Chapter 28 Agastya #2
I watched a troop of Mehrangarh soldiers arrive to take out the cannons.
Damn!
The troops of soldiers were taking the cannons out. This was a do-or-die moment. I had to break the water. I couldn’t let them move even a single one.
Closing my eyes, inhaling a deep breath, I lifted the axe. Moving away a few steps, I calmed my wild and intensely racing heartbeats.
Suman’s face flashed through my mind. She’d survive if I died.
I shouldn’t think about her. And, Bhai-sa, you both are happily married and have reasons to stay alive and not do this suicide mission. But I don’t have any, and being alive, I couldn’t let you two do any of this.
No matter how many may come, Rudraja will always be my favourite child. I love you, baby.
I genuinely love everyone: Bhabhi-sa, Rudraja, Guruji, Abhinandan, Eklavya, Ashwin, Ashwait, Trisha, Maasi-maa, and everyone I’ve ever met.
I exhaled deeply to steady my emotions and lifted the axe high before striking the marked point.
“Hey, who are you?” I heard the voices but ignored them. “What are you doing?”
I hit the wall again, using all my strength.
“Hey, hey, hey, what the hell are you doing? Stop!” They rushed toward me with their swords, and I closed my eyes before hitting the wall again.
As they marched closer, my breath stopped, looking at them momentarily.
A commotion erupted in the cave, followed by a sudden earthquake.
My heart came into my mouth. I tried to stay firm in my place. A few of them fell.
The screams erupted. I felt scared to death.
But not terrified.
“If you want to stay alive, just run,” I warned them and hit the wall again.
A crack ran through the wall as if thunder had struck, and the noise of the wall broke at the speed of light.
It was suffocating.
One more attack, and the game would be over.
I didn’t hesitate.
The river broke free through the crack, and I knew that one more hit, and it would be done.
“We will kill you, stop!”
“I said stop,” they yelled at me, but they didn’t step forward as they were equally terrified.
“Jai Mahakaal, Har Har Mahadev!!”
I screamed with all my strength and hit one last time.
My heart stopped, standing frozen, as the crack widened in the wall.
It had grown to heights like a thundering current.
I closed my eyes, pacing back. With a rush, the river poured through the broken wall as the clouds burst, and the flood swallowed the villages.
The dry mud dampened. High-pressure water was divulged and echoed through the cave as I watched the soldiers step back.
“Run, run away from here,” they yelled.
Suddenly, the wall broke, and a flood hit me like a mountain.
I couldn’t believe it; a ten-metre-tall wall collapsed like a castle of sand. The rock hit my head, and I cried out. The water crashed into me, smashing me into the wall.
My breathing slowed, and I noticed the tunnel filling with water faster. It began flowing towards the low point, taking me with it effortlessly.
I had to reach the high end, to the well.
I lifted my axe and, at one point, hit it in the tunnel ceiling to stop myself from running into the water.
It missed.
I groaned and threw my hands and legs to swim through the monstrous flow.
I hit again. And I missed again.
“What the hell?” I yelled.
My shoulder hit the wall, cracking skin, drawing blood. The water rushed into my mouth, reaching my nose. I lifted my face, panting harder against the ceiling.
But it didn’t work.
I hit the axe again, trying to find a spot to hang.
Missed again, flowed along the water.
But amid all this, a smile appeared on my face, noticing the cannons drowning in water.
As I had decided, I ruined them with water because I couldn’t burn them.
The cries of soldiers dying, hitting against the cannons, and drowning reached my ears.
I hit the axe again and finally pinned it to the ceiling, waiting for the water flow to calm.
My knuckles whitened. I held myself steady with one hand, moving with the other, using all my energy.
Thankfully, the groundwater was not that cold and dense.
I waited until it calmed, filling the tunnel’s empty spaces.
Now, you can’t take the cannons out until the water drains. And in this life, the water would never drain.
I exhaled deeply and started swimming toward the river’s prime point, where the rope awaited me.
It was pitch dark.
My only hope was my memory. I began swimming with the axe, taking breaks in small sessions.
Suddenly, my head hit hard against a rock, and I cried out in pain.
“Oh, my God!” I didn’t know if I bled since I couldn’t tell the difference between blood and water.
But I kept going.
I felt utterly worn out, sleepy, and dizzy.
However, a war awaited my leadership, and I needed to take action for everyone’s safety.
To keep my blood warm, I thought of my family, whom I had to see upon returning. But not Suman. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t want to talk to her. I didn’t have the courage.
Unexpected thoughts from another person can lead to avoidance of eye contact.
I was unsure how I felt about her, but it wasn’t a dreamlike experience. She said I was bothering her, that she didn’t want to see me, that she didn’t trust me, and that she didn’t even want to talk to me.
And I didn’t know what the hell I had done wrong.
Honestly, if her past was like mine or worse, I would never have questioned it or made her feel ashamed, even if I didn’t want to stay with her.
She said ‘No’ without even hearing me out. I would never turn that into a ‘Yes,’ even if the world coerced me into stopping before it.
Finally, after a long, long time, a light flashed before my eyes. I inhaled a deep breath, noticing the rope hanging.
I swam faster.
Grabbing the rope’s end, I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Pull me up,”
No one responded from the other side, and I closed my eyes in exhaustion. I didn’t realise my voice wasn’t coming from my throat. It burnt.
My whole body burned.
“I said, pull me up,” I yelled again.
No one listened. My body felt weak, and the rope slipped from my hand.
No one replied, and I felt myself drowning.
Using the last ounce of energy, I pulled the rope down and felt the restraint tied to the tree.
“Pull me up!” My scream was unsteady.
Finally, I heard the soldier respond, pulling me up.
I curled the rope around my hand. The wound from the cut from the other day opened again, sending waves of brutal pain through me.
Finally, I felt a pair of hands holding me and taking me out.
“Agastya,” I felt gentle slaps on my cheeks, but I couldn’t see anything. Everything was a blur, and I didn’t know what happened next.
?????
I found myself awake, and my eyes met with Eklavya’s.
“Are you okay?” he asked, helping me up.
I nodded and looked around to realise I was in one of the soldiers’ tents.
“War?” I asked, my head bursting with unbearable pain.
“Our men noticed the invaders coming through the river. They will be here tomorrow.”
His words widened my eyes.
“What?” My headache subsided as I stood up. “We can’t wait until tomorrow.” I glared at him and immediately fell back, unable to keep my feet steady on the ground.
“You’re injured, Agastya. There are several wounds and cuts on you. You need to be treated,” Eklavya said, holding my shoulders.
I shook my head, noticing I was wearing different clothes.
“If I think about my injury, the entire Indira will get injured. And who the hell changed my clothes without my permission?” I roared, glaring at Eklavya.
His flushed face betrayed his confusion.
He came near, “Agastya,” and murmured in my ear. “You have your thing pierced?”
My eyes widened. “How dare you change my clothes without my permission!”
He hid his smile. “I’m just asking, man. Why? Is it good? Should I get it done too? How did you get to know about it?”
He was clearly making fun of me, and I looked around, wondering if anyone had heard us.
No one.
“I mean, it’s interesting. A small tribe in Sindhia does that. I have read about it in history books,” I answered.
“Bhabhi-sa knows?”
I gritted my teeth, blazing. “Unko muh fulaane se samay mile to ye sab jaanein,”
“Only if she had time from being upset and crying.”
Confused, he furrowed his brows, and I smacked his chest and asked, “I hope you didn’t change my clothes in front of the entire village.”
He smirked. “Um… not the village, just a few attendants who helped me change your clothes,” he said, and I shook my head in disbelief.
“I hate you, Eklavya. I hate you,” I said, pressing my hand on my head; they had bandaged me. “We should go now,” I said.
“Yes, we should,” the seriousness returned in his voice.
We both mounted our horses and rode to the highest points of the mountains on either side of the river.
Eklavya had already positioned the cannons on both sides—ten on each—hidden behind the bushes and trees, at every twenty meters.
The only thing we missed was the trial. We didn’t have time for it. But King Abhinandan explained to me how to use them effectively.
I looked at the soldier sitting there, binoculars in hand.
“What’s the news?” I asked for it, took it from him, and looked through it.
“They are near,”
“Keep an eye on them,” I replied, passing it back to him.
I sat on the stone with a bag in my hand, waiting for the boats to arrive. A wave of panic washed over the soldier as he gazed through the glasses.
“Did you find the king of the army?” I asked him, and he squinted his eyes.
“Yes,” he replied, “it seems like the army has a king,” although he was unsure.
Sailing the boat, I arrived at the cannon we had. Then, I took the gun from my bag and stood up.
“Light the fire,” I ordered a small troop of soldiers.
They lit the fire, took their arrows, and bowed out.
I bit my lip and fired a shot into the air, alerting the entire army of invaders.
Hundreds of boats were approaching. They drew their swords out, and suddenly, the fireworks began.