by ASHUTOSH RAI
She was shivering as her mind was corrupted by the fear of Vahuns. A week before they had kidnapped her one maid and the next day she was found dead behind the bushes in woods. In welter, Kumud arose to the right side window and asked her chief bodyguard, ‘How much did we travelled?’
Bowing his head he answered ‘About two gavyuti. My Lady.’
‘I think we should move fast,’ said Kumud firmly. ‘I am not feeling well. This road is really long. Can’t we take another road?’
‘The other roads are for common man and this road is scarcely populated and most safe,’ said Hevant, the chief bodyguard.
‘It’s too late today,’ said Kumud, knitting her brows. She was frustrated and unnerved. ‘Move fast and be alert. I had heard the news of frequent kidnaps in past weeks. This road is terrorized by Vahuns.’
Hevant bowed down and denied her words courteously. ‘You are in protection of ten professionals. You are safe. No one can even think to either see or touch you. Princess.’
She said, ‘Hevant ji, I am of your daughter’s age. You can call me by my name. KUMUD.’
Chief Bodyguard replied, ‘I know. But you are not my daughter. You are daughter of my master who is general of this Kundey Kingdom and brother to the king Nasur. I am your slave. I am your guardian. A bodyguard. It will be improper to call you by name.’
‘NO CONVERSATION,’ said Kumud with a little sniff of anger. She was annoyed by the way she was answered.
After reaching the local market which was about one gavyuti far from the royal house and about ten narikas near to the ANGARA FOREST. The chief relayed the orders for the locals to give the way to the royal cart in his old rough voice.
“BEWARE. Maintain the distance and give the way.”
And so the local people of the market did. They got on the either sides of roads.
After crossing the local market they came near to the road which passes through middle of Swarnapura, the rich and big village of merchants nearby the dark dense forest side. By now the road was silent, scarcely anyone around. Meanwhile, the silence was broken by feeble sound of footsteps from two different direction. Hevant caught the hint of something suspicious from two directions. He stared into the woods and found a glimpse of footsteps in group between the trees and cursed. He swayed his head back, looking in the backward direction for the source of the second sound but could not found anything except silent roads and torch poles on the either sides of road. He kept his eyes and ears alert and signaled his men to be alert with their sword, shield and spear ready for any predicted chance of attack by unknown. They all kept moving, alert and ready.
Now they were crossing the end of Swarnapura village and this place was little populated from the first end of the village. the Incidentally while watching the outside sky and forest through the spherical window of cart, the blue blood girl saw a bare-footed man of normal height about five hasta, was following the cart. Kumud smiled as she got the snatches of man’s lotus eyes drenched in innocence. His body gleamed as the torch light falls on the Janeu on his chiselled muscular body. She kept her eye watching him till he smiled back. He was the same friend she was waiting for. He was holding a bow in left hand and had a quiver filled with iron arrows, tied on his shoulder and back. He had worn a white dhoti along with angavastra of same color and chandantika was marked on his forehead in three horizontal strips as it is on the head of a Brahman. She took her head back in cart with a deep breath. She thanked Lord Vishnu closing her beautiful clear bright eyes. Now she could meet her best friend, atleast for one last time.
Kumud yanked and her head touched the back wall of cart as the horses stopped without warning. A group of fifty five wild Vahun attacked before she could inform her chief bodyguard about the Brahman man she saw. In that vicious assault the bodyguards with their chief Hevant and nearby villagers were looted and murdered. The Brahman encountered four Vahun on spot and killed them. The remaining Vahuns took looted weapons and money of the bodyguards and kidnapped KUMUD away with them on a cart made by woods of spooky Kurtkas tree. Kurtkas tree was a special tree found in land of Purvakhand. It cannot be destroyed by bombs of higher mass destruction made by humans. It can be broken or destroyed only by firing Brahmastra, the celestial arrow of Lord Brahma from Ananta Bow, a great bow mentioned in Anantvirum, the epic saga of Ashtputra and Rakshak brothers. Kurtkas trees are very strong and has cyan colored leaves. The leaves are alike that of mango is resemblance except the sharp fifty spikes on its both faces which are enough to impale the hand and fingers which tried to pluck them down.
Kumud was now far but she kept looking continuously on the Brahman who was safe from the heavy massacre due to his bravery. He had fired eight arrows on the cart but they had no effect it due to wide rods made by wood of Kurtkas. Her mouth was shut with piece of grey cloth and she struggled to scream his name: Saras. The caught the snatches of the inaudible words. He ran behind the carts of Vahuns screaming her name. ‘Kumud…. Kumud… Kumu………….’
The Brahman moved his eyes here and there on the fallen bodyguards and saw that one of them was alive. The bodyguard soldier was unconscious and breathing fiercely. With fast and sounding steps he took water from nearby well and moves to soldier. He laid the soldier’s head over his right lap and sprinkled some drops of water on the soldier’s face regaining him his consciousness.
‘Are you feeling fine?’ He asked the soldier.
‘Yes. I’m fine.’ The soldier replied gracefully as he struggled to sit on his own.
‘That’s good. It seems you are attacked by a hammer. It is deep but you must keep faith. You will recover soon,’ said Saras consoling the wounded soldier.
‘Yes! It pains and I could not save the General’s daughter.’ The Soldier regretted.
Encouraging the soldier Saras said, ‘You can save her even now. Stands up now and go to inform the general. Do fast. I am going behind the Vahuns.
The soldiers winced and stared Saras. ‘Who are you?’
‘I am Saraswatichandra, son of Satyarathi Nandkant and Arkja Gita.’
‘I recognized you. You are son of a Satyarathi and an Arkja. You are son of Nandkant and Gita,’ screeched the soldiers and pushed Saras away. ‘Be away. This must be your plan.’
Saras sighed. ‘You know very well me and you even know I am best friend of your princess. I am save her.’
‘Then go fast otherwise they will be soon far from your reach. I will inform the General and the King. Go fast,’ said the soldier, still struggling to stand.
Saras nodded and darted into the wood following the group of Vahuns. After going deep in forest they disappeared from his eyes behind the bushes. Saras continued searching the Vahuns into silence of woods. He could not get the right way. This was his fifth time that he was searching for the village of Vahuns
“SHIT!” He screamed and had hit the tree behind with his fist and then took his hand over his own head, staring the big trees and black silence of forest. Finally, he screamed, ‘SHIT! Today again I failed a fifth time while chasing these jerks. The bloody Vahuns. Always this same place and they escape. At any coast I have to find their dwells out. I must save her.’
He noticed something rumbling behind the darker woods around him. He walked two step ahead, his ears at alert and his eyes staring the trees and accidently his leg slipped on sloppy edge of land and he rolled down. The slipping of leg took him in to the hidden village of VAHUNS of a sparse population. Now because of his rolling, the quiver has only eight arrows left. He stared the Vahunian village astonished. The house of Vahuns were made up of Kurtkas woods and wild bushes. The village was filled with the bad smell which was coming out of the dead bodies hanged in the porch. Saras looked around and found himself lucky. The whole village was gathered around a fire under a sacred Kurtkas tree for any important discussion. He tried to overhear them but the discussion was so inaudible that left Saras remained with nothing. He stepped ahead slowly and carefully with an intention to read their lips but he was compe
lled to swung around and hide behind a tree as he saw that the whole village was coming in his direction. Saras held the grip of his bow more tightly and looked around, his eyes moved like a vulture and he found a place to hide. He darted ahead in his right without making any voice and hides behind the temple entrance. The destroyed walls of the temple were singing the ballad of its old age. His left legs stumbled against the door and he fell back against the ground inside the temple. The room was unexceptionally in light without any torch or lantern. Saras knit
‘Ssss!’ hissed Saras and shrugged as he rose to his feet and saw a surprising door made of rock placed in center of the temple room. The door was not attached to any door and the most flowers were gifted at its feet. He made a round of it and frowned at its presence, alone there. Observing the door with more clear and nearer gaze he noticed bow locked within the rock. It was bigger than normal bows and a little less than height of Saras. It looked strong than of his one and Saras was sure that arrows launched by it will target long than many yojana. His eye stared the symbols etched on the grip of the bow. It was much alike the emblem of Satyarathi warriors. Saras took no time in identifying the structure carved. It was symbol of Ashtputras and Rakshaks, who were step brothers and the source of inspiration for Saras. Anantvir, the eldest of all was his favorite. There is small difference in Satyarathi emblem and Symbol of Ashtputras and Rakshaks. The Satyarathi emblem had simple swastika and simple straight lines while the symbol of the great heroes has a curvy swastika with three horizontal line on both sides of it and the last two lines on the both sides are connected. Above the bow there was a picture of a pair of eye depicted on it. They looked like two dangerous eyes holding the wrath of horror. They had a message scripted below the bow in Vritkrit language which Saras assumed as Vahunian language. He stared those eyes while observing the bow. He looked them with a questioning gaze and felt like he had a long wired connection with those eyes and that strange curvy swastika symbol. He had seen these words in his horrible nightmares. He muttered, ‘I had knew these eyes. Shadows, screaming and slaughter.’ Saras pressed his temples, shrinking his eyes in pain. The eyes made on door had hold him grudgingly for the moment with horror. He drew his steps back as his heard an otherworldly chanting reverberated in the area.
“ha...ahha.ha…jakkka..rraant.jakk…rran…..tta ha.ahahhaa..!”
‘What is this? A Vahunian dance and music?’ Saras muttered as he peeped out of temple door to watch out the source of otherworldly chanting. The Vahuns were busy in their weird song and dance. A very different dance by holding hand in hand and having a thin log of wood of different colors locked between their jaws. It seems that they are celebrating any festival. Saras made face cursing the Vahuns. He whirled around, coming back to those eyes and then stopped suddenly and swayed back. He sprinted to the door looking outside instinctively. On the other side of the village, there were seven cages made of log of Kurtkas tree. He turned back toward the bow locked within the rock door. With his full power he tried to pull the bow out of the lock. Crevices had appeared on the rock but he could not succeed in taking the bow out. He pick a stone from the corner and jabbed them on the rock but the lock refused to break instead a mystical energy threw him out of the temple with a drumming sound. Blood trickled from his skinned elbow and small wounds appeared on his back. He stand again and darted toward nearest cage and released prisoners from it. They were four. An old woman and three young men. He looked into other cages and thumbed the last cage strenuously, by which he was standing now and he realized that it was waste of energy. He moved to the prisoners he had freed and asked them about Kumud, his best friend who was indeed more than a friend for him.
‘Where is the royal lady whom these brutal brought today here?’ He asked to the old lady from those prisoners meanwhile releasing her tied hands.
After being released, the lady took a deep breath and said, ‘She had been taken to the room of sacrifice. I had been imprisoned here since four months and on every full moon night of month in the black sky a witch comes and uses her black magic to drain the beauty and the life out of the virgin women in order to sustain her beauty and to increase her own lifespan. She takes away the infants to make them Cauvcrach. A flesh eating demonic figure born out of black magic after killing the infants in light of stars in mid of no moon night. And then, we prisoners are used to feed the Cauvcrach.’ The old woman stared the tighten fist of Saras. He was holding the bow mannerly by its grip. ‘Go and release that girl and infants. You will find them in the basement of that building.’ She said mildly and pointed him towards east, where was the only second building made up of bricks and rocks after the Vahunian temple in that forest village. Saras could only see three lights gleaming through the woods hiding the building. The light kept moving in an order as the building was being guarded by three men who were nearly invisible due to woods.
‘Free all the other as many as you can and run away from here’, Saras said to the three men whom he had released. They nodded and sprinted towards other cages.
Again he moved towards the old lady and asked, ‘I saw a rock inscription in the temple. It has grafted eyes of someone on it. Very Horrible. What was that?’
The old lady replied, ‘We do not take his name because no one knows his real name. He is the strongest of all being created by Brahma. It is said that taking his real name weaken the Devas {the gods}. He is as powerful as Anantvir, the mythical eldest Ashtputra. He is called The Great Evil Lord Jakrant.
‘Mythical?’ said Saras defiantly. ‘He was real. The Ashtputras were real. Anantvir is the greatest human ever born. Don’t you heard his legend, The Anantvirum?’
‘How a human who had hatred for the gods can be great,’ asked the woman staring at Saras. ‘The stories of Ashtputras are about thirteen manvantara old. They surely can’t be real. No human can defeat the gods or demons. I think you too are a fan of Ashtputras. And even if they were real, it would change nothing. You should never forget the sins they committed. Being against the god is a sin.’
‘Go fast as the witch is about to come on full moon. Ran and save them inside the basement.’ A man out of the group said with a concerning fear on his face.
‘I’m going. Till then try to be safe. When I will come, we will rush for Vatvriksh in the bull-carts which are kept behind those woods,’ said Saras gently pointing toward the left. He shook his head trying to stabilize his mind and forget what the old lady had said about his favorite hero.
Saras raced toward the building with fast steps and as he supposed three Vahun were at guard, holding torches in their hand. He checked his quiver. He smiled as he had enough arrows to encounter with three of Vahuns. Simultaneously fired three arrows hitting the target at the dead point direct thrusting in forehead and rushed ahead, opened the door of basement saw that beautiful girl tied with a pillar and ten infants on a desk. But it was not an easy task to rescue them. There was a hidden magic around them which restrict him from the reach of his goal.
He said to himself, ‘It seems to be a strong magic.’
He tries fourth to get in but could not.
Kumud watching his actions said, ‘You cannot save us. Save yourself, go from here Saras.’
Saras replied, ‘OH! My Beauty.’ He smiled thinly looking at her calmly.
‘You will never improve. You are such a damn flirter,’ said a sadness ruled Kumud.
‘No, I am just speaking few words in your praise. I meant you are really beautiful. You know in my five tries this is the first chance I got success in coming here and you ask me to leave. I am not going to leave once I took a work. But how do you know my name? Miss… whatever…’
‘This is not time to behave as a stranger. Go from here. You can’t come in.’ Kumud shaded her head down.
Saras too shaded his head, nodding wanly.
‘Yes! You are right. I am trying to come in but I can’t. It seems to be an invisible wall created by a strong spell.’ Saras continued, ‘But I will do it. Just have faith in
me.’
She replied nonchalantly, ‘Yes. I have.’ She looked down as she could not see any way to save herself and the ten kidnapped infants.
An irritable sound comes from behind. Saras startled and moved to see. He saw a Vahun was grunting right before him. Saras gazed him sheepishly. The Vahun was a frizzy haired, heavy man of mass double and height longer than Saras. He looked like an angry grouch waiting for a fun. Most probably for a duel of death. The Vahunian sniffed angrily and hanged Saras up by his throat and flung him at the invisible wall. Pressing his teeth, Saras stands up and made himself ready for the ongoing game of kick and punches. Taking a high jump he kicked the Vahun and give him back to back punches. Saras was shocked and in trouble. His punches had no effect on the heavy Vahun man of hard flesh. Instead his wrist starts paining and then the heavy Vahun gave him a hard blow of punch on his nose. As accepted the result was no good. Saras again strikes to the invisible wall of strong magic and reflex back to outside of the door along with his bow and quiver resulting bleeding from his mouth and nostrils. Saras felt something had entered in triceps of his right arm. He saw that the broken shaft of one of his arrows had caused the pain and bleeding in his triceps. That arrow had entered when Saras was jabbed to the invisible wall and it broke down leaving the shaft buried in triceps when Saras fell on ground. It was buried deep making it difficult to budge it out. Saras hardly pulled the shaft out, frowning at the Vahun. Saras growled, ‘You will pay.’