After sometime, Breda, Ritika and Ruponi awoke too. When Xuhn told them that they won’t be going to Dragonland today, they were disappointed. Xuhn could well see the reason— the more they delayed going to Dragonland, the more they delayed destroying Hatred. But Xuhn had made up his mind already that he wasn’t going to leave the town without freeing Benzel.
So the rest of the day they laid low. Few people came towards the thicket, and those that came failed to see them crouching still behind the trees.
Then during the evening, as darkness fell, Xuhn went to the town. Ritika offered to go with him, but he didn’t take her along since he feared if they got into some trouble her being a vampire wouldn't help.
Xuhn made his way to the house of Benzel’s mistress. He reached it just in time to see the mistress leaving her home. The moment he saw her face, fear struck Xuhn’s heart. All those painful memories from the past came to his mind. Back then he had thought the only purpose he had been born was to serve his mistress. She didn’t have any husband or children or any close relatives, and Xuhn could only wonder why the slaves hadn’t together killed her some night. But deep inside he knew the reason well—
Fear.
Fear that she was an entity greater than them. He watched as she walked away along the street with her chest puffed out like an empress. Some coaches drove past her but she didn’t take any of them. Xuhn reckoned she was in the mood of talking a walk.
Once she had disappeared round a corner, Xuhn went up to the door of the house and knocked. A moment later Benzel opened the door. He didn’t have the surprised look of yesterday night.
“I knew you would come,” Benzel said in his wheezy voice. “But I think it’s best you leave this town as fast as you can.”
“I will,” Xuhn replied. “And tonight. But I am not leaving without you. Take all your belongings and come with me.”
“It’s not that easy, son,” Benzel said in an sad tone.
Xuhn gaped at the man.
“Why isn’t it easy to throw away this life of slavery, Benzel?” he asked, furious. “I came to know that the others have died. You want to meet the same end? Or do you want to die proud and free?”
“This is the only life that I know,” Benzel replied. “There is no other life for me.”
Xuhn just failed to understand why the old slave was so reluctant to flee slavery. Hadn’t he himself helped Xuhn to become free so long ago?
“So you have fallen in love with that witch?” Xuhn asked sarcastically, frowning hard.
Benzel let out a vacant laugh and sat down on the floor.
“Falling in love with the witch that killed the woman I loved?”
Benzel had once had a wife when Xuhn was a kid. Xuhn recalled a dark night when he had heard a lot of commotion coming from Benzel’s room and from the next day he had never seen Benzel’s wife. Benzel had later on told Xuhn that his wife had gone to a distant land to meet her parents. Even as a child Xuhn had never believed the story because he had seen blood on the floor of Benzel’s cell. Apparently the mistress had stabbed and killed the wife.
“You and the mistress lives alone now?” Xuhn asked.
“Yes. A couple of servants come during the morning, but most of the hard labour is done by me.”
“You never had the urge to slit her throat with a knife?” Xuhn asked. Were he in Benzel’s place he would have done that a long time ago.
Benzel covered his ears with his hands and shook his head furiously, as if Xuhn had uttered some hideous words.
“I cannot ever think of doing that, son. Never! I have served her since my birth, my parents being slaves of her parents. I have grown up with her. I cannot kill her! To me she is like a… a goddess. She is above me. I am inferior. I’ll never disobey her.”
“But you and the others helped me escape,” Xuhn said.
With the old slave in front of him, the memories of the escape came to Xuhn’s mind. He had been so afraid when he had first sneaked out of the mistress’s house. He had felt like she was omnipresent, and she would see him and punish him all through his journey to Bindi.
“You were just a kid,” Benzel said, “and the way she treated you hurt us. We had known Mistress since she was a child, and if she mistreated us that was okay. But you, you were just a little babe that she had brought. She should have had some heart to treat you well. We figured it was to your best interest that you flee and get a chance at life. So at the very first opportunity, we helped you.”
“What did she do after I left?” Xuhn asked. She was sure the mistress would have suspected the slaves had helped Xuhn escape.
“Well, she brought some guards and beat us all bad. But none of us gave you away. She became harsher after that day.”
Xuhn nodded. He wanted to say something that would convince Benzel to flee with him, but nothing came to his mind. He had already given the man enough reasons.
“Why did you come here then?” he asked instead.
“Anti-slavery laws,” Benzel said. “You haven’t heard about them?”
Actually Xuhn had, but there were other kingdoms the mistress could have gone to that were nearer to Sura than Northang.
“I have. But why so far?”
“Well, who knows what goes on in the mind of Mistress?” Benzel said.
Xuhn pursed his lips. Suddenly he found himself grabbing Benzel by the arm.
“You have to come with me, Benzel,” he told the slave giving him a light pull.
“There is no life for me out there, son,” Benzel said, removing Xuhn’s hand from his arm. “And she has even registered me as a slave here.”
“It’s a big world out there, Benzel,” Xuhn said. Xuhn had realised that well by flying with Mortugal. It was only when one went up to the sky that they could have a good look at the world in which they lived. Otherwise one lived in tiny compartments. Benzel shook his head and Xuhn’s heart sank further.
“I’ll take you far away from here, Benzel,” Xuhn said, “you’ll have a new life.”
“My life is gone,” Benzel said. “Please go.”
Chapter 19
Benzel pushed Xuhn out and closed the door. Xuhn remained standing, staring at the finely made oaken door that spoke of a wealthy owner. Benzel had lost all hopes of ever leading a free life. Xuhn wondered if Benzel would have been more enthusiastic about fleeing if the other slaves had been alive.
Xuhn walked down the steps and took the street leading to the edge of the town. His heart ached as he went away from Benzel, knowing that he might never see the good man again. Then, at the place where the street ended, Xuhn felt someone suddenly press a knife against his back.
He tried to turn, but the man hissed in his ears,
“Try to act smart and you’ll find yourself dead.”
“What do you want from me?”Xuhn asked, his heart drumming. The man pressed the tip of the knife just over the spot on his back where the Bnome had earlier injured him. Pain shot up his spine.
“Just keep going where you were going,” the man said.
Xuhn heard many footsteps behind. He guessed they belonged to at least four or five men.
“Caught him, eh?” one asked the knife man holding Xuhn.
“It’s the right man, huh?” the knife man asked his companions.
“Yes, it’s him,” a voice said that Xuhn recognised as Gobolo’s. “Nobody else would talk to that slave for so long.” So the beggars had given Xuhn away. He had made a mistake trusting the dogs.
“So you are paying us the money right?” another man said that Xuhn recognised as Gobolo’s cowardly companion.
“First the beast, then the money,” the knife man said and the beggar made a sound of dejection. So these people, authorities of the town or whoever they were, were after Mortugal. As the men forced Xuhn to walk towards the thicket, Xuhn realised why they had caught him first— so that the dragon would not harm them. Apparently the beggars had told the authorities that Xuhn was friends with the dragon.
&n
bsp; As they neared the thicket, Xuhn hoped to see Mortugal fly away with the others. Instead, he saw shapes of men moving in the dark in the space surrounding the thicket. Xuhn realised this was much bigger than the few men who held Xuhn under control.
Trying to convince Benzel to escape had not been a very good idea at all. But maybe it was for the best that Benzel hadn’t come with Xuhn. Otherwise he would have been stuck in the mess too.
Mortugal and the three ladies were standing huddled together in unison, very alarmed. Breda was in her human form and the two vampires had fear etched upon their faces. Mortugal’s expression though was like granite.
Xuhn heard the knife man gasp upon seeing Mortugal.
“What do you want from us?” Ritika asked the men, though it was clear she was scared.
“Lots of things, my dear,” the knife man said. Xuhn tried to break free from the man, but got boxed in the stomach.
“You don’t want me to go hard on you, do you?” the knife man said. Xuhn gritted his teeth, angry at the circumstances for going so awry.
Gobolo lit a torch, and at that moment there were noises all around. At least fifty men emerged from behind the trees and bushes, all having spears and javelins and thick chains.
Mortugal’s lips curled into a grin.
“So you want to chain me?” he said. His expressions suggested he didn’t think the men could hold him with the chains.
“That’s right,” the knife man said. “And you will do as we say because you don’t want your dear friend hurt.”
“What do you plan to do with me?” Mortugal said, the grin leaving his face.
“That will be up to the Goddess to decide,” the knife man said.
“What goddess?” Mortugal asked, confused. Xuhn reckoned the knife man was speaking about the same goddess Benzel had spoken of earlier.
“You’ll see. Now let the men tie you up.”
Mortugal looked at Xuhn.
“Fly away!” Xuhn said.
“Shut up,” the knife man boxed him.
Mortugal didn’t fly away. He just waited as the scores of men came to him and began throwing the chains around his massive body, tying him up. Breda and the two vampires too were tied up. Xuhn watched as the men forced-tied Ritika’s hands due to her struggles, and his anger boiled. But there was little he could do besides glare at the men.
Once all were tied up, the knife man spoke.
“So now we march to the tomb!”
One man blew a trumpet, perhaps to tell the city folk about the successful capturing of the dragon.
And then the march began. The men pulled them towards the city. Mortugal resisted the pulling initially, but every time he did so, the knife men would box Xuhn or run the blade of the knife inches away from his neck, and Mortugal ceased his struggles. Reaching the town, the trumpet man blew the instrument louder. Soon folks began coming out of their houses to look at the procession. Xuhn saw Benzel coming out too. The slave’s face was filled with as much awe at the dragon as any other person, but unlike others there was a touch of great sadness in his eyes.
Through the streets they were dragged, past the house from where Xuhn had stolen the goat yesterday. The goats were now huddled together in a corner and they looked superior to him.
Children spoke to their mothers eagerly pointing at Mortugal, while grown-ups wondered aloud that dragons had scales and not fur. Xuhn even heard someone suggest that Mortugal belonged to some exotic dragon species.
After what felt like an eternity of walking through the streets, they reached the edge of the town on the other side, near the river Xuhn had first seen from the sky. There was a great dome-like structure of white marble located just on the bank of the river. It had a small door, above which were two circular panes of glass. And above the glass panes were two holes.
Xuhn and the others were brought to the small door. A man wielding a huge axe stood on either side of the door.
Then everybody knelt down before the dome. The knife man forced Xuhn to kneel down as well.
“O Goddess,” the knife man said in a respectful voice, “we, your ever loyal slaves, have brought you this strange beast that we found near our little town. Do tell us what we should do with the beast and its friends.”
And then the screams began. They came from inside the door. At first Xuhn had no clue why anybody inside should be screaming such, but he realised that the screams actually composed of words.
The screams belonged to the goddess from what it seemed.
“… Bring the beast closer so I may see it,” the goddess said through her screams. The screams sounded frightening, and the hair on Xuhn’s body stood erect. Whatever was inside the dome was no goddess. It was a blasted demon.
The knife man pulled Xuhn to one side, making way for the people holding Mortugal by the chains to bring him closer to the door.
“Aha,” the goddess said, “this is a strange beast… but I know what it is.”
“What is it, O great Goddess?” the knife man asked curiously.
“It’s a Furry Dragon,” the goddess said. A wave of astonished voices passed over the crowd that had gathered around the dome. Xuhn couldn’t help but be irritated. Wasn’t it obvious that Mortugal was a furry dragon by his looks?
“It’s from the far south,” the goddess continued, “where it’s colder than the north—where the dragons with scales reside.”
Wait a moment, Xuhn thought. Mortugal was from the south? Either the goddess was mistaken or Mortugal had lied to Xuhn. Since the second case wasn’t possible at all, Xuhn reckoned the first was true.
“I am not from the south!” Mortugal said. A scream came from the dome that sounded like a gasp to Xuhn. From what it seemed the goddess hadn’t been aware of the fact that Mortugal could speak.
“What should we do with it, O Goddess?” the knife man asked, before Mortugal could say anything else.
“Skin it. Then leave the skin and the fur inside my dome,” the goddess screamed.
“And what about its friends, Goddess?”
“Throw them into the river and let it decide their fate!”
The command given, the knife man pulled a struggling Xuhn towards the river, its waters flowing fast. The other men dragged Ritika, Ruponi and Breda towards the river too. Was this how they would die? Xuhn thought, as he kicked and boxed the knife man in an attempt to break free. Another man too joined the knife man to control Xuhn as a result.
A week ago he had been dreaming of raising a family with Mayesha. Now he would swallow gallons of water and drown in the river.
“Hold it, hold it,” the dragon said. Xuhn and the others had already been brought half-way to the river, while Mortugal was being forced to lay his head on the ground so that the axe-men could behead him. For a moment, the men who were pulling Mortugal’s chains slowed down, and he was able to speak clearly.
“This dome was built by king Ramathenus,” he said, “and meant to be his tomb after his death. I don’t understand from where this screaming goddess comes. She sure knows little about me for I am not from the south. I am from the north… it’s just that something bad happened to me. Your fake goddess knows nothing. She is an idiot.”
This didn’t help at all and instead served to infuriate the crowd, which volleyed curses at him. Mortugal meanwhile struggled to break free from his chains, but the collective might of the men holding the chains was much greater than Mortugal’s strength. As they forced Mortugal's head down and one of the axe men prepared to strike, Xuhn looked away, his eyes swelling with tears.
He was almost at the edge of the river bank now and just a little push from the knife men would doom him to certain death. The flow of the river was swift and Xuhn didn’t know if he was a good enough swimmer to remain on the river’s surface for long.
“Please!” Xuhn begged the knife man. A slicing sound reached his ears followed by a thunderous cry, and he knew Mortugal was gone.
“Die!” the knife man yelled, and he and his companio
ns pushed Xuhn and the three women into the water.
Chapter 20
Xuhn hit the rapid water with his arms flailing madly. Despite the tremendous force of the current he tried to swim, but the water seemed to pull him down the more he struggled to remain on surface.
The few times he had glimpses of the others, they were screaming like mad. He tried to swim towards Ritika, but found it impossible. Soon Xuhn was breathing in quantities of water and his consciousness began to fade.
Then suddenly, strong arms wrapped around him and after a few moments of being dragged about through the water, Xuhn felt solid ground beneath himself.
Two hands pushed his chest multiple times and he thought he could see Benzel’s face in front of him. He coughed out water and Benzel’s face disappeared the moment he was able to breathe in properly. It was only after sometime that Xuhn recovered from his dazed state, and the world stopped spinning about him.
As his vision became more focused, Xuhn saw that he was on the opposite bank of the river. Benzel was dragging Breda, Ritika and Ruponi to the bank one by one.
Xuhn stood up unsteadily. He went and thumped Ritika on her back as she coughed out water.
“When did you come here?” Xuhn asked Benzel.
“Came with the crowd,” Benzel said, squatting down to rest. “I jumped into the river the moment they pushed you into it. You have no experience swimming in a fast flowing river, do you?”
Xuhn shook his head. He had little swimming experience, if at all. The largest water body near Bindi was the frozen lake, and swimming in it was out of question. There had been a lazy flowing stream not far away too, where Xuhn occasionally went. But swimming in that stream could have never prepared him for the river.
“I understand,” Benzel said, “plus this river was designed to be extraordinarily fast.”
Did Benzel say “designed”?
“What?” Xuhn asked. “This river was designed?”
“Yes,” Benzel said, “on occasions I practise swimming to the bottom of the river. There are well placed stones all over the river bed.
“Really?” Xuhn asked.
Benzel nodded.
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