Chapter 32: The Protector Spirit

" Varad?," Ramkrushna could barely speak, he was crying.

" You killed my Dad!," yelled Varad at Ramkrushna.

" What's happening Ramkrushna, what is this?," asked an overwhelmed Girish.

Ramkrushna regained his composure. He had stopped crying now.

" Yes, he's the son of Mr. Thackeray, I had adopted him after his father's death," Ramkrushna told.

" You thought you would do all this and no one would know, not even Thackeray's best friend?,"

" Weren't you involved in Mr. Thackeray's plan?," asked Shiva.

" Yes I was, and I saw everything you both did to him, I wanted revenge and I waited for the right time, when Varad had grown up enough I told him everything, showed him proofs that how you both killed his father leaving his mother mentally traumatized resulting into her today's state,"

Shiva was listening to this and something seem to be missing in the story, hw couldn't tell what it was but there was something.

" You're dead now," Ramkrushna growled.

" Oh really?, I may be but first they are," Mr. Pandey chuckled.

" Who they?," asked Shiva.

" They, those three protectors of those parts, I have set explosives in my base where I kept them and it will blast soon," the killer was laughing now.

" No bastard!, you can't do this!," said Ramkrushna as punched the killer on his face.

" No use, tick tick, tick tick," the killer laughed. " The time is ticking,"

" Tell me where have you kept them or else I will- "

" You will what?, kill me? Like you and your killed my best friend and hid–,"

Just then everyone heard a thundering sound and ground below was rumbled for a few seconds. They turned to see the Godown and the forest surrounding it was burning by this huge blast.

" Boom, they are gone," Mr. Pandey guffawed like a monster.

" No, it can't be, Deshmukh, Gajanan, Mr. Gokhale, they are dead?," spoke Ramkrushna to himself.

" No they aren't," said Shiva with assurance and confidence in his voice.

Everyone including the killer and Varad looked at him.

" Are you out of your mind kid, didn't you see what happened just now, I had kept them in the base which is now blasted," the killer said.

Shiva smiled at Mr. Pandey and whistled.

" Here I am!,"

Everyone shifted their gazes at the the voice which seemed familiar. It was Raghav! And following him was Devashish with Mr. Gajanan, Mr. Deshmukh and the Sarpanch, Mr. Gokhale.

" And what if I say that we rescued them and got them out of that place," asked Shiva to the killer.

" No, it's not possible, thus is impossible, how the hell did you know about our base?," Mr. Pandey was yelling now.

" We did a small search around the area near the Godown,"

" Search?," asked Varad.

" Yeah, search of a Wi-Fi network, and we got that, and since there was no house anywhere around that area, I became quite convinced that below the ground their must be some secret basement or room, then we checked the godown and found that most of the floor was concrete except the one where a huge pile of wooden boxes and barrel was kept, there the floor was wooden so I sent Raghav to check it and yes, he found it, the secret stairs leading to the secret base,"

" But Raghav, he had left his home and–," then Mr. Pandey looked at Devashish.

" You bastard!, you betrayed us!," said Varad.

" It isn't his mistake," Shiva spoke in an explaining manner. " He had to help us because of his little sister who Raghav acted to hold hostage,"

" Yes and he wasn't helping us from the start, I mean the thing about the letter that he told you that I'll be leaving my house to pursue my wrestling career was true, it was all our plan," Raghav told.

" Yes and it was I who told him to inform you about the fifth part and Mr. Patil to lead you in our trap, And in fact, Mr. Patil doesn't have the fifth part, he's not the fifth person" Shiva said.

" We must call the police now," Ramkrushna spoke as if he wanted to end all this quickly.

" No use," the killer spat. " The cops are busy at rescuing people and fighting fire which had spread half the forest and now near the the godown too. Before the police arrives my men would arrive with guns to hunt you people down,"

" Your men?," asked Ramkrushna narrowing his eyes.

" Yes, what do you think I'm a fool or something?, I was ready for this from the start," the killer laughed.

" He's just bluffing, I'm sure," Raghav spoke.

" Call Mr. Kadam, he'll come I'm sure," Mohan suggested.

" Yes!, you're right," said Shiva who was now dialing to Mr. Kadam.

The killer scoffed. " No use kid,"

Shiva ignored the killer and went aside to to call the Inspector. Shortly Mr. Kadam picked up the call.

" Mr. Kadam!, there's an emergency here, we need you quickly," said Shiva trying not to waste time in explaining everything.

" First tell me what exactly happened?," asked Mr. Kadam.

Shiva thought for a moment and spoke. " An attempt to murder is being done here, luckily we caught to man who was trying to kill Mr. Patil and now we need you here,"

" Murder!?, Of Mr. Patil?,"

" Yeah, reach the west of the forest, we're are standing near the well," Shiva told as he looked around searching for a landmark.

" Okay, but the police is busy, I'll have to come alone,"

" Okay just come,"

The Inspector hung up the call but he was unaware that someone was secretly watching him. It was the Pandit. Before leaving, Mr. Kadam went to the local washroom nearby. He had to keep his gun and some other thing on the table outside as the washroom was a little small. The Inspector went inside and closed the door.

Shortly he had the work done and tried to open the door but he couldn't. It was locked from outside.

" Who's there?," he yelled.

" This is not funny, open the door whoever you are," the Inspector yelled again but there was no response.

The Inspector used all of his strength to break down the door. He was out now, he searched for the boody prankster but found no one around. He shrugged it off and proceeded towards the forest.

" Boy I knew that you were smart, but I think I just underestimated you," the killer smiled. " It seems like you knew from the start that I'm the killer, am I right?,"

" Yeah, you're absolutely right Mr. Pandey, from the first day I saw you I felt something, something weird about, and then as the events happened it was not difficult to connect them with you,"

" Connect with me?,"

" Yeah, the first kidnap was done before we came here and it was Mr. Gajanan, the first day when I met you, you were having some pain in your shoulder and then I took some information about Mr. Gajanan and I came to know that he is an expert in kushti or Indian wrestling. Then I thought maybe while you were kidnapping him he smacked you down while hurting your shoulder but somehow you kidnapped him,"

The killer smiled as if he was impressed. " You're right kid, I got hurt while kidnapping him,"

" And then as you continued to kidnap the people, I noticed a strange pattern between the kidnaps and your duty timings,"

" Duty timings?,"

" Yeah, I noticed the kidnaps or murders only happened when you were at the day shifts, so it was easy for me to figure out what you must be doing at night," explained Shiva.

" You're a genius boy, have to say it but you've messed with wrong person," said Mr. Pandey, his smile slowly turning into a nasty grin. " You will be dead soon,"

Everyone's attention was drawn towards the siren of Mr. Kadam's jeep. The Inspector got off the his vehicle and strided towards Shiva and Ramkrushna who were holding Mr. Pandey.

" Mr. Pandey?," said Mr. Kadam as he looked around. " And that's your boy, Varad, right?,"

" Yes Inspector, but they both have committed a serious crime," Ramkrushna spoke.

" Crime?, Mr. Pandey what are they saying?," Rhe Inspector asked to Mr. Pandey.

" I'll explain everything sir," said Shiva.

" Explain, but come here, I want to talk something," the Inspector said taking Shiva aside.

Now Shiva was almost ten feets away from everyone with Mr. Kadam and soon the Inspector hold him on choke pointing his head with the gun.

" I want to tell you that you're dead boy," the Inspector broke into a evil laughter and so did Mr. Pandey and Varad.

" Inspector Kadam!, what are you doing!?," asked Ramkrushna holding Mr. Pandey.

" Didn't I tell you before?, my men are coming, he is my man!," the killer guffawed.

" Your genius will be remembered Shiva, oh sorry it will not as no one would know what happened tonight," Varad spoke.

" Mr. Kadam how can you do this," said Shiva.

" I'm in no mood to waste time in chatting with you boy, say goodbye to your uncle and everyone," said the Inspector as he put his finger on the trigger.

" No Kadam!, stop, please stop," Ramkrushna pleaded.

" One...., two....., and three,"

The wicked Inspector pressed the trigger and– nothing happened. He realized his gum was empty.

" What!?," the Inspector could not believe what happened just now.

As he was checking his gun, a powerful blow landed right on the back of his head and he fell down, his head spinning.

Shiva was free from the hold of the Inspector. He turned back to see who it was and saw it was the old man. The Pandit!

" Remember someone locked you in the washroom?, yeah, it was me," The Pandit spoke.

Shiva looked at the Pandit who seemed more familiar now. The Pandit shifted his gaze from the Inspector to Shiva.

" You've done a great job Shiva," the Pandit said with a fatherly affection.

Shiva was taken aback and had goosebumps hearing this fatherly voice. He shortly fell on his knees and broke down into tears. It wasn't the first time. He had heard this voice before.

" Amish, you saved us," said Ramkrushna finally revealed the Pandit.

Amish removed his fake white beard and his orange turban. He had become old now.

" Amish!?," Girish nearly shouted.

" Dad?," asked a sobbing Shiva.

The Pandit, Amish waked to Shiva, lifted him up and took him in his warm embrace. Shiva felt as if he was back in his house, he felt like child who was in his father's arms.

Shiva couldn't stop sobbing.

" Shiva look at me, look at me kid,"

" Where were you all this time?," asked Shiva.

" You were dead, Ramkrushna sent me the letter," said Girish.

" I had act that I'm dead, I had to disguise as Pandit because I knew that Thackeray had a partner who might know all about the key and he will try to avenge Thackeray, the village was not safe for Shiva so I had to send him with Girish,"

" But your body was found, right?," asked Shiva who had stopped sobbing now.

" It is true that the body was found but it wasn't mine," Amish looked at Varad. " It was Thackeray's body, it was completely burnt so no one could who it was,"

" But Mr. Thackeray was burnt in the car," Shiva spoke.

" That was my plan, I told Gajanan to inform everyone that Thackeray had died in his car due to the fire, but the truth is that he was killed by me in the attempt of saving my wife,"

" That means the body that was found was not yours, it was of Mr. Thackeray, you faked your death!," said Shiva as he finally realized.

" That's right Shiva,"

" And I changed my identity as Pandit to carry out my duty,"

" Duty?,"

" You were thought why I had the key ?, and what's the truth behind the spirit and the legend?,"

" Truth?,"

" You might know that no one knows whether the spirit and sacrifice part of the legend is true or not,"

" Yeah," Shiva nodded.

" It's a myth but the reality is that the King had appointed his most trusted man to protect the key and he was given the title of the 'Protector Spirit' and the key I'd passed down from generation to generation,"

" That means...,"

" Yeah, I'm the protector spirit Shiva, you are the protector spirit of this village and you've carried out your duty very well, you may think it's just an coincidence that you came in this village after twenty years and stumbled upon this mystery right at that time when the key was I'm threat, it's not any coincidence Shiva, we are destined to protect the key," Amish spoke like a Grandmaster narrating a grand epic.

" But what about the fifth part?, we haven't found it yet?," Mohan asked.

" Yeah, we found all the four parts including the fake one but where's the real fourth part?," Raghav questioned.

Amish gave a gentle smile and reached out for the broad cloth tied to his vaise. The orange cloth was like a belt with many layers. He tooked the fifth part.

" You had the fifth part?," asked Shiva in disbelief.

" Yes, and that is one of the reasons why I had to change my identity," Amish smiled.

" He has those tree parts Amish," Mr. Deshmukh told referring to Mr. Pandey.

" Give it back Pandey, you must not keep what you don't belong,"

" And what if I didn't give it back?, you will kill me?, then do it, but I will not give you those parts,"

" Surely I will kill," said Amish in a low menacing voice. " But not you, I will kill your best friend's son, your dear accomplice, I will kill him,"

Shiva was stunned. The friendly Amish dramatically turned into a dark and evil version of his alternate identity of Pandit.

Ramkrushna kept hand on Amish's signing him not to do so. Amish touched his hand telling that he wasn't going to do anything.

Amish took out his knife from and turned towards Varad approaching him.

" No!, Amish, I know you'll not do it, Amish, please stop," pleaded Mr. Pandey.

" Want to test me?," said Amish as he slowly placed the kilnife on Varads throat.

" I'll tell where it is, I'll tell, please stop,"

" Okay so tell me,"

" It is in his bag, over there," Mr. Pandey told.

Raghav gave the bag to Amish and he took out those three broken parts,"

Amish placed all the parts on the ground and everyone watched him assemble it. The key was formed now.

" The key...," Shiva spoke to himself.

Amish kept his hand on Shiva's shoulder and said. " We are destined to protect the people from the curse, and it is our duty to protect the key, we are the Protector Spirit of this village Shiva,"

It was all real but Shiva couldn't believe it. His returning to the village after twenty years, stumbling upon the mystery of the legend and mysterious murders in the village, all this at the same time can't be a coincidence. Shiva was really destined to protect the key, to protect the people. He was the Protector Spirit and this was the Tale of the Protector Spirit!