In celebration of CTS getting placed in the finalists list of Indian Literary Awards, this chapter is dedicated to LiteraryCommunityIN for their efforts and hard work!

|| - Enemy’s Jaws II - ||

“He in his madness prays for storms, and dreams that storms will bring him peace…”

- Mikhail Lermontov
__________

His eyes were of an unearthly color; and for some reason it fascinated her. Their grey was that of the darkest stormy clouds when a bolt sets them ablaze.  Sometimes, the only silver line found in a dark cloud could be a bolt of lightning. His eyes were beautiful in the same dangerous way as if their sparkle belonged to a bolt of vicious destruction. Kashi found herself drawn in by that glint. It was no trance like thing that poets liked to waste their breath on. It was an open challenge that she had willfully accepted. David McLane was a force to be reckoned, not to be bowed down to.

“Confess,” she said shortly, still holding his eye unblinkingly.

His inhale was sharp although inaudible. She watched the way planes of his chest rose with that gulp of air and a muscle worked at his jaw. David chuckled darkly, that silvery sparkle dancing in his eyes.

“How very – royal of you – Kashi Bai,” he said with a cold smile. His eyes crinkled at the corners and sparkled a little bit more. “But to confess one must be aware of their sins, wouldn’t you agree?” Kashi sat straighter as much as her aching ribs would allow her and watched him waiting for more words. But she received none.

“Fine – let me elaborate then,” Kashi said generously, only her eyes burned with fury. “You brought me here against my will.”

“And saved your life of cause!” David pointed out politely. “Not to forget that in that hour of need you were not in a condition to give consent.”

“Unless you have something to confess – you wouldn’t be here,” she said after a pause. “Now I come to think of it – perhaps I should have called a chaperon. A princess should not be alone with a man after all. Wouldn’t that be very royal of me now?”

“We’ve been alone before.”

“But I was not playing the part of the royal then – was I?” Kashi pointed out with a little artificial giggle. “What would you say, shall I call out for one?” Kashi narrowed her eyes at him and stretched out a pale arm towards the chalice of water Shivjit had left at her bedside.

“Very well then,” David still sounded aloof. “Let’s postpone this discussion to a later date.” He turned to leave and stopped only at the half cracked door when Kashi called out.

“You can say whatever it is you came to say,” she said then.

David shut the door once more and turned towards her, leaning against the closed door and hands folded against his chest.

“May I hear the reason for your sudden change of heart, Rajkumari Kashi?”

“I’m not in a mood to negotiate with Lord McLane’s agent. However, to my savior I owe a few moments of my time.”

“And this is your way of deciding which one is in front of you?”

“This is Madhavgadh,” she explained with a tilt of her head. “Lord McLane’s word is the unwritten law here. If you were coming under his banner, you could have made me listen to you whether I like it or not. That threat was really an empty one. But if you took it seriously, it could only mean that you do not want anyone to know you are here – or whatever it is that you are going to say.”

His eyes sparkled again in sharp silver like the edge of a blade.

“Does that mean you are no more a solider to your lord than I am a ward to the Nawab? What exactly are you Dev?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he said with another dark chuckle. She could not see his face anymore for he had stepped into the shadows. There was a pause again but too soon David was speaking. “But we have identities more urgent than mine to reveal.”

Kashi bit her lip his words had awoken the dark memories of that night. She remembered the intruder, the fight, the pain from the stab wound and the face of her beloved friend.

“Noor Banu,” they both said at once. In a sharp edge of a second, their gazes met again. “Is not guilty…” they finished simultaneously.

**

Tears slid down the marble that was supposed to hold the water from the fountain which worked no more. Its pond had dried up and almost filled to the ground level with dust. Noor sat on it, her skirts spread around her and her head resting on the beautifully carved rock as her body rocked with silent sobs.

The new inhabitants of Chandranagara fortress always complained that the old palace was haunted and frightening. It was one of the reasons why a majority of noble residents including those of Nawab and his family were situated as far away from those ruins as logically possible while all those buildings were contained within the same fortress.

Those ruins had never frightened Noor. Instead those fallen columns, crumbled walls and empty fountains were her secret keepers, witnesses of her ugliest moments and broken pieces. She cried that day in their shady embrace and felt her burden lift a little.

“I killed her! I – how could I do that? How could I do it and still be alive?”

“If you don’t get an answer, that means you are asking the question from the wrong person!”

Even without looking up, Noor knew who it was. For a moment she pondered on pretending not to have heard those words but then the footsteps behind her was solid proof that her chance of ignoring had long passed.

Andrew sat on the pond edge watching her with a curiously blank expression. He was wearing his glasses which effectively hid the flickering emotions in his eyes.

“Hello my lady!” He sounded cherry, as if stumbling upon a crying woman was a wonderful experience. “Nice to run into you - again!”

Noor ignored him and gathered her skirts and rose gracefully. He watched in silence as she climbed out of the dust filled pond and walk past him.

“How long are you going to pretend that you don’t understand me Noor Banu? I feel it’s my duty to inform you that I am aware you took part in the same lessons your brother were given – where he learned to converse with my people.”

She did not respond still and took another step towards the exit.

“You roam the ruins, you visit the river banks, you cry, you testify, you pretend nothing is out of place. You miss her, don’t you? And you feel even more guilty for that.”

The words were spoken so slowly and so bluntly that Noor could not stop her lip from trembling. She bit her lower lip but a treacherous tear dripped down her cheek.

“Makes me wonder in the first place why did you do it?”

“To punish myself for my mistake,” she said in the end in an accent that sounded as broken as broken as her tone.

**

“Have you –“ Kashi’s voice trailed off and her eyes widened a little. “That spark of light I saw just before I passed out – that was you!”

“I set off the explosion,” David confessed finally stepping into the light. “Although I had no hand in originally arranging that little firework show I knew it could be used for my cause.”

“Which I doubt was kidnapping me?” Kashi pressed her lips into an unimpressed line. “Need I remind you that I am Meghdyuth?” She looked even more irritated when David started to laugh.

“I was innocent on that account  - there, that’s not a daily occurring now is it? So I can wholeheartedly forgive that look. But I did not plan on kidnapping you. As I said before, I had followed Noor Banu and my original plan was to thwart whatever attack she made on you.”

“I’m sure you did not have an entirely noble intention of saving me though?”

“Well – I would have saved you eventually after she had done enough to open your eyes.”

“Lengths men can go for their ego,” Kashi mused humorlessly.

“And women, let us not forget.”

“But since we’ve both been wrong –“ again Kashi let her voice trail off and looked at him sharply. “Have you already solved it out or did you leave Chandranagara without knowing Noor Banu’s secret?”

“Not yet. But you see Kashi Bai – David McLane never truly leaves a place as long as there’s something he wants in there.”

“So you have placed someone to find it for you? And yourself returned to your father’s side, I wonder why?”

“I think I’ve already answered that question. Now if that’s all you’d like to know, perhaps we should put an end to our little discussion here.”

Kashi suddenly realized that she had no idea what time it was, or whether it was day or night. Just like it was in Chandranagara the drapes where drawn tightly together over the windows and they were thick enough to require candles to be lit. David had almost left when she called after him again.

“Yes, Rajkumari?”

“Teach me to fight blindfolded.”

For a moment David simply stared at her hard that muscle at his jaw twitching again.

“Who told you I could do that?”

Kashi raised an eyebrow a corner of her lips tugging upwards.

“I did not think you’d take it as a personal task – but why not – now that you’ve so generously confessed? And Dev, do trust your sister a bit more. She is not that lenient with her secrets!”

He did not bother to ask her how she had guessed on whom his suspicions were pinned but nodded once.

“On one condition.”

“Uh ah!”

“It’s only right to give your teacher something in return. Gurudakshina they call it?” His eyes were sparkling again and even before he had made his demand Kashi knew it was not going to be easily fulfilled. “I will teach you to fight only and only if you meet me outside –“ Kashi opened her mouth. “In broad day light.”

“Have you taken leave of your senses?”

“That’s my condition Kashi Bai. Give up on your curse or your desire.”

**

Things getting clearer or murkier?  What do you think?

I must confess in my original draft (yes, yes, the one I write as I pretend to note important points of a boring lecture!) Kashi and David had the entire mystery solved out in this chapter. But then, then, I was reminded of my Andrew boy and my need to give him a tiny piece of his own adventure – with his shady girl. So yeah, some of you had predicted they’d be a couple right? There you go, they are already sailing towards a potential ship, aren’t they?

A vote, to let me know how keenly you await the mystery to be solved, if you please!

Thank you for reading! (the chapter and this silly note too!)

Ps: Today we have Kashi Bai in the header, lost in her thoughts! ;-)