ArHi FF:1: The BEASTS and the BLEEDING ROSES - Page 15

Sorry for being so late...I've exams from 18th and so won't be here for a week.

Thanks so much for your patient waiting.

Shagun: Your deep love for eyeing characters and relations is moving!

Siaa: Your analysis of relationships is outstanding and let's wait and see if the story moves to prove you right...I am so happy to have you on this journey with me, Siaa!

Sanjana, angeldream, Artemis, Rose, 007008, crazy4ZaynMalik, harik, Akshu: Thanks so much dear friends for your encouragement and comments...

Purpluelove: I am so happy I can give you this story, dear.

Winchfire: Oh thanks dear for that happy comment...and welcome to Arhasia!!

Kanz17: Hello there dear!! Welcome to Arhasia...glad to have you on board!

Music: Hope you are having a lovely vacation...its touching that you found time to comment!! Thanks dear.

Soniachammu: Hello dear, its so nice to have you here! But I so wanted to hug you because you are the first and only person who told me from the heart how much you loved the "lordy lord" poem...*chuckle* Thanks for making my day!

Sam: How I love reading your comment...I am so sorry I don't read your FF. Time is of essence...and so are life's strings...But you actually took your time to tell me what you think and I am so happy to know it. And yes, you are the most observant reader I have so far as to notice the waterfall...I can only give you an evil smirk to answer to your remark on that!! I need you in the meantime to be there as I try to move this story onwards and let ripples consume the plot and transform it into a living legend...And one more thing: you are one persistent reader!!!!

The breeze: Just like Abi, you are the one who tells me bang on what goes on in your heart and mind when you read my tale. Its so wonderful to have your encouragement !! I look forward to your comments...

Serialmaniac: Questions rule your mind but I am in love with your heart...

Rashgirl: Hello again, dear. And yes, you are quite right in thinking so...let's wait and see!

Kushipugly: Nice username...Welcome to Arhasia!! I could literally feel your excitement in your font and exclamations! And I was bowled by the joy!! Thanks so much dear...looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Fazila: Hiya dear! I'm sorry I was missing most of the days...but when I comeback in my full form, I will be glad to have a little chat with you...

Golden Dragon: Your dedication to my FF and its impact on me cannot be expressed in words but that are the reason why I remind myself to not delay my updates...*wink*

Sneaky-aj: My story moves parallel to the show's story...so thinks could be easily predicted in a way.

Salsa: Your love for details is overwhelming and I love how you love the gentlest and most meaningful of life's features. And about the reason why the horse is white, I have a crucial symbolism which I shall mention the next time we see that horse Lightning...

Vidya: Thanks dear for being a hearty reader of my humble FF. Its nice to know you care!

Abi (MrsRaizada): I love love love your comments dear. More because you tell me exactly what you "feel" when you read a line...this is what a writer seeks in one's reader! And you give it to me...thankyou.

Saomom: Welcome, dear to my world of Arhasia! And glad to see you have an eye out for "the room"...

Harshita: Thanks again for coming by...I am so happy to see that you and Lyraa have started off on a new FF. I don't have time to read it yet what with the exams and all coming but once education's yoke is bearable, I shall try and spend some time in the Forum which I am not doing these days...

So here is the update, it doesn't look long now that I've posted it, but it's the only chapter that was first written in pen and then typed because I had written this on my return flight back to India. Like I said, I am doing this tale "parallel" to our show's original plot with slight variations owing to its Gothic input. Tell me what you frankly think of this chapter and how you comprehend the symbolisms, if you find any...

Chapter Eighteen: The Plot of the Play and the Twist in the Tale

All the lanterns around that place were snuffed off before the commencement of the last play. The only lanterns that were lit were the huge ones that were aligned along the steps leading to the stage floor. Shadows appeared upon the huge curtain at the rear and all the people before it were held in a hush of great anticipation.

The first shadow was that of a castle which appeared on the right side followed by the dark silhouette of two figures. It was obvious that these shadows were created by mere display of thick paper or thin wood and of costumed actors but the narration that followed in the background gave it a realistic feel. As the tale proceeded, so did the shadows appear and disappear and give visual exuberance to a captivatingly said story:

"Once upon a time," echoed the strident clear voice of the narrator, "there lived a King who was the cruelest but bravest of all lands. He was very wealthy and though some people wondered as to how the king came across such immense wealth, they never questioned it aloud or dared to make appearance in his court unless called for. They held him with great respect and fear for he was a man to be feared while also a reliable leader to look up to. The King had a cold heart and he wished not to let the weaknesses of the virtue called love infiltrate his confined existence. The only person who had ever seen his pliability, if there was any such pliability in him, or his smile, if he ever chose to even twitch those grimly set lips for the sake of a slight smile...it was his sister. His sister: the only one left of his own blood and bond. And since he loved his sister too much, he made her Queen in name and while he ruled all the lands under his power, his sister ruled his heart with her power to love. She was tender of heart and one day ended up lying in bed, sick and dying. The King, forgetting the kingdom he had to rule, devised his time in finding cures and custodians of divine herbs to heal his ailing loved one. Alas, there was no hope and nothing was found to help her, and after the haul of six months of pain and despair, she breathed her last in his arms. He was so broken-hearted that he was driven insane by what he had lost, and he drove his people into utter poverty and misery with his iron-clad rules. His wrath was fueled by the loss of his Queen, and he kept her corpse in a glass coffin within which her radiant beauty was fast fading though none but the king visited the chamber of her large sepulcher. His eerie wailing was heard every night when he visited his sister's grave to mourn over his loss, and people found this an ominous sound breaking the calm of the dark nights. In his desperate efforts to revive his sister to life, he resorted to dark arts and came upon the key to bringing back his sister from the dead. He had to create a golden rose which should be kept in a glass pot filled with the elixir of life and this was to be kept hidden from the touch and gaze of any female eye. If a girl or woman were to pluck the rose or even touch it (which is an exaggeration, mind), his sister would die, never to live again. The King set on his dark decision and had soon created such a golden rose bud and put it in a glass pot filled with the elixir of life as required. He watched the golden bud day and night, forgetting to rule his kingdom but levying heavy taxes and cruel restrictions upon the people through his merciless soldiers. One night, when the full moon shone desolately upon the dark castle walls, he was watching the golden bud and almost dozing off in his watch, his reddened eyes tired from unquenched sleep and unceasing madness. Just then the moonlight seeped through the thin curtains and washed over the sprout and before his very eyes, the fair bud trembled open, letting its golden petals yawn to the call of a rebirth. That very moment, the damsel within the coffin felt the moonlight seep into her glass confines, healing the decaying skin and replacing it with cold fair skin. Just as the last petal of the bud blossomed, her eyes opened once again... from the dead.

The King was overjoyed at his sister's return though she was more quieter and more weaker than she had been in her first life. However, the King's cruelty knew no bounds and he was still the arrogant hard ruler he had been and the people were helpless under him. To keep the golden rose from unwanted fingers, he kept it concealed in a room, within the tall tower of the castle where no one dared to reach. "

The crowds were so gripped by the gloom and eeriness of the tale that the whole place was terribly hushed, that even the silent night breeze seemed to be too loud to the ears. Kushi was enraptured by the beauty of the tale, but neither she nor I myself was prepared for the twist in the tale that was about to be unveiled. The mood of the story suddenly took a different turn with less fantasy and more affinity to reality in it. The shadows stopped appearing on the curtain, and instead a landscape curtain was dropped and it resembled the outskirts of a forest in daylight with a bright river flowing through it. Incidentally two girls entered, with their hair plaited and their hats flapping about and their poor-looking frocks flying as they danced along the stage. Slow happy music played in the background. Kushi frowned, what happened to the cruel King and the sad Queen? Who are these two girls?

The girls soon danced to the center of the platform and stood facing each other. One girl was holding onto a tiny basket and it looked as if filled with fruits. The other girl, who had no basket, was dressed in a faded white frock that, if it had not been so tattered and dirty or short to the knees, it would have passed off for a wedding gown. Something about the appearance of these girls gave Kushi a foreboding feeling and she knew that she was not alone in the arousal of this feeling for she felt Payal anxiously press her hand on hers. Something was definitely not right.

"Sister," said the basket girl, picking an apple from the reserve, and tossing it into the air which was caught by the white-dressed girl who had to use both her hands to catch it, "It is strange that the cruel King should continue to offer us a share of his wealthy orchard."

The other girl giggled and tossed the apple back at the basket-girl who caught it by one hand, "It had been the Queen's wish to give us a share of the orchard produce and now that she is back from the dead, he must have wanted to let it be as it is."

"You mustn't use the phrase 'back from the dead' so often, sister," said the basket girl throwing the apple in her sister's direction again, "Its gives me the shivers."

"Oh," said the white-dressed girl not only in response to not knowing how to answer to her sister's remark but also because the apple, that had been thrown at her, had not been successfully caught and had instead slipped past her reaching fingers, dropped to the ground, and rolled onward in the direction of the river flowing nearby that was made out of blue streamers being blown by fanning huge winnowing sheets.

"Oh," said the basket girl too, watching the rolling apple roll right to the bank of the river and slip into the water noiselessly.

The girls rushed to the river to retrieve their apple and watched it bobbing in the water, coursing with the current.

"Quick, after it," said the basket-girl and both of them chased on land the apple in the water. The river ended as a still lake near the castle of the King and before it sunk into the depths of the lake, the sisters had used a stray stick to drag the bobbing apple to the safe bank. Washing the dirt of its surface, the basket girl returned the apple to its rightful place and looked up to see her sister looking at the castle with a strange look on her face.

"What is it, sister?"

"The Castle is before us, the reason for all our misery."

"It is not the Castle but the King who resides in it that is cause for all our misery."

A cold look came upon the white dressed girl, "If only we could teach the King a lesson..."

"We mustn't," said her sister, fearful of the tone her sister was using, "Come, let's go home."

"No," said the white-dressed girl, "He stole from us. We must do justice by stealing from him."

Her sister gasped, "That is wrong!"

"Was Robin Hood wrong?"

"You get too much folk tales into your head," said her sister, "Forget all this now and let's be on our way home."

"I've had enough of the wretched life we have," said her sister determinedly standing her ground, "I cannot see our father, our mother or our villagers suffer under the strains of poverty while the mad King slumbers on his heap of gold coins."

"Stop this I say," said her sister, "you fill me with fear."

"No, sister, do not fear," said the white dressed girl, hugging her sister, basket and all, "It is fear that is making us weak and incapable to fight. We must fight injustice. We must fight madness."

"I'd rather fight your madness that the King's" said the basket girl when she was released of her hug.

"Then fight my madness by feeding it," said the white dressed girl.

"What do you mean?" asked the other, confused.

"Help me bring justice against the wrong done to us. Help me steal from the King what is rightfully ours."

The build up of this scene was so bewitching especially with the changing expressions and growing determination of the white-dressed girl's face. It was akin to the madness of the king. She herself was a slave to the madness she was trying to fight.

Suddenly the lanterns before the stage were blown out and darkness engulfed the entire platform. All the people waited with bated breaths, in their heightened moods of expectations. Every child, woman and man had their eyes fixed on the stage, waiting for the darkness before them to give light to their wait.

Steadily the lights of the lanterns began to be lit one by one as the narrator's voice in the atmosphere drowned in the minds again, "Deciding to do justice together if that were what was right, the unconvinced sister was finally convinced to engage the Queen in her solitude and steer her from what the other sister was intending to do. The latter knew the King's Treasury was in the tower of the castle where it was believed a huge chest of oak wood was erected, within which over-brimmed coins and jewels of great wealth and value. This was her intent and upon this thought she laid plan."

When all the lights before the stage were finally lit and the platform was once more visible to all, the curtain that was propped as background presented the night sky and land in the midst of which the tower of the castle stood prominent. Right were the window of the tower was perceivable, there was a shelf intended to show the inside of what lay beyond the window in the room. This shelf was however covered by a curtain and what was on it could not be seen to the audience. The tower of the castle was made to appear as if covered by vine creepers and a strong strand of this creeper hung from the ceiling of the stage, almost touching the floor of the platform. The white-dressed girl, devoid of her hat, was standing before this tower, inspecting it with her head craned to look at the peak, as she planned out her strategy. She had to ascend and so she resorted to using the creeper as the cable to climb with.

She began climbing slowly and all eyes were on the ascending climax. The white snail crawling up the green wall...Kushi closed her eyes, not in fear of watching the actress but knowing somewhere deep within that she was about to witness a fall. She didn't know how or why but she just knew. She knew the girl will fall. That the girl will be made to fall. Kushi felt her heart beat rising as the girl mounted. Beside her, Payal sat calm but curious as to what was being shown on stage.

Kushi opened her eyes and saw that the white-dressed girl had reached the window. One pale hand reached out for the curtains, to draw them apart and then to step in through the window to where she believed the wealth and jewels would be that would save her people from the bondages of slavery and poverty. But on drawing apart the curtains, a more bewitching sight met her eager eyes. The girl now faced a most beautiful gold rose, sparkling in its concealment, and blissfully lingering in a fluid of pure glass-like water. Kushi understood by the mixture of emotions that displayed on the girl's face what was going on in her mind. At first, there was pure apprehension at the thought that she had come before the sacredly regarded golden rose which the King had created as the dreaded life source that sustained the reborn Queen's existence. And then slowly a new sense caught upon her mind and her hunger to destroy the evil King was fueled with an even more stronger solution. What best way to destroy the king but by destroying what he thought the world of? What he considered so precious to lose, that he would hamper with the forces of nature and bring back the dead to life...what better way was there to bring justice than to nick the King by his very weakness...in fact, the Queen was sad and more depressed now than she was before, it was as if she regretted being given a second chance to live. By killing the Queen, she would not only be doing the Queen a favour but even the forces of nature would be satisfied in being righted a wrong...

"The dead should belong in the dead," decided the determined white-dressed girl and a hand reached out towards the flower. No sooner had she touched it by its feeble stem, than the rose dissolved into the thin air, and the air was pierced by a scream, not of a lady meeting her second death but of a man enraged by the curb done upon his madness to lose his sister for all eternity.

The man's wild cry had flustered the girl's senses and her brave front was smeared by plain fear, visible not only by her facial expressions but by the trembling hands and limbs which betrayed her hold on the creeper and let her slip and fall from the heights of the tower and into the arms of the King waiting below, the shadow of the tall tower casted over him. As soon as the girl fell into the King's hands, Kushi's hand flew to her chest and she clutched at her wildly beating heart. She couldn't hear anything anymore. Her hard breathing magnified to a million and the incessant thrumming of her heart was defeaning where one beat could not be separated from the other for it was so fast that the beats were individually inseparable. Her ears burned and her legs felt weak underneath her. What had been a secret between her and her enemy was now to be brought forth for all of mankind to see...

On the stage, the King threw the girl down and she scrambled up to her feet hastily, in fear and in want of defense.

"How dare you-" growled the King and neared the girl.

The girl who had shown fear was suddenly willing to act brave, "Yes, I dared where no one else did."

"How dare you answer me back! The King! Your King!" The King's eyes were red with rage, his hand lifted to strike her.

The girl warily eyed the hand but her voice was controlled, "You are no king of mine. I will never call you my King."

The hand descended and the girl was slapped hard on her face, "Disrespect and blasphemy to the utmost!" The King had almost spat these words on her face.

The girl held a hand to where she had been slapped and as tears flowed from her eyes, she tried to escape but the King held her in his grip, "Tell me who your father is, murderer!"

"I am the daughter of the man who runs the cocoa mill in my village and I am no murderer compared to you who murder lives mercilessly everyday," she said as she tried to free herself from the King's hurting hold. "Besides, I cannot be a murderer if all I did was kill an already dead person!"

"You talking smart with me? Your King?! And that too after planning out the murder with a tramp sister to keep my sister distracted!!" the King's hands pressed into her skin and blood stained marks erupted were his nails had dug into her.

"Stop this! You are hurting me! If you want to punish me, then kill me this very instant instead of this torture!" The girl leaned forward, the pain unbearable and her legs weak to hold her standing anymore.

"Torture and a slow one at that is what I have for you, beggar!" said the King, "You took my sister away from me but I know one last way of bringing her back."

The girl looked up, fear in her eyes.

The King laughed at the fear he saw in her eyes. Their faces were too close now, that their noses were almost touching.

"Yes," whispered the King in his evil way, a cunning glint in his eyes, "I can revive the spirit of my sister if not her body. And I only need for that is to find another young lady's body for my sister's spirit to respite in."

Realization dawned on the girl's face and desperation weighed in her words, "King Raizada..."

"And now I have found the right body for my sister's spirit," said the King and his evil laugh echoed in the night and the curtain fell to its finale, leaving Kushi shaken, crest-fallen and wanting to sink into the earth underneath her and hide herself, but she could only close her eyes, and see the face of the cruel Lord Raizada before her as she had seen him last night and the evil laugh of the stage King still in her ears.

I will try and come soon next week with my new updates...Will try and make the story move faster coz there is a long way to go.

To return back to the INDEX, visit:

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/2901910/arhi-ff-1-the-beasts-and-the-bleeding-roses

res!

*edits*

Subtlety isn't really my forte. . . . 😳
So I wouldn't really want to tell my silly guesses for the symbolisms. . . .

If and when you reveal what hidden symbolisms you meant, I shall whole heartedly appreciate the brilliant writer that you are. . . . .

The whole play was very bewitching, hun. . . .

Fantastically portrayed. . . . .

All the best for your exams too. . . . 😃

OMG...so thats the story of arnav's mystery...

Another gripping update, thnx.
Ur english is reali gud.
Sorry but symbolism n me reali dont go 2gether:/

Truly bewitcing.
Arnav is much more cruel here.Feeling jittery when I think what will happen next.
Thanks for the PM and All the best for your exams 👍🏼.

ohk first of all, A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE ENTRALLING AND CAPTIVATING PLAY!!!!!! 👏

I must say Aquiline that what you have portrayed here was way beyond anything I remotely imagined. In the beginning , the way you described the setting really set the atmosphere for what was to come… I was on the edge of my seat from that moment itself 😆

As the narrator began to describe the King, the first thing that came to my mind was Lord Arnav. I mean everything, every tiny detail reminded me of him… His cruelty, his disbelief of emotions especially love, his ruthlessness, his reliability, his inherited wealth, his softening only for his dear sister, smiling only for her, bending only for her, forgetting everything in order to cure her, doing whatever it takes to get her back even going over to the dark side…. Lashing out on others, punishing them, making them pay, being sadistic and heartless… All of it consistent with his traits and all of it ominously ringing a bell in my head.. ☢️ If the plot is anything to go by, I have this feeling that even Lord Arnav might go over to the dark side just to get Anjali back, I mean we have seen how he already is with her, not allowing her to go anywhere, doing everything for her, keeping her alone and guarded just so that she is safe, grudgingly letting her allow people to meet her and much much more… She is like a bird in a golden cage, she has it all, the money, the power, the beauty and all possible worldly possessions but she can never share it with others, forbidden to glimpse the outside world, shackled to the luxury which her brother deems enough for her unmindful of the fact that she yearns for a little laughter, a little joy, a friend, a confidante, a life and most importantly FREEDOM from the stifling existence which is her life…..

I don't know why but I feel that something might trigger Anjali to go into depression or shock and she will become lifeless and Arnav will try every which way to get her back to normal, but she will simply be a shadow of her former self and it will be Khushi who dares to disobey the rules and ends up freeing Anjali…. The girls in the play were so strikingly similar to the Gupta sisters that I was shocked that Khushi didn't make the connection sooner…. One being mindul of the ways the world works in while the other just wants justice and is fearless in doing so… Reminiscent of Payal and Khushi totally…. The orchard scene in the play brought to mind how A & K first met, him being cruel, he dropping her, he terrorizing her…. And OMG when the King speaks those last lines I almost had goosebumps 😲….. Maybe Khushi should just take a cue from this play (which seems extraordinarily based on her life) and "STAY THE HECK AWAY FROM ARNAV" but we all know that fate and the dark lady have different things in mind…. 😎

Last but definitely not the least you have a real talent for describing the surroundings, the settings and the let me tell you dear it makes the story just come alive!!!! 😍

FABULOUS STUFF GAL…. 🤗

Whoa, enough with my rambling.. Might have ended up reading a bit too much into the plot!! 😉

Take care and thnx for the pm ❤️

awesome loved it.

u had me enthralled!! it was totally captivatin!!