Chapter Sixty- Seven (Part 2)

At Kanchu Kota,
Mrithyunjay and his companion plodded along downstream on the barren landscape marred here and there by a dried stump or a prickly cactus. The waters of the river mixed superfluously with the darkness of the night. The flaming torch his companion held occasionally revealed rotting timber, severed animal carcasses, and moss that covered both the banks and the water of the river like a thick green blanket. Both of them slipped and skidded several times upon this treacherous and unreliable surface that delighted in pulling the rug beneath their feet.

Many times, Mrithyunjay had noted his companion look at him with a strange intensity. He could feel his eyes boring into him from behind. They could have even scorched a hole out of him.

"You are one. I am two. There is an entire garrison ahead of us. It hardly seems feasible", his companion murmured softly. The words seemed to be articulated more to himself than to Mrithyunjay. The splashing waters and ripples of the river had practically managed to drown what he said.

"I heard you", Mrithyunjay smiling to himself. "I was a captain in the Suras till a few days ago."

His companion immediately assumed a partly defensive and partly retaliatory stance. His eyes were brimming with accusation and reproach, "You never told me. I wouldn't have come with you if you had told this to me."

"You expect me to tell everything that happened in these twenty-four years of my life in thirty minutes", Mrithyunjay casually joked. His companion relaxed a bit after this remark. His anxiety seemed to have settled down.

Mrithyunjay's companion was a deliciously strange mixture of opposites. At one moment he pretended indifference, at one moment he seemed offended. He took everything about him rather personally.

"What is your name?" Mrithyunjay asked his companion. "I don't know even that small detail about you. And yet I trusted you enough to come behind you so far."

"Why do you trust me then?" His companion asked.

"I really don't know. I instinctively felt I could trust you just like my own", Mrithyunjay honestly admitted.

"Even after that stone pelting?"

"Yes, even after that", Mrithyunjay laughing at the memory.

"I am sorry. I shouldn't have suspected you. But I am after all human", he apologized. "You never know how people change with time?"

"You speak as if you know me", Mrithyunjay joked.

The dark lurid water of the river stained with oil and black soot gushed and gurgled out of a small aperture between two rocks. The width of the hole was no bigger than six feet in diameter. It sloped downwards into the very womb of earth.

"This hole was never visible a few years back. But the drought has reduced the quantum of water flow making it possible for us to sneak through in this manner", pointing out to the aperture the man said. "I have to put out this torch. The oil and gases sometimes set out a massive conflagration if left burning in these tunnels by accident."

"But we don't have any ropes, tools...."

"I kept some tools, ropes and equipment here", his companion interrupted as though anticipating what he had to say.

"You were a prisoner, weren't you? How did you secure all that?" Mrithyunjay highly surprised by the ingenuity and resourcefulness of his companion.

"Pretty simple. All the prisoners in Kanchu Kota are employed in mining activities. It meant that we had to be provided ropes, equipment and tools that would aid us. We pretended that our old ones had worn out and had to be replaced even when they were not. We hoarded all those things unknown to our overseer."

Suddenly, Mrithyunjay's stomach involuntarily reacted against the revolting and pungent odor he had been inhaling.

"It becomes even more overpowering as we begin our descent. Cover your nose partially like this", the man said helping him cover his nose. "It will take at least one and half hours like this."

Mrithyunjay and his companion began their steady descent down the cavernous hole, "Mrithyunjay, what are you planning once we get down there? We won't have much time left to execute our plans."

"I know. This is the plan...."
-
-
-
At the tribal village of Kada,
Kada was a tribal village in the jagged borders between Mahishmati, Vijayapuri and Ashwakootam. There were twenty-four villages like this that zigzagged across the Udayagiri range. The forests were their home. The villages were erected on temporarily cleared land in the dense cover of green.

The village itself kept moving from place to  place within the forest hunting animals, collecting firewood, honey, berries, herbs, fermenting country arrack. Simple people, simple lives.

The tribal chief humbly bowed before the leader of the Suras. He despised the man but he couldn't afford to displease him. He showed the men, "Thirty mens from our village."

The man examined the lean, gangly and starved specimens in front of him from head to toe, "Couldn't you have given us some better fed men?"

"This is all I  manages, Dora (Sir). Memu pala netha peragaledu. Vettadi perigem. (We weren't brought up on a diet of milk and butter. We subsist on hunting.)

"Okay this will do. What about the girls?" The man's crooked teeth widened into a wicked grimace.

"Five girls from the village goes with you. They does cooking, cleaning and like chores. But..."

"But what?"

The chief raised his chin up, "But nothing more. They...Our girls." He thumped his chest, "Our pride."

The leader was taken aback by the unexpected courage of the the man who had been very meek and submissive till the present moment. One of the Suras whispered, "These fools don't know we are simply taking their men to act as our buffer. As for their girls, once we cross the borders, we can do what we please. Who will stop us?"

The leader nodded, "Okay. We will start in ten minutes. Load all the supplies in the carts."

"As you wishes, Dora. But I talks first with my lad and lass before they leaves. I leads by example. I can't expects villagers to send their girls and lads if I keeps mine at home."

The leader dismissed the chief with a curt nod. He repaired to his companions who were warming their hands and legs around a bonfire.

The chief walked up to a teenager who stood among the group of men, "Take care of your sister and everyone. And remember your promise."

The teenager hugged his father as he whispered something only his father could hear. The chief smiled and raised him on his shoulders and danced. The others men around him also took their cue from their chief and danced, celebrating the happy moment.

The Suras were having a loud laugh at the expense of the simple folk before them, "Every goat celebrates before its sacrifice."
-
-
-
At the hideout,
Two of the men who had been sent by Aparaajitha had returned. They were giving a report of their findings, "We did not come across anyone tallying Narasimha's description. But several groups of Suras have been reported in many of the bordering tribal villages. They have been threatening the chiefs and recruiting men and logistics. But to what end remains unknown. We thought it better to let you know."

"Maintain your watch over these activities", Aparaajitha ordered. "Triple the number of men with you. Let me know everything that's happening. Don't limit yourself just to search for Narasimha. Widen your focus. Keep your eyes and ears open."

Nachiyar joined Aparaajitha just as she was dismissing her informers, "The chieftains of all the major clans in Vijayapuri are awaiting you."

"I was just sending off my men to gather some information. I'll join you in a couple of minutes", Aparaajitha said.
-
-
-
Aparaajitha was extremely preoccupied throughout their journey to the Nachiyar's camp where the meeting with the chieftains was to be held. The scenery passed before her eyes like a fleeting glimpse. None of it registered in her consciousness.

Nachiyar announced, "We have reached. The other chieftains will  be arriving shortly. I'll leave you for a while."

Aparaajitha did not say anything. She simply conveyed her assent with a brief nod of her head. Nachiyar went to receive and welcome the chieftains of the other clans.

It had been a very windy, dusty and boisterous day. It had been threatening to rain throughout the day but for a few naughty droplets of rain, the skies had held up. The clouds however turned thicker and darker. The birds had begun returning to their nests quite early as if they had sensed the impending upheaval and wished to personally avoid getting caught in this mighty deluge.

A window of the chamber in which the meeting was scheduled to be held kept on clattering. Aparaajita shut it once. But it constantly kept on opening up and closing on its own. The noise it made was grating on the ears and highly infuriating. She shut it again. But this time, a heavy gust of wind blew it fully open. The lamps in the chamber were put out due to the sheer force of the outside wind. The open window was bringing all the dirt from outside into the cleanly swept room and making it dirty and untidy. Aparaajitha ignored it for as long as she could before she shut it and placed a weight behind it to prevent it from opening up again.

Nachiyar escorted all the chieftains who had arrived into the chamber. After all of them had settled down, she began directly without wasting any time, "I asked all of you to come here to inform a very important thing that pertains to all of us. Our queen, Shodasi Devi is back."

The faces of all the other chieftains registered shock and surprise. Carefully observing all their individual reactions, Nachiyar continued, "In this context, I would like to ascertain on which side all of you stand."

The Marar chieftain was the first to break the silence, "Vijayapuri is under Vijayamarthanda. What difference does it make if she is back or not? She will be captured and executed if she sets foots on Vijayapuri."

The other chieftains nodded. Nachiyar took up the ball from where the Marar chieftain had left, "It does Vallabha Nayaka. She is not alone. She has a vast army. The coastal fortress of Sagara Durga has already been captured. There will be war. I hope you must have guessed by now which side I'm in. Which side are you going to stand?"

The revelation shook Vallabha Nayaka's smug external veneer of composure. The other chieftains were also seriously weighing their options, "What does she expect from us? Circumstances have greatly changed. It is not the same Vijayapuri that she left."

"I would like to introduce somebody very important in our midst who will tell us what our queen expects from us- our queen Shodasi Devi's foster daughter, Aparaajitha."

Nachiyar beckoned Aparaajita to come forward and take over the proceedings. She stood tall before the  chieftains. She gracefully inclined her head as she began, "Thank you to all of you for coming here at my request. No. Your queen knows that this is not the same Vijayapuri that she left. But you all know how she and the people of Vijayapuri have been cheated and wronged. War is inevitable. All she asks is that the other chieftains and their clans stay out of this clash without offering any resistance to her advancing army. It would reduce civilian casualties to the maximum extent possible. Whoever remains undefeated at the end of this war, her or Vijayamarthanda, you are free to accept as the ruler of Vijayapuri."

The chiefs of the Tenam and the Parai clans seemed amenable to this suggestion.

"As long as we don't have to contribute in men or kind, we have no issues allowing Rani Shodasi Devi and her army free passage through our respective territories", they said.

Nachiyar turned towards Vallabha Nayaka and sought his opinion, "And you, Nayaka?"

The  Marar chieftain hesitated, "This is a war. It could go any way. I need some time to think."

"Alright Vallabha Nayaka. You still have one more day to let us know your decision", Nachiyar replied.

The Marar chieftain heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Nachiyar's words. He did not want to antagonize the other chieftains. He quickly bowed to everyone and sought his leave. The other two chieftains also departed not long after Vallabha Nayaka's departure.
-
-
-








Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top