The sharp chirping of the birds and shouts of vendors were easily audible from outside but inside the room, everything was pin-drop silent.

 I took in a shaky breath and looked away from the flowers. " If this means what I think it means...."

" Of course it means the same, sir", Mr. Jones interrupted me , " Its a sign of omen, a SIGN OF DEATH!" he shivered, " these flowers symbolizes the suppression of their ancestors but now, they want revenge . They will make us pay for the lapse of judgement of our predecessors."

Was I really being threatened with my life, it felt strange. I felt calmer than I ought to be.

" What fancy notions you have, Mr. Jones", Durga murmured politely from the ottoman beside me. Did I knew of her presence before she spoke? No I didn't .

"Not notions madam, these are hard core facts", Mr. Jones persisted.

" And pray tell, how do you know that?"

" I have been following this group almost diligently for over a year, that's my job you see. Their new sightings , the news paper cuttings, their modus operandi- it is all in here", he tapped his skull, " This brotherhood of rebels became active almost 2 years ago and since then, their activities have been localized to Bengal. They print a weekly newspaper through which they try to incite the youth against the government, there is no truth in their reports of course", he winked slightly as he said this, he was lying. " Aplace from today's blast in district collector's office, there was one at a prominent Lawyer's chamber and another inside the Governor's carriage. Their very nerve!"

" I'm sorry to interrupt Mr. Jones but can you please tell me the number of casualties in both these bombings" , Durga's face was emotionless.

Mr. Jones looked taken aback, "No casualties were reported from either of these incidents but is there a point you are trying to make, Madam Pradhan?"

" Oh no! None Mr. Jones, just a curious observation. Do continue your account of this notorious group."

" As I was saying reports of assassinations started to surface only a year ago. An army office from the 4th regiment was gifted a red silk hand-woven shroud, the next day his corpse was covered with the very same shroud. Some months later a Mr. Peirce, a revenue officer received the world's finest Darjeeling tea, later that day, he was stabbed to death and here is an interesting part, his cold tea was placed on the coffee table next to his body. There are many other incidents, would you like me to state them all."

"There is no need." I looked up at Durga, her eyes were no longer fixed on Mr. Jones, instead they were staring intently at me.

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Tonight the darkness seemed to have won over the silvery pale moonlight and as I leaned on the balcony railing ,staring at the marching troops deployed to guard my safety, strange notions filled my heart and I do say, quite shamefully, that I was scared.

"My Lord", Ravij bowed as approached me, a candle in one hand.

" Ravij, has everyone retired for the day?"

" Yes, sir. All the servants have been given a leave, as Your Lordship had instructed, Ms. Pradhan and her maids are in the guest room and I am soon to retire to my own quater. Every floor is guarded by two soldiers and I have personally made sure that all the windows and doors are bolted."

" Very well then, good night, Ravij", I sighed tiredly and made for my study.

" Don't worry, my Lord", his concerned voice trailed from behind , " I'm sure everything will be alright."

" I'm sure it will " , I suppressed a  yawn and entered my dark study.

I gently closed the door behind me and started making my way in the darkness to the lamp. The moon light coming in through the ventilator fell on my plush chair behind the desk. It didn't help much in illumination, it just highlighted the slender form....... of a human figure?

 My breath hitched. This was it, I'll be stabbed and left for dead and it'll be only in the morning when Ravij will find my cold body. I had never thought of dying so young, only at 21.

I sensed the human figure reach for the lamp. It has to be a very self-assured and ruthless assassin to show his face to his prey before finishing it off.

 The match was struck and ..... the smiling face of Durga came into light.

"Ahh!..." I shouted and slumped into the near by chair, " You! You!" , I gasped but she was already laughing.

" Oh my god, your face was priceless", she placed a hand on her mouth to stifle her laughter but failed miserably.

" This is not funny Durga, I'm a man getting death threats. My mind could have easily gone into an overdrive. If the assassin's blade does not kill me then the heart attack surely will."

Her laughing ceased abruptly, " You are too young to have a heart attack."

She stood up and came to stand next to me, " I'm sorry that we have not talked much since I came here. I was so busy with the work."

" I understand. Although I don't appreciate your tactic of scaring my teacher."

 She cracked a smile, " Next time I'll keep that in mind."

" On a different matter, what are you doing here? Ravij said that you were in your chamber."

" I was but I couldn't help but think about your situation. So I came to see you."

" There is nothing to be worried about. My higher authorities have been informed and guards are patrolling the whole building...."

" And do you feel safe?" Her voice carried a slight hint of sadness and I stared at her.

" Why shouldn't I feel safe?"

" Because loyalties can be bought Thomas. Some one will offer them more money than your Government does and their loyalties will change."

I hadn't thought about it in this context before,  " Then come what may, I'll fight it with all I have." I  hope my voice held the firmness which my heart felt. How dare someone threaten me for doing something I never did!

"Oh Thomas! You are so innocent", she chuckled softly.

" I don't understand", I stared at her with furrowed eyebrows.

" Exactly, you don't understand! Look at the facts we have here. A group of rebels who bomb places where a lot of casualties can be caused but no one dies and then they send cryptic mementos to officials before murdering them. What do you make of it?"

Why were we suddenly playing Sherlock Holmes? However if she wants to give it a try then very well. " Um... no casualties at the bombing site that means that maybe it is their intention to not kill. However, if they don't want to kill then why assassinate people..."

" That's the point. I am assuming and of course I have no proof but what if someone is framing them and getting his dirty work done under their name?"

I looked at her, her eyes were filled with the excitement of a chase and I chuckled , " You should be a she-Sherlock."

" Be serious ,Thomas", she scolded, " Anyways I happen to also think that someone influential is behind these murders."

I frowned. " How so?"

" Because say if it was a normal man murdering British officials then don't you think the authorities would have nabbed someone by now to give a strong message to the public. On the contrary till now, no one has been caught and all the allegations have been made against a ghost group by the name of 'brotherhood of rebels' and no one except your Deputy believes that it even exists."

" So you mean someone paid the concerned officials to wrap up the whole case." I said, each word registering with a slow pace in my brain. I was brought up in a background where we believed that the justice system was pure, white as milk.

" Exactly."

" But why would someone target me?"

" The reason could be related to governance. There is an easily visible connection between the victims and you. All were newly transferred to India and held high government posts."

" So you think they were engaged in some scam or scandal?" That seemed likely.

She laughed , " Are you involved in a scandal?"

" No!" I said, revolted at the mere thought.

" Then I think they weren't involved in a scandal either. It's more probable that they refused to be a part of some master mind evil planning. Say Thomas, did you turned down someone's business proposal?"

" I actually...." I had started to say but then lapsed into silence. Her face was warm, kind, trustworthy but I didn't know her enough. " I'm sorry but I can not divulge state secrets to you Durga."

She seemed taken aback, she opened her mouth and then closed it and after a moment of hesitation she finally said , " I wasn't aware that it was a state secret. Very well then, it is about time we call it a night. Have a nice sleep." She got up and went to the door. With her fingers on the door knob she paused, " Are you sure you are safe here? Maybe you should shift somewhere else for the time being."

" Maybe I'm not safe here but I'm not scared either. I'll meet the danger head on." I assured her but this little nagging voice in my head kept reminding me that I was lying.

" I was afraid you might say that. Good night, Tom" she cracked a smile and left.

"Good night..." wait did she call me 'Tom'? Oh my heart!

 5 minutes later a knock resounded on my door and Ravij came in with a glass in one hand. I might have had a lost and far-away look on my face because he merely raised an eyebrow but chose not to comment. 'Earth to Tom!' the annoying voice in my head was saying again, 'Stop fantasizing about a girl when your throat is in the line of attack!'" My Lord", Ravij bowed and placed the glass filled with milk on my table, " Madam Durga asked me to give you this. She said it'll help with your sleep." 

I'm sure that Durga assumed that after the hectic day I might be having nightmares, how very considerate of her. ' And she thinks of you as a coward ' the voice reminded again.

" Thank you, Ravij", I said as I started sipping the sweetened milk, " You may take your leave now. Good night!" He bowed and quickly left. After finishing the milk I went up to my room and slipped under the covers, my mind strangely bereft of thoughts. The milk seems to be working.

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" Ouch!" a female voice cried, " Watch your step!"

I was strangely cold and the night breeze assaulted my exposed limbs. I reached out for my blanket but found none.

" I told you it was not a nice plan. We could have worked things out differently ...." a male voice was now saying.

" We didn't had time!" the feminine voice snapped.

I could feel hard jute against my legs and back. Where was I?

" Now hold on, we are nearly there! Don't drop him." The male voice instructed.

" Only you could come up with the ingenious idea of stuffing him in a jute sack and then loading him into a carriage." the female voice sounded irritated, it also sounded familiar.

For the first time I realized that a stale cloth was thrusted into my mouth. I tried to open my eyes but the act seemed very hard in itself, my body was not following my command. The sound of a carriage door opening was clearly heard.

" He is coming around. Hold him tight or he'll escape." the male voice was growing eager.

My eyes opened wide at the statement as the realization dawned upon me. By the love of Jove, I was being kidnapped!

 A/N:- Hello my lovely readers, I'm so excited because :-

1. We are finally going to meet the masked assassin in the next chapter.

2. I'm having a month long holiday!!!! yay! ( Says a tired girl who didn't got a holiday even on Sundays)

3. Lord Fall got kidnapped.... wonder who was behind this??

Ps. Vote n review . With lots of love, your crazy author ;) .