UNITED WE’RE VICTORS

‘United We’re Victors Copyright © 2008 Melvin Nzefili

A lot of people really don’t believe in fairytales ... neither do I. But I find it hard to deny the fact about some, yet to be explained happenings in nature that could make one question one’s own sanity. Just as the case with a rogue witch-hunter, witch hunters and a globe that finally got mixed up with a sorority; call it what you want but I bet you, the story that you’re about to be told isn’t a fairytale bed-time story.

Chapter 1

Dorje shook Lhamu continuously, as she lay unconscious on the ground covered in her own blood, in the hope that she would wake up. He wept continuously and called to his brother Jigme to help him carry her. Jigme took her by the legs and Dorje took her by the armpits and they lifted her off the ground and carried her away from the road so that she would not be trampled. The entire town was in an uproar and a lot of houses had been destroyed. Houses were on fire, a lot of property had been thrashed and there were a lot of wounded people running, some others were dead and their bodies littered the streets. People had taken to the streets in protests to situations they had kept quiet about for far too long. The town had been constantly molested by witches and a lot of people had been dying; their deaths were attributed to the activities of these witches who operated at any time they chose; they had grown too powerful and too confident. There were four youths, who were fed up with the oppression of these witches on their townsmen; they came together and formed an independent group which they called ‘The Witch-Hunt Society.’ They were not known by anybody and they operated in secret and tried very hard to hide their activities. Three of them were boys, Dorje, Jigme and Rinzen and there was a girl among them, Lhamu. They had been very unsuccessful with their activities until they decided to go into witchcraft themselves an idea championed by Rinzen. Dorje and Jigme were not comfortable with the idea but Lhamu was all for it. She was Rinzen’s girlfriend and she always supported his decisions no matter what. Rinzen later got through to the brothers convincing them that it was white

witchcraft it would not make them bad people; ‘to kill a witch you had to know their secret’ he argued.They became temporal members of a coven and learned their ways and then began to use it to kill them. When Jigme began to notice that the coven were beginning to seem disoriented and fearful he went to the leader of the town to incite him to take action against the witches. The leader took his advice and got people to go into the streets and attack the witches unexpectedly. The Witch-Hunt Society was not aware of what Jigme had done and Jigme did not expect that the leader would act so soon.The Witch-Hunt Society, on the day of the uprising, had decided it would be the last day they would have anything to do with the coven. The coven took to the streets as usual, but they were met by an angry mob who were armed with machetes and guns. Dorje and Jigme had already distanced themselves from the coven when they noticed Lhamu and Rinzen had gone with the coven to the forefront and were being attacked. A lot of witches were apprehended along with Rinzen and those that were stubborn were killed on the spot. Lhamu attempted to stop the mob from taking Rinzen when she was struck in the head with the butt of a gun. She fell to the ground and the people began to step on her repeatedly until she was covered in her own blood and unconscious.Jigme and Dorje carried Lhamu to a corner and placed her on the ground. Dorje tried to get her to wake up but he couldn’t. Jigme tried to feel for a pulse but he could not get any. He placed his hand on Dorje’s shoulder and said to him softly,“We have to leave this place right now, we can’t help her anymore. She is already dead.”“No. No. don’t say that!” Dorje retorted pushing Jigme’s hand off his shoulder. He kept slapping her face and

shaking her body, “Wake up, Lhamu, wake up!” he began to break into tears and screamed.Jigme grabbed him aside but Dorje pushed him away and then ran into the streets. Jigme ran following him from behind. A lot of witches were already lying dead on the streets. Dorje and Jigme ran to the centre of the town where they had taken the witches they had apprehended. The place was filled with a lot of people from the town and they stood around waiting for the sentencing of the witches. They had been given power to have a jungle justice on them in atonement for the deaths of many of their townsmen. They were tied in fours on three stakes; Dorje saw Rinzen. Rinzen was tied up with three others and Dorje was horrified.“Oh no. We have already lost Lhamu, now we are about to lose Rinzen? I have to stop this.” He began to rush forward trying to, make his way through the crowd. Jigme grabbed him hard by the arm and pulled him back whispering into his ear,“What are you trying to do, get yourself killed as well?” “He is about to die, can’t you see?”“And what are you going to do? Do you think they will listen to you? For goodness sake he was caught red-handed with the coven, there’s no way you or I can prove his innocence. Going up there is suicidal, these people are in a rage; enough of us are dead already … let it go.”“What is going to happen with those twins now?” Dorje said helplessly.“What twins?”“The twins, Rinzen’s nieces … remember? His sister made him swear to take care of them on her deathbed.”“Diki and Nima?”“Yes. If Rinzen dies they have no one. Rinzen is their only surviving relative who is about to die now.”

“We owe it to Rinzen to take care of them. I know if Lhamu was alive she would but she is no more and now it is up to us.”“I am only nineteen and you are twenty … we are men not women. I don’t know anything about taking care of a few months old babies.”“Don’t worry about that; Aunt will help us with that.”“They are at Lhamu’s best friend’s house, Keyuri. Rinzen and Lhamu took them there to keep with her, we have to go and get them.”They stood and watched helplessly as they were set aflame. Dorje and Jigme walked away from the location and could not watch. Rinzen had already seen them as they left and he closed his eyes and screamed as the fire consumed him and the other witches.

Dorje and Jigme went to Keyuri’s house and got the twins from her after telling her that Rinzen asked them to pick them up for him. She trusted them very well and never felt the need to question them. The brothers took the twin babies home to their aunt who they lived with. A year later, Jigme convinced the aunt that they should leave the town as a lot of things there kept reminding them of Rinzen and Lhamu and it was taking a great toll on Dorje. They left Tibet before the eighth month of the year with the twin babies.

Chapter 2

There was crying and moaning that night, the same as the previous nights. It had become a common incident in the past year … a mother crying over the death of one of her children. Sachit had been looking for her seven year old daughter since three nights until she found her tucked in on her mat, and dead. It was 3:15 A.M. in the morning, and her wailing had broken the silence of the dark. All the neighbors had assembled in front of her house and a couple of women tried to hold Sachit to restrain her so she doesn’t harm herself. Inside her daughter’s lifeless body lay on the bed. Dharma refused to come out of the house, she watched her husband Yeshe through the window as he went to Sachit’s house to confirm what had happened; as she watched she help her little daughter very close to herself. Other mothers who had been looking for a son or a daughter had the same story to tell in 1985 at a little village in Kanpur, India. The town was tormented by evil witches and warlocks, whose identities could never be known as the rumor had it, but a host of others doubted the fact; they attributed the mothers’ predicament to punishments from Krishna on account of their offences. Yeshe and some other villagers who believed that the children where not dying naturally, deduced that it was the handy work of an evil fraternity of sorcerers who were always kidnapping children and offering them up as sacrifices. The reasons why this group would do a thing like that was very unclear. Others didn’t buy it, they believed that it was just a rumor people had decided to begin to spread among one another and there was no iota of truth in the account.

There was really not much people seemed to be able to do to protect their children because even when they tried being watchful over them, when it was time to sleep, the child would vanish immediately the mother or father or whoever was being watchful began to feel drowsy, and whenever they wiped their sleepy eyes, the child was already gone. Many of the villagers couldn’t bear their worries about whose child would be next anymore, so Yeshe got together with two of his best friends Sanshray and Qutaybah and some of the villagers who thought the same things he did.“We have stayed way too long and have done nothing. We have been too afraid to act and our inactivity has not stopped our children from disappearing and coming back dead.” Yeshe began to address them. “All we have is suspicions but no concrete evidence. We need to begin investigating so we can know how to handle this situation. If we are being attacked by witches and warlocks we have to know for sure and act on that. If it is something else we have to know what it is so we know the right step to take.”“Qutaybah and I have been doing our own investigation but it always leads to a dead-end. We even tried to get the police involved but I’m surprised at how evasive they have been. They are scared themselves.” Sanshray said. “I guess it is up to us. What we know for sure is that a lot of magic is involved, dark magic. The powers involved in this activity are way more powerful than any witches we have ever burned at the stake.”“I even think they are not witches … maybe they are spirits. I say this because of how the activities are.” Qutaybah added.

“That is exactly what most people believe …” one of the people gathered said, “… they believe Krishna is punishing us for our sins. If you believe like them then, why are you even here or besides what were you even investigating.”“It is because of our findings I was beginning to think they were not just witches.” Qutaybah spoke in his defense. “A lot of the families that have lost a child to this evil all seem to have something consistent about them. Some of them are originally not from this land. Another group has in one way desecrated the shrine of Krishna.”“That’s really true because many of us here don’t fall into either of those categories.” One woman suggested.“So do you suggested that all this evil will stop once we can get all the people that fall into either of this groups to leave town and go somewhere else?” one man asked.“That might be a solution that would work.” Qutaybah replied.“Hold on one minute!” Yeshe stopped them. “I am not from this land originally and I have not desecrated any shrine neither have I lost a child. Are you sure your research is accurate?”“Perhaps it’s not your turn yet?”“I think you’re wrong with your postulations, Qutaybah.” Yeshe maintained.“Then what do you think is the problem?” Sanshray asked.“Firstly, we do not know for sure what these situations are all about and the reason I called you all here was to remind you that staying and not trying to find out what is going on is not helping us. Secondly, before my friends began talking about investigations, I knew nothing about; I was going to suggest that we consult a diviner to let us know what to do to stop all this …”

“You’re right I agree with you; a diviner will be the one in the best position to give us answers.” One man replied.“You don’t have to.” A woman called out from behind, “I just got here a little late when I heard you talk about a diviner. I already met with one and he told me what must be done to stop this.” Everyone by now turned around to face her in curiosity. She was a very little woman, about four feet and maybe eleven inches; she wasn’t easily seen by everybody. “He told me that the best way to make this cease was to try and get the people that just arrived in this town, since a week before these deaths started, to leave all together; if you pay attention they are the ones mostly affected. Those affected that have been in this town since many years either blasphemed or desecrated one of the shrines. We have to get these people out for if they remain too long it will no longer apply to them alone.”“How do we know people like that?” one person asked with a lot of worry in his tone.“It’s no problem there’s a record of people and visitors to this town in every week. That record is at the mayor’s office …” Sanshray responded. “The only problem is we don’t know who desecrated any shrine. Perhaps we could get the mayor to announce this and beckon to people like that to leave; after all it’s mainly for their safety.”“I think we need to get the message to the mayor to let the people know on time …” the woman that brought the news suggested, “… because I have nagging fears that when they run out of children they might start killing adults in those families as well.”“We will need volunteers to take our message to the mayor then …” another man suggested.“Do not worry about that; I will go to the mayor’s office right now with the woman who brought us this solution;

that is if she doesn’t mind.” Yeshe replied as he approached her. He came close and finally saw her face. She covered her head and her height was way below his chin, “My name is Yeshe, what is your name?” he asked.“Chahna!” she answered.

Chapter 3

The mayor, his name was Yadu, held a broadcast to the people in the town and instructed the people that fell into the two categories Chahna mentioned to leave town. This was a couple of days after Yeshe and Chahna visited him and told him what they had discussed at a brief meeting with some villagers. Yadu saw reason with them and that was why he made that broadcast. He even allowed these people to take transport out of the town without charges so that those who had no money to transport themselves would not have an excuse not to leave town. The events had marred his regime and it was as if Yeshe and Chahna had come to him with the best possible solution. Shortly after the broadcast many of the people began to move out of the village with their children; Sachit was one of them and she left with her husband and family members; she did not hesitate because she had lost one but she still had two and she was not ready to lose either of them as well. A lot of people left the town for other towns until it was inhabited mainly by a lot of unmarried men and women and married couples who had no fear of losing their children because of the categories Yadu had announced.

Indeed all incidents of children disappearing and coming back dead ceased instantly. A couple of months had gone by since the great number of people moved away to other towns and most of the people left were mainly indigenes of the town besides foreigners like Yeshe who had lived for many years in the town. Yadu was very pleased with the outcome and wanted to honor Yeshe and Chahna but they declined the offer as it was not a decision made solely by them both. Dharma had been

bothering Yeshe to make out time and take a trip to some of the towns that the people had migrated to, in order to make sure that they had not imposed a calamity on another town. Yeshe agreed with her but the thought of going very far from his daughter, Nele, bothered him a bit. He had never been far from her and this was about to be the first time. He had feared for what could happen to her during the time of the deaths and he was very relieved that the problem had been resolved. He took an entire week to decide and he began to grow restless and could not sleep anymore at night. The point in Dharma’s suggestion could not leave his thoughts and then there was the need to protect his family. Some days into the following week he packed some clothes and some accessories into a box, Dharma helped him with that. Very early the following morning, Dharma and Nele followed him to the train station. While they waited for his train he talked a while with his wife trying to distract his mind from the thought of leaving his daughter even though it was for a few days. In a few moments his train arrived and those on board whose stop was that train station began to get off.“Let me come with you daddy.” Nele said to him.He put his box down and squatted in front of her and held her little arm, “You can’t today but I promise you when I come back we will go on another trip, you me and your mother. You better be good to your mother when I’m gone okay?! I’ll be gone for a very short time and I’ll be back.” He rose to his feet and held his wife’s hand then picked his box up. He got unto the train and sat by the window so he could see Dharma and Nele as the train began to leave. He waved at them both and they both waved back at him. The train was heading to Delhi, it was

a big city and many of the people that left Kanpur went there.

The people in Kanpur couldn’t really trust each other anymore, although there were no longer any cases of missing children. A new reality had dawned on most people, who believed there were fraternities that hadn’t been discovered, and the fear was that a great narrowing down had just been made. It was not disputable that they lived with an unseen evil which sustained itself with the blood of children of the foreigners and the blood of desecrators of shrines. Now they had all left town and there is no one else for the evil to descend on, were the rest of them really safe? Many people believed that the evil would always seek blood and as the deaths have ceased, it could be a window period when the evil is trying to adjust to the new situation and begin to attack them who are the indigenes. They believed very well that members of whatever sinister group that would be involved in these diabolic acts were also indigenes. They did not know how many they were but the sure thing was that they were living with them. They wondered if when they began again and killed all their children, it would be adults that would start disappearing. Most other people didn’t have those fears because they didn’t believe there was a fraternity in the first place, so they relished the peace that followed the movement of foreigners out of the town because nothing bad like that happened for many weeks. Yadu, on the other hand barred visitors from coming to the town especially people that were coming to settle there. It was the best thing he could think of in order to make sure that cases of children disappearing and coming back dead would not recur.

“You can’t stop foreigners from coming in forever you have to find a way around that.” Yadu’s wife, Bharavi, said.“There is no other way!” Yadu replied.“How about getting the Chahna to get back to the diviner she met to ask what the reason was that children of foreigners were dying?”“I could do that!” Yadu said. He picked up the phone and called Yeshe’s house. Dharma picked the call on the other end and Yadu learned from her that Yeshe wasn’t in town. He hung the phone up and looked at Bharavi, “That Tibetan man would sure make a good mayor …”“Why do you say that?” Bharavi asked. “He was already thinking the same thing?”“I don’t know but his wife was the one on the line. He already left town to one of those towns where people left here to. He went to find out if the activities are happening there?”“If it isn’t then what will that mean?” Bharavi asked. “We still need to meet a diviner. I will send word to Chahna to find out for us because whatever Yeshe finds out in Delhi, we will still be asking questions.” she left Yadu’s presence.

CHAPTER 4

Sachit tried to put the tragic memories about the death of her daughter behind her, it had been months since the emigration from Kanpur, she got herself busy doing some jobs, to keep her mind away from the tragedy although the memory came back from time to time. Delhi had not had any cases of missing children, and being in the village made Sachit feel better; there was no one to tell her about any incidence in the city that resembled those at Kanpur and she wouldn’t raise any discussions as such. None of her newly found friends ever knew she had had and lost a daughter. She began to accept the possibility that a fraternity of sorcerers and sorceresses was responsible for the happenings at Kanpur, a few days into mourning her daughter. There was no proof though, neither did she know who to suspect to be a possible member but she believed strongly that Kanpur was inhabited by evil. Though she had left Kanpur for so long, she could not shake the feeling that something still had to be done. Her daughter and the children of other victims had no justice for their death and like it was not hurtful enough, she was exiled. Anyway, a calm heart was Sachit’s once again by the end of the year; she occupied her mind with events that brought her joy and she was already getting used to the loss of her daughter. She walked out of her house one day and was headed to a market place very close to where she was living when she saw Yeshe. She suddenly began to feel a purge in the pit of her stomach and a lot of horrible feelings came over her, especially the memory of the night she lost her daughter. She threw her face obviously in a different direction in

pretense that she did not see him and awkwardly tried to walk in a different direction.“Sachit!” Yeshe called out to her. When he saw her reaction on seeing him he knew without a doubt that she probably did not want to see him. “Sachit!” he called out to her once again, rushing towards her. He got closer to her and then reached for her arm. Instantly she shook her arm off so he could not get hold of it and then she looked at him. Yeshe was a little startled on seeing her face; she didn’t have an expression of one who was pleased to see an old neighbor but there was a mixture of fear and displeasure.“What are you doing in Delhi?”“I came on a visit to see the …”“What let me guess …” she interrupted him with an unfriendly tone, “… you came to see if we were dead, right?”“Why are you talking like that?”“How am I talking?”“You sound upset, what did I do wrong?”“What did you do wrong?” Sachit grew angrier, “How about this one … instead of getting Yadu to come up with solutions that would resolve the issues with the killings, investigate to know for sure if there is a coven somewhere and bring justice to my late daughter and the children of all other who lost their children …” she began to sob, “… your best solution was to send us on exile, even in our grief. I was on exile while I still mourned my daughter how am I supposed to feel!” she was almost yelling.“Stop!” Yeshe replied softly as he looked to his left and to his right worried that the passers-by might turn their attention towards them. “Bring your voice down; you don’t want these people to hear you.”

“Yeshe. I’ve been doing just fine these past months, the last thing I need right now is to see you or any other person from that evil town. You all were probably looking for a way to get rid of us; I do not even you if you are one of the sorcerers we suspect are behind those deaths.”“Enough!” Yeshe retorted. “I don’t have to take these insults from you. Let us go to somewhere private and talk for a minute it is important.”“I do not have time for all this right now.” She said and was about walking away when Yeshe caught her by the arm and said,“You were talking about justice for your daughter; … allow me to help.”Sachit shook his hand off her arm again and walked on; Yeshe followed her from behind. He followed her to the market and she did not say a word to him. He did not complain he followed her around for thirty minutes and she said nothing to him. She bought all she wanted and began to head home totally ignoring Yeshe.“Let me help you with the bags.” Yeshe offered. She let him because it was quite heavy. In a way his tagging along came in handy. They got to the house where Sachit lived.“Wait out here!” she instructed him. She took the bags from him and went inside. He stood outside and watched her close the door in his face. He waited outside but he had to stand. There was nowhere he could sit and he did not feel comfortable standing outside in front of someone’s door in a neighborhood where nobody knew him. He had been in Delhi for many weeks and Sachit was the only one he was lucky enough to find. He had met a couple of men and a number of women who he suspect where among those that moved away from Kanpur but they denied ever living there; he felt there were not being

honest. Sachit is the only one he knew for sure because she was once his neighbor and her predicament was the last one he knew about. He had called his wife Dharma to find out if any strange deaths had occurred again. The only deaths were from accidents, illnesses and natural causes, no unusual deaths yet. Yeshe checked his wrist-watch and ten minutes had passed. He knocked on the door, “Sachit!” he called to her, “I’m still here.”Sachit heard him inside then her husband asked her, “Who is that?” with the tone of the jealous husband.“Don’t even begin to think that.” Sachit answered in a defensive feat. “He found me on the way to the market …. It’s Yeshe our former neighbor.”“What?!” Martand spoke softly, “One of the inhabitants of Kanpur?”“Yes. I really didn’t know how to get rid of him, he was really bent on ‘talking to me’ I don’t know why he is so intent on that.”“Following the current happenings in Kanpur … do you think they are extending their activities outside now, that they have to come looking for us? They wanted us out we left and now they come after us?”Yeshe kept knocking and calling her name. Sachit shuddered. Martand was a little unsettled but he had to appear strong before his wife because he was somewhat terrified himself.“Look, we have to play along with him like we don’t know why he is really here, although we don’t know if he is one of the killers but I need you to be in on this if we have to get him to leave.” Sachit nodded.A few moments later, Martand opened the door. Yeshe saw him and took a couple of steps back, giving him a little distance as he came out of the house.

“Yeshe?” Martand said to him. “How did you find us? What are you doing here?” he kept looking at Yeshe’s hand to make sure he wasn’t holding a weapon and won’t reach for one unexpectedly.“Honestly, I came to town to see how you were doing.” Yeshe answered.Martand found Yeshe’s answer to be strange; what does Yeshe care about the well-being of him and his wife? “I don’t feel comfortable having you around here. Your presence will bother my wife. Seeing you will bring back all the bad memories associated with Kanpur.”“It is too late for that, Martand. She brought me here and left me out here. It is obvious that she is upset with me … but I really need to talk to you it will only be for a moment I promise.”Martand stepped aside and showed him in. he went in and Yeshe followed him behind. “Have a sit.” Martand said. “Do you want a drink?”“No thank you.” Yeshe replied.Martand sat down and his feet pressed firmly on the ground and his posture perfectly upright and with concentrated attention at Yeshe. “Speak!”Yeshe was a little hesitant and did not know how exactly to begin. He cleared his throat and sat forward, “I want to express my condolences once again with regards to your daughter.”“It’s a long time already. We have made peace with it.”“I want you to know that it was not my idea to send you and the others on exile unlike your wife believes ….”“I know. A diviner gave you the advice and you were desperate for answers, besides knowing who you are you most likely accepted that advice because you thought we would be safer leaving town … it’s logical I am not angry at you.”

Yeshe was more relaxed; he breathed deeply and continued, “We realized that following your movements we have had no more deaths, even till this very moment …”Martand grew a little confused he thought two things, either Yeshe was lying or he was totally naïve. He did not know what to think. Could it be that he was saying that so as to get them to come back to Kanpur, which was not one of his options or he was just saying that to hide his shame that their decision did not solve their problem in Kanpur.“Hmmm. That is good!”“… Yes. So I came down here to Delhi to make sure that the evil did not leave with either of you. I wanted to make sure you all were alright.”“Well I guess the diviner’s advice saved us all. Our children are still alive, the two we still had when we left. The others that came to Delhi with us are still alive and so are their children.” In order to try and read Yeshe’s true expression he added, “I am happy for you that the evil in Kanpur has ceased.”“Thank you. It is good to hear. It is all I have been trying to find out for weeks. Now I can go back to my wife and daughter.” Yeshe responded with a lot of sincerity and Martand began to think that Yeshe must be a very good actor.“I wonder how you can say that conveniently.” Sachit who had been listening to the conversation from the kitchen said as she emerged the sitting room, “You seem more interested in finding out if we are alive or dead more than trying to find out the truth about the deaths.”Yeshe was unable to say anything in reply. He knew Sachit was right. Martand did not say anything either he

only tried to make sense of the true intent of Yeshe’s visit.“I do not want to set eyes on you until you have news about who the evil ones are responsible for my daughter’s death.” She left the sitting room again.Yeshe looked towards the ground. He did not even know that Sachit had left the sitting room again. He could not dare look at Martand either.“My wife is right you know. Try and get Yadu to investigate that. I do not know so well about that diviner you said gave you the advice, after all, he uses mystical powers to function too, but I am not accusing him.”Yeshe nodded introspectively. He rose to his feet, “Thank you for the hospitality Martand.” He went for the door.

CHAPTER 5

“I think that is good news then isn’t it?” Yadu asked smiling and exchanging glances between his wife and Yeshe who was seated.“I guess so.” Yeshe replied. “I was in that town and a couple of others in the past weeks and there were no reports of any unusual deaths.”“And there have been no deaths here either. It is amazing that the land for those reasons did not want them.” Yadu said.“Chahna met the diviner to get some feedback from him and all he could tell her was nothing.” Bharavi said. “He could not tell her anything.”“I still believe we have to try and investigate the source of all that evil.” Yeshe said.“Let it go, Yeshe.” Yadu instructed, “The town has been back to normal for months let sleeping dogs lie! You’re dismissed.” Yeshe rose to his feet and just before he opened the door Yadu said to him, “Make sure you have nothing more to do with this matter.” Yeshe nodded and left.

When Yeshe got to his house he saw Dharma standing outside.“What are you doing outside?” Yeshe asked her.“Your friends Qutaybah and Sanshray are inside.” She replied. “I don’t like seeing them around anymore … they never seem to have any good news to share. I forgot to tell you but they have been looking to see you for the past four weeks since before you returned.”“Is everything alright?”

“They don’t look like they have anything pleasant to share. Go on and see them, I don’t think I want to listen to anything they have to say.”Yeshe walked into the house and Qutaybah rose up and approached him, “Wow. Welcome back I was beginning to think you abandoned your wife and daughter.” They embraced.“Where is Sanshray?” Yeshe asked.“O he is still at the dining table. Dharma fixed us something to eat.” Qutaybah said smiling, “Dharma tells me there are no cases of any deaths in the towns you went.”Yeshe nodded, “And I hear nothing has been happening here too.”Qutaybah’s smile slowly wore off, “Well that is what Sanshray and I have been looking to talk to you about for the past one month.”“What is the matter?” Yeshe got curious, “You are beginning to get me worried.Sanshray came to meet them, “Yeshe welcome back.” They embraced.“Come let us sit down!” Yeshe said to them. They all sat and without wasting anymore time Qutaybah spoke,“It is not exactly true that the death have stopped. It seems sending those people on exile only changed the way people would begin to die.”“What is happening?” Yeshe could feel his heart rate increase a little. “Soon after the exile few months back, I had become friends with a number of people that had been at that meeting with us. A couple of weeks later each of them spoke about some who were having nightmares every night and sometimes in their waking hours they would see some figure from those nightmare. They only

consoled them until they started having nightmares themselves.”“Nightmares!” Yeshe said in relief. “I don’t think nightmares are as bad as having people die.”“Shortly after their nightmares they begin to act strangely.” Sanshray said.“How strange!”“Like taking a gun and then killing themselves.” Qutaybah replied.“Days later, another surviving member of that family does the same.” Sanshray added. “It’s like they are possessed by some evil entity … I don’t know.”“That is exactly what I think. They are being possessed by some evil spirit.”“Why haven’t you said anything to Yadu? He obviously knows nothing of this because I am just coming from his house.”“We wanted to be sure and now we are. People haven’t begun to notice anything yet. But I think those that are targeted now are those that held that meeting. You have to leave this town; you, Dharma and Nele.”“Me? How about you?”“We have already left. We come from outside the town now. We’ve been trying to convince Dharma to go to you in Delhi but she refuses to listen to us.”Yeshe sighed. “I am confused right now I …”“You have to leave. We do not know how many are still left alive.” Qutaybah said. “We have told you now. I don’t think we will come back to this place after now because I don’t want to be host to any evil entity.”“I can’t just leave here without getting to the bottom of this …” he suddenly remembered Yadu’s words about letting it go. He was not ready to settle with that but if he

was going to investigate this he had to be subtle. “I need time to process this okay? I’ll get back to you.”“Well do that quickly. You don’t have time on your side as long as you and your family remain here.” Sanshray answered as he and Qutaybah headed for the door. Dharma walked in not long after they walked out, “What are you going to do?” she asked Yeshe. “Hearing what I just heard I don’t think you have to think twice about this after all you made us marks by attending that meeting. Oh no …”“What is it?”“What if our deaths would be worse? Remember that you did not just take part in the meeting, you went with that lady to the mayor.”Yeshe rose to his feet and gasped. “Do you know if she’s still alive?”“I don’t even know who she is.”Yeshe quickly rushed into his room and began to go through his drawers rather frantically. He found his telephone book and reached for Chahna’s number. He rushed back to the living room and went to where the telephone was and began to dial.“What are you doing?”“Calling Chahna.”“Who is Chahna?”The phone rang and Yeshe listened with great anticipation hoping that she would pick up. It rang and rang and rang until it disconnected. Yeshe froze. He began to wonder if she was still alive he looked at Dharma, “Dharma get packing right away we are leaving this town right now!” Dharma went ahead. He was a little more curious he tried the number again. The phone began to ring then Chahna picked the call.“Chahna? Is that you?”

“Yes, this is Chahna, who is this?” Chahna asked.Yeshe breathed deeply, “Thank God you’re alive. Listen I can’t talk right now but you have to leave town right now and go as far as you can. There are new cases of people dying and it seems the pattern follows all of us that attended the meeting …”“What? Slow down you are overwhelming me …” Chahna responded.“You have to leave now. I suspect we aren’t dead yet because the evil will come for us last. Got to go.” He hung up while Chahna was still calling his name so he could be more explicit with her. He went to join his wife in packing some things.“What about the others who were at the meeting with you?” Dharma asked feeling concerned.“What about them?” Yeshe was not in the mood for talking at the moment. He could not think about anything else all he wanted to do was get his family out of the town.“Do you know if they know it is no longer safe to be in this town?”“I don’t know many of those people that were at the meeting. It was a long time ago and I don’t think I remember many faces.” He zipped up a case, it did not contain to many things. “Are you ready let’s go!”“Don’t you think we should warn them?”“Look, Dharma!” Yeshe quickly caught himself, he realized that he was almost raising his voice at his wife and he had never done that. He was tense and he could not think about helping any other person right now like his wife was trying to suggest. He held her by the shoulders and breathed deeply. “I need you …” his voice had grown softer “… to finish packing as quickly as possible your things and Nele’s things. Do not take much

we need to travel light. When we get to Delhi, I assure you I will call Yadu to warn the people and keep my name out of the announcement. Is that okay?”Dharma nodded gently and gave a slight smile.

CHAPTER 6

“What do you think about this thing Yeshe told me two days ago? I remember telling you and you said nothing to me in reply.” Yadu said to his wife.“It still bothers you, doesn’t it?” Bharavi replied. “I am sure I was more confused than you are. He just got back to town, he came to see us a day later only to leave that same day and call us a month later, two days ago. What do you want me to say?”“I do not believe that those that have been dying all this time died mysteriously. He probably defied me and decided to go ahead and investigate.”“But remember Chahna assured us that the diviner she had been consulting with said all would be well from then on.”“When last did you hear from Chahna?”“I called her immediately after you told me what Yeshe had just told you, but she did not pick up. I sent someone to her house, but her neighbors told him that she had been away for about a month …”“Same time Yeshe had been away. Now why should she panic like Yeshe if she believes her diviner?”“What are you thinking?”“They probably are investigating the mysterious deaths.”“And if that is true it is a good thing, then. Remember I asked you to investigate and you refused. So what are you going to do, make the announcement like Yeshe suggested?”“For what? If what he said were true, don’t you think all the people involved wouldn’t have been dead by now? Nobody that died died unusually. Our town is safe once again.”

Bharavi did not know what to say to him. She agreed with the fact that all who had died died of natural causes. What she could not comprehend was why Yeshe had to delay giving such important information for an entire month. “As for Chahna …” she said, “I have already sent a number of people to locate her.”“If Yeshe got through to her she will not come …”“It’s no problem I will go to her. I do not expect you to come because it is already clear to me that I am the only one here who is really interested in knowing why our people have been dying.”Yadu frowned fiercely at what Bharavi had just said. He tried to speak but was too angry to utter any words. He just kept looking as she left his presence. He was very conscious of himself as the mayor of the town and he believed he was competent that was why the people voted for him. He was not ready to take suggestions from people, especially his wife; these people seemed to be forgetting who is in charge. He frowned even more as his wife’s words resounded in his head and thought of how Yeshe had begun to instruct him to make what announcement.“I run this town and no one is going to tell me how to run it!” He asserted fiercely, almost yelling.

CHAPTER 7

“You sure know how to pick a town, Yeshe!” Sanshray said to Yeshe.“Why do you say that?” Yeshe asked.“You claimed to have left to Delhi to find out if the happenings in Kanpur continued with those that move from there to here, but I wonder if that is what your goal really was or you were thinking of relocating all along.”“So?”“I mean the town we moved to was one of the towns you investigated right?”“Yes.”“But it had to take us this long to realize that it was not all that. You could have told us about this place earlier.”“Look, I don’t know anything much about the town you left to , but I assure you I wasn’t going around looking for towns to relocate to, I only came here because this was the only town I found Sachit and Martand and they were still safe.”“Really? So how come we have not run into them yet?”“That is because they moved out of the house they were living barely two days after I left this town and came back to Kanpur. I am still wondering why they left.”“Did you confirm from the neighbors that they didn’t die?”“They just told me that they moved out, at least that does not show that they died.”“And they could not tell you where they moved to?” Qutaybah said with a doubtful tone and Yeshe could sense it.“Go ahead then tell me; what is on your mind?” Yeshe said.

“I don’t know about you but it seems they suspected that you would be back.” Qutaybah said.“And?” Yeshe replied trying to understand what he was getting at.“Well, they have been living here in peace and without fear of being attacked by witches, then all of a sudden you show up and then they are gone in what … a couple of days? The way I see it, they probably think that you are one of the witches.” Qutaybah concluded.“Is that supposed to be some kind of a joke?” Dharma asked distastefully.“That does not justify anything.” Yeshe replied in disagreement. “You and Sanshray have always been quick to jump to conclusions. Your postulations are always baseless and you always have a way of getting people to dance to your tune.”“People dance to our tune because we are right.” Sanshray responded. “If you did not think our postulations had a base then why did you move on down here?”Yeshe rose from where he sat and closed in on Sanshray, “Did you stop to think for a second that there was a chance that it was something else that was killing those that came to the meetings with us?”“What are you talking about?” Qutaybah asked.“When you gave me that news I was shaken and very concerned for my family. And with all that had happened I could not possibly remain in Kanpur and think straight, thanks also to your postulations. It was when I got here that I was able to talk to my wife and she told me about a couple of people that died while I was away. Those people where not at our meeting, because I knew them personally and they had been ill for a very long time and had been waiting to die.” Yeshe replied.

“There is a chance one of his relatives was present.” Sanshray insisted. Yeshe sighed helplessly. He found himself once again in a situation where he had to deal with the adamant nature of his friends. Whenever they believed something to be true, it was almost impossible to convince them otherwise. He wondered sometimes if it was because of a cultural difference or what he believed most, that Sanshray and Qutaybah were just idiots. He did not feel good thinking of them that way because it sometimes made him feel like he thought himself superior to them; could it be the reason he drew them closer to himself and befriended them. His wife Dharma did not think he and Qutaybah and Sanshray had anything at all in common and their friendship did not make any sense to her; she was not fond of either of them and what she hated most is that she had to put up with them for his sake.“There’s no winning with either of you is there.” Yeshe was frustrated.“Instead of this argument, don’t you all think it is more important to try and find out where Sachit and Martand moved to and why? If we left Kanpur for the same reason they did and came to the town the just left, are we any safer over here?” Dharma spoke and caused them to be quiet, “The people here in Delhi do not talk about witchcraft probably because they do not have that problem yet, but what if Sachit and her husband discovered something?”“Hmmm. Your wife could have a point Yeshe!” Sanshray replied after a brief silence.“Where do we start?” Qutaybah asked.“No, no. do not even think of counting me in. you both go ahead and do what you do; I will find out in my own way.” Yeshe suggested.

“Alright then, suit yourself!” Qutaybah replied.