Chapter 46

It always warms my heart to read all your comments and, hence, I find the drive to make Arhasia keep happening every day.

Quick thanks to all:

Shazaad: First to comment this time and new to the Inn too! Saw you standing at the door the moment I walked in! As kushipugly and Heta, said, welcome to our happy world of dreams and we hope your continue to visit, to make our Inn more lively! And goodness, till 4am? You were in Arhasia till 4am???

Saomom: Missed you a lot! Where had you been? There used to be a time when you were all over my thread and now, with the second thread started, you are never there!

Hellgirl: Sure can see your excitement! Hope you fed the blue-tailed pigeon I had sent you!

Pristineblue, march, hatelove, Shalve, SuryaRavi,flowers4u, sariarshi, angeldream : I am so glad I could give you a chapter on Saturday to keep you thinking!! Glad you could visit!!

Keerthi, Crinklez and saga_twilight: Pardon my cliff-hangers syndrome. It kind of finds me when I least expect it to! And oh, do I feel the excitement! I just hope my chapters can be what you expect it to be...And Crinklez, sorry for the connection problems but come when you can, dear. We will all be waiting.

Allzwell: High Voltage need not be high. But it's Voltage to the mind that can imagine it, I assume!

Sara: I am only happy you enjoyed your stay and your mind is so into the tale! Looking forward to hearing how you react to the new chapters!

Shamin: Adding to my kushipugly's and Heta's greetings, I officially welcome you to the Inn, dear! And 96 chapters at a go? How many hours did that take?

Harsh: Commenting is not a problem, honey, as long as your remember to leave behind your smile on my thread!

Arushi_fan: Avid reader and her monkeys were finally sanctioned and well, yeah, kushipugly even granted you the ticket to feed them! Well, we can have quite a time! But yes, the answers of your sad monkeys' questions will be probably stated in the next update!

Kvarsha: I don't PM for my weekday updates dear so hope you didn't mind the long trek! But I'm glad you're loving the tale so far.

Vidya: I don't know, was this much of a cliff-hanger, really? *grin* Weekday PMs are not sent, so if I walk into the Inn and find you there, you can hear the next chapter from me or you will have to hear it from the InnKeeper, who is also a good-storyteller, I think.

Peepli: Goodness! Racing mind going mad? I'll update as soon as possible then!

Khusiarnav: it was such a surprise that you wrote in bold! But I liked it. And yes, angry hulk out again, no control for him. I am only glad you found a place to love here, dear. And don't you worry yourself about the show, your health is more that matters to us. I know what you mean dear, because when Arnav is shown overly-bubbly towards Sheethal when talking of their college days we do doubt how the theme of the story matches with this: that a cold ruthless businessman learned to find his smile and love because of a young girl who had come falling into his arms one night. And when Kushi is shown as slapping thugs with vegetables while the rest of the people stare as though they are watching some show, it hurts. It sorely hurts. Sometimes, it is true that the Crew behind the show is not putting much heart. They are themselves "kind of trying and not trying". But I am watching the show isolated because when I think of the future days without the show, I am willing to watch Kushi and Arnav on screen just once every day, whatever they are made to do. Besides , I believe in the "bend in the road." For me, it's always there and never gone. Whatever happens in an episode, the show is still there for me and as long as the show is there, there is always a "bend in the road", a "hope in the horizon", a return back to the magic we miss! Fanatic lover of the show, you can call it dear! And guess what, if there is any frustration on the part of characterization-not-justified, I come to the Inn to see you guys and lose myself in a chapter! And now, what Leafs and Shas and Soul could feel was what they see from the angle of "wise-detached-viewer-refusing-to-be affected-but-still-madly-in-love-with-the-show-no-matter-what" ... That's a different category and guess what, khusiarnav, I myself fall into both these categories! Which is why I can easily understand what one side says and the other side says and hence, know both sides to be TRUE!! Cheer up, dear! We're with you!

Farwa: I guess the updates are short because I am having to make a certain chapter the 100th, so well...I can try to make two updates per day. Let me see.

Vrinda: Hey there! I am only happy you are waiting for the next update and yes, our Nani did come down at last!

Bea_rom: Clever one you are! You picked on the exact intention!

Sonia: Poor hubby of yours! But I can't help it, I need you here when I tell the story, so yeah, poor hubby twice!

Bablio: The heartlessness of his angry brain won't wait to hear anyone! I am so happy, bablio dear, seeing you read all the other comments down to the last page of the thread so far!

Farha: a question, eh? Hope you find the answer in the coming chapters!

Shikha dear: I know you always feel for the deepest scenes and I am only humbled you do! I am sorry dear but I don't PM during weekday updates...if you find me, well and good. If you don't, maybe a lot of chapters together can be a treat!

Medharees: Missing your poems, but I so understand the reason for their absence! Waiting for the Arhasian Poetess to find time again when she can...

Hoopoe: Goodness dear! Nothing more to tell you expect that more than my hints, your eye for picking them and shape them than them out with your bare hands as though you were doing something as simple as plucking easy flowers and arranging them, is what is intriguing!

Heta: I had a happy heart attack, dear, reading your moving words! Ah, you spoil me! I am not as great as that, but it is so good to hear that there can be such a person as you described! And yes, Green Heart is doing a lot these days, isn't she? I'm proud of her!! *beaming* Its such a happy thought to know you are with the other vibrant Comrades, making this thread keep its furnace warm and ready for whenever I decide to show up suddenly!

Darya dear: An update to the rescue you from your running-away imaginations!

Ayaat: Have you commented before, dear? I don't remember. Bad at memory, I am. So happy to see you here, though!

Dingle: You are the only one who in their right mind will admire Shyam for his deviousness!! And yes, I like your psychological theory on girls picking on husbands like their father. Nope, I will not mention Freud's Electra Complex theory here. Nani's jailbreak! You and your words! And yeah, you're the only one in the commenters who mentioned the "tug of war" as having happened!

Music: S!! Too much ale and your mind may not be in your senses to hear the rest of the tale! Hope you could kill your weekend with something else! *gulp*

Nightingale: Safiya dear! Barun2297, right? I guess I'm not so bad at my memory to remember your last username and that too with its numbers!!!

ASRandKKGSRFan: Trust you to give me a mature appreciation of what I write! I can only love every word you give me everytime, dear! Bravery in all the female characters, eh? Kushi, La, Nani...
Sona: Calm down! Clam down! Goodness, the Inn will be brought down with all this frenzy over a tiny chapter!

Leafs: My dearest Mentor! That Captain Responsibility out for no good! Ah, well, he has valid reasons, but yes, he keeps us away often from what we most want to care for! Oh, and look-e-here: You've been doing a little analysing on the "themes in the comments" on this thread! Interesting!

Artemis: Nicita! Glad to know you could visit, dear!

Shas: Your peep into a character's motive for action and the possible symbolisms I may have meant, always leave me staggered and awed! Most always you nail it right! I think you owe it to knowing me more than the characters! Wonder if you would have been able to think all this out if you hadn't known my own psychology! And yes, "That room has never needed me," is an easy piece of the puzzle!

Kushipugly: My 500th post and all of this thread is swarming with your pics! Goodness, I am not gonna let you read any other FF and colour their land! *wink* Just kidding! Colour away dear, I am certain other FF readers will be proud to have a reader like you!! And goodness, stop praising me and when I say stop, I mean it! The attention is embarrassing! Though I do glow under it! *blush* Loved your description on each character in the latest update! You are amazing in your own way of looking into a character as he/she is!!

Chapter Ninety Seven: Dungeon

The wetness on the cold stone steps threatened her feeble feet to frequently slip and Lord Arnav soon found it impossible to keep dragging her at his rapid pace. So he hoisted her on his shoulder and she screamed and thrashed her fists on his back, but he was unaffected as he climbed down the cold steps and then moved in the darkness. Wet dark walls loomed on either side of their passage and though Kushi could not see anything, she could feel the eerie presence of the walls and the dreadful air enveloped her with fear.

Her hair had come lose and being draped upside down over his shoulder, the ends of her hair wiped the floor after his passage. Angry tears stung her eyes, and she thrashed upon his back, "Put me done, you crude beast! Put me down!"

He said nothing but instead, dug his fingers into her gowned thigh because it was most easily accessible on his shoulder and she screamed, "No!"

"Then stay quiet," he growled and she felt fearful for his voice sounded different in this unnatural place.

She heard the distant thumps upon the metal door they had come through which was a long way away now, but soon the growing distance muffled all sounds and only the sound of their breathing, of his long swift strides and that of water dripping down the walls could be heard.

Suddenly he stopped and dropped her to the cold ground. Her senses had jolted with the draping and, presently, with the dropping, and her dizzied head struggled to focus. Before she could recover enough to stand or fight, unkind hands pulled up her arm and cold metal clasped around her wrist while her other hand lay limply at her side. She shook her head and squinted and realised that she was in a cold cell with bars for doors and there was only a little moonlight penetrating within, through a tiny hole in the corner of the ceiling.

She looked down at her hand from where she lay on the floor and realised that he had locked her by chains to the bars. She struggled to stand up, "No, no, please don't do this."

She leaned against the bars, steadying herself on her feet, and looked at him. The little moonlight, shed through the hole, cast upon his face and she saw how contemptibly he was glaring at her.

"Why are you doing this to me?" she looked helplessly at him.

His eyes were cold as he scowled at her, "Though she didn't tell me, I know it was you. You dared to instigate Lavanya to want marriage and permanence in this house as my wife," said Lord Arnav, "I permitted you to be her handmaid to serve her, not to work your village trickery on her!"

Kushi frowned though her tears, "Marriage is a sacred niche where the Divine Powers unite a man and woman. It is not a trademark ritual of villagers alone. Your sister's married, are you blind?"

He pulled her free hand and pressed upon it, "Dare answer me back, beggar!"

"I say only what is right," she stated, wincing as she felt the pain in her hand blind her senses.

He released her and shut the barred cell door, "Stay here for a whole night and maybe then you will learn your lesson."

Kushi pulled at the bars, her knuckles pale with the effort, "Please, Please, I will not survive in this darkness! Please let me go!"

"Say you're sorry for teaching Lavanya your vile beliefs," said Lord Arnav, his eyes cold.

Kushi stared at him through her tears but managed to say, "My beliefs are not vile but born of my love for the Divine, but yes, I will say I am SORRY, and I really am, for teaching what you didn't like to Lady Lavanya."

Lord Arnav's eyes were still cold as he said, "I don't think that sorry has taught you to show respect." He leaned forwards, his slicing gaze upon her and she looked away, "Never mess with Lord Arnav Singh Raizada if you need your life intact. A night in the dungeon will serve your wisdom this valuable piece of lesson."

And then he stepped back into the shadows and Kushi screamed out to him, her head pressed against the cold bars, and her free hand reaching into the empty darkness behind the bars, "No, don't leave me here. No! Please!!! Lord...Arnav...please!!!!"

But Lord Arnav's steps had already receded into the distance and could be heard no more.

Wailing out with all her strength, Kushi felt her senses weaken and she slid to the ground, leaning her head against the bars, her exhausted mind succumbing to a troubled slip of the consciousness, her chained hand held above her head.

It's a struggle to MAKE time to write this FF. Short updates maybe, but they are important enough to be read and understood and you must let them wait to sink into your heart before I give you the next. And if you are really good patient Comrades and readers, I will update the next chapter not tomorrow evening but tomorrow morning. What say?

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https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3256949/arhi-ff-2-the-beasts-and-the-bleeding-roses

Aquiline2012-11-04 12:41:26