Chapter 4

Ambush

The hall was well lit. Torches hung from the walls on all sides. A big chandelier hung in the middle of the hall with fifty torches that never burnt out. Beneath the chandelier was a big hawankund (fireplace) and the flames rising from it were bigger than the flames of all the torches combined. Smoke rising from the fireplace filled the hall.

For someone standing at the door, the man sitting by the hawankund was barely visible through the smoke. He was like a shadow, an ethereal presence. He was naked above the waist, and his slightly greying hair was all over the place, as it fell on his back.

On his chest was a circular mark, a tattoo in red. And it was glowing from the light of the fire. The heat from the fire was scathing his body but his face was impassive.

His eyes were fixed on the fire. The man was looking at something at the centre of the fire. He could see a road, as far as the eye could see to the right and to the left. On the right, there was a bifurcation. The road went right through a forest; the vision was like the view from a treetop.

Apart from common people walking or riding through that road, there had not been any significant activity. The only notable thing that he had seen was a man dressed in completely white robes passing by at dawn. He had come from left and gone into the road that branched off from the main stony road. He recognised him and knew where he was going but he was not the target. His target was coming and he was waiting.

***

Vidyut was now tired. It had been more than two days on the road and he was pushing his body to its limits. He had been following the carriage ever since it had left the stable, through the streets of capital. And now, they had been on the road for a few hours straight.

The two men were taking turns driving the carriage. They were taking it slow, as if they knew there was no need to hurry. Vidyut was truly intrigued, for the men in the carriage had been on the road for as much time as he had been and they hadn’t stepped down even once. Maybe they had freshened up in the stable before they started the journey. Where were they going? This was the question for which the Rider needed an answer.

Soon they left the capital behind and the road entered the forest lands of Anandmath—the same road through which the Rider had brought in the carriage.

Now only two real possibilities remained.

At halfway from the capital to the border of Suryagarh and Anandmath, the road divided into two.

The path that went east led directly to the Elders’ land, where the legendary Gurukul was located.

The one that went west led to the western border of Anandmath, which was on the banks of Sindhu, the great river that made the western boundary of Aryavart. People were not forbidden to go that far but they generally did not need to. Anandmath was a prosperous and self-sustaining kingdom. People were happy where they were.

In the olden times, when the northern empire stretched from Sindhu to Brahmaputra, with its capital in the present Elders’ Valley, this road had been a great trade route. But with time, people settled down and the trade route died a natural death. The land beyond Sindhu was deserted and desolate. No one knew or cared about the fact that a few people remained beyond the borders of Anandmath on the west.

The Rider was now thinking that he had taken too big a risk. He should have taken the money and settled with it. He was not willing to follow the carriage all the way up to Sindhu or Gurukul. The sun was shining high and bright and his water supply was about to be over. He didn’t have enough energy left in him to go on yet another long journey. He had a decision to make.

As the two men riding the carriage took a turn on the road, after filling their cans with water from a nearby stream, Vidyut stopped to rest. He let his horse loose to graze. He drank some fresh water from the stream and washed his weary face with the cold water. He then lay down to give himself and the horse some time to rest. He closed his eyes and did not know when he fell asleep.

When he woke up, the sun was no longer on his head where he had last seen it. The shadows of the trees on his right began to grow. Without wasting time, he started riding south. If he couldn’t catch the carriage before it took a turn, he would lose it forever and then all his efforts would go in vain.

He rode fast and caught the carriage before it took a turn. The two men seemed too relaxed. Although he was relieved to have caught the two men, he cursed himself for being so stupid. Then he fell behind to avoid being seen. Soon he could see the path turning towards Gurukul and he became anxious. Was it where the men were going? If yes, he didn’t need answers any more.

He followed patiently until he realised that something was wrong. Somehow, from the distance, the carriage seemed to have stopped. Vidyut stopped and disembarked from his horse. He took the animal inside the thicket and tied it to a tree. Then he took his sword out from its sheath and started moving towards the stationary carriage, making sure he remained hidden.

As he got close to the carriage, he hid himself behind a tree and observed everything. He saw some movement in the trees on both sides of the carriage. There were men on top of the trees and slowly they were climbing down. The men were wearing the army uniform of Suryagarh.

The two men who had been riding the carriage lay dead with arrows stuck in their hearts.

The rider remained hidden, as he weighed the situation. He had killed four Suryagarh soldiers and brought this carriage all the way to Anandmath so that these idiots could take it back easily.

He wanted to do something but now it was almost impossible. He could count at least fifteen men surrounding the carriage. He could take on four or five in a direct sword fight but fifteen men were one too many, especially in his tired state. He tried hard to think of some way, when a bold voice attracted his attention. The voice belonged to someone who looked like the commander of the group.

“You two, open the gate. Let us see what was smuggled from our borders last night by that wretched thief who calls himself the Rider!”

So, they knew it was him.

The two men the commander had pointed to went ahead, while the remaining twelve men took positions behind them to see what was inside. Despite himself, the Rider became curious. The two men put their hands on the carriage handles and jerked them hard. The doors flew open.

For some time, it appeared as though the carriage was empty. Then two arrows flew from inside and struck the two men who had opened the doors.

Soon they jumped out, one by one. There were seven men, all of them dressed in identical white uniform, swords swinging in their hands, as they slashed the Suryagarh soldiers who stood in their way.

Two more men stood inside the carriage, raining arrows on the ones who were far from the reach of the swordsmen. The men did not have any shields in their hands but they didn’t need any. Their swords were not giving any chance to the Suryagarh soldiers to react.

The commander, who was taken by surprise by this onslaught, raised his sword as his men began to die in front of him, one by one. He saw a man in white fighting two men alone and approached him from behind.

The Rider had had enough. Even though they were winning, nine men taking on thirteen soldiers was hardly a fair fight. Before the commander could reach his target, the Rider came between them, his sword raised.

“Who are you?” asked the commander, who was clearly agitated now.

The Rider smiled.

“Wretched thief at your service, My Lord! How about you show some class and fight man to man instead of stabbing someone on the back?”

Looking at the road-beaten weary man in front of him, the leader exclaimed in surprise, “You are the one who killed five of my men! You don’t look like much.”

The smile on the Rider’s face did not fade as two men started circling each other with their swords raised.

“I killed four of your men. I left one alive because he ran instead of fighting one on one. But looking at you trying to stab a man on the back, I think he was doing what he had learnt.”

This infuriated the leader. Amidst the metal clashing behind them, he roared and jumped on the Rider. The Rider had expected this. So, he met the commander’s stroke midway and the sound of metal meeting metal echoed through the air. The smile on the Rider’s face was gone now and he was now concentrating on the fight in front of him.

The commander was a large man and his strokes were powerful. But the Rider was able to read his moves, as he moved and dodged his sword accordingly. The commander was now acting like a man possessed. His men were dying around him and he could hear their screams. But he could not afford to look around as the Rider was moving very fast. As they kept fighting and circling each other, the commander glimpsed over the Rider’s shoulder and saw the men in white standing and looking at them.

Seeing this, the commander lost his mind and lurched forward towards the Rider with his sword pointed directly at his heart. While making this move, he lost his footing and the Rider swiftly moved aside to avoid the sword. The Rider then drove his knee into the commander’s stomach.

The commander stumbled in front of the men in white, who were standing behind the Rider, curiously watching the contest. The man whom the commander had tried to attack from behind swung his sword viciously and struck the commander’s sword, which flew away from his hand.

When the Rider turned around, he saw his opponent’s throat firmly in the clutch of a large man in a white robe. He put his sword back in its sheath and quickly assessed the situation. The men in white were the only ones standing and they were looking at him, their faces impassive.

Before he could say anything, the large man said, “Clear the road of the dead! Take this man, gag him, blindfold him, tie him and throw him in the carriage. And before you gag him, ask him where their horses are. Find those horses, we will continue our journey on them. One of you go and check on the men who were taking us, they might be alive.”

As soon as he finished, the large man’s men got started on their tasks. Two of them took the commander who was nearly choked to unconscious. One of them went ahead to see the men who had been shot. The rest of them started picking up the bodies of the dead Suryagarh soldiers. As the men hustled, the huge man turned to the Rider.

“That was the second time you fought for us in less than a day. I guess Shwet Guru was not wrong about you,” he said.

Watching the surprise on Vidyut’s face, the huge man put his long double-edged sword back in its sheath and continued calmly.

“Yes, we have known about you for a long time now and this was a kind of test that my commander had in his mind.”

“What test? I don’t understand what you are talking about,” the Rider said. “I was just curious to know who I was taking out of Suryagarh. That’s why I was following you. I don’t know or care about your tests. Now I know. I was carrying some soldiers who were able to take care of themselves. So, my curiosity has just ended and I want to get back.”

The rider was unable to hide his surprise. “Was it just a test? Why was I given a carriage full of soldiers to protect? And what was the reason behind the test?” he wondered.

He couldn’t hide his surprise for the man said to him, “You are saying something but your eyes show something else. I know you are smart. I heard you talking to those soldiers last night. You must be thinking that there is something more than soldiers inside that carriage. I will tell you something. Let us start by building some trust. Shwet Guru told us that you are important to us. I will tell you everything, but only if you come with us willingly. If you come with me, I will tell you where we are going and who we have inside the carriage. But you will have to be patient and trust us.”

“Trust you!” the Rider exclaimed. “I don’t even know who you people are.”

The man replied, “I am sorry. Where are my manners? First, I thank you for trying to save my life. My name is Pancham. I am the captain of this team of Shwetsena, a wing of the Elders’ army. I have been entrusted with the safety of this carriage, and, let us call it for now, ‘its contents’. As directed by my commander Shwet Guru, if you accompany us, you will be told everything. And the decision of what you want to do after that will be left to you. So, do we have a little trust here?”

The Rider looked around, as he thought about everything he had just been told. The men in white were almost done clearing the dead bodies off the road. The two men who had taken the Suryagarh commander had returned from the forest with twelve horses. The commander was tied up, his hands and legs were behind his back, and he was looking at the two men. His eyes were gleaming in the dark surroundings; it was as if fire was burning in them. “He looks angry,” thought the Rider.

Just then, the man who had gone to check on the fallen drivers came back and shook his head.

Pancham said, “Give the men proper rituals.” He then turned towards the Rider and said, “So, what have you decided?”

The Rider said, “My things are in the capital.”

Pancham smiled. “I will send someone to get them. He can meet us at the place where we are going to.”

He raised his arm, brought his fist to his chest and bowed, as if saluting the Rider. “Shwet Guru never told me your name.”

As the Rider answered his question, he saw one of the men tying a blindfold on their prisoner’s gleaming eyes.

“My name is Vidyut.”

***

Back at the hawankund, Shambhuk closed his eyes and shook his head in disgust. It had been a bad show. Suryagarh’s soldiers had prepared an ambush but they had been ambushed themselves. The carriage was now going far away from their reach and there was no way to stop them. The king would not be pleased with this development.

However, the only good thing was that their eyes were still alive in the enemy’s camp and they might give them some clue later on.

The sun was now setting. The time had come for more important things, which were going to happen soon. Shambhuk put his hand in the bowl in front of him, picked up a fistful of dried leaves, murmured a mantra under his breath, and threw the leaves in the fire still burning in the hawankund. The flame turned red as soon as the leaves burnt in it. With time, it again turned yellow and another scene appeared in the middle of the flame. He could see a valley and twin peaks, with darkness falling over them.

There was still some time for the things to come. So, Shambhuk started thinking about the only man who could bring the carriage’s contents back to Suryagarh, a man whom Shambhuk admired and feared in equal measure. His fear was the reason why he was hoping for this ambush to succeed. He was hoping that his men would bring back the contents of the carriage. He knew what their failure meant.

To prevent the secret from coming out, he knew he needed the help of the Demon.