The Adventure of Rudra and Pratap Narayan (Ch-6A)

“Who the hell are you?” cried Bhanu, aka, Prince Rudra Narayan, when he saw the red-beaked falcon turning into a lady in front of him. He was acquainted to only those magical tricks that Sunaina was capable of, and she was never capable of transforming herself into something else. So, Bhanu was more than surprised or shocked! Of course he would not have been that surprised if he was still Prince Rudra Narayan Chowdhury, as Rudra Narayan was well aware of all of Rajni’s tricks.  

After a few moment of silence, Rajni bowed to give respect to her prince, and this shocked Bhanu even more. He was the one who was always crushed underneath her mistress’s feet, and here a woman is standing in front of him, showing him respect, respect that he had not even received in his dreams (if he at all had one).

“Prince Rudra Narayan Chowdhury, please accept my greetings,” Rajni said after a long time. She had to gather enough courage to meet and greet her prince, her brother-like friend, and her father’s favorite student, in this situation. However, there are things those are often beyond our control, and this situation is one such thing.

“Where do you find a prince here? What kind of a joke is this? Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want? Puzzled Bhanu just stormed Rajni with his questions and when he stopped Rajni breathed a little, gulped a bit, and said, “You. Are. My. Prince.” Bhanu would have again stormed Rajni with his questions when a shrill whistle is heard and Rajni ran towards the window and looked down.

Gargi was standing there; she looked a bit worried, when Rajni came near the window, she asked, “What’s taking so long?” Rajni replied, “The prince. He seems to be in a shock! I mean, I, I just greeted her as my prince, and—” hearing this Gargi slapped her forehead, and said, “Oh Rajni! Who told you to greet him as your prince now only! Anyways, don’t waste too much of time on talking now. Just tie the rope and help me to enter.”

Before, Bhanu could contemplate anything few events took place in front of his eyes just in a flash of time! First Rajni took a rope and tied it to one of the legs of the queen-size bed of Sunaina. She then threw the other end outside the window, which Gargi used to climb up and enter Sunaina’s room. Rajni by then had taken the shape of the falcon and went out of the room.

So, many things happened, but just in a flash of a moment that Bhanu stood still in bewilderment. Gargi too wanted to bow and greet her prince but she understood that this is not the right moment. After all, even though he is the prince, he is not a bit aware of it. First Gargi had to gain his confidence, and then she had to make her next move.

“You seriously think you will fight me with a flute?” said Gargi, supressing her smile, when she saw Bhanu had pointed the flute like a sword, as if he would fight with it if Gargi makes one more move! Ignoring Gargi’s word, Bhanu said, “Don’t move! I am stronger than you even when I am tied to a chain! One wrong move will crush you down!”

Gargi again smiled and said, “I know you are stronger than me. In fact you are stronger than anyone else living in this kingdom. But alas, your strength can offer you freedom!” said Gargi with a pity in her voice. At this Bhanu refrained himself from his attacking position and sat on the floor with despair. He sighed and said, “True enough!” Gargi gathered courage and sat opposite to him, and asked, “So, now you will not fight me, right?”

Bhanu nodded and said, “I just realized, I am interacting with someone else than my mistress, and I am talking about something else than household chores. In fact, I am actually talking to someone. It’s been years I actually had a conversation with a human being, who things I am an equal, and not a slave!” Bhanu paused, seriously it’s been a long time, since, he had a conversation with someone who can help him to pour his heart out. Unknowingly, Gargi became that person in a short while, and Gargi wanted this to happen only, she smiled and said, “Tell me more about you. I want to hear.”

Bhanu smiled and said, “What’s there to tell. It’s a boring life of a slave, doing works all the time, not even given an off during the nights. Only these few hours have been allotted to me. But not every day; say for today, I have to complete the embroidery on this bed sheet, else I will be punished or overburdened with work,” said Bhanu with a sad smile while showing her the bed sheet. Bhanu has just started with the embroidery, and he had only three hours in hand to finish it. It is just impossible for him to complete, but if he had a helping hand then things wouldn’t have been that difficult for him. Gargi thought of using this as an opportunity. She said, “Well, if you want I can help you, may be with a company you can finish it, quickly.”

Bhanu was little astonished, “Who are you? Why do you want to help me?” Gargi smiled, “Well, I am just like you, a human.”

“Well, I completely understand that you are not a shark,” said Bhanu sarcastically, “But what’s your identity?”

“My identity will not help you now, will it?” said Gargi confidently, and Bhanu could really not counter her argument. So, she allowed Gargi to help her. With a little bit of small talk, and jokes, work became fun for them and within one-and-half hours they almost completed the work. Only at Bhanu’s end there was a blank space, Gargi was sitting opposite to Bhanu, she suddenly got up and came beside him, and quite close to him. Bhanu was little taken aback by this gesture, he looked up to her. The eye contact made Gargi, a bit uneasy, especially when she knew Bhanu is actually Prince Rudra Narayan Chowdhury. So, she quickly broke the eye-contact, and took the bed sheet in her hand, and said, “Let me do this part for you,” by saying this she didn’t provide any chance for Bhanu to speak, and took the needle and the thread from his hand.

Soon, the blank space on the bed sheet started having a design. A design that disturbed Bhanu a lot! He felt he had seen the design somewhere. Actually, once Pratap told Gargi an interesting fact about Rudra Narayan’s sword. Rudra Narayan inherited it from his maternal uncle, it was his great grandfather’s (from the mother’s side) sword. People in Rudra Narayan’s mother’s family believed in magic, and have always used it for others’ welfare. Hence, the sword was enchanted. None, except for the owner can have this sword with them, and the sword, just like human has both emotion and memories.

The sword lay on the ground of the forest’s ground when Prince Rudra Narayan took a dip in the water, and after almost waiting for a day it vanished from there. Now, only it will come back to the prince when he looks for it with determination. When Rajni and Gargi was setting out for the journey Rajni told Gargi, if they can find the sword Prince Rudra Narayan’s memory will come back. Pratap said this to her, when she went to meet him in the disguise of a falcon. He also told her that the design in the prince’s sword is an encrypted language, which only Rudra Narayan can read. Pratap even drew the design on a leaf and gave it to them. Gargi was seeing that design almost every day. Now, she remembers every bit of it!

After completing the design Gargi was about to say something to Rudra when Rajni, the falcon entered the room. Gargi understood it is a signal to get out of the room. Sunaina must be nearby. Gargi stood up, and said, “Time to go. I will come again tomorrow.”

“I will wait for you,” why Bhanu said that he doesn’t know but he felt what he had said was true. He actually enjoyed this time with Gargi. He never felt something like this before, maybe because he never met much people out there in the world before. Whatever it is, Bhanu felt he found a friend in Gargi, Gargi too had a similar kind of feeling. But she can’t wait more, so she used the rope to get out of the room, and Rajni, in the disguise of the flacon untied the knot of the rope as soon as there is a nudge on the rope.

Soon, it was only Bhanu sitting in the empty room with an embroidered bed sheet in hand. Suddenly his eyes got fixed to that design. He brought it closer, he felt as if the design is saying something to him, “Why it look so similar to me?” But before he had an answer the door opened and Sunaina’s eyes got fixed on the bed sheet, she never thought Bhanu would have finished the work. She was actually thinking about a creative punishment for him for not finishing his work. But to her surprise Bhanu had finished her work.

“You finished embroidering the whole bed sheet!” asked amazed Sunaina. For the first time in six years Bhanu was really amused, he supressed a smiled, stood up, bowed and said, “I did.” Sunaina remained speechless; she was not a great magician like Rajni or the Acharya, or even Pratap Narayan Chowdhury. If she would have been a great magician then she would have either tried to penetrate Bhanu’s memory like the Acharya, or revisit the past like Rajni, or at least could have conversed with the wind around her like Pratap, to actually know what has happened a few hours ago.

Alas! She couldn’t know the truth, which irritated her, what irritated her more was Bhanu’s mood. Bhanu even after doing all the household chores, even after being slapped twice, looked peaceful and happy. Little did she know that a storm had already entered her life! Now, it will shatter her world into pieces! Time has come to put an end to Bhanu’s life and misery. Time has come for Prince Rudra Narayan Chowdhury to rise in power once again, his land, his people, and his brother is waiting for him.