Chapter 6

Manuscript

Shwet Guru could see the twin peaks, which Elders’ Valley wore as a crown. The sun had set behind him some time ago and the wind had become cooler. He was tired and so was his horse. The full moon was in the sky. So, he assumed that the feast would have finished by now and people would be returning home or wherever they were staying for the night. Everyone would have been well fed. They would be tired after the long day’s work. Most of the people in the castle would be retiring to their rooms. Everyone but the new recruits who would be touring the castle with Guru Rakshit. He was sure that the castle guards would resist any attack on the castle. The guards were very capable. Along with the gurus and his three subordinates in the castle, any attack would be a suicide attempt.

The thing that worried Shwet Guru the most was why the castle was being targeted and why now. He put his aching back to work and pushed the horse to run faster. If he reached before the attack happened, he might be able to take the surprise factor from the equation and save a few lives. He just prayed to Lord Ram that he wasn’t late.

Elders’ Castle - Gurukul

All twenty pairs of eyes were wide awake even at the late hour. The new recruits were standing in Shashtragar, the weapons room of the castle. The room contained the weapons that people had read about in religious texts; they had been used by gods and great warriors.

Guru Rakshit had told the recruits about the arrows that were said to be created by the gods themselves—Bramh Astra, Shiv Astra, Vaishnav and Shaiv bows, Arjun’s Gandeev, Ram’s Akhasya Tuneer and so on. There were hundreds of such historical weapons.

One recruit had asked why they were kept locked. Guru Rakshit had smiled and told them that they weren’t supposed to be used against man. So, they had been kept safe by Mahaguru Shandilya. And now it was their turn to protect them.

The recruits had been touring the castle after the feast. All of them were very excited but Chandra was lost in his thoughts. He had talked to his uncle about the dream and his uncle had told him to forget it, saying it was just a bad dream. But his mind was stuck on it.

The worry must have been visible on his face. So, he was surprised when he heard a voice call his name, “Chandra!”

Chandra did not realise when the others had left the room. He was still standing in front of a case that held an odd-looking knife with a stone hilt and a curved blade. He turned around and saw Guru Rakshit standing beside him, looking at him directly.

“I have taken many recruits on this tour of the castle but none of them have been this disinterested. What is going on?”

“It is nothing, Gurudev. I was just thinking about something. It has been on my mind since morning but I cannot derive any meaning from it.”

“Is it related to the start of this new life?”

“On the contrary, sir, it feels like it is related to my old life.”

“If it is related to your old life, don’t you think your uncle would be able tell you more?”

“I asked him, Gurudev. It is about a dream I have been having for some time now, of a boy and a man in a forest. Uncle said it is just some nightmare.”

“If he said that, you should believe him. He has seen you since you were born. He raised you along with Suramya after your parents’ untimely demise. He knows more about you than anyone else. Come now, this castle is too big and the others are very enthusiastic. I don’t want them to go inside a room they shouldn’t.”

Saying so, Guru Rakshit placed his hand around Chandra’s shoulder and guided him out of the room.

The room opened on to a small corridor, which led to a small door. The door opened directly on to the main staircase. The door was designed in such a way that it appeared to be a part of the wall. Only the people who knew it existed were able to see it. Slowly, Chandra walked out through the door and Guru Rakshit closed the door behind them.

When they emerged on the staircase, they turned towards the upper floor. The other recruits had already turned into the corridor to the left. The staircase had windows on the landing, where it turned towards the third floor, looking directly onto the castle grounds. When they reached the second-floor landing, they turned left towards the corridor. The recruits were standing at the far end of it where two guards stood in front of a huge iron door.

“Looks like it is time to see our library,” said Guru Rakshit and walked ahead.

Chandra was left behind, as he was walking slowly by the windows. He looked outside at the ground where, some time ago, the feast had concluded. He could see the volunteers had already cleaned up the grounds and the castle guards were walking around maintaining vigil.

Four guards stood at the main gate of the castle entrance and four were at the castle doors. There was a lot of distance between the two groups. Four guards were walking in pairs to cover the ground. As Chandra walked passed the windows, he kept looking at the guards. When he stood at the first window, he saw that the two pairs of guards were about to reach the castle walls.

The grounds were lit by huge lamps, hung all around the walls. Fire burnt in the lamps all night, so that the castle grounds were well lit. The light from the lamps helped Chandra see all the movements on the grounds. As he walked past the third window, he could see a pair of guards on the right side of the ground, which overlooked the riverside. He was facing the forest side and looking at the two men, who were about to reach the boundary wall.

As he went to the fourth window, Chandra expected to see the two guards turn around. But he saw something else that stopped him in his tracks. The two men, who should have turned by now, were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, there were two groups of four men running across the ground in opposite directions, one group towards the main gate and one towards the castle entrance, their swords in their hands, crouching and moving very fast.

Chandra understood what was going on. He knew his shouts wouldn’t reach the ground in time, but he still shouted. He didn’t know if the guards heard him, but one of the men who was running towards the castle looked up. He then continued running at the same speed. Chandra wanted to do more but before he could act, he saw Guru Rakshit running towards him from the library door with two guards.

He asked, “What happened? Why did you shout?”

Chandra pointed towards the ground. “Look!”

By the time they looked outside, all hell had broken loose on the ground below. The main entrance was far away but they could see that the guards were now in full combat with the four men who had arrived there. They could not see what was happening at the castle gates.

The men on the right side of the ground were running towards the entrance, blowing horns that could be heard throughout the castle.

Guru Rakshit pulled out his sword without a second thought and told the two guards there, “Take the recruits inside the library and close the door from outside.” Saying so, he ran down the stairs.

The guards took their bows in their hands and asked Chandra to move. But Chandra stood put, looking at Guru Rakshit’s running figure.

“Shouldn’t we be going with him? We can help,” said Chandra.

“No,” one of the guards said. “He ordered all of you to go inside. Quickly now. All of you inside,” the guard shouted.

The recruits didn’t have to be told twice. All of them started to move inside. But Chandra saw that one of them was not moving. It was the axe wielder, the boy who went by the name ‘Jayant’.

By the time Chandra reached him, the others had already gone inside the room.

Jayant asked Chandra, “Do you want to go inside as well?”

“I don’t run away from a fight,” Chandra replied.

Chandra looked towards the guards and said, “Please close the gate. We will stay outside and help, if the need arises.”

Such was the confidence in his voice that the guards did not resist. One of the guards stood there to close the door. Chandra, Jayant and the other guard ran towards the stairs. Chandra and the guard went to one side of the stairs. The guard took position with his bow loaded with a lethal-looking arrow.

Jayant stayed on the same side they had come in from, waiting for the other guard. Chandra looked out of the window and saw that the castle ground had now become a battle ground. At least thirty men were engaged in a battle. Guru Rakshit, two other gurus and a handful of guards were fighting fifteen men. Chandra couldn’t make out anything clearly, but he could see a few bodies on the ground. He had no idea what was going on but he was focussed. His uncle had taught him how to fight and maybe on his first day as a recruit he was going to get a taste of reality.

***

Durgam had seen enough. He had been hiding behind a big statue beyond a dark corridor with four of his men, but he could see the main castle entrance and the people fighting in the ground. There were about half-a-dozen guards engaged in a battle with some of Durgam’s men, who outnumbered them.

Durgam was confident that his men would hold Gurukul’s guards and give him the time he needed. He had waited in the dark to see if anyone else came out from the castle or from the stairs. No one had come and he couldn’t wait anymore. So, he motioned to his men to follow him. They came out of the corridor and turned towards the main stairs, which led to the upper floors. His job was on the second floor. So, he moved quickly. The men followed suit.

They crossed the first floor without any hindrance. As they reached the landing space before the second floor and turned towards the stairs, two arrows flew past Durgam and struck the wall behind him. Instead of stopping or looking for the source, Durgam just crouched. Two men appeared behind him as though emerging from darkness, shooting arrows of their own.

Durgam saw that an arrow on his left had struck a man on his shoulder but the one on the right had missed, as the guard was being pulled up by someone standing behind him. They were now in the range of each other. It was five against three.

Durgam pulled his sword, as a twisted smile came on to his face, looking at the guard and the two boys standing at the upper landing. “This will be easy,” he thought.

***

Some Time Ago…

Chandra saw a fierce-looking man dressed in black, a sword hanging on his belt, a small shield tied on his left wrist and tiny spikes covering his armour on the chest and shoulders. He was coming up the stairs with four men behind him.

Chandra then saw arrows being shot from both sides. He pulled the guard on his side just in time. The arrow missed him by a hair’s breadth. But the guard on Jayant’s side was not that lucky as the arrow entered his left shoulder. The guard fell on the stairs and rolled down, screaming in pain.

As the guard rolled down the stairs, the man dressed in black pulled out his sword and walked over the rolling body. His men too pulled out their swords. Chandra looked at Jayant, who had held his axe firmly.

This was it!

This was his first combat. It was a ‘win or die’ situation. This was what he had trained for, all these years. His hands went behind, as he held the two silver hilts of the swords hanging on his back. In one swift motion, he pulled out the swords and held them in front of him. Then he started to move down the stairs with Jayant on his right and a guard in front.

The guard met Durgam in the middle and Jayant met the man who had shot the other guard, with his heavy axe. Chandra had no time to see what was happening there, for the two men in front of him looked like they were going to attack together.

Chandra saw them making a formation for a double attack, one on each side. His uncle’s training was now racing though his mind. A typical double attack formation was made when one man distracted the opponent, while the other went in for the kill. The key was to understand who was going for the kill.

As Chandra watched, he saw the man on the left crouching a little. If the man on the right was going to distract Chandra, the other one would have a free stroke to make from the left and the sword would enter Chandra’s body, anywhere from the neck to the torso.

Chandra couldn’t let this happen. He started moving up the stairs. If it was going to be two to one, it was going to be on his terms not theirs. Slowly, he reached the second-floor landing, from where he had seen the ground. He moved back so that the two men approaching him reached the landing too. He could see Jayant and the guard fighting on the stairs; Jayant was now getting close to the lower landing of the stairs. The guard was standing his ground against two men. Chandra had no time to think about this. He had his own battle to fight.

The man on Chandra’s right struck first, as the sword swung from top. Chandra was expecting this and he moved to the left to avoid the strike, and the sword missed. Now Chandra was far away from him and the man could not attack him. So, the man moved forward to get within reach of Chandra. There was no swinging of swords for the moment and Chandra took advantage of the situation.

Before the man on the left could raise his sword, Chandra swung with full force, aiming at his neck. The man quickly raised his shield, but the strike was so fierce that he was thrown back a little. By that time, the other man came within the range and he swung low, aiming at Chandra’s belly. But Chandra’s second sword came in its way, easily deflecting the strike sideways.

The man who had stopped Chandra’s strike was still trying to get a solid footing. Chandra reacted very fast to this situation. In his stride forward, he struck the man with his left foot and caught him in the chest. The man was caught completely off guard and his body stumbled over the stairs and he fell backward.

Watching this, the other man became furious. He started striking very fast, his strokes became more and more powerful each time. It made Chandra defensive, as both his swords tried to stop the attack. But Chandra was not worried about this. His teacher had taught him a virtue that was very important, above everything else—patience. He had been taught that a good swordsman always tired the enemy, who would then give an opening, which had to be capitalised. And soon enough, the opening came.

The man striking relentlessly was not watching where Chandra was going. In his defence, Chandra had been cornered towards the wall on the right side of the landing. The man thought he had forced him into the corner and it was time to finish the boy. He threw his shield aside and swung, aiming at Chandra’s head from above. But Chandra’s swords rose in an instant and caught his opponent’s sword well above his head. Before his opponent could pull back, Chandra ducked and gave a violent twist to his sword.

The man’s sword was pulled from his grip and it hit the wall behind them. Before he could understand what had happened, Chandra rose to his feet. His right fist, which was holding the heavy sword, struck the man below his chin. His head swung behind from the hit. As it jerked forward in the motion, Chandra caught him again with his fist.

Two sharp blows were enough to knock the man out, who was already tired. He slumped against the wall and lay there motionless. Chandra had won his first swordfight in the real world without spilling a drop of blood. He picked up the man’s sword and threw it away on the stairs. He then turned and looked to see where the others had gone.

On the stairs going down, the second guard lay dead, his throat sliced. Jayant was nowhere to be seen, neither were the other men. Where were they? Chandra’s mind was racing. He looked outside the window and saw that the battle was still raging. Who was winning? Chandra could not tell.

There were three places where they could have gone. Perhaps they had gone down to fight with the others, but that seemed unlikely. The other two places were the two doors: one went to Shashtragar and the other to the library.

Chandra thought hard. He couldn’t check both the rooms together. So, he decided to check Shashtragar first. He put one sword back in its sheath and leapt down the stairs. Though it was difficult for the men to open the door to Shashtragar, he did not want to leave it to chance. He reached the stairs where the small door to the Shashtragar corridor was. He now put his other sword too in its sheath. He then placed his palms flat against the middle of the door and gave it a swift push. There was a sound of stone rubbing against stone and the door swung back slowly.

As the door opened, Chandra pulled out a sword in his right hand and stepped inside the dark corridor. He knew where the corridor went. So, he walked quickly but quietly. Soon he reached the door of the main hall but it was closed from outside, just like they had left it. Surprised and thinking hard, Chandra turned back and ran towards the outer door. He could see the door was open. He ran as fast as he could to reach the door. He stepped out and walked up the stairs, which took him to the upper floor.

Chandra reached the second-floor landing and saw a man lying unconscious on the right. He turned towards the left and felt something hard hit his head from a side. His head started spinning. He tried to stay on his legs but he could not maintain his balance. Though his eyes were closing, he could make out three men standing by the wall. One of them was holding a small shield in his left hand and a manuscript in his right hand. His eyes were watching Chandra intently, as he fell to the floor, losing his consciousness.

***

Meanwhile, Shwet Guru saw the battle, before he entered the main gates. He could see men fighting in the ground. He knew some of the men. The others were dressed in black. The men dressed in black were more in number than he had expected, but he did not care now. He had brought his friends. Behind him were riders. At least ten gurus from Gurukul were now with him, riding towards the castle gates. Pradyuman was also with them.

Shwet Guru had decided to call for help in case his first estimate of the number of men attacking the castle was wrong. With Shwet Guru leading them, the men charged through the gates towards the battleground. Guru Rakshit and the others saw them and moved back, as the incoming horses started striking down on the intruders. Shwet Guru and Pradyuman stopped and disembarked from their horses and entered the battle. The sudden influx of armed men took the intruders by surprise. One by one, they went down under the swing of swords and the thrust of spears, dealt by the men from Gurukul.

The last man died, as Pradyuman pulled his sword from his chest and looked at the armour he had just pierced. It was black with a golden sun on the chest. His eyes started searching for Guru Rakshit. Everything else could wait, he first wanted to know if Chandra was safe. He found Guru Rakshit standing at the gate, giving orders to some guards.

“Where are the recruits? Where is Chandra?” Pradyuman asked, as he approached Guru Rakshit. Guru Rakshit was bleeding from a wound in his left arm but he did not seem to care.

“They are safe. I had them safely guarded in the library at second floor.”

Pradyuman let out a sigh of relief. By the time, Shwet Guru had also approached Guru Rakshit. “What was this? How did you know we were under attack, that you brought them with you?” Pradyuman asked Shwet Guru.

Shwet Guru recounted what he had seen on the road.

“It’s good that you came in time. Though we would have handled them, many more of us might have gotten hurt,” he said. The two warriors in red and golden robes bowed in front of Shwet Guru. He was their senior after all. Acknowledging their act, Shwet Guru turned to Guru Rakshit and said, “Where are the other gurus? Are they safe?”

“They must be. They left the castle with the guards just before the feast ended. There was a message from Kashi. But we did not let anyone enter the castle. Even if they were here, no harm would have come to them,” said Guru Rakshit.

Just then, there was a whimpering near them. All of them turned to see a guard lying on the ground, bathed in his blood. He hadn’t moved till now, and all of them had thought that he was dead. The six of them quickly gathered around him. Swarn Guru, the one dressed in golden robes, went down on his knees and lifted the guard’s head slowly and placed it on his lap. The guard coughed up some blood and said in a broken voice, “Gurudev, I was one of the guards standing here at the entrance. They came from the darkness and attacked us. We didn’t have a chance.”

Guru Rakshit replied in a sympathetic voice, “It’s alright, son. You did what you could. Now rest. We will shift you and the other wounded people to Sevagrih where Swarn Guru will take care of you all.”

Guru Rakshit nodded at Swarn Guru and tried to get up to call someone to help, but the guard held his hand, “No Gurudev. It’s not that. They were five of them.” His voice was getting weaker. “They attacked us and entered the castle and hid themselves, before you and the other guards came out. When you were fighting, I saw them going for the stairs.”

Without wasting another moment, Guru Rakshit, Pradyuman, and Shwet Guru stood up and ran towards the castle, taking out their swords as they ran. They went up the stairs with Pradyuman leading the charge. They stopped at the second-floor stairs. The bodies lying there were proof of the battle that had happened inside too. They saw the body of a guard on the lower landing. On the stairs was another guard, lying with his throat cut open. As they went up, Pradyuman stopped and fell to his feet. There lay Chandra, not moving, his sword lying by his side. For a moment, Pradyuman thought of the worst but Guru Rakshit went ahead and examined the boy. He was flooded with relief as he said, “He is alive, just unconscious.”

Pradyuman came forward and took Chandra’s head on his lap and sat there looking at his handsome face, as Guru Rakshit said something.

Pradyuman heard Guru Rakshit’s voice but he did not care about anything. His boy was safe and that was all that mattered to him. He looked up, thanked the gods, and gave a silent apology to his old friend.