Chapter 52

Sorry dear Soul, I wanted to give a good enough post thanking all of you as you deserve for keeping the Inn a happy and treasured place and the hearth warm and eager for the coming narrations. But Aura had sent me the comments and I had read them in hiding when staying at my parents' place and I can't pick on the details now after these many days. But they were the source of strength for me to brave the Plagiarism phase and to smile even when all of IPKKND land was in tears. I never knew heartfelt comments could make you strong at heart and to see the end of the show in a positive light and always to remain hopeful of better things to come.

I had not wanted to post a chapter during the Last Week of IPKKND, but when I learnt that there was to be no episode on Thursday, I knew there had to be something in which the lovers of ArShi in Arhasia needed to drown themselves in. Hence, here I am walking into the Inn. After greeting the jolly InnKeeper, I make for the Cave behind the grandfather clock, wondering how many of my Comrades I will find there...

Chapter One Hundred Nine: Realisation

The box on her lap slipped with a hard thump onto the floor of the moving carriage and she jerked awake.

"Who? What?" she looked up, and realised the carriage was moving.

"Oh, I'm just going home," she assumed and relaxed into her seat.

After a few minutes she frowned, her hands pressed on either side of the seat to keep her steady, "What is with Om Prakashji today? Where is he flying to?"

She remained waiting for a while, thinking that the speed would lessen as soon as the downhill ride was over but even when the carriage was crossing the wide expanse of flat grassland, it kept racing and rattling onward.

Kushi leaned forward and knocked on the wall of the carriage, right where Om Prakash would be leaning his back while manning the carriage in the front.

She had hoped he would slow down with her knocking but instead, it seemed like he had not heard it and was racing on as though the carriage was on fire. Panicked, she suddenly wondered if the carriage was actually on fire.

"Or," Kushi paled, "are the horses riding the carriage without a driver?"

Fearful of her imaginings within the shaky carriage, she tried to edge towards the window to try to look out and consult the carriage driver or assure herself of his existence.

She drew the curtains away but before she looked out, she gasped. They were riding through the forest and, though it was broad daylight, it was getting gloomier with the thickness of trees within.

"Why is he taking me through the forest?" she wondered, "There is a Road that takes a safer route to the Village."

Kushi had leaned forward to look out of the window when something white flew into her face and she fell into the carriage with a frightened yell.

The white thing flapped its wings and moved away from her and she looked up at it, surprised, from where she lay on the trembling carriage floor, "Fortune? What are you doing here?"

The bird, on seeing it was her, squawked with glee, "Green heart! Green heart!"

"Fortune, what is happening?" she asked, trying to sit up and then she leaned out of the window to ask Om Prakash to stop the carriage so she could catch her breath. She saw the side of the man sitting in the front, holding the reins. He had a hat on his head and it shielded her from getting a view of his head but she yelled out, "Om Prakashji! Slow down a bit, will you?"

"What the!" reacted a familiar voice and the head she was trying to focus on, with all the racing and rumbling, looked over his shoulder and their startled gazes met. They gaped.

"You!" they said at the same time.

He had not been looking where he was going and the two brown horses were not as vigilant as Shadow.

They raced over a protruding root of a tree but, unlike them, the carriage could not jump or fly. Its wheels rolled over the ground and when it trudged over the root, one of the wooden wheels broke and the carriage titled to one side and dug into the ground, smashing the side that first hit ground. Kushi screamed, clutching at the seat near her, and moving away from the window that was falling headlong into the ground and would have smashed her head if it had been looking out. Fortune screeched and Lord Arnav let go of the reins and leapt off the cart, landing on the ground on all four, his hat slipping off his head while his eyes looked at the carriage sliding beside him and he yelled, "Kushi!"

Kushi's scream could be heard no more, and Lord Arnav leapt onto the carriage that was lying on its side. The door was on the top and, with one wild yank, he pulled the door out and Fortune flew out with a screech, while he looked in, "Kushi!"

A groan responded to his call and he sighed inwardly seeing her sprawled on the seat, her hands clutched at her waist, "I fear I might throw up," she muttered audibly.

He put his hand inside the carriage, "Hold my hand!"

He heard loud movements within as she struggled to reach him and he was expecting the touch of her hands any moment, when something cold and hard pressed on his hand.

"What the!" he frowned, his fingers nevertheless clutching at it and he lifted it out. It was her little box. Grunting, he dropped it down roughly to the ground and put his hand into the carriage again, "Stop handing me things, Kushi. Just climb out!"

Tender warm fingers grazed his palm and he felt a tingle run up his arm. He let her fingers clasp around his hand and he clamped his fingers upon her hand, securing her in his hold, and then lifted her out, letting her slide next to him when she had emerged out of the door-less hole.

She was panting under the effect of the tumultuous ride and she breathed in deeply, "Oh, fresh air! Fresh air!" She smiled at the trees! "It's so blessed to be alive!"

He grunted and then frowned at her, "What are you doing here?

She looked at him, "What am I doing? The question is: what are you doing here?"

"I am on my way to get the hermit and I had told you to go home, hadn't I?"

"It was to leave for home that I had been waiting in this carriage when all of a sudden you should come by and ride me away into the forest!"

"I did not! You sat in the wrong carriage!"

"How do you know I was the one in the wrong carriage? Couldn't it have been you?"

"How dare you!" He reached for her but just then the parrot flew in between them, "Squawk!"

Lord Arnav had not expected the bird to burst in so suddenly and its intrusion made him tumble down the side of the carriage and he fell to the ground with a loud crash.

Gasping, Kushi crawled to the edge of the carriage top and peered below, "Sire, are you alright?"

Immediately rising on his feet, his head shot up, making her move her face away, and he pointed at the bird on her shoulder and at her, "This is your fault. Both your faults!"
And then he gaped, his finger pointed still at her, but his eyes on the front of the carriage, "My horses!"

Kushi looked towards where he was looking and realised what had happened. As the carriage tumbled to its fall, he had let go of the reins and probably the yoke holding the horses together had snapped and as the carriage scraped to the ground, the two horses had broken free of their bondage and rode to their freedom leaving their riders incapacitated with a broken carriage and a wizened white parrot.

"What the!" he moved away and stared at the forest trees and searched the ground before them for the sprinted tracks of the escaped horses.

His shocked gaze changed to one of great annoyance and he turned to look at Kushi and accuse her as the cause for the missing horses but she was nowhere to be found on the carriage.

"Kushi?" he called to her angrily.

"I am here," she said, coming from behind the carriage for she had descended from behind the carriage. Fortune was still perched on her shoulder.

"Look at what you've done!"

"What did I do?" Kushi looked around trying to spot some clue as to what she'd done this time.

"You let my horses get away," he said curtly.

Kushi looked at him pointedly, "Your horses ran off because they were not manned well. What was your fault need not be transferred to my penalty!"

"How dare you!" Lord Arnav clenched his fists and then he looked away, "Stupid horses and stupid you! If it had been Shadow he would have never done a foolhardy thing as this."

"Then why didn't you bring him instead?" she asked, still scowling.

He shot her a look, "Because he is ridden free and never hitched to carriages."

"Oh," Kushi looked away, muttering mockingly, "Royal demands for the horse of the Royal Monster!"

"Did you say something?" challenged Lord Arnav with his eyebrow cocked, but Kushi only looked away. After a few seconds, surprised that he was not reacting or coming towards her, she looked up at him again to find that he was no longer there. He had walked ahead into the forest leaving her stranded in the middle of the forest with a broken carriage for company.

Lord Arnav trudged through the forest, the ground littered with leaves and patches of light that fell through the space in the tree tops, owing to it being still early in the day. He had barely made a few steps forwards when he heard light footsteps rushing towards him from behind. Clenching his fists, he stopped and turned on her, "Go home!"

She stopped a few steps away from him, "Alone?"

"Of course."

"But I don't know the way out."

His eyes were cold when he stated, "Just walk back the way you came without stopping and soon you will have reached the open valley."

"I do know that walking may result in reaching somewhere but I cannot do it alone."

"Why so?"

"Because it's a forest and I am young girl."

He cocked an eyebrow again, "That is no excuse to being scared."

"I'm not scared," she scowled and then she looked away, "Alright, I may be scared of being alone in the forest," she looked at him, "Which is why I need someone to take me out of it."

"Well, you're not getting an escort from me," he said coldly and then he nodded to the parrot on her shoulder, "Take him with you. He is always so wanting to go on travels through the forest."

The parrot blinked at him and then squawked, "Heartless Honeybee!"

"What?" Lord Arnav stared at it, confused.

But Kushi understood and she looked at the parrot and then at the man before her. However, she spoke nothing.

"Stupid bird and stupid girl!" he muttered and then turned about and walked away.

He had barely taken a few more strides into the forest before he heard the hem of her gown rustling over the leaves behind him. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. This girl was getting on his nerves again!

He had not turned around before she said, "Don't bother to turn around and bark at me again. I will only follow you anyway until you decide to escort me out of this forest."

He looked over his shoulder, "Whatever you do, I don't care. But I am not going to escort you out of here. I have come here for a purpose and that is my sole motive now. So go away or tag yourself behind me but I WON'T CARE!"

And then he walked away, deeper into the forest, always conscious of the sound of her feet trying to keep up with his long speeding strides.

They had walked a long way into the forest and Kushi had begun on her usual muttering, whinnying on how she should be home and happy now and not plodding through the forest behind the 'lordy lord.'

Furious, he turned around and Kushi, who had not been looking up to see him stop walking, crashed into his chest and, with a flurry, Fortune flew off her shoulder as they tumbled onto the ground, his arms instinctively around her, and his hard back crushing the leaves on the forest floor, while his chest pillowed her fall.

Panicked under the sudden fall, Kushi pressed her head to his shoulder, breathing into his neck.

His hands were warm on the small of her back and she remained lying on him, feeling lulled by his warm chest. But her comfort was to be shortlived for he had soon recovered from the suddenness of the fall and pushed her away.

"What the!" he exclaimed, sliding her off his chest and staring at her. She fell onto the ground with a soft thump.

Just then he realised that she was blinking her eyes rapidly and his expression turned to one of concern and he sat up.

"My eye! Something's in my eye," she moaned as she tried to sit up, one hand pressing on the ground to hoist herself up and the other reaching for her eye.

But another hand reached out and clasped around her wrist, keeping her dusty hand from touching her eye. She tried to look up at him but her eyes had started watering and she could only see the blurred form of his face leaning into hers. Her breath hitched seeing how close he appeared to be to her face, his nose almost touching hers.

And then, as she sat there, with him crouched before her, she felt his warm breath over her face and her heart stilled. She was taken in by the soft caress of his blowing over her face and over her stinging eye and how his warm hand was clasped around her wrist, heating her blood under his hold.

And then he was suddenly moving away, and she blinked, realising whatever dust had been in her eye had been made non-existent by his soft breath on her face.

"Is it better now?" he asked, expressionlessly, as he stood up.

She nodded and then looked up to see that he had already begun proceeding further into the forest.

"Horrid lordy Lord," she muttered as she picked herself up, lifted her little box and raced to catch up with him.

Right at that moment, all Lord Arnav wanted was to be away from her. Far away. He was disturbed by the nameless emotions he had realised were swirling inside of him. Seeing her in need of aid, he had offered it without any predilections. And yet, he was the one getting weakened in the aftermath of the aid, unable to understand why he kept staring at her as she struggled to focus. Why he could not take his gaze from her lips...

"Are we to leave for home as soon as we find the hermit?" asked Kushi, breaking into his thoughts and angering him because the thing he wanted to stay away from him was once again tagging right behind him.

He didn't stop to look at her but kept on walking, "As soon as I find the hermit, I will leave for my home."

"But what about me?" asked Kushi, worriedly.

"I told you, I don't care what you do with yourself," he said and he walked ahead and had gone a few steps forward when he stopped. He could not hear her behind him anymore.

He looked over his shoulder and found her standing a few distance away, unwilling to follow him anymore.

"What is it?" he asked angrily.

Kushi looked at him with pain in her eyes and without a word, she turned around and began walking back the way she had come.

Lord Arnav stared at her retreating back, startled that she had actually forgotten her fears and was daring to trudge through the forest on her own. And then he frowned, "So what! Go fend yourself! I SIMPLY DON'T CARE!"

He yelled the last words at her and as she walked farther and farther way from him, those words echoed in her mind...He doesn't care...

For the Index, visit: http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3280862

One more episode and IPKKND will bid farewell. But there are two things you must remember:

As long as there is Memory, IPKKND cannot die and will continue to live in millions of hearts.

And as long as there are Dreams, IPKKND Season 2 is only and certainly a possibility!!

Everything that happens is for the good. For now, let's take a three month break: the Cast, the Crew and the Fans. We fans need to focus on our studies, work, family and health. This is the time to do that.

But remember, we WILL be back. The Cast, Crew and the Fans. Yes, we will back with a bigger blast next time. Because IPKKND Season Two is coming. Coming with an array of new and varied Rabba Ves!

P. S. Break in IPKKND does not mean break in Arhaisa. There is a long way to go in this tale that the Lady in the Dark Hood is narrating to me. Just remember to always check the Index of the thread where the announcement of when the next update will be given will be posted. Oh, and because Aura wants to be at the Inn when I update the next chapter (she's at her grandmother's now) I will give you the next chapter on Saturday.

Oh and after you comment here in our Inn's Book, you can come spend some time in Kushipugly's Cottage managed by Farwa. I'll be there.

http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3284293

Aquiline2012-11-29 08:37:00