Chapter 149

To the Attention of All Readers of FFs in the Forum,

I am not certain if you have come across the latest Rule regarding Spamming. Thanks to dear Farwa, I was made aware of the MODs making matters more strict in regard to spamming.

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3923042/imp-what-is-spamming

Sorry I couldn't make it sooner but I had been unwell for two days. Feeling all sunshiney today, especially with the thought of narrating the next chapter.

Dearest sweetfairy, nataraja, dpriyad, Athena, Sarikaa (I know you are sariarshi, dear, your pic never changed despite your name), Keerthi, shipra, sheshnag, henamani, afreen, vidya, rockingsoni, dear Farwa, mbibi, mpuhan, amira, Sona (after such a long time!!), darling Achu kutty, khareshelley, lovedrops, purplelove and all the other readers who commented and liked to express their love for the chapter. THANK YOU MY DEARS!!! *hugs

Hoopoe and Shas,

I love you guys! My eyes filled with tears after I read through all that you thought into... MUAH! Wish dear Soul had time to join in the fun...This chapter is dedicated to you three. The Awesome Threesome. And to all my readers who love have their minds vexed with the the tale's many mysteries.

Chapter 227: Ruckus on the Roof

It was cold and dark where she stood. She was aware of the persisting sound of water dripping though its source she failed to locate. Was it raining? Or perchance, did it issue from a broken basin?

She looked around, unable to pick out any object or feature of her territory that would help identify herself with her setting. Everywhere she looked was walls, wet and mossy from abandon.

She shivered in fearful memory. Could this that abhorring dungeon in the Castle?

Dark forebodings gripped at her insights, churning fear into tumults.

An year ago, in such a dreary situation of desperation, she would have called for her Amma or Babuji, but for the first time, being alone in a dark unknown place, she called for him.

"Arnavji...?" she held her breath and remained silent, hoping to catch even the slightest sound of an answer.

That was when she heard him.

But instead of being relieved at his voice, she paled with fright.

For he was not responding to her call but crying out in pain.

"My lord..." Her voice reverberated with concern as she stepped towards where she believed she had heard his voice.

She was certain he had not heard her calling for him but she could hear his muffled cries and, with panic in her every step, she drove herself to finding him.

It was as she ran that she realized that she was still in her night robe and that her long hair had come loose of its bun.

But she was not concerned about her appearance or the why of it.

His cries echoed against the walls of her heart, drumming along with its petrified beating against her ribs.

I am here, Arnavji... I am here...she wanted to tell him, but tears had started rolling down her cheeks and she would choke on them if she were to speak.

The pain in his cries increased in intensity and this set her off on a maddened run, not knowing where she going but unafraid to fall either. She had to get to him...that was all she wanted.

Suddenly, the dark walls vanished and she was stepping out of an archway into a moonlit forest clearing.

She was not sure where she was, but her limbs went numb when her eyes fell on the scene in the near distance.

There, tied to a tree by chains at his wrists was her husband, shirtless and with his night pants alone.

"My lord?!" Kushi stepped towards him but all of a sudden, she tumbled and fell to the ground.

Struggling to sit up, her hands crushing the dry leaves of the forest floor, she tried to see what she had tripped on, only to have her heartbeat halt at the sight of a huge metal chain clamped around her ankle.

"No, no!" Kushi's pale fingers desperately worked at the metal to try to unhook it off her ankle, but the more she tried, the more conspicuously the edge of the clamp cut against her skin, chaffing and bleeding it.

At last, she deserted her toiling of eradicating the enslavement she was in and turned her head to the other captive behind her.

Lord Arnav was kneeling on the ground, his head bowed in defeat, his arms lifted above his head because the chains that were clamped at his wrists were tied to the middle part of the tree. But what horrified her were not the chains but the unforgivable scars on his back. Scars wrought by-

WHIP!!

The sound was so loud that it slapped at her senses, jolting her.

She stared in confounded silence at what had caused the sound.

A hooded being stood beside the tree to which Lord Arnav was tied and in this hooded creature's shadowed hand was a long, thick whip.

She watched in horrified silence as the whip was lifted high and then with all mustered force, brought down in one blow to slash loudly upon her husband's scarred back, making him cry out in pain.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!" Kushi cried out, her muddied hands reaching towards the one in the hooded cloak, "Please, don't!! Please don't hurt him...I beg of you, hurt him no more..."

But the hooded figure appeared to not hear her and continued with the loud whipping, renting the air with sounds of torture and pain.

"NO MORE!!!" yelled Kushi with all the life she had in her throat, "NO MORE, I say! NO MORE!!!" She gasped in air because it was hard to breath when you are wearied with crying and while your head is reeling, "Please... no more...Tell me what you want and I will let you have it in return for him..."

The hooded being had been bringing the whip down, aiming for Lord Arnav's bloodied back, when the whip suddenly paused midair.

Torn by tears, Kushi wheezed and stared, her body rocking slightly as her mind slipped slowly to her unconscious.

But in the last few seconds of her sanity, her blurred vision watched the hooded figure towering over her husband's battered body. It was still holding its whip midair but it had lifted its hooded head to look at her as though having finally heard her.

The shadow of the hood fell upon its face, making it impossible for her to identify if it was a woman, a man or even a human.

Her last request lingered in the cold forest air. Tell me what you want and I will let you have it in return for him...

Before she fainted and all things went black as she crashed onto the leaves of the forest floor, she heard the answer of her husband's punisher: "You."

With a gasp, Kushi awoke and stared at the darkness before her.

Still shaken from the terrors of her dream, for it had seemed more real than otherwise, she reached to her side, her hands fumbling over her sheets until she realized she was alone.

"Arnavji...?" She called out, wanting him to respond from somewhere in the smothering darkness but there was only silence.

At least she was in bed in her Buaji's cottage. Which meant she won't have the horrid dream reliving in reality.

Her eyes fell on the empty side of the bed where he was supposed to be. Or would she?

Hastily, she moved the blanket away and scrambled out of bed, about to make for the door, when she paused.

Was that voices she was hearing? How can that be? It's past one or two after midnight...

Then a fearful thought came to her mind. Might it be the herbalist called again late in the night because of some urgency?

She closed her eyes and assured herself that her father was fast asleep and no herbalist would be needed ever again.

But the voices kept talking. She opened her eyes and frowned thoughtfully.

Identifying that the voices were issuing from outside, Kushi moved cautiously towards the window, almost on tiptoe as though not wanting to make a noise and alert the voices of her knowing about them.

She reached the open window and peered out, looking over the garden and the little road in front of the garden only to realize that the voices were not coming from below but from above.

Kushi's mouth fell open. Above? Who uses roofs for conversations?

And then another fearful thought came to her mind. What if it's thieves?! Come to steal into the house through the chimney! Because Buaji is very particular about bolting doors and no thief can barge in through her barriers that easily...

It was at this moment that she had listened enough to recognize the voices. One was her husband, which put her at relief but also in worry because the tone he was using was not a pleased one. And that was when she recognized the second voice. Her heart stilled. It cannot be!

In a hurry, Kushi turned about and rushed out of the room and, with as little sound possible, sped down the stairs and headed for the front door.

Opening it, she stepped out, her long hair flying in the breeze as her bare feet raced over the wet grass, without a care of how the biting cold wind was overbearing against her flimsy night robe.

On the roof, their acute ears having heard sprightly feet sprint across the grass, Lord Arnav and General Jha had become silent, fearing that someone had eavesdropped on their conversation though it was impossible for anyone in the lawn below to hear anything spoken on the roof.

Nevertheless both men sat motionless on the rooftop, their quick eyes scanning the dark lawn below.

At almost the same time, their gazes fell on the moonlit center of the lawn where came to stand a damsel in white.

Lord Arnav was taken aback, "Kushi?"

The General's face lit up, "Miss Kushi."

Lord Arnav turned on him, "You dare not-!"

And then, as Kushi watched in horror, Lord Arnav lifted his fist and swung at the General's jaw. The General was quick. He ducked just in time and Lord Arnav missed. But the force with which Lord Arnav had come to aim the blow made him lose his balance.

"ARNAVJI!!" Kushi rushed towards the wall as her husband lost footing and came tumbling down.

However, rightly quick as he was, Lord Arnav shot out his arm and gripped the edge of the roof and held onto it, his feet dangling in the air.

Kushi heaved a sigh when she saw that he was holding on but she knew he couldn't for long. She looked around for something to assist him by if he were to fall.

Lord Arnav's muscles strained as he held onto the edge of the roof. He was sweating profusely, the reason why his grip was slipping.

He looked up, over the edge and caught the General's eye as the enemy stood on the roof, towering down on his helpless victim.

Then the General bent down and extended a hand, "Want help, Master Menace?"

Lord Arnav spat out the sweat that had slid down into his mouth and glared at the General, "Not in any life from you."

The General withdrew his hand and stood straight, "I knew you would say that. Besides, there is no need to help you. You have in you what can survive any kind of fall, Master Menace."

Lord Arnav growled but said nothing because his arms had gone numb and he knew he would lose grip any moment.

The General looked around as the breeze whistled by him. He looked down at Lord Arnav, "At least I got to see my cure before I returned to the Castle. Thanks for the gift, Master Menace."

"She... is NOT... your cure," said Lord Arnav through gritted teeth, panting with the strain of trying to hold on.

The General paid no heed but his expression had suddenly turned serious. His eyes glanced at the swing swaying in the breeze and then at Lord Arnav struggling to hold onto the edge.

"Your sister will die."

Lord Arnav's fingers had turned pale with the force of the clamping but he growled, "You won't lay a finger on her. I won't let you!"

"I didn't say she was going to die from my hands," mumbled the General ominously.

Shocked, Lord Arnav stared up at the General, "What? What do you mean?"

If the General answered, Lord Arnav didn't hear it because no sooner had the questions been spoken from his lips than his fingers slipped and he fell, but surprisingly landed on all four onto soft grass blanketed by a huge strip of cloth.

Suddenly cold shivering hands held him in a tight embrace and he closed his eyes as the village flower scent of his wife's hair enveloped him.

"My lord! What is the meaning of all this! You scared me!" She was breathing into his ear exhilarated exclamations of relief, but Lord Arnav was not paying attention.

He sensed something in the air and as fast as he could, he pushed himself onto Kushi, breaking her embrace as he tumbled over her, his face before hers.

Kushi blinked, "My lord...?"

His lips crushed upon hers, the salt of his sweat mingling with the salt of her tears, and she closed her eyes as she struggled to grasp his sudden desperation for a ravishing.

Of course, poor Kushi didn't know why had done it. He wanted to distract her, keep her from looking, from seeing the General transforming on the rooftop.

Kushi's hands pushed against her husband's chest as she struggled to surface for a breath and when his lips finally released hers, she gasped in a mouthful of air and then glared at her husband, "I could have DIED!!"

Lord Arnav smirked, "When I was kissing you breathless or when I was hanging by the roof edge?"

Kushi pushed him away, mumbling "Heartless!" and he fell on his back, smiling at the sky.

The enemy had already leapt of the roof and disappeared into the distant darkness and the world was quiet again.

"Where has he vanished to?" Kushi was staring at the roof and then turned to frown down at her husband, "You cannot lay in peace until you answer me as to the absurd affairs of the night!"

"Must I?" Lord Arnav looked up at her from where he lay waiting for life to run up is numb legs again.

"Must you? Yes!" Kushi nodded assertively, "I cannot comprehend what led to all this! One moment you were lying in bed next to me and the next you're dangling by the-" She paused here, overcome by memories, "Oh and that dream I had!"

"Dream?" Lord Arnav sounded interested, "You managed to dream in the little time you slept?"

Kushi scowled at him, "Never mind the horrid dream for now! There's no way you're diverting from explaining yourself. What was HE doing here? How ever did he come here? And what were you two doing up on the roof of the cottage?"

Crossing his arms behind his head while his back remained pressed to the cool lawn, Lord Arnav sighed and he answered her thus, "Kushi, I am myself clueless about the answers to those very questions. His presence, his intentions, his manner of transport... he is the only one who knows what they necessitated. But as to what I was doing up there with him: why else, but to drive him away from his perch."

"But you were conversing!" Kushi claimed, "What were you talking about? You must know he cannot be trusted."

Lord Arnav looked at her, "Kushi. Do you not think I would know that better than you?"

"Yes but-" Kushi bit her lower lip, "I am only afraid that he might hurt you. I cannot let that happen."

Lord Arnav studied her worry with concern, "Why would you think that way, Kushi? Why would you think he would hurt me?"

"I don't know," Kushi looked away, "I only know I despise him."

Without any more words to offer, Kushi shrugged and stood up.

From where he lay, Lord Arnav watched as she bent down and picked up the tent that she had torn down, from the forge in the backyard, to lay it down to break his fall.

He cast his gaze to the sky where stars began twinkling in the aftermath of the storm. He closed his eyes, feeling the wet grass under him and let them calm his boiling blood. Boiling not under the excitement of having met his enemy, or his near fall to death, but because of what the enemy had said in the end that left him dazed and confused.

He couldn't have been serious of his sister's life being in danger by someone else. The General himself was the only danger there possibly would be, a danger of an uncertain kind because, strangely to say, despite being unfaithful, Lord Arnav was convinced the General would never willingly harm Lady Anjali. But one thing was certain: There is something the General is hiding, something he knows is going to happen...

Officially, this is the last chapter of the Rainy Night series. Always remember, to understand why a character behaves in a certain way, read a handful of previous chapters to get into their boots or sandals. *wink*