Part 3: The Warfare

Chapter 32: Briefing

"Pruthvi?"

The clip-clop of horses created slight tremors in the quiet area like my insides were doing at the moment and my teeth chattering with cold.

"Pruthvi?" I called him again and gasped, before slipping behind the bushes and plonked myself down to the snow-filled ground. It was way too early in the morning and had been quiet and easy to sneak out of barricade until the entrance to the Uttarameer began filling up with the bustling and chatting of the knights.

"Pruthvi?" I articulated his name, again and again, desperately trying for the mind connection. I had my jaw clenched, waiting for his reply, entire body rigid with anticipation of getting back home.

"Holy hell! Is that really you?" Pruthvi finally answered, in a nervous restless manner.

"Yes, I'm coming back. You gotta open Gates for me."

There were a sniffle and an expelled breath. Pruthvi remained silent for a while but I was aware that the connection wasn't lost. "Is everything okay?" I asked, getting a hunch that something terrible must have happened. It's simply mayhem down in Dakshinpur, she had said, hadn't she?

"Y..yes," he stammered, "Nothing that we hadn't dealt with before. So you're coming home. Terrific. I'll ask Ira to open Gates."

"Tell me the truth!" I growled, and it hurt my jaw. "Please, just tell me that atleast it's not one of us."

Every time I returned home from a job, it has become a tradition to lose someone near and dear to my heart. Maybe I was predictably paranoid, but I couldn't ignore the signs, especially when they were this clear in his voice.

Pruthvi sniffed again. "Not really sure if it's one of us. Just come home, Hayden. We can talk about this later."

I pulled my bag up giving a rueful sigh. "I want to see you and Leena first. Nobody can know I'm coming back. Absolutely no one. Do you understand? Let Ira be the exception. Come and see me behind the apartment?"

"And Nazira too?"

"No!" I said, hurriedly sitting straight. For the very first time, there was no longing to see her. "Not her. She has to wait a little bit more."

"Who's there?"

A gruff voice came from a distance. I lost my concentration and Pruthvi's voice eventually faded away. I crouched up, casting frightened glances. A knight walked closer holding a lantern, squinting into the darkness and pointing a musket straight ahead without even knowing that he has taken me as an aim at the target. I quickly ran further inside the bushes like a sneaky little thief. To open Gates for me was going to be a little bit of a hassle.

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Ira wouldn't let me go.

She grabbed me in a big bear hug and squeezed until I was going to suffocate. Despite the aches in my muscles, I felt cocooned in her warmth. A sort of a cure, it seemed to be, to erase the negative effects of all the suffering I went through in the past months as if it never happened.

"I'm so glad you are back," she said, finally letting me go, her eyes watery.

"Same here," I replied, with a soft snigger, "Mrs. Zutshi, er, did anything happen?"

She ignored me. "Pruthvi and Leena will be here in a moment. Your aunt has come back and living in Sharad's palace. She's worried sick about you. Don't you want to see her?"

"No!" I said, at once. "There's no way I can meet or see anyone, no matter how much I want to. They'll ask a gazillion questions and I have no time to answer them. Please Mrs. Zutshi, don't tell anyone just yet. When I'm ready, I'll come forward."

She nodded understandingly, although her face was getting grim by every second. "Alright if that's what you want..."

"Mrs. Zutshi, tell me already. What happened?"

The color drained from her. "Lithika. She's no more."

With a shuddery sigh, my shoulders slumped down. Heart went out to her. I leaned back against the wall before my knees buckled. Honestly, I was more concerned about someone else, who had once complained about losing the people she loved one after the other. "How's Leena?" I asked. I needed to prepare myself before I saw her.

"She's not doing good. It happened about two months ago, and things changed a lot with her. She does go out for patrolling and at home spends most of the time with Nazira but...I'm not seeing her as the same person anymore. She's being too quiet and lifeless."

"Right," I nodded. It was difficult to imagine a quiet and lifeless Leena.

Ira patted on my arm. "I'm sorry you got to hear this. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'm..." My voice croaked, "I'm starving."

Ira gave a muffled scoff. "Of course. I'll get to work. Give me fifteen alright?"

She walked away, leaving me alone in the secluded spot behind our apartment.

A delightful smell wafted towards me and then I noticed a small garden, merely a  five feet long,  a tiny piece of land which wasn't covered with snow but the bright green grass and the corners dotted with bluebells. There were distinct flowers and butterflies with colorful wings. A couple of squirrels and chipmunks scurrying front and back. Has it always been there, and I never noticed it before? Suspiciously, I leaned forward and caught the window of that particular room adjacent to the garden. I rolled my eyes. Oh well!

The crunching sound of the snow and dried leaves prompted me about my friends' arrival. I stood straight with nervousness gnawing in the pit of my stomach. They appeared before even I could gather myself. They stopped dead at a distance, scanning my unkempt face and frail body. Pruthvi had his hand around Leena's shoulder helping her to stay steady. He wouldn't blink. Enlarged amber eyes glowing. Anger was radiating out of him. Leena got away from his grip and took slow steps towards me, her face features suspended between grief and confusion. Those streaks of tears on her cheeks made her look pale and wan.

"What," she said, "Should I be happy that you are back?"

I didn't utter a word. It was best to let her speak. We were meeting after a complete six months, and I realized how badly I had been missing her girly babble. Leena...she was the epitome of making anyone smile with the childish talk, to think of herself as a good company, to outshine all of us and make herself a center of attraction. That was a reason why Tyrell's admiration towards her was boundless. Today, I was getting the hang of how it felt to stand in his shoes.

"How many times?" she whispered, her voice filled with apathy, "How many more people have to go? It really hurts."

Pruthvi dropped his eyes to the floor, guiltily. The swirl of emotions took me over. I loosened my body, smiled faintly and held my arms up inviting her for a hug.

She shook her head like a two-year-old. "You're stinky and dirty."

I continued smiling and stayed put. She then burst out crying and closed the gap between us in a heartbeat.

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I snuck off to freshen up. Got rid of that untidy beard, as well as every emotional and mental trauma inflicted by living a brooding life in Almourah's territory. I was ready to tackle another day and exhibit a fresh new spirit.

The aroma coming from the kitchen made me extremely ecstatic and I was lured towards it. In my jet-lagged exhaustion, besides a strong decoction coffee, an extra spicy food would like slathering a soothing gel over my skin. Around five in the morning, and the only sound breaking the silence were a few footsteps which were audibly too loud. I was looking for a bit of privacy or atleast peace and quiet to settle down before I met my friends once again. 

Ira fixed a perfect meal, as expected. But the contents on the plate in front of me weren't enough to compensate for six months of hunger. I looked up, giving her an innocent stare. That's all. She smiled cheekily and pushed all the tableware towards me. "Everything is yours," she said, "Dig in."

I held a fork, savoring and scanning the exotic Paramarashtrian meals. My legs shook, hands trembled. I was absolutely famished. Dropping the fork aside, I grabbed the food with my bare hands, the way Paramarashtrians do, and gobbled greedily.

"Easy," Ira said, suppressing her laugh.

When I slowed down after the third serving, Pruthvi walked in with an unpleasing look in his eyes. As a matter of fact, I was glad he had decided to meet me alone with no girls tagged along. We had decided to have a private chat, to catch up with the things that I had missed and everything that Nazira deliberately had kept me afar from getting distracted. Pruthvi and I held our gaze for a moment. His eyes were still amber, and I wondered if he needed to blow off some steam off. Watching us in a strained silence, Ira gracefully walked away leaving us alone in the dining hall.

"Tasty, huh?" he asked, leaning back in the chair and resuming a cocky expression.

I numbly nodded.

"You've shed a lot of pounds."

"Basket was ruined."

"And it wasn't your fault?"

"No."

"You are not a piece of jerkhead. I'm saying it, so it must be true."

I resisted a snigger. Gosh, I missed that. "Don't you want to know what happened?"

"We kind of understood that you've stabbed him when Hardik came back to life. And Maruthi's returned. And yeah, beasts are dropping down dead."

I shot him a stunned glare. "For real?"

"Attacks have reduced from the past two days."

"Fantastic!"

"Leena and I contacted you many times," he said, "You used to reply at the beginning, but there must be a really good reason for not being in contact later. There better be."

"Well, er..."

"And then Ashwant returned. He informed us that he lost you. Lost you. Can you imagine?" He let out a sarcastic chuckle. "He is a bad liar as you are. Leena yelled at him and the next second he spilled all the beans."

That hit like a ton of bricks. "Did he tell you everything?"

"Not sure what you mean by everything, but the only thing he wasn't able to answer is the number of times you died."

Images of his violence were still engraved in my mind and heart. How badly shaken I was by the experience of dying and I shied away from giving him an exact account. "Things were out of hands, Pruthvi. And nobody was responsible for it. What's important is that we have the Pride with us now. We overcame this biggest hurdle. And in these final three days, we gotta strive hard to actually cross over the finish line."

He frowned. "Three days?"

It seems like she hasn't been talking to them at all.

"I'll explain later," I said in a low voice. Took a few minutes to finish the remaining crumbs on my plate, cleaned my hands, wiped my mouth and then turned towards him feeling a lot better. "You need to fill me up with details. Starting with Lithika. Would you like to bring me up to a speed of what happened here during my absence?"

Pruthvi ran his hands through his hair, and adjusted his glasses, eyes eerily reverting to dark brown. "We shouldn't have left Archit alive. Remember the day when we stripped him naked and locked him in his own bedroom? We got away from that misdemeanor then but didn't realize that there was a huge price to pay later for messing up with the King and his son."

"What did he do?"

"He lodged a complaint against you and me in Panchayat. And another bigger one on you for murdering Bhupathi. King Aghasthya, Leena and I fought hard to prove you non-guilty. And High King refused to give a verdict without you physically present and openly confess the crime. The good news is that he is on our side. But the rest of the members of Panchayat aren't. And we all know that if we don't get enough votes in our favour then even a word a High King gets legally nulled. After Ashwant returned, he tried his best by cooking up a story that makes him stand as your alibi, but even that didn't help. They are waiting for you to return and see you get locked up from close. Hayden, you really cannot come out now. Sergeants are all over the dynasty waiting for your arrival."

"And I don't even intend to either," I said, "Pruthvi, it isn't surprising to me that Archit lodged a complaint. We were expecting this to happen, weren't we? We did break a million rules that day. The only thing that we weren't expecting, that it was going to take these many months to get the Pride."

"You," he said, curtly. "Only you were not expecting."

I smiled a meek apology. "Okay look, all this drama with Panchayat, I think I'd love to handle them with care and dignity...but later. How did Lithika get involved in this anyway?"

Pruthvi swallowed. "We were all trying to get away from this case one way or the other. When nothing worked Leena persuaded Lithika to force Archit to take his complaint back. It was indeed causing a lot of problems in her personal life. Her, being a new mother, unable to take care of the baby boy she gave birth to..."

"It's a boy?" I asked, surprised by myself for showing an affinity with the child I had no direct relationship with.

Pruthvi nodded.

"What's his name?"

"Hayden the point is, Lithika persuaded Archit to meet her for an informal discussion. She proposed to settle this matter outside Panchayat because she wanted... a peaceful family life, whatever, I don't know what rubbish was running in her mind. But she was adamant to meet him but Leena didn't want to send her alone. So seeking chance, we both accompanied her. Archit didn't allow me inside his palace and these girls went ahead. To this day Leena didn't tell me what nonsense Archit spoke of that provoked Lithika so much that their discussion turned into a heated argument. It maddened Archit and he... stabbed her to death. Right there, right at the moment, with a display sword."

My mouth hung open. "And what the hell was Leena doing?"

He scratched his forehead. Checked the door of the dining room as though to make sure if no one was outside, and leaned forward placing both his hands on the table. "It should be between us only, alright? Leena can go to jail if the word goes out."

That was enough to sort this delightful muddle out. "What did she do?"

"I heard the screams, had to knock a few knights out of my way to get inside the chamber. And what I saw...cost me my whole breakfast and lunch. I saw Leena was slaughtering Archit like an animal."

My stomach felt heavy and it wasn't due to the food intake. "Leena? Our Leena?"

"Yup! The girl with red lips and pink toenails who I fell for. Surprising much?"

"Touche," I scoffed. "And you couldn't stop her?"

"I did," he said, "Tried to pull her back. Tried to stop her with all my might. I even shook the earth I guess, but she wouldn't stop no matter what I do. And on top of it, she must really be head over heels for me that she slashed the skin on my arm for coming in between." He pulled his sleeve and quickly set it straight back. "Too bad I'm healed now otherwise I'd have shown you gashes and scars." He took a pause, waiting for me to comment and when I didn't, he continued with a shrill voice, unlike the Pruthvi I knew. "She lost all her patience, Hayden. She's done waiting for Celina and Tyrell. And with you've gone, she totally lost it. With the way she mentioned a few stuff while murdering Archit...she's no more the sweet Leena with a face of a cosmetic brand anymore. She was dead scary, and I backed off."

I huffed. "This shouldn't have happened."

"I know," he said sadly, "Technically all five us are guilty in one way or another."

"Can't deny that. Who knows about this besides us?"

"King Aghasthya, of course. He is very upset. He didn't even plan for a proper funeral for his granddaughter. He just buried her at the palace's backyard. He simply buried the matter itself. I feel sorry for him."

Coming face to face with King Aghasthya was proving harder than I had expected. I'd rather have another fight with Almourah than deal with him regarding our increasingly wayward behavior. I rubbed my nape, taking a moment to think. Keeping my personal dilemma aside, the old man wouldn't be able to account for five crimes, would he? I felt my shoulders burdened. In adverse times, the thought that brewed in my mind was going to be the only way. Sighing, I tapped his arm, assuring and said, "I'll take care of it."

He looked up. "How?"

"Just wait," I said and smiled, "Three more days, as I mentioned earlier. Gotta create a bigger impact to make ourselves trustworthy. Anything new about Celina and Tyrell?"

He brought himself back from being a million miles away. "Celina has her mind out of whack. I think she blames herself for Doctor's death."

"Did you have another encounter in Paschimgarh?"

"Another encounter yeah, but not in Paschimgarh. It was a bit of a productive one though. I searched for her for many many days, without anyone's knowledge and finally figured where she's living. And at that moment, she gave me a piece of apt information about Tyrell's current status."

Now we are talking. "Where is she living?"

"In the bar itself."

"Right," I tapped gently on the table. "So she's living in the burnt damaged place so that no one can guess about a cold-blooded murderer's whereabouts. Very ingenious. What is it about Tyrell?"

"Shourya specifically mentioned about him being locked up and learning dark magic, remember? Well, according to Celina, he isn't anymore. I talked to King Aghasthya about it, and instead of discussing with me and Leena about what to be done further in this matter, he openly declared one lakh Rupal prize money to whoever finds him first. And all the knights are being extra busy ever since."

"So he is out of jail. Excellent. That's gonna make my work really easy. " I cleared my throat trying to sound as casual as possible, "How's Nazira?"

"No freaking idea," he said firmly, and a bit angrily.

"What do you mean?"

"She's always in her room," he complained. "No idea what's so attractive about living her life in the room. Maybe she's accustomed to spending time alone, I don't know. But I can count on my fingers the number of times I saw her after you left. It was only after Lithika gave birth to that kid we had a few friendly conversations."

"So, never had any interesting topics to discuss, right?" Anything that blew your mind away?

"No. Not really," he said, bending his head a little as though suppressing his discomfort. "I haven't been worrying too much about her. Singh is still keeping guard round the clock."

Corners of my mouth twitched. "Yeah, well, they must have a lot to catch up," I said and had another glass of water and dumped a few bread pieces in the pockets of my jacket. "Isn't it time for you to go patrolling?"

"Of course. Another damn day. And where are you going?"

I was already up on my feet and taking baby steps towards the door. "I'll return tomorrow, alright? There's somewhere I really need to be. Straighten things up with someone. Thanks for all the tips. And hey, can I borrow Hardik?"

"Where exactly are you going?" He yelled behind me but I couldn't wait for his nod to get started.

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