Chapter 182
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I know the absence of the Storyteller has been unnervingly long but my duel with circumstances still prevail. I am terrible terribly TERRIBLY sorry for what I am leading you all to endure. The phases of abject trails that test and torment "your patience and trust in me" to a more turbulently dangerous level that could render it completely nonexistent.
I am sorry. Really sorry.
But I have made a promise and I will complete the tale. As I told Aura once, if something alerts me to the realization that in no way I will be able to complete the story the way I want to, I will resort to narrating the rest of the tale in a capsule form so you can feel the sense of completion and have the closure you require in the assured culmination of the story.
However, I am yet to have that sense arrive for even to this very moment, I have felt confident (despite the massive gaps and vanishings I have committed) that I will always be able to return by some way and resume the story like nothing had happened to break it...
I am still in the flow of the tale, still in the spirit of the plot...and as long as I find the time and medium to reach out to you, I will keep on narrating the story like I always did from when I first commenced the tale 3 years ago...
I hope you will all forgive me and allow me to narrate the rest of the story to you... And I am so glad to be back.
Before you read the following chapter, you may need to brush up your memory of what is happening and what state every character is in. The Day of the Ceremony, you see, had not been entirely over.
Now to the tiny chapter before the huge events come. Oh yes. They are coming real fast. The story is nearly ending, you see, and we are about to start revealing the answers to the mysteries. All beginning with the coming track...
Chapter 262: The Night of the Ceremony
The absence of the Guptas, at the Ceremony of little Anarkali's Amphidromia, set the departing train of carriages heading, not for the Castle, but for the North Village where, as you will remember on accord of Lord Arnav's interference, Master Shashi had been restored his old home and his mill.
On reaching the Gupta Cottage, the Raizadas found Mistress Madhumati there, who had arrived from the South Village to tend to her sister-in-law who had fallen ill overnight and was unable to do her chores or venture outside the house as should be supposed.
The aunt of the girls was overjoyed by the arrival of the Raizadas and her elation doubled when Lady Deviyani handed her the bundle of joy who, she was told, was her little Princess too as much as she was the Raizadas'.
The aunt was pleased to meet Ram once again, dressed in his decent attire and looking well and happy.
"Master Happyji misses you so," mumbled Madhumati, as she playfully pulled at Ram's cheek.
Kushi winced at the sight, for she knew from experience how annoyingly painful that loving gesture of Buaji's was.
While Madhumati, with the help of Payal and Kushi, served the rest of the Raizadas tea, Lady Anjali stood at the doorway of the Cottage with her baby in her arms, looking into the shadowy outside and wondering where her husband had wandered off to on their return. She was certain he had been with her as they were descending down the Temple.
Presently, the form of a man walking in the direction of the cottage caught her eye and Lady Anjali looked up earnestly, hoping it to be her husband, but it was only Master Shashi, returning from his visit to the herbalist with a tiny parchment packing of herbs in his hand.
"Master Shashi," greeted Lady Anjali with a smile, though her heart had sunk at the disappointment of him not being her husband, "What did the herbalist say?"
Master Shashi bowed to her and then, noticing the little baby in her arms, bend down and kissed the little one's forehead, "I am sorry, little Princess of Arhasia, that I could not be present at your naming ceremony." And then he looked up at Lady Anjali, "What have you named her?"
"Anarkali," said Lady Anjali, and then she asked again, "What did the herbalist say, Master Shashi?"
"He gave me some herbs which, if made into a potion, would bring Garima back to her usual self."
Just then Lady Deviyani appeared at the doorway.
Just then Lady Deviyani appeared at the doorway.
"What happened to Garima, Master Shashi?" asked Lady Deviyani, "She was quite well last day, well enough to write me a reply to assure me that you would all be present at the Temple."
"She caught a cold after a dream she had last night," explained Master Shashi apologetically, "But the herbalist is certain the panacea he's given will cure her of it."
"A dream?" Lady Deviyani mused to herself, "How strange..."
"Amma?" Kushi inquired into the room, the door of which she held open little enough to let her head peek in and see her mother laying on the bed in the darkness that was lit by a single melting candle.
"Who is that?" Garima asked, sitting up groggily, and then her mouth curved to smile, "Kushibitiya?"
The willing address of her mother brought Kushi walking into the room, towards the bed, whereupon reaching she sat on its edge and looked at her mother, "What happened, Amma? Did you stay too long in the sun that you caught this untimely cold?"
Garima sniffled and then inclined her head to the pillow, "I am only relieved to see you..."
She took Kushi's hand and then whispered into the air, "Oh, Divine Powers, keep my child safe."
Kushi sighed, "Amma, I am safe."
Garima smiled weakly in return, "I am your mother. I will never be sure you are safe until I see that you are."
"Well, can't you see it now?" Kushi asked playfully.
"Yes," Garima whispered, a tear drop escaping its enclosure in her eye, "I see you, my child."
Just then Payal appeared at the doorway, "Kushi, Babuji's come and he's calling for you."
Kushi leaned down and kissed her mother on her cheek, "I will see if Babuji has bought the herbs so that as soon as you are healed you can start taunting my misdeeds again!"
After Kushi had left the room, Payal sat beside her mother on the bed and caressed her hair, "Amma, the last time you fell ill like this was when..." She paused and then asked, "Is it a bad dream that caused you this cold?"
Garima looked up at her daughter's face, "I am afriad it is. And I fear something might happen to her."
"Don't be so superstitious, Amma!" Payal shook her head, "Just because the last time you had it Kushi had been drowned, doesn't mean-"
Garima interjected from a trance of memory, "That night I saw the world tearing apart and water swallowing a little girl. I saw her struggling to breathe and turning pale. I still remember how it felt almost like I was the one being drowned."
Payal was sympathetic, "What did you see this time?"
Garima looked at her daughter, her aged eyes stricken with anxiety, "I saw something horrible, a being so terrible that no human eye dare look to it lest its vision strike you to death..."
Payal held her mother's hand with worry for the latter's face had suddenly gone pale as though she were seeing it.
Garima continued in a wary whisper, staring at the ceiling as though the fearsome creature was shaping itself to birth on her roof, "I saw it plunging down to the depths and chasing after her..."
Against her own wavering disbelief of superstitions, Payal found herself asking, "Did you see her face?"
"No," Garima said, "She was running away from the creature and away from me..."
All of a sudden the mother broke down, "Oh, Payalia! How can I protect my child from harm? What does this horrid dream mean? Some horrible mishap is about to befall my child again!"
"Be assured, Amma, she is not in harm's way, " Payal comforted her mother, "I won't let anything happen and nor would Lord Arnav. Do you know how much he cares for her and protects her? Nothing will encounter her life with danger as long as he is there..."
Garima tried to smile, "Maybe so but a mother has her worries..." She held her daughter's hand and whispered as though from a sleep, "You will watch over her, won't you Payalia, like how you always did all these years..."
"I will always be there for my little sister," Payal smiled, "Now close you eyes and sleep so you may find your calm. I will see if the potion is ready."
She realized her mother was already asleep and was about to leave when she noticed her hand was still held captive her in her mother's yearning clasp.
Payal's eyes moistened and she breathed out, "I wish I could tell you, Amma, but I shan't tonight..."
She kissed her mother's hand and then released her own, "I know what you have felt all these years of being a mother for I am beginning to feel it too."
Leaning down, she whispered to her sleeping ear, " You are going to be a grandmother soon, Amma, and I can't wait to see you hold my child..."
Later that night, when the exhausted but delighted family had returned and retired to their rooms, Lady Anjali slipped into her nightgown and wondered worriedly where her husband had vanished to.
He had gone missing as soon as the Ceremony was over and had not appeared even once. After ritual had forbid him to seeing his wife and his child for a week, how could he continue staying away?
Absentmindedly she hummed a lullaby as her hands rocked Anarkali to sleep in her new cradle.
When her child was sound asleep, she found herself gazing down lovingly at its pretty little moon-kissed face.
"My beautiful Princess," she whispered affectionately, and then bend down and kissed upon its tender cheek.
As she straightened up, the corner of her eye caught a dark shadow fly across the night sky.
She froze for a moment, assuring herself that she had imagined it.
She turned to her bed, intending to get into it, but instead she paused.
She had to make sure.
She looked at her child as though unsure about leaving her untended, but murmured a prayer into the air for her protection and then she was noiselessly out of the door and making her way to the huge doors of the living room.
All the time, her heart was with her child but she felt she was needed elsewhere.
Barefooted, she scampered across the hallway, through the massive doors, down the cold steps and into the green lawn.
She didn't know which way to go but her feet were running in the direction of the lake that was beside the Castle.
Turning the bend of the wall, she froze and stared at the sight.
Her husband, naked and shivering, lay pale beside the cold lake.
"Shyamji!" Lady Anjali ran towards him and, on reaching him, threw herself on the ground, crouching before him.
His face was pressed to the grass and there was a blanket of fresh sweat along his back.
"My love..." she breathed as she turned him and held his face in her hands.
He exhaled weakly and then opened his eyes.
On seeing her, his face softened, "Lady Queen..."
"I was worried for you," whispered Lady Anjali, her eyes tearing up.
Still laying where he was, he looked around as though studying where he was.
Gradually, his limbs regained their strength and the fog in his head had faded to clearer insights.
Just then a thought crossed his mind and he looked up at his wife, "Is the child here?"
Lady Anjali's heart leaped with joy that he was asking after his daughter.
"She's asleep in her cradle," she smiled through her tears, "Do you not want to see her?"
"No," he replied curtly, as he sat up.
Lady Anjali withdrew as suddenly as she had been struck on the cheek.
He knew she had turned cold with fear at his retort but he was resolute.
His eyes bore down on her as he stood up, "I do not intend to make a theatrical of pretense that I love the child. What I cannot do, I will not let make believe."
"How can you not love your own child?" Lady Anjali was startled.
He looked away, unable to bear the grief on her face.
And then anger overtook him and he frowned down at her, where she sat immobilized, "That is NOT a child! That is my curse come to drown me in my doom!"
"No!!" Lady Anjali shot angrily, as she got to her feet, "You are blind if you see not your own offspring but a figment of your past!"
"My curse is not a figment! And you know it!"
"But your love is?" Lady Anjali asked, hotly but brokenly.
He stilled, the cold air slapping against him.
She stepped towards him, "Tell me, Shyamji, is your love for me also not true?"
He stared at her, impaled of words.
Her eyes widened in shock at the silence that he had permitted into the space between them to form itself as an answer.
Realizing what he had done, he turned away and interjected, "I hate the child not you."
Lady Anjali was not convinced, "How can you love me while hating the child I begot from my womb?"
"You are not my curse; she is," he looked at her.
"Your child is NOT a curse," asserted Lady Anjali coldly, "Not to you, not to anyone!"
The General shrugged disapprovingly and began walking in the direction of the Castle.
Lady Anjali scampered after him and, reaching up to his pace, stepped before him and brought his strides to a stop.
"You will not let this void hang in time, unanswered," she stated coldly, "As much as I am in need to be at my child's side this very minute, I am as much compelled to hear the truth from you."
His expression was passive, his eyes remote on her face, "What do you want to know?"
"Why do you suppose our child to be a curse?"
He sighed exasperatedly and then decided to answer, "I have told you before."
"What?"
"About the girl who crept in my dreams and sometimes in my conscious visions."
Lady Anjali frowned, "You never told me she appeared to you when you were awake."
"Well, she did," he grunted impatiently.
"What has that got to do with our child?"
"She looks like the child!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Lady Anjali was disbelieving.
"The same eyes, the same hair," the General spoke as though in some fearful memory, "And tonight when I held the babe in my arms at the Ceremony, I felt that evil grip of her gaze, punishing me, destroying me!"
"You are ranting from your imagination-"
"I am telling you the truth!"
The General sounded desperate, "And after the child was born, the girl stopped appearing in my nightmares. You know why?"
Lady Anjali was befuddled, "Why?"
"Because she is appeared in flesh and can haunt me for real!"
Lady Anjali shook her head, "It cannot be true... what you say, cannot be true..."
"Believe it if you will," the General said, "But I am far from loving it."
And with that he walked away and Lady Anjali stood, shaken, in the cold night.
She closed her eyes and a pained tear drop slid down her helpless cheek, "Watch over my child, please... and watch over her father too..."
And then she turned about and raced back to the Castle, her motherly protectiveness gearing itself in new-found resolve.
I have resumed updating the Index with regard to the dates of future updates. Be assured, I will come back. Always. And yes, I can and will update on Saturday. Probably in the early morning hours or late in the evening...
Love you all.
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