Jade Amulet And The Leer Of Evil

Chapter Three: the key

It was 2 p.m. everyone had completed their daily routine until now. Sidharth had completed his study, Rajveer his exercise. And Aditya was back from his college. He called Rajveer to come to his house so they can go to the river's bank and discuss their findings. Rajveer was already waiting and only in five minutes, he was there. Sidharth was also there, sitting on Aditya's silver Honda bike. Rajveer saw them and ran toward them, he sat after Sidharth. Aditya kick-started his motorcycle, and after two minutes they were on the riverside, Aditya parked his bike and they sat on their favourite spot. The weather was as usual sunny. But windless and quieter today. ‘so, what did you find' Aditya asked.
‘nothing' Rajveer said with hopelessness ‘I have searched a lot there, are many wells related to "Mahabharata" but there are no wells or ponds related to Lord Buddha.'
‘yes, he is right' Sidharth nodded. ‘but there is one "Buddhist stupa' in university, it is ancient but I don't think there is any well'
‘yea, right' Aditya replied. ‘but what if it is hidden somewhere, I also read about that, it has five "stupas" and four of them were from king "Harshwardhan" governance period about 1300-1400 years old' ‘wait, wait, wait' Sidharth interrupted ‘how could I forget'
‘what' Rajveer asked. ‘"Harsh's mound"' Sidharth said ‘it has a well also, and Harshwardhan was a hard-headed follower of Buddha.' He waited for a second, grinned ‘that must be the place' everyone was very excited now, now they had a place from where they could start their search, but is that so easy? ‘I have one question' Aditya said gravely ‘this is a famous tourist place and an archaeological site too, if there is a temple, why doesn't anyone has found it yet, I mean temple must be hiding somewhere, and it's not going to be easy' ‘thank god' Rajveer exhaled ‘I thought you are going to say no'
till now the weather had changed a lot, the wind was moving fast, the sun got covered with dark clouds, the picture was changing slowly from yellow the blue and in less than five minutes weather turned to stormy. Aditya noticed it, so as his friends ‘that's weird' Aditya face falls ‘how could weather change so fast' just five minutes ago there was no sign of wind, and suddenly a gale came from nowhere. They were all stand up, wondering and looking around and suddenly, Sidharth fell behind as someone hit him in the head hard. Aditya and Rajveer were standing close they tried to catch him and managed to save his head getting banged with concrete floor of the bridge. They were both holding him in their hands from both sides ‘what happened' Rajveer said astonishingly ‘with him now.' Aditya had no answer he was as nervous as his friend. They do not know what to do, Aditya checks his pulse which was luckily working. They tried to wake him up. They shook him but he is not waking up they thought his friend had some kind of fit. They were rubbing his hands continuously, Rajveer ran toward his feet and started to rub under his feet. ‘go.. grab some water' Aditya yelled. And Rajveer was about to go to the tube well nearby but stopped. ‘but how, I don't have a bottle' Rajveer gestured ‘let take him there' Rajveer picked up his friend and Aditya helped, Rajveer was now carrying Sidharth on his shoulders like an army man carrying his war buddy. The tube well is about 300 meters away but Rajveer completed the distance in a single breath. They laid down their friend on one wall of the concrete made water tank, there was some water remaining in the tank but full of moss and insects. fresh water was not pumped for many days. Rajveer dipped his one hand in water and shook on the face of Sidharth. Sidharth woke up with a jerk and grabbed both hands of Rajveer standing beside. ‘Ohh thank god' Rajveer exhaled ‘are you fine?' and Aditya was holding Sidharth by his shoulders ‘what is happening to you brother' Sidharth was breathing deeply ‘I don't know' Sidharth said ‘it feels like something penetrated inside my head' ‘what do you' Rajveer asked ‘mean'
‘I don't know but I saw something, a kind of key' Sidharth said ‘it is placed in a glass box, like a museum.'
‘is this' Rajveer said ‘a clue'
‘yah, but question must be who is sending it to you?' Aditya asked. The weather was slowly getting back to normal now. ‘look, weather!' Aditya demanded. Everyone looked around, the gale was stopped, sunlight was back and the mysterious clouds have vanished.
‘I know weather can't be predicted' Aditya continued ‘but this is too much'
‘something is fishy with this place' Rajveer murmured.
‘yes exactly' Aditya said ‘Sidharth had a vision of a key exactly when we were thinking about that. How could it be possible' Rajveer nodded gravely ‘could you walk?' Rajveer asked Sidharth ‘we must go from here' ‘ya, but what about' Sidharth said ‘the planning' ‘I think we should think about that' Aditya said ‘all this getting quite dangerous' ‘no' Sidharth protested ‘we have to do this, my whole life I feel worthless, now when I found my destiny, I can't just retreat. I have to find the temple and I will, even though I have to it alone.' ‘we will do it together okay' Rajveer replied ‘but for now let's go, we will complete our plan on the way' Rajveer helped Sidharth to get off. And they started to walk Rajveer and Aditya was still very scared, they crossed the bridge, sat on the bike and moved from there.
Now they were at Aditya's room and the atmosphere was very anxious ‘you just don't know how much we were scared' Rajveer charged ‘what would happen if something happens to you'
‘and we didn't even start yet' Aditya said ‘this is happening, what will happen later'
‘whatever it is, you don't' Sidharth glared ‘wanted to come, that's fine' Sidharth was furious after coming back from the river, he was fluttering on small things. His friends tried to convince him but he was not ready to accept. ‘okay we will search for it' Rajveer finger-said ‘but if someone died don't blame on me. Everyone at his own risk'
‘fine, so now we have to find that key first' Aditya said ‘I think the key is essential in order to find the temple'
‘he said it's in the museum' Rajveer said ‘as far as my concern, it must be in the "sheikh chilli tomb" there is a museum inside and everything which had been found from there is kept in the museum'
‘we have to steal it from the museum' Sidharth said ‘if we want to find the temple'
‘but that's not necessary' Aditya interrupted ‘the main museum of our city is "Dharohar Museum" and if it is kept there. It could be trouble. First, we have to be sure'
‘so let's go for a trip to the museum tomorrow' Rajveer said ‘and see whether the key is there or not'
‘let me check the timing' Aditya searched on his mobile ‘its 10 to 5' ‘okay then we will go by afternoon' Rajveer instructed ‘about 2 p.m.'
‘has anybody heard any' Aditya asked. ‘rumours about that tomb and mound?'
‘about headless ghosts which roam around there,' Rajveer grinned ‘no' ‘don't worry, soon' Sidharth replied ‘you will meet them' his voice was flat and emotionless. But Rajveer and Aditya take this as a joke and start laughing. now they got out of the room, they were now going to escort Rajveer to the halfway. Aditya was thinking something, he had sensed the danger. He decided in his heart to find the real matter, but he didn't tell his friends about that.