by Iram Dana
“You should eat something...” said Mehrabi, her fingers slowly traveling downwards.
Rain stopped her hand with his, put his other arm behind her neck and slowly pulled her down towards himself. Mehrabi drew back a little and gave a throaty laugh.
“This, you can have for dessert!”
Rain shook his head, pulling her down again.
“Anything you wish …” she breathed, before bending low and starting to kiss him in earnest.
With every passing second, Rain got lost more and more. He stroked the length of Mehrabi’s back with both hands. She shifted her weight on top of him, deepening the kiss. Somewhere in the recesses of his brain, a voice cried out a warning.
‘Rain! Nooo …!’
He blocked it out. He was, at present, fairly occupied. His hands began to undo the laces on Mehrabi’s back. Once undone, Rain pushed the hindering slivers of fabric away and stroked a finger up her bare spine. Mehrabi gave a groan of pleasure.
Rain moved his fingers over her spine rapidly in a series of calculated movements. Mehrabi’s body gave a violent spasm and she let out a choked gasp as her body froze stiff. Rain heaved her body off himself and jumped to his feet, his breath falling hard.
His Geeya flew to him.
“Rain! I thought this was the end, for both of us! What did you do to her?”
“Subodh’s spinal spangler.” answered Rain, his chest heaving. He looked at the paralyzed body of Mehrabi. Her face, too, was frozen in its expression of shock; eyes bulging in her sockets and burning with fury as they followed Rain’s every movement.
“It won’t last too long, though. I have to finish her off while I have the chance.”
Rain drew out the sword of Halion and with a swift stroke, lopped Mehrabi’s head off.
“Now what?” he asked.
“Out of here. As quickly as you can. The place is guarded heavily by magic that gets activated at sundown. You must leave before that happens.”
“How much time do I have?”
“Only an hour.”
Thankfully, they were on the ground floor of the palace. Rain jumped out of the window and raced away from Mehrabi’s chambers.
“Where is the exit to this place?” yelled Rain, so he could be heard above the rushing wind.
‘There is no exit. No one ever leaves.’ his Geeya answered in his head.
“How am I supposed to get out then?”
‘The only way to leave this place is by crossing the river. There is a desert on the other side of it where Mehrabi’s magic ends.’
Rain felt queasy at the mere thought of swimming across that river, but it was his only way to escape this place. He ran to the river and halted at its bank.
Did he have it in him to swim across? It was not a very big river. From where he stood, he could see the golden sands of the desert stretching out beyond. Rain looked down into the water at the ugly black faces with their eyes shut forever. An overwhelming sense of nausea gripped him and he retched on one side.
“I can’t do it!” he gasped. “I can’t swim across!”
“Swimming isn’t the only way to cross a river.” said his Geeya.
Rain’s head jerked up. She was right. He didn’t have to swim. If he could just …
“I’m going to make myself a raft.” said Rain, jumping to his feet.
“You won’t have time. The sun is hanging low. You now have only half an hour.”
What was he supposed to do now? Thought Rain in despair. And then he spotted it.
“A banana tree! I can use its bark as a canoe!”
Rain raced to the banana tree and began chopping at its bark with his sword. He had it felled in no time.
“Hurry, Rain! The sun is setting!”
Rain worked on the tree like a maniac, chopping it in the middle and hacking away the large leaves. He had not yet finished when the last of the sun dipped out of sight, into the horizon.
For several minutes, nothing happened and Rain continued to hack away. Then, there was the sound of a loud snap. Rain turned towards the sound and almost fainted again. One of the dead bodies hanging on a tree had snapped the rope holding it by the neck and landed on the ground below. It was now lumbering itself up on its single leg. Following the first one, there were several more snaps as the bodies freed themselves and fell from the trees. They stood up on their one leg and began to hop towards Rain with their arms outstretched.
“What do I do? What do I do?!” yelled Rain.
“Get into the canoe!”
“But it’s not done yet!”
Hop, hop, hop they came.
“Doesn’t matter. Get in. NOW!”
Hop, hop, hop came the bodies, closer and closer.
Rain picked up a dead branch to use as an oar, threw his little canoe into the river and jumped into it. He paddled away from the bank as fast as his hands would let him.
The bodies had now reached the edge of the river bank, where they stood motionless, for their target was now beyond their reach. Rain kept paddling, forbidding himself from looking down for he knew that if he did, he would lose the courage to go on. He would have stuck to his rule, too, if a sudden movement below hadn’t caught his eye.
“What was that!” asked Rain, peering at the river bed.
It was till black, but there was now so much white in it, too. Rain felt the blood in his veins curdle. The eyes on the heads were open, and all of them were looking up at him.
A head floated upwards and popped out of the water, instantly turning towards Rain like a magnet to a pole. Seconds later, several more heads floated upwards.
Pop, pop, pop they emerged.
Soon, the river was full of bobbing heads, all glaring at Rain. They started to converge upon him, snapping their jaws. Rain paddled in a frenzy, hitting any of the heads that got too close. Soon, he was surrounded by them. There were too many for him to fight. They gnawed at the edges of Rain’s canoe, chewing it up as quickly as they could while Rain batted at them with his dead branch. Rain looked at the shore. So close! If only he could make it.
Within minutes, they had gnawed away most of the banana bark. Only the portion on which Rain stood was left.
“Come on, Rain! You can, make it! Just jump!” cried his Geeya.
Rain kept bashing away at the heads.
He couldn’t cut this distance in one jump. He would have to land once on the bobbing heads.
“I can’t!” said Rain, tears of desperation now streaking down his cheeks.
“You can, Rain, You can! Don’t think about it. Just jump!”
Rain took a deep breath, and with a roar he jumped off the bit of bark, landed one foot on the sea of heads, and pushed himself with their support onto the bank of the river. The instant his feet touched the desert sands the commotion behind him stopped, and the heads receded to the depths of the river.
Rain, however, didn’t stop. He stumbled to his feet and he ran. He ran until he could no longer see the dreaded river. Until he could no longer see Mehrabi’s palace. Until it was too dark to see anything at all. When he was sure he was safe, he collapsed and let the blackness swallow him once more.
*****
CHAPTER 35
Day turned to night. And night turned to day.
The endless cycle continued … and time passed. Every day, he only concentrated on making it to the next. How many days had he been here? He didn’t know. Didn’t like to think about it. Thinking hurt.
He would not have bothered to survive either, but something … a promise made not long ago to never go away, kept him going. Told him he had to survive. And he obeyed without thinking. Because thinking hurt.
Occasionally, a face would break through the fog obscuring his memories: Sweet, smiling …with long, white-blond hair. He liked seeing the face but didn’t like thinking about the girl.
Because thinking hurt.
… And time passed.
*****
His Geeya materialized before him holding a bu
n and some dates. Rain took the food and ate it without complaint. She had been doing this for the longest time now, feeding him and sheltering him because he had stopped caring about things like eating, drinking, sleeping. He ate when she brought food. Slept when he was tired. And the rest of the time, kept moving. In no particular direction; just onwards.
Thankfully, he knew the desert. She was his friend. He had been on her sands before and learnt lessons from her silence earlier, and wanted and needed it now.
“Rain …”
His Geeya was speaking to him.
She had spoken very little in the days gone past. Rain swallowed the last of the bread, took the pouch of water she offered him and drank to his fill. Then he lay back against a sand dune and nodded for her to go on.
“Rain, it’s been eight months since we’ve been here …”
Eight months? He didn’t like to think, but he thought that was a lot.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m good.” said Rain, in a voice that was cracked and hoarse from disuse.
He cleared his throat and spoke again. “Is everything all right?”
His Geeya sat down beside him. “Pity you couldn’t collect any wisdom from your last task. Maybe that’s why we’re still stuck here.”
She had never mentioned the events of that horrible day before now and Rain had never let his mind wander into those dark alleys of his memories but now, as his mind harked back to that day, he found that it didn’t hurt his head to think about it.
The desert must surely have been healing him, for his thoughts were clear and lucid and brought with them no pain.
“On the contrary, I did collect a wisdom on that last Quest.” said Rain.
His Geeya was genuinely surprised. “You did?”
‘Yes. We, humans, always think that life is a blessing and death is a curse. But that is not so. Both life and death are a blessing. It is a gift to have some people alive, and a gift to have some others dead. Nobody who is alive should be dead, in other words, waste their life by simply existing. And nobody who is dead should be forced to live again. They should be left in peace. You get what I’m trying to say?”
“I do. For some people, life is a gift. For others, death.”
“Exactly.”
A single claw on his chest began to glow. Rain held it up. It crumbled to dust.
“See? I told you. I collected a wisdom.”
“Then why are we still here?”
Rain sighed. Now that he had allowed himself to think again, the floodgates of his memories had burst open. The pretty girl was Earth, she loved him. He had friends … Heart, Angel, Destiny, and Rainbow. He missed them. There was a father figure too: Subodh.
How was the old man’s healing coming along? Did he need any help? Rain absently touched the back of his head. He couldn’t believe it. He actually missed the old man’s blows. Rain smiled. The movement felt strange, alien.
How long had it been since he had last smiled? Earth made him smile. She made him very happy.
Rain drew out a small mirror from his belt and stared at his reflection. He looked like he had aged twenty years in the last eight months. His skin was burnt. His face appeared weary. His hair was unkempt and disheveled and a thick beard now covered his once-clean jaw line. Rain put the mirror down and stared at his hands and feet. Blisters. Everywhere.
Rain picked up a handful of sand.
“Thank- you for healing me …” he whispered, kissing the handful of sand.
“Is it time for us to leave?” asked his Geeya.
Rain let the sand slip through his fingers and stood up. “It’s time for us to leave.” he announced quietly.
The speed with which he was pulled out of his Quest knocked Rain off his feet. In the span of two heartbeats, he was standing in a familiar mountainous forest again.
Rain could hear the gushing of the stream. His feet took him towards it of their own accord. There, ahead of him, hardly ten steps away from where he stood, was Earth. She was washing a small pile of clothes, looking sad and lost. She had lost weight again and appeared pale and wan.
To Rain, the effect of seeing her again after all these days was like being hit by a baseball bat. Life exploded in his chest and blood pulsed through every pore and vein with renewed vigor. His sleeping senses were suddenly alive and every bit of his being ached to hold her in his arms once more.
But Rain didn’t move. He was filled with doubts and misgivings.
What all had taken place in his absence? Did she still harbor the same feelings towards him? Did she even remember him anymore?
Rain’s stomach twisted with nervousness and longing. Ahead of him, Earth abruptly stopped washing the clothes. She rinsed her hands quickly in the stream and put a hand in her pocket. Out came a small, red heart, glowing and throbbing. Earth stared at the little object in her hands and a tear escaped her eye. She wiped the tear and kissed the heart, and then pressed it close to her own.
Waves of emotion crashed down Rain’s body. If ever he had needed proof that Earth still loved him, then this was it. He took a few cautious steps forward. Just enough to come into her view and draw her attention.
Earth looked up and froze. Rain could see the look of fear and suspicion cross her face. He should have shaved before making an appearance. She obviously didn’t recognize him.
Rain took another step forward. Saw her eyes lock on to his. Saw the recognition dawn in them, along with shock.
Earth’s hands flew to her mouth, and she rose to her feet slowly.
“Rain …” she whispered.
He opened his arms wide and Earth came flying into them, splashing her way across the stream. His arms closed around her, enveloping her in a hug so tight that Rain was sure they would be welded together if the temperature was just right.
“Rain! Where have you been?!” sobbed Earth. “How I have missed you! How I have yearned for you to smile at me again!”
Rain couldn’t speak. The lump in his throat wouldn’t let him. So he held her tighter still. Earth gasped for air, and Rain loosened his hold a bit.
“No. Keep holding me tight. Don’t ever let go.”
“I’ll never let go.” growled Rain, through the thick knot of emotions.
Earth drew back a little to show him the tiny heart in her palm that was still throbbing and glowing.
“This is the only thing that helped me survive all this time you were gone. I would be feeling hopeless and lost without you and every now and then, this would start to throb … and I would know … that you are alive. That you are thinking of me …”
“Forgive me … I have caused you pain.” said Rain gruffly.
“I deserved it. I caused you pain, too.” said Earth, burying her face in his chest.
“Never say that. You don’t deserve pain.”
This time Earth remained silent, letting her tears rain down his chest while he cradled her in his arms. She hit his chest lightly with her fist after a while, still sniffling.
“Why won’t you make it rain now, when I need it to hide my tears?”
“I don’t want to miss a second of this, that’s why.”
He pulled her away a little, so he could see her face. “What did you do all this while? Have you been okay? You look so weak.”
“I finished collecting all of my element stones. I now have only my Master Quest left.”
Rain put her head back on his chest and stroked a hand through her silky hair.
Earth sighed softly. “You can let go of me now.”
Rain kissed her on the forehead. “No.”
“Um … you should let go of me now.”
“Why should I?” said Rain, speaking against her forehead.
“Because you need a bath.”
Rain smiled. “No, I don’t.”
“And, you need a shave.”
“No, I don’t.”
“And, you need to change your clothes.” said Earth, trying to wriggle free. His arms wouldn’t bud
ge.
“No, I don’t. All I need is you.”
Earth stopped squirming and relaxed against his chest once more.
“I need you, too.” She said softly.
“No, what you need is to eat more food.”
Earth gave a little giggle. “All right. I’ll eat more food if you shave and take a bath.”
“Only if the shave and bath are given to me by you.” countered Rain.
“You drive a hard bargain!”
“It’s all or nothing. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Good girl!”
“So will you let go of me now?”
“I have let go of you.”
“You have?”
Then why was she still stuck to him? Earth looked down and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Vines had sprouted from the ground binding the two of them together firmly.
“Just say you want to stay in my arms, and stay there.” teased Rain.
Earth looked down, willing the vines to snap away and the vines let them loose. She had barely taken a step back when his arms went around her waist pulling her to him once more.
“What now?” asked Earth.
“I love you.” said Rain softly.
Earth placed a hand on his cheek.
“I love you, too.”
Rain took hold of the hand on his cheek and brought it forward to plant a light kiss on it.
“You’d think the rules would at least allow us to kiss properly!” grumbled Earth, half jokingly.
“I could give you a quick peck. That doesn’t seem to do any harm.” grinned Rain.
“I wouldn’t allow that.”
“Why? I thought you wanted to be kissed.”
“I do. But not so briefly. If you kissed me now, I would never let it end.”
Rain buried his face in her hair, sighing with contentment. “Who would have thought? My girlfriend, a dominatrix.”
