ArHi FF:1: The BEASTS and the BLEEDING ROSES - Page 39

FF Update

For Chapter Forty, visit:

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/63815731�

Chapter Forty One: At the Preparatory Forte

The Commander stood bent before the map, his eyes roving over the lines and markings he had made upon it. A while later, he heard someone in thick boots approaching the tent and when the flap of the tent was moved apart and evening light flooded into the tent, falling upon the map, the Commander looked up and saw General Jha.

"Where were you, General, when we called for a meeting last night?" asked the Commander, eyeing the General as he made his way to the Commander's side.

"Pardon me, sire, I had left my tent intending to head towards you," the general leaned forward and scanned the map before him, "But I had some pressing personal matters to deal with."

"Pressing personal matters?" repeated the Commander, frowning, "Like what?"

The general straightened up, and looked at the Commander, "Some disturbances in the body''"

"I see," said the Commander, and then he tilted his head, "Are you alright now?"

"Perfectly fine," assured the General, flashing an impressive smile.

"Very well," said the Commander, and then he pointed at the map, "We marked the route we are to take and we will probably have to go further into the Eastern deserts before we reach the place the counterattack is expected."

The General nodded, "I will line up the men and order preparations for departure. When do you want us to start?"

"At sunrise the soonest," said the Commander, and then he gave a single pat on the General's shoulder, and moved away from the table and out of the tent.

The General stood for some time, studying the map and after he was done with it, rolled it up and placed it in a cylindrical device and kept it along with the Commander's other maps. Walking out of the tent, General Jha made for the clearing where a bonfire was lit and the Commander was talking to a few other Generals. General Jha moved into the group and listened to the details that the Commander had to state.

At times his eyes fell upon the bonfire and he would watch the flames as he listened to the Commander's points. Then the flames would claim his attention and he thought he could see images floating within its fiery depths. A flame lurched and the image of a woman crossed his mind. He had assumed it to be his wife but the more his mind reflected over the foggy image, the more he realized it was not the woman he had married.

For a while, he had been an active partaker in the discussion of the Commander's talk, but soon he began to feel that recognizable tingle down his spine''he waited for the moment when all of them would be focused on some plan or point of debate and slinked away without anyone noticing. His boots pressed on the wet ground as he made for the cover of trees before him. Without sparing a look to what he had left behind, he raced for the forest and was soon running through the dark woods. He was panting terribly and sweat lined his forehead. He paused suddenly, his hand on a tree to support his weakening form.

"Not now, not again!" he pleaded through gritted teeth. And then he felt that tingle again but it was stronger this time and he knew he had no choice and would have to strip. This was what had happened last night as well. Last night when he was walking to the meeting the Commander had called for, he felt the sensation and had escaped into the forests to avoid unwanted eyes. He couldn't let anyone know about this.

Panting heavily and going weak in his limbs and arms, he removed his clothes and boots. Naked in the cold wind, he shivered when the breeze blew over his sweating form. He knelt onto the ground, and found a rock under which he hid his clothes. He would have to come back for them later.

And then, he gave one last look at the line of trees behind him and ensuring no one had followed him, he ran forward, racing as fast as he could, fighting the cold breeze. His eyes caught on the root of a tree protruding out from the ground and he jumped over it, transformed and flew into the moon-donned night.

A few hours later, before dawn was upon the land and when it was still dark, footsteps made by bare feet walking over wet dew-touched ground sounded and a tired but determined man bend down before a certain rock near a tree. Pulling out the clothes from under it, and after putting his boots on, he dressed into them quickly, and he walked out of the forest, buckling his belt, and straightening his hair. Noiselessly, he slipped into his tent and closed the flap shut. Being a General, gave him the right to have a tent for himself. He flopped weakly onto the bedding on the ground and he ran a hand over his forehead. This thing had stopped for a while'...and now it was back again. Why was it back again after so long? And then a face flashed in his mind''..the face of a girl he'd met in the Village. He saw her lying on his lap, wet, pale-faced and lifeless. And then she opened her eyes and smiled at him, "You saved me, sir. What can I do to repay you, my good sir?"

General Jha sat up suddenly and stared into the darkness, "Heal me. If meeting you has made me become what I was once cursed to be, then you are the one who can heal me."

It has to be her. The one who will take this curse off me. I must find her.

For Chapter Forty Two, visit:

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/64050294�