章 32: A Friendship At the End of Times (part 2)
On the other hand, a glint of keen jealousy burned through the little boy's eyes. Chandra Kush, as he was known, did not expect even in his dreams that there will be someone else capable of entering his teacher's eyes apart from him.
He didn't know why, but he felt a tearing sensation in his gut. As though his very existence is being brought to question as this happened. In his entire life, nobody really looked at him apart from his teacher. His father was a good man, but he was weak, henpecked. He couldn't do anything when his mother decided to sell him off. The other boys in the village couldn't keep up with him, so they called him crazy and stupid and all kinds of other names. Until his teacher explained it to him, he actually believed there was something wrong with him. He believed that was the reason his parents didn't want him. She was the only one kind and patient enough to explain to him that he was merely hyperactive and lacked focus. She told him he was actually very smart because his brain naturally knew how to multitask. She taught him various ways to improve his concentration, so he could learn to read, write and recite the Vedas, bringing out his true potential. She even taught him how to fight, how to become stronger, earn his own merit in a mercenary troop and so on in order to gain power. She brought him to travel around the world so he would learn about the different cultures, social structures and economies. She was with him every step of the way and in such a complete fashion that she alone was enough to prove he existed. He didn't want anything else in life. Even that childish bluster about wanting to be king was soon
forgotten. Nowadays all he does is to follow her direction where there is any and do anything he likes with the rest of his time! It was a solitary, yet pleasant life.
And now…she speaks so passionately about the pride of a royal. Why? Now he understood that his teacher took him in as a disciple precisely because of that bluster of his when he was six years old. She was never merely humoring him. She was serious from the beginning.
And now it feels like…she found him lacking? Is that why he was talking about someone else? Someone with the right qualities…?
"I will make him lose!" he blurted out unconsciously. His hands were balled up into fists, heart hammering inside his chest. He didn't look his teacher directly in the eye, yet he didn't change his resolution.
I will defeat him one day when we are both equals. I certainly will, he swore to himself.
The woman merely nodded, neither encouraging, nor discouraging. The boy watched her reaction for a moment and then relaxed, releasing a gust of breath. Frankly, this was the teacher he was more used to. Not the passionate one from earlier.
Suddenly, he remembered, "Teacher, why do you say that whatever I wish to share is the truth he is seeking?"
A light crease flashed between the woman's eyebrows before she turned expressionless once more. She didn't speak for a while, presenting her moonlit visage to her student. In the quiet night, she looked like a fairy who has come to witness the happenings on Earth without actually being stained by any of its karma.
"This is unnecessary to delve into," she said in a rippleless tone. "The two of you share the same star of destiny. Anything beyond that is up to you to discover."
The boy frowned. How can two people share the same star of destiny? Astrology was one of his weaker subjects among those he learnt under his teacher, but he still knew that it was impossible for two people's destinies to be the same. Besides, the other boy is clearly of a higher birth. The road ahead of him, if it exists, is paved in pearls and jewels. And what about him? To be a general, he will need to step over a mountain of bones, to acquire land, he will have to wage war and even then, he will only be a barbarian. To be considered for an Aryan divine sanction, god only knows what else he will have to do. And then he could be called a king, fulfilling that childish ambition from back then.
Only, when he envisioned that moment, he felt not pride. Only embarrassment.
Back then, he was just a foolish kid who wanted to escaped the fate of being a slave. That night, the village was especially quiet. The night was ominous, the sky unlit, cloaked with thick darkness. A sense of uneasiness pervaded the entire populace, but was suddenly broken by the piercing shrieks of the farmer's son who lived at the edge of the village. His name was Kush and he was six years old. He was kicking his legs in the air, struggling against his mom's grasp as she tried to brand him with the mark of the slave. Actually, she didn't have to do that for it's the merchant's job. But it was her last act of kindness for a child, for she knew the merchant will not care if it's painful for the boy nor will he offer any soothing herbs. But who knew little Kush would take it as though she was going for his life instead? His struggle against the brand was exactly like the death throes of wild beasts she has hunted in the forest.
At that very moment, the village was attacked by bandits. These were not ordinary bandits. They were highly trained Kshatriyas from Asura sects who were disguised as
bandits. They were looking for something, or rather someone. But they couldn't expose their identity when they turn the village inside out for that would only give the chivalrous faction a reason to target their sect. Even the ignorant villagers who were cut off from the outside world more or less could tell these were not ordinary bandits. They offered exactly zero resistance to their demands, watching and enduring silently as they tore their homes apart.
Suddenly though, this little boy appeared. He looked as though he just escaped a death struggle. He had bright, glistening eyes that shone even in the moonless night. His pink face was flushed to the limit and his brows quirked, full of determination as he took a stance in the middle of the village.
He yelled on top of his voice. "You can't do whatever you want here!" he said powerfully. "I am going to be king when I grow up. I will tear you apart when I find you then!"
The sudden declaration stunned even the bandits. More than the boy's words, it was the aura and the majesty exuding from the little boy that made them involuntarily pause in their movements. They started to wonder if they messed with the wrong people, poking the hornet's nest without knowing. Could there be some powerful noble family hiding out in this backward village? In the moonless night, the beautiful boy looked polished and refined as the moon. The noisy chaos momentarily quietened down. Even the panicked villagers were brought back to their senses.
Of course, the interlude was only momentary. A fear stricken women quickly chased after the kid, her eyes full of panicked tears. But the lovely looking boy only assumed a manly pose as he turned around to face her. "See! I am going to be king. Everybody believes it. You can't sell me away as a lowly slave!"
Heart nearly popping out of her throat, the woman couldn't produce the slightest sound as she caught the boy in her arms, covering him from all sides using her body. Her doe like eyes showed fear and desperation as she looked around, finding only enraged warriors who wanted to tear the boy apart. Someone actually had the gall to play a prank on them!
A light sigh sounded in the ensuing silence. That was when Kush first saw her. A woman who can make even an exhalation sound beautiful and exotic.
Appearing out of thin air, she stood there like a beauty that can cover the earth and sky. There was nary a ripple of expression on her face, but she seemed to convey everything that needed to be said to every single person present.
The warriors disguised as bandits involuntarily moved away from here when they felt her aura. The three women they were looking for also appeared one after another around her. But they still didn't dare make a move.
Kush didn't know that happened after that because his mother saw the opportunity and ran while pressing him against her body. He even had to struggle to take a breath, where would he find a chance to look at the confrontation? He could only guess later on (years later actually) that his teacher obliterated the enemies single handedly. Bringing him to their flimsy shack, his mother cried and cried, not letting him leave two inches away from her body. She rocked him ceaselessly as she cried promising herself over and over that she would never let him out of her sight again. She had seemingly completely forgotten what she originally meant to do with him. Having achieved the desired effect, Kush fell asleep happily as well.
When he woke up, his father told him that he should pay his respects to the fairy like
woman.
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