ArHi FF:1: The BEASTS and the BLEEDING ROSES - Page 30

I'm updating a few chapters this week. You need not hurry with it and hence I'm not PMing anyone until my updates for this week are entirely over. This is because I'm not going to be on the Forum for a while so I just want to pre-update a few chapters to keep you occupied my absence.

Oh and here's my finalized cover image. Do tell me how you like it. I was in a haste again while making it but if I get time, I will try and see if there needs to be any changes done on it. But that would depend on whether you like it and want it to remain as it is….

Chapter Twenty Nine: Commencing a String of Events

"Buaji?" Kushi walked into the bedroom of her aunt the afternoon of the next day and found it empty.

"Buaji?" she called out again, louder this time and made her way to the kitchen which was also empty though there was a pot of milk simmering on the cooking furnace.

"Where has she gone?" wondered the young girl and then as she passed the window, her eyes caught on the familiar figure of her aunt, crouching before the anvil probably smashing the life out of another blade.

With a wide smile on her face, Kushi tiptoed to the backdoor, noiselessly opened the door and called out aloud, "Buaji!!"

"Ahhh!" the shocked exclamation was followed by a grunt and the clatter of a heavy hammer onto the hard anvil. Her aunt turned around and though Kushi wanted to laugh at the sight of her aunt's face looking as blackened and dirty as the apron she was wearing, Kushi gulped down her mirth, seeing her aunt's eyes flare with anger. Buaji was almost boring holes into her and Kushi realized that her aunt was holding her right hand as if it was struck.

Kushi stepped down hastily and her aunt exclaimed, "Look what you did, you silly girl! You've gone and smashed my hand!"

"I may have been a reason but frankly, you smashed it yourself," admitted Kushi and almost received a thrashing from her aunt hadn't the woman yelped at her hurt hand's shooting pain.

Kushi was concerned, "Here. Let me see it, Buaji."

"Nonsense," said her aunt, "And have you do more damage!"

"But I-"

"Buaji?" Payal's voice rang in the air and both the women in the backyard, turned to see Payal at the backyard door observing the scene. She had been putting the washed clothes to dry on the line in the front garden when the racket reached her ears and she came to inspect. Now, her eyes fell on her aunt's hand and she rushed towards where they were standing.

"What is it, Buaji?" asked Payal, anxiously, and then she looked at Kushi, "What happened?"

"I was calling for Buaji to-"

"Ah!" cried the aunt again and both the sisters gasped and flew towards their aunt.

"Buaji? Where does it hurt?"

"Buaji? Does it pain so badly?"

The aunt shook her head, "Hai re Nandakishore! Stop crowding around me first! And yes," she gave a sad look as if seeking sympathy, "I have hurt myself badly. You know how tough I am at the hammer and how a hard thrash meant to flatten steel would be on one's tender bones!"

"Oh dear Goddess Mother," said Kushi, and reached for her aunt's hand, but her aunt moved it away again.

"Why is it so red as that?" asked Payal, fearfully eyeing that part of the hand exposed to their eyes, "Is that how a hammered hand would look like?"

"How am I supposed to know," wailed Buaji, "I've not tried deliberately hammering my poor hand before to see how it looks!!"

"Oh dear Goddess Mother," said Kushi, guiltily reaching for the hand again, but her aunt moved it again.

"Besides," continued her dramatic aunt's tragic list of traumas, "It had been a flaming steel and I believe I burned my hand when it was smashed upon it under the hammer."

"Oh dear!" This was exclaimed by both the sisters and losing no time, Payal yanked at her aunt's accursed hand, ignoring her aunt's childish wails and Kushi grabbed the filled basin of water kept nearby for washing the apron after work.

"What are you going to do?" asked the elderly women, eyeing all the flurried activity with a fearful eye, "What are you-? Ahhh!!!!"

Precisely. Poor Buaji. The phrase 'burnt hand' was enough for our sisters to do what they thought was the usual procedure for immediate treatment of a burnt area: Soak it in water. I would have laughed at the sight had I been there for it was a hilarious spectacle indeed: both sisters crouched before the basin, pressing the hand down in the water depths while the hand's owner cried out like she was singing soprano and, it may have seemed like there was smoke fizzing out from the basin where the hand had been dipped.

As soon as their aunt's cries had volumed down, probably because she'd broke a vein, the sisters lifted the hand and inspected it like they were analyzing a fish they'd caught.

"Oh dear," said Payal.

"Its swelling," said Kushi in a low voice.

"Kushi, go get the herbalist!" ordered Payal, and Kushi wasted not a moment and was running out of the lawn and into the street. As she turned the bend, Master Happy called out to her, "What was all that noise, Kushibitiya?"

Kushi paused to answer, panting, "Buaji's hurt her hand. I'm going to get the herbalist."

And she made to proceed when the man said, "But the herbalist left for the forest in the morning to collect some herbs for his stocks."

"What?" Kushi was flabbergasted, "Why did he have to go today of all days!"

"You won't reach him in time on foot," said Master Happy, "But Ram here is going to the North Village to collect some things for me so you can hop into the cart with him as the forest is on the way."

"Oh thank you, Master Happy!!" she exclaimed and just then a cart emerged from the side of his house, driven by a single horse and holding the reins was the tiny figure of the boy with overalls. The cart was empty otherwise, with just a flimsy roll of hay that didn't actually need a cart to accommodate itself.

As the cart turned the corner, Kushi hopped onto it and sat beside the boy, taking the reins from him and waving a thank you to Master Happy, she drove the cart at top speed through the street and onto the Road.

Miles away, to say miles if it can be assumed as miles, at the Raizada Castle, Lady Anjali was sitting in her garden having watched her husband depart on his new assignment a while ago. She felt so lost in her world that she hadn't heard her brother calling to her and only when his horse had nudged at her cheek, did she jerk on the alert and look up, frowning at the horse, "Oh take that horrendous black thing out of my sight!"

Her brother chuckled lightly, "You taking your anger at your husband's departure on Shadow now?"

Lady Anjali pouted and then her face fell realizing that he was dressed in outdoor wear and mounted on his horse, "Where are you going now?"

"Not to the East, if you'd be happy," he offered, "And unlike him, I'll be back in an hour or two and not after three weeks."

"Are you trying to joke, Little One?" asked his sister with a frown, "As the humour is not working on me."

"Ah, what will work then?"

"A companion for me like you promised."

Lord Arnav sighed, "Alright, alright. I will see to it. You won't have to wait for long, I'll promise."

"Your promises," said his sister, squinting up at him, "are always kept I know, but they are hard to come by for you do not promise often."

"I make promises only for you," said her brother and then knowing what she was intending, hastily corrected, "As long as I think it's good for you."

"And you know what's good for me?"

"Don't I?" he cocked an eyebrow, and then reared his horse.

"Where are you going?" asked Lady Anjali, standing up.

"To the Industry," said her brother as he led his horse to a slow trot.

"Be careful, Little One," she said as she watched him leave, "Storm's coming so the river current may be too strong even though you will be crossing the bridge and not be affected by it."

Lady Anjali frowned, she was not sure he'd heard the whole thing for he had already rode too far from hearing distance and she stood there and watched his tall, proud form fade with the thundering horse, as they descended the hill and made for the stretch of forests nearby.

To see a brother depart after having seen a husband leave….it was not like she wouldn't meet them again, but yet she let that sigh escape from her gloom. And the former mentioned, who was the real reason for that sigh, was now riding on his Lightning racing for the South Village. If you ask me why he goes South when his assignment is in East, I'll let you know that he had received a message through an envoy that before riding to the East, he must acquire thrice dozen swords from the swordmaker who lived in the said village. And so he had left his wife to head for the South and he had taken a safer but longer route to get here, that is, through the Road. He wasn't sure if he would reach his destination if he took the short cut through the thick forest, for unlike his brother-in-law, he was still new to this place and had not quite had time to explore the land and forests as the other had.

Leastways, here he was bounding through the setout path, horse hoofs kicking up dust as they cantered onward.

Soon this young man, dressed in his hefty overcoat, adorned with medals and golden buttons, a long gun hanging by his side strapped to his waist belt, and his bold black officer-cap centered with a golden insignia, appeared at the village, mounted impressively on his white horse. He stopped a vegetable-vendor passing by on his cart.

"Where does the swordsmith of your village have his shop?"

The man pointed out to a house in the distance, and then added before continuing on, "It's a hers shop, sire, not a his."

The General took his eyes from the house directed to him to look at the vendor but he was already on his way. So shrugging, he led his horse to the said place and soon arrived at the house. In the meantime, Mistress Madhumati's hand had healed a few minutes after Kushi had left and since there was no way to inform Kushi about the cure, they had no choice but to wait for the girl to return with the no-longer-needed herbalist. Payal had gone to a neighbour's house to fetch milk and her aunt was in the backyard hammering away at a steel blade when she heard the sound of someone knocking at her front door. Wondering who it was for Payal and Kushi would not need to knock, she wiped her hands on her apron and rounded the house lawn. She assumed that it was probably the herbalist at the door, since Kushi might have gotten into a scuff again and asked the herbalist to proceed ahead to the house. But on turning the bend and appearing in the garden at the front, she stopped in her tracks on seeing the well-dressed soldier at her door, and his armed horse waiting at a distance in the garden.

"Excuse me, my good sir, may I offer you any kind of assistance?" asked the woman kindly, wishing she was more well-attired and cleaner to welcome this important man at the door of her house. She also wished she had worn the other wig and patted the one on her head presently as she made herself approachable.

The man turned on hearing her address and noted her appearance and understood the stains to be made by swordmaking. "Ah, good evening, madam," began the man, marching down the steps and walking towards her, his hands clasped at his back, "I come to see your husband. We had sent him a message asking for around thirty-six swords."

"Yes, ah, yes, I remember, sire!" she bowed low, "I was making the last one just this minute."

"You were making it?" the General's eyes twinkled with surprise.

"Why yes, sire, you see my husband died a few years back and all he left me with was just the trade and skills he earned our bread with," she wiped her face on the apron though there were no tears. More dirt smeared itself from the apron to her already darkened visage.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said the General gently, "If you don't think unwise of my hastiness, though, I would love to see your swords, especially since I have never heard of women swordsmiths, nor come across one in the least."

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine, sire," the woman beamed with pride of being praised.

She wasted no minute in further chatter and led the man to her backyard with warnings that it would be scorching and messed up.

"I do not clear up until all the swords for the day are finished," she explained.

They had come upon the backyard just then and as he eyed the place, while she collected the order number of swords, he remarked, "This place is quite not as scorched and messed up when compared to the hellish state a ground is in the aftermath of a battle."

The woman nodded not knowing how to answer to that.

The man came to stand next to her and inspected a sword or two, "Quite sturdy! Much like how men make them….This is indeed an impressive work, madam."

"Sire, I do what is best possible of me," she offered, bowing once more.

"So it is," he affirmed, collecting the bound swords into a thick sack she had given him.

"Sire," asked the woman, as he prepared to leave, "Will your regiment be kind enough to recommend my swords anytime you need them from henceforth, if you find these to your liking?"

"We will see to it, madam," said the General with a kind smile, and with a nod, he placed a bag of coins into her hand as payment for the swords, and as she watched, he walked towards his horse, mounted it and was soon riding away from the village.

Payal arrived just then, and asked who the man was whom she had just seen leaving their house.

"A rich kind man, and a good soldier," said her aunt, looking at the bag of coins in her hand, "And you know what, Payalia, expect for the fact that they must often be called to the battle field and do their duties, I think, soldiers make good husbands too."

Payal rolled her eyes, knowing her aunt was regretting that she hadn't encouraged her husband to leave for battles like he wanted to when he was alive.

"Well, one can't always have one's ways," sighed her aunt, and then she returned to her anvil and began to tidy the place.

Chapter Thirty: Continuing a String of Events

"Why were those people pointing at the cart when we emerged out of the village?" asked Kushi to the boy sitting next to her and when she got no answer she look down and found him sitting with his back leaned against the cart and sleeping with his cap titled to cover his face.

"Hey, boy!" called out Kushi, and she watched him stir from his sleep.

"Do you doze off every time you get the chance?"

The boy only shrugged and looked away. He noticed that since they had not used the Village Road and had traveled over the expanse of deserted grassland, they had passed a long distance and were nearing the forest line in the North. The river stretched out to their right and they were almost nearing the place where the river bent and he estimated that as soon as the girl in the cart was dropped, he could take the short cut through the forest to reach the village and save time. And maybe even have a nap after Master Happy's errands were done. That is, if the Master didn't expect him to pick the girl up on his return journey.

"Did you hear what I said?" asked Kushi again and the boy looked up at her.

"I asked you why the people back at the village had been pointing their fingers at us."

As he contemplated over the answer, the cart was speeding over the remaining stretch of the field and the forest was nearly within reach, when one wheel of the cart tripped over a tiny stone and the jerk jolted the two seated and as they settled down to resume the ride, Kushi felt something blocking her vision. Assuming it was her hair left open in the haste to get the herbalist, she lifted one hand to her face while the other held onto the reins. The hair she had supposed to be was actually a strip of hay and as Kushi threw it off and continued with the ride, a lingering thought on seeing the hay sparked in her mind. Without thinking she looked over her shoulder and gasped, for to her dismay, she found that the slack stack of hay at the rear of the cart was loose in the wind and almost half the haystack had already been carried off.

"Quick! Tie it up!" Kushi said, though she didn't need to for the boy had been watching her expressions and her subsequent gasp made him look around, realize what was wrong and in no time, he had hopped to the rear and was attending to the remaining stack.

Now, let me ask you, should you muddle yourself so when you are nearing a dark forest and when you are the one riding a cart which, to be added, does not belong to you? Kushi did just that. All this while, her focus was off the path and she was looking at what was happening at the rear, believing in her childish mind that the horse would take care of the directions. Only when the boy looked up for a moment, while he tied up the stack, did his suddenly pale face, expression aghast with terror make her turn to face the frontage again and have the shock of her life. A black horse that had been vaulting through the forest at immense fiery speed now collided with her cart and all she could remember was its black hoofs trying to jump over her cart and as the cart wheel tripped on another stone, the wheel broke off and Kushi screamed with fright.

Nothing much happened expect that the wooden wheel of the cart was broken and could not be mended unless a new wheel was made at the appropriate size and fixed to it. When its wheel broke, the cart had come to a sudden stop, its front plunging to the ground and remained there, and out of this emerged Kushi and the boy with hay sticking all over his hatless head.

"Are you alright?" she asked the boy but without waiting for his answer, she rounded on the rider, only to let her words vanish into thin air at the vision before her. Well, she almost had had an inkling who it might be for she had heard a fierce "What the!" thrown at her when the collision had taken place and she had been wishing against hope that he was not the person she feared he was. Her hopes sank. It was him, gloriously seated on the nightmare. And if he looked magnificently dressed, she didn't bother. Her eyes were only on his irritated frown.

"You again!" His familiar voice grunted into her ears, sending ripples of disgust through her.

"I should be the one saying that!" she retorted, and she heard the boy behind her inhale loudly as if shocked.

The man looked at the boy too, and Kushi used this chance to get rid of the unwanted element on the war ground, "Ram, take the hay and get on your horse. Go and do what your master asked you to do. I'll follow in a while."

Lord Arnav too wanted him to leave, it seemed, for he remained silent and watchful on Shadow's back until the boy had rode away on his horse with the haystack, leaving the broken cart behind with Kushi.

Kushi returned her gaze to the rider but found that he had already dismounted and was now standing before her. Kushi took a few hasty steps away from him.

"I thought I told you to stay away," he said coldly.

"To be away from you, I even left my home!" she said though gritted teeth.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I…" she began and then realized something, "Why should I explain my motives to a man who destroyed the name of my family by publically ridiculing me at the Festival?"

"What did I do?" he asked boldly, his eyes glinting with cold victory.

"You know what you did," she said heftily.

"No, I do so many things that I don't keep a count of all that I do."

"Well and good," said Kushi, "Because I don't want you remembering this conversation too and making a Festival play out of it!"

If she thought he would fight back, he didn't. He only smirked and turned to his horse.

"You can't go leaving me stranded like this!"

"What do you want then?" he asked, his eyes cold and penetrating, "A ride with me to the village?"

"I will die first if I have to ride with you," she said, "I want you to pay in return for the damage to this cart. It doesn't even belong to me."

"Stolen as usual, I believe," he smirked, as he mounted his horse.

Kushi gasped and then frowned, "You…"and then she walked to him, "Get down of that horse, I say and pay up!"

He clenched his teeth, enraged by her remark but he did not want to lose the cool of his victory, "Ah, you want cash now, eh?" he said causally, "I knew you were a greedy one."

"You are heartless and devilish in every possible way!"

"Suits me."

"You are a detestable thing."

"I'm fine with it." He paused, before saying, "At least I'm better off than you, beggar."

He reared up his horse. She stood before it, her hand on her hips, barring its path.

He shook his head mockingly, his eyes glinting, "You really want to die? I have no problem in letting him ride over you."

"I know you'll do that."

"Then you have come prepared to die?"

"Yes." She said, not knowing why she said that.

"Why? To ride with me?"His eyes were cold and watchful.

Kushi frowned, confused. She didn't understand what he meant by that and then suddenly it lit in her head. She had told him that she would have to die first to ride with him.

She was about to answer him back when she realized that it in the time she had taken to wonder on his last remark, he had ridden away, with each trot creating greater distances from her. She was indeed left stranded and with no hope to move forward. She looked to the forest and knew it was too dark and scary to go in there once the storm arrived and when she looked the other way, she knew she had a long way to go to reach the village. Leastways, she would have to try and the best way to find the village was to walk along the riverside. So she retraced her way back to the river, which was a long way indeed, by the time of which the sky had darkened and a storm was expected to arrive anytime.

It began to get cold and windy and Kushi removed the scarf tied around her waist and strung it round her head to keep the cold from her ears and she moved forward. The wind was getting stronger and Kushi prayed inwardly that she may reach home before it darkened or before the rain began pouring. She was walking thus and making meager improvement of her distance when suddenly a strong gush of wind blew and her scarf was flung away. Kushi yelped when her hair came untied again and the coldness of the wind slapped upon her face and ears. Her eyes caught on her fleeing scarf and she ran after it. She wasn't looking where she was going and as she raced on, most often having to brush her hair away from hindering her vision, she tripped and the last thing she knew was hitting cold water, her shocked mind numbed and her consciousness slipped into its freezing depths….

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