Crack!

The occasional cracking sound of the twigs was loudly audible in the eerie tranquility.

Rawat dynasty, also known for its renowned igloo-shaped huts were now only mere dilapidated ruins with sordid wooden rooftops covered by overgrown last-seasoned weeds. The edges of the huts marked the boundaries, which could be a fence, although broken and rusted.

I trudged along the sedate lane, keeping my eyes peeled and mind focussed on the buzzer. With an attached front porch and a small backyard, every hut of this dynasty must be similar, before getting badly damaged by Shashi's madness. It wasn't the first time I was looking around at the village, but every time I entered the premise, I imagined a charming scene that Nazira had once described.

"Twilight. A beautiful field with laden crops. Farmers reaping and mowing the fields. Busy village with joyful people collectively doing the chores, laughing and gossiping, enjoying their way around all through the day. Kids playing hopscotch. Youngsters entering the groves without permission to pluck the coconuts and drink its water. All for fun and entertainment. My teacher used to say a village is supposed to be that way. What do you think?"

"I think I'm hungry. Let's have dinner?"

Crack!

I looked around in a hope to meet and greet with atleast one person from this dynasty. I squinted. There was no one. Just the huts and dry dead trees everywhere. The vacant and enormous farmland covered with a thick blanket of snow seemed to be waiting to get plowed for ages. The Selvyn hill stood afar, rugged with thick forest, trees silvered with ice. The age-old and the famous Temple of Chandrika was somewhere hidden behind the shadows of the passing clouds and the innumerable holy trees of Vrindahina.

There had never been a single attack in this main village of the Dynasty. Singh had absolutely no reason to travel this far. There was just no activity, except a few Sharad's knights occasionally patrolling. I was given enough time to explore and was determined to use it well. Where are you? My mind lingered upon the single question. I knew where the Clan of Vaquiro lived. I'd been to the village of Clan of Matsyasvi several times. But where were the rest? King Aghasthya had mentioned that the population of the Rawat dynasty was twice that of Sharad's. He also lost the count of the number of clans this Dynasty consisted of. King Harsh would fund any local occupation and regard them as an individual clan. How was it possible that they disappeared without anyone's knowledge?

Since the attacks were reduced, I wandered and strolled around the village every morning. The dynasty stretched on forever. Street after street. Hut after hut. The silence here seemed screaming for help. I was patient though, doing everything I could. I'd been leaving tons of 'I want to meet you. Please show yourself and talk to me' notes at every way-finding signs and at the broken statue of King Harsh established at the entrance of the streets. Even after a week, the stack of papers remained there. But later, a lot of them have started to disappear. Without building my hopes up, I simply told myself that they were just getting dusted off by the currents of the winds.

However, my mornings weren't completely wasted with this unproductive activity. In fact, I was loving the amazing progress I made within a couple of weeks. There were a lot of unique laws and regulations that King Aghasthya had never made us aware of or rather waiting for me to accept the Will first. I'd started to appreciate Dhanunjay who had been waking up early, before the crack of dawn, to spend atleast an hour giving me classes. After all this time, there was still one missing link required before an avalanche burst in King Aghasthya's heart. Today, I was hell-bent to get what I wanted, and for it, I was determined to manipulate Dhanunjay well.

"The letter you gave me the other day is posted," he said, zipping up his puffer jacket and stuffing his hands inside the pockets. "I know this is your personal matter. But because you mentioned that its personal and that even King Aghasthya shouldn't know about it... I'm suspicious. Who did you send that letter to? Tell me now!"

"To my aunt," I replied, and it was an outright lie. I didn't mind lying anymore, as long as I knew that it was for a good cause. Words have started to emerge before even I considered what to say. That was the kind of subtlety I wanted to possess to survive in this country.

"She's in Madhyakshetra?" he asked.

I nodded. "Somehow Narula dynasty is the only place that isn't much prone to the beasts. So we asked her to move." Atleast something honest has come out of my mouth this morning.

"Oh well..." he shrugged, and his face sagged. He had been wondering for weeks whether or not I was conforming to the laws. And then seemed to get dissatisfied finding me sincere. "So what else do you want to know today?"

"Is that all the Book of Law contains regarding the duties of Samagraha?"

He chuckled. "No! The Book of Law is humongous, filled with many more rules and regulations that most people don't even bother to follow. I'm only aware of fundamentals, and we have been through all of them."

"Sure?" I asked, keeping my face expressionless.

He shrunk his eyes. "Hayden Mackay, you're a potential king. You really need to get some real official training and King Aghasthya is the best person for that."

"We shall see. Perhaps, one day I might wake up with a sudden interest to do that as well, just like how I'm interested to know about the actual right and regulations awarded to a Samagraha."

He smiled. "You know I'm actually flattered. You guys have come a long way. Neither you nor Pruthvi ever showed an interest in this matter. You have just been doing your duties blindly without even knowing why you are doing it."

"I know. I admit my mistakes. Doctor's methods really taught us that life doesn't come with ready-made instructions. We learn as we put the effort. And we are making progress to accept the facts. Now that we have officially moved to Paramarashtra, we do want to know more about this country. I don't know, I might actually start liking it."

"You will love it once you get to know it. Our culture is beautiful and everything has an in-depth meaning. And speaking of the terrors of Shashi or Almourah, well which country doesn't have drawbacks. Ours is a little complicated at that."

"A little?" I said, raising a single eyebrow and holding back my laughter.

He glared at me with his shrunken eyes. "Should I go? Or should I stay?" he asked, firmly.

"Sorry," I said, "Dhanunjay, there is something I was wondering. With everything we have gone through in the past few weeks, somehow it seems that Panchayat set these fixed, most rigid rules only to Samagraha. I know we supernaturally powerful but we're still meant to be trustworthy. So, I want to know where do we actually stand in terms of status in Panchayat?"

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Do we have any status equivalent to any officials? We report to the King and he takes a special interest in us. So, I don't believe we are just the Kings' slaves, are we?"

He gasped loudly, sat straight in his seat and then burst out laughing. "Oh geez, I totally forgot to tell you about the Shreni System. Heck, we should have actually begun our classes from that."

"Shreni System?" I asked leaning forward with full of zeal. "Can we talk about it?"

In the damp morning darkness, fireflies flashed over to the rails of the front porch, filling in the soft sparkle of light. Dhanunjay watched its frantic battering as he tried to explain. "It is difficult to precisely describe the term Shreni. It was actually started during the age of the Second-generation Samagraha. When this country was disintegrated into provinces and then smaller dynasties. Up until then, there had been only a single king ruling the entire country. Only a single king dealing with the unofficial clans. And of course, with the terror of Almourah ever-present, it was getting burdensome for the one king and twelve Samagraha to protect the rising population of the country."

Fireflies flew towards the canopy of the porch, sparkling like million gems. Through the window, I watched Nazira approaching into the living room, lit the lanterns and then moved ahead to fix herself a glass of hot chocolate. Leena emerged from the walkway. The two friends gave each other a morning hug. Pruthvi walking over from behind, grumbled, "Hardik still doesn't want to work. I feel like chucking it away." Three of them then shared a brief laugh, before quickly departing further inside the house.

"So you were saying?" I asked, wanting to have to interruption.

"Yes," he said and cleared his throat. "Because of all the disputes and incompetencies to control them, the king of that century ushered himself as the High King of Paramarashtra and chose the potential members to rule the dynasties. They were the Kings, the ancestors of today's Kings. In order to prove their reliability, those kings were also given limitations. They were known for their prejudices, and to instill fear in them, the High King promoted few of his knights giving them profound rights to penalize the wrongdoings of an unworthy king. Those knights are called the Sergeants."

"Sergeants?" I asked, perplexed, "What happened to them now? Did the kings get rid of them?"

"Of course not. We do have Sergeants. It's every knight's dream to become one because they are dangerous and more powers than any of the knights. Why do you think King Aghasthya is so particular about following the rules every time he breathes?"

I felt heavy in my stomach. "Never knew they existed."

He shrugged. "No surprise there. They are only a threat to the Kings. No one else cares about them. Oh, and by the way, you should watch out for yourself too. There could be a Sergeant having an eye on you."

I jerked, slightly taken aback. An impulse arose to get up off my seat and to take a look around for anyone prying into my private affairs as if my own Constellia wasn't enough. I rubbed my nape, trying to calm my nerves that were getting excited unnecessarily. Dhanunjay must be probably bluffing given that I wasn't officially a King yet. I crossed my hands leaning back and regained my composure. "So the Sergeants are ranked one place below the High King and a place above the Kings of a dynasty, right?"

"Correct. These three classes are listed as the Higher officials of the Panchayat."

"Why weren't they present during Doctor's funeral? Sergeants, I mean."

"They were," he said, nodding. "A High King never comes out of his palace without a Sergeant. They are dressed as any other knight of a certain province or as a local villager. Their selection process is done in a very confidential manner. They are low in number but are as dangerous as being trapped in a viper's lair. They are allowed to scatter among the knights of the other dynasties or mingle in the village as common citizens. They are given full open rights. You never know when a person would show up with a badge and instantly arrest you."

That rose a slight temper. "If Sergeants are that powerful, then there shouldn't be a situation where a King crossed the lines or went against the rules of Book of Law, right?"

"Who are you referring to?"

The name Bhupathi Garg instantly danced at the edge of my mouth. But instead of bringing his name up, I chose someone else to be safe. "King Harsh Thribhuvan. It was a piece of common knowledge, wasn't it? He wasn't allowed to use Doctor to implant the magic at the Uttarameer's border. But he did it anyway. Why wasn't he instantly arrested but given a chance to explain in the Panchayat?"

"If the High King dismisses a case, then what good a Sergeant's appeal is?" Dhanunjay answered, shutting my mouth. "King Harsh did face a lot of problems. Sergeants did file complaints, a variety of charges were pressed against him. But eventually, the greater good was taken into consideration, and that made him walk free. Nobody can ever deny that your grandfather was a great king, Hayden Mackay."

I looked away, mulling. Perhaps my grandfather did have the support from the High King to fearlessly do as per his will. So the idea had already been put in use. Damn it, another excuse for everyone to find similarities between us. However, I had no intention to repeat the mistakes he had committed. One of which was taking the risk of violating the rules in the name of the greater good.

"Alright," I said, sighing at the burden of commitment I gauged myself to see things till the end, "That's some information. Let's talk about the remaining ones. Like us."

"Yes, the lower officials. From a given dynasty it's not just the King considered as a member of Panchayat. The Noble Knight, the leader of the complete army of knights and a few selective ministers, like my father, are all part of the Panchayat. The Noble Knight takes the orders from the King and commands his army, whereas a minister passes the orders from the King to the Sarpanch of the village. Finally, the last section of the lower officials, to take orders from the King is the Samagraha."

My stomach knotted. "Are you telling me that a Samagraha does have a share in the Panchayat?"

Dhananjay bit his lip. "Existence of Samagraha is not ever-present. You know the third generation started only when Tyrell Kissler was chosen ten years ago. So a Samagraha is not given importance in the Panchayat. But technically, they are at the same level as that of a Noble Knight and the minister, except they don't pass the orders but straightforward implement them...without questioning back or arguing with the King."

I pursed my lips watching him stare pin and needles at me. "Understood," I said. "So The Shreni System is..."

"...is the lasting form of Paramarashtrian government system where the administration is divided into two parts-Higher and lower officials. The High King, the Sergeants, the Owner of the Diamond, The kings of the Dynasty, the noble knights, ministers and finally the Samagraha-together they form the Panchayat."

Finishing the recital, he let out a huge dramatic exhale that made me burst out laughing.

"Take a breather!" I said, and then something struck to me which I repented asking him to breathe. "Owner of the Diamond? Doctor? Where does he fit in Panchayat?"

"The owner of the Diamond is to the High King as same as the Samagraha to the King of the dynasty. Doctor had direct contacts with the High King. Their affairs had been maintained as top-secret information. Not even the King or a Sergeant would know the things brewing between them."

A sensible thought formulated in my mind. "Nobody can fill in Doctor's place, that's the abiding respect we have on him. But politically, Ashwant Veer did replace him. The affairs between Ashwant and the High King assumed to be private. Correct?"

I smiled barely watching Dhanunjay nod as a reply to my questions. The missing link I was looking for, had always been in front of my eyes. It was Ashwant Veer. He shall be an easy conveyance all the way up to the High King. And of course, the letter that I had sent could use a backup to put on a fast track.

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