Gideon then apologized to the manager.”Please excuse my friends. They didn’t mean any harm. Sorry for the inconvenience and commotion. Anyway, they’ll be leaving soon.” The manager seemed only too anxious to agree to anything that would return tranquillity to his restaurant. He thanked Gideon,bowed,turned and left with the two nervous guards in tow.

Marla spoke up, “You always seem to have this effect on others, Kamal. Maybe, you might try to be a bit more cordial? No need to scare others to death. There’s enough fear and anger already. We need more light,not more heat.” Then she smiled her sweetest smile at him.

“You know that I could never really hurt an innocent person, Milady. They scare themselves because of who they think I am,” he replied.

Finally gathering up enough courage to speak, I offered, “Mr. Terror,” and was immediately struck with how stupid that sounded. I continued, nevertheless, “are the legends about you true? Some say you were born hundreds of years ago.”

He looked at me for a moment,then turned to Gideon as if asking permission to answer. Gideon gave a slight nod and the Terror smiled and said,”My dear sir, all legends have their birth in truth somewhere, once upon a time. I was born Kamal, Prince of the Eastern Territories. But that was a long time ago. My mission is to right wrongs and help the helpless. Allah be praised! I am but his humble servant. My followers and I ride the back of the dangerous winds and, by the beard of the Prophet, we will not rest until justice has been served.”

“We have heard of the Terror,” said Pandayji to me. “They speak of him in large towns and little villages across the nation. It’s said that if you’ve lost all hope, call upon him in your heart and he will hear you. He would then dispatch a band of his warriors to help rectify your problem. Some say that Lord Rama on his visit to Lankha was given help along the way by the Terror of Trivandrum.”

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