Page 9 (2/2)

"Yes," Yaksha said His confidence leaped even higher, and I kne strong Yaksha ith snakes For I had watched many times while he had, hypnotized snakes with the sound of his flute It never surprised me because soht Yaksha was a snake at heart In reality vampires have more in common with snakes than bats A snake prefers to eat its victim alive

I knew Yaksha could be bitten many times by a cobra and not die

Krishna left it to our people to gather the cobras, which took time because there were none in the forests of Vrindavana itself But vampires can work fast if theythe pit was filled with deadly snakes Now the feeling in our group favored Yaksha Few believed a th of tih Krishna had iht of him as aThey were anxious for the contest to begin

I stayed with Radha throughout the day I talked to her about Rama and Lalita She told me that they had both passed out of this world, but that Rahter&039;s had been happy I did not ask how she knew these things, I simply believed her I cried at her words Radha tried to comfort me All that are born die, she said All who die are reborn It is inevitable, Krishna had told her She told s Krishna had said

Finally, close to dark, Yaksha and Krishna cli more The people on both sides watched, but from a distance as Krishna had wanted Only Radha and I stood close to the pit There had to be a hundred snakes in that huge hole They bit each other andeaten

Yaksha and Krishna sat at opposite ends of the pit, each with his back to the wall of earth They began to play iht away But with the sound of the music, both melodies, the snakes backed off and appeared uncertain

Now, Yaksha could play wonderfully, although his songs were always laced with sorrow and pain His music was hypnotic; he could draw victims to feed on si, for all its poas a mere shadow next to Krishna&039;sof life itself Each note on his flute was like a different center in the huh the notes on the flute was like the universal breath through the bodies of all people He would play the third note on his flute and the third center in my body, at the navel, would vibrate with different emotions The navel is the seat of jealousy and attachenerosity I felt these as he played When Krishna would blow through this hole with a heavy breath, I would feel as if everything that I had ever called e his breath, let the notes go long and light, then I would s to those aroundhad the snakes completely bewildered None would attack him Yet Yaksha was able to keep the snakes at bay with his h he was not able to send the ti the other Yet it was clear to me Krishna was in command, as he was in control of my emotions He moved to the fifth note on the flute, which stirred the fifth center in my body, at the throat In that spot there are two e tears, one bitter, the other sweet When Krishna lowered his breath, I felt like weeping When he sang higher I also felt choked, but with thanks Yet I did not knohat I was thankful for Not the outcome of the contest, surely I knew then that Yaksha would certainly lose, and that the result could be nothing other than our extinction

Even as the recognition of our ian to play the fourth note This affected athered In the heart are three emotions--I felt them then: love, fear, and hatred I could see that an

individual could only have one of the three at a time When you were in love you knew no fear or hatred When you were fearful, there was no possibility of love or hate And when there was hate, there was only hate

Krishna played the fourth note softly initially, so that a feeling of war time, and it seemed as if va at one another and wondered why they were enemies Such was the power of that one note, perfectly pitched

Yet Krishna now pushed his play toward its cli turned to hate A restlessness went through the crowd, and individuals on both sides shifted this way and that as if preparing to attack Then Krishna played the fourth note in a different way, and the hate changed to fear And finally this emotion pierced Yaksha, who had so far remained unmoved by Krishna&039;s flute I saw hi he could do before a swarm of snakes Because a serpent only strikes where there is fear

The group of snakes began to craard Yaksha

He could have surrendered then, but he was a brave creature even if he was ruthless He continued to play, now a frantic tune to drive away the snakes At first it did slow them down, but Krishna did not tire He continued on the fourth note, his breath quivering up and down through the hole, and at last a large snake slithered up to Yaksha It bit him on the shin and held on fast with its teeth Yaksha could not afford to set down his flute to throw it off Then another snake ca bitten on every part of his body He was the king of vampires, the son of a yakshini, yet even his system could absorb only so much venom At last the flute fell from his hands and he swayed where he sat I believe he tried to call out; I think he ht have said an to eat him I could not bear to watch

But Krishna stood then and set his flute aside He clapped his hands, and the snakes hurried off Yaksha&039;s body He climbed out of the pit and motioned to Arjuna His best friend entered the deep hole and carried out Yaksha&039;s body and du, I could see that, but barely, soaked head to foot with black venom; it oozed out of the edBut she did not run to Krishna, but to the other women Behindtoward the woods, as if they planned to flee Yet they waited still; they felt compelled to, I think, to see what Krishna would do next Krishna ignored theestured tothen was so peculiar As I knelt beside Krishna, this being that would in all probability wipe me from the face of the earth, I felt as if I was under the umbrella of his protection I watched as he put one of his beautiful hands on Yaksha&039;s head

"Will he live?" I asked

Krishna surprised me with his question "Do you want him to?"

My eyes strayed over the ruin of my old enemy and friend "I hat you want," I whispered

Krishna se when I leave this world Kali Yuga will begin It will be a time of strife and short years for huative Kali Yuga will be challenge enough for people without you on earth Do you agree??

"Yes We cause only suffering"

"Then why do you go on, Sita?"

At his saying my name I felt so touched "I just want to live, Lord"

He nodded "I will let you live if you obey my command If you never race, my protection,"

I lowered estured toward the other vampires "Go stand with them I must talk to your leader His days are not over They will not be over for a long time" I moved to leave, but Krishna stopped me "Sita?"

I turned to look into his face one last time It was as if I could see the whole universe in his eyes Maybe he was God, ht then, in that blessed h, the love was to turn to hate, to fear They sees, yet they were all one note on his flute Truly he had stolen my heart

"Yes, Lord?" I said

He bid race," he whispered "Remember that"

"I will try, my Lord"

I went and stood with the others Krishna revived Yaksha and spoke softly in his ear When Krishna was done, Yaksha nodded Krishna bade him clione Yaksha walked toward us

"Krishna says we can go," he said

"What did he tell you?" I asked

"I cannot say What did he tell you?"

"I cannot say"

Yet it was not long before I learned part of what Krishna had told Yaksha Yaksha secretly began to execute each of the va I fled, we all did But he hunted down the others, over the long years, even after Krishna was gone and Kali Yuga reigned Yaksha chased them to the ends of the earth over the many centimes until there were none left that I knew of, except es, as the Black Plague swept Europe, I heard that he was accused of being a witch, and also hunted down, by an entire army, and burned to ash in an old castle I cried when the news cah he had stolen what I loved, he had in a sense created what I was He was ht and darkness, both of which I had seen in Krishna&039;s eyes Even the devil does God&039;s will

I never