Chapter 190

Chapter 271: The Healer of His Wounds

Kushi could barely make sense of what was happening that night.

As soon as the dragon had vanished into the darkness of the sky, she looked to where the tiger had been but found he was not there anymore.

"Arnavji?" Kushi called out, turning in circles where she stood as her eyes tried to make out his presence among the trees.

Something moved among the trees before her and she froze, fearing it was the dragon again.

But instead, from the darkness, appeared a white horse.

"Lightning?!" Kushi was taken aback, and then gathered that if Shadow should be in the vicinity for his master's sake, it was only possible that she would be too.

After all, they were their masters' faithful steeds.

Kushi stepped towards Lightning and patted her white forehead.

The horse bowed its pearly head, its wet mane falling over its eyes.

Kushi drew the hair away and noticed that the horse seemed to be crying.

A sense of sorrow filled her heart and Kushi leaned forward and kissed Lightning's forehead.

"I am sorry too," she told the horse, "I don't know what to think of it all but my heart is greatly distraught."

The horse started fidgeting just then and Kushi assumed that the mare had sensed either the tiger or the dragon approaching the territory.

It was neither but Shadow, who appeared from among the trees, Lord Arnav's stained clothes draped on his dark back.

"Shadow, come hither, " Kushi said with a pained smile, relieved by the company of the two horses who were not appallingly unreal like the events of the nights.

Shadow remained where he stood, well away from his enemy. Lightning too eyed him with distaste, and then, with a toss of her proud head, she turned on her hoofs and cantered into the darkness.

Kushi sighed as she watched her leave and then perked up on feeling Shadow nudge her shoulder.

The young girl reached up and felt his snout, "I know you had good reasons remain away."

Shadow neighed sadly.

Kushi forced a smile, "You can wait if you want or better go home. But I need to find him."

And saying so, she pulled down the clothes from Shadow's back and, turning in the other direction, clasped her husband's clothes close to her heart, murmured a quick prayer and ventured into the forest, calling out to him.

The winds were gentler and the rains had turned to a drizzle. The storm had begun to quieten and die as the night resumed its moonlit silence.

The wetness still sticking to her long hair and her dirtied black robe made her shiver from the chill, and the wetness of Lord Arnav's clothes, held close to her, didn't help to fight off the cold either.

Trudging through the forest for many minutes, Kushi's search for her husband was beginning to turn futile. He seemed to have simply vanished and she wasn't even sure if he was in the forest anymore.

Just then, the sound of water trickling that was not of the rain caught Kushi's attention.

She supposed it was perchance from a river or spring in the proximate.

She looked at the clothes that were in her hold and decided that as long as she was waiting for him to show up, she could at least wash the stains off his clothes.

Stepping to the flank of trees, she made her way in the direction of where the sound of the water was issuing from.

Emerging from a clump of trees and bushes, she stepped into another clearing and beheld the most beautiful of sights that she'd ever seen in a forest.

Before her, the origin of the sound stood, a little waterfall flowing peacefully, unaware of the hell that had broken loose a distance away.

The water fell dancingly into a beautiful lake whose surface was still unless disturbed by occasional ripples from the excited droplets of the waterfall.

The sight was so insightful and refreshing that Kushi felt lifted in spirit, and her mind was not bound by fear or muddled confusion anymore.

Stepping closer to the lake's brink, she crouched down and dipped her hands into the water.

The water was warm and assuring and brought a smile to her face.

The gentle moon shone down as Kushi began washing her hands and face off the dirt and then proceeded to scrub off the stains on Lord Arnav's shirt.

She was scouring at its sleeves when she heard the water faintly splashing on the other end of the lake.

She looked up and her heart leapt.

Across the distance of the lake, on the bank at the other side, sat Lord Arnav, naked and wounded but alive.

He was leaning on his side and procuring water from the lake in his cupped hand, washing the blood and dirt off him.

It pained all over his being, too intolerably. He couldn't even take water from the lake, his arm weighed by an ache that made it tremble and spill any water that was assimilated in the palm.

His fingers felt like that there had been crushed apiece by an immense boulder.

And his back. Oh, his back. The excruciating agony, which erupted along his spine and in the expanse of his ribs, was strong enough to nearly knock him dead.

Tears of pain streamed down his muddy face and he grunted painfully at each attempt to remain still.

It will take time, just a little more, he tried telling himself.

Suddenly, warm fingers brushed upon his cold shoulder and, from where he was sitting, he turned his head in alarm.

And then his heart eased into a warmth and his restless mind slammed into a wall of assurance that surged from his pained insides and he broke into tears.

"Kushi..." he wailed painfully, his hands trembling.

His wife's arms were around him and the tears on her cheeks rubbed against the dirt on his.

"I am here, Arnavji...I am here..." she whispered in his ear, lovingly caressing the back of his head and neck.

Pain rocketed up his spine but he bit down on it, breathing heavily against Kushi's neck.

Feeling his hot breath on her neck, Kushi flinched but she held him more firmly in her embrace.

Her action, however, alerted his masculine cognizance and he found himself forgetting his pain and pressing his lips against her neck.

Kushi's eyes shut as she bit on her lower lip.

Lord Arnav's tongue was strangely burning hotter than usual this night and, as he employed deep kisses on her neck, Kushi didn't know if her mind was fogging over by the painful burn of his tongue or because she was merely lost its mesmerizing power to weaken her.

His arms didn't tremble as they reached around her, and pulled her down by her waist.

Pressing her down to the forest floor, he crouched over her.

For some odd reason, despite her cheeks blushing deep red, she couldn't think straight and wanted her mind to recover from its fogginess.

Lord Arnav, naked, cold and wounded as he was, leaned down to her shoulder and kissed her slowly along her skin.

Heat surged up to the surface of her tender skin in the wake of his trail of kisses.

Her lips trembling, Kushi dug her fingers into the ground, drowning in the fire that he was awakening within her.

Impaled, Kushi realized in mixed horror that he had begun undressing her.

A sudden grip of fear choked her senses and she pressed her eyes shut, wishing the moment to fly, but Time crawled and Lord Arnav deliberately made it move slower.

He had undone her robe and was in the process of throwing it aside, when her hand reached out and yanked it from his hold.

He stared at her, astonished at her action and watched in confusion as she hastily draped the robe around her naked frame again.

She had not even spared him a look while she dressed herself and then, before he could pull her to him again, she was up on her feet, picking up his shirt which she had brought along.

"You're hurt," she said stonily, looking at the lake while holding out his shirt for him to take, "Put this on and let's go home."

He frowned at the shirt and then, instead of taking it, he got to his feet.

Kushi looked at him, nervousness returning as she saw the displeasure on his face.

He stepped towards her and Kushi set her face to remain expressionless as she held out his shirt importantly as though expecting him to obey her.

He did, in a way:

He took the shirt from her.

A look of proud victory, over his compliance, lit in Kushi's eyes.

But the gratified light died instantly when he threw the shirt to the ground.

Open-mouthed, Kushi stared at the shirt and then frowned at him, "I spent nearly an hour washing it, you know! Have a little consideration for my commitment to wash your dirtied clothes for you!"

Lord Arnav stepped forward angrily, "You can dedicate yourself wholly to the shirt and not to one who wears it?!"

"Who says I don't," Kushi refuted.

Using her remark as cue, Lord Arnav leaned down to kiss her on her lips but Kushi pushed him away.

Lord Arnav had half-expected her to do exactly that and had been ready for her.

Just as her hands made contact with his chest to push him away, his hands had shot up and bound her wrists imprisoned in his clasp.

Kushi tugged her arms to be freed of his fists but his inhuman strength had returned and his grip was resilient.

Tears rose in her eyes, seeing which Lord Arnav gentled his hold of her wrists. But he didn't let go of her.

His voice was pained as he asked her, "Why are you doing this, Kushi? Why are you fighting me?"

Kushi looked at him, a disturbed light glistening in her eyes, "How can you expect me to shrug it all off and carry on as if nothing happened?"

As though he'd been struck, he opened his fists, releasing her hands.

Now that she had said it, there was no bolting of her thoughts, "What was that? Why were you a... a beast? Was that dragon the General? What happened to you two? Why did you never tell me anything of this?"

As her torrent of questions arrowed upon him, only one fearful thought engulfed his mind.

In an anxious whisper, he asked, "Are you..." He couldn't even bring himself to say it, the thought itself almost killing him. "Are you going to leave me?"

Kushi stared at him, flabbergasted by his question.

"Leave you?" she repeated, scowling at the absurdity of the idea, and then she angrily picked up his shirt and threw it at him, "How can you even THINK I'd leave you!!!!"

Tears glistened in Lord Arnav's eyes as he looked at her, seeking guarantee of the verity in her words.

"You fool!!" Kushi yelled, "Even if you turn into a monster and eat me up, I'm not going to leave you!"

Overcome with emotion, Lord Arnav rushed forward and pulled her to him, his arms holding her in a crushing embrace and his lips pressing down on hers in a hard kiss.

Kushi struggled in his painful embrace and she thrashed her fists at his chest, demanding release of her being and of her slaved lips.

But Lord Arnav only held her closer.

When he gave her a moment's space to catch her breath, he whispered yearningly into her ear, "Love me, Kushi, love me..."

A warm feeling rose in Kushi and she smiled through her tears, "I have always loved you, my lord..."

Moved by her answer, Lord Arnav kissed her again, but this time he was gentle to her lips.

Surrounded by the immensity of his love for her, Kushi gave in.

They kissed for a long time, standing held in each other's arms, their fingers in each other's tangle of hair.

As he kissed her lips lovingly, Kushi's hand caressed his neck and slid down to his back.

Her fingers met with the jagged scars of his back and the spell broke as she gasped, her eyes widened in shock of what his back had become.

He tried to bring her back to the moment, "It doesn't hurt..." And he leaned in to kiss her again.

But Kushi had brought her hand before her face and the moonlight glistened on the red at her fingertips.

"You're bleeding..." Kushi said apprehensively.

"I don't feel a thing," he said simply, busy nibbling at her ear.

Kushi fumed, "Arnavji!" And she pushed him off.

"What the-?"

But he could see that she was determined and would hear nothing in refute of her demand.

Lord Arnav didn't stop her when she pulled at his hand and led him to the edge of the lake.

They stepped into the water, Kushi leading him to a safer, shallower side of the lake.

When they had waded to where the water was warmer and up to their knees, she stopped and turned to him.

He stepped a little to the side and Kushi watched him move further.

His majestic gait of firm footing as he walked through the water, his skin ivory against the moonlight sent her heart to a flutter.

Lord Arnav tilted his head, his eyes lit with mischief, like a child would look at his mother while she tried to bathe him and he tried to think of a clever ruse with which to evade bath.

Kushi eyed him, knowing well that her husband gloried in his nakedness (other ordinary human beings would feel lost of power if they were lost of clothes, but not the First Lord: it was other way around for him).

Rolling her eyes, she waded to where he was standing and instructed him to turn his back to her so she could see to his wounds.

Lord Arnav wasn't one to take orders so Kushi knew there was not to be a turning around offered by him, so she waded around him until she was right behind him.

The sight of the horrendous wounds made her wince. As she washed them, she couldn't hold herself from muttering curses not just to the one who had inflicted him those wounds but also on accord of his obstinacy to create danger upon himself.

"If you'd listened to me and stayed away, would any of this happen? Why, in the name of sanity, would you go after him if you knew he was dangerous? Did you see the size of his claws?! He had WINGS, for Mother Goddess' sake! Did you really think you could defeat him? What if something had happened and I lost you--?"

Her eyes filled with tears at the mere thought of the possibility and Lord Arnav turned around on her, "Nothing's going to happen to me, Kushi. I don't die that easily."

"Nonsense!" Kushi blurted, "That's the most ridiculous supposition I've ever heard! Death does not wait for authorization or excuses. Everyone's a slave to his inevitability. His idea of time is his dark humour. Some are taken before being born and some too suddenly for no occasion at all. "

"Not I," Lord Arnav said, "I decide when I die. No imaginary creation of myth or religion gets to decide my days."

Kushi scowled, "Take that back! If a feud with the fiend didn't serve your death, you could well be struck down for being blasphemous."

"Really?" Lord Arnav held an amused tone, "Will it happen now?" He stepped back, moving towards the centre of the lake, "Or now?"

"My lord, stop this play!" she called out, afraid for him, "Come back!"

Panic gripped at Kushi's heart as she watched him stepping back, farther and farther to the deeper side of the lake, while his profane tongue ridiculed the Powers that were not to be mocked.

"My lord..." she breathed out fearfully.

"Or now?" he called out in arrogant tease.

Kushi saw that the water was nearly up to his thighs.

Gathering up her fast-slipping resolve, Kushi strode into the lake, hugging her arms around herself as the cold of the exposed water seeped through her legs and robe.

When she reached where he had stood, he had moved farther into the lake where the water was up to his hips and up to her waist.

"Please don't go any further," she told him, shivering from the cold, "I'll drown if we go anymore."

Her hands were gripping onto her robe like it was her last hope of survival.

Lord Arnav smiled mischievously and that set her courage to a flying.

She lost her footing and, with a yelp, she fell into the water.

She broke surface immediately, spattering water out of her mouth.

Pushing her wet hair from her face she looked around, through her water-attacked eyes.

Lord Arnav was nowhere to be seen.

"My lord?" she called for him, panicking for some reason she was not yet sure of.

Suddenly, strong arms were at the back of her knees and her shoulders, and before she could react, Lord Arnav was behind her, lifting her up in his arms.

As he rose from the water holding her in his firm arms, water dripped from his arms, her robe and from her hair, the ends of which were twirling on the surface of the lake.

Kushi stared at him, his wet hair fallen over his forehead after the dip he had manifested a minute ago.

Kushi shivered, inclining her head against his shoulder. "I'm cold," she whispered.

"Staying in the water will make you colder," said Lord Arnav and he began wading through the lake in another direction, cradling her close to him.

"But we need to wash you wounds..." Kushi reminded him through her chattering teeth.

"We will," Lord Arnav spoke into her hair and then Kushi heard the sound of rushing water.

Lifting her head, she turned to find that he had taken them closer to the tiny waterfall and the torrent of water fell heavily in proximity.

Kushi stared in fascination at the watery descent.

It was only a moment later that she realized what he intended.

Lord Arnav carried her right into the waterfall, stepping from the lake and through the cascading curtain of water, until they emerged wet and cold to the other side of the waterfall, which was a cold but cozy cave.

"Wh-?" Kushi was lost for words, as she looked around, stumped.

Lord Arnav knelt down and gently sat her on the cold stone floor of the cave.

Shivering, Kushi wrapped her arms tighter around her cold robe.

"I'll be back," Lord Arnav assured her and, before Kushi could stop him, he had vanished through the curtain of waterfall.

Unable to fight the paralyzing cold, Kushi lay down on the stone floor and curled up like a helpless kitten.

A minute or two later, she heard his presence in the cave again and she sat up to find that he had brought twigs and branches wrapped dry in his shirt.

Kushi crawled closer to his side of the cave, and leaning against cold wall, watched her husband position the twigs and then scrape a tiny piece of stone against the hard wall of the cave in the hopes of producing fire.

The tiny flicker of light brought a relieved smile on her face and she watched as he blew at the feeble sparks, beckoning them to become a brighter, roaring presence.

Her mind cleared by the warmth he was creating and she watched lovingly how the light danced on his handsome face and set to gold the droplets of water that was on the ends of his hair and his eyelashes.

His stubble seemed more rough and unkempt in the dimness of the cave.

There was almost a savage, human look to him, she realized, in contrast to the unearthly lordliness and flourish of perfection that he emulated when he was in his massive mansion wearing his dashing suit.

Probably sensing her study of him, he chose the moment to look up and the fire dazzled in the hungry depths of his eyes.

Kushi swallowed her mental quiver and looked away, her fingers clutching more firmly at her wet robe.

The First Lord, naked as he was, offered her his dry shirt, "The wet robe will only make you more cold."

Hesitantly, Kushi took his shirt and hastily put it on, while he turned away from her and busied his distracted mind in draping her wet robe on a hutting rock where it could easily dry near the blazing bonfire.

The console of the cave had begun to warm up and Lord Arnav crawled closer to where his wife sat curled up against the cold wall.

When he was beside her, he moved her towards him, inclining her against his warm chest.

He let her cold legs slid to the space between his long warm ones, and his knees pressed upon her thighs.

Kushi closed her eyes and then, succumbing to the warmth of his presence and his arms, she let her mind slip into a weary sleep.

Next update might be only on Sunday, 2nd July. Will try to be earlier.