Demurs filled the hall and disquiet crept in like a background music. Only difference was she couldn't hear a thing those elite people were yelling behind. She just gaped her father trying to find any sign of mischief. It had to be one of his pranks which he used to play to scare her. Maybe he was angry on her, maybe he was upset because she didn't cooperate. Maybe he was disappointed in her because she ran away instead of coming to him. But to her dismay, she didn't even find a single line in his eye which could recognize her. He was just staring her distressed face blankly. 

"It's me. Nandini," Nandini said holding his hands. 

"Do not scare me, Papa," She murmured wiping the tears from back of her hand. She waited for him to melt but nothing changed on his blank face. He wasn't joking, this deduction hit her like a windstorm. 

"Now what would you say?" A voice echoed the hall as one by one each person sitting there sought answers from that dictator. 

"He slapped you across the face," Another one yelled and Nandini kept trying to read the situation. 

"He would not sign the God damn papers," Some lady shouted on top of her voice and bitter struck Nandini's ears like edgy glass. 

She turned around to see the face of that dictator who was head of that barbaric army. He looked like a death summon as he glared both of them. Mr Murthy's gripped Nandini's hand tight and Nandini looked at him with a smile. She hoped how he had recognized her. 

"It's me, papa," She uttered trying to seek his warmth but that clutch wasn't about affinity but fear. His eyes were timid as he looked at that dictator. Before her heart could refuse to take the ache, he hid behind her like a kid. He was trembling and was continuously murmuring something. 

"Quiet," Dictator yelled to shut the demurs up. 

Protests died one by one as an army walked in marching like death. Nandini could hear her father's helpless gasps as he had started to plead already. 

Not in her entire life, she had felt this lost. She was standing in middle of strangers who were for sure not her well-wisher and the only man she knew had refused to recognize her. All she thought all this while was that her father was one of them. She knew he had bowed down in front of that new rule. She had never imagined that she would meet him in such a cruel reality where he was nothing of a man she knew and she was no one to him. Reality had thrown her on cold harsh ground. 

That autarch walked towards her and she counted each his calculated step. Today was the first time she was standing alone and she had that one reason for whom she had to rise above. Her fears, her anxiety, her heartache, her tiredness, her helplessness; nothing could stop her from protecting what she had found after losing. Her father. 

"Playing, aren't we?" That man leaned in and murmured over her shoulder. Mr Murthy shrunk more almost barring the blood in Nandini's veins with that grip. 

"You doesn't know who Nandini is? Sounds like a perfect plan," That man uttered with tinge of excitement. 

Club in his hand twirled as if mapping its target and Nandini couldn't miss any detail. 

"Do not hurt him, please," Nandini requested lowly and those ruthless eyes gawked her angelic face so close. 

"Who said I would?" Dictator asked and Nandini's eyes shot to meet his. 

Grabbing her shoulder in a second, he put that edgy club on her neck and pressed it in her skin. She yelped and that filled the hall with gasps. 

"He doesn't know who you are. I see no reason why you should live, Nandini. Tell him to drop the play," He uttered. Nandini could read between the lines. She gaped her father but could see only horror which had nothing to do with dripping blood off her neck. She bit her lip to suppress the cry but a whimper escaped her throat. She could see her father retreating and all her doubts got splashed with merciless reality. Her father wasn't playing any game. He didn't know her anymore. Wet running down her cheeks or red flowing down her neck didn't move him. He had forgotten his daughter. 

"Either die or tell him to sign the paper," He murmured in her ear and she closed her eyes owing to sharp pain in her neck. That acute club was piercing her skin in fatal hope that her father would agree to dictator's demand. 

"Leave her"

"She will die"

"You cannot kill our only chance to get those papers signed"

Nandini could hear demurs which favored her. She could count each that word as her only defense. She knew she was precious, now she knew why. All this while, they needed her for that one signature which they needed from her father. She didn't know what had happened to her father that he was no more the person he used to be. But she knew she needed to save them both. She licked her lips in anxiety as each that cavil she heard kept adding in her quiver. She needed to use them as her protection somehow. 

"You cannot have us killed," She retorted murmuring. 

"It's your delusion," That man quickly ended the useless arc. 

"Commando," He yelled and Nandini could hear footsteps approaching them. 

"Throw him off the cliff," He instructed. 

"NO," Nandini yelled amid that deafening terror. 

"Tell me what do you want?" Nandini asked and that was enough for greedy ears to grasp. She had to sound interested. She needed to act before it was too late. She cannot let her father die.

"His signature," One man from the elite crowd instantly answered. 

"Nothing. I need nothing from you," Dictator nullified only to start the demurs again. Leaving her with a jerk, he walked away. Nandini held her neck and her hand trembled as she saw blood on it. 

"Enough of you, idiots," He yelled at fancy throats which were trying to shout. 

"I have had enough of you, fools," He yelled and stakeholders gaped him in disbelief. 

"Talk about signature one more time and I would dig your graves right here," He warned and gasps filled the air. His frustration was speaking and that surely wasn't going well with his renowned stakeholders to whom he had sold that state which he didn't even own. 

"You cannot talk to us like that," One lady objected. 

"We have invested in this state and we have all the right to make it legal," She put the point forward.

"And what is legal in a place where anarchy is?," Dictator asked approaching that wealthy female. 

"I am the law," He announced and that lady sank in her chair with the dominance his voice had. They all were puppets of his little play of power and now there was no escape. 

"It's for you industrialists I had to keep this minister alive so that he can sign that worthless paper," He said walking frustratingly across the dais. 

"But now I have had enough," He announced and glared Mr Murthy. 

"This little princess," He said walking towards Nandini, "She had my soldiers dead in their quest of finding her and now her father doesn't recognize her." He chuckled frustratingly.

"I have no time for such sport," He said leaning to meet her face. Nandini held her ground by not falling short to that dark demeanor. She couldn't give up her last piece. She couldn't stand scared of him. 

"That paper, I know you don't need it but they do," Nandini stated the last part aloud. 

"They are not autocrats like you but smart businessmen who I am sure would not do a single trade without it being on paper," She said as firmly as she could. Her pulse drummed inside her throat as she took that one last chance to save herself and her father. She didn't know what that paper meant to their deal but she knew it was important to those people sitting there. 

"Try to harm him and you would lose this arrangement," She ended pointing at countless stakeholders in hall. 

And then she waited. She waited looking at stern face of that dictator, wishing to hear demurs again. Each second felt like a decade as nothing touched her ears. She didn't have courage to look away because she was afraid if her words didn't work. She was terrified if those people didn't get instigated. 

"We need to talk," That phrase echoed like a sigh of relief and Nandini finally breathed. She could hear chairs screeching as people got up. 

"Minister has to live till he signs that paper," Some yelled and Nandini panted listening to sound of her little victory. Her provocation had started to work.  One point after another, chain of her victory was long. 

"Take them both," Dictator growled lowly to his men. His face was stiff as he tried not to look agitated. His entire set up was on stake. He could not kill those stakeholders. He had worked years to plan this invasion. He could not let a little girl and her father ruin it all. But he didn't have an option. He couldn't lose those fickle businessmen who had got sold to a young girl's audacity. 

Commandos dragged them both towards the exit and Nandini could hear demurs growing stronger. She could hear protests which were ensuring their safety. She had bought some time. She knew she could pull it off. She knew she could play the game. And deep inside, she knew this time she had people who would be coming after her. 

___________________________

Another town passed. 

Manik drove the trailer past that deserted check-post in grey of night. They were out of dense valley and that brutal snow. Aryan had unintentionally served the purpose by bringing that trailer to the remote north. He looked at Aryan who was sitting next to him. They had dropped the people they had brought in trailer along in previous town. Abbas was bringing rest of them in other trailers. 

It was day two of that endless driving. Aryan was being helpful and that wasn't a pleasing fact to Manik. He could not ever trust Aryan with anything related to Nandini. 

He exerted the brakes in haste and got off the trailer. He could not take that Aryan along. Reaching the other side, he pulled Aryan out. 

"Manik," Aryan gasped in shock. 

Pasting the scared Aryan to the truck wall, Manik put his elbow on Aryan's jaw making him hiss in pain. 

"What is it?" He asked making Aryan more baffled. 

"What is bringing you along? What is there for you?" Manik asked a bit loud and Aryan groaned. 

"Leave me, Manik," Aryan retorted angrily. 

"Why are you so keen to come along?" Manik asked releasing him. Aryan pushed Manik in reflex. 

Both brawled only to gain  superiority but one had to stop and it was Aryan. 

"You are one thankless moron," Aryan put the allegation. 

"You can never be humble," He added only to get nothing from Manik. 

Manik walked back to driver's seat and Aryan ran after him. 

"You cannot rule me out every time," Aryan objected pulling him from elbow. 

Manik glared him and Aryan had to gulp down his ire. He could not mess with Manik when there was no one to even stop that monster. 

"It wasn't a good feeling when I was traveling to find you people," Aryan confessed as they both stood in front of headlights. 

"Uhhh..It didn't feel right..to think that you and she might be dead," He added and Manik gritted his teeth. 

"Stop your drama," He growled and hopped on the trailer. 

"Believe me," Aryan yelled pleadingly. 

"You cannot deny the fact that we are related," He yelled further and Manik glared him through windshield. Aryan was trying his best to feel affiliated because he was tired being lost. 

"You cannot deny the fact that we are bound by same blood. We are sons of same father," Aryan added and Manik just kept staring him. 

"Get off the road," Manik yelled back starting the ignition. 

"No, I won't," Aryan yelled back. 

"Then die," Manik put the vehicle in gear and accelerated the trailer. Aryan screamed and jumped off the road. 

Ending up in dusty bushes, he came at term with fact that he was alive and his ruthless brother had left no stone unturned to make sure he dies. He counted each breath like a  prayer and saw the taillights of trailer disappearing in night fog. Manik had abandoned him in middle of nowhere. 

__________________________

Nandini looked at her sleeping father and then back at night sky which was clear. Stars were only thing she could see over those gorgeous mountains. Clear sky wasn't a good news. She knew humidity would invite the clouds. It was day two of her imprisonment. All she did in these two days was trying to know what had happened to her father. She couldn't let him slip off her sight. She could not risk his life. They had put her in same room where he was. No one came to meet her since yesterday. Only food arrived through a service window. Her father hadn't spoken a thing to her despite her numerous attempts to talk. She had cut open each of her childhood memory but he didn't respond to one. Tears again made a way to her eyes and Nandini hit the glass window angrily. She didn't want to cry anymore. Crying wasn't helping. 

"Tears don't help. You can cry rivers and still you would be so full." 

Manik's words came as something she was running away. Reality. 

She couldn't sleep. She had tried but every time she closed her eyes, she could see his face and hear that gunshot. Her heart ached with each beat thinking about aftermath of that gunshot. Each minute which passed was testing her faith. She knew he couldn't be gone. He couldn't be, otherwise she would have known. She could feel him even when he wasn't there. Her heart ached but didn't mourn. He had to be alive. 

"Manik," She whispered letting out the painful tears. She was thrown out in harsh reality and she regretted drowning in dream which didn't last. 

Manik's head hit the midnight air for forth time as he swayed between sleep and his stubbornness. He hadn't slept in hours and now sleep was threatening. His head ached with the gush of tiredness and he had to apply the brakes. Putting his head on steering wheel, he sighed. He could feel his eyes burning with sleep and he didn't have time for it. He let out a helpless groan and turned down the engine. Looking at the fuel gauge beneath, his heart sank. It was about to finish. He didn't know where would he find next gas station. Nothing was in his favor. Her face came in front of his eyes pacing his pulse. She was smiling at him. All those moments they had spent came dancing in front of his eyes as he hovered between dreams and reality. 

"Nandini," He murmured before giving in to mighty sleep. He needed to close his eyes before opening them to a new dawn.  He needed to meet her in dreams. 

_______________________

Nandini tangled with the peach colored dress she had worn. She was told to wear that dress and was now walking into a lavish room. She walked to the tea table and sat on fluffy couch as guards who had walked her left the room. She looked out of huge window as she waited for next summon. She could see a river of which there was no end. And beside was a town which looked like playing blocks from that height. It was beyond her belief how there was a world where still life was. All towns, cities and villages she knew were turned into ashes but here the dictator had made his own castle with its countrymen. It was a cloudy noon and she could feel a storm was on its way. Far away hills were bathed in mist. Door of that room opened and she saw the dictator walking in with a lady beside. Terror too walked in as she got reminded of his urge to kill her last time they had met. 

They smiled sweetly to her while Nandini stood up. 

"Ms Murthy," Dictator greeted with a fixed smile while Nandini tried to read the motive. 

"Please have a seat," He said and Nandini nodded. She knew a deal was on its way. But she also knew she was not like either of her parents, she wouldn't be negotiating. 

_____________

Manik walked in rain as his trailer had given up miles back. It was raining heavily. It was minutes since he could smell the food around. He needed that food to stay alive. As he came out of shadow of mountain, he saw human activity. He could see people sitting in rain with blank faces. They were dirty and tired. Their eyes held nothing but a wait for death. He walked among that human trail which seemed never-ending and then he saw something which was enough to make his fist clench. Army men stood at a distance under a shed with food and guns. His blood boiled looking at that uniform. All he wanted at that moment was to walk there and kill each one of them with his bare hands. 

"Throw this bastard away," He heard one of them yelling and next he saw an old man getting thrown on pebbles. 

"Either serve or no food," That soldier warned that yelping old man. 

There was a line on one side of shed where people desperately waited for their turn. It wasn't for food. It looked like some sort of selection. They scrutinized the strong men from weak ones before letting former have some food. It was pure business. They were trading food for service. 

"Why won't they let you in?" Manik asked the grumpy old man who was sitting just beside where he stood. 

"Dying ones are of no use to them," That man answered. His voice had no life or hope. 

"You go try your luck. They need young men," He tried to sound generous.  

"Young men? For what?" Manik asked for clearing his doubts. 

"They have a city to build," That old man revealed the piece of information he needed. Manik nodded his head before joining the enrollment line. Raindrops flowed down his stone body as he waited for his turn. He was going where he wanted to go. 

Army man roughly checked his pockets before asking him to lift the boulder. Manik silently followed each their instruction till he was listed. They let him in with a bowl of food and Manik walked to other side of fence. He could hear people pleading, begging and yelping for food behind. It was beyond what anyone could imagine. This was the other side of coin where people weren't running away or hiding but were surrendering in front of starvation. Screams of women touched his ears as he passed by wooden cottages. Those people were beyond what brutal could ever stand for. His blood boiled listening to those screams and heart forebode at possibilities. Where would she be and in what condition? He paced to enter the truck. Shutter of it closed and dark prevailed.  He could hear uncertain breaths of helpless men who were being transported to city. He couldn't wait to be there.  

________________

"Have your share of glory and rule the city," Dictator said simpering putting forward the little deal he had for Nandini. 

Nandini smiled meekly. She could see it coming. That man sitting in front of her was laying down the conditions of sparing life of her father. She was in same position today where her mother was one day. She couldn't believe the irony. Time was always cruel to her and it was her ignorance that she thought she was rescued. She and her family was in same mess where they once was. 

"And my father still won't sign the paper," She spoke firmly. 

"Nandini might be only name he chants but he doesn't know who this Nandini is," She uttered lowly using the shattering part as her only weapon. 

"We are of no use of you, Mr...," She halted at the last part. 

Dictator chuckled shaking his head. She was more than what she looked. She was trying to play with fire. 

"Call me almighty," He stated simpering. He needed to tell her who was God there. 

"I have my ways for everything," He stated trying to save his ego. 

 "You are a smart lady, Ms Murthy, unlike your parents. They had put their weakness on display while you play with it," He gave the due credit to young girl who might be coming across as amateur but trying hard to play the game. 

"This little play of your father and you is short lived. Doctors are examining him and believe me, he would be signing the papers before you exit this room," He said leaning in and Nandini could read the hidden warning. It was a lie which she was presenting. That facet of brave was nothing but only survival chance she had. She couldn't let it fade. She stared him while he smiled simpering. She had to gulp the fear thinking about what would those doctors be doing to her father. 

_________________________

Manik walked in cue of slaves as they were getting checked before crossing the gates. He was close, he knew. Only thing which haunted him was what if she wasn't there. He didn't know what would he do if she wasn't there. Guard checked him thoroughly before letting him through a huge gate. He looked around and saw signs of a civilization which was yet to start. Cottages were built and colonies were mapped. He could see men carrying the logs to the sawmills. 

New city wasn't a lie and that strengthened his belief how she being here had to be truth. 

"Speed up," A soldier hit his back with rifle butt and Manik sped his calculating walk. 

"Where is this white castle?" He asked the soldier beside only to get a hit on his face. That soldier hit him with butt of rifle and Manik's knees bent to meet muddy soil. Blood oozed out as inner of his mouth got a cut with his own teeth. He expected that. That hit confirmed if he was heading towards right place. 

"A slave wants to know where castle is," Soldier mocked while long cue got obstructed with little drama. Manik clenched his fist trying to control the urge to hit back. He couldn't be screwing it. 

"Worthless piece of shit like you has nothing to do with white castle," Soldier spewed the venom holding Manik's neck. Manik kept gazing muddy ground and smiled. White castle wasn't a lie either. 

"Right," He murmured and soldier pulled him up holding his collar. 

"Now walk and be quiet," He barked while Manik continued his quest. 

He had have enough of pieces from which he could build a bridge. He was there. 

________________________________________

Nandini gawked scared faces of unit which was assigned to take care of her father. They all had fear written over their faces as doctors left the room. She hurried to see her father and found him sitting in a corner. She sighed in relief seeing him alright. 

She didn't know what those doctors had said but faces around were enough to tell it wasn't something positive. She knew her father wasn't acting, there was no way she couldn't catch him if he was. He had lost his mind and she didn't have courage to know what those brutal people had done to him. Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw him cuddling his knees and curling into a ball. She couldn't be there for him when he needed her. She could hear his murmurs which had her name but his eyes had nothing. 

Those faces said the bitter truth. 

He had forgotten her. 

Door behind her closed and she didn't know when would they open again. 

_________________

__________________________________________

Unedited*