Chapter 256

Chapter 337: The Clash of the Climax Continues

Ram was agitated. He had to get Anarkali to safety.

He was walking up and down the portico that was shrouded in night, trying to work his brain into a strategy, when he caught sight of Kushi being dragged by the guards.

Instantly, his feet were rushing in her direction.

Kushi was being pulled down a corridor with stairs heading downwards when she saw Ram appear from the side.

Suddenly, she didn't know from where she found the daring, she unsheathed the sword that was slack by the belt of the guard before her.

The other guard tried to stop her but Ram, being so little, unimportant and unseen, kicked the guard at his shin and sent him toppling down the stairs.

The guard that remained on the landing with them was without a sword but he flew at Kushi with his bare hands.

With a loud yell, Kushi dug the sword through his shoulder making him screech in pain.

He wasn't dead of course but he was disabled, with the sword painfully wedged through his shoulder, enough for Kushi to free herself of the chains and rush down with Ram.

As soon as she had reached the courtyard, she picked the swords off a couple of dead guards and, like her husband, with a sword in each hand, rushed in the direction of the General, her only aim being to take Anarkali from the larcenous infidel.

She fought her way through the guards (fortunately there weren't many in her way) and Ram followed right behind her, shielded by her fierce poise.

Lord Arnav knocked a guard's head with another guard's and watched both men collapse to the ground.

His gaze lifted upwards to where Kushi had stood. She was not there anymore but his heart longed to see her one more time, perhaps even go back a few minutes in time, so that instead of being a dumb brute just standing and staring, he could actually tell her how much she meant to him.

He gripped his swords in a firmer hold and frowned thoughtfully at the ground. She was unaware of her past as was he of hers when they met, married and fell in love. He convinced himself that he could not persecute her for something she was not consciously part of.

Suddenly, a guard's sword flashed before him and Lord Arnav impulsively lifted his. He had just struck the guard dead and was turning to fight another when he did a double take, spotting Kushi in the crowd, slashing guards left and right.

"What the!" He clenched his teeth and, in frustration, knocked another guard senseless.

He looked over at the General but the latter's back was turned to them, immersed in his personal mob of aggressive guards.

Lord Arnav saw that Kushi was heading towards the General. He deduced that she was making for the child on his back.

He fought his way to the General too, keeping a keen eye on the guards coming in from his side.

Kushi hesitated when she saw Lord Arnav standing beside the General, watching her approach as he fought the guards that rushed at him.

She glared in his direction.

Just then a guard flew at her and she couldn't move in time to thwart him away.

The guard knocked off one of her swords and lifted his sword to bring its blade down on her. Kushi lifted her sword and blocked the descent of the guard's sword but the guard was stronger and he pushed harder as Kushi kept pushing hers upwards against his.

Suddenly, the guard's eyes widened in astonishment as a sword passed through his middle.

Kushi stared, aghast, as the guard fell to the ground and his sword uselessly clanged to the courtyard floor. And then her scowl returned when she saw Lord Arnav standing where the guard had stood. It was his sword that had done the deed which he was presently retrieving from the cadaver of the dead guard.

Lord Arnav eyed her, "What are you doing here? This is not the place for you."

Kushi picked up her discarded sword, "And you'd know which the place would be for me?"

Lord Arnav circled where he stood and lashed his sword at a guard rushing from his rear. Then he shot a look at Kushi, "Leave this place, Kushi, and take Ram with you."

Kushi drew her swords and lifted her head high, "I am not here to take orders from you. I am here for Anarkali."

And then she turned and made for the General who had just noticed her attendance in the courtyard.

"Miss Kushi? Ram?" The General glanced at them as he shot at a guard who was hastening in their direction, "Kushiji, forgive me for my-"

Kushi stood before him, her lips pursed in animosity and her hands gripping the swords hard, "Hand Anarkali to Ram."

Happily sucking her two fingers, Anarkali reclined cosily, strapped securely to her father's resilient back.

The General stared at Kushi, discerning from the corner of his eye, Lord Arnav keeping the guards at bay from their little circle.

"I'd much rather my daughter stay with me," stated the General, shooting at the guard on his left.

Kushi gritted her teeth, "Why are you here? And why the sudden interest in the daughter whose existence you never bothered to acknowledge? You had-"

She broke her sentence to flay an advancing guard with her sword. When she turned to the General, he had moved away, Anarkali still in tow.

Guards were rushing from their every flank and Lord Arnav couldn't keep them all away.

The General kept firing his shotgun unremittingly and then, midway, found that he had run out of bullets.

Dropping the shotguns to the ground, he prepped his rifle and began firing.

Intending to get Anarkali no matter what, Kushi pulled Ram along, making sure no guard came too close to him.

Suddenly, Lord Arnav appeared beside her, "Don't bother about Anarkali. She's safe with him."

"What are you talking about?" Kushi was uncompromising, "Have you forgotten how vile that man-"

"Anarkali is his cure," declared Lord Arnav.

Kushi stared at him, "What-?"

They were distracted momentarily as guards came on them and, positioning Ram protectively between them, they turned around with their backs to each other and fought off the guards.

This time it was the General's turn to keep the guards at bay as Kushi and Lord Arnav tussled their company of guards, midst conversation.

"This is unsafe for Ram," recommended Lord Arnav heatedly.

Kushi slammed her sword against a guard, "So it's Ram you're worried about!"

Lord Arnav scowled, "I care about you too." His sword sliced through a guard who fell over another.

"Oh really!" she blasted angrily as she fenced with a guard who was good at swords, "I saw how much you cared about me when you heard from that foulmouthed uncle of yours that I was-"

"Would you stop it, Kushi!" he yelled, as he whammed a guard on his right and kicked another on his left.

Then he turned around and frowned at the back of her head.

"I don't care who he says you are, Kushi!" claimed Lord Arnav, "In my eyes, you will always be the daughter of Shashi and Garima. That's the girl I married."

Kushi was speechless.

A guard would have nearly impaled her with his sword if the General's rifle shot hadn't got to him first.

Kushi scowled at the dead guard, still untrusting of the General, and poised her swords for further combat.

"I don't trust your words," remarked Kushi to the air, as they continued their fight, their backs to each other and Ram cocooned in their midst.

"Why don't you?" Lord Arnav wanted to know as his swords crushed the guards on his side.

Kushi stabbed a guard in his leg, "You've been toying me around too much, Arnavji! You say sweet things at first and then you-"

All of a sudden, Lord Arnav's fists (they still held the swords) found her shoulders and wheeled her where she stood, steering her to face him.

Kushi was taken aback, "What do you think you're-!" as he pulled her to him and frowned intensely at her.

"I love you," he barked crossly, "No matter what words I use, what deeds I fail to do and how much we fight in every conversation we have, I will always love you."

Kushi stilled, her cheeks heating up and then she pushed him away, "How appropriate! The first time you say those words to me has to be in a place like this."

Lord Arnav grinned as he swung his sword and confronted another guard.

Lord Arnav's deft sword had just felled the intruder, when suddenly, familiar hands pulled him down by his ears and Kushi reached up to kiss him on his lips, "I hate you, Lordy."

The General cursed under his breath. If only these lovebirds focused a little on the battle.

They resumed their fight, both beaming with the thrill of invigorated love.

"So is the General on our side now?" asked Kushi as she fought off her guards.

"Apparently," replied Lord Arnav, with a fleeting glance in the General's direction, "He is convinced Anarkali is his cure."

"Can a person be a cure?" Kushi wondered aloud, nicking a guard in his cheek before kicking at his knee, making him collapse.

"Same thing I asked him," said Lord Arnav.

"What is your cure?" asked Kushi interestedly.

"I have no idea," mumbled Lord Arnav, slashing his sword with a deft guard.

"How can it be that he knows his and you don't-"

"This is not the time to talk about this," proclaimed Lord Arnav.

Kushi scowled, "This the best time to talk of this! Once we get home, you will be all workaholic, secretive and self-occupied-"

"I'm self-occupied?" Lord Arnav picked on her comment.

Ram rolled his eyes. Here we go again.

Lord Arnav was animated, "I'm self-occupied!! Whose selfish decision got us all here in this hellhole?"

Kushi was pissed, "What do you mean! Are you telling me I had a hand in you getting captured?"

Lord Arnav angrily bashed his fist against another guard's head, "If you hadn't wandered off like that from the Castle that day, we wouldn't be here in the first place."

Kushi turned on him, "How convenient! Putting all the blame on someone who is NOT the big-headed Lord Raizada."

As he pierced his sword through a guard, Lord Arnav swallowed his punctured pride on being called big-headed and calmly rectified, "I was not putting blame, Kushi; I was only pointing out to the logical cause of all of us being here-"

"I'm the cause, right?" Kushi pointed to herself, "I'm the villain here."

Lord Arnav sighed, "You're not the vill-"

Pouting despondently, Kushi turned her back to him and mumbled to herself, "And to think, minutes before being abducted, I had been rushing to the Industry to inform you, foremost before anyone else, that you're about to be a father."

Lord Arnav froze where he stood as blood rushed into his cheeks.

"What?" He turned around and stared at the back of her head.

Kushi bit her lower lip. Had she said that aloud? She squeezed her eyes shut. Not here! Not here! Please tell me you didn't hear it!

Lord Arnav was still in a haze, "What did you say?"

Oh, he heard it. Kushi sighed.

She turned to face him, her cheeks turning pink and her voice coy, "You are going to be-"

He didn't let her complete the sentence. Rushing at her, he lifted her up, sword and all, and passionately pressed his lips to hers.

Ram squeezed his eyes shut and Anarkali pointed her excited finger in their direction.

The General moved closer to them so they could have their moment while he warded off the impossibly growing number of guards.

Kushi smiled against his lips, feeling herself melt in his arms.

Withdrawing from their deep kiss, Lord Arnav breathed against her lips, "And THIS announcement had to be at a time like this..."

Kushi blushed deeper and Lord Arnav pressed his forehead to hers as they gazed affectionately at each other.

Three feet away from them, the General grunted aloud, "Congratulations, sure. But I'd prefer you two SHUT UP and help me out here!"

Meanwhile, Lady Anjali was standing idly with Shadow and Lightning. Her intuition kept blaring.

Was it for her brother, her husband, her daughter...? She was not certain.

But something was not right.

She walked about, swathed in overwhelming apprehension. How can I stay here, when the rest of my family are there? All in the clutches of some great peril...

Turning about, she picked up her gear, strapped the quiver on her back and had just lifted her bow, determined to make for the Fortress when she heard a sound behind her.

Instantly, she turned around, drawing a bow from the quiver on her back and sliding it deftly across her bow as she pulled it back with the string, ready to fire.

Her gaze penetrated into the darkness before her, through the cluster of tall trees, her mind willing her hand to remain unsteady and stop trembling from fear of the unknown.

She licked her lips nervously and then took a deep breath.

Whatever it is, I ain't scared of it. For my family's sake.

Something moved among the trees and, suddenly, it emerged from the darkness.

Lady Anjali gaped in astonishment, her bow and arrow forgotten in the shock of her discovery.

[MEMBERSONLY]