Rohan's Calling Online

by A. J. Chaudhury

  I got up from the bed and went back to my friends, allowing the king and the queen to have their time with their son. The remains of the flower I handed to a servant.

  For a while, the king and the queen wrapped their arms around their son and all three sobbed. And then, all of a sudden, the prince pushed away his father.

  “I hate you, father!” he cried. The king was aghast. I was surprised to. What exactly was going on?

  “But why, son, what have I done?” the king asked, tears streaming down his face.

  “You killed him, father,” the prince said, “How can you b so cruel?”

  “Killed him? Whom are you talking about?”

  “The Monkey Man,” the little prince said. He seemed to be playing the scene in his head and he closed his eyes with pain from the memory.

  “The Monkey Man?” the father said. “You hate me because I killed a Monkey Man? They are our enemies!”

  “But you shouldn’t have killed him so brutally,” the prince sobbed, “you chopped off his limb. You took pleasure in killing him. I was hurt. Perhaps that was why I fell into the long sleep. The memory troubles me.”

  The king gaped.

  He wiped his face. He opened his mouth wide, showing his teeth in his anger.

  “You are a Dinoman prince,” the king said, “how can you show sympathy for a Monkey Man? And how can you be so weak that just viewing a Monkey Man being killed should put you into the long sleep?—”

  “Enough!” the queen cried, holding out a hand. So far she hadn’t said a word and had listened to her husband and her son, holding her son dearly. “He’s a child, why did you murder someone so brutally in front of him? It takes time to learn these things.”

  “May I ask something?” I found myself saying. A strange idea had suddenly come to my mind, and it had a foundation build over the tips that Wiseazz had given me about acquiring Karma. I had faced enough disappointments today. But maybe I could profit from my disappointment? Having a little extra Karma never hurt, did it?

  Both the king and the queen looked at me furiously at the interruption in their family matter. But maybe because I had helped in saving their son, only controlled words that were devoid of anger came from them.

  “What do you want to ask?” the king asked.

  “Can I know exactly why the Monkey Men are your enemies?” I dared to say.

  The king seemed to contemplate whether he should give me a proper answer. Then he glanced at his wife and at his son and he sighed.

  “The truth is,” he said, his words heavy, as if he didn’t really want to accept what he was saying, “there are way too many Monkey Men villages near us. They are all weaker than us. But they reproduce fast and they also consume a lot of resources of the forest nearby. Hence we have declared war on them, because there is no other option. We are killing as many of them as possible and destroying their villages at every chance we get. It is important that we do so, though in reality I do not want to do it.”

  “This is not even our land,” the prince chimed in with heat, “mother says we came to this place from a long way away. Even I remember bits of the journey.”

  The king nodded.

  “My son is right,” he said, “we are not the original inhabitants of this region. We came from a different place, because there the competition between the different Dinomen villages was getting tough. I was sly. I acquired permission from the Monkey Men chieftains to set up my village here. And then once our village was big enough, I declared war on the Monkey Men themselves. I feared that seeing our rapidly expanding village the Monkey Men would stop us from accessing the resources found in the region, even though at first they had allowed us to stay in this region.”

  I considered his words. The king had obsessed too much about the security of his people as a result of which he was at war with the Monkey Men.

  “I know you are the king here,” I said, “but I won’t lie to you by saying that what you have done is the right thing. I have saved your son, I think I have the right to ask you something in return… at least if you love your son.”

  “Anything,” the king said, his shoulders dropped. “My son hates me, but I still love him. Ask me anything.”

  “I want you to end the war,” I said, staring the king in the eyes.

  The king shook his head with reluctance.

  “That is the one thing I cannot offer to you,” he said. “I admit what I have done is wrong and that I have been greedy, but I have many Dinomen families under me. I no longer have the trust of the Monkey Men. If we Dinomen lower our defences then the Monkey Men will take advantage and they will come for us some day when we are least prepared.”

  “The Dinomen do not have to die,” I said. “I will tell you what to do to secure the lives of your villagers. But first you must end the war. You must go to the villages of the Monkey king with your villagers. And you should all go unarmed.”

  “Unarmed?” the king barked, “The Monkey Men will kill us! They hate us!”

  “Well, their hate is a creation of your own doing,” I said, so that the king looked at a different direction in his shame, “but there isn’t much chance of them attacking you. Especially if you take gifts for them. You must tell to the chiefs of the Monkey Man villages that you are sorry, and that you are willing to end the war. Sometimes a good discussion really can replace a war, you know.”

  The king seemed to ponder. He then glanced at his son, who was still glaring at him.

  “Accept it,” the queen told the king.

  The king sighed. He looked up at me.

  “Perhaps you are right. This is worth a try.” He placed a hand on his son’s shoulder, who tried to shake his hand off. “This is all for my love for my son,” the king said.

  The king didn’t wait even for a moment following this. He called all the villagers and told them of what he meant to do. Some of them were against it initially, but he was able to convince them that it was for the best of everyone. He immediately set off for the nearest villages of the Monkey Men.

  I stayed at the Dinoman village with my friends at the king’s home. The prince thanked me both for bringing him the healing flower and for telling his father to do the right thing. Me and my friends were given a chamber in the king’s house to stay for the night.

  “Anything appeared in the book yet?” I asked Mastermind just before I closed my eyes and accepted the world of sleep.

  “Nope,” Mastermind replied in a disheartened voice. “I hope it comes soon.”

  “At least we made a correct decision in coming here than staying the night outside,” Grimguy said.

  He was right. I was rejoicing the soft bed underneath me. I prayed things would sort out and then I slipped into my dreams.

  Chapter 25

  The following morning, shortly after me and my friends had awoken, the king and the other villagers who had gone with him to the villages of the Monkey Men returned. They all looked haggard; having not slept the previous night, yet, there was a twinkle in the eyes of all of them. The king hugged his wife and his son in rejoice.

  “I had been a fool,” he said, “I should have made a deal with the Monkey People before. They have said that we Dinomen needn’t go without everyday resources that we need, and that they would provide everything for us. In return it is the job of the Dinomen to protect them from dangers. We shall not allow dinosaurs and other monsters to even scratch the Monkey people—”

  Suddenly the king stopped speaking. The smile on his face grew.

  “I just received Karma points!” he cried, “Oh, it’s been a long while since I have received some!”

  “Me too!” another Dinoman that had accompanied the king to the Money Man villages cried.

  “Me too!” yet another said. Very soon, at least a hundred people present were saying that they had received Karma points. They all looked so happy. It was clear on them, despite their scaly faces.

  The king came to me and grasped my hands. His eyes were filled with g
ratitude.

  “I do not know how I should thank you,” the king said. “I feel indebted to you.”

  I smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “Oh, you needn’t feel that,” I said. And then, as politely as I could, I put the cap on my master plan to gain Karma. I told the king of the predicament my friends and I were in and how my failing to bring the statue yesterday had cost us. I told him about the threat of Death13, and how eventually Death13 might even come to his village. I included how having some extra Karma could sometimes be the difference between life and deletion as had been the case with Wiseazz. And very indirectly, I thus asked him and his villagers to give me the Karma they had just gained.

  The king obliged. He was very happy to transfer his Karma points to me immediately and he also asked his villagers to do so, which they did gladly.

  By the end of all the transfers, I was the owner of 15000 Karma points. I could barely believe it. My plan had worked and it had sure been one great success. I felt my morale rise which had fallen yesterday steeply due to my failure in bringing the statue.

  And then, barely had I rejoiced getting the Karma points, when Mastermind broke news.

  “There is another map that has appeared in the book,” he said. “And it leads to the place where the statue of Ravana is. But this is our last chance at getting the statue. If we fail, everything is lost.”

  The place the map in the book led to was at least fifty kilometres away. It would take at least a few days to reach there. I felt my heart sink again. Perhaps the king of the Dinomen realised that our group was sad and he approached us.

  “Is there anything I can do?” he asked.

  “We need to get to this place, and fast,” Mastermind said to him, showing him the map in the book. “Our time is limited.”

  The king scratched his chin.

  “Hmm… I think I can help,” he said, “but…”

  “But?” I asked.

  “Do you know how to ride raptors?”

  It was crazy. Right out from some weird dream. One that I had never really dreamt in my life.

  Riding the raptor was not very different from riding a horse, except the raptor was way faster. The king himself had not come with us, however he had sent one of his trusted men with us, who knew well how to handle raptors. As we made our way through the dense forests of Dinoland, I couldn’t help but be thankful that we had met the Dinomen.

  The king’s trusted man, Balekh, his name was, rode on the leading raptor. The other raptors that carried me and my friends followed Balekh’s raptor. Despite all the obstacles that kept coming, be it other dinosaurs or fallen trees, the quick footed raptors barely slowed down. It was a couple of hours past noon when we reached the place on the map.

  “So this is where you wanted to come,” Balekh said, observing the great tree we had reached. It was the tallest that I had seen in my life. Its trunk was quite fat, at least ten feet in diameter. High atop the tree, I could see a humanoid figure, hanging by aerial roots. It was the statue of Ravana. Heck, I had touched and carried it just yesterday. Now it was once again close to me. Balekh had barely spoken along the way. His voice was gruff.

  “Why, anything wrong with this place?” Grimguy asked.

  “This tree is considered holy by the tribes of Dinomen,” Balekh answered. “It’s is believed that this tree possess mysterious powers. I had thought it was odd that we had been following the route towards this tree, but I hadn’t expected to end up at this precise place.”

  “Well, it’s no wonder then that the statue should be here,” I said.

  “Even though the king asked me to bring you here,” Balekh continued, and I noticed that his tone wasn’t very friendly, “I must say that I highly recommend that you do not bother with the tree or the statue.”

  Nobody said anything for a while as everyone looked up at the statue hanging high up in the tree. I hoped the weight of the statue was its normal weight and hence the aerial roots could support it.

  “One of us would have to climb the tree,” Lovebird said. She stepped closer to the tree and rested a hand on the trunk. Immediately a flash of light resulted the place where she had touched the tree. Lovebird gasped and immediately drew her hand back.

  “See?” Balekh said, “Didn’t I say this tree is holy?”

  “But we must climb it,” I said. “I will climb it.”

  “I have heard that the tree has a consciousness of its own,” Balekh said. “The tree might not be very happy if you climb it.” I looked at Balekh and considered him. Was he trying to scare us by telling how dangerous the tree was?

  I shrugged.

  “No option, man,” I said.

  I stepped forward. There were creepers that had wound themselves around the giant trunk of the tree and grown up, using the trunk for support. The creepers were thicker than any creeper I had seen before. I placed a foot on one creeper and began my climb.

  “Be careful,” Lovebird said from below me.

  “Don’t worry,” I said, although the higher I climbed, the faster my heart beat. The statue was a great distance up. Plus, every time I touched the tree in any way, a wave of light would emanate from where I touched it. I thought about what Balekh had said. Did this tree really have a consciousness of its own?

  “I’ll be gone in a while, all right?” I found myself whispering to the tree, even as drops of sweat formed at the tip of my nose, while other drops wormed down my back. “I do not mean to harm you in any way.”

  “Do you actually think you could harm me?” a voice said.

  I froze.

  Who had spoken? I looked down at my friends below and was hit by a dizzying feeling since I was so high up.

  “Anyone said anything?” I shouted at them.

  “What?” Mastermind said aloud. “Can’t hear you!”

  “Anyone said anything?” I shouted louder.

  Mastermind shook his head.

  “Nope!”

  Balekh waved his arm. There was a strange expression on his Dinoman face. Was he grinning?

  “It’s the tree!” he said at the top of his voice.

  I grimaced. I was pretty sure that I had imagined the voice. I turned away from my friends and focused on the climbing. All the same, I had a feeling that somebody or something was watching me.

  I was getting tired now. I decided to rest for a moment. I held a branch for support and caught my breath. From this great height, I could see the canopy of the entire forest. Far away in the distance near the horizon, I saw what looked like birds were flying. I was pretty sure that those weren’t birds but pterodactyls. There was some consolation in the knowledge that they were far away.

  “I have borne your weight for a while now,” the same voice from earlier said again. I started, lost my balance and nearly fell, but I was able to grab an aerial root at the nick of time and managed to prevent a terrible fall.

  “Who is it?”

  “The one bearing your weight,” the voice answered. The voice was a feminine one, and sounded rather wise. I knew immediately that it was the voice of the tree. I gulped. Wise beings didn’t harm, right? Well, not necessarily…

  “Please,” I said, “I have not come here with any malicious intentions.”

  “Hmm… that doesn’t mean I should keep taking your additional weight,” the voice answered and the tree didn’t sound very pleased. “Unless you tell me your true intentions, and they should be beneficial to me in some way or the other.”

  “I just want to get the statue of Ravana,” I said, “it’s important because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to destroy Death13.”

  “And how would that benefit me in anyway?” the tree asked.

  I thought fast. I was sceptic if Death13 would ever come for the tree, unless…

  “It depends on how much Karma you have,” I said. At that moment, I focussed on a particular branch of the tree and thus got the entire stats of the tree. The tree had a hundred thousand Karma points! What exactly had it done
to earn all those Karma points? The tree wasn’t even capable of movement!

  And then I saw. There were little ants running about the tree. There were little squirrels as well. Countless birds had made nests on the tree and were raising their young ones. When the fruits of the tree fell and landed on the ground, they would decay and enrich the soil. The tree was big and was contributing big to the environment. That was the reason behind its enormous amount of Karma, even though it was immobile, being a plant.

  “Depends on my Karma?” the tree asked me, and by her tone she sounded like I had piqued her curiosity. I didn’t know how long I would be able to hold off the tree with my words, and so I continued moving towards my ultimate goal which was the statue of Ravana, though I was careful not to hurry. I didn’t know after all what sort of powers the tree possessed. Maybe she wasn’t as immobile as she seemed to me. She had enough aerial roots that one of them could warp itself around my neck and strangle me.

  “Death13 wants to become the most powerful being; as such he is going about destroying people and taking their Karma. You have lots of it, maybe he will sense it and then come for you,” I said.

  “So basically you are saying that you are doing me a favour by destroying Death13?” the tree asked testily.

  “It’s more like a benefit, instead of a favour,” I said. The statue was only a few metres above me now.

  “I see,” the tree said. “And you sound honest, so I will allow you to stay on me. But I am not sure how you are going to get the statue down to the ground, if that is what you plan to do.”

  “Can you help me?” I asked. “Could you move your aerial roots and place the statue on the ground.”

  “I can move my aerial roots,” the tree said, “in times especially when I am high in emotions. But I am not high in emotions now. Even if I had been, I do not think it would have been possible for me to move the statue at all. Just letting it hang from my aerial roots is being a chore, and I do not know the reason behind that.”

  Now that was strange, I thought. I focussed on the climb and reached the spot on the trunk, from where I was face to face with the statue that was hanging by the aerial roots only a few metres away. I could almost touch it with some effort, which was what I tried to do.