The Legend of Arrow - A Modern day Ramayana FF - Page 2

Night 8' o clock

Ajodhyan Hills (Foot)

Five steady silhouettes could be seen gazing up at nothingness other than the dense forest. Any passerby would think them as mad to find all of them staring at the nothingness. But in reality they were staring at the lone palace situated in the heart of the hills cleverly camouflaged by the dense forest, which would only be visible to those who know where to look for. Suddenly there was a flash of orange up there where they were staring, Four out of five looked at each other & collectively stared towards their fifth member. A nod from the fifth member & they started climbing.

All the five had long flowing hairs,but if one looked closely they could see one had heinous matted hair which was half made into bun & rest left to flow, he wore the traditional saffron robes meant for saints. He was clearly the leader of the group. The rest four had similar built if seen together except for the fact that if you looked closely at them and look at their gait & the way they carried themselves they could be clearly distinguished as girls, but mind it if looked upon closely.

The five stealthily climbed & quietly, and then one of them stopped, the one who was shorter a inch from the other three, had a bit of round features. She stood still as if straining to hear something.

"Urmila.." the one tallest among the four whisper called her.

Urmila just stared at her for one full minute & then she closed her eyes concentrating high. The others too have joined her by now & silently stared at her. Urmila slowly brought her hand up to near her stomach & slowly indicated towards her right & signaled two, one of the girls quickly moved towards right & stood still as if waiting for attack, in the same way Urmila pointed out other places too where she heard minuscule footsteps, and they fanned out respectively.

And then all of a sudden eight figures zoomed out of the canopy of trees, but thanks to Urmila's sixth sense they were ready. First to face the wrath was the tallest among the four Mandvi. Two goons stood in front of her. For a moment the three stood still and the attack started. The one on her right had a wooden stick in his hand, his hand poised fully to attack her, Mandvi quickly bought her hand up deftly caught the stick in her hands, & with the help of the stick she controlled him, she pulled the stick towards her in time, the other man who was running in full speed from the other side got rammed into the first person, the stick in her hands, she felt in a better position to fight.

The others were fairing quite well, Vishvamitra stood a bit aloof & quite pleased with his girls, had a small smile in his lips, but the smile was short lived when he saw a third person attack one of his girls from behind, Vishvamitra saw red, he hated those who attacked from behind, face contorting in anger & concern he shouted "SITAA" and ran towards her & deftly caught the person from behind & punched him hard in his guts. The goon fell clutching himself & moaning in pain. Sita turned & stared at him giving him a pathetic look & gave a deresive single nod to Vishvamitra & moved to help Shrutkirti who was struggling with three goons at a time was fairing marginally. Satisfied Vishvamitra turned his attention towards Urmila, she was doing quiet well, one kick under the shins, elbow on the stomach & the two goons sprawled on the floor moaning.

Just when they thought it was alright more figures started zooming out in the darkness, the girls took on them squarely, but Vishvamitra could detect signs of fatigue in them, the continuous traveling was taking a toll on them, he knew he had to call for help, he quickly took out the small trumpet horn kept in the folds of his dress & blew it thrice & hard.

From the moment Vashishtha had said them that The Janakas were arriving, all four had settled into unease, they feeling excitement, dread, contentment everything at once had overwhelmed them so much that Vashishtha had never found all the four quiet at the same time.

As the sunset neared the restlessness in them increased, and after the signal which they sent, a flash of fire, the restlessness increased ten folds.

So when they heard the conch shell they were alert, Vashishtha stood on his toes

"They are in danger, go help them, bring them back safely" He boomed.

All four rushed out.

Sita felt the day catching upon her, the tiredness the continuous traveling, so much that Sita missed the attack from the right & missed the knife point by barely an inch courtesy her reflexes.

And then she sensed a change in the air, A sudden chillness and then warmth spread through her body calming her, she felt safe. The goons battling her stood still, suddenly wary of the change in the surroundings. They turned to see four figures emerging from the shadow of trees behind Vishvamitra.

All four were well built, Sita surveyed. Their confident gait was more than enoughto put her at ease. She breathed a sigh of relief.

She quickly finished her work on the goons & moved from their towards Vishvamitra, she was joined by Mandvi, Urmila & Shrutkirti. An uncertain expression on their faces.

"Fear not" she mumbled "We are safe, The Raghus are here"

The three breathed a sigh of relief.

Ram and his brothers walked stealthily into the clearing to see that The Janak sisters have done quiet a good work of the goons.

They quickly moved & pushed the rest stragglers back.

Just when they thought everything was Ok, Ram turned to see two people ready to attack Vishvamitra from behind,

"GURUJI" he shouted and lunged above Vishvamitra & plunged the knife into the killer's heart, the killer succumbed to death immediately.

Ram stood up breathing heavily and staring at the dead body.

"RAM BHAIYA" cam Lakshman's shout from somewhere, even before Ram could makeout what was happening he found himself on floor & Lakshman standing on his place stock still and the other killer running back towards the forest. Shatrughan threw a knife towards the retreating figure, a scream of agony was heard and then nothing. Shatrughan had found his mark.

"Lakshman.." Ram called out slowly fear evident in his voice, he got up quickly & turned Lakshman towards him. A poisonous dart was sticking out of his left shoulder, blood trickled out of the wound.

"LAKSHMAN" Ram called out only to hold Lakshman close to him. Lakshman had fainted.

It has been two hours since they were back, Lakshman was still inside ayuralaya, Vashishtha & Vishvamitra both inside tending to him. Ram stood outside, tears flowing unrestricted & unceremoniously from his eyes. He stared unfocused at the door. Shatrughan had his head on Bharat's lap. Silent tears for his twin. Bharat was the only composed among the three although fear for his brother evident on his face.

Sita and her sisters stood a bit far from them, not wanting to intrude among the family but at the same time fearing for the person whom they have not even been introduced formally. A strange feeling of kinship filled their hearts for these four brothers.

The door to ayualaya opened, Vashishtha & Vishvamitra walked out, with sweaty hands & faces. Ram was in front of them in a flash, question evident in his eyes.

Vashishtha gently pressed Ram's shoulder's and assured him "We have removed the dart, and poison from his system but..."

"But..." Ram whispered

"Lakshman has the venom fever, we need to contain it, if by tomorrow morning the fever doesn't subsides, than his condition might worsen" Vashishtha said dreading it..

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