He bent down and, with as little effort as if he were scooping up a handful of sand, he ripped a large cobblestone out of the street. I watched as his clawed fist closed over the cobblestone and crushed it. He let the dust fall to the ground.

I gulped noisily.

“You,” Mahishasura boomed, pointing at the old man who had been selling coconuts, now trying to hide under his stall. “Stand up.”

The old man stood up at once, his face white with terror.

“Pick up your knife,” said Mahishasura.

The old man picked up his knife.

“Now smash all of your coconuts,” said Mahishasura.

My mouth fell open. The old man’s face went even whiter and his hand trembled, but he didn’t dare disobey the order. He raised the knife. Down it slammed onto the first coconut, which cracked wide open and spilled sweet, whitish water all over his stall.

Ashwini’s voice rose in fury. “That’s his livelihood!” she said. “What’s he supposed to live on if you make him destroy a hundred coconuts? How is he supposed to feed himself or his grandchildren?”

“You should have considered that before you brought her here,” Mahishasura growled. He flicked his eyes back to the old man. “I said all of them, did I not?”

The old man bowed his head in defeat and smashed a second coconut, then a third. My eyes filled with tears. It was such an unnecessary and mean thing to do. I wanted to stop it, but I didn’t know how.

Blinking back tears, I saw that Mahishasura was watching me, amused. “You must see you don’t stand a chance against me,” he said, his voice punctuated by the sound of coconuts cracking open.

I swallowed and forced myself to speak, even if all that came out was a croak. “What are you planning to do with us?”

His teeth flashed in a terrible smile. “My Asura army hasn’t eaten little girl in a while.”

Before I could react to that, there was a cry behind me. I looked around to see Ashwini leap into the air with the grace of a ballerina. She soared right over Lej and me, her sword out and pointed right at Mahishasura’s heart. In the blink of an eye, he whipped his own sword off his back and blocked her blow. Steel screeched against steel.

“Lej, take her and run!” Ashwini shouted. “Go!”

He hesitated for just one second, but then he grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me. I let him, too shocked to do anything else. We ducked past Mahishasura, who let out a roar of fury, and we ran down the street, away from Pretty Corner Market.

I looked back once. The bright gleam of Ashwini’s sword was the last thing I saw before she and the Asuras disappeared into a cloud of dust.

7

After what seemed like an eternity, Lej and I finally stopped running. I was shaking and out of breath. From the expression of disdain on Lej’s face as he watched me suck in huge, noisy gulps of air, it was clear he’d seen faster and more athletic snails in his lifetime.