|| - Eyes of An Enemy - I - ||

Love has its place, as does hate

Peace has its place, as does war

Mercy has its place, as do cruelty and revenge…

- Meir Kahane

_____

Midnight had passed. The unease he had woken up to did not allow David to return to his spiteful dreams. Andrew had left an ancient text which he had undoubtedly nicked from some scholar’s collection stretched out on his table. Although the script was unfamiliar the sketches of hawk symbols hinted at its context.

He scanned the scroll for one pointless minute before deciding to give up on the unruly symbols and exit his self imposed confinement in search of his friend. However in their common living area, which they used as their plotting room, it was not Andrew who he came across. Sitting on the cushioned stool and bent over the desk illuminated by candles was Kashi, practising her calligraphy. Wounds of his past rubbed raw by his nightmares David lingered at the threshold for a minute; wondering if he would dare to withstand a conversation with Kashi Bai without offering her a glimpse into his twisted schemes.

She was so absorbed in her work that she did not sense his presence behind her and continued to trace the complicated curves diligently. His feet led him towards her and David stood behind her, overlooking her progress across the worksheet. Her ink smudged fingers stopped once in a while to adjust a line that was rather crooked, or unnecessarily long.

When he had taken up the task of giving Meghdyuth a new disguise David had not expected her to catch up with every subtle note of Keren’s life with such perfection. Writing was the only aspect of her assumed role that Kashi had struggled with. Since Keren McLane was not supposed to exchange written missives with the Nawab of Chandranagara they had not pondered much upon it either. But looking at her pouring over a practice sheet that Andrew had prepared for her David could already see how much she had improved over the short span of time.

Kashi’s lips twitched as she made another mistake. She paused on her writing and glared at the crooked line.

“You are using too much force on the pen,” David spoke suddenly, surprising both of them. Kashi’s shoulders straightened and she sat up straighter suddenly aware of his presence behind her. He shook his head slightly inwardly admonishing himself for speaking up too soon and leaned over to help her with her writing.

“Don’t hold too close to the tip,” he said correcting her grip on the pen. She let him, her cold fingers easily following his touch. “There - align the tip a little and let the ink fill the lines smoothly,” he directed her to dip the pen into the inkwell and they started on the practice sheet afresh. With his practiced hand leading hers, the curves had turned out to be smoother and the letters linked elegantly with one another.

In the enemy’s eyes lies your truest reflection

David’s hand stilled as if reined in by an invisible string and their gazes collided. The warm black bored into the cool gray depths with curiosity.

“You do not trust me, do you Kashi Bai?” David said evenly, his gaze unblinking. Kashi lifted her chin defiantly.

“Is that a conclusion or a wish?”

David’s hand slipped off from hers and the pen landed on an ink blotch in the practice sheet. Neither of them paid any attention to their neat work getting ruined as they continued to hold each other’s gaze.

“What made you think that?” He asked her, his tone frosty.

“Your eyes,” Kashi replied. “They are too guarded to be friendly but too familiar to disregard altogether.” Then she shook her head as if to rid herself of the confusing thought and David stepped away from her, folding his arms and his lips pressed. “You’re too much of a storm to be considered a shelter Mr. McLane.”

“For some reason it feels relieving to hear you say that,” he told her, in spite of his better judgement.

“Are you gathering your defence against betrayal Dev?” Kashi did not look at him as she said those words dismissively, her hands were busy gathering the papers full of her practiced calligraphy.

David closed his eyes, a moment too late to hide the flash of silver across the cold depths of his eyes. Kashi’s posture stiffened.

“You’ve been talking to Andrew,” his voice was barely above a whisper.

“Yes.”

David swallowed not daring to imagine how much of his doubts Andrew had relayed to the princess.

“And he has a lot of complaints?”   

Kashi took her time to answer as she put away the papers and closed the chest which contained all her writing material before turning to face him. David held his breath, anticipating her answer. He was very close to disappoint lord McLane, a mistake that he did not dare to repeat.

“He is very angry with you,” she said shortly. “And refused to discuss the matter with me.” He couldn’t help but exhale with relief. “”Why don’t you just talk it out with him, if it keeps both of you awake at such an ungodly hour?”

“I wish it was that simple,” David sighed unconsciously looking at the closed door for any sign of Andrew’s return.

“And it’s not?”

“Unfortunately so. You’re still learning the rules of a game we are tired of playing Kashi Bai. I wish I was better at explaining.”

**

She recalled his words. “You’re still learning the rules of a game we are tired of playing…” Kashi pulled her hair into a bun at the top of her head before tying up the dark turban that comprised her Meghdyuth attire. The dark tilt in his tone still lingered in her memory like a bitter aftertaste. Kashi wanted to trust Dev, but David McLane was not making it an easy task.

She had convinced herself not to analyze it too much by the time Kashi left for their prearranged meeting point. David was yet to arrive and Andrew had brought over their horses for the brief journey. It was a less populated gate at the east side of the fortress that they choose to leave. Keren McLane was supposedly resting inside her locked room while Meghdyuth joined Andrew once he had exited the inner city of Chandranagara.

Andrew did not greet her as Kashi joined him, lending a hand in steering the horses through the thin crowd passing in and out of the outer Chandranagara. They had chosen a back ally to make their escape. Only a handful of vendors had their shabby stalls stretched on the sides; speaking in hushed tones to customers who looked equally uncomfortable to have been spotted as they were. Nobody looked at another in the eye as people in heavy grabs hurried past towards the more populated areas of the inner or outer city.

“Welcome to Chandranagara black market,” Kashi told him as she caught Andrew eyeing a seller who was selling some weird looking blackish brown herbs to a yellowish skinned man.

He did not reply and following his eyeline Kashi noticed it was not the herb seller that had his attention but the woman in the dark grab who was conversing with the owner of a mirror store next door.

“Noor?”

Indeed it was Noor Banu, looking less like the timid Nawabzadi and more like some secret spy. Kashi watched her leaving the shop with a small pouch in her hand and turned her gaze back to Andrew who had suddenly gone oddly rigid.

It took him a moment to return to his present with Kashi from whatever dark thoughts that had befallen him and Andrew handed her the reins of one of the two horses he was leading.

“Kashi Bai, please tell Dave something urgent came up. I must go before it is too late.”

With no more further explanations he turned around and elbowed his way through the crowd towards the direction to where Noor had previously vanished.

Kashi took another moment to observe his progress through the crowd and sighed before turning to lead both horses towards the desert opening ahead of her.

From his hiding place in the shadows Shivjit watched her leave. With his sharp focus he could still spot her once the moving crowd had swallowed her dark figure. He waited a few moments until she had left the borders of the outer Chandranagara completely before pulling the reins of his horse forward. The beast nudged at his neck with its wet nose and puffed a breath expressing its unwillingness to join the streaming crowd.

He paid no thought to its protests as he started to follow the trail of his sister. It was only until they left the shadow of Chandranagara that he planned to remain behind her. Shivjit had no plans of following his sister’s lead to their destination. For him to attain his purpose he would have to be swifter and faster than his sister and her companion would be. In a sense he was happy that Andrew did not accompany them. The foreigner had a keen sense of surroundings which would have alerted them to his presence.  

It seemed the gods were aiding him in his task. He muttered a quick prayer out of habit rather than faith as he mounted his horse in the outskirts of Chandranagara. He was doing this for his mother; there would be no greater purpose.

**

To be continued in Eyes of An Enemy II

Something is boiling, now we have Shivjit added to the mix. What do you think he is up to, following Kashi on her journey? Does he by any chance have something to do with the secret they are trying to unearth?

Tell me what you think in the comments.

Thank you for reading and do vote! (it’s the little star below)