SPLASH!!
She was going down, down and further down! Cold water gushed all around her, enveloping her from all sides. She gasped for breath, but only ended up swallowing a huge gulp of cold water. Mallika threw her little hands all around frantically, trying to get hold of something, but alas! There was nothing she could possibly grasp!
Her heart beat fastened, and a deep rooted fear seemed to awaken inside her, making her chest tighten heavily. She was drowning! In her desperation she shut her eyes.
Down, down and further down! Her heavy body weighed down more and more, unless she seemed to have hit something.
But the hit wasn't painful at all. It was as if something had wrapped itself round her waist. She opened her eyes.
But her vision had turned bleary. All she could understand was that she was being carried upwards towards the surface again, back to land by somebody.
She bent her neck to see his face, but his head was turned away from her. She couldn't make out who he was. But his arms were strong and his embrace was comforting. She suddenly felt safe. In her fright, she clung tightly onto him. And then...everything went dark.
Mallika sat up with a jerk, her heart palpitating. Streaks of cold sweat ran down her forehead, as she panted heavily.
She had dreamt of that incident again. That year she had just turned five. While playing with Ashwin on the banks of river Krishna, she had suddenly fallen into the waters.
And nearly drowned. If not for that person who had saved her, she would have long been dead. But she never had a chance of finding out who he was. She couldn't recall anything about his appearance at all. Why did he keep appearing in her dreams then?
She sat quietly for sonic moments, not knowing how to calm herself.
But the moment she tried to get down from the bed, she nearly jumped back in surprise.
This wasn't her bed in the palace. Rather, it was large stone slab. And on top of it, an old tiger skin was neatly spread. Mallika felt it's fur-- coarse and rough. Clearly it was an old skin. But why was she on a stone covered with a tiger skin?
Mallika looked around the dim room, though it wasn't a room at all. Rather, it was a cave. The cave walls were lit by the flickering flames of a fire burning at the entrance of the cave and Mallika could see the moss lined walls which were decorated with meshes of wildflowers. The mild scent from the tiny flowers was unusually strong and Mallika found it to be somewhat intoxicating. At some distance away, a leather bag was hanging from what seemed to be a peg. Something thick and oozy was dripping down from a corner of the bag, and after close observation, Mallika realised it was jungle honey. A large group of large fat red ants had clustered on the ground where drops of the honey had dripped.
On another side, a large black veil was carelessly slumped on the ground. Mallika smiled as she recognised it immediately. This was the veil her stranger had worn a few days back when he had saved her in the Poorvi forests.
It was then that Mallika recalled all that had happened prior to her losing consciousness. She remembered having been targeted by a bunch of assassins from Vaimadri. And she remembered Lord Arjun carrying her away. They had fought together, and she had, in all probability, beheaded General Durg!
Mallika shrugged uncomfortably. This wasn't good. She had killed the leading general of Vaimadri. Would King Vidala make things difficult for Sailam? She bit down on her lips.
Amidst all this confusion, one thing was clear. This was Lord Arjun's place. But why did he live in a cave?
Curious to see round the place, and excited to see the master of the place, a girl who was presently blushing red jumped down from the stone slab and walked round the cave.
As she looked around, she spotted a number of queer things. One of them included a large bowl filled with ash, another had a liquid that somewhat appeared to be fruit wine. Some further distance away, there was a little two sided drum, thin at the centre and thick at the edges. It looked exactly like a damaru.
Mallika smiled as she ran her fingers along the sides of the damaru. This was the two sided drum that was famously played with Lord Shiva, her Ishta Deva. As she felt it's course exterior, she couldn't help wondering, 'Just who on earth is this Lord Arjun? Tiger skin, living in a forest, bowl filled with ash, damaru...'
Suddenly the sound of laughter reached her ears. Mallika stood up immediately, curious. She walked out of the cave, only to find herself in the middle of a dense dark forest that was lit with fireflies in the distance. A cool bridge carrying the scent of the wilderness ran through her, refreshing her senses. Mallika smiled as she made her way towards the source of the sound. It was already night.
Some distance away, a larger fire was lit. A group of about twenty young men sat around it, laughing jovially among themselves. One of the men who appeared slightly fatter than the rest was standing beside the fire and saying something Mallika couldn't here. The moment he finished talking, the rest of the group burst out laughing again.
Slowly, Mallika walked up towards the men.
"...and then he decided to go back.... Why isn't this the princess?! Are you feeling better now, princess?"
At his words, all eyes instantly turned towards Mallika, who felt pretty unsure as to how she was supposed to respond. "Urm... yes, but why do you ask? I don't remember falling sick or getting hurt...And, what is this place?"
"Well, you had fainted," one of the men explained. "That's why Lord Arjun brought you back. So, doesn't fainting suddenly count as ill health? And, this is Lord Arjun's present residence, you know. That's why he brought you here after you suddenly fainted."
This made sense. She couldn't have simply fainted without any reason, right? So if these people thought she was sick, it wasn't their fault after all. "Err... where is Lord Arjun? And who are you people?"
The man who was standing broke into a mischievous grin. "Ahha! As for your second question, we are the Janas-- the super amazing and awesome group of people that keep our Lord company. We are his followers, if you ask formally, but then, we are the only family he has got!"
Mallika was surprised, "Only family? He... doesn't have a proper family?"
"Huh?" The man's face fell slightly. "Aren't we a proper family?" There was an almost non existent pause, after which the corners of his lips immediately curled up. "Ahh! I got it now. You are speaking of 'that' kind of family, right? No no no! How could he have 'that' kind of family without you, my princess?!"
Before Mallika had processed what she had just heard, a loud slap landed on the man's back, sending him yelping in pain. "Shut up, Som! And sit down! Keep your crap to yourself!"
Som made a face at his assaulter as he remorsefully sat back down beside the fire, "Big brother Pramath, you are such a bully! Wait till I tell on you!"
"Tell on me? To whom?"
"My Lord, of course! Who else?"
"Go ahead, Som. I have been keeping a lot of things from him recently as well. Like the fact that you went thrice to the temple for ladoos in a week, and that you have been skipping your meditation every now and then and that you...."
"Mercy Pramath Mercy!!" Som lifted his hands in a 'pranam' bowing to the man infront of him respectfully. "For the sake of the wellbeing of the world, please do not report me. Else... I am dead meat!"
"Glad you are aware of it," a third voice sounded. It was another of the Janas, who seemed pretty done with this bickering. "Princess", he motioned towards a rock that no one was sitting on. "Please take a seat."
Mallika nodded as she sat back. She had never seen people like this. They all seemed good to her, in fact, so good, that she felt a kind of inexplicable kinship with them. Yet she had never met them. The men dressed unusually. They all had their upper body covered with a large single piece of cloth, though Mallika spotted two of them who sat bare chested and all of them wore knee long dhotis. If not for the difference in their dressing styles, it would have seemed like this was some sort of uniform. They didn't have any gold or silver on their bodies, but wore ornaments made of beads and iron.
"Umm... about your Lord, could you tell me who he is? And where is he now? I ...don't seem to see him here..."
"Lord Arjun isn't here at the moment," the man who had offered her a seat spoke up. "He went to settle some business. But he will be back soon. We are waiting for him to return before we have dinner."
"That's right," Som piped up again. Subjugation surely wasn't meant for him, as he continued chattering, irresponsive to the glares that he was being subjected to. "Lord Arjun was so strange today when he returned with you. Both happy and furious. He was kinda scary when he left, I must say. That Vidala, that fool of a man is doomed today. I wonder if he manages to survive at all..."
"Vidala?" Mallika raised her brows in surprise. Her arms immediately tensed. "Lord Arjun....he went to 'settle business' with King Vidala of Vaimadri?"