no. Ash remembered.
Jackie sniggered and her breath was rank on his skin. “You killed my closest friend, but that was in another world, boy.” Her claws dug into his neck. “He’s been dying to meet you.”
Ashoka hauled Parvati up through the hole in the roof. He heard Ash’s roars and thumps and cries. Maybe his double could win, but they couldn’t risk hanging about. He looked across the snow-layered roof. There was a flattish path between the chimneys. “Come on, Parvati.” He took her hand.
“We need to help him!” cried Parvati.
“Come on!” The roof creaked as he pulled her along.
Parvati hesitated and it looked as if she was going to jump back down into the fray.
Ashoka understood. He’d do anything for the people he loved too. That was why he was here. But Parvati was in no state to fight. And he couldn’t rescue his family alone. “You don’t stand a chance down there with that injury. And I need you, Parvati.”
She didn’t say anything, but her lips tightened grimly and she joined him, hardly leaving footprints in the snow.
They weaved their way between the chimneys, and as the snow fell Ashoka couldn’t tell which way they were going. He wiped the flakes off his face and tried to penetrate the white wall ahead of him.
Streetlights glowed below, reflecting off the water in the basin. The quay sat alongside the rear of the warehouse, where the ships must once have docked and offloaded their spices and cottons from the East. The deep bay had canals branching off it and modern apartment blocks overlooked the shimmering waters. A flotilla of barges was moored up along the quayside.
They were more than twenty metres above the ground and Ashoka walked, ever so carefully, to look down the side of the warehouse for a ladder or outside stairs. His legs turned to jelly as he saw the drop to the waters of the dock below.
The wind picked up and the flakes swirled about him.
“We need another way down,” he said.
“Can’t we jump?” Parvati asked, joining him at the edge. “The water looks deep enough.”
A flock of birds squawked and clustered above them, circling and swooping this way and that. Ashoka waved his arms. “Shoo!”
Their wings were everywhere, and Ashoka wobbled as his heel went up against the low parapet wall. What was wrong with them?
They broke away and flew off, still cawing angrily as they vanished into the sky. Ashoka spat out some feathers. “Yuck yuck yuck.”
A deafening shriek shattered the night. The wind whooshed, hurling up a wave of snowflakes, and a black shape swooped down. Ashoka screamed as he glimpsed razor-sharp talons cutting through the air and the wings, the massive wings, beating and creating spinning eddies in the snow. A man’s face, dominated by a large hooked beak, glared at him. He was bald and a tuft of feathers encircled his scrawny neck. He shrieked again and dived towards Ashoka.
It was impossible. Ashoka stared, a moment too long. He should have ducked, leaped aside, but he was transfixed. The man was like a vulture, a great big ugly one. The demon’s greedy pink eyes locked with his.
The talons came straight for Ashoka, tearing at his chest, straight through his coat and jacket and shirt and skin. Ashoka stumbled back and his heel caught the very edge of the parapet. He flailed and reached for Parvati, but she was a hand’s breath too far away. Her eyes widened with horror and he tilted backwards.
The demon vulture’s wing brushed his face.
Ashoka grabbed it.
Vulture man cartwheeled as Ashoka held on to one wing. The demon screamed so loudly Ashoka thought his ears would bleed, and the world turned over and over. Talons swished at his face, then dug into his arm. Ashoka let go.
He smashed into the black, freezing water. Straight down he went, the cold clutching his lungs. Arms and legs flapped, as bubbles rose all around him. Faintly he heard another splash and, in the dim light cast by the streetlights he saw Parvati’s slim figure pierce the water. She turned to him, gestured to the far side, and kicked off.
At least down here he was safe from the vulture guy. That was the freakiest thing he’d ever seen.
Ashoka broke the surface and began to swim towards the other side. His clothing weighed him down, but the dock wasn’t that big. Still, he was panting in no time. He paused, treading water, took several big, deep breaths, and looked around.
“Parvati?”
She was already halfway across. In spite of her wound she cut through the water with smooth, easy strokes. It wouldn’t take her long to reach the ladder on the opposite side.
Ash started off. Not easy doing the front crawl wearing winter woollies with a bow across his back, but each stroke took him another metre from vulture man and Jackie and Rani and danger. A horn sounded ahead and he saw Elaine’s van. She waved at him.
Parvati was climbing out.
Almost there.
His arms felt as if they were made of lead. His stroke barely broke the surface. The dock wasn’t as small as he’d first thought.
Parvati was shouting at him.
What was she saying? Elaine now stood beside her and they were both signalling frantically.
Was it Rani? Jackie? He looked around, but there was no one there.
The water rippled behind him. A gull, sleeping on the surface, bobbed up and down. Looking startled, it raised a wing, squawked and vanished under the water, leaving a small puff of feathers.
That’s not good.
“Ashoka! Swim! Swim!” Parvati screamed.
“Put your back into it, boy!” added Elaine.
The water surged and a deep roar shook from under him. Ashoka pounded the water, splashing wildly. He had to get out. Parvati’s eyes were wide with terror. “FASTER!”
The water peaked and troughed now as the huge submerged mass accelerated towards him.
Ashoka gasped with each stroke. He beat the water with his arms and legs, every muscle burning with effort and fear. He had to get out!
The growl broke the surface and he heard a huge splash of something heavy and long hitting the water.
What was it? He dared not look. He just focused on the two women ahead. Parvati had clambered back down and was reaching for him. Elaine just stared past him, hand covering her mouth, her face utterly pale.
Ashoka dragged up all his strength and heaved his way forward.
There was another splash and then the water swelled under him. Something had dived back down. It was coming.
“Ashoka! Take my hand!” Parvati leaned as far as she could, one arm hooked around a ladder rung, the other stretched out.
Just a few more metres!
The submerged roar shook his very bones. A long, huge black shape began to appear below him. Big, thick scales of dark, knobbly green caught the undulating light. Huge yellow reptilian eyes shone, and beneath them stretched a mouth filled with jagged fangs. Wider and wider it opened, enough to swallow a cow whole. A tail, thick as a tree truck, whipped the water behind it and it surged upwards.
Ashoka thrashed forward.
His