Bang!... Bang!... Bang!
The violent knocking on the door continued. Adhiraman gathered some courage and slowly walked to the door. He gulped his saliva as he opened the door.
Outside the hut, the guards were stunned to see the door open. They quickly gathered their wits and began to apprehend the culprits. Two of the guards locked Adhiraman's arms and tightly held him together. Another guard went inside and grabbed hold of Mandri as she was pulled outside the cottage.
Adhiraman and Mandri were stunned and they quickly kneeled on the ground began to beg,
"Please spare us! We haven't done any crime. Please spare us! We beg you!"
They spotted the village chief standing beside Guru Bharstacharya. They quickly walked over to the village chief and feel on their knees and began to plead for mercy.
"Have mercy on us Village Chief! We haven't done any crime that warrants punishment. Please spare us, Lord!"
The village chief scoffed and questioned,
"Where is that criminal son of yours? It is that Kuputra of yours that pushed the entire village in the calamity. Now tell me where is he? We need to ask him some questions?"
Adhiraman and Mandri's complexion became pale and they bowed deeply as their forehead touched the ground.
"Please, Lord! Spare our son. He is only a seven-year-old child. What kind of misdeed could he do with his frail body? He is still too young to even understand the difference between good and bad? Please spare him, my lord! You can instead punish for any of his folly."
Both of them pleaded before the village chief. Guru Bharstacharya had an awful expression on his face as he scoffed,
"These lowly Sudras, no matter how you treat them even god can't do their welfare. Cut the chit-chat and spew out where is your son?"
Adhiraman fearfully answered,
"Our son…..Our son is sick and has a high fever. So, he is resting inside the hut while we were attending to him."
Upon hearing this the village chief signaled a nearby guard. The guard entered the hut and shortly after he came out with Rudra hung upon his shoulder like a potato sack.
The village chief commanded the nearby guards to march towards the Village Square as he ignored the pleas of the Sudra couple.
Soon, they reached the Village Square. The guards pushed both Adhiraman and Mandri on the square's platform as both of them kneeling on the platform. The guard carrying Rudra threw him on the platform. Adhiraman and Mandri shielded his impact with the ground with their bodies.
'Aargh!....Aah..!'
Rudra groaned as pain assaulted him. He groggily opened his eyes as his memories were fuzzy. He remembered after he ate those poisonous fruits he fainted and fell in the stream. By a stroke of luck, his body floated and drifted all the way back to the spot he was collecting the herbs. The poison in his body was neutralized by the river's water.
When he opened his eyes he was lying on the bank of the stream and his body felt hot as headache assaulted him. His body was bruised all over due to the rough grail and debris in the stream. He barely walked up to his house and then remembered falling asleep in his mother's embrace.
The sight before him stunned him as he weakly asked his mother,
"Mother! Where are we? What is happening? Why so many people are gathered here?"
His mother quickly embraced him and replied in a gentle tone,
"Don't worry Rudra whatever will happen here mother will protect from harm's way."
"Silence!"
The Village Chief bellowed and silenced all the people assembled at the Village Square. After gathering the attention of everyone present, he quickly announced,
"My dear Villagers! Yesterday our village was assaulted by the Rakshasa who massacred our people, burnt our houses, killed our families, and damaged our properties."
The village chief waited for the response as all villagers collectively shouted,
"Village chief! We are angry! Our blood is boiling as how the Rakshasa rampaged in our village. Village Chief we want justice."
The village chief raised his hand and silenced the villagers as he announced,
"I will address all of your injustices. I and Guru Bharstacharya would announce the punishment of the sinner. We have found the perpetrator of all these events."
Speaking such words the village chief pointed his fingers at Rudra and his family and bellowed loudly,
"These my dear villagers are the perpetrator of the incident. Their son stole a treasure from the Rakshasa which enraged the Rakshasa and he attacked our village in retaliation. We as innocent bystanders became fuel for the wrath of the Rakshasa and became meaningless sacrifices."
The village chief continued to gather the public outrage and directed it towards Rudra's family. After the crowd was seemingly angry behind control he loudly declared again,
"Now Guru Bharstacharya would declare their punishment."
Adhiraman and Mandri were terrified beyond the limit as they embraced their son tightly to shield him from the murderous stares of the crowd. They had a general idea of their situation at this point. 'To calm the angry villagers and vent their rage the village chief made them scapegoat for their ploy. They remembered the moment when the village chief first their hut with the Fat Landlord for the first time. All the pieces of the puzzle began to assemble as the veil covering their eyes was removed. The Fat Landlord ordering their son to move deeper and deeper into the Forest of Death. His first demand to replace the position of offering with their son and ultimately the visit of the village chief.
All the mysteries and the fog surrounding their senses were cleared. They know their life has no value in the eyes of these people, so it is better to sacrifice them to calm the rage of people. They only had regret in their heart, regret for not able to give their son a fulfilling life. Regret on the fact that they were born in Sudras and can forever only crawl in the shadows of higher Varnas. At their last moments, they want to protect their son at least once. Both of them sighed and resolutely hugged their son with tears in their eyes.
Rudra, although was only seven years old, he was able to understand the gist of things and began to sob continuously,
"Mother! Father! Don't leave me alone!..... Don't leave me alone!"
Guru Bharstacharya raised his right hand and ordered,
"Such vile people who claimed the lives of hundreds of people shall be punished severely. I command all of you to stone them to death and thus bring justice to the dead souls of your loved ones."
As these words left his mouth the crowd picked up stones from the nearby ground ready to strike these people to death.
Rudra paled on hearing these as he frantically shouted to stop. His frantic cries unheard as more and more people grabbed stones in their hands.
"Now strike these vile people to death" shouted Guru Bharstacharya.
The bombardment of the stones began as stones rained on Adhiraman and Mandri. They shielded Rudra from most of the stones but their bodies were badly battered as they bled profusely. Many gashes and wounds appeared on their bodies as the bombardment continued. One of the stones hit the forehead of Mandri as she fainted while still hugging her son tightly. Another stone hit Adhiraman in the left eye, blinding him as blood continued to drip from his body. He weakly hugged his son before fainting. The bombardment lasted for another five minutes.
The bodies of both Adhiraman and Mandri were badly mangled as both of them struggled to gain consciousness. With their strong will alone, they weakly opened their eyes and kissed their son before falling in eternal sleep. A pool of blood formed with them as the center as their blood continued to stain and drip from the platform.
Uwoooh!.... Aaaah!
Painful cries echoed in the surroundings as Rudra continued to mourn. His eyes turned crimson as his body turned red as smoke began to rise from his body. He continued to hug his deceased parents' bodies as he sorrowfully mumbled,
"Mother! Father! Don't leave me alone!.... Don't go anywhere! Come back!"
Heart-wrenching cries strong enough to even shatter rocks could be heard from the mourning of Rudra. He continued to hug his mother as he mumbled to himself. Hearing these blood-curdling cries even gods and deities were alarmed as they sympathetically looked at the pitiful appearance of little Rudra.
Nature is unkind to every being, it treats everything impartially. Every person has to suffer from the cruel game of fate as it twists and turns the threads of destiny.
Gods and deities were unable to interfere as this was Rudra's journey. He had to suffer everything by himself, but sooner or later someone surely soothes his wounds and guides him to greatness. But for now, he is all alone left and stranded by his people in darkness.
The ground began to tremble as the sound of heavy steps approaching the village was heard.
The Rakshasa has appeared again.