Chapter 131

Chapter 206: Defenses and Downsides

For nearly an hour, Lord Arnav rode on Shadow over the valley, racing up the grassy hills and down along the fringe of forest at the Eastern end of the Castle.

When the Master and his horse paused for a respite beside the stream, the former lay on the grass while the latter grazed nearby, his equestrian jaws chomping away at the tufts of grass.

Lord Arnav frowned at the sky as the clouds sailed by with tiring slowness.

He had wanted to see Lord Akash off personally but Kushi's presence in the room and the overpowering guilt that was rising in him, of denying her the occasion of seeing her parents, had rendered him helpless of options but to flee the scene.

He closed his eyes and tried to forget the expression that he had glimpsed on her face when she handed him his morning coffee and asked him with over-brimming eagerness if she could go to the Village.

But the image stuck to his head and the child in her yearning eyes pleaded to him over and over again to let her run to her parents...

"Dammit, Shadow," he sat up, cursing, "Why does she make things so hard!"

Shadow, however, was too absorbed in his morning meal that he didn't pause his cropping to spare a neighing answer.

Lord Arnav shook his head, "See grass and the whole world is worth forgotten. And to think I'd brought you out here, hoping you would be assuring company..."

Sighing, he lay down again and closed his eyes for the sun was moving its station to noon and its brightness was piercing into his eyes.

He remained there, lying and listening to Shadow's sounds, when a shadow fell over his face.

Opening his eyes, he stared up at the dark head peering down at him.

It took some time for his eyes to get used to the light and recognize the features on the face.

"What the-!"

No sooner had he realized who it was, he was impulsively on his feet, taking two steps back and fisting up his arms.

The General, however, stood coolly where he was, his hands in his pocket, the slight breeze waving at the hair that was over his forehead.

The General's passive gaze was on the other's fisted hands before he looked at Lord Arnav and said, "I am unarmed. So are you."

"I need no weapon to be armed," grunted Lord Arnav.

"Of course," the General looked around nonchalantly, "The cursed exceptions...we are weapons ourselves, aren't we?" The General's slicing gaze returned back to Lord Arnav's face.

"What do you want?" Lord Arnav was not going to be played with.

"I wanted a private word with you."

"I have no interest to converse with you."

The General's gaze was fixed, "Neither do I. But I had to thank you."

"You? Thank me?" Lord Arnav fists relaxed, amused by the General's unexpected objective, "What evil intention do you conceal behind such a kind gesture?"

The General scoffed, "Must you divert every kindness I afford into a mask of something evil. I am really not that cruel, Master Menace."

"Stop calling me that," Lord Arnav enforced.

"Then what do you expect me to address you by, your majesty?"

"It's better you don't address me at all," stated Lord Arnav, "Every tag you provide me will be tainted by mockery."

"How right!" the General was impressed, "Though you could easily mock me too, Master Menace. We are so much similar, you see..."

"Outrageous!" Lord Arnav bellowed, "I am nothing like you, you filthy rat!"

"Rat?" the General raised his eyebrows in surprise, "You underestimate me, Master Menace. I do not belong to the rodent species."

"Of course, how could I forget," Lord Arnav derided with a smirk, "You belong to the species specialized in twisted turpitude!"

"Are we admirers of alliteration, then?" the General grinned, "You should write poetry, Master Menace."

"I'd rather write satires," Lord Arnav said cuttingly, "However, we've been digressing from our subject. You wanted to thank me, didn't you?"

"Undoubtedly!" the General smiled, "How nice of you to remind me! And may I enlighten you with a personal preface: It's not always Shyam Manohar Jha thanks a person and his gratitude is as rare as it is precious."

"It may be rare, but it is certainly not precious," ascertained Lord Arnav, with a proud nod of his head, "It might most undoubtedly be poisonous."

The General didn't reply to this remark for his attention was drawn to Shadow.

The horse had stopped enjoying his meal from the moment the General had stepped into the territory of their solitude.

With his dark head lifted high, his beady eyes were vigilantly watching the conversation between the two men, ready to interfere if any sign was betrayed of his Master being endangered.

"It had always held me interested how our horses, too, behaved alike," the General began, "It only adds to the truth that we are a lot similar than different..."

"We are NOT!!!" Lord Arnav growled.

"Now, now... Don't you get your temper up high, Master Menace," warned the General, looking at Shadow and then Lord Arnav, "We can't have accidents happening in broad daylight when the air is awake and eyes could catch anything unsightly."

"Are you here to instigate a fight or make a compromise?" Lord Arnav directed angrily, "Whichever you choose, I will only choose the former."

"Fight we will, but not today," said the General, shuffling where he stood because he was impatient to end the pointless chatter and get to the matter.

Lord Arnav's impatient was analogous, "What is it then? What is the gratitude for?"

The General paused and his glinting gaze was fastened on Lord Arnav's face, "For keeping her untouched."

Lord Arnav stared in puzzlement and then glowered, "I didn't do it for you, you disgusting horseshit!"

Shadow made an annoyed sound in his throat, presumably not happy about having the word horse' referred with the General though the word used by his Master was not worth a pleasing support. Leastways he could have avoided reference to his class in the animal kingdom and picked on something more useless, like a bear, for instance...bearshit...No offence meant to horses, that way.

But let's not wander into Shadow's mind when a more solemn exchange ensues nearby.

"Which certainly did catch my curiosity from the moment I entered the Castle and found her to be a virgin," the General tilted his head, curiosity etched in his features, "Tell me, Master Menace, what intentions do YOU keep concealed in denying yourself the pleasure of a woman you have every right to touch?"

"I don't need to tell you that," said Lord Arnav crossly, "You better watch where you are going with this!"

"I am watching well, your royal highness," said the General slyly, "But it seems you are not watchful enough."

"What do you mean?"

"You are really not too keen on protecting your wife," pointed out the General, "or you wouldn't leave her exposed for those who find a cure in her..."

"She is not exposed. I am always around, never letting her stray from my vision, to the extent that I didn't even let her visit her family! So make sure you get this, swine: as long as her husband is alive, she is not and will never be exposed."

"She is, by the standards of her maidenhood."

"What has that to do with you?" Lord Arnav growled.

"It's the key to my cure."

"That's a lie!" Lord Arnav gritted his teeth, "Kushi is NOT your cure!"

"Kushi is my cure and the fact that you have involuntarily kept her virginal proves that she is the cure that destiny accords me!"

"LIAR!!!" Lord Arnav made to jump at the General but the General barred his teeth in threat, "I told you, Master Menace, watch your temper."

Fuming with unappeasable rage, Lord Arnav growled icily, "Don't you dare talk of my wife! Your besmirched tongue dare not!"

"You know well whose tongue is the most besmirched," pointed out the General, cleverly.

"You stray from the argument, General," Lord Arnav took a step forward.

"Stay where you are, laddie, or something fatal will strike this fine morning bleak," the General warned with composure, "Forget not that I am ten times stronger than you in human and transformed form."

"Skills as a soldier and the beastliness of your greater curse cannot surpass my determination to defend the right," clarified Lord Arnav.

"Adroit as you are, truth be this that you cannot discern the right from the wrong, Master Menace," said the General, putting his hands calmly into the pockets of his pants as he eyed his enemy, "You are cursed because of it, remember?"

"What is right to me does not have to be right to everyone else," grumbled Lord Arnav, annoyed that the General knew a lot about his curse.

The General dug the heel of his boot into the ground, "And what according to you is right in this equation of ours?"

Lord Arnav crossed his sturdy arms before his stiff chest, "Depends on what the equation connotes."

The General nodded, "It is this then: that the woman who is your wife is my cure and the woman who is my wife is your sister."

Lord Arnav waited, his gaze unblinking.

The General continued, "Bearing my child and having blind love for her husband, your sister is the weakest piece in this game. But she is my stronghold because you won't dare lift a finger against me as long as she is alive." The General saw Lord Arnav's hands fist again but he continued nevertheless, "And your wife-"

"Don't you dare take her name!"

"Kushi-"

Lord Arnav almost thrust his fist at the General, "You revolting demon!" But then he stood his ground in reckless fury.

The General remain unruffled as he continued, "Where MY wife is my stronghold, YOUR wife is your Achilles' heel. You will face defeat because of her."

The truth was indubitable and Lord Arnav could only stand and fill with raw anger without any justifiable words to refute the General with.

"So you see, Master Menace," the General said, "Lady Anjali and Kushi are my shields, leaving you defenseless. You want to protect them both but you cannot, for they make you vulnerable and weak... It is certain you will only find defeat and not victory."

"What is your point in telling all this?" Lord Arnav wanted to know.

"Because, Master Menace," the General said shrewdly, "I love to see the look of growing defeat on your face."

Lord Arnav forced his features to look firm and unperturbed, "You are too confident, General. Do you not think there is a loophole in your entire reckoning?"

"What loophole?" the General asked innocently.

Lord Arnav's eyes glinted cleverly, "I could easily make Kushi mine."

Suddenly the General laughed, making Lord Arnav doubt his own conviction.

"You fool!" the General ridiculed, "Do you think me to be an oblivious idiot? Of course you would... very typical of the hard headed Lord Arnav Singh Raizada."

Lord Arnav felt his defenses weaken but he didn't let it show on his face.

"I know perfectly well why you have kept Kushi a maiden till now," said the General briskly, "It would only mean her death if you were to make love to her. To keep her alive, she will have to remain a virgin forever."

Lord Arnav felt the breath leave his lungs. The General knew it...which he would, of course, because cursed blood ran through his veins as well.

"Your sister is the only exception, I believe," related the General, "Having had a cursed brother, she could somehow be strong enough to take me. I didn't know it at first but I realized it obviously after the first time we made love. But its sad Kushi has no cursed sibling...No Chotey to make her a strong blooded one..."

"It's not blood that makes my sister strong to take you," said Lord Arnav confidently, "it is her spirit and her faith."

"What a fairy tale!" scoffed the confident General, "It's interesting to see how an atheist like you believes in that futile theory."

"What one believes in is not of significance here," said Lord Arnav calmly, "Only one certainty needs notice: You will never touch my wife!"

"Why? Because it would mean killing her?" the General was amused, "I am not like you in this matter. You see, I don't care what happens to her. If I can get my cure by killing one, then so be it."

Lord Arnav growled violently, "The cure should be willing. Kushi will never submit to you."

"So much faith in your wife?" the General was impressed and offered his enemy a sly smile, "We'll have to change that then. Don't you worry, Master Menace, I am not without tricks. I will see to it that with time she will learn to trust me and see things the way I say. Not to forget, she is the kind of person who chooses to sacrifice her life for other's happiness..."

"I know Kushi better than you, goat-face," barked Lord Arnav with finality, "She will never do anything that is against her moral conviction."

"Tch-tch," the General shook his head, "And you think helping me get cured is immoral?"

Lord Arnav frowned, "The manner of its execution is."

"Seems we are at a disagreement," the General contemplated verbally, "The question is: who will get to win over the girl's consideration first..."

"It definitely won't be you," Lord Arnav said icily.

The General shot Lord Arnav a wicked grin, "Enjoy your horse riding while you can, Master Menace. Because when you come interfering with my plans, you won't be spared reasons to smile anymore."

"We'll see who gets to keep his smile in the end," muttered Lord Arnav as he watched the General turn about and stroll away.

Shadow sauntered to his Master's side and nudged at his arm. Lord Arnav caressed his horse's dark mane, his eyes still on the brother-in-law that was confidently walking down the valley towards the hill upon which was the Castle.

"That foul faggot knows too much, Shadow. He could put us all in grave disarray if we don't brush the rust off our swords."

Shadow neighed sadly for the truth was undeniable: Lord Arnav's chances of victory were thin, unless he came up with a tactic to steer his wife secure from the General's snide claws.