in the trunk, she saw Maruti leading the mad chorus, exhorting his comrades like the drunken conductor of Devikota’s motley village band. Hysteria welled up within her. 

“Monkeys, sire, hundreds of them, carrying on like anything. The tantrika’s not there—I looked well. Langurs are sensitive beasts— I’ll wager it’s the smoke that has disturbed them.”

“Are you sure? I could swear I heard a woman’s cry!” Takshak’s words were drowned by a series of rumbles followed by a thunderous crash—the beams of Rudralaya’s main building were falling, sending a gigantic pillar of flame into the air. The dormitory caught fire with an explosive roar. Takshak’s voice came to her ears again. “She’s probably hiding in the bowels of the...

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