Chapter 28

Power Unleashed

Chandra’s mind had gone numb. He was not able to speak. Words eluded him after hearing Acharya’s words. His entire life was crumbling in front of him and he did not have the slightest idea why.

Jayant looked at Chandra. He too did not have any words to utter. But before either of them could say anything, there was a huge crash on Chandra’s right, somewhere ahead.

The sound brought Chandra back to reality. He and Jayant saw a huge stash of silver ornaments, weapons and what not crumbling, beyond Kaalkesh and Acharya. A metallic mountain was falling towards Kaalkesh.

Kaalkesh saw it too, along with the others. Everyone panicked, everyone but the Demon. He calmly bent down, took Acharya by his hand and pulled the old man away from the falling debris.

“You two, check what happened,” Rambh said, in a frenzy.

Two guards were already on the move. They started running around the fallen debris. Now only three guards remained near Kaalkesh, along with Rambh and the remaining giant guard. Pancham and Shishya were standing in the corner, unguarded, beaten and broken but vigilant.

“That is our signal,” Chandra said hastily. He started moving towards Pancham.

“But what was that we heard?” said Jayant, trying to bring him back to the conversation, but there was no time. They had to act fast.

The plan made by Ramya was simple. She had planned to distract Kaalkesh and his men so that Chandra and the others could escape.

“Not now,” Chandra whispered and they ran towards the two prisoners.

A voice rang out from behind them. It was Rambh’s. “What is there?”

No one answered.

Chandra focussed on Pancham and Shishya. They were surprised with the sudden appearance of the two boys, but they did not mind getting rescued. Jayant raised his axe and, in two clean strikes, one by one, he broke their chains.

“What now?” Jayant asked.

“You leave. I will bring Acharya,” said Chandra and started walking towards the people who could answer the questions burning in his mind.

“Are you mad? Vidyut said he will take care of it. Come on, Chandra, we have to leave now.” Jayant pulled his hand. “That was the plan.”

“That was before I heard that conversation. The plan has changed. Now, I need answers.” Chandra was angry and Jayant knew it. He understood his friend more than what his expressions cared to convey.

“Then we will find those answers together,” Jayant said confidently.

Chandra looked at his friend. He did not need to say anything right now. That was how strong their friendship had become in the last few days that they had known each other.

“If you have spare weapons,” Pancham spoke quietly, “we can help too.”

The boys looked at him.

“Vidyut and Acharyaji mean something to us too,” said Shishya and nodded.

Jayant smiled. Things were looking better.

***

“Who is there?” Rambh roared again.

“It is me, brave commander,” a female voice said and soon Ramya walked out from behind the fallen rubble. She was bleeding from a few cuts on her hands. Her curved sword was wet with blood.

Kaalkesh left Acharya and walked towards Ramya. “What are you doing here? I thought I had told you that the treasure chamber was out of bounds until you said ‘yes’ to my proposal of marriage.”

“We will come to that in a few moments, My Lord,” she said calmly as she stood there.

“But how did you enter? I had placed a guard at the gate,” Rambh roared, looking at Ramya and then the giant.

Ramya pointed at the giant guard with her sword. “You should have kept this one outside too. Maybe then they would have had a chance.” Ramya smiled and said, “But that is not important. What is important is why you are torturing my father!”

“Your father is a traitor,” Rambh roared again. “I wanted his head but I thought I would break him first. After all, it wouldn’t be honourable if the Raider Supreme was to be killed like a rat in a cage.”

***

Chandra heard it and understood why Grahaan wanted their help and why Ramya was betraying her Lord. They were father and daughter and both of them did not like what Kaalkesh was doing to the other. Grahaan wanted to rescue his daughter from this evil thing and she wanted to save him. No wonder they were both angry at Kaalkesh. The man had ruined countless lives and destroyed many families. Grahaan and Ramya were living examples of that.

Chandra’s hatred for the man was growing every moment. He was looking for a chance to get to Acharya behind everyone’s back but he saw Vidyut doing something.

***

After killing the two men who had come to investigate the reason of the fall, Vidyut saw Ramya walk out boldly. He then crawled out from behind the rubble. In the darkness, he circled around the stashes of gold towards Acharya.

As Ramya engaged everyone in a conversation, he attracted Acharya’s attention towards him and asked him to crawl towards him.

Away from the Demon’s eyes, Vidyut successfully got Acharya out of trouble for now. But then Kaalkesh said something and everything changed.

“So, you are going to betray me for your father?” Kaalkesh asked calmly. His blood was boiling but he tried to talk reason for the last time. He wanted Ramya very badly.

But today was not turning out as he had expected.

“I am not betraying you. You are the one who betrayed me. My father and I served you completely. But that was not enough for you. Today, that wretched man is killing my father and you want me to ignore all that and become your wife. Here is your answer, My Lord,” she said and raised her sword. She waved it in the air to make a cross sign.

Kaalkesh bellowed with anger, “I will kill you all!” He moved angrily towards Ramya but that was enough for Vidyut. He had taken the axes of the fallen guards. He came out of the dark and threw one of them directly at Kaalkesh.

But his movement made a small sound and that was enough for the Demon. He turned on his spot and caught the axe before it reached him.

***

Chandra saw Vidyut about to throw the axe. He motioned to Jayant, who moved swiftly with Shishya to the other side on the left to surround the men from all sides. As the axe was thrown, he saw Kaalkesh catch it, before it touched him. Without wasting any time, Chandra jumped out and ran towards the man closest to him, Pancham at his heels.

“You brought them in!” Kaalkesh thundered at the man who had thrown the axe. As he turned, he saw a boy and his captive running towards his unsuspecting guards. As he turned a full circle, he saw movement somewhere behind Rambh.

“I have made some new friends,” said Ramya and smiled. With a swing of her sword, she moved towards Kaalkesh.

Jayant and Shishya ran out from behind an ugly statue and attacked Rambh. He quickly moved into position. The two men standing behind were engaged by Chandra and Pancham. Vidyut ran towards Kaalkesh to help Ramya. But before he could reach Kaalkesh, the tall towering figure of the guard came in front of him.

The giant spoke to Kaalkesh. “My Lord, I will take care of these vermin. Please step aside.”

Kaalkesh gave a treacherous smile and stepped back. He did not need to raise his hand to take care of them.

Chandra saw as his swords clashed with his opponent’s axe. Vidyut and Ramya stood for a face-off with the giant. He was wielding a sword in one hand and a weapon similar to the one they had faced outside. Chandra concentrated on his opponent. The man was dancing around with his axes.

Chandra’s mind was still numb with everything he had heard. He needed to finish this fight quickly. Everyone was busy fighting. Kaalkesh was alone, standing in a corner observing the fighting.

Chandra’s opponent was swinging his axes mercilessly. He had already been cut at a few places and barely missed swings at his neck. Chandra decided to stop his movement. He started backing up towards the stash behind which he was hiding. The man followed him. As he reached him, his back touched the cold metal. His hand movement became restricted. But he was not planning to attack anyway. The man attacked without thinking, aiming the axe again at Chandra’s neck.

Chandra raised his swords just in time. His double sword deflected the man’s axe towards the huge stash. At the same time, he ducked and turned his body quickly. The momentum could have pulled the axe out of the man’s hand or pulled him completely.

The man did not let his weapon go. So, his whole body was pulled towards the stash. Chandra’s ploy had worked! The man’s axe was tangled in that mess. Before the man could decide what to do, Chandra threw himself on him, his shoulder pushing the man completely on the stash.

Chandra stood up. The man tried to pick himself up and pull his axe at the same time. It was a terrible mistake. The stash was dangerously unbalanced. Within moments, it started crumbling on the man. The man realised his situation a little late. He tried to run but some of the crumbling metal fell on him.

Chandra had already turned his back on the man who was buried underneath his own mountain of stolen gold.

Chandra turned towards Kaalkesh but a scream attracted his attention. Jayant was in trouble. He was fighting the Mrityusena commander. It was not a fight between equals. Rambh was better than all the Mrityusena men they had fought and for a reason. He was swinging his curved sword like lightning. He had already injured Jayant in a few places, but Jayant was fighting back.

Chandra ran towards his best friend. Rambh was not going to take him away. Giving a loud battle cry, he jumped on Rambh. Rambh, who had his back to Chandra, turned just in time to deflect Chandra’s swords.

But this time Chandra was not backing up. He kept his guard up and knelt beside his friend. Rambh watched them with an amused look on his face.

“Are you, all right?” Chandra asked.

“Yes,” smiled Jayant. “Just a few minor cuts, that’s all.”

Chandra was not smiling. “If you can’t get up, let it be. I will take him.”

“You will take me?” Rambh was still smiling. “Who do you think you are, boy?”

“I will tell you who I am, after I wipe that smile off your smug face,” Chandra growled and stood up.

Jayant tried to stop him but it was too late. Rambh was still smiling as Chandra’s right sword swung. He deflected his strike and before Chandra could see, Rambh’s left fist hit him squarely in the face.

Chandra coiled back and stood straight. One strike from Rambh had made it clear that this was not going to be easy.

Just then, more men arrived at the scene. They looked like Kaalkesh’s guards. Chandra’s heart sank for a moment. If five more men were on the Demon’s side, this battle was going to end with their death. But then, an arrow flew from behind them and entered one of the men’s neck.

Chandra had never been so happy to see Aditi in his life. She was accompanied by two men. One of them was a very old man holding a sword in his hand and the other one looked familiar. The fight broke out again. The old man and the other man attacked and Aditi started showering arrows.

Rambh’s smile was now faltering. Chandra’s swords started swinging. He was now attacking Rambh from both sides. Rambh stopped after the first two swings but Chandra was not stopping. Chandra’s swings were relentless.

But Rambh was not giving up either. He was looking for an opening and he got it. Chandra’s left strike paused once for a moment and Rambh slid his sword towards Chandra and bent low on his knees. Quickly, he got up on the other side of sword and gripped Chandra’s left wrist with his left hand. He thought he had the boy.

But he was wrong.

Chandra understood he could not get past Rambh with a straight fight. There was no way to reach him. So, he brought the big man close. The moment he slowed his left strike, Rambh came forward and held his left wrist. Before he could pull him and drive his sword, Chandra bent his wrist and pushed his sword down.

Rambh screamed in pain as the sword entered Rambh’s foot. But he still did not give up. He thrust his curved sword into Chandra’s belly. His right sword was ready for it too. He had already put it beneath the incoming strike. He just turned it up and the sword missed him easily. Chandra pulled his left sword out of Rambh’s foot and pushed him back.

“Show me that smile now, Commander!” Chandra mocked Rambh.

Rambh looked at his bleeding foot and limped towards the boy, still trying to stay strong. On the other side, guards were falling, one by one. Four of them were down. Pancham had already killed one and fighting one of the new ones. The old man was fighting two men together. The man who had been with him earlier was nowhere to be seen.

The giant was still standing and Vidyut was not able to find a way around him.

“Aditi!” Chandra screamed and the girl looked up. He pointed towards the giant. Aditi nodded. For the first time, Chandra saw five arrows getting loaded on a bow.

He couldn’t see what happened later, for Rambh had gathered strength and attacked again. Chandra was way ahead of him now. He stood back as Rambh’s sword came from above. Chandra’s swords crossed and stopped the attack. He then turned on the spot and stomped on Rambh’s bleeding foot. The pain was too much for him. His sword fell from his hand and Chandra stood back again.

“Where is that smile now, Commander?” Chandra mocked again. “I don’t think it is coming back. Now, should I tell you my name?”

Rambh was backing up now. His foot was bleeding very badly.

Chandra’s anger burst like a volcano. He shouted at the top of his voice, “My name is Chandra.”

***

Prastar could not believe his luck. It was not possible. His mind was now made up. Soon he would deliver to his king, Kaalkesh and another source of power, and he would take Andhak’s place by the king’s side. The old man had shown him his face without knowing his true identity. The hunter had found his prey. And now he was stalking it, silently, in the shadows.

In the darkness, he was just a few paces behind the old man, who had also heard the boy scream and stopped for a moment. He was killing the Demon’s guards mercilessly and was almost done. The last guard fell and the old man directed himself towards the giant.

The old man raised his foot but it stayed raised. Prastar moved faster and his sword entered the old man’s back. His scream echoed through the hall.

***

Chandra turned just in time to see the old man with a sword coming out of his chest where his heart was. He also saw the man holding the sword and he lost his sense of reality. The villager had followed them all the way here. And he had killed the man who was helping them.

All thoughts of Rambh and Kaalkesh left his mind. He wasn’t even thinking about the villager. His eyes were fixed on the old man. His scream had affected him in an unnatural way. He wanted to help the man who was surely going to die after that strike.

But before Chandra could act, something unexpected happened. The man pulled his sword out and the old man fell. And, from his body, a bright white light emerged and entered the villager’s body. Even Kaalkesh and the giant looked stunned. But Chandra had eyes for no one. He ran towards the fallen man, throwing his swords aside.

***

Prastar saw the boy take the old man’s head on his lap. Blood was flowing profusely and there was hardly any life left in the man. Prastar smiled at the boy and walked towards the few men standing in the hall. The power surging in his body was more than before. Soon the room was going to be full of dead men and he would be going back to his king, victorious.