When destiny had unapologetically snatched away Raaz's family, Laaj was the one who welcomed her into a new one. Raaz was very young back then, and was suddenly thrown out into the big world, a homeless orphan. People were cold to her. Some rude, discriminative. Even abusive.
For a young child who'd just lost everything, this made her want to stay away from people even more. By the time she got to the shelter home, her faith in humanity was almost completely lost. The children there were scared of her and her glaring eyes that warned everyone to stay away.
But Laaj was the first to see beyond that. She saw the pain behind the anger. The loss behind the pain. And the story of loss, which was something she was all too familiar with. She'd also reminded Raaz of her mother the first time they met. Calm, trusting, welcoming. The same curious wide grey eyes. The same warm smile.
Now, rushing towards the camp, Raaz prayed to the heavens that her friend was okay. That her sister was fine.
"Where's the third room?" Mani's voice sounded.
"This way." Raaz pointed as she headed in that direction.
Turning a corner and barging into the room, Raazan saw Laaj sitting in a corner with her back against the wall. Her black hair was disheveled and her clothes torn in several places. She had a blanket loosely wrapped around her shoulders. There were scratches on her arms. Then Raaz's eyes fell on the long gash on her calf. Maha, one of the workers, was cleaning the wound while another worker, Azzei was tending to the scratches on the arms.
Raaz's eyes blurred with tears. This was all her fault. She never should've let Laaj come back here on her own. She'd hardly left her alone for a short while and now….
Vihr ran past her and knelt next to Laaj. He examined the gash, and winced at seeing how deep it was. Raaz glanced back at Mani, who stood frozen at the doorway.
"What happened?" Raaz asked in a shaky voice as she knelt down next to Vihr.
"That dog. I just…" Laaj winced as Maha tied a clean cloth around her wound.
"Who?" Mani asked, walking towards her.
"I came back to get my bag. There was no one else here then. Everyone had already left for work. I was in the first room, when Bidod came there. I have no clue what he was even doing in the women's quarters to begin with. When he saw me there by myself, he entered the room and closed the door behind him. I instantly knew exactly what he intended to do. I tried to run, but he grabbed me, kept pulling me back. We struggled and…" She looked at the scratches on her arm and the gash on her leg. Raaz could hear Mani breathing heavily next to her.
"My leg….I don't even know what did this...if it was rusted or.." She sounded frustrated, " It made it harder for me to run. He was growing confident. I had no idea what to do, I felt so trapped." Her voice broke at the last word and she started to cry. Azzei offered her water and Maha rubbed her on the back gently.
Raaz didn't bother to look at the expression the boys must be wearing, as she had a feeling it would mirror hers. She wanted nothing more right now than to stab Bidod repeatedly with the same fork she'd saved the Prince from. And that would be going easy on him.
After drinking the water offered, Laaj drew in a deep breath and continued, "I searched desperately for anything that could serve as a weapon, and thankfully found a shovel lying nearby. Some worker must've left it there. I swiftly picked it up and hit him hard on the head. It worked to stun him momentarily. I ran out, and somehow managed to limp towards the third room where I heard voices. I found Azzei, Zuma and Maha here. He didn't chase after me, probably because he knew there were others here too.
After I knew I was safe, the rush died down. I could only feel the pain in my leg, so much so that I almost blacked out. The girls helped me settle, and Zuma came to get you. My hands were shaking, my vision..I just.." Laaj squeezed her eyes shut, and drew in another deep breath. Her face was wet with tears.
"You know, if," She continued after a few seconds, doing her best to steady her voice, " if I didn't find them here, I had the shovel with me. I probably would've..if he had tried anything...I would've-"
"Yeah. Yeah, I know." Raaz said.
"Maha's tunic had caught on a ledge and got torn. We'd come back here to fix it when Laaj came in. We were going to take her to the infirmary, but decided we'd wait for you to get here first." Azzei explained.
"So we sent Zuma to find you." Maha added.
"I'm sorry." Raaz felt red hot tears on her cheeks, but made no effort to wipe them. " I should've come back here with you. I can't believe I let you go on your own. And now-"
"Don't." Laaj placed her hand on Raaz's. "Don't you dare. You're not to be blamed here. Nor am I. I should've been able to make a small trip back to our housing camp without being attacked. I shouldn't have to regret going anywhere alone. There's only one person to be blamed here, Raazan, and it's not you."
"She's right." Mani said. Raaz turned to look at him, and found him sitting down with no expression on his face, and hands clenched so tight one could see all his veins.
"Mani I-"
"She's right, Raaz. No woman should have to pay the price for simply walking alone." Mani said. Raaz was surprised. She was so sure Mani would be angry at her. Laaj was everything to him after all. And in moments of shock and grief, people often end up placing all the blame on anyone they deem even the least bit responsible for it. Raaz wouldn't have minded if Mani did that, for she was doing the same. To herself.
"For being alone?" Vihr looked at Mani. "No. This was the price she paid for being poor. For simply wanting to earn an honest living. And for working under a swine like him."
"I wonder what he'll do now." Maha said.
"What he'll do?" Raaz looked at her incredulously.
" Knowing Bidod and his fragile ego, he won't let this go."
"Neither will we." Mani said. Raaz didn't like how he sounded. The fact that his face and voice showed no emotion was scarier to her than if he'd be going red with fury.
"We better take her to the infirmary first. We need to have that wound fixed properly." Azzei suggested.
Mani picked his little sister up gently and headed towards the infirmary, which was situated between the male and female quarters. Maha and Azzei wanted to come along, but Raaz thanked them and insisted that they'd helped enough, and should head back to work. Reluctantly, the girls departed and Vihr and Raaz followed Mani.
After getting the wound fixed up, the healer let her rest in the infirmary for a while. The others stayed back too, a unanimous unspoken decision that work just wasn't worth it. As Laaj lay there silently, Vihr and Mani paced back and forth next to her bed. Raaz sat next to Laaj, doing her best not to look down at the wound or the scratches, for if she did, she'd be tempted to blame herself again.
Bidod...she always had a bad feeling about him from the day she'd seen him. Slimy insect. It was the way he spoke to women, so patronizing. And the way he looked at them, his gaze lingering a moment too long and not on their faces. But she'd never imagined he'd dare to go this far in the middle of the day, in the woman's quarters of all places. Why was he lurking about there? Was he expecting some unsuspecting worker to walk in? Lying in wait, ready to pounce?
Of course, in Bidod's case it hardly mattered if it was daylight or midnight. The last time she'd seen him in the Town's fair the previous year, he was Prince Samee's personal attendant. And from the way they appeared, a friend to him as well. All the while the older Prince was there, so was Bidod, whispering in the Prince's ear and smiling belligerently after probably having made some unflattering comments about the commoners that passed by. Samee and him were cut from the same cloth, as far as she was concerned. The scandalous Prince and his slimy manservant. Both a burden on humanity.
Naturally Bidod thought he could get away with assaulting a 'small-time labour girl'. After all, of what value is the life of a commoner when compared to that of a Royal's favourite attendant?
"Maha was right." Laaj's voice cut through the silence.
"What?" Vihr asked as he and Mani stopped pacing.
"Bidod..he's not done yet."
"We'll worry about that later." Mani said as he placed his hand on her forehead.
The storm couldn't wait, however. Just as they were helping Laaj sit up so she could eat some lunch, Bidod came barging into the infirmary with a couple of guards and headed straight towards them. The healers and apprentices dropped whatever they were doing to watch.
"Arrest her." He directed the guards towards Laaj. Raaz blinked. Arrest her? The audacity of this man. She looked at her friend, wounded and weakened, and stepped in between the guards and her. Mani and Vihr followed her example.
"Arrest her, why? On what grounds?" Vihr asked.
"On grounds of theft and for attacking a supervisor with a shovel on being caught." Bidod claimed.
"Theft?" Raaz tried to keep her calm. If she attacked Bidod now, with witnesses around, they'd just be inviting more trouble.
Bidod traced the voice to Raaz's face, and his expression upon seeing her face was a mixture of intrigue and disdain. He signalled his guards to wait. "You."
He took a few steps towards her until he was only inches away from her. Mani and Vihr made to move, but Raaz put her hand out to ask them to stop. They couldn't afford to act rashly at this moment. She kept her eyes trained on Bidod, unblinking.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't need to have gone to all this trouble." His voice was low, almost a whisper, as if he wanted no one except Raaz to hear. He continued with a menacing and mocking tone, "I could have taken care of this mess the way I'd have liked to." A leering smile. "Nevermind. Just a hiccup, and everything will be fine. And then.." Raaz stiffened as he reached out to touch her hair, his face now reflecting animated malice, "It's your turn."
That's it, Raaz thought. Trouble or not, she wasn't going to hold back. However, before she could launch a bone-crushing punch with Bidod's pointed nose as a target, she heard a furious cry from her side. Mani launched himself at Bidod and tackled him to the ground. Raaz staggered back.
"Mani, no!" Laaj called out, but Mani was on Bidod and punching him left and right. Vihr tensed, as if preparing to jump in, but Raaz grabbed him tightly by the wrist. The guards rushed towards them and tried to pull Mani away from Bidod, which they didn't find easy given Mani's build. As they grabbed him by the arms and pulled, Mani started to kick.
The guards began to hit him from the butt of their spears to get him to stop, and finally managed to pull him away from Bidod. The pig crawled backwards and then scrambled to his feet. Mani tried to go at him again, but there were three guards pushing him to his knees.
"Stop that!" Vihr took a step forward, but Raaz only tightened her grip on his wrist. When he wriggled to snatch it away from her grip, she dug her nails into him. She was shaking all over, and every inch of her body wanted to jump in and help. But she looked at Bidod, who had a smug smile on his face in spite of just getting beaten up by a man twice his size, and she knew this was exactly what he wanted.
No, as much as she hated standing by, jumping in was not the answer. She could feel Vihr's pointed gaze on her, but her eyes remained staring in front of her.
"Take them both away. Thieves and criminals." Bidod ordered. The guards hesitated as they came near Laaj. Raaz wasn't sure if it was because of the glares she and Vihr were directing towards them or because they felt bad looking at Laaj's injuries.
"What are you waiting for? We're wasting time here. The Prince wants the hearing at sunset." Raaz wasn't sure if she had imagined the virulence in his tone when he mentioned Prince Faiz.
The guards reluctantly pulled Laaj off the bed. She cried out in pain.
"She's wounded, you animals." Vihr shouted.
One of the guards looked at them apologetically, then helped her throw her arm around him as she was taken away, limping and wincing in pain. Mani was dragged away too, still struggling to break free.
"I'm afraid there's no room for goodbyes." Bidod said smugly and limped away with whatever dignity Mani hadn't punched out of him.
Raaz finally let go of Vihr's hand, which was now bleeding, and slumped back on the infirmary bed. The first thing he did was find the nearest wall to punch. After a few moments of silence, one of the healers asked them politely to leave. They obviously didn't want any further trouble.
"Why did you stop me?" Vihr scolded as they walked out.
"Because jumping in would've made things worse."
"So we do nothing? Raaz, I can't believe-"
"Who's saying that?" Raaz shot back. Do nothing? For the only family she's known? What a preposterous idea.
"Then? There's going to be a hearing, and once the Royal brat pronounces them guilty, we will never see them again."
"If he pronounces them guilty."
"I'm sorry?" Vihr asked incredulously.
"Something about the way Bidod spoke to me...felt odd."
"Yeah, because he's a disgusting leech."
"Not just that. He was....angry at me. That thing he said, about taking care of things his way if it weren't for me. Vihr, he means the Prince. He's mad that I saved him."
"So the former valet of one Prince is wishing for the death of another. Nothing surprising there, with these royals. But then, he wouldn't be so confident about the hearing. He looks like he has complete faith in the verdict being in his favour."
"Knowing slimes like him, he's all honey in front of the Prince and venom behind his back."
"How does that matter now? How does any of this matter? Laaj, her wounds…." Vihr shook his head.
"Maybe if I talk to the Prince.."
"Raaz, no. You can't possibly have any hopes for the Prince. No matter the inner conflicts that go on between the elite, the verdict never goes in the favour of the labourers. We have no say here, no voice and no choice."
" I'm aware. But we have no other options right now. Besides, he said he owed me."
"And you admitted that you believe he didn't mean it."
"Fine. We'll go with your idea….oh wait." Raaz looked at Vihr pointedly.
Vihr sighed. "You realise Bidod probably has everything planned out. He won't let us utter a word during the hearing. In fact, I don't think we'll even be allowed anywhere near the Prince during the hearing. "
"Which is why I'll have to speak to him before it."
"You think it's easy to reach him? He's flanked by guards all the time." Vihr raised an eyebrow.
"No, it's not easy, Vihr. Obviously it's not easy. But this is about Laaj and Mani. So I don't care about easy, or safe."
"So what are you planning on doing?" Vihr looked at Raaz expectantly.
Raazan had no plan. All she knew was that she had to get to the Prince before the hearing. She had to convince him of the truth. Because if she couldn't, she wasn't sure what other choice she had left.