part0066

Lord Raghav breathed calmly in Kalki’s ears. “Don’t grip the bow with your fingers. Let it rest in your hand.” Raghav walked around it, his fair-skinned body, his face with striking eyes, watching Kalki, as he made him put his leg at the back and one in the front. “Always remember, forty-five degrees angled grip, with your fingers over the bow.”

Kalki nodded. He had a bead of sweat trickling down his cheek as he clutched on to the bow, as tight as possible with an arrow strung up, facing the sky.

“Now, when you strike,” Raghav had a tough voice, effortlessly brusque and deep. “you push forward your bow arm towards the target.”

“What should I hit?” Kalki whispered to himself. “Could it be the elk in front of me?” He looked at the elk which was grazing over the grass, unaware of the two men who stood behind the bushes.

Raghav shook his head. “Animals have as much soul as we do. Never forget that.” He tilted the bow towards the bark of a tree, “hit here and if you can, make a twig fall.”

Kalki nodded, feeling a pang of guilt for wanting to have hit an animal, but the way Raghav explained it to him, made Kalki respect him more than he already did. He never believed he would be in this lush scenery, in the midst of the croaking frogs and the hooting owls, and the bristling wind that made a whistling sound. Everything was so beautiful here, unreal to a point. Because it was, in the end, his image formed through Channelling. He wasn’t able to meet Bhargav Ram, but he was able to learn a little bit about Channelling and how to interact with his previous Avatars. They were reflections through time, residing in our subconscious, so that they could teach us the ways to hone a particular craft in warfare.

Kalki left the arrow. It created a slithering sound as it went past in the air, attacking the twig, but failing to have an impact. The arrow fell down.

Kalki cursed under his breath, stamping his feet.

Raghav walked to the arrow and picked it up. “Never despair.” He walked back to Kalki and handed him the arrow again. “For what falls down can always be picked up.”

Kalki nodded. He took the arrow again, but then his target began to distort. He felt this reality was crumbling around him and a soft sound began to plague his ears…

“MAN! MAN!” The sound echoed in the corridors of his conscience.

And he was snapped back, his body jerking, and he realized he had returned to the prison. It was dingy, smelling of dead rodents and had a guttery feel to it, with the walls leaking black water. He was sitting in a position of penance, before he uncurled his legs and moved to the side, from where the voice had originated. It came from his cell inmate, another one in the hole like him.

“What are ya in for?”

“Murder,” replied Kalki.

“You seem like simple folk from a small village, ya?”

“Which one would that be, ya?”

He couldn’t see the face of the inmate right now, but he had seen it earlier when they were all locked in cages and put at the trial in the centre of the city. They were supposed to be witnesses for no reason, but Kalki knew why. It was to set the fear in the other prisoners that if they revolted, they died.

The inmate had no name and even if he had, he had forgotten about it. He had a grainy beard that covered his face, with a bald head. Even though the characteristics were same, he didn’t remind him even a bit of Kripa. While Kripa had a cunning glint running in his eyes, this man was just sad and tired.

“Why are you here?” Kalki asked.

“Because I’m innocent.”

“Aren’t we all?”

“Not sure about ya, but I was blamed for the mistakes I didn’t commit,” the old man sniggered. “Ya as well?”

“You are a quiet man.”

“I’ve become one.”

“There’s a special kind of hell for those who remain silent,” he laughed, clapping his hands and Kalki couldn’t help but smile. “In the time of the conflict.”

“There is no conflict here.”

“A conflict doesn’t need to be always spatial,” he paused, his breathing sounding more like wheezing. “Ya have a family out there, ya?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps, yes.” Kalki wondered if Arjan and Bala were safe.

“Do ya know anyone here in the city?”

Not know directly, but yes, he knew of Ratri, Lakshmi’s aunt.

“I have this one little trick. If ya want anything out there for someone to know, let me know, all right? I’ll help ya in that. I often do that for a price, but for ya, I’ll do it for free.”

Kalki smiled. “What makes me so special?”

“You seem like a nice boy, a sight for the sore eyes ya can say,” he laughed.

That was when their conversation had to stop, as the tinkling of sandals was heard. The guards moved, who were guarding Kalki’s cage, and they opened it. They made sure to tie Kalki to shackles, and he was forced to bend down.

It turned out to be none other than Durukti. She stood there, majestic as always. Just like Arjan, she had a way of pursing her mouth or playing with her fingers whenever she was musing. Kalki had seen enough of Durukti to stop looking at her with contempt but. She was a respected woman here and yet she had a shadow of sadness masking her eyes, wherever she went. She wasn’t supposed to be hated, but to be pitied.

“Have you thought about it?”

Every day she would come with the same offer: work with her. And Kalki would shake his head and say, “I would rather die than work with the woman who destroyed my home.” It was a legitimate answer to an absurd question. Why would she think that he would work for her? Out of all the reasons, even if he got a chance to be out due to her, he would hate himself. He wanted to get out on his own.

“No, thank you.”

Durukti turned to see the inmate who had his eyes trained next to the railing. Durukti stamped her feet and the Nagas came in the inmate’s cell and pulled him on the other side, with their blades against his neck.

“Don’t hurt him!” Kalki exclaimed. “He has already suffered enough.”

Durukti told her guards to release the inmate.

Durukti knelt down, and it was the first time her eyes pleaded to him. “Please, I don’t want to beg to you, but if that is what it takes, I’m ready to do it.” Her voice had grown so quiet that the Nagas couldn’t hear her. “If my brother finds out I hold you here, he will make sure you get executed. I don’t want that.”

Kalki narrowed his eyes. “Why?

She remained impassive for a moment, but shook her head as if trying to banish the thought. “You can be useful to me.”

“And what do I get?”

“Freedom from death.”

“I have already suffered enough because of you.” Flashes of Lakshmi’s image came in front of him. The very thought of her poked him hard in his chest. He didn’t like to think about her, but he couldn’t help it.

“There is no freedom from death, only freedom from life.”

“I did what I did to save my brother. He means the world to me. You have no idea how much he means to me,” she paused, fighting back tears. “I wanted him to be well…”

Kalki narrowed his eyes. “You gave it to him? The Soma?”

“Yes,” her brows arched, “why?”

“Did it have an adverse affect on him?”

“What do you mean?”

That meant no. Soma could be consumed easily by only two people—Dharm and Adharm. Tension filled his muscles.

“No, it can’t be.” Kalki clenched his fist. “Have you given it to anyone else?”

Durukti shook her head. “No.”

“Please, if you want me to work for you, make sure you don’t let anyone else touch that. And also make sure, to not give your brother any more, no matter what,” Kalki’s eyes met Durukti’s eyes urgently.

Durukti looked at him, and then nodded. “What if his health fails again?”

“You don’t realise the effect Soma has on people.”

“What effect does it have?”

“It is said, it’ll take men on the brink of madness, for the power is too great for an ordinary individual.” But is Kali an ordinary individual? If Durukti was an Asura, so was Kali. That would make the prophecies…true. Asuras were born to bring chaos in this world. It all fitted perfectly, into a clear puzzle.

Durukti stood up. “Your words make no sense. My brother is strong-willed. And all these things you hear, they are village talk! Nothing else. What I had given him was tested by shamans and not hazardous for anyone. I keep reserves for him, for the future, and nothing can stop him from taking it. So stop being so…”

And Kalki lifted his chains, his body feeling the effect of it, his muscles stretching more than it should as he looked at the royal princess. “You are a fool. You don’t see the truth. Science has corrupted your brain!”

That was it. The fiery blazing in Durukti’s eyes signalled that she didn’t wish to entertain this conversation any further. Kalki saw her leave the cage and close it behind her.

“Put him in confinement and don’t let him out until he apologizes and wishes to see me, in order to work for me. I want him out of here.”

Kalki knew what the confinement meant—being in a dark room, tied inside a bucket of water, with only the head out; until you felt your bones chilling. Kalki knew he wouldn’t like any of that at all.

“What if he doesn’t speak, my lady?” the hesitant Naga asked.

She looked at him briefly once again. The softness in her face was spoiled by her anger. “Let him suffer. I don’t care.” But she did care; there was a slight hint of it on her face, before she left for the main doors. At that instant, Kalki rushed to the rails that were joined with his fellow inmate. His voice was desperate.

“Get a message to the government official, Ratri.”

The Nagas came forward and grabbed him by his leash and tugged him hard. He fell back.

“What should I tell her?” begged the inmate.

“Tell her,” he was being pulled outside of the cell now and he raised his voice as the two Nagas pulled him towards confinement, “tell her to know that perhaps—perhaps Kali, the commander of Indragarh is the Adharm and if it is so…that the DARK AGE HAS BEGUN!”

Kalki was engulfed in complete darkness after that, with the last remnants of the light and the parting image of the horrified inmate playing in his mind repeatedly.