“I heard that. You would have been carved up by Lokesh without me.” I smirked.
“Indeed. Every person was vital to our success,” Mr. Kadam said. “I will move on to my part, and you can finish later, Kishan.”
He sat back and folded his arms across his chest. “Fine by me.”
Mr. Kadam started by telling Nilima how liberating it was to be a tiger. “The power of the tiger is beyond anything I’d imagined. We weren’t sure if the Divine Scarf worked only with human disguises, so we’d tested changing into an animal. It seems we can change to either Kishan’s or Ren’s tiger forms, but no other animals. When we arrived, I assumed the form of Kishan’s black tiger. Then Miss Kelsey wrapped the Scarf around my neck right before we parted.
“I ran through the jungle and found several baited traps. I sprung two of them, which set off alarms, and soon heard the tread of soldiers’ feet chasing me. Shots were fired, but I was faster than they were. At one point, a group of them thought they had cornered me. They were about to fire when I changed to a man, the sight of which shocked them, and gave me a moment to spring the trap. I pulled on a rope attached to a haunch of meat, and the soldiers were lifted into the air in a large net. I left them dangling from the treetops and ran back to the camp for phase two of my plan.
“By the time I reached the camp, Miss Kelsey had already destroyed one of the two watchtowers. The villagers were running in every direction, frightened for their families. I stood behind a tree and changed my appearance again.”
Nilima leaned forward. “What did you become this time?”
“I took on the form of a local Baiga god named Dulha Dao, who they believe helps to avert disease and accident. I rallied the people to me and told them I was here to help them overcome the stranger. They were more than happy to help me tear down the house of the evil one. Miss Kelsey left the gada in a discreet location for me to use. It’s normally heavy for me, but when I wielded it as Dulha Dao, it felt light. With the villagers’ help, I knocked down the wall and the people helped me to incapacitate Lokesh’s men.”
Nilima asked, “What did you look like?”
He blushed, so I interrupted, “Oh, Mr. Kadam as Dulha Dao was definitely nice-looking. He looked similar to the tribesmen, except taller with a much larger frame and he was handsome. His hair was long and heavy, and part of it was wrapped in a jura at the top of his head with the other part flowing down his back.
“He was muscular, and his rather nice torso and face were covered in tattoos. He was bare-chested, covered with heavy beaded necklaces, and barefoot, and he wore a wrap-around skirt. He looked very alarming, but in a good way, especially, I imagine, when he was wielding the gada.”
When I finished my description, everyone was staring at me, and Nilima was laughing.
“What?” I asked, embarrassed. “Okay. So, apparently I find burly Indian men attractive. What’s wrong with that?”
Kishan was frowning, Mr. Kadam seemed . . . pleased, and Nilima giggled.
“Nothing at all, Miss Kelsey. I’m sure I would have thought the same thing,” she said.
Mr. Kadam cleared his throat. “Yes . . . well . . . I appreciate the flattering description, regardless. It’s been a long time since a woman found me . . . burly.”
I started giggling, and Nilima soon joined me.
Mr. Kadam asked, “Are you ready to continue?”
“Yes,” we voiced in unison.
“As I was saying, the people rallied to me, and we tied up all the guards. Then we moved in on the command center. The doors were heavily fortified and locked. We searched the men for a key but couldn’t find one. It was easier for me to knock a hole through the wall than to take down those doors. I finally broke into the complex to find Kelsey and Kishan prostrate on the floor and Lokesh nowhere in sight. The room was full of some kind of candy.”
“Jawbreakers,” I added.
“How did that come about?” Nilima asked.
“I had to do something, and the Golden Fruit was the only weapon I could access, so I wished for a hailstorm of jawbreakers.”
“That was very clever. We never practiced that one. It seemed to work well,” Mr. Kadam