“You said her father, Malthur, is the king of the Bnomes and that they reside farther north than even the dragons?” Xuhn said.
“That’s where Corpsia lives. So you are ready to not return to your village so you could see Corpsia?”
Xuhn tore the letter into a number of pieces.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll take you to her. Both of us have questions to ask her. But I think our priority should be the war. As that letter says Corpsia’s father needs the war. And we would better travel to Vampire country if we want to end it.”
“Then let’s go,” Xuhn said. He glanced at Ritika and was surprised to see a happy look on her face. Was it because both Mortugal and he were now determined to end the war, or was it because he would be close to her for some more days?
Chapter 9
It was night when they reached the Vampire village.
“Should I land in your courtyard?” Mortugal asked when Ritika pointed out a certain house below and said it was theirs. The homes of the Vampires were clustered close to one another and Xuhn doubted Mortugal would be able to land without smashing a rooftop or two with his long tail.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Xuhn said.
“I can't hover here for eternity!” Mortugal said.
“There is a well known cave over there,” Ruponi said, pointing to the outline of a rocky hill in the distance. “It’s large enough to accommodate you.”
“That will do,” said Mortugal and he took them to the hill. He landed at the foot, just in front of the cave.
Xuhn leapt down. His buttocks felt numb due to all the sitting and he relished the change. As the two Vampires climbed down Mortugal, Xuhn looked at the cave. The gaping mouth of the cave was very large, at least twenty feet high.
“We’ll got to our house and bring you some food,” Ritika said.
“Food for me?” Mortugal said and laughed, making Xuhn remember the Bnome was still probably being digested in the dragon’s guts.
“Aren’t you hungry?” Ritika asked, not getting the joke.
“No,” Mortugal said, “I’ll get my own food.”
“Will you come with us then?” Ritika asked Xuhn. Their eyes met and he didn’t know why, but he had a funny sensation.
“Sure.”
And off he went with the two of them, while Mortugal flew away searching for ‘monkeys and rabbits’.
Reaching their house, Xuhn saw that their garden was quite overgrown. Ritika led him into their rather dusty house, which was understandable since they had gone to live in Bindi, while her mother went to the houses of their neighbours asking for food.
“You and your mother used to live here alone?” Xuhn asked, feeling rather awkward as Ritika lighted a candle.
“Yes,” Ritika replied, shyly.
“I mean, your father…”
“Off to fight with Werewolves in the borders,” Ritika said. Her voice came strained with emotion and Xuhn thought he shouldn’t have said that. “Almost all men in our village are off to the borders. Only little boys and the oldest men remain.”
“Have you heard from him recently?” Xuhn said.
“Yes, just before we left for Bindi. He said in his letter that he was well, although there were blood stains on the edge of the paper on which he wrote. Only he knows if he was telling the truth.”
After her mother returned with some rice and a couple of potatoes, the three of them cleaned up the house as much as they could. They boiled the rice and the potatoes and dinner was over quickly, since all three were hungry.
After that all Xuhn wanted to do was close his eyes and fall asleep, but he forced his eyelids to remain open.
“I think I should leave for the cave,” he said.
“The cave, why?” Ritika asked, surprised.
“Mortugal might need some company.”
“Then we are coming too,” said Ruponi.
Xuhn thought about it for a moment, then declined.
“No, your neighbours already know you have arrived. It’s best that you spend the night here, maybe search your garden in the early morning for more scrolls.”
Saying thus, Xuhn left for the cave with a torch. It was eerie to walk alone in the village road. The knowledge that there were blood sucking vampires in the houses around him didn’t help at all. Maybe he would meet some drunken person, as in a human village, only the person would be drunk not with wine but blood.
He reached the cave with nothing such occurring thankfully. Mortugal hadn’t arrived yet from his hunt, so he collected some dry branches and twigs from nearby and created a fire at the mouth of the cave and slumped down against the cave wall to rest. He thought of Aunt Anita, his neighbour, and her son Vivek. They were the ones in the village with whom he had the best terms. He reckoned Vivek would have to do without warm water for a while. Xuhn wondered if the villagers had noticed that the Frozen Lake was no longer frozen or that he and the two vampires were missing. Maybe the villagers would search for them for a day or two and then give up, just like they did with Mitral.
After sometime, a dark outline in the sky told him of Mortugal’s return. The dragon landed at the mouth of the cave. In his claws was the corpse of a short man, blood dripping from it.
“A Bnome!” Xuhn said.
“Put out that fire!” Mortugal said and blew out the fire with a smelly gale from his mouth.
“This village is being watched.”
“How many Bnomes were there?”
“Just this one, but I reckon there were more that I didn’t see,” said Mortugal. “The Bnomes somehow know that the scroll was found in this place. Did they force it out of Ritika and Ruponi?”
“I don’t think so. They would have told us otherwise.”
“Either way it confirms that this village is important and might be hiding other secrets. Anyway, look away for now. This Bnome is my dinner.”
Barely did Xuhn turn his head away that he heard the dragon swallow the Bnome. The sound of Mortugal gulping down the Bnome whole was disturbing at best. Then Xuhn remembered something.
“Hey, did you look into the eyes of the Bnome? That would have given us some information about his intentions.”
“I did,” Mortugal replied, “but because of the darkness I couldn’t see if he had any companions. All I got to know was that the poor guy was intending to sleep high up a tree.”
The dragon slumped down on the cave floor beside Xuhn, who liked the warmth emanating from Mortugal’s body. Should be the fur, he thought.
Xuhn looked at the Vampire village, spread out in front of him.
“Do you intend to sleep?” Xuhn asked the dragon.
“Why not?”
“I mean you have been asleep for centuries.”
“Doesn’t matter boy, a day of intense labour will tire you no matter what. All that flying wasn’t easy, even though I enjoyed it.”
Xuhn folded his shawl into a pillow and laid his head down on it. He yawned.
“Let’s talk in the morning, then,” he said.
“So be it,” Mortugal replied. Xuhn closed his eyes and fell into a warm sleep instantly.
***
Vivek opened his eyes. After a few moments of blur they focussed on his mother. She sat on the edge of the bed holding his hand, tear stains visible on her cheeks. She smiled.
“It’s good to see you awake,” she said. Vivek looked at his legs. The cloth his mother had wrapped around them was badly burnt, and the paste leaking out here and there had turned black too. His legs had really burnt yesterday.
He moved the position of his legs just at bit. No pain at all.
“It has healed, mother!”
He moved his legs more. No pain.
“I think you’re right. But let me take off the cloth and the paste first.” And his mother set to work, unwrapping the cloth so that chunks of the black paste fell out.
“I pissed yesterday…” Vivek said, feeling guilty, “sorry for that.”
“Forget it,” his mother said. Once she removed the paste from his legs, Vivek saw that his skin too had gone black, as though burnt.
“Did that happen to you too?” Vivek asked his mother, who shook her head in thought.
“Is it paining?” she asked.
“No.”
Vivek moved his legs to the side of his bed. He placed his feet on the floor and stood up.
“I can stand, mother!” he said gleefully. The black skin could go to hell.
“Well, so your bone has healed,” his mother said, “at least that we know.”
“You think the black colour will fade with time?”
“Maybe, but you should show your legs to the werewolf clan leader, he’ll know better.”
Vivek pulled a cloak from the wardrobe and wrapped it around himself. It was morning outside and he couldn’t wait to step out of his house after months.
“You are going out?” his mother asked.
“Will show my legs to Xuhn,” Vivek said. He felt very happy and jumped a couple of times, before hugging his mother. “I am sorry for being such a burden all these days,” he told her.
“Don’t say that, I am your mother… But you won’t find Xuhn in his house.”
“He’s off to sell his wood?”
“You won’t find him in the village,” Vivek’s mother said and there was a shadow on her face.
“What do you mean? He’s gone somewhere?”
“I-I went to him yesterday night after you passed out, but he wasn’t there, although his door wasn’t locked and just latched. Apparently he had gone out yesterday morning, maybe to cut wood and he never returned.”
“What are you saying!” Vivek was baffled. Couldn’t happiness stay near him even for a few moments?
“And you know, something else has happened too. The Frozen Lake, yesterday some children who went to hunt birds found that the lake wasn’t frozen any longer. I saw it myself when I went to the woods in search of the werewolves.”
“That’s impossible!” The Frozen Lake had always been frozen.
“People are beginning to speculate the beast from the lake has taken away Xuhn, since he usually cuts woods from near the lake.”
Vivek grabbed his hair and sat down.
“He’s a good friend of mine,” Vivek said.
“I only pray Xuhn is okay, wherever he is and that the people are wrong,” his mother said, tears in her eyes.
Vivek gritted his teeth. He would have to find Xuhn at all costs. The villagers had of course gone nuts. The beast was just a myth.
The Werewolves.
Could they have taken Xuhn?
The Werewolves never harmed humans, but they seemed to be the only possible explanation for Xuhn’s sudden disappearance. Vivek would have to find out.
***
Mortugal was snoring when Xuhn awoke. The sun had risen only a short while ago and Xuhn wondered if he should sleep some more, since he didn’t need to go for cutting wood as usual. Xuhn saw that he had inched closer to Mortugal in his sleep, seeking the warmth of the dragon’s fur.
His eyes fell on the depths of the cave. In the darkness of the depths one could never tell if there was an end wall.
He stood up. Once awake, he could never go back to sleep as a result of habit. He went out and took a piss. Since there was nothing else to do, Xuhn decided to explore the cave. It had piqued his curiosity.
He went in warily, placing his feet with caution, not wanting to step on any spider or similar creatures that might inhabit the cave floor. The deeper he went, the more ancient the place felt. Even in the weak light, he saw figures of animals and humans drawn on the walls of the cave, probably by prehistoric humans— no, vampires as some had what were undoubtedly fangs. At some point the light from the opening could no longer illuminate his path ahead. He couldn’t see the slightest outline of anything. Did the cave extend just a metre or two more? Did it just go on and on for kilometres? He didn’t know. Who knew what dwelt in the bowels of the cave.
Faint voices reached his ears and he turned around. He could make out the forms of Ritika and her mother waving at him. Xuhn rushed back to the mouth.
“You shouldn’t have gone so far in!” Ruponi said.
“I was just curious,” he said. He couldn’t quite understand the fear on the faces of the two vampires.
“No, mother,” said Ritika, “it’s our fault. We should have told them.”
Mortugal meanwhile was still snoring peacefully.
“Told us what?” Xuhn asked.
“People have died in this cave,” Ritika said. Xuhn thought about his little excursion into the cave and a chill climbed up his spine.
“Like how?” He asked. Nobody could really die just by being in the cave, could they? There should be a reason.
“They just go in and in,” said Ritika, “and fail to find their way out.”
Xuhn thought about the intense urge of exploration he had felt upon reaching the point of utter darkness and felt spooked. He decided to change the topic.
“So why have you come so early?’ he asked.
“To check on you two,” said Ritika’s mother, “we were searching our garden the entire night, but we found no other scroll.”
“You didn’t sleep?” Xuhn asked, amazed. Why, both the vampires had bags under their eyes!
They shook their heads.
“You should have taken some rest. Mortugal found a Bnome though, says this village might be watched.”
“Where is the Bnome?” Ritika asked, looking around, “We can force some information out of him maybe.”
“Mortugal ate him,” Xuhn said, gesturing at the sleeping dragon.
“Really?” Ritika said, her eyes wide with disbelief.
Xuhn nodded.
“But he believes this village is important, and he suspects that’s why the Bnome came here in the first place.”
“Believe us,” said Ritika. “We searched our garden all night, nothing’s there.”
“Searched all night?” a drowsy Mortugal said, opening his eyes. He yawned.
“Go sleep for some hours and then search again. Your minds are too tired. Even if you found something, you might have not noticed it.”
“I agree with him,” Xuhn told Ritika. She nodded and Xuhn saw that she was really struggling to keep her eyes open, and it was the same case with her mother. The two Vampires staggered away towards the village.
“I am hungry,” Mortugal said.
“You haven’t even shit out the Bnome.”
“I wish to go hunting,” the dragon said with a crestfallen look. “But I don’t want anybody seeing me. This cave shall be my dwelling for the entire day!”
Xuhn sat down on a stone. Yesterday, after receiving the letter, Xuhn had felt an intense urge to revenge on Corpsia. He would have chopped her into pieces like a log of wood had she come in front of him. Now little of that urge remained. What had happened had happened. There were countless more girls in the world, even if Mayesha was married. He wondered if he would have been better off in his village.
But he had made a decision. If there was any reason why he took some self-pride, it was because he never turned away from his decisions.
The entire day went away in wait for the two vampires to return. It was such a change from the adventures of yesterday. Mortugal took nap after nap, and Xuhn could well see why the dragon had been so reluctant to leave his lake initially.
For food Xuhn searched the foot of the hill. Vampire country was located in the north-west of Sura and the two kingdoms were separated by only a small patch of Werewolf country. So the two kingdoms had many edible plants in common. Xuhn was able to collect many such plants, and he had them for his lunch instead of going to the vampires’ home for food. Yesterday they had travelled south-east from the spot where they rescued Ritika and Ruponi from the Bnomes so the cold, despite being there, was not that much of a problem.
He could see little vampire boys and girls play about in the village in t
he distance, blissfully unaware of Xuhn’s or Mortugal’s presence. Plus he suspected people were afraid to come near the cave, as many had died there as per Ritika’s words.
Ritika and Ruponi came as night fell. While the bags under their eyes had disappeared suggesting wholesome sleep, their shoulders were hunched and disappointed. They were carrying rice in a bamboo tube which they gave to Xuhn.
“Found nothing?”
“We dug everywhere in our garden,” said Ritika, “but there was nothing. Our neighbours probably thought us crazy.”
“What the neighbours think doesn't matter,” said her mother, “but I wonder if their gardens are hiding other possible scrolls.”
“That’s a point,” said Mortugal. “But asking your neighbours to search their gardens won’t be a great idea. It might attract too much attention. If any Bnome sees that the entire village is busy digging gardens, then he might inform Malthur, and I don’t know what would happen next.”
“So what do we do now?” Ritika asked. “Should we travel to Dragonland?”
“Hmmm,” Mortugal said, and he got up— for the first time since yesterday night— such that his horns almost hit the roof of the cave.
And then all four of them heard the music. It came from inside the cave and was a music of great tragedy. They couldn’t help but exchange looks.
“Is that a flute?” Xuhn asked. The music was somewhere between the sound of wind and the sound of a flute.
“It isn’t,” Mortugal said, and the astonishment in his voice was clear. “It’s dragon song.”
“Dragon song?” Ritika asked.
“It’s begging me to come,” the dragon said. He turned around and hurried off towards the depths of the cave.
“Hey, it’s dangerous!” Xuhn cried and ran after Mortugal. The two vampires came too, echoing his words. Ritika’s mother had brought a torch along but it’s glow only reached up to a few metres ahead, and as Xuhn rushed after the fast moving Mortugal, he could only see the end of his tail.
“Mortugal, wait!” Xuhn said, and the dragon abruptly stopped, so that Xuhn, overcome by speed, almost hit against him.
The two vampires reached too, and only now did the yellow light from the torch reveal the reason behind the dragon’s abrupt halt.
The Banishment of the King Page 6