Chapter 175
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[MEMBERSONLY]
Chapter 254: The Crimson Augury
The afternoon sun was slowly sliding westward but its jubilant rays caressed the land of Arhasia, making the wide lawns of the Raizada Castle grounds warm and welcoming.
But it was not merely the weather alone that had brought Lady Anjali outdoors.
Dressed in an exquisite yellow gown, Lady Anjali sat on the wooden bench, surrounded by the variegated flowers that grew in the lush gardens of the Castle.
While one of her hands was protectively inclined over her enlarged middle, the other was around little Ram's shoulder who sat beside her on the bench from where they watched the General rode on Lightning, helping her find the strength in her legs to gallop again.
"You see how much she's improved!" exclaimed the young mother to her little companion, smiling down at him, "When her legs get better the way they once were, I will ask Shyamji to let you ride on her. Would you like that, little Ram?"
Excited by the offer, the little boy nodded earnestly, his eyes reflecting the delight.
You would affirm with me that it is impossible for a passerby to overlook the pleasant scene in the garden and soon enough, Kushi, who had been crossing the living room, caught the vision from the window and immediately changed course to head for the garden bench.
Calling out cheerfully to them as she approached, she was welcomed cheerily and was consequently offered space on Ram's vacant side. Kissing the top of Ram's head (the little boy was ecstatic to get two of his favorite women on his either side), Kushi joined them in their watching of the white horse.
"She looks better, doesn't she," Kushi remarked, her eyes on Lightning's sturdy legs, "She trots fast enough, almost like she is gearing up to fly again."
Lady Anjali nodded, "Ever since they came back, he was with her all the time, day through night, working her vigour and striving to bring her back to her former glory."
Kushi's gaze skipped over the rider on Lightning's back, handsome even in his white riding-shirt, his powerful biceps flush with sweat and struggle. He almost looked as dashing as her husband did when he was riding on Shadow.
Just then, the horse turned its last round to face the gardens that had been behind them and it was only then that both rider and horse realized they had been under observation of the little audience.
The General caught Kushi's eye but she looked away.
Lady Anjali saw that the General was preparing to dismount from horseback, intending to walk in their direction.
"He must be famished after all the toil in this heat," the young mother speculated before looking down at Ram, "Go tell Rahim Chacha to bring a bottle of wine."
The boy nodded and rushed to fulfill the request while Lady Anjali turned to Kushi, "Wine cooled in the cellar does him good in occasions like these."
Kushi nodded absentmindedly for, from the corner of her eye, she was uncomfortably aware of the General crossing the wide lawn as he approached the bench they were seated on.
When he reached them, Lady Anjali stood up and offered him her handkerchief upon which he wiped the sweat of his brow, his eyes on Kushi which flustered the latter greatly.
As he returned the handkerchief to his wife's hand, he smiled at them, "I was not expecting such pretty company as the two of you to cheer my mare's hoofs."
Lady Anjali coyly smiled up at him, "It was not for Lightning but for my darling husband that I offered my presence."
"And I for Lady Anjali," mumbled Kushi to herself.
The butler appeared just then with a tray and two wineglasses upon it which were filled to the brims with red wine. Ram trotted beside the butler, his enthusiastic eyes searching the distant lawn until they fell on Lightning who was relaxing under the shade of a tree.
Clearing his throat, Rahim Chacha caught little Ram's wandering attention and the little boy grinned sheepishly before obediently reaching his little fingers to take one of the wineglasses on the tray. After offering it religiously to Lady Anjali, Ram remembered to bow to the General.
With the wineglass in the claps of her gentle fingers, Lady Anjali beamed proudly at the boy, "Are you trying to follow in your caretaker's footsteps, little Ram?"
Ram only smiled in return and watched as Lady Anjali turned to her husband and held out the wineglass to him.
The General took the offered glass, but instead of sipping it, held it towards Kushi, "I cannot be expected to drink this beverage while the First Lady standeth without being offered one?"
Kushi looked at the glass scornfully and then, with a calm composure, looked up at the motherly figure standing beside her, "And how is it that I am accept a wineglass when Lady Anjali has not been offered any by her husband?"
"Nonsense!" Lady Anjali chuckled, "Kushiji, do you forget I am forbidden to drink wine in this state of mine?"
Kushi saw Lady Anjali's hand move over her large middle.
The General stood unmoved, the filled wineglass in his hand still held in Kushi's direction.
Kushi looked at the wineglass and then at him, "Pardon me, but I must reject your offer. I am not in the mood for wines this hour of the day."
The General's eyebrows were slightly furrowed in annoyance of her rejection but he gallantly bowed to her, "Your answer is understandably justified, Miss Kushi."
She gave him no reply and he proceeded to drink his wine. But the detachment with which Kushi remained, infuriated the General so much more that, when he sipped the wine, it was tasteless upon his tongue. Thus impoverished of the taste or thirst for wine, he returned his unfinished drink to Lady Anjali's hand.
Without a word to either his wife or Kushi, the General turned on his heels and marched off in the direction of his horse, presumably intending to complete his mission of riding his horse back to health.
In swift strides, he had reached Lightning, who sprung vigilantly to her hoofs on sensing his approach and, in a hasty leap, he was atop her saddled back.
Though the rider's mind was ridden by a frenzy of emotions, he picked up the reins and led his mare to trot onward across the wide lawn. Gradually, the trot changed to a canter and the canter to a gallop.
However, this time, as the women, the little boy and butler watched on, there was a distinct strain of worry on their expressions for the General's riding on his horse was too rigorous than was permitted.
"Isn't he going a little too fast?" Kushi voiced their common anxiety.
Rahim Chacha, still holding the tray and its contents, stepped forward, "I think we must alert OmPrakash to halt the horse for Master General."
Lady Anjali stared, her cheeks paling in worry, and her clutch on her husband's unfinished wineglass increased until her fingers turned white with the strain.
Little Ram, standing beside the pregnant mother, realized that Lady Anjali's fingers were on the verge of breaking the wineglass in her hand. Worried for her, he reached his hand up and touched Lady Anjali's strained hand.
As though awoken, Lady Anjali looked down at Ram and then at her hand. Realizing what she had nearly done, she laxed her hold on the wineglass.
Suddenly there was a loud crash, Lightning having slipped her footing and fallen to the ground on her side alongwith her Master.
With a yelp of fear, Lady Anjali (as fast as she could in her state), Kushi, Ram, Rahim Chacha and OmPrakash rushed to the spot of the accident.
When OmPrakash reached him, the General was getting on his knees.
"Master, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," mumbled the General, his trembling hands caressing his horse, wanting to assure she was unhurt.
Just then Lady Anjali reached her husband and it almost broke her heart to see him guiltily lean over Lightning.
She was still holding his wineglass, the wine strangely not spilled.
With her other hand, she clutched his shoulder, "Are you alright-?"
Infuriated by the repeated worry for him and his own grief for Lightning, the General threw a hasty hand into the air and barked, "I said I am fine!!"
Not seeing how close Lady Anjali was to him, the hand he had thrust to his side crashed against the wineglass in her hand and Lady Anjali gasped as her grip on the glass slipped and the glass overturned onto her, spilling deep red wine over her gown.
The General stared in shock at what had happened and, under the glaring premonitions, both wife and husband were disabled to speak or move.
"My Lady Queen-" the General mouthed apologetically but words failed him as he stared at the ominous blotch of wine on her wife's gown.
A hand touched Lady Anjali's elbow and the young mother turned to see Kushi's caring face, "It's only spilled wine, Di. You can get it washed up in no time."
"How is the horse?" asked the butler to OmPrakash, who was kneeling beside Lightning.
"She's not hurt by the fall, just in shock to arise," assured an equally relieved OmPrakash.
On hearing this, the General let his breath ease and then he stood up and turned to his wife, "Lady Queen, come, we'll wash that wine off you."
"It is alright, Master General," the kind butler stepped forward with his tray, "You can care to your horse and I'll tend to the good Lady's gown."
Finding the offering wise, the General nodded gratefully to the butler and watched as the latter and Ram escorted Lady Anjali back into the Castle to get her gown cleaned.
As they led her away, Lady Anjali looked over her shoulder and turned her forlorn gaze to her husband, as though seeking assurance for her fear.
But the General looked away, afraid to assure.
"Master..." Om Prakash beckoned the General's attention.
The General got on his knees and crouched beside Lightning again.
Kushi, not having been invited to either preoccupation, was standing rooted to her spot.
Her worried attention was presently directed to the horse.
"Master, you need to assure her its alright and help her to get on her fours," OmPrakash suggested.
The General was already caressing Lightning's mane, "C'mon, girl, there's nothing to fear. I'm here."
Lightning twitched her tail but otherwise remained immobile, staring into the bright space before her.
The General leaned over his horse's ear and whispered sadly, "I'm sorry, girl. I hadn't been thinking right for a moment there...Won't you forgive your old friend?"
A light neigh of understanding rumbled from within Lightning's throat.
The General smiled against Lightning's ear, his eyes slightly moist.
Touched by the sight of his affection and worried for Lightning, Kushi knelt beside the horse.
"Is she going to be alright?" she asked to no one in particular.
Surprised by her voice, the General looked over his shoulder to find her there.
He realized she had asked a question and he nodded, "She's going to be alright."
Kushi continued gazing at the horse, who was brushing at the lawn grass with her restless tail.
The General looked down too and then noticed something, "The saddle is obstructing her recline. We best remove it."
Together, OmPrakash and the General extracted the saddle from under the horse and the servant, holding it, stood up and bowed, "I shall return it to the stable and be right back, Master."
After the servant had left, leaving the other two knelt on the grass before the horse, Kushi watched in silence how the General was caressing Lightning's hide while whispering encouragements into her ear.
She couldn't understand how a man of so evil a disposition, to be unfaithful to his wife, could care so much for a mute creature.
As though he had heard her thought, the General murmured, "She's all I have."
Kushi stared at him but wisely remained silent.
The General looked at her, "Before marrying into this family, the only family I possessed was Lightning. She has been with me in all my sorrows and joys, and knows my heart like no other."
Kushi looked at the horse, "Does she know you are not worth trusting too?"
The General sighed, "She knows why I insist on some things that to others may seem unfaithful and malicious."
Kushi frowned at him, "Are you telling me there is justification for your hiding your identity of being a married man?"
The General's expression turned passive, "I already told you once: no need arose that insisted upon my requiring to reveal my matrimonial state."
Kushi remained distrustful of the General. She narrowed her eyes, "Tell me, then, what really did you mean by "companion to your heart"?"
The General looked away to his horse, "Someone who understands my most pressing need."
"Which should be your wife."
"She cannot fulfill that need."
Kushi was annoyed, "What sort of need can a man have that his wife cannot fulfill?"
The General frowned, "If it were a need that my wife could answer me with, would I want to turn to another to lend me aid?"
Kushi scowled at him, "Whatever be this secret need of yours, I do not trust it, what with your deliberate delay of revealing what it is and your unexplained interferences in the affairs of my husband and-"
"I have objectives I need to attain and if it is by interfering and unrevealing that I will attain it, then so be it!"
Kushi was shocked by his disdainful declaration, "I cannot believe you'd-"
"Please, Miss Kushi," said the General, suddenly warm and sounding hurt, his head bowed, "I wish to speak no more and I do not think I have it in me to hear anymore from your ire for me."
Kushi was not moved by his words but she remained silent.
Lightning still had made no attempts to get up from the ground but she had stopped playing her tail about, her ears trained to the conversation in the background.
The General leaned forward and pressed his burning forehead to Lighting's cold skin, making the horse neigh sympathetically.
Kushi swallowed down her furious reluctance. She may not trust him or like him but the pathetic state of his helplessness tore at her heart and she couldn't stop herself from asking, "What are you expecting me to do for you?"
His eyes closed, he breathed against his horse, "There are wounds that need healing, pains that seek panacea..."
"Wounds? Pains?" Kushi was confused, "I think the person you seek is a herbalist."
The General straightened up, but still kneeling, he turned to Kushi, "These wounds and pains are not of the body."
Kushi was puzzled, "I don't understand."
The General was stunned by the sincerity in Kushi's gaze, wanting to really understand.
All of a sudden, the General felt unsure and he looked away.
Kushi stared at the General. Before he had looked away, she had caught a fleeting glimpse of pain in his eyes.
What is the meaning of all this? Kushi was confused. She wanted to help the General but she didn't know if she could dare to trust him again.
"I think you should go," said the General finally, his eyes closed and his expression helpless as though it was difficult for him to form the words.
Kushi didn't move.
She saw Lightning lift her massive white head to look at her Master, as though she could sense his pain too from where she lay on the grass.
Kushi took a deep breath and said what she would never have dared once, "Help me understand... what is it that you seek of me which you wife cannot afford?"
With his eyes still closed and his head bowed, the General shook his head, "The graveness of the danger may have passed..." There was a tinge of determined hope in his voice, as though he was certain that something he had once feared would never haunt him anymore.
Almost at that very moment, the butler's voice yelled out to them from the distance, drawing the attention of both the General and Kushi.
The butler was rushing towards them, huffing and panting in the haste of his approach, but it was the deathly paleness on the aged man's face that shot Kushi to her feet in worried inquiry, "What is it, Rahim Chacha?"
The butler, having reached them, attempted to speak but the other two could barely make out the feeble words he issued in his trembling voice, "Lady Anjali--- she is going into labour!!"
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