part0057

Kalki had been waiting for Shuko to do something, but nevertheless, he was just fluttering and hovering over the Rakshas guards. But he was quick enough to miss their gaze and Kalki couldn’t help but smile.

That was when he saw Shuko reach the railing and squawking at the cell. The guards saw that and instantly tried to catch him by the leg. Successful in doing so, Shuko tried to get away, but he couldn’t. Kalki, out of breath with fear, ranted and retaliated, yelling abuses to distract the guard.

“You filthy, dirty animal! A cow dung cake smells better than you!”

The Rakshas who held Shuko by the legs looked at the other one in disbelief. In fact, Kalki couldn’t believe he had said it himself. At that moment, the Rakshas jerked his hand involuntarily after Shuko excreted on him, letting Shuko fly away.

“Why did you leave him?” snarled the other Rakshas.

“He shat on my hand.” The Rakshas wiped it against his lower body. “God, a parrot’s shit. Already my day is bad and it just got…”

“Worse?” Kalki suggested.

“Yeah, yeah,” the Rakshas said.

The first one thumped him again. “You don’t agree with the prisoner. The Chief said, no talking.”

“I’m not talking. I’m just agreeing.”

“That’s still vocal. I have to report it to the chief.”

Kalki cleared his throat, interrupting them. “You don’t have to be such a tattletale, you know.”

“Exactly,” the second one said. “He’s always like that. I can’t even do one simple, straight thing, without the threat of being reported.”

Kalki found it humorous to distract them, his eyes wandering close the keys that dangled from the Rakshas’ belt. He had to let Shuko get them. He whistled softly, letting Shuko hear the sound of his whistle, giving him directions.

“What are you doing?”

Kalki stopped. “What?”

“What was that sound?” the second one, the stricter one asked.

The first one shrugged. “Can you stop being like this?”

“Yes, can you?” Kalki joined forces against the strict guard.

“He was signalling someone,” the second one snarled.

“Who is signalling?” the first one looked around, “no one is here. We are packed with our own men. So stop worrying, you!” He slapped the second one’s chest.

“You know it hurts.” The second one began to massage his chest.

“And to be fair you were talking to the prisoner as well, I’ll report you too.”

“You can’t report me just because I inquired.”

“But isn’t inquiry talking?”

“It’s uh…” the second one contemplated the situation, frantically, he looked up at the prisoner. “You tell us? Was my inquiry in relation to talking to you?”

Kalki shrugged. “Since your inquiry had a vocal element, sure. You were talking to me.”

“Hah!” the first one gleamed with pride. “Got you, you tattletale!”

The second one frowned.

All of this seemed inconsequential, and as of now his eyes were still directed towards the key. A little closer and Kalki could get the key himself. As he tried to not interject between the two Rakshas, Shuko glided down, and with his small claws, scratched the first Rakshas. The Rakshas swung at the bird, but missed it.

“What is wrong with the birds here?” he said, groaning, wiping the blood off of him.

“They hate you,” the second one grinned, finally able to ridicule his partner.

The first one just managed to frown and wiped his face.

Kalki whistled softly again. Shuko came forward and scratched the second one’s face, before flying back up.

“I’ll shoot the parrot!” the second one moaned. “Let me get my bow.”

Kalki could see Shuko slowly pull at the keys now. That was when, out of nowhere, a huge man appeared with a mace in his hand. Bala! Then from the other side, Kripa and Arjan came. The two Rakshas looked at them, astonished.

“INTRUDERS!” The first one yelled.

Before he could yell again though, Bala grabbed him and twisted his neck while Arjan shot an arrow right against the second one’s chest, who tripped and fell close to the cage.

“Thank the heavens you are here.” Kalki breathed a sigh of relief, when instantly he saw Rakshas were beginning to crowd them. There were almost five of them with long spears.

He saw them prepare as Kripa used his sword, dodging and fencing against attacks. Kripa had a sense of Machiavellian within him, even though he mostly tried to portray himself as drunk. He was quite handy with the sword, just rolling and moving it with ease and then somersaulting over the ground and cutting off the Rakshas’ limbs.

Bala was, on the other hand, more rugged. While he was unable to defeat Kumbh, here he fought against the other Rakshas as if they were figures made of wood. In quick succession, he choked one while smashing his mace against the other one. When a javelin stabbed him in the back, he yelled in agony, pulled out the javelin and thrust it against the Rakshas’ eyes.

Arjan was least prepared, probably just trying to stop the attacks. Even in trying to deflect the attack, he was repeatedly facing the brunt of the Rakshas’ wrath.

The number of the Rakshas attacking them increased and Kalki knew he had to save his friends. He began to inch his hands towards the body of the Rakshas, trying to grab the belt of the Rakshas and propelling him over to the cage. But the keys were just out of his reach. That was when a pair of feet trampled over the keys. Kalki looked up and saw it was another Rakshas. He stepped on Kalki’s hand, but Kalki grabbed him by the ankle, his fingers sinking into the skin until the Rakshas began to cry in pain. Blood flowed over his fingers and the Rakshas shook in agony. Shuko began to peck the Rakshas until he collapsed, which was when Kripa plunged the sword into his head.

Kripa winked at Kalki and, for a man his age, he was quite adroit with his reflexes. Shuko reached down, squawking, as he began to reach the keys and give them to Kalki. Kalki quickly patted him and made his way towards the lock, which he unlocked.

He let himself out, the bird slowly rising and sitting over his shoulder as he left the cage behind. He was out there finally. It seemed that nature too was congratulating him for making an escape, with the sun peeking out from the cloud cover and the winds that had slowly picked up pace. Kalki went for Arjan, who was dodging the blade attacks. As another blade was plunged by the Rakshas, but it stopped, for Kalki jumped on the Rakshas’ back. The Rakshas looked back, confused. Kalki forced the Rakshas to let go of his blade and with a quick punch, he knocked him out.

He picked up his brother and they embraced, Arjan’s short hands rounding around him. “I missed you.”

“I am sorry.” Kalki nodded.

It was impossible to kill so many Rakshas, but they had to at least try. Kalki used his blade, swinging it inefficiently, a little lopsided, until it fell off from his hand and hit a Rakshas, cutting off his toe. Growling with hurt, he raced towards Kalki, who just dodged. He was now charging towards Arjan, who shot an arrow at him. A Rakshas grabbed Kalki from the back, throwing him to the ground. Kalki came to his senses, his stomach lurching with pain, as his spine began to unbearably hurt. Two big hands grabbed him again, but Kalki kicked him in the stomach. The Rakshas moved back and Kalki scampered for a weapon until he found a javelin on the ground. He grabbed for it and swung it against the charging Rakshas, letting it go deep inside his neck.

Bala was able to muster his spirit and with his one hand holding the Rakshas and the other holding his mace, he began to repeatedly bash it against the Rakshas’ skull until it was broken. Arjan was out of arrows, but he had found an axe which he clumsily tried to wield, before being grabbed by a Rakshas.

Kalki went, seeking to protect his brother, and grabbed the Rakshas from the waist. With all of his energy, he picked up the tribal and flipped him at the back, the impact killing the Rakshas instantly. Kripa was able to fight two Rakshas at a time when both of them attacked him, though with Kripa’s skilful manipulation, they ended up stabbing each other.

Kalki stood up, knees hurting. He felt he was pushing himself too much, panting while he tried to take some rest. But he didn’t have to worry about them since Kripa made sure the Rakshas met their deaths. He stabbed them straight inside their skulls, unerring every time.

Arjan was wounded. Kalki couldn’t believe that a boy like Arjan was in the midst of a deadly war like this, but regardless of his initial misgivings, he had done a fine job. He was able to do what other warriors strive to do the most.

Kalki reached out to Bala and embraced his friend as tightly as possible. As they pulled apart, Bala, who had wounds deeper than any one of them and was yet acting as if nothing had gone wrong with him, said, “I’m sorry. I was overconfident, brother.”

“No, it’s all right. We were both wrong.”

“How did you do it?” Bala asked.

Kalki pursed his lips. It was a story to tell for another time. He was glad when Kripa came in between them, with a sword in his hand, “I haven’t picked this one up for a while, mate. Feels odd now. I knew a family who had all these swords. I belonged to that family, partially, you can say.”

“What should we do now?” Arjan came forward, and they had formed a close circle.

“We can’t stay here for long as they’ll return. Perhaps they all went to see the caves,” Kripa explained.

“I have to leave.” Kalki instantly realized he had a duty he had to perform. Protect the villagers at any cost.

Kalki made his way towards the nearest horse with Shuko on his shoulders. He grabbed on to the reins and started to make the animal wear a saddle when Kripa cleared his throat.

“Well we all are happy you want to go and protect this village, but we need to leave.”

Kalki turned, confused. “Leave where?” He looked at Bala and Arjan, who were now staring down in embarrassment.

“You know where.”

“I can’t go now ,” Kalki clenched his teeth.

“So you mean we came here for nothing?” Kripa grunted. “You have to leave. You don’t understand…”

Kalki swept his hand up. “I don’t care. I don’t care what I understand and what I don’t understand.” He went over and grabbed for the saddle, and sat down, tightly clutching onto the reins of the horse. “But I know you don’t understand one thing. Those are real, human lives out there and you said I am the saviour of this age. Well, if I can’t even save my village, how will I save my entire country?” He looked at the sheepish figures of Arjan and Bala. “I’ll return. You leave and hide in the woods.”

“We can’t just hide,” Arjan blurted.

Kalki turned the horse. He knew they were right. “All right, go for Indravan. Stop them from acting on their plan.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to scout the village and meet you there.” And check if Lakshmi is still there or not.

Kripa came forward and calmed the horse. He looked closely at Kalki and his voice had grown bleakly quiet, “You can’t stop the Adharm from rising. I had tried that when I closed the caves and look where it got me. You still managed to be born. And he will also be…”

Kalki didn’t listen. He couldn’t care less what Kripa had to say. He pulled the reins and the horse started to move, with the wing whipping against his face. His body crouched forward, his eyes closing in on his destination.