‘No matter,’ Sapth Boar said. ‘I am confident the Acharya will see to it that the list is completed with alacrity. He knows a moment’s delay, and the future takes an inevitable turn.’ He coughed delicately behind his mask. ‘But the reason your presence was requested today is because one of our Oracles has divined the coming of the Son of Darkness.’

Nala heard her Master’s breath hiss sharply from between parted lips. Parshuram was suddenly sober. His eyes sparked fire. ‘I thought you had not told the Matrons of the prophecy about the Son of Darkness.’

‘We hadn’t. A promising oracle, alas lost to the tyranny of mortality, divined him in his test. The Son is prophesized to rise when the snow thaws this year.’

‘End of winter,’ Parshuram said gravely. ‘Barely three full moons away.’

‘The moment of reckoning is upon us you see. A bright girl in the House of Oracles unravelled the answer. Come forward, child,’ called Sapth Boar.

A girl, clad in gold trimmed white robes, stepped out of the mist. Nala gasped. The girl was about Nala’s own age but her face was covered with scars. She had soft eyes under a bald head. She resembled an egg that had fallen on the ground but refused to burst. Nala’s own stitches were nothing compared to the map of abuse on the girl’s face. Yet she smiled serenely. ‘I am honoured to meet you, Nala. My name is Masha.’

Nala looked at Parshuram, confused. How did the girl know her name? Who was she?

‘She will accompany you, Parshuram.’

‘I don’t travel with drug addicts,’ said Parshuram, ‘least of all, damaged drug addicts.’

‘Don’t diss the Sisters,’ Sapth Lion warned. ‘They have helped us steer the great civilization for millennia and will continue to do so for millennia to come.’

‘This girl is a Sister? That’s great,’ said Parshuram dryly. ‘But my tasks require discretion and stealth. I can’t walk around with a girl who wears an ornament of scars on her face. And what will she even do there?’

‘Sister Masha is quite possibly the oracle connected to the divinations related to the Son. So, we have the when, and now you have to find the where, and the who. Which you can only find in the City of Manusruti. The Sister’s days of oraclry are behind her, but we think Manusruti may awaken her powers and help you find him. Do not worry about her marks of sacrifice. We will take care of it.’

‘And what then? You want me to defeat the Son?’

‘Regrettably,’ Sapth Board sighed, ‘even with your strength, you will be no match for him, Acharya Parshuram. We must stop him before he is released.’

‘That would certainly be less complicated,’ Parshuram agreed. ‘But I will need some advance…’ Parshuram’s eye glanced towards Nala, ‘for cosmetic purposes.’