Bharat waited to see what the response was to the gang leader’s last call.
“What say you, Kush,” said one of the boys, keeping the arrow notched and ready but still pointed at the ground. “Shall we surrender to the authority of a king who has never done anything for us, not even protect us as is his dharma by law, or shall we let his murdering soldiers kill us just as they slaughtered the innocent rishis and brahmins of Valmiki Ashram, including the brahmacharya acolytes, man of whom were younger than us?” The words were delivered calmly but with a rich accent of irony.
The other boy feigned a shrug, keeping his bow strung and the arrow notched but pointing downwards. “I don’t know, Luv. It’s such a difficult choice to make. Hmmm. What do you recommend?”
“Enough banter,” said the ruffian who had murdered Sumantra, evidently losing patience. “Step aside and let us reclaim the horse, and we may yet let you live long enough to be taken before Samrat Rama for pronouncement of judgement. This is your final warning!”
The boys exchanged a glance. Bharat sensed something pass between them and recognized it as being similar to the instinctive telepathy that developed between comrades at arms over long periods of time and intense threat. Except that these two boys possess the ability to communicate without words naturally, they were probably born with it. He glanced sideways at Shatrugan and Lakshman, and sensed that they understood this as well. After all, they were not just identical twin brothers like Sita Bhabhi’s sons, they were also blood relatives to those two young boys.
Luv raised his chin to stare insolently back at the horseman. “If your Emperor Rama wants his horse back, tell him to come get it. As for you, you craven wretch, you must pay for what you did to Valmiki Ashram and the innocents you massacred!”
And without further ado, he raised his bow and released the arrow.
And then all hell broke loose.
***
Luv’s arrow was dead on target. But his words and actions had forewarned the leader of the king’s guard sufficiently. When Luv released, Aarohan raised his sword up quickly, deflecting the arrow. At the same time, he shouted a command to his men to attack. The entire company charged at once.
Kush released his arrow a fraction after Luv, also aiming at Aarohan. But because they had both aimed at the same spot—the gap between the horse rider’s chest armourplate and helm which left the man’s neck and throat exposed, his arrow was deflected by the same sword action. The charging horses, only a dozen yards from where the boys stood, left them no time for a second shot. In perfect coordination, both brothers leaped on the back of the black stallion and clapped their heels to its flanks.
“Go! Ride!” Maatr shouted at them, seeing the danger.
Nakhudi added her voice to the furore: “GO!”
The sacred horse needed no further urging. He shot forward like a bolt, whinnying with excitement. The other equines pounding after him excited him greatly, after having been alone for several days. He screamed his excitement as he charged through the forest at a pace few horses could have matched. The king’s guard’s horses, burdened as they were with over-muscled men each weighing more than Luv and Kuch combined, as well as their armour and heavy weapons, and tired from being ridden hard the past few days, couldn’t even hope to catch up. Luv and Kush disappeared into the shadows of Southwoods in a moment, the rump of the black horse invisible dim gloam of the dense woods. There would be no catching them by speed alone.
But Aarohan wasn’t accepting the fact. He shouted to his men to go after the stallion and they rode after it, following in his wake.
They did not go far.
Bejoo and his PFs rose and stepped out from the hiding places, aiming bows and throwing blades at the oncoming king’s guards.
Sita and Nakhudi raised their weapons as well.
And from the left flank, Bharat, Shatrugan and Lakshman rode forward and came around to face Aarohan. Bharat’s horse lurched ahead, but Lakshman reached out, took hold of the bit and gave Bharat a firm stare. Bharat looked into his brother’s eyes, nodded once, and stopped his horse, allowing Lakshman to go forward to speak face to face with the king’s guard captain.
“Captain Aarohan,” Lakshman said. “That is your name and title, is it not?”
The man glared down at him. The menace in his eyes was venomous. “Get out of my way. You are obstructing the emperor’s personal guard.”
Lakshman looked at him coldly. “I am the emperor’s brother. I am also the Protector of the sacred horse.”
“A fine job you’re doing then, letting it be stolen by vagabond children!” The man spat to one side.
“Those boys did not intend to steal the horse. They were provoked by you and your men. I witnessed the incident myself.”
This time Aarohan hawked and spat in Lakshman’s direction, aiming the produce of his mouth at the foot of Lakshman’s horse. The mare snickered softly but held her ground, too well trained to respond to such an obvious taunt. “It is a well-planned ambush. Look around you. These are traitors, men dismissed from service of Ayodhya, now turned against their own motherland. This whole scheme to steal the horse and shame the Suryavansha throne is a plot against the emperor. If you were a true loyal son of Ayodhya, you would see the truth for yourself!”
“I am one of the heirs to the Suryavansha throne,” Lakshman replied. “I do not need to be reminded of my loyalty. Nor do I need to be fed the truth by the likes of you, Captain Aarohan. My bhraatrin Bharat and Shatrugan say they witnessed you murdering the former pradhan mantri Sumantra a short while ago. How do you respond to that charge?”
The light blue eyes glittered like diamonds in the shadows of his helmet. Aarohan made a sound of arrogance. “I spit on their claims. They are dishonoured and penalized for transgressions against the throne. Their loyalty is also questionable. I would not be surprised if they too were part of the plot in which Sumantra was involved.”
Lakshman stared at him in disbelief. This fellow was truly testing his patience now. “You claim that Sumantra was involved in this? Sumantra!”
Aarohan looked at him pointedly. “Perhaps you were involved as well, Yuvaraj Lakshman. Why else would you be obstructing Samrat Rama Chandra’s personal guard from fulfilling our dharma.”
“That’s enough of this claptrap!” Bharat said, urging his horse forward. “I won’t stand here and listen to this arrogant ass spout every vile thought that comes into his stinking mouth!”
Lakshman knew how Bharat felt. He looked at Aarohan. The man was clearly in no mood to talk sense. But he also knew how quickly Bharat’s anger reached flashpoint and could go out of control. Under these circumstances, it might not be wise to let his brother unleash his temper.
“Just a moment, bhraatr,” he said aside to Bharat. “I am still trying to clear this up.”
Bharat pursed his lips and kept his silence, but Lakshman could see that it took all of his self-control to do so. He continued to glare at Aarohan who in turn glared back. If not for the number of men as well as the three of them blocking their way, the king’s guard would not have stood still a moment longer. As it was, they seemed ready to fight even Lakshman and his brothers if need be. Bharat was astute enough to recognize this and to agree to be patient a while longer.
Lakshman turned his attention to the two women. Again, looking at his sister-in-law’s long-familiar face brought back feelings that had lain beneath the surface for too long. But he also knew that to acknowledge her for who she really was might well complicate the situation further. Aarohan would not care that she was his precious emperor’s banished wife; if anything, he might consider that a reason to abuse her or attack her instead. Also, the way Nakhudi was glaring at the horsemen and hefting her sword, he could see that a fight was only a single insult distant at this point.
“Sister,” he said, choosing a noncommittal greeting. “Were those your sons who rode away with the sacred horse?”
Sita’s eyes gazed up at him calmly, and he saw that she un
derstood his choosing to err on the side of discretion. “Yes.”
“And did they lure the horse in this neck of the woods with the intention of capturing it and challenging the emperor?”
Her mouth twitched in something that might have been humour, althought it could as easily have been a bitter smile. “Emperor?”
Aarohan started to say something in his arrogant insulting way, but Lakshman raised a clenched fist in warning, telling him to shut up. The man shut up, though he didn’t like it, and Lakshman knew that even his own cache as Rama’s brother would only buy him a little more time and patience—very little.
“The horse was sent on an Ashwamedha yagna on behalf of Samrat Rama Chandra’s claim as emperor of the Kosala nation and its allies. You know the law. Anyone who stops the horse or seizes it, challenges the authority of the owner and as such—”
“As such, is liable to be put to death on the spot,” Sita said with a trace of bitterness. “Yes, I am aware of the law. But my sons did not lure, capture or steal that horse. They have no interest in challenging the authority of your emperor. They were merely trying to get away from that man and his gang of murderers,” she stabbed a finger at Aarohan and the rest of the king’s guard behind him, “who, by the way, were sent by your precious emperor this morning to find and massacre all peaceable people dwelling in these woods, including but not limited to the brahmins, rishis, sadhus, sadhinis of Valmiki Ashram as well!”
Lakshman stared at her, astonished. “What? These men?”
Nakhudi stepped forward, pointing with her sword. “Yes! These men! Either you are blind or you are also a part of this cowardly conspiracy! Don’t pretend you were not aware of their mission. They rode through this morning and wiped out an entire village of innocent unarmed people.” She was sobbing angrily, tears spilling freely down her face as she went on, “even the frail, elderly and the young! They did the same at Guru Valmiki’s Ashram. They slew every last brahmacharya, some as young as seven!”
Lakshman turned in his seat to look at Aarohan. The captain of the king’s guard was looking in the direction of a tree branch which he appeared to find exceptionally fascinating.
“Is this true?” Lakshman demanded. “You and your men did all this? This adharmic slaughter?”
Aarohan turned his cool blue gaze back to Lakshman. “These women are whores and outlaws. Every Arya knows that the Southwoods are fit only for asuras and outcastes. No decent Arya people reside here. The whole region is aranya, wilderness, and as such comes under no legal jurisdiction.”
Lakshman heard Bharat curse and come up beside him, unable to listen silently any longer. “Who do you think you are, you arrogant ass? Do you know whom you speak of? What gives you the authority to go where you please and kill who you wish in this fashion? No Arya kshatriya would do such things! Not on the honor of holy gurus or our sacred Vedas!”
Aarohan smiled coldly. “Whatever I do is under the authority of Samrat Rama Chandra of Ayodhya. I answer to him and him alone. Now, I have had enough of this bantering. While we stand here chit-chatting about outlaws and their pathetic kin, the sacred horse is getting farther away. Stand aside and let me do my job.”
“No,” Lakshman said, reaching a decision. He drew his sword slowly and calmly, with deliberate care. The steel sang out as it scraped the rim of the sheath, the sound ringing out ominously in the sudden stillness of the forest afternoon. He held the sword across the saddle of his horse, not raising it or brandishing it just yet, but keeping it ready to deploy in an instant. “You have done enough already. I am taking charge here. You are ordered to return to your superior officer and report to him until further notice. I shall go after the horse and retrieve it myself as protecting the stallion is my task. Turn back and leave here, Captain Aarohan. I command you in the name of my brother and by my right as a Suryavanshi Ikshwaku. I command you on pain of death!”
And now he raised the sword and pointed it directly at the king’s guard captain. Aarohan didn’t flinch or react in any way. He stared directly at Lakshman, his eyeline in perfect level with the length of the sword. Their eyes met over the yard’s length of burnished Mithila steel and Lakshman, accustomed to looking his enemies in the eye before a battle, saw that the man held no fear or anxiety at all. Instead, Aarohan lowered his chin, deepening his gaze like a predator marking its prey, and smiled with supreme confidence.
“I shall go for now, Yuvaraj Lakshman. But I shall return soon enough. Not just with half a company,” he gestured at the fifty-odd men behind him, “but with an army. The entire might and power of Ayodhya shall be with me when I come back. And then we shall see who gives the orders here, and who comes first to a painful death.”
And he snapped his horse around and barked a single word to his men. As one, they turned and rode out of the woods, in the direction of the raj-marg. Every single one glared in Lakshman’s direction as he turned, and Lakshman realized grimly that the captain of the king’s guard was not merely bluffing or speaking idly. He meant every word he said and he had the authority to do exactly as he claimed.
“Devi help us,” Lakshman muttered, then sheathed his sword and turned back to face the others. “What is going on here?”
A man stepped forward. It was one of the PFs. Lakshman recognized him at once as former Vajra Captain Bejoo, most recently employed as a grama-rakshak.
“I believe I have a fair notion, Yuvraj Lakshman,” Bejoo said without much joy in his tone. “And if you do not act quickly and contact Maharaja Rama Chandra before Captain Aarohan does, I think this brewing conflict may well turn into a full-blown war. That is the intention of those who have put this devious plan into motion.”
FOURTEEN
Luv and Kush slowed the horse and looked back.
“Nobody’s following,” Kush said.
Luv agreed. He couldn’t hear or sense any signs of a pursuit.
“Maatr and Nakhudi and the olduns must have stopped them dead in their tracks,” Kush said, with complete confidence. “Maybe those three strangers helped too. I saw the way they were looking at Maatr. They know her. Maybe they’re rishis in disguise, or they took up arms and became kshatriyas.”
Luv turned to look questioningly at his brother.
Kush shrugged. “Parasurama did it. In the story Guruji told us.”
“Those are puranas, Kush. Those things happened eons ago, in the Satya Yuga. This is a modern era, Treta Yuga. Brahmins don’t go around riding horses and pretending to be kshatriyas. Besides, those three were royalty of some kind, did you see their ensignia?”
Kush frowned. “The embroidering on their clothes and saddlebags?”
“Yes, and the markings on their armour and their sword sheaths. If they’re not princes or kings of someplace important, I’ll eat this horse.”
The sacred horse whinnied in protest. Kush patted his neck affectionately. “Don’t worry, big fella. I won’t let him eat you. He’s just exaggerating as usual.”
“You’re the one who’s always exaggerating, not me.”
Kush cocked his head. “You’re the one who just said he would eat the horse!”
Luv shrugged. “Well, I would. If I were wrong. But I’m not wrong. I’m right. Those three strangers were royalty! I bet you this whole forest they were!”
Kush looked around doubtfully. “Do you own this forest?”
Luv frowned. “Well, it doesn’t belong to anybody. It’s just aranya. Uncivilized wilderness.”
Kush grinned. “Aha. If it doesn’t belong to anybody, it can’t belong to you. So it’s not your forest! So how can you bet it away?”
“Well, I haven’t lost it yet, have I? I’m just saying, if I was wrong about those three strangers being royalty, then I would give you this forest. But I’m not wrong, I’m right! So it doesn’t matter whether or not I owned the forest in the first place!”
Kush giggled. “I bet you the moon and the sun!”
“What?”
“I bet you the moon and the sun that tho
se three weren’t princes or royalty. They were probably just…house builders!”
Luv gaped at him in astonishment. “House builders?”
Kush shrugged. “Or sculptors. Or road-repairmen. Or army cooks. What difference does it make? I’m just saying!”
“And if you’re right—though I’m not sure which one you would be right about, since you named half a dozen professions—then you’ll give me the moon and the stars?
Kush wagged a finger. “No stars. Just the sun and the moon, that’s all.”
Luv laughed. “Okay, so you have yourself a deal.”
He spat on his palm and proffered his hand.
Kush spat on his own palm, then slapped it against his bhraatr’s damp palm. “If they’re royalty, you get the sun and the moon. If they’re not, I get the forest.”
Luv smiled. “Done.”
“There’s only one problem, Luv.”
“What?”
“How do we know who they really are?”
“Kush, they’re going to come after us sooner or later. We’ll find out in time.”
“Okay then. What should we do now? Until we find out, I mean?”
Luv looked around thoughtfully. He looked at Kush’s rig and touched it. “Get ready for the murderers. They’ll be coming after us sooner or later, probably sooner. We should be ready when they come.”
Kush’s eyes brightened. “A real fight!”
“Yes! A really real fight. We’ll need LOTS of arrows. And other stuff. And traps. And hidey holes. And tree machans. And tunnels. And…”
“Yes, yes, I know,” Kush said happily. “Let’s go to work on it. We don’t know how much time we might have.”
“Oh I know exactly how much time we have before they come after us.”
“You do? How?”
Luv gestured upwards, at the slivers of sky visible through the dense tree cover. “It’ll be dark soon. They won’t risk coming into this deep into the woods after dark, especially not after a black horse in the deep woods. All we’d have to do is stand still and they wouldn’t find us for days.”
RAMAYANA SERIES Part 4_KING OF DHARMA Page 56