her mind to recollect Hariaksa’s tales of the wild aghoris, she recalled their dictum: shigra, ugra, tivra, meaning fast, terrible and intense. Stirred, she vowed to hone her spirit so that it forever repelled all demons.

Once she caught a flash of the aggressive carp she had nicknamed ‘Takshak’ in the depths of the river. Sinking into its alien consciousness, she sliced through the cool water, feeding, like the carp, on schools of tiny fish and the infinitesimal particles that grew on riverweeds. Fusing with the eagle that lived on the highest crag of the valley she soared over thick jungles, over snow-capped mountains, hamlets and towns, felt the single-minded focus of a predator swooping down on prey. And when the eagle was killed by an even larger mountain eagle in...

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