Sweat beads began to trickle down Kalki’s chin as he made his way to the Sarpanch’s house. At the stable outside, he was met with the sight of two muscled men, who were dozing late at night. Kalki confronted two horses, who instantly neighed at the look of the strangers. Kalki hushed at them and with the help of Lakshmi, he was able to pull the two horses aside. The sarpanch of the village was the only person wealthy enough to have horses at his disposal. Horses were quick compared to the bullocks; especially in the current circumstances.

Kalki got up on one horse while Lakshmi sat astride the other one. Unlike Lakshmi, he had little knowledge about horses and it took him time to bring it under his control.

“Use the rein and pull it towards yourself to control it, and then slowly push towards the direction you want to go,” she whispered.

Kalki nodded. He didn’t like the idea of stealing from the sarpanch, who was now busy at the meeting with a newsmonger, discussing the next plan of action against these unknown Mlecchas.

As he got out away from the muscle men, he told Lakshmi to ride close to the meeting, to hear what exactly was going on. From far off, he could see a huge group of people, mostly men, standing around the sarpanch, quarrelling and mumbling amongst themselves.

Kalki had camouflaged himself in the forest so he would be invisible to the eyes of the sarpanch, who would have otherwise known that his horse was being taken by a dairy farmer’s son.

“We should leave.” Lakshmi’s voice came from behind.

“Shush.” Kalki’s finger swept across his lips.

Kalki heard the loud rants:

“We won’t risk our lives. Let us send a letter to the closest town to get an army.”

“No one will give us an army. I’ve heard that life in this village is going to get tough.”

“We should investigate ourselves.”

“No one cares about us.”

Rants continued to pour in. One even had the audacity to say that perhaps it wasn’t the Mlecchas, but Vishnu himself. “He must have run away from his life back here.”

“No use of saving him, he is probably dead already.”

No, he isn’t, Kalki convinced himself. He had learnt all about the bandits. They would keep the person until the person was resourceful to them or at least that’s what he had been taught at the Gurukul during the warfare classes. These classes were few in number in comparison to health studies, cooking and agriculture classes, but just the most interesting one of the lot. He was one of the few along with Arjan who had been to the Gurukul, an isolated temple that housed students from across the land, fed them and taught them. Kalki had been forced to go initially, but he understood why Vishnu wanted him to study. To survive adversity, one must be knowledgeable. Due to that knowledge, he now knew about his enemy.

Kalki manoeuvred the horse and went up the hill, his cloak brushing against the twigs on the forest floor. As he came out of the clearing, the sound of the hooves had grown monotonous. The trampling of the leaves didn’t annoy him. The smell of flowers, of various kinds, had imparted a pleasant touch to the night.

“Why do you need weapons? You can beat them singlehandedly.”

“You overestimate my strength. If there was one bandit, I would’ve done what you said, but there are many. Humans are worse than a crocodile when it comes to violence.”

“Fine. How many do you plan to borrow ?”

“Bala said he can muster up five more people from the tavern to aid us so we have more than we need. As for you…”

“Me? I’ll go?”

“You don’t want to?”

“No, it’s just that I never presumed you thought girls are allowed to fight.”

Kalki narrowed his eyes. “Why not? If boys fight, then why can’t girls?” He paused when she took her time.

“So you plan to take a hefty bit of the loot back?”

“Perhaps,” Kalki nodded. But Kalki was apprehensive about using weapons during the combat.

“Sometimes I regret that this village is not very well defended. In the event of a surprise battle, how will one survive?” She paused, answering her own question then. “They won’t. They are too aloof to see the world outside, too naïve to know we live in unpredictable and difficult times.”

Kalki had to agree.

As he moved forward, mired by the silence and monotony of their journey, his mind was quickly working through possibilities, even though his heart was sunk. He had blamed his father all the time for trapping him in this village, but now he was in danger’s path and Kalki felt guilty. He wasn’t afraid for he knew his father was clever, but he felt guilty for saying bad things about him all this time. It was this sinking feeling, trapping him into a void of pain. He had last felt like this when Arjan had eaten the wrong berries and fallen sick. Kalki did everything to take care of him, carrying Arjan every day to the shaman for therapeutic massages and potions.

He had been angry at his father for not knowing the answers behind his strength, he was angry when his brother Arjan was considered the serious, studious, and better one. He was the laughing stock. All of these things made him angry at Vishnu, but it also made him sad. He missed him more than anything now. And he wanted nothing more than his safe return.

“Are you okay?” Lakshmi softly asked.

He looked at the road ahead. It was empty, and far in the distance, the land met the skies, with the woods on either side seeming to converge at one point. “No. No, I’m not.”