At the Medical Dispensary,
"You are a coward."

The words came out of Narasimha's mouth slow and steady. He wasn't going to back down from his stance, "You just cannot make serious allegations like that without any proof and expect me to believe it. If you believe in your convictions, you will stand by them."

The best way to make Bhavani stop was to rile her up. He was making neither head nor tail of what she was saying. He needed time to process what he had heard.

"Didn't you listen to what I said? I am the proof. I was reduced to this state by your father", her hands on her hips and an angry pout on her lips. Narasimha's mind strayed for one odd moment about how Bhavani looked quite beautiful and feminine when she was angry. He had always seen her as his friend. But a growing awareness surged through him that she was a beautiful girl too.

"What proof or witnesses are you going to present?" He cooly asked without ruffling himself in the very least.

Bhavani was extremely frustrated. Her whole body had flushed red-hot with anger. She stilled her quivering lips and her shaking hands, "You don't expect me to produce dead people as witnesses, do you? If my uncle were alive, I would have introduced you to him. He would have explained everything to you. But then, your father awarded the death sentence to him and all the rebels. You were there too when this judgement was delivered."

"Yes, I remember. You are talking about that wrestling match where I saved that old lady from being whipped, aren't you?"

"She isn't just any old lady. She is Sanga Amma, the foster mother of Mahendra Baahubali, the former and rightful king of Mahishmati, who was deceitfully deposed and murdered by your father's men. As a matter of fact, your great-grandfather, Bijjaladeva and your uncle, Vijayamarthanda pursued him and his family and killed all of them unrighteously. I never heard the full details but this was what I often overheard my uncle talking with his men", Bhavani replied.

At last, she was talking a bit logically and coherently without simply making sweeping allegations. He understood from her words that his family hadn't always ruled over Mahishmati. Somebody called Mahendra Baahubali used to rule Mahishmati. He did remember his great-grandfather talk about a legendary warrior called Amarendra Baahubali and exhort him to live like him. Maybe this Amarendra Baahubali was Mahendra Baahubali's father.

His father had probably conquered Mahishmati from Mahendra Baahubali's hands. Lawfully or unlawfully, he still had to find out. He wouldn't condemn his father just like that. But if Bhavani was telling him all this, it was definitely worth investigating.

"I actually assumed you would be at the Gurukul. What brought you here at the same time that I came back?" Narasimha asked.

"Our Guru called me after you had left and told me to go home telling my motherland was going to need my services. It is good that I came back too. Or else, I would never have known who you truly were. At the time my uncle was awarded the death sentence along with the rebels, he would have been assuming that I was still at the Gurukul, away from these harsh realities. But I was right there watching him being led away to his death."

Bhavani broke down and started crying. He held her in his arms sympathetically. She hadn't noticed where she was for a couple of moments until her eyes widened in disbelief looking at Narasimha's strong, sinewy and muscled arms holding her close to his heart. She literally jumped and sprang apart pushing him quite forcefully away from her.

"I can do without your sympathy. Your life was in danger. I saved you despite myself. Now you are fine. Please let me go", she looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes. "I am tired of fighting with the world, with you, with myself.  There is no name or future for what we have with each other. Our worlds can never meet."

"I can never let you go, Bhavani", he said with determination. "You are my best and closest friend. I will remove whatever misconceptions you have about my family."

"Was I talking in vacuum all this while? You will end up broken the way I already am. What will we gain by staying together?"

"Friendship is for life, Bhavani. It isn't about profit or loss. I will always stand with you through thick and thin. I don't care who you are or what your antecedents are. You are, were and will always be my friend."

She wiped her tears and said, "If you really want to know about the truth, you should seek people who are against your family like that Urumi Nachiyar and not any of your relatives or your father's ministers. Only when you hear the other side of the story, you will be able to determine what the truth actually is."

"Okay, where do I find this Urumi Nachiyar?"

Bhavani scoffed, "God! You aren't serious, are you? I was simply making an offhand remark. Urumi Nachiyar is going to cut you up to tiny, tiny pieces with her Urumi if she knows whose son you are. I still shiver when I think of that Overlord of Vijayapuri whom she dragged with her lasso across the town square before she left him to die."

"Okay, if you aren't coming with me, I will find my way by myself. Her name is Urumi Nachiyar? I'll make inquiries inside the dispensary. They must know where I will find her."

"You've gone mad, Narasimha." She ran up to him breathlessly, "You recovered from a nearly fatal fever just now."

"What do you care, Bhavani?"

As he began walking inside, she groaned and threw up her hands in frustration, "Alright, I am coming along with you. You aren't going alone."

Narasimha gave a naughty and surreptitious smile.
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Two Days Earlier at the Grassland in Udayagiri,
Mrithyunjay and Aparaajitha had just completed their meal. They were planning to go into the cave and unearth the secret documents when the quiet stillness of the night and the chirping of crickets was disrupted by a huge conflagration that set the dry grasses of the grassland burning. Before anybody could react, more fire arrows landed all around.

Malli ran up to where they were standing, "We've been attacked. Take cover."

They unsheathed their swords out of their scabbards lightening quick, with their backs against each other, covering for the other, "Put out the fires and duck to the ground. We are standing on open ground. We're pretty easy targets for our enemies."

Everyone came down with their noses to the ground watching for the next move of their enemies. The dark clouds had shrouded the moon. Visibility was very poor. One couldn't see even the back of one's hand in the present conditions. There was a deadly silence as neither side moved.

Aparaajitha whispered orders to the nearest batch of soldiers asking them to pass on the message to the person next to them, "Keep your darts of Indraneeli primed, tipped and ready. The minute you hear the rustling of dry grass or leaves, dispatch darts in that direction. There will be a momentary lull after that. Wait....Wait....The next time leaves or grass rustle or you hear voices dispatch darts and arrows once again."

Just as she had anticipated, there was a slight rustling of grass and leaves from either sides, "Now!" The darts and arrows noiselessly whooshed through the air taking their opponents by surprise. Several enemy soldiers fell down to the ground with a loud thud like logs during a hurricane. They could hear heavy footsteps backing out of the range of their darts and arrows.

"They are retreating. They are now out of our range", Mrithyunjay remarked gritting his teeth. "This doesn't seem to be going right. They are going to try something else."

Huge stones and boulders started landing in their midst. A huge boulder sped Aparaajitha's way. Everybody was so engrossed in fending for themselves that nobody had noticed it coming. Malli jumped up from her position to push Aparaajitha out of harm's way. But while doing so, she had exposed herself to the enemy sharp shooters.

The moon came out of the clouds at just that moment giving a good aim to the enemy soldiers. She clutched her sides, dripping with blood and pierced by numerous arrows. Aparaajitha was momentarily stunned and numbed by the collapse of her dearest friend. She sat there holding Malli's lifeless hands and looking at her blank vacant eyes, staring into nothingness. Revenge, pride, power, fight, freedom, life, death;everything seemed meaningless. What was the worth of anything if all the people you loved fell by the wayside like this?

"Retreat into the cave. We are now like sitting ducks for our enemies. While they have a clear view and range over us, we don't", said Mrithyunjay, reacting swiftly to the situation.

As he dragged Aparaajitha away with him from where she sat like a rag doll clutching Malli's hands in hers, his heart broke to a thousand pieces to see his strong and invincible Aparaajitha so weak and vulnerable. War was like that. It took a terrible toll on everyone. People who went away never came back. What an easy release for them! They would die with the pride and satisfaction that they had done their duty. But those they left behind would wallow in this guilt and pain forever.

Everyone was safely inside the cave. They started retaliating and attacking the advancing enemy force with renewed vigor. Malli's death had jolted all of them to action. They wanted to avenge her death. Enemy soldiers kept falling like nine pins. However, they still kept advancing. The contingent from Malava was heavily outnumbered.

Mrithyunjay shouted, "Back off to the far end of the cave and take cover instantly. They're going to shoot fire boulders."

Shrapnel, sparks and dust flew covering the mouth of the cave. Flames blazed at an angle before they gradually died down. A huge mound of boulders landed in quick succession blocking the entrance of the cave. Mild tremors and shock waves ran through. After a while, everything settled down.

The roof of the cave looked as though it would cave in any moment due to the impact of these concussions. But luckily, it held up. The entrance was completely closed. It just refused to budge even an inch. Even if they managed to move all the boulders blocking the entrance of the cave, their enemies were sure to be waiting for them outside to finish off whatever little resistance was left in them.

Everyone emerged from where they had taken cover; battered, bruised and their spirits at their lowest ebb. They had lost their friends. They were stuck in a dark, tumbling, subterranean cave with just the red eyes of the dark goddess Kali and her flaming tresses of hairs as their lone and mute witness. Everything seemed intimidating. The future appeared bleak and nonexistent.

The terrifying garland of skulls she wore around her neck swayed this way and that. The fingers of one hand were curled into intricate mudras (shapes). One hand held a huge vessel to catch the blood of the dreaded demon who lay at her feet. The other hand was throttling the neck of the demon while the last hand was holding a huge and upraised sword. Her feet were positioned as though in readiness for the Thandavam (The dance of destruction). Her trident was stuck into the ground just before a Maha Meru (a symbolic representation of the mother goddess) made up of Pancha Loha (five metals).
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