War For Love

~Ten~

It was dark outside when Vedika and Siya left to bath in the river. Everyone in the village were tensed with the increasing prices of vegetables and grains. Fruits had become the snacks for elite classes. Eating had become a luxury. With the headquarters getting bombed, the royals were facing losses, they wanted to extort from the villagers. It was very common for the villagers to listen the news of everyday protests and demonstrations, knowing that the leader of the revolts was in their village itself— Sahib. But what was astounding and worrying people was the involvement of a woman in the protest.

Whenever people met they only discussed one thing, one matter: the mysterious woman in the protest. It was unbelievable for the villagers to think that their women would have the courage enough to get out of the house, that to bomb the offices and police stations. And it was even more unacceptable for them to allow a woman in the battlefield. Siya silently heard people talking about her, though their words often pained her but she knew the change was indeed needed and undeniably inevitable. The need to change people's mindset and the exigency for liberty, depended on each other. Independence couldn't be achieved unless and until people changed their mindset.

"Sahib took the whipping for that woman. Must be special for him, that he was ready to get whipped but not ready to reveal her name." One of the girl said, bathing in the river and Siya felt her insides curling at her words. Special? Was she any special to Sahib?

"But Sahib looks ...... so cold. I don't think he has a woman in his life." Chanchala said, washing her long hair and Siya shook her head to herself. Sahib is a firm, strict and stern man but not cold.

"But aren't all the man of our village, cold?" Mamta laughed, a different pain swirling in her eyes. Mamta was engaged to a landlord, twice her age. Her father was in a great debt to the landlord who in turn offered to sell his daughter to free himself from the debt.

"I've never seen any man respecting their wife or daughters. We are like an ornament to them, they think they can sell to pay off their debts!" Mamta growled painfully and angrily. All the girls agreed to her. They all pitied her very much but none of them had the courage to help her. Who would be dumb enough to raise their voice against the landlord? Their only source of burrowing more money when the royals kept increasing the prices.

"Why don't you deny to this marriage, Mamta? You're a human, not some gold ornaments they can trade in." Siya said, making everyone gasp. Mamta did everything she could've done. She pleaded, she cried, she rebelled but at the end she had to agree. She didn't had much of a choice knowing that if she won't listen to her father, he would drink alcohol and beat her mother again.

Mamta detested Siya. She was brave. Too brave that if she would've been in Mamta's position, she wouldn't have done the marriage; but not everyone had the courage of being Siya. It wasn't easy to be this brave, not caring what people think about you and the consequences your bravery would lead to you. Sometimes Mamta doubts if the woman involved in the protest is none other than Siya. Because who else was this brave and impulsive other than her in the village? No one.

"I'm not any less than those gold ornaments either, Siya. Not every time you can stand with the flag of protest. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice, you have to bend down to save the dignity of your family. To save the life of your parents."

Mamta's words were somewhat true. She didn't had much of a choice left. Her father gambled all his money and got drunk after losing everything he had. Which happened almost everyday. He would often come home, drunk and would beat Mamta and her mother. She had tolerated enough of all the tortures and she knew it was her only chance to escape her father's house. But the only thing that pulled Mamta back was her mother. But somewhere, both the women knew that the landlord was no better than Mamta's father.

"It's getting late. We need to cook for our family and then clean our houses too." Chanchala said, sensing the heat in the atmosphere which surfaced after Mamta's conversation.

Everyone got out of the river, getting dressed before going back to their houses. Mamta's painful words evaporated as soon as everyone left, nobody thinking much about her but Siya couldn't help but overthink about her. Mamta wasn't the only girl getting sold to pay their family's debt and Mamta wasn't the landlord's only wife. He had five more before her and Mamta was certainly not his last wife, Siya knew.

"What are you thinking, Siya?" Vedika asked when her sister was unusually quiet during their walk. Siya shook her head, letting out a breath as she turned to look at her sister.

"Mamta never liked me, Jiji. Neither did I. And maybe, that was the reason why I could never see the pain and suffering of her life. Her father beats her and her mother. They don't have a rupee of their own. Every inch of their body is sinking in the debt, her father pushed them into. And as if that wasn't enough, they're making her marry a man twice her age, who is already married, five times. She doesn't deserve this, Jiji. Nobody does and God knows, how many more Mamta's are there in this village, getting sold for their father's debt!"

Vedika nodded her head, agreeing to her sister but what else could they do, other than criticizing Mamta's parents and pity her?

"What else can we do, Siya, other than watching her getting married to that Landlord. It's not like we can stop this wedding......" Vedika trailed off, looking at her sister with wide eyes. Siya however looked too determined for Vedika's liking. "We are not stopping her marriage, Siya! I am serious."

Siya looked at her sister, nodding her head, the fire in her eyes blazing dangerously.

"We won't, Jiji." Vedika almost took a sigh of relief before Siya spoke again. "I will."

~~~~~~~~

"You are a delinquent, bolshie woman, Miss!" Sahib growled when he saw Siya in his house, early in the morning with the food.

Even though, he admitted yesterday that Siya doesn't make him uncomfortable, he still had expected her to not come here. He told her the danger she was in. Someone was keeping an eye on her and Sahib. He hadn't expected her to come here, with the same enthusiasm and bravery again. But did he really expect her to follow his rules? Because if she did, that wouldn't have been so like Siya.

A wide, amused smile slipped on her face as she kept the banana leaf on his cot and turned to look into his thunderous eyes, that had the power to even make the Himalaya quiver under his gaze. She was still a human. She was getting used to the man in front of her. Talking to him doesn't creep or scare her now. She could get used to him for a lifetime.

"What did I do so mighty as to get rewarded with such beautiful titles, Sahib?"

Siya's words only enraged him further. Does she woman have no ounce of fear or love for her life? When everyone here were working hard to save themselves, she was doing everything in her might to invite the danger. And watching her break the rules wasn't as scary as her making it so much more overt, done so much blatantly.

"You are a recalcitrant, bullheaded woman!" Siya pressed her lips to keep herself from giggling when Sahib looked so angry, dangerous even but it looked like any more of his anger and he would explode any moment.

Unable to control her laughter, she burst into a fits of giggles, making the man in front of her to freeze. His lips parted as he looked at the young girl who made his insides giddy with her laughter. How appealing and soothing was that melody of her giggle. All his anger, fear got flushed down and he swallowed visibly. Seeing the sudden change in Sahib's behaviour, Siya ceased her laughing.

Sahib was a gorgeous man, she knew that from the day, she walked in his house with the ointment, she made. But not everyday she so blatantly got lost in his beauty. His dark skin was akin to that night sky which had infinite stars and a gorgeous moon. He was the moon. He had infinite stars in him, Siya wished to embrace them all. His dark, endless chasm for eyes looked no less than the oceans, whose depth was still unknown and new to her. His sharp, chiseled face, was akin to that sword, he often carried with himself. He was a walking universe.

They both took subconscious step forward, in the deep spell of each other's eyes, which only broke when Siya stepped on a thorny twig, wincing in pain as the thorn dug deeper in Siya's mid arch. Sahib, forgetting his own ground rule of never touching a maiden, gripped her wrist before he made her sit on his cot. This was the first time she was sitting in Sahib's house. It felt weird, awkward but not in a bad way. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest when he gripped her ankle to look at the small thorn that prickled the back of her foot.

"I'll remove it. It's fine." Siya stammered, her mouth dry as she could feel the warmness of Sahib's hand penetrating to her soul.

"I know, you can. Now keep your hand away and let me remove the thorn." His reposeful, soft touch betrayed his hard voice.

His calloused and indurated palm felt shockingly soft against her delicate skin. He was a sword fighter, he knew so many forms of fighting, it got so much more obvious by the roughness his palms had. But his ruffian hands, which had killed so many royals and fought with uncountable men were so soft on her feet. As if he was handling something so fragile.

Something about his gentle touch overwhelmed Siya, unlike his harsh words and menacing gaze, his touch was so gentle, so tender that it made her insides to curl and bow down to Sahib. Her lips parted when his long fingers brushed against her skin; gasping at the dull ache that spread Siya's arch but she was too consumed by the touch of the man in front of him, that it suffocated her with the thickness of gratification that lured her. She was too absorbed in the dark abyss of his eyes that she didn't even realise, Sahib had removed the thorn from her feet.

Siya saw Sahib getting up as he advanced inside his house, she has never been to. She watched him disappearing in the darkness of his house before he came with the ointment she had given him few days before. She licked her lips, her throat shrivelled as she gazed at the man with wide eyes.

Who knew, the man who had only handled weapons in his whole life, could tend to a lady? Who knew that someone was even capable of making Siya speechless and mesmerized? Who knew the man who portrayed at every point of time that he can't stand the woman, he had just called delinquent and bullheaded woman, not even a few minutes ago, can't see her in pain?

Who knew Sahib cared about Siya more than she knows and more than he'd ever admit?

"You'll be able to walk back home, right?" Sahib asked and Siya blinked out his trance, nodding her head. It was a thorn.

"I can. You'll have the food, right?" Siya asked softly and Sahib sighed, breaking a piece of the tortilla before putting it in his mouth, knowing she was still empty stomach and won't eat until he would. Siya smiled at his gesture, nodding her head before she stood up from his cot. It slightly burned when she put pressure on her foot but nothing that could stop her.

"Thank you, Sahib."

"Rudra." Sahib said, correcting her and Siya looked at him, furrowing her brows together, not understanding what he meant.

"Huh?"

"My name. Call me Rudra."