"Are you alright? Do you want to take some rest?"
Shiv was still concerned about Ira's condition. Even though she told them, everything was fine, he couldn't help but be a little concerned about her.
"I'm really okay! If that is the case, then what about your wounds? Are you okay?"
Shiv didn't respond to her. He simply gave her a nod indicating he could manage.
Ira looked at him for a second and didn't say anything but sighed at the stubborn guy who was up to no good.
"We will be stopping at the village up ahead. Aditya and the rest will join us..."
"Oh... You came with him? Why did you leave him behind then?"
Ira was really curious as to what he would answer. She might not have known them for a long time, but with the time they spent together, she understood them, even if it was a little.
As for as she has seen, Shiv and Aditya had been so close with each other. Wherever Shiv was, Aditya will be right behind.
It really puzzled her, as to why Shiv left Aditya behind and there was absolutely no way that Aditya would let Shiv to travel alone, considering his injury.
Shiv had yet to tell her about the cause of the injury. Ira didn't pester him to tell her the reason. Ira believed that Shiv wouldn't do anything without any particular reason. If he didn't want to talk, it probably meant to avoid her from getting worried.
Even if she wanted to ask him, she held herself back.
Shiv understood the worried expression on her and he immediately reassured her.
"It's nothing.... No matter what you see, it's definitely not your fault!"
He gently patted the head of the girl as he looked straight ahead.
Ira followed his gaze and found a small village up ahead.
"We are finally here. Let's quickly gather and leave for the hidden village."
....
The wails and screams of the peasents was ringing throughout the whole village.
Nearly half of the people were killed on the fire. The remaining few were either hurt or severely disabled. Some were in a critical condition.
Shiv and Abhinav spotted Aditya at a distance. He was running around all over the place treating the peasants.
Veer and Dev helped in doing the odd jobs. Their men were helping in collecting the herbs and preparing the other medicines.
The scene before trio was completely chaotic. With the villagers in such condition how could they even drag them along to the hidden village?
Abhinav heard bits and pieces of information from Shiv. But he never imagined for the situation to be as worse as that!
He immediately jumped in to help Aditya with treating them.
On the other hand, Ira who was not aware of the entire situation was so shocked to see such a scene before her.
Obviously she would be surprised, as she was only a normal college girl, from 21st century.
She was so shocked that she lost her footing for a second. Shiv grabbed her by her arm and supported her.
"This... How did this happen!? Why are they all hurt like that? Don't tell me this is also where you got hurt!"
Ira could barely maintain her calm. She was so flustered, that she unconsciously tightened her grip on Shiv's arm as tears fell from her eyes.
She could clearly identify that the whole village was burnt to the ground.
She silently wept...
He could feel the girl's uneasiness. He immediately went and stood before her and covered her ears with his big palm.
"Don't listen to anything. Just look at me!"
Ira didn't dare look him on the eye. She faced the ground with her head down. Somehow she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye.
Ira sensed that, it had all happened because of her. Though she doesn't know the exact reason, but she heard them talking about burning down a village as a form of distraction, while she was still kidnapped.
She felt extremely ashamed to face him, to face everyone! She gripped onto her clothes tightly and continued to weep.
'This was all my fault. If only I hadn't come to this world... if only I never found that pendant... nothing like this could have happened! I caused this destruction! If only...'
Ira was so absorbed in self blaming, that she haven't heard what Shiv said.
Shiv noticed that her thoughts were somewhere else. He pulled her harder and tried to make her face the reality.
Ira with her eyes full of tears, looked up at him as she spoke in a low, trembling voice, "It's all my fault! I definitely heard them speaking about burning down an entire village as a distraction.... I... I... just never understood what they meant until now!"
She broke down into tears and collapsed onto the ground. Thinking that all of this happened solely because of her. That thought pained her heart to a great extent. Even Shiv got hurt because of her.
She felt so ashamed and remorseful for all that has happened.
Shiv never thought that she would be shaken upto this extent. He never thought she would blame herself so badly over that unfortunate happening.
Ira suddenly went out of breath. She had a hard time breathing. She felt like her heart was being squeezed, just like how it happened that morning...
She grabbed onto her chest and started to groan in pain.
Shiv was shocked to see her in pain once again. He thought she was cured or atleast she was alright for the time-being.
He broke into cold sweat seeing her suffer from the intense pain.
Abhinav noticed something was wrong with Ira from a distance. He rushed over to her and checked her pulse.
"What happened to her!?" Shiv was about to go crazy from all of that.
"It's the same as the one from the morning! Hurry! Quickly bring her over there. Let's have her lie down properly first!"
Abhinav rushed Shiv to bring her to the bed. He was also completely confused as to why it was happening again to her. She looked extremely well and healthy not a few minutes ago....
Just what could have exactly happened to Ira that made her suffer...