Trade winds to Meluhha: Novel set in Ancient Mesopotamia & Indus Valley by Vasant Davé

Author:Vasant Davé [Davé, Vasant]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vasantrai P. Davé
Published: 2012-01-15T03:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Nightmare in Muenduru cemetery

Just as Sam gathered his sacks, he became aware of a shadow fluttering nearby under the light of the torches. A man wearing a slipshod yellow vesti stood very close to him. Pulling out hair from his nostrils, he asked Sam in a dull voice, "Are you looking for a cheap inn with clean rooms?"

Sam's caravan had reached the centre of Muenduru City a little while ago. The local cart drivers' calls for fare and the parting din raised by its passengers had awoken sleeping children who had then added to the chaos. Sam wanted to get away from it all quickly, and go to bed. "Yes," he said, relieved by the ready solution that the stranger offered.

"Come with me, Kavintu," said the man, looking as if he had suddenly started feeling ten years younger. "I'll take you to a decent place nearby. It has very reasonable rates." He lifted Sam's luggage and hurried ahead.

As Sam followed, it struck him that the stranger's movements lacked the knack of a skilled porter. 'Perhaps circumstances have forced him into such labour,' he thought, and resolved to pay a little extra to the unfortunate man.

They had just entered a narrow by-lane when the man dropped the sacks and scurried away into the darkness. Before Sam could grasp what was happening, he felt a powerful impact on his tired legs. He staggered and fell down.

Two hands blindfolded and gagged him. His brush with the dacoits of the Nal Forest sprang to his memory. He resigned to the fact that he was about to lose even the other half of Mad Kutti's treasure, the packet full of gold pellets.

Two more hands, comparably coarser than the first pair, tied his wrists behind his back. But what surprised him was the metallic jingle of anklets as the man moved. While he had seen wealthy women wearing ringing anklets, never had he met any man sporting them. Was his attackers' purpose something other than robbery?

Sam was pulled up from the ground and jostled on to a cart. The air smelt stuffy, and he guessed that it ought to be a hooded cart. He heard the two men climbing in after him. "Why have you captured me?" he said.

"Because you are a male foreigner," said a cheerful voice. It belonged to the shoddy man who had carried his luggage. "We were searching for one since noon."

Sam wondered if he had been selected for an occult ceremony. Would his ear be ripped or a finger hacked? Or would it be a painful castration? "Why?" he asked.

Instead of replying, the man himself raised a question. "Guru, will I be cured of my urinal torture at last?"

The little bells tinkled as someone moved, perhaps to face the first man. "Yes, of course," said a second voice. Sam's head jerked towards it. Hadn't he heard it somewhere before? The voice continued, "Give me a gold bead for guiding you successfully in your search."

The person possessing it seemed to be a holy man – a greedy one – and the other, a rich follower.

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