Sarwat Chadda: Ash Mistry and the World of Darkness

That’s not good.

“Ashoka! Swim! Swim!” Parvati screamed.

“Put your back into it, boy!” added Elaine.

The water surged and a deep roar shook from under him. Ashoka pounded the water, splashing wildly. He had to get out. Parvati’s eyes were wide with terror. “FASTER!”

The water peaked and troughed now as the huge submerged mass accelerated towards him.

Ashoka gasped with each stroke. He beat the water with his arms and legs, every muscle burning with effort and fear. He had to get out!

The growl broke the surface and he heard a huge splash of something heavy and long hitting the water.

What was it? He dared not look. He just focused on the two women ahead. Parvati had clambered back down and was reaching for him. Elaine just stared past him, hand covering her mouth, her face utterly pale.

Ashoka dragged up all his strength and heaved his way forward.

There was another splash and then the water swelled under him. Something had dived back down. It was coming.

“Ashoka! Take my hand!” Parvati leaned as far as she could, one arm hooked around a ladder rung, the other stretched out.

Just a few more metres!

The submerged roar shook his very bones. A long, huge black shape began to appear below him. Big, thick scales of dark, knobbly green caught the undulating light. Huge yellow reptilian eyes shone, and beneath them stretched a mouth filled with jagged fangs. Wider and wider it opened, enough to swallow a cow whole. A tail, thick as a tree truck, whipped the water behind it and it surged upwards.

Ashoka thrashed forward.

His hand caught Parvati’s. She pulled.

Ashoka slapped against her as a creature erupted out of the water, showering them both. Its cry turned his blood to ice and all he could do was cling to Parvati, paralysed by terror. The air rushed around him as the monster rose and he was blinded as its shadow loomed over them both.

This is it. Death.

But if he was dead, he wanted to see what had killed him. He turned his head.

A crocodile, tall as a house, climbed and climbed, water cascading from its open mouth and down its gigantic body. It smashed the water with its tail and towered over them, even over Elaine and her van. The scales looked thicker than his hand and the teeth would crush his skull with ease. A few feathers clung to its jaw.

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