Free The War of the Grail by Geoffrey Wilson Page B

basic training. You would not be told these things until you rose up further in an order.’
    Jack swivelled round and looked back across the glade. For a moment, he imagined he could see the powerful sattva stream rippling as it coursed past. ‘It would be difficult to find a yantra, though. There are so many streams.’
    ‘Oh yes. Many people have searched their whole lives and not found one. That is what makes the yantras all the more precious.’
    Jack turned back to Kanvar. ‘This is all very interesting. But what has it got to do with that meeting point in Scotland?’
    Kanvar breathed in and stood up suddenly, as if he’d received some shocking news. He paced back and forth across the glade, muttering to himself, with his hand to his forehead. The silver braid edging his tunic glinted in the sunlight.
    After a minute or so, he stopped and squinted up into the sky. Finally, he walked back across the grass and sat down again, crossing his legs as if he were about to meditate.
    He stared at Jack, his eyes seeming impossibly wide. ‘I will tell you. But this is a great secret. A far greater secret than anything I told you earlier.’
    ‘All right.’ Jack shifted into a more comfortable position. This was becoming more intriguing by the minute.
    Kanvar gestured at the chart, which was still lying spread out across the grass. ‘This yantra has a radius of about half a mile, in European reckoning. Most yantras are this size or smaller. It is rare for any to be larger, and the largest yantra ever found was a mile across. However, for several decades there have been rumours about a very large yantra here in Britain. A yantra far larger than any found previously. In fact, it is said to stretch for many miles, perhaps engulfing most of Britain.’
    Jack blinked. This was a strange thought. ‘And this thing exists?’
    ‘No one is certain. We Sikhs long suspected it did not. However, several years ago, before the mutiny started, we discovered that the Rajthanans were searching for it. Clearly the Rajthanan siddhas believed in it, so we Sikhs started to think we should investigate as well. You see, the rumours suggested this Great Yantra would give a person some immense power. Something beyond every other yantra.’
    ‘What power?’
    Kanvar pursed his lips. ‘We do not know. No one knows. Except, perhaps, until now.’
    ‘Now? You’ve discovered the Great Yantra, then?’
    ‘Sadly not. But we suspect the Rajthanans have.’
    Jack sat still. The light seemed intensely bright now and the smell of the flowers overpowering. ‘The Rajthanans have the great power?’
    ‘Our spies believe so. We know General Vadula has been determined to get it and has sent his siddhas right across Britain trying to map the yantra.’
    Jack’s mind was racing now. ‘So, we need to map the yantra ourselves. Use it against the Rajthanans.’
    ‘Of course. We Sikhs have been trying our best over the past few years. We have found, we think, parts of the yantra. But we have always faced a major obstacle.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘We have never known where the edge of the yantra lies. Without knowing that, we haven’t known the size of the yantra. We haven’t known what regions are inside it and what regions are outside it. It has been a huge problem. And the best way to solve that problem would be to find the centre.’
    ‘Why the centre?’
    Kanvar leant forward and swept the sticks and dead leaves away from a bare patch of ground. He prodded his finger in the earth, leaving a small indentation. ‘Imagine this is the centre of the yantra.’ He then drew a circle around the spot. ‘And this is the yantra’s edge. Obviously, the edge will form a perfect circle about the centre. If we know the location of the centre,’ he pointed at the spot, ‘then we can look for sattva streams that arc about it in the correct way.’ He ran his finger along a section of the circle.
    Jack rubbed his chin. This was all a lot to take in at once. ‘I think