Shiva glanced at her, surprised, and flashed her a quick, admiring smile. Her eyes flashed right back, acknowledging the unexpected yet providential partnership.

She whispered under her breath to Krittika, ‘Run back into the temple. Stay there till this is over.’

Krittika protested. ‘But my lady...’

‘NOW!’ she ordered.

Krittika turned and ran up the temple steps. Shiva and the lady stood back to back in a standard defensive-partner position. They covered all the directions of any possible attack. The three attackers charged in. Two more jumped in from behind the trees to join the other three. Shiva raised his sword defensively as the shepherd came up close. Feigning a sideward movement to draw the shepherd into an aggressive attack, Shiva dropped his sword low. The shepherd should have been tempted to move in for a kill wound and in response, Shiva would have quickly raised his sword and dug it deep into the shepherd’s heart.

The shepherd, however, moved unexpectedly. Instead of taking advantage of Shiva’s opening, he tried to strike Shiva’s shoulder. Shiva quickly raised his right arm and swung viciously, inflicting a deep wound across the shepherd’s torso. As the shepherd fell back, another attacker moved in from the right. He swung from a distance. Not too smart a move, as it would merely have inflicted a surface nick. Shiva stepped back to avoid the swing and brought his sword down in a smooth action to dig deep into the attacker’s thigh. Screaming in agony, this attacker too fell back As another attacker joined in the fight from the left, Shiva realised that this was indeed a very strange assault.

The attackers seemed to know what they were doing. They seemed to be good warriors. But they also seemed to be in a bizarre dance of avoidance. They did not appear to want to kill. Merely injure. It was because they held themselves in check that they were being beaten back very easily. Shiva parried off another attack from the left and pushed his sword viciously into the man’s shoulder. The man screamed in pain as Shiva pushed him off the blade with his left hand. Slowly, but surely, the attackers were being worn out. They were suffering too many injuries to seriously carry on the assault for long.

Suddenly a giant of a man ran in from behind the trees carrying swords in both hands. The man was cloaked in a black hooded robe from head to toe while his face was hidden by a black mask, shaped exactly like a human face. The only visible parts of his body were his large impassive almond-shaped eyes and strong fleshy hands. He charged upon Shiva and the lady as he barked an order to his men. He was too large to battle with agility. But he compensated for his slow pace with his unusually skilled arms. Shiva registered from the corner of his eye that the other attackers were picking up the injured and withdrawing. The hooded figure was fighting a brilliant rearguard action as his men retreated.

Shiva realised that the man’s hood would impair his side vision. That was a weakness that could be exploited. Moving to the left, Shiva swung ferociously, hoping to peg him back so that the lady could finish the job from the other side. But his opponent was up to the challenge. As he stepped slightly back, he deflected Shiva’s swing with a deft move of his right hand. Shiva noticed a leather band on the hooded figure’s right wrist. It had a sharp symbol on it. Shiva swung his sword back but the hooded figure moved aside effordessly to avoid the blow. He pushed back a brutal flanking attack from the lady with his left hand. He was keeping just enough distance from Shiva and the lady to defend himself while at the same time keeping them engaged in combat.

All of a sudden the hooded figure disengaged from the battle and stepped back. He began to tread backwards as he continued to point both his swords ahead, one at Shiva and the other at the lady. His men had all disappeared into the trees. As he reached a safe distance, he turned and ran behind his men. Shiva considered chasing him but almost immediately decided against it. He might just rush into an ambush.

Shiva turned to the lady warrior and inquired, ‘Are you alright?’

‘Yes I am,’ ‘she nodded before asking with a sombre expression. Are you injured?’

‘Nothing serious. I’ll survive!’ he grinned.

In the meantime, Krittika came running down the temple steps and asked breathlessly, ‘My lady. Are you alright?’

‘Yes I am,’ she answered. ‘Thanks to this foreigner here.’

Krittika turned to Shiva and said, ‘Thank you very much. You have helped a very important woman.’

Shiva did not seem to be listening though. He continued to stare at Krittika’s mistress as if he were possessed. Krittika struggled to conceal a smile.

The noble woman averted her eyes in embarrassment, but said politely, ‘I am sorry, but I am quite sure that we have not met earlier.’

‘No it’s not that,’ said a smiling Shiva. ‘It’s just that in our society, women don’t fight. You move your sword quite well for a woman.’

O hell! That came out all wrong.

‘Excuse me?’ she said, a slightly belligerent tone in her voice, clearly upset about the for-a-woman remark. You don’t fight too badly either for a barbarian.’

‘Not too badly?! I’m an exceptional sword fighter! Do you want to try me?’

O bloody hell! What am I saying? I’m not going to impress her like this!

Her expression resumed its detached, supercilious look once again. ‘I have no interest in duelling with you, foreigner.’

‘No. No. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t want to duel with you. I just wanted to tell you that I am quite good at sword-fighting. I am good at other things as well. And it came out all wrong. I rather like the fact that you fought for yourself. You are a very good swordsman. I mean a swordswoman. In fact, you are quite a woman...,’ bumbled Shiva, losing the filter of judgement, exactiy at the time when he needed it the most.

Krittika, with her head bowed, smiled at the increasingly appealing exchange.

Her mistress, on the other hand, wanted to chastise the foreigner for his highly inappropriate words. But he had saved her life. She was bound by the Meluhan code of conduct. ‘Thank you for your help, foreigner. I owe you my life and you will not find me ungrateful. If you ever need my help, do call on me.’

‘Can I call on you even if I don’t need your help?’

Shit! What am I saying?!

She glared at the caste-unmarked foreigner who clearly did not know his place. With superhuman effort, she controlled herself, nodded politely and said, ‘Namaste.’

With that, the aristocratic woman turned around to leave. Krittika continued to stare at Shiva with admiring eyes.

However, on seeing her mistress leaving, she too turned hurriedly to follow.

‘At least tell me your name,’ said Shiva, walking to keep pace with her.

She turned around, staring even more gravely at Shiva.

‘Look, how will I find you if I need your help?’ asked Shiva sincerely.

For a moment, she was out of words or a glare. The request seemed reasonable. She turned towards Krittika and nodded.

‘You can find us at Devagiri,’ answered Krittika. ‘Ask anyone in the city for Lady Sati.’

‘Sati...,’ said Shiva, letting the ethereal name roll over his tongue. ‘My name is Shiva.’

‘Namaste, Shiva. And I promise you, I will honour my word if you ever need my help,’ said Sati as she turned and climbed into her chariot, followed by Krittika.