned. Why would this healer, who was so new to Morni, hate her so much? He passed her, and the crowd parted easily to allow him to walk up to the body. The crowd closed in behind him again so that Tara could not see what was happening. A low murmur reached her as she strained to hear what Zarku was saying. She grabbed Suraj’s hand and pushed through the crowd till she could see Zarku’s face and hear him as he examined the body.
“This is deep evil. Someone has put him under a spell and claimed his soul. Only I can free him. Bring him to my hut.”
As soon as she heard his voice, a terrible fear clutched her heart. The voice she had heard last night, plotting with Kali to kill Tara and Suraj, was Zarku’s. It was Zarku who wanted them dead. She wanted to run and hide, but she could not move.
The silence deepened. No one stirred. No one wanted to touch that monster. Ravi’s heart continued beating, rising and falling with each ragged breath he drew in. Green spit drooled from the side of his mouth. Zarku looked at the crowd and his mouth curled at the corners.
“Will no one help me carry this man to my hut? He is one of your own. Surely a bit of deformity should not make him so repulsive to you?”
Silence.
There was an air of deep satisfaction on his face as he looked at the stunned, scared faces around him.
“You are the evil one here,” yelled 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
