part0070

There was something about her face. It always glimmered under the shadows of the fire lamp. Her eyes had dark kohl, and an amber colour over her cheeks seemed to highlight her aristocratic cheekbones. Kali stood there at the door, hesitating for a moment to enter her bedroom, but then did so, fearing nothing. He had to stop the fear that was killing him. He felt he owed her too much, but he really didn’t. She owed him. She loved him because he had protected her from the fire, sacrificing his other siblings for the sake of her.

She had worn a long night robe. In the shadow of the semi-dark room, her eyes lifted and saw him. Kali noticed her expression changed. She didn’t turn. She smiled at the polished brass plate, letting Kali know she was glad he was here.

Kali walked to her and his fingers slowly massaged her shoulders, tightening around them as he began, “How are you doing today?”

“Interesting,” she said.

They both shared glances on a reflective surface, as if they were afraid to look at each other directly. They were afraid of facing each other with their true countenances.

“Did I tell you that at the time we were homeless and we were hungry, you said to me that you had prayed for us?”

There was a hint of surprise that crossed her face. “Really? Me? Out of all the people?”

Kali smiled. “Yes, of course.” He paused. “You were a believer once. I feel we all are believers when we are young. It’s when we grow that we realise faith is overrated.”

“What did I pray about?” She applied some cream over her arms. Kali knew it was an expensive cream, found in the bazaar he was attacked in. A shame, for he was not able to find out who that card reader was. She had possessed an eerie capability of frightening Kali to his bones. But she did tell him one thing. There would be power and he was not to be corrupted by it. Perhaps, the power from the so-called Somas is what the old lady told him about. And perhaps, the part that worried him the most was about someone close to him who’d betray him. Would it be her?

No. It couldn’t be. She was too loyal. But then, everyone was fickle.

He didn’t know who this boy was, but the very thought of him brought a vitriolic emotion within him. He felt his lungs burning. He was feeling something he never felt.

And so, to dissipate the feeling, he took the cream from her, almost snatching it. To her astonishment, he began to apply it on her. There was a flicker of confusion that crossed her face, followed by discomfort.

“What is wrong?”

Kali didn’t listen. His eyes had widened, as he applied the cream, his fingers circling tenderly over her skin. “You prayed about us, about our well-being. You said to the Gods that we should get what we deserve, and that is a good life. And when I told you that prayers were worthless, and that the only one you should listen to was the one you love, you said that the person was me.”

Durukti’s brow arched. “I think that’s enough cream.”

Kali grabbed her by the shoulder as she stood up and made her sit down forcibly. Her jaw clenched, and her eyes widened as he began to massage her head, his eyes meeting hers, his teeth gritting. He slowly rounded his fingers down her neck, almost in a choking manner; running it through her long hair and gliding them across her temples.

“Stop it.” He grabbed her by the face, while his other arm wrapped around her waist, slowly reaching for her bosom. “What…” His fingers entered her mouth, but she didn’t bite them. Perhaps she liked it. Perhaps she was uncomfortable. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he had to do it. It was like performing a brother’s duty.

He let go of her face and his two hands grabbed her neck. “You went behind my back and you brought my cure. I love you for that, sister. But then you bring a villager and you destroy an entire village in the process without telling me. Then you hide the very cure that’s helping me. What sort of a double game is this? You think you can repeatedly lie to my face…” he was sweating in cold rage, “and I would ignore it because you are my sister?”

She tried to resist him by flailing her limbs. She was trying to grasp for something, but she couldn’t. Her face had gone red. Kali came forward; his head slowly touching her shoulders as he kissed them lightly and looked at her in the mirrored surface. “You mistook my love for you as submission to your actions. But never underestimate my silence for my kindness, because I’m back and not even you can hide things from me. If you ever dare to conceal facts about anything.” She was choking and her eyes were frantic, but he didn’t care. “I will forget that you are my sister.”

He let go of her neck.

She collapsed on the floor, coughing and wheezing, as Kali walked back to her bed and straightened himself out casually, while she took time to catch her breath. When she was done, with veins protruding from her temples, she shot a look of contempt towards him, trying her best not to let him feel her wrathful gaze.

“You…don’t…trust me?” She massaged her neck.

Kali shrugged. “To be fair, I don’t trust anyone right now. So nothing personal against you.”

“I’m trying to use the boy for our…”

Kali lifted his fingers. “You don’t turn him against us. I never asked you to have an ally.”

“I just thought with our friends turning to enemies, we would need a strong soldier on our side.”

“What’s worse than concealment? The fact that you think you need someone’s help when you should know your brother is more than capable of it,” Kali said, leaving the room.

But he knew where he was going.

He was going to meet the village boy.

He walked across the corridor of the prison. Many inmates came out to see who it was, past midnight, and when they saw it was Kali, they whimpered and fell back. One of them didn’t. He used the choicest of words to abuse Kali.

Kali walked to the inmate. He had a strange locket. The inmate lolled his tongue around. “I don’t get scared by you, outsider! You repel me!” He stuck his tongue out as a gesture of indecency.

And Kali did what any person would do in his position.

He pulled out the tongue, ripping it with ease. Kali tossed it onto the floor, while the man fell back, wailing in pain.

Kali could hear Koko gulping and Vikoko elbowing him.

“Should we, uh, my lord, send him to the infirmary?”

Kali looked at the weeping imbecile. “Nah, I like him that way,” he grinned as he walked further.

The prison guards, shrivelled back almost, as they led Kali to the dungeon. The prison was more confusing and zigzagged than the ordinary lanes of Indragarh. It was surprising how Vedanta had crafted it. But then, Vedanta didn’t believe in capital punishment, but in reformation; until Kali had come and changed it. He had seen too many men, too corrupted. He knew a punishment like imprisonment wouldn’t do anything to an individual. Just because a criminal had been punished once didn’t mean he wouldn’t commit the crime again. He would. It was the way they were. They all were.

He reached the confinement where the so-called village boy was held up. What was so great about the boy that Durukti fancied him? There was no one in the entire world that Durukti looked up to romantically. What was so spectacular about him? A pang of jealousy and insecurity rose inside him. Was he too handsome or too noble or just too naïve? But worse, was the jealousy Kali faced, even healthy? As a brother, he should be protective. Not jealous. It was an odd choice of feeling. But he quelled it.

The cage opened. And he saw there was a lad sitting in a bucket of water, shivering, naked. The Nagas came forward and he was pulled up from the bucket, his hands and legs tied to an iron chain, multiple ones, as if he wouldn’t be restrained by just one. Why would that be? That was odd for a villager. He was brought to the front and he had a brown loin cloth wrapped around his privates. He was too much in pain, such that he didn’t even manage to look up for a while and when he did, Kali noticed nothing. He didn’t look special. Sure, he had a muscular body and was tall, towering well over him. But what was so special about him?

“You are the prisoner everyone talks about.” Kali walked, circling him as multiple Nagas held the boy by the chains, one holding him by the neck.

The boy didn’t say anything. “Your name, what is it?” The boy didn’t answer.

“Doesn’t matter, though, I’ll know of it soon enough,” Kali sniggered. “My sister, she’s fond of you and thinks you can help us.”

At that moment, the boy’s head lifted. He looked through the wet hair that fell over his face. “You are Kali?”

Kali came forward, hands on his hips, raising his eyebrows, or at least what was left of them. “Ah, you know my name.” He paused, laughing to himself. “It’s funny how my sister thinks, after destroying your village, that you will help us. That is ridiculous, but that is exactly what a person who is meddling with things beyond her station thinks. She’s young. Hormones, you know. She just wants to find a way to save you from the trial.”

He impassively watched the boy. “But nothing can save you from the hanging. In fact, I think I have decided to not just let your execution be a public punishment for my sister to really understand her mistake and realise she doesn’t have the right to like anyone she wishes to, but also to hook up a false trial. I’ll let you have a trial. If you succeed in telling me why you did what you did, which is killing the officials of the state, you are free to go and do whatever you want to. I see prison is really affecting your…”

The boy instantly moved his hand, toppling the Naga that held him. The ground shook, the water in the bucket spilled as the boy came forward, his muscles tightening, the veins on his face appearing more prominently.

“You are special, indeed.” Kali stood inches away from the boy. They were close, really close, but the boy couldn’t come closer to Kali. He was tied down. “Very much so. I like that. And how do you do this?”

“I am coming for you, Kali. I am,” the boy spat. “You can’t have a trial about me because mortals like you don’t have the power to conduct a trial. It’s only Lord Vishnu who judges us and forgives us.”

Kali scoffed. “A religious fanatic as well? What have I done to deserve such hatred from you? I’m excited though. Please, please, do so. Let the God of all Gods have a trial for you, perhaps when you’ll go up or down. But till the time you are here,” Kali’s smile vanished, “I am your God and your Lord Vishnu.” He spat in disgust. “And I’ll show you how.”

He snapped his fingers at the Nagas. “Kneel.”

The boy was pushed down. He tried really hard not to, but he was continually lashed until he was left with no choice but to do so.

“See?” Kali patted the head of the boy who growled at him like a dog. Kali grinned. He liked troubling the innocent. The boy was misguided, perhaps fed wrong things about Kali, about how he was and what he is like. Thus, the hatred.

“Put him back in the prison. If he stays like this, he won’t survive till the trial and I want him to be out there, in the open, for Durukti to see; how her choices have led to this poor boy’s death. I want her to see and regret; realize that you don’t go behind your brother’s back,” he spoke to himself more than to others, lost in his thoughts, before shaking himself up.

As he made his way to the door, he heard the rattling of the chains. Kali looked back and he saw the boy had his hair whipped back, his forehead visible and his eyes smoky and dark.