Lakshmi had heard the wails first. Swivelling her head, she saw the prowling Rakshas breaking through the tall grass, their mouths curled in a grotesque snarl. Lakshmi had managed to drive most of the villagers to Indravan, but there were still a few houses that had not been vacated yet. Struggling for safety, she watched the incoming army colliding with the volley of arrows that stung half of them, but they still managed to lurch into the houses, damaging the property. The swordsmen with Lakshmi who were carrying lighter weapons tried to fend them off, but to no avail as the Rakshas were quick on their feet, almost killing and ripping half of them.

She dragged herself to the hut, hiding behind the stone walls, peering from the broken window. That was when she saw none other than the volunteers who were up on trees. They began to throw explosives at the Rakshas. Some of them burst in their faces, while most missed their target. Lakshmi could see the Rakshas were just grinning at the sight. They pounced and made their way up to the trees. The volunteers jumped and the Rakshas caught them by their clothes and pinned them against the tree, with a spear ramming through their chests.

They are the devil incarnates.

In all of this, Lakshmi saw no remorse of any kind on their faces. It was the end of Shambala and she knew it. How much she despised Kalki now, for bringing up the decision to fight. How foolish he was! But he did it for a reason that was noble. And dying nobly is far greater an achievement than being a coward survivor.

Grabbing a splinter from a damaged tree, Lakshmi came out, her feet and fingers becoming numb with cold. She knew it would kill her, but she had to do it. They would find her eventually, killing her in her hideout. The surviving Rakshas looked at her, gleefully grinning at the fresh target she offered to them.

They began to walk towards her, some of them wiping the blood of her friends from their putrid faces and hands, against the rest of their body.

Lakshmi clasped the splintered weapon tightly, feeling its uneven edges dig into her palms.

“Come you, you all,” Lakshmi breathed. It was a stupid decision, and she knew it, but there was no other choice.

The other Rakshas remained at the back, seeing the opportunity to see how this played out, while the one came forward with his blade.

“A beautiful girl like you shouldn’t be in a place like this,” the voice was thick with lust, coarsely accented. “Come with us and drink and rejoice, huh? We won’t do anything to you that you won’t enjoy.”

He came forward to grab her. Lakshmi turned a little bit and with a quick stroke, smashed the splinter against the Rakshas’ chest, creating a massive gash. Blood gushed out as he fell forward, shocked by the attack. The other Rakshas just watched her in confusion. Aunt Ratri hadn’t just taught her about the books, but also about the weaknesses in the human body, teaching her where the thinnest veins were, and how much impact was required to injure in a specific degree.

Two more Rakshas came forward, this time charging, with absolute no leniency in their eyes. Instead of a splinter, she used a bola in one hand this time. As the two came forward, she leapt, rolling in the air almost. While they looked on in confusion, she threw the bola at them and jammed the splintered makeshift spear into one’s foot. The other Rakshas brought out a blade, but Lakshmi did a backward somersault to dodge it. The other one stormed at her and as she was about to move, when four hands grabbed her from the back. She began to struggle and realized more had come from behind her.

“Little girl wants to play. Let’s give it to her then,” they grinned.

She pushed and pulled her legs and arms, wailing as she was lifted above their heads. The Rakshas came forward and began to look at her with wide and appreciative eyes. “Interesting.” His thick, greasy hands began to run slowly over her exposed waist.

That was when a sharp arrow went through the Rakshas’ head. His eyes were confused at what had happened until he fell back. The other Rakshas looked away, and so did Lakshmi, when she saw Roshan Mitra on the same chariot that Lakshmi and Kalki had brought from Indragarh. He had two archers in the front, shooting in quick succession.

The Rakshas left Lakshmi as she fell on the surface, her back cracking, and a surging pain running up her spine. She couldn’t feel or hear anything for a while, her eyes staring at the skies as she took deep breaths to calm her pain. She diverted her attention to her left side, where Roshan Mitra was standing with his arrows. He must have come down from the woods of Shambala, ready to attack the savage Tribals. She saw the Rakshas, who had tossed her on the floor, jumping on the chariot as Roshan was trying to fend him off. He fell back; the wheels of the chariot broke and rolled over to Lakshmi.

Grabbing the wheel and pulling out the spoke from it, Lakshmi mustered the spirit to stand up straight and use it to her advantage. The chariot had gone to pieces now. Three Rakshas lay on the ground, arrows sticking out of their faces. One of them had killed an archer and was now targeting Roshan, who had fallen over on the ground.

Lakshmi made way, her legs rushing towards the Rakshas as she pounced in the air, everything going hazy in front of her, as her hands felt a strong recoiling pressure. She opened her eyes and realized the rod was inside the Rakshas’ head. Lakshmi fell on the ground, panting, as the Rakshas lay dead.

Roshan scampered over to her and decided to calm her down as Lakshmi dry-heaved at the sight in front of them. Lakshmi came on her feet, struggling, but she couldn’t hear anything. They had been defeated, but she could see the directed army of Rakshas was moving towards the Soma caves.

The shattered chariot, the dead Rakshas and bodies of innumerable villagers crowded the once pious grounds of Shambala. Everything truly seemed over now.

Roshan limped as Lakshmi said, “We should go and check more homes.”

“What about the Soma Caves?” he asked.

“We can’t go there unless we check the homes.”

“They are coming.” Roshan patted Lakshmi’s head with a sense of finality.

Lakshmi saw at the back. There was a surging number of Rakshas making way for the huts. Lakshmi walked with her friend, as they made their way downwards, where the ground sloped and where there were more huts.

Lakshmi couldn’t believe there was so much darkness around them. Roshan went for the nearest hut so he could rest his leg. Hidden in the home of another Shambala family, they stayed and rested. Lakshmi resisted the urge for water as she began to unwrap Roshan’s leg that had a huge, swelling wound.

“Oh no, oh dear no.” Roshan had a peek and immediately tilted his head back. “This was suicide, I knew it. This was suicide. My mother told me it was…”

Lakshmi slapped him hard on the face. “Just shut up!” She couldn’t believe she had it in her to just smack another boy, but she did it with ease. She was just furious, sad and reeling from the effects of adrenaline coursing through her system. She tore a piece of her dupatta and wrapped the wound. “We can’t let the blood…”

And then she heard the wails. They came from inside the hut. Peering from the window again like last time, she saw the Rakshas were making their way in. They were just three in number. Three Rakshas were equivalent to ten villagers and Lakshmi and Roshan were clearly in no state to tackle them, injured as they both were. She had no weapon anymore, nor did Roshan.

“Wait here.”

Lakshmi went scavenging in the unknown house, hoping to find something inside. She looked in the living room, checked for the pots and was able to find a still simmering hearth, and a knife from the kitchen.

That was when she heard a thud.

No.

Lakshmi went for the room where Roshan was when she heard the thud again, perhaps coming from the direction of the kitchen. She bent down and pushed the rug away. She saw some grills over a big hole that went deep underground. She peered, removing the grills and saw in the darkness, two individuals.

They were hiding.

She couldn’t figure out who it was down there so she decided to interact with them. “My name is Lakshmi. I’m from Shambala. Please respond.”

No one did.

“You do not need to be frightened. We need to stick together and leave. If you stay down there, you might pay a heavy price.”

She heard a voice just then. It was a meek little tone. “Hello?”

“Shut up!” was what followed it.

There were two of them, Lakshmi already knew.

“You don’t need to worry, come up here.” She laid her hand out. “It’ll be all right, I promise.”

She waited for a while, and just as she gave up, another hand clung on to her. Tightly grasping it, she pulled them out one after the other. It was a mother and a daughter, drenched in muddy water. Such holes were common in most houses, for purposes of indoor sanitation.

“What is your name?” Lakshmi asked the frightened woman.

“Aarti,” the woman said, “and this is Pia.”

“Hello, Pia,” Lakshmi struggled to smile at the little girl who was no more than four years old, with gently curling hair over her forehead. “Why have you been hiding out here?”

Aarti looked at her in disbelief, unable to perhaps comprehend that there was another villager from Shambala, alive.

“Speak up, woman.”

“I-I…I was afraid.”

“Didn’t you go with all of them to Indravan?”

“I was uh…I was told by my husband to not leave the house.”

“Where is he now?” Lakshmi shook her head. He must have been dead as well, and she felt absolutely ridiculous when she asked this question. Her mind, despite being quick usually, wasn’t thinking straight. She had to stop, think a little and then act. The way she always did with every aspect of her life.

“I-I don’t know. He never returned.”

Seems just as well.

Lakshmi felt horrible for the lady. She had gone through so much, stuck in a hole for so long with her baby daughter.

“I want you to tell me if you have any medicinal herbs in the hut.”

The woman looked confused, her brows furrowed.

“For my friend, he’s outside.”

“How many are there?” Aarti asked, bewildered. “How many survivors?”

By just the looks of it, Lakshmi couldn’t give a proper answer to it. There were less on this side, perhaps more towards the path that led to Indravan.

“Don’t worry about it. Just stay positive. We will survive, I’m sure.”

“Are they out there? I can hear them sometimes. They had heavy voices…” she trailed off, mumbling, while Pia began to cry. Lakshmi patted the kid and sternly told the mother, “You need to stop talking like this. It scares the girl.”

“You have no idea how it feels to be stuck there.”

And she didn’t. She agreed. And she felt horrible.

Aarti showed her the medicinal leaves that she had been collecting and they were plenty in number, placed close to the hearth she had seen earlier. She took the leaf and smelled it. It was the same fragrance that Lakshmi had smelt when she was cleaning off Kalki’s wound. Lakshmi naturally trusted her own instincts about first aid, rarely taking help of the shaman.

“Are there any weapons out here?” Lakshmi asked.

“Weapons? Dear no, we are just mere fisherpeople…”

There was a huge commotion at the entrance of the house. Swivelling her head, Lakshmi realized something was amiss. She began to slowly make way to the path that led to the front when she saw two Rakshas inside, checking and scanning the hut. Her eyes slowly reached Roshan Mitra who had a small axe plunged into his head, as he lifelessly looked back at Lakshmi.

Lakshmi gasped in horror as she exchanged a glance with Aarti.

I am sorry. Lakshmi’s eyes started tearing up.

“Go down again,” Lakshmi mouthed silently.

Aarti and Pia reached down again and Lakshmi found it ridiculous and stupid on her part that she had called them up in the first place. She thought she could escape the Rakshas, but she was an utter fool. As they began to move down, Lakshmi hid the hole with the carpet, but perhaps the sound of their movement had alerted the Rakshas, for they charged inside the room.

Lakshmi closed her eyes and prayed to the Goddess, and after opening her eyes and turning around, she saw the Rakshas held twin-sided blades. They were just watching her, emotionless. Huffing and breathing heavily, they began to come forward. Lakshmi purposely stood over the carpet so they wouldn’t notice. But that only ended up making a grating noise.

No.

“What was that?” the gruff voice of one of the Rakshas asked.

Lakshmi didn’t respond.

“We are told not to kill anyone,” said one Rakshas to another.

“Wasn’t she the one who spliced our friend’s head off?” the other said. “The very beauty of death is that no knows when someone is killed.”

Lakshmi used the knife she had got from the kitchen. Swinging in the air, the Rakshas dodged in the nick of time, grabbing her wrist and tossed her against the wall. Dust swept over her as she fell on the floor, retching against the ground. The Rakshas began to move the carpet and then slowly lifted the rails that guarded Aarti and Pia. They looked down.

“Interesting,” the Rakshas coughed. “Protecting some of your friends, perhaps, eh?”

Lakshmi didn’t say anything. The other Rakshas grabbed her and smacked her against the wall, this time his thick arms restraining Lakshmi. She tried really hard to push against him. The Rakshas, close to the hole, pulled a small circular rock from his belt. “Courtesy of your friends.”

It was the explosive Kripa had been making.

The Rakshas tossed the explosive down. Lakshmi screamed so hard that her chest burnt, her mind reeling at his blatant show of heartless monstrosity. It exploded inside the hole and the worst part was that she didn’t even hear anything. Not even a cry or a protest.

Please no.

Lakshmi had never felt so terrible in her life. She could feel her very bones weakening with guilt.

“Now, what should we do with you?”

“Have some fun perhaps,” the other said.

“Hmph,” the first one grinned, “take her outside.”

Lakshmi felt her feet being dragged, unable to understand what was going to happen next.