|| - Shifting Sands II- ||

Like the moon
She had a side of her
So dark, that even stars
couldn’t shine on it
- Abigail J.

The tale was barely beginning, Kashi could feel it in her bones. It was the end of one cycle. What had begin with betrayal was coming to an end in the same bitter way. Only, too many threads entangled and pulling in various directions - apart from that, they had come where they had set off. A full circle around and the tale was beginning again.

David and Kashi stood in the assassins’ underground prison. The darkness was tinted with browns of daylight, and the rotten walls smelled ages of mold and dust. It might have been a library or an archive back in the day. There were shelves dug into the cave walls and piles of discarded wood that had been ripped off the walls and thrown in the corners. Only their remains were left after being used as fire wood and Kashi had the distant impression that any books might have received a similar fate a long before.

They were facing each other but in the long pause that followed since they were shut  and bolted in the dungeons neither had spoken about the confrontation with Bhadra. Kashi exhaled loudly and turned around, examining the mouldy walls instead.
It was one thing her captivity had gifted her. Kashi had eyes trained for darkness. Although she had used to sneak around in the guise of Meghdyuth, there were times like these when her sharp sight picked up things from the surrounding.
It was a survival trait of sorts, David thought as he watched her pace around. Still unable to phrase a sentence, confession or otherwise. He was too addicted to the cool calm of the sense of control he had around him that everything about Kashi Bai made him restless.

She knows - the thought curled and settled in the pit of his mind. She knew that giving her name to Bhadra was no slip of tongue. And she was making it obvious. He could see it in her shifting gaze, the straight line of her back, and her curled fists. She was neither fazed nor heartbroken over the revelation. Instead Kashi Bai took betrayal in the wild way that she was - like a tigress, ready to  spring.

They should not be wasting time on a truth they were both aware of. Time for explanations will come later. He had opened his mouth to say something - a thought he had already lost a moment later as Kashi pulled out her carved dagger.
Their eyes met for a fleeting moment and he felt the undiluted flames of her gaze brush against him. He might have prepared to battle it out when instead she turned towards the wall and started to peel of the moss clinging to the stone.

The moldy mess cleared in the scratching sound that followed as David stepped closer to scrutinize what had intrigued her. There were figures drawn on the wall. Faded lines of charcoal that had a crooked and uneven look about them. As if the hand that put them up was not trained in any form of calligraphy at all and lacked any general drawing skills. It was a desperate try to reproduce complex shapes by an amateur.

Kashi’s small hand traced the lines as her forehead creased in a frown. The sprase amount of daylight that thinned the darkness around them shone in pale patches along  the walls. Every surface was covered with more horrendous attempts at line diagrams. Only with time it seemed the creator had improved significantly. On the wall opposite to them, right next to the bolted door a pattern that resembled a lotus ( if one was to disregard all the unnecessary lines) covered most of stone.

“They did it.” Kashi muttered to herself, as her arm fell down at her side. “They blinded her.”

David said nothing, as he waited for her to compose herself and elaborate.

“I think I know who the prisoner was - and who is responsible of her fate.” She said after a pause, turning back to face him. “My mother was always true to her word.”
“That’s why the drawings are so horrible?” David mused aloud. “Because the artist was blind? And over the time -” he continued without waiting for an answer. “- she mastered the art again.”

“She was once the best - I’m sure it was only a matter of time. And she had never forgotten the image of the last tattoo she ever engraved.” Kashi said distantly. “Sudha was an exceptional woman. I’m sure she hates me with a passion.”

“Was she the one -”

“Don’t play dumb Dev,” Kashi snapped at him. “You knew so far already. This is what you were after,” she raised her hands to gesture at the crude drawings around them. “If Sudha is on your side you don’t require me anymore. Is that not what you wanted to confirm for your father?”

She uttered the last word with such venom that it sounded an abuse than an endearment. Something about her words had stroked the fire in him that David’s eyes flashed like sky in thunder.

“If you think that kept you alive - you are wrong Kashi Bai. You and I both know that.” His tone was still calm, though his words carried an edge that made Kashi snort.
“Ah - so after playing my savior at Gayatri’s pool did you run to your father to inform him of your findings?” Her eyes burned in rage, one of her hands still curled around the dagger so tight that her knuckles turned white.

“I did not tell him!” David snapped.

“How benevolent of you!” Kashi hissed. “Should I thank you on my knees for extending my sorry excuse of a life - forgive me - Mr. McLane that won’t be happening!”

“Listen to me - foolish woman,” David’s voice rose a notch higher. “It is not me who will be after your life once that woman reaches were she is heading to.” He exhaled sharply his chest having from the effort it took to keep his temper. “I think it was Shivjit - the man who was here earlier. He took her away. She is the biggest bargaining chip he could have against lord McLane right now.”

Kashi inhaled slowly, her figure leaning against the mouldy wall behind her.

“You were going to make me a queen.” She said slowly as if the realization dawned to her just then.
“I will make you a queen!”

“Is that how much you hate me? So deep and so bitter that you would not take my life but my freedom? You are going to make me the queen of McLane’s game Dev, I could wish for no worse fate.”

“You deserve none the less,” his words cut more than the conversation that bled into silence thereafter.

David turned away from her, aimlessly admiring the progression of Sudha’s drawing skills along the length of the wall. David always said what he intended, unless the fulfillment of his intention required his silence. He was honest with Kashi right then.
He wondered if her heart was breaking. And then wondered even if it was, why would it bother him?

“Who do you mean Dev?” He had almost missed Kashi’s question. “Whose punishment is this? Mine or yours?”

There was the reason why he hated Kashi Bai. She always knew exactly where it hurt him. And her words did their intended damage.

**
“You are very much mistaken if you believe I would trust you to go on your own.” Satya reined in his horse before addressing his companion, whose only response was a bitter scowl. Afreen’s eyes burned amber in the glare of the sun, as she assessed the precipice rising before them.

“For a moment there you almost sounded concerned about me, Satyavaan miyya,” she said sarcastically before sliding off her mount with the grace of a dancer. Satya snorted as he followed her and joined her to star up at the pinnacle shading the blinding sun from their eyes. “But don’t you worry, I’m not deluded enough to start believing that you could care about me!” 

“I’m relieved,” Satya informed her. “Though not quite enough to lose my sense and follow you on a suicide mission.” He grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. “You will tell me now, what you are up and about.”

“What else, we are going to rescue her.”

“And why - if you may care enough to explain - can’t we do it in the normal human way?”

Afreen glared at him, her jaw set in a tight line.

“I’m not certain if I reminded you or not Satyavaan Miyya, these people are assassins. They are men who lay deathtraps on their entrance for daily fun. In case you want to either spent an year finding and avoiding each of them or you plan to get captured and keep Kashi Bai company in her cell - I suggest you follow me.”

She exhaled deeply, as if he wore her down with his constant nagging and pulled a rope from her saddle bag.

“How do you know so much about them?” Satyavaan asked as he watched her attach the rope to a short bow. She did not waste her time  looking at him as she prepared her tools for the climb.
“They made Afreen.”

Her brows were frowned, as she looked up at the precipice again.

“Trust me on this - I know this place like the back of my hand. I will not let them harm Kashi Bai in any way.”

Satya could not help but raise his eyebrow.

“Coming from the woman who tried to burn her alive - that sounds reassuring.”

Afreen clutched her fists for a moment but when she spoke her voice was calm.
“If I had really wanted to kill her - I doubt you would be able to stop me.” She shot the rope without even looking at her target and pulled on it, showing him how it had found the exact spot she wanted.

“Do you know the difference between and assassin and a soldier Satyavaan Miyya? One is that soldiers are taught to defend, there is a subconscious fear of death installed in their minds - but assassins, assassins live with death, it’s their old friend. After seeing death, tasting it so many times they don’t care about killing or dying anymore.”

She stepped so close that she could stare deep into his eyes, so that he would have no choice but to hold an assassin’s gaze as she uttered the last few words.

“I wasn’t going to kill Kashi Bai - I was going to cut her free. I’m going to say this only once more. I’ve never pretended I’m an angel, I’m not. This is who I am - a witch, as bitter as they come. If you want to fight what is waiting for us up there you just have to deal with it.”

**

Hit the little star to light up my sky! It would make me do happy to know you are reading!
Thanks!