ArHi FF:13: The BEASTS and the BLEEDING ROSES - Page 81

May God give you all the happiness..

Nice update Aquiline..

Chapter 326: Trick and Treat

While the General and Lady Anjali had their little repast, the hour for lunch was upon the children and Ram had been chaperoned to the pantry as usual.

He sat Anarkali atop one of the upturned crates and began inspecting the stock remaining.

There was no more cheese left and he found only empty wrappings lying discarded in the crate from which he had been collecting for many a meal.

Ram was upset, fearing they would have to relapse to starvation again, which was when his eyes fell on the tiny jar of sliced carrots. They were swimming in some watery liquid and he assumed the carrots were the pickled kind.

It wasn't much but it would have to do.

He picked the jar, swathed one of the cheese wrappings around a loaf of bread, and was about to lift Anarkali up from her perch on the crate, when he detected the silhouette, leaning against the frame of the doorway, of the guard who had escorted him.

He was still there.

Ram swallowed in his anguish. This meant he couldn't go exploring.

He felt disheartened that it should happen right at the juncture when he'd learnt of Kushiji's accurate location.

He tried to think of something, some design by which he could get rid of the guard.

He looked anxiously around the pantry until his eyes came to linger on Anarkali (her cheeks and fair arms stained grey with the dust and grime from their cell in the dungeon), as she sat calmly, sucking her two fingers and watching him.

Insight struck and Ram excitedly approached her, keeping an eye on the door to make sure the guard didn't notice what he was up to.

Ram placed the container of carrots and the loaf of bread on the floor and centred all his attention on the clueless child on the crate.

First, he tried making frightening faces but that only made her smile toothlessly, sweet drool dripping from her amused little mouth.

He sighed. This isn't working.

He paused and pondered a moment. There was an easier, quicker method but he couldn't bring himself to hurt her even for something like this.

He looked at her again. She stared innocently back at him.

Next moment, her mouth fell open and she began to mutely wail out her aggrieved baby heart. For Ram had pinched himself hard, trying to force tears in his eyes. The glistening wetness in his eyes set the tears in Anarkali's eyes running.

By the end of the turmoil, she was bawling right out, petrified by her brother's self-inflicted pain.

Ram smiled through his fake tears. He had manifested the impossible.

Lifting up the soundlessly wailing child, he gathered the food and rushed out of the pantry.

The guard was inspecting the nozzle of his rifle but he looked up when he heard Ram approach.

The passive expression of the guard was met with Ram's disconcerted one.

The guard frowned questioningly.

The little boy signalled to the child in his arms who was hysterical.

The guard frowned, annoyed that he was expected to appease the "whimpering weasel."

Ram motioned with his fingers.

"What?" The guard asked.

Ram repeated his sign again.

"She needs a drink?" the guard laughed, "The only drinks available here are water and ale. Does she fancy the latter?"

Ram scowled and then patiently signed again.

The guard was confused, "She has heart issues?"

Ram rolled his eyes and then signed slowly.

"Oh!" The guard exclaimed, delighted to have deciphered correctly the sign, "She wants her mammy's milk. Well, we don't have any mammy milk in stock."

Ram slapped his hand to his forehead and then signed furiously.

"Bring her mammy here?" the guard was taken aback, "Are you out of your mind? We don't even know what to do with the lot of you that we already have here-" He paused watching Ram repeat the message again.

The guard was astonished, "Her mammy is here?"

Ram nodded, relieved that the guard had struck sense.

The guard was suspicious, "I don't remember seeing her-" And then he paused, as though a memory had just crossed his mind to correct his supposition, "That lassie is her mammy?"

Ram nodded enthusiastically, hoping Anarkali wouldn't stop crying or the whole plan would dispel.

"It wouldn't be impossible, they are both very pretty for sight," the guard remarked vaguely, "But you don't like anything like your mammy, boy."

Ram signed with his hand. Everyone says I look like my father.

The guard eyed the kids suspiciously, "What are you suggesting here, eh, boy?"

Ram indicated to the child.

The guard grumbled, "I can't validate this request. This is too much, you know! Deal with the child yourself."

Ram looked sadly at the child. Anarkali began her second bout of wailing.

The guard gritted his teeth, "How am I supposed to know this is not some ploy of yours to make a run for it?"

Ram shook his head, producing an innocent visage, as though it were his heart's desire to stay in that prison and would never dream of running away.

The guard shuffled his feet were he stood, trying to weigh the options, "I don't think the Master would like this."

Ram looked towards Anarkali in a guise of urgency.

The guard still looked unconvinced but he gradually quantified, "I think I could let her see her mammy for a minute or two."

Ram's heart almost danced and he would have kissed Anarkali out of the joy but he had to hold himself back because one kiss from him would assure her that the horror had passed and that everything was safe.

The guard hesitantly turned his heels in a different direction, the children following after him along the corridor.

There was a huge hole in the wall on one side of the hallway. Sunlight burst into the corridor making Ram pause to bask in the uplifting moment that seemed essentially like a miracle. The feel of the warm, familiar sun on one's face and arms, after days of being confined to darkness, made one feel alive again.

And how wonderful was the entirety of the moment: the visit of the sun and the voyage finally made towards Kushiji. He knew there would not be any moment in his life that made him weep in relief the way he did at that moment.

They stopped outside a grand door which had obscure engravings along its frame. The door appeared to belong to a chamber that was once very important.

There was another guard standing outside the door, a thinner more surly-looking man, and he nodded in recognition at the guard who had escorted the children.

Ram's guard explained their presence, "The littlest kiddie wants to see its mammy."

The other guard suspiciously glanced over the kids, "What for?"

"It's been crying for milk," Ram's guard said.

"It doesn't seem to be crying now," said the other guard.

In panic, Ram looked at Anarkali who was sucking on her thumb and observing interestedly the sunlight pouring through the wall. The marvellous miracle of the long-unseen sun had doused all traces of sorrow from her face.

(It is true, do you not think, that while adults like us prefer the solitude of relaxing dusk and the mystery of the quiet night, childlike hearts share a cosmic affinity with the Grand Star and create adventures under the glorious burst of magnificent daylight. Woe to the days on Earth, when children prefer to be at homes and within walls than out where the grass waits to greet them and the Sun hopes to dance to the music of their laughter.)

All hopes fell therein and Ram's guard produced a disappointed frown. He must have felt betrayed for having taken the boy's suggestion at a whim and gone ahead to fulfil it.

"We're marchin back to the dungeon this instant!" bellowed the guard at the kids.

No sooner had the riled guard's coarse tone struck the air than Anarkali's finger-sucking halted and she broke into a second bout of wailing.

Ram's heart lifted but he presented a pleading visage to his guard.

The guard mumbled something under his breath and then, without any ceremony, directed to the other guard to open the door.

The other guard stalled stubbornly, "Did you ask the Master? The Master won't approve of this."

"What difference does it make," said Ram's guard grumpily, "Nothin' worse could come out of this."

The guard at the door eyed the children untrustingly.

"The boy can't go in," he said testily.

"He needn't," guaranteed their impatient escort, "Just let the baby have some milk and then we'll be off. Two minutes is all."

The other guard hesitated but a moment later was turning about and unlocking the bolts on the door.

Ram gulped, hopes rising with his heartbeats, as the door slowly swung open.

It was dim inside but as he stood on his toes and tried to get a glimpse of what lay within the room, he comprehended that it was a dining hall of some sort owing to the scant furniture.

Then he stilled.

A shadow had moved within.

His eyes eagerly watched the shadow grow larger as it approached the open doorway. The light from the corridor crept over the obscure figure revealing the faded gown that was last worn by the one his heart had set out searching for.

Slowly, as she uncertainly approached the door, the light flooded up her arms, up her neck and illumined her face.

Ram broke into relieved tears and rushed to embrace her but the other guard's unsympathetic hand held him back.

Kushi had been sleeping when she heard the voices outside her door. She sat up and noticed the shadows of the speakers underneath the door outside of which the sun shone bright.

She was confused. All those who had visited her so far had not conversed outside her door but walked right in, placed the tray of food on the table (if that was the purpose of their visit), and left immediately.

But these people outside the door didn't seem to be interested in coming to the room. Confusion blossomed into curiosity and she rose to her feet.

Just then the sound of the bolts being undone was heard and, in an instant, the door was tentatively being swung open.

Uncertainly, Kushi stepped forward and crossed the distance across the room as she neared from the shadows and towards the sunlit doorway.

No sooner was she three feet away from the door than her gaze caught a movement between the two guards.

Tears sprang in her eyes as she beheld Ram and Anarkali, frail and tear-stricken themselves but mutually overjoyed to have found each other at last.

"Anarkali! Ram!" Breathing out their names, she rushed forward, her hands reaching out to hold them, when, like a wall against the wind, her deputed guard held out his hand, "Only the baby."

Ram's smile fell and Kushi stared helplessly them.

Obliging, her hands descended to Ram's arms to take Anarkali from him. Unseen by the penalizing guards, her knuckles grazed lightly over his little arm and Ram sobbed, overcome by that momentary contact. Then Kushi took the child from him whose face of dried tears had lit up with childlike glee.

Kushi kissed Anarkali on her cheeks and forehead, the gesture of affection which provoked her guard to impatiently command, "You best feed her immediately coz two minutes is all you get."

"Feed her?" Alarmed, Kushi looked at them and then at Ram, "Has she not eaten anything since she came here?!"

"The boy fed her fine alright," commented Ram's guard, "But she's been bawling out for her mammy's milk."

Kushi blinked, "Her mammy's-?!" From the corner of her eye, she sensed Ram flinch. In a flash of a moment, she comprehended the crux of the plot she was part of.

"Of course, she would!" Kushi hastily remarked to rectify the suspicion that her pause had manifested in the two guards, "I used to feed my baby five times a day, you know, until you rotten lot separated her from me!"

She was about to return into the room when she addressed them about Ram, "Let him sit inside while I feed the child."

"That isn't necessary," said her guard rudely, "What need is there for him to be with you?"

"He is my son," stated Kushi flatly, daring her guard to refute.

Ram's guard nodded and spoke in a low voice to Kushi's guard, "The lassie's right, mate. The boy only looks different coz he takes after his father."

Kushi stared at Ram, wondering where that strand of idea had come from, and found him smiling slightly. She smiled secretly in return and then turned to look defiantly at her guard, "Well, what have you decided?"

The guard muttered under his breath and then gave his verdict, "He can enter but he is to stay ten feet away from you and I will be in the room myself to ensure no funny business-"

Kushi smiled, "Whatever arrangements you want to make, you may. I just want to be in the same room with my children."

Anarkali smiled jubilantly as she was rocked to and fro and teased in Kushi's arms whose back was turned to the guard, giving him the impression that she was breastfeeding her.

Kushi's joy knew no bounds, holding the child close to her, knowing she was safe and unscathed.

A sense of pride rose in her heart for Ram at how defending and dauntless he was in the face of strife.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him, sitting across the room, leaning against the wall as he wistfully watched them.

He had so many things he wanted to tell her, so many to ask of her. His young heart wished to join them and feel Kushi's arms holding him and Anarkali, together in a warm, assuring embrace.

Just then, he recalled something that he had meant to convey to her.

He looked around, as though he were admiring the room, while he was in truth mentally salvaging the place for some means to communicate his discovery.

There was nothing of use in that chamber which existed merely to accommodate an infinite number of cobwebs and dust.

Dust. Ram sat up.

His clever young brain commenced its calculations and he proceeded to implement his desperate strategy.

Signalling to the guard, he informed that he was hungry.

The guard ignored him, which meant he could do whatever he wanted as long as he didn't budge from his place.

Ram coolly proceeded to unwrap his personally packaged menu, taking the loaf of bread out of the wrapping and opening the lid off the jar.

Under the watchful eye of the guard, Ram dipped his fingers into the jar and pulled out a slice of the pickled carrot. He broke off a piece of bread and, placing the carrot slice on the bread piece, put the lot into his mouth.

It tasted good, alleviated perhaps of how his wisely executed pantry-visiting plans to reach Kushi had come thus far.

A few carrots and bread pieces more and the guard was assured of his harmless lunching.

Distracted for a moment, the sentry did not notice the shrewd boy's pursuits.

He had, in the guise of taking a carrot slice, dipped his finger into the salty water in the jar and then fingered some dust off the floor.

Slowly, cautiously, his eye on the guard, he began drawing on the wrapping, alphabets of wet dust.

Occasionally, twice or thrice, when the guard looked his way, he had to throw off pretences and immerse himself in carrots and bread. But before long, a little wet dust and a few finger curves later, his mission was accomplished.

No sooner had he done so than the guard announced aloud that their apportioned time was up.

Kushi had to return Anarkali to Ram and watch them being shepherded away. She asked the guard if she could at least kiss her son but the guard mercilessly refused.

Her heart was saddened that she not made contact with Ram but was appeased somewhat when she noticed the strange elation on Ram's face.

Whatever had caused Ram to be delighted was worth the misfortune, she knew, and hence she smiled for them as she stood in the middle of the room, watching them depart.

But no sooner had the door been shut and the sounds of the bolts heard, than her heart sank and she longed to see them again.

She turned about to return to her usual corner, when she noticed something lying where Ram had been sitting.

Approaching the place, she realized it was the wrapping paper of some food item.

Bending down, she picked it up and was astonished to find intelligible words made of damp dust staring at her.

And what she read therein, thrilled her heart and made her cry out in jubilation.

Lod Anuv is here.

Awesome!!!

Finally some hope for Khushi!!!!!

such an intelligent kid he is...

enjoyed reading this fantabulous update dear...

very well written...

n

thanks a lot for pm...

Ram is the smartest of all right now..

Come-on Khushi now it's your turn to cook up some things to meet lod anuv :)