The Headman continued, ‘Look, they were only killing animals earlier. Now they’re killing humans as well. All because of your soldiers. Just leave and the spirits will be calmed.’

Sati turned towards the Headman. ‘They have tasted human blood. There is no escape. Either you abandon the village or we have to stay here and protect you till all the lions are killed. My advice is you gather all the villagers and we leave tomorrow morning.’

‘We cannot abandon our motherland!’

‘I will not allow you to condemn your people to death. I will leave tomorrow and I am taking your people as well. What you do for yourself is up to you.’

‘My people are not going to desert Icchawar. Never!’

Suryaksh spoke up. ‘If the villagers had listened to me, we would have left a long time back! And this suffering would never have happened.’

‘If you were half the priest your father was,’ snapped the Headman, ‘you would have conjured up a puja to calm the spirits and drive the lions away.’

‘Pujas will not drive them away, you fool! Can’t you smell it? The lions have marked this land. They think our village is their territory. There are only two options now. Fight or flee. We obviously don’t want to fight. We have to flee.’

‘Enough!’ said Sati, irritated. ‘No wonder the lions got the better of you. Go home. We’ll meet tomorrow.’

Sati walked up the steps of the school. She was happy to note a large pile of kindling half-way up the steps. She jumped over it and continued climbing. As she entered the terrace, she saw a massive pile of firewood to the left.

She turned toward Kaavas. ‘Enough to last the night?’

‘Yes, My Lady.’

Sati scanned the forest and whispered, ‘Light the fire on the staircase as soon as the sun goes down.’

She stared up ahead to see a goat tied at the spot where the lions had killed the Kashi soldiers. It was a clear shot from her elevated position. She anticipated that she would be able to fire arrows upon at least a few lions. Hoping the bait would work, Sati settled down on the terrace and waited.

Chapter 14

The Battle of Madhumati

Shiva, Parvateshwar, Bhagirath, Drapaku and Divodas were seated aft on the ship. The moon was absent, cloaking the entire area in darkness. The quietness of the jungle, except for the incessant beating of crickets, automatically made them speak softly.

‘The problem is how do we make him believe that there is a rebellion and he has to fight only one hundred men, not the entire crew,’ whispered Shiva.

‘His spies would be watching us all the time,’ murmured Divodas. ‘It has to be a believable act. We can’t let our guard down for even a minute.’

Shiva suddenly started. Motioning with his hands for everyone to keep talking, he slowly rose and crawled to the rail of the ship, picking his bow quietly, stealthily placing an arrow. And then, quick as lightening, he rose above the railing and shot the arrow. There was a loud scream of pain as one of the brigand’s men, swimming towards the ship, was hit.

‘COME OUT YOU COWARD!’ yelled Shiva. ‘FIGHT LIKE A MAN!’

There was commotion in the jungle as animals shrieked at the sudden disturbance. Birds fluttered loudly. Hyenas howled, tigers roared, deer bleated. There was some splashing in the river. Someone possibly trying to rescue an injured comrade. Shiva thought he heard the sound of foliage breaking as someone or something broke through and retreated.

As his followers rushed up, Shiva whispered, ‘It wasn’t a kill wound. We need Parshuram alive. Remember. It makes our task tougher. But we need him alive.’

And then they heard a strong voice from the jungle. ‘WHY DON’T YOU GET OUT OF THE SHIP, YOU SPINELESS WIMP? AND I’LL SHOW YOU HOW A MAN FIGHTS!’

Shiva smiled. ‘This is going to be interesting.’

Sati woke up with a start. Not due to some sudden noise. But because the noise had stopped.

She looked towards the left. The flames were burning strong. Two men with swords drawn were at the top of the stairs, supervising the fire.

‘More wood,’ whispered Sati.

One of the soldiers immediately crept to the stack of firewood and dropped some more onto the raging fire in the middle of the staircase. Meanwhile, Sati tiptoed to the parapet. The goat had been bleating desperately all night. But no more.

She looked gingerly over the railing. The night had thrown a pitch-black shroud all around. But the flames of the school fire spread a bit of glow. The goat was still there. It wasn’t standing anymore. Its hind legs had collapsed. And it was shivering desperately.

‘Are they here, My Lady?’ asked Kaavas, crawling quietly to Sati.

‘Yes,’ whispered Sati.

They heard a soft, deep roar. A sound which would terrorise any living creature in the jungle. Kaavas quickly woke the rest of the platoon, who drew their swords and crawled to the doorway at the end of the staircase, to defend the one passage from where the lions could charge up. Sati kept staring at the goat. Then she heard the sound of something being dragged softly.

She strained her eyes. One. Two. Three. Four. It wasn’t their full pride. The fourth lion seemed to be dragging something.

‘Oh Lord,’ whispered Sati in horror.

The body being dragged was that of Suryaksh, the village Brahmin. His hand was moving a little. He was still alive. But barely so.

The largest lion, obviously the leader of the pack, came into full view. It was abnormally massive. The largest Sati had ever seen. And yet the mane was not dense. It was clearly an adolescent. Not more than a year old perhaps.

Then a troubling thought struck Sati. She stared at the lead animal’s skin. It had the stripes of a tiger. It wasn’t an adolescent at all! She gasped in shock. ‘Liger!’

‘What?’ whispered Kaavas.

‘A rare animal. The offspring of a lion and a tigress. It grows almost twice as big as its parents. And has many times their ferocity.’

The liger sauntered up to the goat. The goat’s front legs too buckled, as it collapsed onto the ground in terror, waiting for its imminent death. But the liger didn’t strike out. He just walked around the goat, whipping it with his tail. He was toying with the bait.

The lion dragging Suryaksh dropped the body and bent to bite into the Brahmin’s leg. Suryaksh should have screamed in pain. But his neck was bleeding profusely. He simply didn’t have the strength. The liger suddenly growled at the lion who was chewing Suryaksh’s leg. The lion growled back, but retreated. The liger clearly didn’t want Suryaksh eaten just as yet.

The liger is a recent leader. The other lion still seems to have the strength to at least protest.

Followed by the lionesses, the liger walked back to the goat, lifted his hind leg and urinated around the area, marking his territory again. Then he roared. Loud and strong.

The message was clear. This was his territory. Anyone in it was fair game.

Sati reached silently for her bow. The aggression of the pride would be cut if the liger was dead. She softly loaded an arrow and aimed. Unfortunately, just as she released the arrow, the liger stumbled on Suryaksh’s body. The arrow flew past him and rammed deep into the eye of the lioness behind. She snarled in pain and ran into the forest. So did the others. But the liger turned around, baring his teeth ferociously at this intrusion, growling. He reached out with his paw and struck Suryaksh hard across the face. A fatal blow. Sati reloaded and fired again. This one hit the liger on his shoulder. The liger roared and retreated.