part0079

The trials involved a hefty amount of bloodshed. They didn’t wait for you. They didn’t hunt you down. They had already hunted you and you were their exhibits of enjoyment. But there was tension, Kalki could see, as the judges were called during the trial. There was the jury on the east side, on a pedestal, all of them sitting together in a huddle. The citizens, the people of the city, were a little far off from the podium, which was the main arena for the accused to stand on and speak in his defence. The jury would then decide and the judge would execute.

Kalki was the only one who had four Nagas around him, swords pointed at his neck. Other prisoners watched him in callous enjoyment, grinning with their half-rotten teeth. He was standing amongst the scum of the earth and he hated it. There was a line of prisoners ready for their trial and at every moment, some would be flogged, while others would be stoned. The ones who had raped, pillaged or murdered, were given death. Which made his predetermined death sentence awkward, and without any logic guiding it.

He saw a strange woman with blue eyes, sitting on a snake-motif embedded throne, along with a fat man with a bald head and a mongoose wrapped around his neck. There was Vedanta, whom he could recognize from the sculptures, the so-called puppet king. Then there was Martanja, sitting with Durukti, forcing her to watch the proceedings.

The man before him appeared in the middle and begged for mercy, kneeling down, hands clasped together. “I did not know she was a child. I did not know of it. I apologize, oh great lords, for I have sinned against the state and against the Lords like of you,” he cried with passion.

Kalki didn’t know what his crime was nor was it revealed in his words.

The jury nodded at Kali who said, “I have seen a lot of evil in my day but never has evil been defined clearly or understood. What is evil? I do not believe we live in a land of evil. We live in a land of ability. We believe greed is evil, but then isn’t greed what we strive for, to make money? We believe lust is evil, but then isn’t the entire world lustful, since we constantly seek to entertain our deepest desires? We are hypocrites. But I believe that evil is nothing, that all of us are the same. And that we need to be just to individuals like this man. You are free, man. Leave, but with five years of duty in King Vedanta’s army, for he could use a forgiven man like you. Brand him!”

At that, the man was happy and rejoiced, as he was taken away by the Nagas.

Behind Kalki, another man said to him, “Can’t believe he was given an out. Lord seems in a fine mood today, you are lucky.”

“What did he do?” Kalki couldn’t see who was at the back, but he asked about the prisoner who had just stood for the trial.

“Raped a child,” said the prisoner. “There’s no heaven or hell for people like him. But I think this is where he’s supposed to be.”

Kalki clenched his teeth. “Why aren’t they letting their crimes be known?”

“Don’t know much, man.”

And then Kalki’s name was called out and Kali, who sat in the middle, comfortably leaned forward and grinned.

Kalki stood on the ground while the judges, the apparent custodians of justice in this kingdom, watched over him. The sky was dull, the evening had come forth, and the stars were concealed under a thick layer of smoky clouds.

“Before you begin your defence, prisoner, I would like to tell the jurors that they should not be merciful with this man. He is a slaughterer of many of Lord Raktapa’s men, in a siege my sister had undertaken for the protection of our people, since he was leading a rebellion against the state and the empire of King Vedanta.”

The king had no reaction. He was simply bored and looked like he would rather be some place else.

“And the rebel deserves the highest punishment; for the state is the only true source of goodwill,” Kali said.

And that was when the blue-eyed woman snapped in between, as if she was waiting for Kali to finish and when he didn’t, she got irritated. “I would like to know on what grounds the accusation has been made.” That was Lady Manasa, the brother of Lord Vasuki. The flag bearer introduced each judge in the council. Each member had their own insignia on a flag, which held some relation with their tribe, except for Kali, who had a strange flag of an owl on a tree with a blazing, blood-red sun at the back. Kalki didn’t understand what it meant.

“Grounds?” Kali narrowed his eyes. “Grounds, you say? I have a witness to prove my words right. Call my dear sister on the stand.”

Kalki saw Martanja pushing Durukti softly with a needle-like weapon. She came forward, her face weary, after spending the entire night sleepless. Kalki recalled how they had been caught and how Kali had ridiculed that Durukti was an absolute disappointment to him. Durukti should be dead for treason, but he forgave her, locked her in the room and threw Kalki back even though he tried fighting them. Ten Rakshas had come forward to stop Kalki and he was again left inside the cell. Martanja had played a big part in controlling Kalki, for he had enormous strength, more than Kalki now. And he had punched him so hard; that Kalki had almost spewed his guts out.

“Speak,” Kali ordered.

Manasa began, with a motherly voice. “Don’t let fear trammel your words, darling. Say what you feel,” She paused and Kalki felt Manasa was on her side for a moment. But why? Did she have her own issue with Kali?

Durukti gazed at Kalki and for a moment, they shared a moment of understanding. Kalki knew Durukti would do the right thing, perhaps, she would say something that would manoeuvre his situation against Kali.

“Yes. Kalki Hari is a murderer,” she said, taking deep breaths as a heavy weight crushed Kalki’s heart. “He had rebelled against a royal army and he was caught. He had been planning treason for a long time and was a bad influence on every villager in Shambala.”

Everyone hooted. They began to throw rocks and rotten apples at Kalki. He closed his eyes and shook his head. There was no way out of this.

“Are you sure, my dear?” asked Manasa, softly, trying her best to seperate the lies.

“Yes,” each word came out, clearly enunciated. “I’m sure.”

Kali clapped. “There you have it! We have a reliable witness, the keeper of villages in the province of Keekatpur who has testified against the rebel. What do you decide, jury? What should we do?”

Kalki wanted to speak, but his chained hands and his horrible situation didn’t let him. He realized it wasn’t just death Kali wanted. He could have done that in the prison itself. Martanja could have stabbed him. No one would have known.

He wanted humiliation for Kalki. He wanted Durukti to betray Kalki. He wanted all of it happening in public, so that he could relish it. This was not just about power. Kalki was wrong. Kali didn’t think he was threatened. He wanted to show he was the threat and what better way than to do it in public? Sadism didn’t have limits and even he broke all of them.

“Let the boy plead for his defence, as the rules suggest,” Manasa intervened again.

Kuvera and Vedanta were awkwardly sitting down, when Kuvera said, “I think the charges are all correct, and we don’t really have to hear…”

Kali raised his hand. “It’s all right. Let the filth speak.” There was a huge cacophony of sounds, coming from the people.

“Silence!” he yelled and his voice stopped all the people from even fidgeting. “Good. Speak now.”

Kalki looked at Manasa, whose limp hand was wrapped with a strange purple cloth. She was waiting for him to say something, anything that would help his case. “My father died a few months back.” Kalki began. “He was attacked and kidnapped by the Mlecchas. I rescued him, but it was to no avail, since my triumph over the Mlecchas had led to his death. That’s what you call fate. It was written by the Gods that was supposed to die; and whether I saved him or not, he would die. That’s what happened here. No matter what I plead or what I say, nothing will affect the final decision for the jurors,” he signalled with his hand at the people, who sat together in a huddle, “for they are bribed or threatened by the great lord Kali,” he mocked and spat, while his muscles rippled and strained, and his scars glinted under the remnants of the dim fire lamps. “I don’t know if I’ve lived a full live but I’ve seen enough evil in this world to know that we need a change.”

“Boring speech,” Kali muttered. “Kill him!” he ordered the guards.

With the chains that were wrapped around his skin, he was pulled down by the Nagas. In front of him, Durukti grew restless and tried to move away from Martanja, but he didn’t let her go. Kalki knelt down, and the very skies seemed bitter. He prayed to Lord Vishnu, as he heard the thundering sounds of the axe wielder’s footsteps; the man who was coming with the weapon of his death.

“You don’t simply mean to kill him here?” Manasa protested. “This is outrageous. Why aren’t the other council members speaking against the biases held by Kali?” But no one spoke. Kalki could almost see their tails tucked in between their legs.

Kalki’s head was put on an anvil-like structure, with his neck craned forward so that the axe could make a clean sweep. The axe was placed gently a few times over his skin, in preparation for the final swing. He could see his life flash in front of him.

And then, the axe came from above, going furiously towards his neck…

Kalki opened his eyes, heart beating, as he looked up and saw the axe man was watching the skies, and even Durukti had stopped fighting and was looking up.

In the middle of the skies, almost covered by dark clouds, Kalki could see a swerving bird making its way towards them. The entire public watched in awe, and as Kalki’s eyes focused, he realized it was larger than any bird he had ever seen.

It was a chariot. And it was coming this way.

But that wasn’t the most surprising part about the entire scene. It was that the chariot was held not by horses, but rather two long wings on its side. Usually these rotating, wing-like structures were used to attack a large number of enemies on the ground. Instead, here it was being used to fly the chariot.