Will Nina come with Tam? DIVESTED of her mail, she wound the silken garment about her trim little figure and adjusted the circlet on her fluffy head. Then she took up the seven lotus buds, and walking up to where the seven colossal images looked down from their lofty thrones, laid a blossom on the altar of each with a short prayer.
She turned to Tam. "I am ready to go up now, to the Most High Place. Somehow, I feel afraid. It seems that the Mahadevi is warning me not to go, that danger lies ahead."
"Then don't go," said Tam. "Or if you feel that you must, why, let me go with you."
"I must go," she told him, a note of terror in her voice, "and alone. Siva of Saivarta has gone up and has not returned, so he must be there petitioning the gods for the ancient weapons. Perhaps they have already granted his prayer. It may be that I am too late."
"And you will go up there alone to face Siva the Destroyer—Siva the libidinous? It is unthinkable."
"It is inevitable. And after all, reason tells me that my fears are groundless, for he would not dare to harm me in the very presence of the seven immortals." She stiffened resolutely. "I am going."
She walked toward an arched doorway at the opposite end of the room. It was closed by seven golden bars, beyond which could be seen golden steps leading upward. And above it was the inscription in Aryan: