‘Glad my mum wasn’t that strict,’ Eddie said.
‘So, the word representing Kali is “death”,’ said Nina. ‘Okay, we have to get the segment with the word “death” on it around to the wheel next to Kali, and then line it up with her. Let’s see . . .’
She turned the appropriate large wheel, bringing the smaller disc to the position where it was shared with an adjoining wheel. A half-turn of the little disc switched the eye section on to the new carrier; two turns anticlockwise brought it to a third large wheel, and a final anticlockwise move placed it next to the key. Nina rotated the small wheel to align the word with the goddess. There was a moment of almost comical silence as the onlookers all held their breath, but nothing happened.
‘I suppose it was too much to hope that we’d hear a big click,’ she said. ‘What are the other words?’
Several minutes of debate produced - more or less - a consensus. Parvati was represented by the word ‘love’. While Uma prompted some argument over whether she, Parvati or Shakti best fit the term, she was eventually agreed to embody ‘motherhood’. Shakti herself was attributed with ‘femininity’ - though as Girilal pointed out with a smile, the word could also be interpreted as ‘sexuality’. Finally, Durga, the fearless warrior, was ‘invincible’.
With Kali’s part of the combination already in place, the task now was to bring the other pieces to where they belonged. Nina took a step back, puzzling out the sequence of turns needed to bring everything into the right place. There was a certain Rubik’s Cube quality to the task, as without careful planning, moving one word into position at the centre could carry another away.
But she was sure she could do it.
Snow was rubbed into the chosen words to mark them, so all Nina had to do was switch them from wheel to wheel to bring them into the correct positions, then rotate the smaller discs to line up the precise word with each goddess. In an odd way, she realised as she worked, she was almost enjoying herself. Shankarpa and the other guardians didn’t seem any better disposed to her, and there was the looming threat that helicopters laden with armed men could thunder overhead at any moment, but the immediate challenge was a purely intellectual one.
After five minutes, one more turn brought the last wheel into alignment. ‘Okay, almost done!’ she said. Now that all five were in position, she could turn them to line up the individual words. Kali was already paired with the word ‘death’, and one by one she turned the others. Shakti, Uma, Durga . . . and finally Parvati.
Another breathless silence . . .
And again, nothing happened.
‘Buggeration and fuckery,’ she muttered.
Eddie gave her a surprised look, then drew back to check the rest of the door, aware that the guardians were now watching him more mistrustfully than ever. ‘There’s not a handle we’re supposed to turn?’
‘This is all there is,’ said Shankarpa.
‘Try another combination,’ Kit suggested, urgency entering his voice as he nervously regarded the men surrounding them. ‘Shakti might be “motherhood”, not Uma.’
‘I don’t think it’ll make any difference,’ said Nina. They had overlooked something. But what?
Shankarpa interrupted her thoughts, pushing her back from the door. ‘You have failed.’
‘Wait a minute, mate,’ Eddie said, moving towards him - only to have several sharp blades raised to his neck. ‘She’s good at this stuff, but even she doesn’t always get it first time. I once nearly fell into a pit full of spikes ’cause she couldn’t tell her left from her right.’
‘Way to make me look competent to the impatient guys with swords, Eddie,’ Nina muttered.
Other guardians threatened Kit with their weapons. At Shankarpa’s command, they forced the three visitors towards the edge of the ledge. Girilal protested, but his son angrily dismissed him.
‘If you kill us, you’ll be fucked when Khoil’s people turn up,’ growled Eddie.
‘We will deal with them as we will deal with you,’ Shankarpa promised. ‘Shiva will protect us.’
‘Shiva,’ Nina whispered. That was the clue! Something about Shiva had been literally staring her in the face the whole time she worked on the lock. ‘It’s Shiva! I know how to open the door!’
Shankarpa’s condescension was clear. ‘And perhaps you also know how to fly off this ledge. It is the only thing that will save you now.’
‘No, no, look!’ She pointed at the statue towering over them. ‘Look at Shiva! Look at his head!’
The certainty in her voice made him hesitate. Holding up a hand to signal the others to stop, he glanced at the colossal stone figure. ‘What about it?’
‘Don’t you see?’ Nina said desperately. ‘It’s tilted to one side!’
‘So?’
‘So the key’s in the wrong position! I put it in with Shiva’s head aligned vertically because . . . because that’s what you automatically do. But you’re meant to line it up with the statue.’ She demonstrated, turning an imaginary object in her hands. ‘The words are in the right order, but the wrong places. If you turn the key so Shiva’s head matches the statue, then all the goddesses move round by one position. That’s what we have to line them up with!’
Shankarpa looked between her and the statue. ‘Do you really believe this? Or are you just trying to save your life?’
‘Well, both! But I do think I’m right - I know I’m right. If I’m wrong, then you can throw us off the ledge.’
Eddie raised a finger. ‘Nina, love? Remember how now we’re married, we’re supposed to make big decisions together?’
‘I would also like to distance myself from that remark,’ Kit said hurriedly.
‘I’m right,’ she insisted. ‘Shankarpa, at least let me try. You might have to wait five minutes longer to kill us - but on the other hand, five minutes from now you could be walking into the Vault of Shiva!’
‘You should let her,’ added Girilal. ‘It is the right thing to do.’
Shankarpa shot his father an irritated glare, but acquiesced. ‘Do not fail,’ he told Nina curtly.
‘Yeah, really,’ Eddie added as the guardians, swords still raised, escorted them back to the door.
‘I won’t,’ Nina assured him. She removed the replica key from the central hole, then re-inserted it . . . rotated by one-fifth of a turn. She looked up at the statue. Shiva’s blank stone eyes gazed back at her, the faint smile on the tilted head encouraging her to continue.
Turning the wheels to match the new positions of the goddesses was now a purely mechanical task, taking just a few minutes. She rotated each smaller disc to what she thought - prayed - was the correct alignment. Love, motherhood, invincibility, femininity . . .
Death.
The last word was in place. Silence . . .
Click.
Something moved behind the wheels, a restraint finally released after countless centuries. More clicking, louder, then the rattling clank of chains—
With a swirl of escaping dust, the doors swung inwards.
The guardians let out exclamations of awe, some dropping to their knees to offer thanks to Shiva. Shankarpa was wide-eyed with surprise. Fully opened, the doors stopped with a crunch of stone.
‘So, my son,’ said Girilal quietly, ‘are you going to apologise to Dr Wilde?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘We will see what is inside first - what we are sworn to protect.’ He hesitated before reluctantly saying, ‘Come with me, Dr Wilde.’