Chapter 7: Liar
"Rishabh?" She whispered into my ear. I gently pulled away, but only that much so that I could see her eyes while she still stood in my arms.
"I will not be reading minds anymore. So learn to say that, now." She said. A soft, calm smile had curved her lips; her cheeks were now dry though her eyes were watery still.
"I am sorry." I said.
She shook her head slowly, patiently, without detaching her eyes off mine, "Not that."
"I believe you."
"Not that."
"I'll protect you."
"Not that."
I paused a while before saying, "I love you."
Her smile broadened, "Yes," she nodded slightly, "That."
We stared at each other, smiling, unmoving.
She broke the silence, "So, you think you are going to fulfill your promise, Warrior?"
"You wanna bet, Princess?"
Her smile turned serious, "Just think. Which one comes first for you? Duty or love?"
My eyebrows pulled together and I resigned from our tangled posture, "What do you mean?"
"I mean that you have two promises to keep. One to me, and the other to the Church."
I realized, "And those two contradict each other."
She nodded.
I smiled, "In my childhood, I had promised you to protect your innocence. And when I grew up, I promised the Church to bring them in the witch. The witch who was the cause of the plague that's killing Hazelwood."
She tried to get what I meant; I could get that from her perplexed eyes.
I continued, "But has the plague really been brought by a witch? If yes, then are you the witch?"
She was silent.
"Madhu, my oath to the Church was taken under an illusion. And I don't mean those things which I do by an illusion. No one should." I shook my head as she mirrored my smile. She began to embrace me again when we heard the sound of horses' hooves and footsteps of human beings.
We turned to see what we were most dreading.
The priests and the warriors on horses walked towards us, lead by Father Xavier III. I saw Bittu beside him, his special worker, and Mukund following, his eyes were sad, as if he was being bound to do this, his steps tired and wary. The warriors had their weapons. Father's eyes were disturbingly menacing, I could taste nothing but plain fury in them, plain and fresh.
Without moving my sight an inch from the approaching small army, I stood in front of Madhubala protectively, just like I had done years ago, and held her hand with mine. Last time, I was at failure. But this time, they were going to face serious trouble, more serious than ever. By the time they had come and stopped a half yard away from us, I had made the promise to myself that it must be an unhealthy battle.
"I knew it." Bittu said, "I knew it that if we follow you, we would easily find her." He smiled smugly, "You shouldn't have asked me about the Ritual of Xavier, kid, let alone that you mentioned what you shouldn't know."
Father walked towards us patiently, viciously patient.
"As soon as you left, we reached Misthaven. Bittu told us that you now remembered that the Ritual of Xavier was conducted on you. That means you now remember everything." He looked down at Madhu, "Thanks to you." He turned to me again, "Mukund said that last night""
"Yes." I cut him off, "Last night in the forest, I followed Madhubala and she read my mind. And from that I assumed she was the witch. But she did not scare away the wolves, nor did she bring in the plague." I shook my head matter-of-factly, "She is not a witch. Sorcery is not forbidden by your Church, Father." I pointed towards Bittu, "Your undercover messenger knows it well and so does everyone that the plague is natural. Ain't I right? I would be wrong only if your holy, much-honoured rituals have gone wrong." I smiled pleasantly and then directed at Mukund with my chin, "Your left-hand warrior is the witness. Had Madhubala been a witch, a person who wishes ill for humanity for her own glory"if I go by your particular description that is"then, she wouldn't have healed the wound on my shoulder last night. You may check, also. I'm not really self-conscious." I shrugged.
"That does not prove that she can never bring a plague." Father droned.
I nodded, "It does, Father. She does not know any of those...tricks. In addition to that, if she really practiced black magic, why didn't Bittu ever find out, given that he lived..." I tried to recall Madhu's words, "On the opposite house's backside?" I looked at Bittu and tilted my head to the left, "Where gone your efficiency, Sir?"
I saw it had hit right at Bittu's ego. His face was furious, "You do not have any right to say""
Father Xavier III held up his hand. "Rishabh is right. Madhubala does not know black magic. We would have sensed it in our rituals if otherwise."
Though I smiled quietly, it did not really hit me quite that these people who love their man-made laws more than natural justice would so easily get convinced.
Father smiled at me, just like a teacher would at his student before teaching him the universal truths. I sensed weird energy in the air. I touched the place where my sword stays and cursed in my mind no sooner. I had not brought it along with me. The dream had flushed me so much that it hadn't even struck my mind.
My heart raced as Father opened his mouth, "Son, you seem to forget about the other law."
I did not forget any law. I recalled it once again from the dream, this time I weighed each word carefully as it raged through my mind, "A dead witch can take her family in control, because if she has a pact with the Devil, her abandoned soul in Hell will be released by the Devil himself. And with that control on her family, she would make a witch or a wizard out of any of them."
I stayed still, thinking. Father could easily read my body language, "Think. Think. It would be so dangerous if this girl who does not know a word of witchcraft comes under the control of her mother who would be knowing things worse than plain black magic. Think."
My eyes scanned the horses and those men with their weapons ready to draw anytime. I scanned the dense growth that became denser if moved further into. I thought of my condition.
Then, I nodded thoughtfully, "You are right, Father. She should be..." I shrugged modestly, "Whatever you want to do with her."
Father looked understanding, "Perfect. We need to take her to the Church first. Our senior priests and I would decide what should be done." He took a step ahead towards me and looked me in the eye, "I promise Rishabh, no cages, no rituals, no chains. Just decency." He smiled warmly.
I took a deep breath, "That's fine, then. But first I want my sword and my horse."
He turned his head to the right, "Bittu?"
Bittu nodded in response and then started walking towards me. I gently left Madhu's hand before looking deep into her eyes warily and saying, "You're gonna have a white ride."
I walked swiftly and joined Bittu as we began to head towards his house. I stole a glance at Mukund, his eyebrows were pulled together and his jaw was hanging. If I hadn't been in that situation, I would have laughed at him.
As I walked, I turned my head behind to see two warriors walk with their swords ready to draw and stand beside Madhu, as if guarding her.
"Just decency", Father had promised.
Her expression wrenched my heart. It was something I cannot describe. I turned away again as I could no longer bear to see her in that way.
As we reached the settlement, I just hoped uncertainly about something"Madhu had understood, or will understand, for that matter, what I actually meant by a white ride'.
However, I was certain about one thing.
I never break a promise.
Bittu took out his keys and opened the door.
"Well done, kid." He stole a glance at me, smirking, "Better late than never."
I nodded, "Yeah, right. Better late than never." I chuckled as I meant it the other way round.
I followed Bittu into the house. I softly closed the door behind me, without him noticing. He walked towards the cupboard which he had assigned for me and took out my sword.
He smiled as he handed it over to me, "I know where you keep it."
I pulled it out from the scabbard, holding the hilt. My eyes shifted from the gleaming blade to Bittu's smiling face.
I sighed, "How I am sorry!"
His smile started to fade. But before it could vanish completely by itself, I had raised my hand and hit his forehead with the back of the hilt, soft enough not to kill him, hard enough to make his world go black.
He screamed out loud as he held his wound and sank down to the floor. I did not miss the arising vendetta as his eyes closed.
I was sorry.
I replaced the sword back into the scabbard and ran out of the house and into the small, temporary horse shed. Mukund's horse was missing but mine was there, tied to the bamboo shaft, swaying its tail and chewing on dried grass. Merry.
I quickly unfastened the rope and pulled the animal along with me holding its rein. We jogged together into the forest, I stopped in the distance, behind wild bushes so that the eyes of the waiting, little army did not fall on us.
They were waiting patiently. Father was having a talk with Mukund, or maybe the vice versa was happening as my friend seemed to be desperately trying to make the old man understand something. Madhu's eyes were glass as she stared into blank space.
I whispered, "Get ready for the white ride."
I mounted the horse and thrashed the rein hard. The animal raised its forelegs and neighed loudly, turning all the people's attention towards our direction. I held onto its rein tightly so that I don't slip away backward. As soon as it set its legs on the ground it ran like wind.
I made it go towards Madhu's direction. The two warriors beside her looked flabbergasted as they took a step ahead to make us stop. But the animal was ravaging towards them blindly. I heard baffled, crazy, dominating shouts from behind.
"Move!" I cried aloud to those two men. They had drawn out their swords.
Understanding that we were not going to stop, they moved away sideways, clearing the way.
My eyes were fixed on Madhu. And I saw her expression change from vacancy to shock to confusion and then a victorious smile conquered her lips. I hadn't ever seen her smile like that.
As we moved towards her, she swiftly grabbed the leather harness and pulled herself up on the saddle with the support of my free arm wrapped round her waist. She adjusted herself properly on the saddle before turning towards me with a smile, "Liar."
This time being called that, I was laughing.
