Monsters

Charu checked her wounds quickly. There were three deep gashes on her torso and two knife wounds on her back, each one of them was capable of killing a human being. She was glad that she was a 'Shraton' and not a mere human. Her comrade Nisha had been decapitated by her foe. Charu wondered if Nisha's killer had begun to suspect that he was not dealing with human foes. That would explain his attempt to kill Nisha by severing her head but if it were really true then it spelt real bad news for their community. The less people knew about them the better it was for them for they wanted to stay hidden from the troublesome humans.

Charu was so lost in her thoughts that she never paid any attention to the princess who trudged behind her. Even when she was scared, angry and upset, Princess Sriveli looked beautiful. As of now there was a frown on her face and wrinkles on her nose as she walked behind the person who had saved her life. Her tryst with Prince Durjoy of Tribhanga had been a disaster. The idea to meet at the small hilly town of Bambili sounded good when Durjoy suggested it. It was a small town in the forest separating the two kingdoms. The town was quaint and sleepy and everyone kept to themselves making it an ideal spot to meet your lover. The only problem was that it was beyond the river Tapi so the town actually belonged to the kingdom of Tribhanga. She was not scared of venturing out into the kingdom of Tribhanga for there were people who supported Abitsar kingdom in Bambili too. She and her entourage made their way to the hilly town and stayed in the palace of a close friend who believed that the princess just wanted to enjoy a quick outing. Had he known that the prince of Tribhanga was making his way to meet the princess of Abitsar, he would have backed out and warned Sriveli's father about the rendezvous. Only Nisha, her bodyguard, knew why Sriveli had chosen to visit Bambili but she had warned the princess that spies from Tribhanga had been spotted in the palace and they needed to be ultra careful lest they ran into any danger in the hostile territory for even though Tribhanga and Abitsar were not at war these days, the armies still indulged in skirmishes and level of distrust was still high between the two kingdoms.

Sriveli was beseiged by terrifying thoughts the entire day and she should have cancelled the meeting but she wanted to meet Durjoy again and her desire to embrace her lover dragged her to the rendezvous point. She trusted only Nisha among her bodyguards and together they left the palace wrapped up in cloaks and kept hugging shadows to avoid the gaze of the guards as well as of the common men. Nisha was not familiar with the lay of the land so she had invited her cousin Charu to lead them to the mango orchard behind the drinking house of Big Fish. 

The plan was to reach the mango orchard through the main gate and then make their way to the boundary wall that was shared between the mango orchard and the drinking house. Durjoy was to enter the drinking house and then make his way to the backdoor from where he would have entered the orchard and meet Sriveli. He had assured her that he did not share the details of the rendezvous with his guards and yet the plan must have leaked for when Durjoy finally made his appearance in the orchard he was attacked within moments of his striding inside the orchard. It was as if the attackers were lying in wait for Durjoy to show up. Sriveli could not even hold Durjoy's hands. The attackers were swift and brutal. Durjoy fell to the ground with at least three knife wounds on his back. Before the attackers could finish their job, Durjoy's guards came pouring out of the tavern and dragged Durjoy to safety. The fact that Durjoy's guards were present in the tavern indicated that either Durjoy lied to her or that the guards knew of the rendezvous between their prince and the Princess of Abitsar and the prospect of explaing her presence on the spot where Durjoy was attacked weighed heavily on the mind of the fair princess.

While it was true that the attackers targetted Durjoy, they did not spare Sriveli and her bodyguards. Nisha and Charu fought well and Sriveli was able to take down one of the attackers but then Nisha was killed and Charu gestured to Sriveli to make good their escape. They dashed out of the orchard in panic but soon the nerves settled and then Sriveli noticed the wounds on Charu's body. 

Charu stopped at a desolate stretch. When she noticed Sriveli keeping her distance from her, Charu could not help but chuckle.

"I saved your life, Princess!" She sheathed her knife. "And that means a blood debt."

"Contract for money trumps blood debt," Sriveli countered.

"Of course you would be so conversant with laws," Charu's smile seemed mocking now. "But you forget that you never hired me for money. It was my cousin who worked for you."

"And it was Nisha who hired you tonight," Sriveli was not going to owe a blood debt to that monster.

"As long as I did not take money from you, there is no question of contract for money," Charu frowned, upset at the princess trying to wriggle out of the blood debt. It was imperative that the princess was bound to her by the blood debt.

"I asked Nisha to make a payment to you for your services," Sriveli replied. "That makes this a contractual obligation for you."

"But I never took any money from Nisha," Charu was beyond irritation now.

"The actual transfer of money from Nisha to you is immaterial," Sriveli said.

"You will never be able to prove it in front of the judge," Charu warned her.

"My father is the greatest judge of them all," Sriveli ignored her threat.

"He is the king so he is the father of all of his citizens," Charu's voice wavered. "He can't preside over any matter that pertains to you."

"Be that as may be," Sriveli did not back off, "but any judge will accept my contention that I made my payment in the good faith that Nisha would have paid you."

"The question is not whether Nisha would have paid me or not. The question is whether that amounts to a contract for money."

"Then let us stop bickering about it and let the matter be appealed to any judge that you choose."

For some moments Charu stared at the obstinate princess with despairing eyes. "So you know!" She suddenly accused Sriveli who simply nodded. In the pale light of the flickering flame of the torch that was tied to a wooden post on the side of the street that illuminated the street, the girls appeared to be wraiths while their shadows took on far more sinister forms.

"If I were a human, you would have instantly agreed to the blood debt," Charu tried her hardest to not snap at the princess whose help she needed to complete her mission.

"That may be so," Sriveli sighed. She wanted to get back to the safety of her friend's palace but the monster was blocking her path.

"I saved your life," Charu screeched. "You will have to agree to the blood debt."

"I will never agree to it," Sriveli kept her voice firm though she suddenly felt terrified.

Charu's hand touched the hilt of her dagger that had not yet been cleaned of the blood of the the soldier she had killed not an hour ago. Sriveli's eyes followed Charu's hand movements. She was not unskilled in the art of warfare but she knew that her opponent was far more skilled than her and far more brutal as was demonstrated in the orchard.

Before Charu could threaten Sriveli again, they heard footsteps rushing towards them. Charu wavered trying to decide if there was enough time to incapacitate Sriveli and take her prisoner or whether she should take to her heels leaving Sriveli to her own devices. The arrow flying harmlessly over her head decided things for her. She turned around and sprinted away melting in darkness.

Sriveli turned around to face the new danger. The crowd soon surrounded her.

"She was there!" Someone hollered.

"Arrest her," A man pushed her.

Sriveli could feel the anger and rage in the voices of her harassers. She believed that it were better for her to let them know that she was the only princess of the kingdom of Abitsar for that would surely save her life though she knew that it would malign the good name of her family. She trembled violently as if a fever had seized her but before she could take the drastic step someone pushed his way towards her and came face to face with her. He carried a torch with him that he brought close to her face. Then he sighed.

"Where did you run away, you wench?" He asked her angrily. He took a scarf off his neck and placed it on her head. "Cover your head, you shameless girl!"

The crowd feared the young man for no one protested as he led her away. One plaintive voice did muster up enough courage to hail the young man.

"Brindan sir, we saw two young women rushing out of the orchard..." the man suddenly stopped speaking when he realized that Brindan had turned to face him.

"There were two of them, right? Go, look for them somewhere else." He turned around and grabbing Sriveli's elbow he led her away from the crowd.

He kept his hand on her elbow till the time they turned a corner when he released his hold on her and bowed his head in front of her.

"Princess, everyone around is outraged at the desperate attempt on the prince's life. You are not safe here. In fact, do not think of returning to your accommodation. Someone let out the word that those folks support Abitsar and that it was the people from Abitsar who attacked our prince and at this very moment the place is being torn apart."

Brindan's words froze the blood in Sriveli's veins. She was stuck in a hostile place and she had no friend to call for help. A sob escaped her.

"I recognized you the moment you arrived at the gates of the palace of Mehtab," Brindan looked around to check if anyone were approaching them. "Prince Durjoy was supposed to visit us today so I just knew that he had come to meet you." 

Sriveli wiped her tears.

"When the rumour spread that the prince has been assassinated, we all ran to the drinking house. I soon found out that the prince was alive. Someone told me that the assassins were seen escaping from the main gate of the orchard so we all rushed over there. I got to you in time and for that I am very grateful to my lord. If someone would have harmed you in the heat of the moment, it would have led to tragic consequences. Let me be the guide to take you home."

"How will we do that?"

"Through the forest, of course!" Brindan smiled. "I know that there is a tunnel in one of the caves of Pretashila that takes one to Abitsar."

Sriveli had to agree. The tunnel was a secret that the soldiers of Tribhanga should never know for then they could use the same to infiltrate the kingdom of Abitsar. The tunnel would have to be sealed. The tunnel was created after about six months of back breaking labour and its loss would be felt painfully by the spies and the assassins, not to say anything about the bandits who raided merchants of Tribhanga and used the tunnel to seek refuge in Abitsar.

Within minutes, Brindan led her to a lodge that was still dark though people were rushing through the streets in order to identify the spies and soldiers of Abitsar. Brindan got two horses ready and they walked along side the horses till they had hit the road that would take them to the forest. Then they rode the horses swiftly toward the caves of Pretashila. The hills of Pretashila were once abode of demons and goblins or so the stories went. When the citizens stopped believing in demons or ghosts, they began to frequent the hills but very soon they realized that the hills had many booby traps hidden in its myriad nooks and corners. They would watch their comrades fall to their deaths or sometimes even sucked inside as they fell in a cave. The moss on the ground added to the slipperiness of the slopes and many times people would slip and go beyond the precipice. The erstwhile king did not even have to pass an injunction to stop the tourists. Fear of meeting an untimely death was enough of a deterrent. Later, when the bandits took over, the entire region of the forest became a no-go area.

Sriveli wondered about her next step. She could have easily killed Brindan when she reached the entrance of the tunnel and then escape to the safety of her people but she was unsure of whether she owed a blood debt to Brindan for if she owed a blood debt then she could never kill Brindan but if there was no blood debt she was allowed to kill him to keep the tunnel safe. Was she in grave danger when the crowd surrounded her? Did Brindan himself send the crowd to threaten her so that he could come later and save her? She bit her lips hard as she tried to take a stance. If she killed a blood debt holder, then she would have to sit atop a burning pyre. The thought of killing Brindan and not telling anyone about him never came to her for at heart she was a pious girl who did not entertain such criminal thoughts.

Charu had saved her and Sriveli would have definitely owed a blood debt to her but she found out that Charu was a monster and as far as she knew their people never owed blood debt to the monsters. Brindan saved her from the crowd but he did not kill anyone to save her though in his case it was not important to spill blood of his men to protect her. In both the cases she had been saved from death.

She was so lost in her thoughts that when a shadow jumped at her horse she was taken totally by surprise and without making a sound she toppled over and fell to the ground. The horse neighed at the sudden attack and Brindan glanced back. In one smooth motion, he alighted from the horse and drew out his sword. The person who had pushed Sriveli off her horse now held her tightly and hid behind her. 

"Let her go, wretch!" Brindan snarled.

Charu chuckled. "Let her first accept that she owes me a blood debt."

She took out her dagger and placed it on Sriveli's neck. The smell of blood from it made Sriveli retch and gag.

"That is not the way to make someone owe you a debt and you know it very well that blood debt is a huge thing," Brindan advanced slowly towards Sriveli and the crouched figure of Charu behind her.

"She should have agreed on her own," Charu snarled. "It is her fault that we now stand like this."

"Princess, agree to her blood debt," Brindan addressed Sriveli. "Then I will kill her and release you of your debt."

Charu snickered but didn't back off.

"If you persist in such foolishness, I will slash her neck after she gives me my due," Charu warned Brindan.

"What good will come out of it?" Brindan stopped right in front of the princess. "Where do you want to go in the night? For the night is awfully dark and the shadows move on their own."

Sriveli felt Charu flinch as if she were struck physically by Brindan's words. In the very next moment, Charu sprang away from Sriveli and disappeared amidst the trees.

Brindan fussed over Sriveli and then helped her astride the horse again. The horses galloped towards the Pretashila. Sriveli grew more and more distraught as she realized that the moment of the truth was at hand. When they hit the upward trail, they alighted from the horses and began leading them uphill. Sriveli had been made to visit the caves of Pretashila repeatedly so that she and her brothers were familiar with the secret tunnel leading to their kingdom. She knew that the tunnel was protected at the end where they would emerge in Abitsar and yet she dawdled, unsure of where she stood with respect to the blood debt owed to Brindan.

Sriveli kept walking beyond the caves that appeared magically to their left and sometimes to their right. The cave to the entrance of the tunnel loomed ahead of them. There were three caves ahead of them but one of them led to the secret tunnel. Brindan walked carefully behind the princess trying his hardest to walk in her tracks.

"I can't lead you to the tunnel," Sriveli finally decided on her course of action.

"That's a pity, Sriveli," Brindan's tone changed from affable to menacing. "We have means to get the information from you. I just did not want to use violence for such a petty thing but if you act in this manner, I will most definitely use it."

"Who are you?" Sriveli was scared of Brindan.

"I am here to help," Brindan approached her slowly, leading his panting horse behind him. "That's all you want to know."

"You are a monster!" She flung the accusation in his face. 

He brought the torch down and in the flickering light his teeth shone. He found her charge amusing.

"You are right," he spoke softly. The breeze suddenly picked up around them and the flame of the torch almost went out. Brindan's timely jerk to put the torch between him and the horse's body saved the flame from dying. "You call us monsters but it is you who massacre our people, kill our children, burn our cities down, deny us food and medicines. Your father joined hands with the king of Tribhanga and destroyed our kingdom. Destruction is a poor word for what they did to our homes for as of now nothing of our chequered past remains. It has been only twenty years since our king was slain, not in the battlefield but by backstabbing kings who he considered friends. Twenty years! You were but a kid then when our cities were razed down and our people were slaughtered. We had to hide in the shadows and we watched in consternation as the world moved on. People kept ignoring our plight and then one day they just stopped talking about us. It was as if we never existed. A handful of us survive. We, the living embodiments of our glorious culture, hide ourselves amidst you people. Why did you consign us to this fate?"

"You used to kill us and eat us," Sriveli panted. "You monsters preyed on us. Our people were kidnapped in the forest and then we found their bones. Your people would raid villages in the forest and snatch our children."

"Is that what they have taught you?" Brindan shook his head in disgust. "We did eat your people but that is how we were. Lions kill deer for sustenance. And that's exactly what we used to do. There was no wanton killing of people. We killed only those who we wanted to consume. It is how the nature made us. When we realized that we were hated and despised for who we were, we even tried to change our ways. Imagine that! We all decided to earn your trust so that we could all live together."

"But you kept going back on your word," Sriveli took a step back. "You kept killing us."

"A loony group among us did not take kindly to our offer to change ourselves to fit the world," Brindan cupped the flame of the torch and brought it in front of him. "They were the ones who kept stealing children and doing everything to destroy the tenuous peace that we enjoyed. They were successful in causing a war but their grand delusions of conquering the world crumbled and along with that our great civilization was first brought to its knees and then annihilated."

"The great warrior Paras killed your champions and led us to our greatest triumph!"

"Our survivors hate that name with a passion that is still unmatched."

"I don't care. I am not scared of you."

"You shouldn't be scared of me. That's perfectly fine by me. But you should be scared of Charu for she belongs to the same cult that wants to enslave humans."

"What did she want to do?"

"She wanted you to owe her a blood debt so that she could force you to take her to your palace. She planned to slaughter you all and then stage the scene and plant evidence so that your people would have suspected Tribhanga for that terrible crime. The people of Tribhanga are in any case mighty upset tonight at the attack on their beloved prince. A war would have broken out and Charu's cult would have waited for the two kingdoms to get weakened before jumping in the fray and taking both of you out."

"If that is true," Sriveli was baffled now, "then why are you so hell bent on coming with me?"

"Because I can take out the guy who was going to help Charu," Brindan replied. "I don't need to force you to owe me a blood debt. I have absolute faith in your rational mind to understand that the threat that I have outlined is quite real and that a war is about to be declared between the two kingdoms. Let me help you in preventing this insanity."

“Who is that guy? A monster?”

“He is a monster, yes, but he does not belong to us.”

His frank answer made Sriveli pause for a moment. A human conspiring with a monster to kill her family so that a war could get started was defintely a monster.

"What will you get out of it?" She asked him finally.

"We stay hidden in peace. That's all I want for my people."

"Why did Charu get scared of you when you said those awful things about shadows moving in darkness?"

Brindan laughed suddenly. "She realized that her life was in danger."

"So your people are still around us?"

"They will stay here and only two of us will enter the tunnel."

"But you will all know the location of the secret tunnel."

"Is that what is eating you up?" Brindan asked. "I have no desire of using this silly tunnel again but I understand your feeling. Go ahead! Blindfold me! Take that off only when we enter the tunnel. Will that be OK?"

At that moment, Sriveli felt that she could trust Brindan.

 

"I assure you that once my job is done, I will make my way out of your kingdom immediately," Brindan promised her.

Sriveli nodded and then began her trek towards the cave that hid the entrance to the secret tunnel.

 

"What? You don't want to blindfold me now?" Brindan asked her mockingly. Sriveli was able to smile as she now felt safe in Brindan's presence.

"Perhaps we are all monsters," she thought.

That night a guard went missing in the palace of Abitsar. Prince Durjoy of Tribhanga kingdom survived the assassination attempt. The war was averted by the diplomatic efforts of the ministers of the two kingdoms. Sriveli could never thank Brindan for his immense help in averting the war and for saving her life twice in the course of a single night. She hoped that one day their paths would cross once again so that she could repay her blood debt to a monster. It was a promise she intended to keep.

Note: story set in same universe as in Elite Problem, Prisoners Secret and Life Death. Story can be read on its own too.