MASTERS OF LYGRENN

By Arjun Pawar

About the Author

Arjun Pawar has done Civil Engineering from Pune

University and is pursuing PGDBA course in

Marketing from Symbiosis Centre for Distance

Learning. He works as a Technical Engineer in a

reputed construction company in Pune. He likes reading

novels, listening to music, travelling, sketching and

trekking. He also has an interest in writing on social,

political and environmental issues relating to India and

a keen interest in mythology. Masters of Lygrenn is his

debut novel.

He can be contacted at (ispeaktoarjun@gmail.com)

Back Cover Blurb

In an era dominated by the saints rises a Kingdom where sins are committed regularly. A Kingdom ruled by a noble King but misled by his cruel Masters. Hamish, the cruellest Master with a dream of conquering the world, faces a challenge from an ordinary boy, who in search of his answers finds the reason for his existence. Fire God, the most powerful and loyal Master of the King, is stuck in a dilemma of whether to support the good or the bad.

A story of brutal vengeance where there is no space for the good. Will the good rise to power?

CONTENTS

1. The Droka Dynasty

2. The Fire God

3. Rise of the Kingdom

4. The Ferocious King

5. The Witch of Oshah

6. Arjuna

7. Word of Honour

8. Hunters of Dork

9. Akila

10. Wisdom and Glory

CHAPTER ONE: THE DROKA DYNASTY

1500 B.C., Himalaya.

There lived hundreds of small tribes in the country of

Tibet, Himalaya and North India. Each tribe was

treated according to the power of the army they

possessed, the amount of gold they had in their

kingdom. Number of tribes living in Tibet was large

and each of them was ruled by rulers or emperors and

all of them believed in only one philosophy. Everything

in the world can be solved by either Sword or Gold, and

they were considered the ucchastam. North Indians, due

to their vast knowledge and unity were considered the

madhyastam, though they did not believe in the theory of

war but they were the most united of all by their

thoughts and had the biggest army in south of Asia.

The lowest, nichastam were from the Himalayas. The

tribes in Himalaya were Droka and Shubhadra.

The Droka tribe constituted the south of Himalayas and

considered themselves as the servants of God; they did

not have any army as they did not have any ruler or

emperor to rule their tribe. They lived on one

philosophy throughout their life, i.e., of giving. Help the

needy and God will help you. The Droka was the only

tribe who believed in the concept of nonviolence in spite

of being the most powerful of all. They were never

trained in combat, but were excellent in killing animals

and sword fighting. They believed that the biggest

power in the world is not possessed by any Man or any

Animal or a Weapon, but by Nature. Nature has its own

way of paying back. They were true followers of Lord

Brahma, the creator of the Universe.

People of Tibetan tribe would never eat with the people

from nichastam tribe, as they considered eating with

them would be an act of disrespect to their forefathers

who had differentiated their tribes based on their

powers and money. People from various tribes were

differentiated by the way they dressed. Tibetan would

wear clothes made up of wild animal’s fur and at least

wear one ornament made of gold. North Indians mostly

being Brahmins, were against the killings of animals

and would wear clothes woven from a soft material

known to them and also wear lots of gold ornaments

around their neck. The nichastam did not wear any gold

ornaments. They were not allowed to wear the fur of

lion, tiger, leopard or bear as these animals signified

power.

The tradition of differentiating between tribes based on

their power and money was started hundreds of years

ago but no one knew the real purpose behind the

beginning of this tradition. People from Droka tribe

never raised their voice against this inequality and for

their rights and neither the Tibetans were interested in

stopping the tradition of treating people unequal as it

gave them an upper edge of being the most respectable

tribe in the region. Shubhadras however tried their way

of stopping this differentiation of tribes by holding talks

with the Indians, but few rulers were interested in

making any changes in their traditions with which they

were living for so many years.

Shubhadra tribe constituted the north of Himalayas.

They were followers of Lord Shiva and that is why the

differences between them and Droka arose. Shubhadra

people considered that if they want something they

should fight for their right until they get it. Shubhadra’s

leader even tried allying with the Droka to stop these

inhumane traditions of inequality by holding talks with

the rulers of the nearby regions and if they did not

agree then to fight with them but the Droka rejected

their offer.

The main reason for decline of Shubhadra’s offer by Droka,

many people still believe today, was that the Droka thought

that going against the will of powerful ruler may start a war

which may eventually destroy their beautiful lands the Mother

Earth had bestowed upon them. It was better to live a simple

and humble life rather than destroying the Mother Earth for

our selfish needs.

Kalahar, the land of Droka was vastly spread in the

southern Himalayas. Their only source of food was

animals as there were very few trees in the hilly

mountains of the Himalaya. They didn’t have lands for

farming as their lands were covered with snow

throughout the three seasons. Droka would work for

the Shubhadra people as their slaves. Himkhadi, the

land of Shubhadra, which constituted the north of

Himalaya was covered with dense forest and even had

lands for cultivation. The land of Tibet was very fertile

and would bear tons of fruits and vegetables. Tibetans

used these fruits and vegetables to trade with the

Chinese in order to increase ties between the two

countries.

*****

A large convoy of elephants and horses was going with

thousands of soldiers armed with fully stocked piles of

weapons. In middle was a caravan of their emperor

heading towards the kingdom after a month long

journey. Emperor Zakati, tall, fat, pony tailed hairs till

his waist, was vicious and known for his cruelty. He was

the most powerful emperor of Tibet. He had had 10

masters in his army who led various wings of his armed

forces and were the reason of Zakati’s might in Tibet

and in the world too. His masters were known for their

loyalty towards him. Each Master had separate powers

and their only reason for being appointed as a Master

and to live in this world was to protect their Emperor

and to follows his orders.

Emperor Zakati had only one son who was the only heir

to his vast kingdom which was spread in the eastern

Tibet. His son was known for loyalty and was truly

against the tradition of treating people unequally. All

masters hated him for his kindness towards the poor

and needy and his stand to unite the people of all tribes

to stop the inhumane tradition. The masters were

bound to serve him as he was the Prince of their

Kingdom and the love of their Emperor. Emperor

Zakati loved his son the most but never liked his

ideologies and theories towards humans. As his son

grew up, he talked with his father many times to stop

treating people as unequal on the basis of money and

power but each time that was all in vain.

Every Saturday morning Emperor Zakati would hold a

court meeting with his masters and his countrymen

where he would listen to the problems they were facing

in the kingdom and would take a decision on them.

Many laws used to get passed during this Saturday

court and it was the 79th consecutive Saturday that

Prince Xaviallo had raised his voice against the

inhuman law of inequality and asked the Emperor to act

upon it. Emperor Zakati had created a rule to pass any

law in the court meeting on the basis of voting for or

against the law. If minimum six out of ten masters

voted for the law then it was passed on to the Emperor

for sanctioning; the ultimate decision of sanction rested

solely with the Emperor. But today was not the usual

day because for the first time in his 79 occasions of

requesting to change act of injustice and discrimination

of people Prince Xaviallo got more than one vote

making a total of four votes.

“Hamish, may I know your reason for casting a vote in

favour of Prince Xaviallo’s request?” Emperor Zakati

asked to his wittiest Master.

Master Hamish looked below in fear and replied “Your

Highness, I’ve been with you since I was born and have

been serving you from that day with my soul and will

continue to do so, but since our last journey throughout

the kingdom, I have observed the pain suffered by the

people from Himalayas, this tradition has created

turmoil in the kingdom. People in the kingdom treat

them cruelly and rulers around the world are losing

respect for us and this has also caused a decrease in our

trade with our allies, which is slowly hurting our

economy.”

Hamish was the most intelligent person in the whole

Kingdom and had more cruel thoughts and intentions than

his Emperor could even imagine.

“What about you, Kaalki and Rudraa? Have you both

also lost your senses?” asked the Emperor nodding his

head in anger over the stupid answer of Hamish.

Before Kaalki and Rudraa could reply to the Emperor,

Prince Xaviallo came forward and said with a much

louder voice.

“Your Highness, father, I stand nowhere to object you. I

have seen your Empire getting stronger and stronger

day by day under your leadership and you have been

proving your worth to the people of Tibet and to the

world from years. People from the world respect you

not because they love you but because they fear you and

a true leader should feel the pain of his followers and

shall not become the pain to them. Being the Prince of

this Empire, I have the right to choose my path, my

destiny, my life which I want to live. And I have decided

to live my life serving for the right of the poor and

needy people. I will fight for them. I request you to

deploy an army and few masters with me when I march

to the Himalayas to establish my own kingdom there.”

“Are you all out of your mind?” loudly said the

Emperor. Anger and pain was seen on his face. Whole

castle was shut to silence. No one dared to raise their

head above in front of their Emperor except, Xaviallo.

Xaviallo knew his father loved him till death and would do

anything for his happiness and this was the first time in 30

years that Xaviallo had raised his voice against his father, his

Emperor. Zakati was shattered.

“None of my Masters are going to be with you and I

won’t be giving my army to you,” the Emperor said

angrily.

“I fight for injustice or I die to injustice,” replied

Xaviallo loudly which was heard in every inch of the

castle.

The whole court stood silent. The Emperor crumbled in

shock. His own son was rebelling against him.

What is he doing, is he mad? I must stop him and do

something.

“Your Highness, sorry to interrupt you and the Prince,

but before you give your verdict, may I have a word

with you in private?” asked Master Hamish.

“Yes, Master Hamish,” replied the King in a low sad

voice. He was hurt.

“Your Highness, Prince Xaviallo is right. He has all the

rights to claim his freedom and army from the Emperor.

If the Chinese get the news of your own son rebelling

against you for the right of Himalayan people, they will

take the advantage of it. They will send their diplomats

to our kingdom to assess the situation here and will

demand increase in taxes as we are already losing our

economy and lands to them and we too are running into

debts to the Western Rulers of Tibet. Our allies will

stop funding us if Prince Xaviallo rebels openly against

you and they might break our alliance. We will not let

our allies or the Chinese know that Prince Xaviallo is

rebelling against you. I will accompany the Prince along

with Masters Rudraa and Kaalki and I assure you I will

be responsible for the safety of him.”

Emperor Zakati nodded to Hamish and thought for a

while. Though he loved his son a lot, there are times

when an Emperor has to take decisions where he has to

think beyond his heart, his love, his blood for the

welfare of his empire and his followers. Zakati looked at

his Masters and stood angrily on his throne and

declared “From this day I disinherit Prince Xaviallo

Wong and release him from the position of the Prince of

Eastern Tibet. He will from today have no right in the

land of our Kingdom. If he wishes to leave the Kingdom

and march with his own army to the Himalayas, he will

be accompanied by four masters. Master Hamish,

Master Kaalki, Master Rudraa and The Fire God, he is

allowed to take army of ten thousand men, weapons and

horses of his choice. His five-year-old son Marshell

Wong will accompany him as I don’t want any rebels in

my Kingdom.”

Xaviallo came forward in front of the King and accepted

his terms and said “I Xaviallo Wong agree to the terms

of the Emperor and promise to leave the Kingdom by

the sunrise tomorrow and not step back again on the

soil of Eastern Tibet,” and left the court in anguish.

‘Now this is getting worse, they both—father as well as son—

are going to shatter my dreams,’ thought Hamish.

Xaviallo was ready with his army the next morning.

Fire God came to him and said “Think twice before

leaving my friend, even I want this injustice to get over

but this might cost us as well as our kingdom, your

father needs you.”

“The people of Himalaya need me more than the people

of this Kingdom, I have talked with father yesterday

night and he has agreed to my decision and promised to

send more forces to me if needed. He is going to name

Master Huketu as his heir to the throne of Eastern

Tibet,” Xaviallo said in a low respectful pitch to the Fire

God.

*****

A large convoy of 5000 horses and near about ten

thousand well trained army men left for the Himalayas

led by Master Kaalki. Master Kaalki was the head of

army of horses. He was one of the well trained fighters

and a strategist in the army and in the world. The army

of foot soldiers was led by Master Rudraa, powerful,

vicious animal, who could kill men without any weapon

but with his powerful hands. Master Hamish was made

the head of all masters and was called THE MASTER

OF MASTERS. Master Hamish was blessed with the

power of controlling the mind of human beings. He had

the power of putting thoughts into any person’s mind

and that made him the most powerful of all masters at a

very young age. Lastly, was the Fire God, the man who

played with fire. He had the power of creating fire and

even controlling it. He was one of the reasons behind

the might of the Empire of Emperor Zakati Wong. He

was the closest to Xaviallo as he shared same thoughts

and ideologies with him. Fire God was the only non-

cruel master of Emperor Zakati.

A month passed by and they were to reach the land of

Himalayas. Hamish eagerly wanted to know the plan of

his leader so he asked Xaviallo, “Whom we are going to

attack first and rule?” Xaviallo smiled and answered,

“We are not going to the Himalayas to rule them, but

we are going there to protect them, first I will meet the

Droka and then will assure them of their protection

from the nearby kingdoms and also from Western

Tibet. They will no more serve as slaves to any of the

people of nearby kingdoms. After establishing a firm

Empire in Kalahar, we will make allies with the

Shubhadra and put an end to this inhuman tradition.”

Master Hamish smiled to the reply of Xaviallo and

moved ahead to talk to his friends Master Kaalki and

Rudraa.

*****

Xaviallo and his army reached the land of Kalahar. But

he didn’t know whom he should hold talks with as they

did not have any king or chief in their villages. The

Droka never lived under any king or ruler. Xaviallo

ordered to camp in the nearby village. Worried Fire

God came to Xaviallo and asked, “What should we do

now? These people don’t have any chief to hold talks

with, and our soldiers are feeling ashamed of talking to

them.” Listening to Fire God Xaviallo became very

angry and ordered his masters to gather the army

around the camp.

With anger in his eyes Xaviallo stood in front of them

and shouted on them saying “Each man including you

me and the Droka from now onwards are and will be

treated as humans. No human being in the world

chooses himself to be born into a particular tribe or

colour or sex. He is born as a human. Every human is

born with the right to choose his god, his tribe and his

culture. It’s the society that discriminates him from

others. No men from my army will ever treat the Droka

as slaves. Convey my message to them and tell that they

are being attacked by me and I am going to rule their

country. Tomorrow morning we will divide ourselves

and attack Kalahar from the north and south. Not a

single person of Droka should be treated as a slave or be

killed. I want no bloodshed in this country. We will

establish our kingdom within a week and I will name it

the Kingdom of Kalahar.”

“To the king. To the king.” Everyone echoed loudly

raising their arms holding the swords.

The next morning Xaviallo divided his army into two

and led the attack himself from the south, Kaalki and his

army headed from the north. This was first time in the

past 500 years someone was attacking the people of

Droka tribe. As ordered the army was passing through

each village and was establishing their camps. People of

Kalahar started fearing as they had never seen such

attack before and neither had they any army or weapon

to repulse the attack. Days passed and people from

villages started surrendering to Xaviallo and his army.

After six days whole of the Kalahar was under the

command of Xaviallo. Xaviallo on that day ordered his

masters to gather as many people from Kalahar in

Lygrenn. Lygrenn was the largest city in Kalahar and

located in the middle of Kalahar. Week passed and as

ordered people came to Lygrenn from different villages

to listen to their ruler. Almost half million people came

to Lygrenn as they feared they would be killed for not

obeying their ruler’s orders.

“You are not called here to witness the victory of your

King. From today onwards the people of Kalahar will

not be treated as nichastam and they will not work as

slaves to North Indian rulers or the Tibetans. King

Xaviallo Wong promises to keep his kingdom, your

kingdom, safe and protected from foreign intruders and

fight for the right of every single person living in

Kalahar. The Droka will get their right to live equally

with everyone and no injustice will be borne by any of

the citizen of Kalahar under the rule of King Xaviallo.

This city of Lygrenn will be the capital of our Kingdom.

I, Hamish Irham Kayalli the Master of Masters of your

Kingdom, owe myself to serve my King and my

Kingdom for its safety and justice till my death.”

King Xaviallo stood up and raised his left hand with his

wrist held tight and said “Freedom. Justice. Power.”

It was not what the Droka people expected. Some were

in shock and some were in tears. There was a sudden

wave of happiness and hope spread in the people

standing in front of Xaviallo. Loud chanting started

throughout Lygrenn. There was only one word in the

mouth of half a million people, “Messiah, Messiah,

Messiah.”

*****

“I cannot perceive the realization of my dream without

these Droka people. We need an army of hundred

thousand well trained men. Xaviallo is getting the trust

of these people, let him act the way he wants, you both

listen to his orders and don’t overact in anger. Tell your

men to select the best of the soldiers and start their

training as early as possible. I will look into the

expansion of kingdom and I will convince them towards

being loyal to their masters,” said Master Hamish.

Kaalki interrupted and said “But what about Fire God?”

“I have talked to Xaviallo. Fire God will not look into

army matters, and he will be accompanying Xaviallo

with court matters for gaining the confidence of the

people of Kalahar.”

As ordered by the King, armies were divided into

smaller units and were helping the people of Droka in

building a civilized society like the Tibetans had in their

country. Roads for transportation, proper drainage

system, and many houses were re-constructed and

separate provisions for drainage were made for each

home. Skilled labourers were appointed in the city of

Lygrenn to give it the shape of a capital city this

country has ever seen. A large castle was designed to

stand 100 feet tall with 4 minars on its 4 corners and a

wall standing 50 feet tall guarding the castle. Smaller

chambers were made so that maximum rooms could be

occupied in the kingdom by the King and his masters

for their meetings and ceremonies to be held in the

country. A huge room was constructed underground

which was in the centre of the castle. Just below the

King’s room, a secret room was constructed with no

provision of passage of an inch of light. The secret room

had only one door for entry which was made of 8 inch

thick iron, steps were installed to get inside the room

below. The room was named Dark Room and was built

to hold all the arms and gold of the kingdom. Initially

the room had nothing as all the gold was used for

construction and development purpose.

*****

2 years later

Markets were started for the first time on the land of

Kalahar, there was no slavery, people were distributed

lands and were taught farming techniques in the

mountains, pottery making, army personnel were

deployed on the borders to guard their kingdom, some

even started learning the practices of making medicines

from the plants blessed in the beautiful country of

Himalaya. People were treated equally in their own

country. They started loving their new King, their

Messiah.

A system was set in place in Kalahar which everyone

had to follow. Every village had its head who was solely

responsible for the progress of the village, the head was

named mantri. People would elect him by voting and he

would take decisions regarding the matters of that

village and represent himself on behalf of his village to

the king at weekly meetings held at the castle at

Lygrenn. It was at this time that the King started

feeling that Lygrenn needed to expand beyond the hills.

Markets were getting established and people from

nearby villages were migrating to the city, it was

important to plan the development of city to cater to

further migration.

So in the weekly meeting King Xaviallo raised the issue

of further expansion of Lygrenn in front of all the

mantris present in the meeting.

There was an echoed reply from all the mantris saying,

“No. We cannot demolish our Holy Mountain.”

“But why? It is too small and we can use the barren land

beyond it for expanding our capital, it will flourish more

trades, more people will come here and stay and earn

more and more money,” replied the King.

“Your Highness, it’s a Holy mountain. People believe

Lord Ram has stayed here. We worship Lord Brahma

and Lord Ram and demolishing this mountain would be

an act of disrespect towards our god,” replied one of the

mantri.

“My fellow brothers, I totally understand your concern.

Everyone respects and loves their god, their culture,

their teachers. But that doesn’t mean one should treat a

mountain as a holy place just because someone

sometime ago said that Lord Ram had stayed here. We

kill animals to eat, for our food, does that mean we are

killing our god? God is in our soul. God is in the nature.

God is in our thoughts. Demolishing a mountain is not

an act of disrespect of the Lord. I promise you that a

temple of Lord Ram will be built here in this place.

Nothing in this beautiful world is permanent my

friends, change is only constant,” said King Xaviallo.

There was no answer from any of the mantri. Some of

them agreed with their King while some were against

his thoughts, but no one dared to speak, as they knew

their King would not take any decision that would be

unfair to the welfare of Droka.

The King again talked with the mantris. “I will not force

any of you, it’s your land, and you have the right to

decide its fate. I will leave this meeting for now. I

request Fire God to take charge of the meeting and

decide on voting what the people want,” said the King

and left.

After a long discussion, though many of them disagreed

with the King’s decision, the mantris agreed to let

demolish the mountain as the decision was taken for the

betterment of their society in future.

Master Kaalki and Master Rudraa were engaged in

their training camps of the young boys of Droka in the

nearby villages. Master of Masters Hamish was in the

north of Kalahar trying to convince many people to

surrender themselves to the King and establish a free

lawful kingdom in Kalahar. People near the north of

Kalahar were misled by the people of Shubhadra. They

were saying to the people of Kalahar that their king was

just trying to be good and after he would conquer all of

their lands then he would rule them cruelly. Hamish’s

only job was to convince those people to surrender to

their king as he had the unique power of controlling

people’s mind which they were not aware of.

Marshell, Xaviallo’s 7-year-old son was named the

Prince of Kalahar and also declared the rightful heir to

the throne after him. His only dream was to be like his

father, he was amazed by the love his father was getting

in the country from the Droka people. He too wanted to

do good for the people of Kalahar. These thoughts of

Prince Marshell at such a young age made Xaviallo

very proud and it gave him the energy to do more for

the wellbeing of the people in his kingdom.

*****

Orders were given to demolish the Holy Mountain later

in the next week. It was ordered by King Xaviallo to

not deploy a single Droka person for demolishing the

mountain as it held a religious place in their hearts.

Xaviallo’s army started their work of demolishing the

mountain. Weeks passed, till one day, a man during

digging encountered a huge hollow rock. It was then

opened from all sides and there was a cave inside that

mountain. This news was given to the King the moment

it was discovered. Xaviallo himself came there to check

the cave and went inside with his guard and the Fire

God along with him. Rays of light were coming from

inside as they were getting nearer in the interiors of the

cave. To their shock, there was a stock pile of tons of

gold in the centre of the cave. The astonished King

looked and said to Fire God “I have never ever seen so

much of gold in my whole life.”

“Xaviallo, this is almost half the gold of what your

father possesses in his kingdom of Eastern Tibet,”

replied Fire God. The guard was more shocked after

hearing what Fire God said, he had been deployed to

hold the lighting torch and he was from Kalahar. This

man had so much gold, a huge army and still he has come

here leaving all of this just for the sake of us. May Lord

Brahma bless him.

“What to do now Xaviallo?” asked Fire God.

“Tell our men to shift all the gold to the Dark Room in

my castle. We will decide later after consulting all the

masters and the mantris from our kingdom. Send

message to the masters and mantris and call them to

Lygrenn as early as possible,” replied King Xaviallo.

“I will go and send my messenger,” said Fire God and

turned back to call the soldiers to transfer the gold from

cave to the Dark Room.

All the gold was shifted to the Dark Room and it was

almost a thousand tons.

All the mantris and Masters were present in Lygrenn in

the castle to discuss what to do with the gold they had

encountered.

“As you are all aware why I have called you, I would

like to ask for suggestions from your side, especially the

mantris, as it wholly belongs to them,” asked King

Xaviallo to all the Masters and Mantris present in the

castle.

One of the mantris present in the meeting stood and

answered “This kingdom belongs to you, Your

Highness, whatever you wish to do with it will be

accepted by us.”

“This kingdom belongs to me, but this land is yours,”

replied King Xaviallo.

“Your Highness, sorry to interrupt, I agree with you

that this gold belongs to the people of Droka. But for

now we need to save it for our future expansion and

trade. I have consulted with Master Rudraa and Master

Kaalki and they also wish the same for the sake of our

Kingdom,” interrupted Master Hamish.

“What trades we need to do with them, Hamish? We

are here to stop injustice going on with these people,

and we don’t need to do trade right now,” replied

Xaviallo.

“Your Highness, we need gold to keep Kalahar safe

from intruders. Now people from other tribes and

kingdoms may attack us as they get to know about the

gold. And to safeguard our men from them we need

gold to purchase weapons from the Chinese,” said

Master Hamish.

“I agree with you Master. I think we should give half

the gold to the people of Kalahar and remaining half

will be used to purchase weapons and increase trade

with the Chinese,” replied the King.

“I am sure you can never take any decision that is unfair

to the people of your kingdom, but we must not give

away the gold to them at this moment, first we should

assure their safety and then give them what they

deserve,” said Master Hamish.

“I am glad Master Hamish with your views and love

towards the people of Kalahar. You are right, we must

start trade with the Chinese as early as possible and

look out for the safety of our people first. I urge all the

mantris from the Kingdom of Kalahar to keep this news

secret as much as they can and not let people from other

tribes know about it. Master Hamish, you may leave for

China and take all responsibilities of trading with the

Chinese. I have faith in you,” said King Xaviallo.

“It is my duty to serve you and serve this kingdom,”

replied Master Hamish.

“Fire God, I am going today on a visit to the rest of the

Kingdom with Marshell. I declare you to take charge of

the castle and all meetings in my absence for some days,

also give two hundred tons of gold to Master Hamish

tomorrow as he will leave for China.”

“Thank you for showing faith in me too Xaviallo,” said

Fire God bending in front of Xaviallo in respect for

showing trust in him.

*****

3 years later

Kingdom of Kalahar was becoming more and more

vigorous. King Xaviallo decided to visit the ruler of

Himkhadi, north of Himalaya, to hold talks with the

Shubhadra. He was accompanied by Master Hamish and

army of Master Kaalki. Fire God was given the charge

of Kalahar and Prince Marshell was told to accompany

Fire God and learn political affairs from him and Master

Rudraa was told to safeguard the country along with his

army. A messenger had already been sent to the ruler of

Himkhadi about the arrival of King Xaviallo in his land

to hold talks with him.

A grand reception was held at the capital of North

Himalaya for the welcome of King of Kalahar.

Shubhadra didn’t have any king, but was ruled by a

ruler named Kailash. Development there was very little

as compared to Kalahar but the people looked very

brave and powerful from their physique.

“Welcome to the land of Shivbhakts, King Xaviallo,” said

Kailash bending down in respect as a part of their

tradition.

“I have heard a lot of stories about your love towards

the people of Kalahar and how bravely you have

established a huge kingdom on your own,” continued

Kailash.

Xaviallo smiled and bowed in respect gently accepting

his praise towards him.

“My guards will take you and your masters to the guest

room. You may rest there for some time. We will meet

after the sunset at dinner in my chambers,” said Kailash.

“As you demand Kailash,” said Xaviallo graciously.

King Xaviallo and Master Hamish were shown their

chambers where they rested.

“Hamish, we will first discuss issues of trade between

both the countries and if they don’t agree to support us,

you know what you have to do,” said King Xaviallo.

“I surely know, Highness,” replied Hamish and there

was a slight laughter burst between the two.

“May I ask you something Hamish?” asked the King.

“Sure you can,” replied Master Hamish.

“How the Hell did you get this power of controlling

people’s mind and putting thoughts into their minds?”

asked the King.

“That’s a mystery to me also,” replied Hamish.

*****

King Xaviallo, Master Hamish and Kailash met in the

evening after sunset for dinner.

“Dear Kailash, I urge your people should also stop

working as slaves to the Tibetans. Instead your people

and my people can work together,” said Xaviallo.

“I respect your thoughts King Xaviallo. It is because of

your will and dedication that the tradition of treating us

as unequal has stopped from many days. But we work

for them because they provide us gold, which we don’t

have and we need gold for the necessity of living

happily in our kingdom,” replied Kailash.

“But my friend, we can start new trades between our

two countries. Himalaya is one and we should not divide

it on the basis of tribes living in north and south,” said

worried King Xaviallo.

Before Kailash could speak, Hamish intervened and

looked deep into Kailash’s eyes like he was hypnotizing

him and said, “Kailash, your lands are very fertile for

farming. You provide us your lands for farming and we

will provide your people work in Kalahar. Our people

are good at farming whereas your people are good at

combat, we will train them for combat and they will get

paid for it and they will also protect our country.”

“Yes, this could be a very fair deal and a great step

forward towards a healthy relationship between a

country divided by two different tribes,” said an excited

Xaviallo.

“This seems to be a good deal king Xaviallo, but what

about the safety of my people. What if the Tibetans

attack if we stop working for them?” asked a worried

ruler Kailash.

“Safety of Shubhadra people is my responsibility,”

replied King Xaviallo confidently.

“I am happy with your offer which will benefit peoples

of both the tribes but I need to consult many people

before give my final word on it. After that only I can

take a decision,” said Kailash.

“Sure,” said King Xaviallo.

“Thank you friend. I will let you know about it by

tomorrow morning,” said Kailash.

Discussion was over later after dinner. Hamish and

Xaviallo went into their guest chambers after the

discussion was over.

“What do you think Master, will he agree?” asked King

Xaviallo.

“Definitely Your Highness, I have done this many times

and he was the easier one. He was looking into my eyes

while I was talking to him. It makes it easier for me to

control that person’s mind.”

“If you were so comfortable controlling his mind, then

why didn’t you put the thought of accepting our offer in

his mind?”

“Apologies, Highness, I am sure he will accept our offer

tomorrow. Let him discuss this issue with his people

first. By controlling his mind we could surely get his

acceptance to our offer but we would not get the trust of

his people.”

“What is the issue of getting trust of his people? If their

leader is agreeing to us then they will also follow him.”

“Shubhadra will be recruited in our army in our lands.

They will get training from us and will work for us. If

we don’t get their trust, someday during war some of

them might rebel against us and kill our men. The more

powerful a man is, the greater a threat he can become.”

“I didn’t think about it. I am impressed with you Master

Hamish. No doubt, you are the most intelligent man in

our Kingdom,” said Xaviallo proudly.

Next day in the morning, King Xaviallo and Master

Hamish met Kailash. They were welcomed by Kailash

with a wide smile that surely said much more before he

could speak to them.

“Welcome King Xaviallo and Master Hamish, please be

seated,” said Kailash bending down in grace in front of

King Xaviallo.

“It seems that your offer was too convincing for my

people to reject it, not a single person raised objection

to it,” said Kailash happily.

“Well, then may I consider it as a yes Kailash?” asked

King Xaviallo.

“Yes.”

“Oh! So I must say we are one country from now on,”

replied King Xaviallo.

“You are truly an example of how a king should be my

friend,” said Kailash to King Xaviallo and hugged him.

Though Himkhadi was included under the rule of King

Xaviallo but it was not the official part of his kingdom.

People of Himkhadi were free to accept or reject any

order or law imposed by King Xaviallo on them.

*****

King Xaviallo, Master Hamish and Master Kaalki were

back in their capital, Lygrenn. Joy and happiness was

spread throughout Kalahar. Droka were living a life

which they had never imagined. The King was happy

and so too his followers.

A grand celebration was organized in Lygrenn marking

the deal between Xaviallo and Kailash. Dance was

organized, whole city was lightened with bright colours

and wine was distributed in the kingdom for a day for

free, fun filled environment was spread throughout the

castle. The King and his Masters were honoured by the

mantris of Kalahar for the support and love they gave to

the Droka people.

A royal dinner was organized by the King in the castle

for his Masters as a thanks giving to them.

Fire God was seated on the left next to Prince Marshell

and on his right was Master of Masters Hamish. Master

Kaalki was on right of Hamish and Master Rudraa

beside him on his right and the King in front of them

all.

“Bring more wine, it is time to celebrate,” said the King

and continued “I am thankful to all of you. You have

respected and obeyed every command for me and for

these people. It would have not been possible without

you.”

All the masters were silent and felt embarrassed. Fire

God was the only one who replied, “You are being kind

to us Xaviallo. It was your dream, your wish. We are

here to obey you and follow your dream and will

continue to do so even after you.”

“Ohh let just stop this thanks talk, and continue to

enjoy.”

Hamish had met a servant day before the celebration and

given him a bottle of wine which he had brought from his

visit to China and had told the servant to serve it to the King

only during the celebration. That wine was poisoned by

Hamish.

“Pour the whole wine for me and bring more for the

masters also,” said Xaviallo in excitement and

happiness.

Everyone was silent and astonished to see the different

side of their King’s nature. King Xaviallo drank all the

wine and later started feeling pain in his neck and then

his stomach. His hands and legs were starting to shake

vigorously and suddenly he fell on the floor. Everyone

rushed towards Xaviallo. Rudraa immediately took

Marshell out of the room. Hamish and Fire God started

pressing their King’s chest fast as he was slowly losing

his breath. But it was a vain attempt as before they

could do anything to save their King he lost his breath

and died at the moment.

There was a sudden shock spread in the room and the

castle, no one understood what to do. Fire God

immediately rushed to lock the door to avoid anyone

from knowing about the death of their king, but it was

too late as all the mantris were coming in the room to

meet their beloved king with a surprise present. They

came in and standing at the door they saw their King

lying on the floor and not breathing.

All the celebrations in the kingdom were called off.

Whole kingdom mourned the demise of their beloved

king, their messiah King Xaviallo Wong.

CHAPTER TWO: THE FIRE GOD

“We shouldn’t inform Zakati about Xaviallo’s death. He

will attack entire Kalahar and will kill thousands of

innocent people,” said Master Hamish.

“Hamish you are correct but what if he gets the news

from someone else, he will not spare us or the people,”

replied Fire God.

“I will take care of this, trust me,” said Master Hamish.

“Hamish you cannot put your thoughts in the minds of

lakhs of people at a time. People are waiting for the

answer outside,” said a worried Fire God.

“No need to tell Emperor Zakati about our King’s death.

My father dedicated his life for Kalahar, he left Eastern

Tibet 5 years ago promising not to step back again on

that land. Kalahar needs their King and I will be their

King. I will rule this country the way my father did,”

interrupted Prince Marshell.

“Apologies Prince, I think we should…” Fire God said

but was again interrupted by Marshell loudly that

reverberated in the whole castle. “I am not your Prince,

I am your King, and I will rule Kalahar.”

Silence was spread in the room. Fire God held his head

low in front of his King and a slight smile was flashed

on the face of Hamish as everything was going

according to the way he had planned.

“Call all the mantris and Masters in the council hall and

I will address them as their King. I want Master of

Masters Hamish as my mentor and from now onwards

Master Hamish will look into the political matters of

my Kingdom,” said King Marshell.

“Yes Your Highness,” bending low in respect to his

King Fire God left the room.

“I am truly honoured Your Highness for showing your

trust in me,” said Hamish.

“You are worthy of that honour Master Hamish. It will

be my pleasure to grow up with the blessings and

teaching of the most intelligent person in my kingdom.

I will live for my father’s dream,” replied King Marshell.

“You sure will Highness,” said Hamish with a much

wider smile.

Meeting was organized as per orders from King

Marshell. Before anyone could speak Fire God came

forward and announced, “I request all Masters and

Mantris present here to stand up and welcome our new

saviour, the King of Kalahar, Marshell Wong.”

A sheer joy was spread among all the people present out

there in the council hall. No one obliged to take

objection on the appointment of a ten-year-old boy as

their new King. They had the faith in the blood of their

messiah. King Marshell entered the room and everyone

stood on their feet and bent low in respect towards their

new messiah.

“Freedom. Power. Rule,” said King Marshell addressing

his Masters and Mantris present in the council hall, the

same way his father had done when he conquered

Kalahar.

Positive energy was spread in each of the person

present in the castle. But Fire God was lost in his own

thoughts.

Hamish came forward and addressed the meeting as

directed by King Marshell. “King Xaviallo’s death will

be avenged. The servant who served the wine is found

not guilty and is released to serve the court again. I

urge all the mantri to maintain peace throughout the

kingdom and obey all the rules made by the King.

There will be a council of few selected peoples and all

the mantris will address them now. Only the Council

Members will have the right to discuss issues and

problems with the Masters and the King. Amendment

will be made in some laws made by King Xaviallo and

the procedure of voting to finalize the law will be

cancelled from now onwards. The King’s orders will be

final and whoever disobeys will face worse of the

punishments this kingdom will ever see.”

People were in shock by the remarks of Hamish and

started talking to each other. Hamish came forward and

urged people to be silent and listen to him. “These rules

are being implemented for the sake of our kingdom.

There is no reason to worry. You follow the King, you

live in harmony and peace. Also I request my friend, the

Fire God and the fellow citizens of Kalahar to not

address the king as King Marshell Wong; he will be

addressed in courts as KING XAVIALLO MARSHELL

from onwards.”

*****

Masters Hamish, Kaalki, and Rudraa were discussing

their next move in a closed room after the meeting was

over.

“Everything went as per your plan Hamish, now what

to do next?” asked Master Rudraa.

“It is going to be a long journey my friend, don’t be so

excited,” replied Master Hamish.

“Why did you not poison Marshell? It would have

become easier for you to rule,” asked Master Kaalki.

“Droka will not accept me as their King. Also they have

the trust in Wong blood. Zakati is anyhow going to

know about the death of his son. We have to be aware of

him too. Fire God holds the right to claim the throne

after King. If he gets to know I killed Xaviallo, he will

burn me into ashes. I will train this kid, Marshell, my

way. I need more army now. I am nowhere near my

dream,” said Hamish.

“We have ten thousand soldiers in our army Hamish,

how many more men do you want?” asked Kaalki with a

confused expression.

“I need five lakh soldiers. Zakati has an army of five

lakh well trained soldiers,” replied Hamish.

“What about the death of Xaviallo? Marshell has

appointed a five member team to investigate into the

matter,” asked Kaalki.

“I have controlled the mind of that servant and the

investigators involved in that case, they can never speak

the truth. Though their soul still loves their dead king

but their minds work for me. I always do my work with

precision. Now listen I need you both to be ready

always with your best soldiers anytime from now,”

Hamish said and left the room

*****

King Marshell called Master Hamish into his private

chambers to discuss future plans for the welfare of his

kingdom.

“Master, what should we do now? This country needs

me,” asked the worried King.

“Your Highness, I personally think you should

concentrate on your combating skills now and not on

the political or financial matters. I will take care of all

political and financial matters till you are ready to deal

with it,” replied Hamish.

“I have full faith in you and Fire God. I will always

discuss and learn from you both and then only I will

take any decision for my kingdom.”

“It is my honour to serve such a young and courageous

King..”

“Have you got any clues regarding the poisoning of the

wine my father drank?”

“No, but I promise I will find the killer as early as I

can.”

“Right now you should focus on your practice more; you

should first learn to defend yourself and then think

about the kingdom. This kingdom can’t afford to lose a

brave king like you so early, you have to learn a lot of

things before taking over this kingdom,” said Hamish.

“Thank you Master, I will always keep this in mind. I

must leave for my training now. Master Rudraa must be

waiting for me.”

*****

Thunderstorms at night in the hilly region of the

Himalayas during winter were not much of a big deal

and it was common for the people. But the intensity of

rainfall this year was very high and rain had not

stopped from past forty hours. People were told not to

leave their villages or go for hunting as trees were

falling and the ice from the mountains was falling down

rolling over each other making huge balls of snow that

had already killed hundreds of people in the kingdom.

One village was totally destroyed by a huge avalanche,

which fell down from the mountain of Kanchenjunga.

Some people were trapped outside their villages in

mountains for many days due to heavy storms and some

were hiding in caves made by the pahadis from India

long before hundreds of years ago.

It was a full moon night and storm was no less than it

had been two days earlier. Roads were washed out due

to heavy rains. The night was dark and there seemed no

single village nearby as a young lady was running hard

to find a safe place for stay. She decided to continue

ahead and hoped to find a village where she could finally

stay and rest. Struggling through the heavy winds and

rain that was striking her body, she somehow managed

to go further and found a small hut hidden beneath a

giant tree guarding it from the heavy rain. She started

running in the wild snow which filled the roads; though

she had not enough energy to walk, she ran and made it

to the hut.

The lady went inside the hut for the door of the hut

wasn’t locked. To her amaze there was no one inside the

hut and a small fire was burning in the centre of the hut.

What she saw shocked her and she started trembling

more than she had been outside in the cold. There were

no woods placed beneath the fire to burn. The fire was

self burning. She suddenly stopped thinking about it

and went near the fire to take the warmth of it. The

lady slowly started regaining her consciousness and sat

near the fire. Looking into the fire she was lost in her

thoughts when suddenly she heard a noise of someone

approaching her. She looked back towards the door and

quickly stood up in shock. A tall handsome man with

muscular body, long hairs, having a slight glow in his

eyes was standing in front of her looking towards her.

He was mesmerised by her beauty and was staring at

her as if he hadn’t seen a girl ever before in his life. She

felt shy and brought her hands close to her body,

covering herself as much as she could. He was still

staring at her not noticing the awkwardness she was

feeling. She was wearing a white sari draped from her

waist till her knees. Her blouse was cut deep, which

clearly flashed her cleavage. Finally she gathered some

courage and asked him in anger “Who are you? Stop

looking at me like this.”

The man suddenly felt embarrassed and bending his

neck low replied, “I am sorry, but this is my hut. Who

are you?”

“I am Sameera.”

“Sameera, don’t worry. Please make yourself

comfortable and have a seat. You seem to be very sick

due to the cold.”

“Yes, I was roaming in these mountains and had been

looking for shelter since the evening.”

“Where do you want to go? You don’t know the roads

here right?”

“I am from India, I am going to Lygrenn.”’

“May I know why?”

“Why you are asking me so many questions? Why

should I tell you?” said Sameera in anger.

“Because you are now sitting in front of this fire to get

yourself some heat and, as far as I know, this is my hut

and you have no option other than to stay here and keep

talking with me,” said the man calmly looking into her

eyes with a seductive look and a slight smile on his face.

“I want to meet the King.”

“May I know why?”

“No,” said Sameera laughing at him.

“Ok, I will answer all your questions but first you have

to answer mine,” said Sameera as she was starting to

enjoy the company of the handsome man sitting alone in

the hut with her.

“Yes sure, Why not. Let’s just start the game then,” said

the man looking at her mischievously.

“Why is this fire burning without any wood?”

Damn! I like this girl.

“I am one of the Masters of this Kingdom; I am the Fire

God lady,” said the Fire God in a proud and louder

voice than earlier.

“My apologies Master, I didn’t know. Please pardon me

if I have said something wrong that has caused

disrespect to you,” quickly replied Sameera in a lower

tone.

“Don’t be sorry. Now that you know who I am, will you

tell me why you want to meet the King?”

“I am a dancer. I have heard stories about the

generosity of your King. My family is running in debt

and the people there have threatened to kill us if we

don’t repay their debts. If the King wishes I will show

my talent to him in hopes of receiving some reward

from him.”

“I am sorry but the king is dead Sameera, his son

Marshell is our new King,” said Fire God in a low pitch.

“I know. That’s why I want to show my dance to

impress the young King so he will grant me some gold

to pay my debts.”

“I may help you with it. I can take you to him tomorrow

morning in the court, if you stay here with me.”

“Where the hell do you think I am going in this storm

now? I am staying here only tonight,” replied Sameera

in an instant with a wide smile on her face.

I am going to marry this girl. She is beautiful and witty. I

will break any vows for her.

“By the way you are very beautiful and pretty. I almost

forgot to tell you.”

“What did you forget?”

“That, you are beautiful.”

“Oh Master!” nodded Sameera with a naughty smile on

her face.

“This fire burns continuously?” anxiously asked

Sameera getting a bit closer to Fire God.

“No, I generate more fire again after some time.”

“Are you God, Master?”

“No Sameera, I have got some powers. There are many

people in the universe who possess various powers like I

do. That doesn’t mean we all are gods. A person is not

judged a god by the power he possesses, but by the

work he does. Your karma reflects your soul and your

soul reflects your personality.”

Snow from the roads started coming inside the hut as

the intensity of the storm was getting much stronger.

Sameera again came closer to Fire God. She was feeling

the warmth as she was getting closer to him. Her heart

beats started increasing whenever she came closer to

him.

“Do you even know where we are now?” questioned

Fire God.

“It’s Taikini.”

“Taikini is at two hours distance from here. Every

winter night when I can manage to get away I come

here. It gives me pleasure in roaming and feeling this

cold.”

“How the hell can this storm give you pleasure? I

almost died before I came here.”

“My body burns from inside. The cold gives me a sense

of calmness from outside. But today I am not feeling

that calmness Sameera. The more you are getting

nearer to me the more I am feeling hot from outside.”

Fire God stood on his knees and went closer to

Sameera. He came forward near her looking into her

eyes and put his right hand on her waist and left on her

neck. They looked into each other’s eyes for five

minutes and no one spoke. Sameera slowly tried to

move away from him, but he held her more tightly and

moved his left hand over her back unhooking her

blouse. She leaned forward and started kissing him. Her

hands started curling through his hairs and her breath

was becoming heavier, he started kissing her all over

her body praising her beauty…

*****

Sameera woke up and saw herself naked. She

immediately started dressing herself. Fire God came

inside the hut and said, “It’s time to leave. We will need

4 hours to reach Lygrenn.”

They started walking, but both of them didn’t speak a

single word with each other, just silence prevailed

between them. Both of them didn’t even dare to look

into each other’s eyes. Finally Fire God took courage

and said, “I liked you the moment I saw you, but I am

bound by my vows and I hope everything that happened

yesterday will be forgotten by us.”

Sameera slightly nodded her head continuing her

journey and receded into her thoughts again.

Fire God and Sameera reached Lygrenn where Fire

God introduced Sameera to King Marshell.

“Your Highness, I met this young lady in Taikini today,

she needs your help,” said Fire God taking Sameera in

front of Marshell in the court.

“I have never seen such a beautiful girl in my life. Lady,

where are you from?” asked the King.

“India,” replied Sameera.

“India! Don’t you know the Kalahari Pact lady?” said

Hamish in a louder and shocking voice.

“Yes Master, but I need gold to save my home and my

family. I will do anything the King asks me to. I can

dance and entertain the King,” said Sameera pleadingly

holding both her hands together in front of Marshell.

“You don’t need to do anything, we will give you ten

times the more gold than you want, you have to work as

King’s dasi,” interrupted Hamish before King Marshell

could speak what he thought.

“Your family will get the gold but you have to stay here

forever for the service of the King,” said Hamish

turning towards Marshell.

“Master, this will be unfair. Her family may need her.

This will be injustice to her and her family,” said the

young King, worrying about her, to his most

dependable master.

“I understand your concern Highness, but no one has

ever dared to break the Kalahari Pact. She is anyhow

going to die when she will reach India.”

“I should have trusted your decision Master Hamish.

You are correct and I must not forget that you will

never take any decision that will harm the reputation of

my father in the Kingdom,” said the King in a childish

way showing his trust towards Hamish, and his

immaturity and inexperience in running the kingdom.

“I won’t let that happen again Highness. I will be

clearer in giving my decisions so you won’t need to ask

for my explanations in front of everyone,” replied

Hamish and left the council hall.

*****

Hamish sent his guard to call King Marshell into his

private chambers to meet him.

“What do you want to talk to me about in private

Master?” asked King Marshell.

“Your Highness, it’s regarding the death of King

Xaviallo.”

“Have you found the culprit?”

“No Highness, the wine which the King had may have

been poisoned by one of our mantris from our kingdom.”

“What!” said Marshell loudly.

“My men have found out that they gave the poisoned

wine to the servant and told him to serve it to the King

and to you.”

“Why would they do this Master? Are you sure?” asked

King Marshell.

“I am not sure, but some people were against King

Xaviallo. They didn’t want their place to be ruled by an

outsider so they poisoned him.”

“My father gave them freedom. He gave them new lives,

he united them, he fought for their right and still they

killed him?” said angrily King Marshell and started

crying.

“These people believe that King Xaviallo had captured

their lands to rule them, they also want the gold back

which was encountered while cutting of that mountain.

They think it belongs to them and should be distributed

among the Droka people.”

“I have never seen such disgusting and inhuman

persons in my life.”

“Highness, they are even planning for your execution as

per my knowledge.”

“If this is what these people want, then they are going

to witness one of the cruellest kings this entire country

has ever seen. I will rip off each and every Droka person

alive here in Kalahar,” cried Marshell in anger.

“You are getting much angry Highness. It is too early

to act. We need men to fight against the Droka.

Shubhadra have started training under our Masters and

we need them to fight for us.”

“They will pay for the death of their Saviour. I will

avenge each one of them if they are found guilty of it.”

“Your Highness, I think you should concentrate more

on your training, I assure you I will handle all the

political matters the way your father did.”

“Call all our advisors and Council Members now. I need

to talk to them.”

“Yes, Highness,” said Hamish and left to call the

Council Members.

*****

“Why the hell did you call me here? Do you have any

idea what will happen if anyone sees us here?” Fire God

said to Sameera as she sent a guard to call him into the

King’s chamber.

“Do you have any idea what will happen if the King gets

to know that I am pregnant with your child?”

“What?” Fire God loudly said.

“Call whole of the Kingdom and announce in front of

them,” sarcastically commented Sameera.

“I am in no mood of joking. Please leave me alone. I

have told you already to forget what has happened

between us.”

“I will kill you man if you say a single word. I have

committed the biggest mistake of my life. Just get me

out of here, he will kill me,” said Sameera.

Fire God became numb.

“You don’t have any idea what will happen to me if

anyone gets to know about my pregnancy. Just take me

out of here. It’s our child. It is your responsibility to

save our child. I don’t want to die so early,” continued

Sameera.

There was no response from Fire God, he wasn’t

listening to her. He walked away and left the room.

I have broken my vow. I have broken my vow. I have broken

my vow. But it’s my child. I need to save my child. I need to

take Sameera out of Lygrenn as early as possible.

Fire God started running back and went into the King’s

room where Sameera was standing, waiting for Fire

God to return.

“Tonight, I will be waiting for you behind the north

minar’s gate. Be there after the dinner and don’t let

anyone know about it. Don’t get caught,” said Fire God

and left the room.

Fire God was very worried for the whole day. He was

planning to get Sameera out of the castle but didn’t

know where to keep her safe without letting anyone in

the Kingdom know. He also skipped the afternoon

lunch.

“Where are you taking me?” Sameera asked Fire God

after meeting him at night behind the minar of north.

Fire God was accompanied by his most loyal guard in

the kingdom.

“You are going back home,” replied Fire God.

“You don’t deserve to be called a Master. Hamish has

sent his army to my home, don’t you know? Take me

somewhere else,” said Sameera.

“My guard, Dhruv, will accompany you in your stay and

journey. I have never been to India. Go wherever you

want, just don’t show me your face again,” said Fire

God angrily.

“Don’t ever dare to say that so-called God of Fire. I am

going to give birth to your child, hand it over to you,

and go back to the King.”

“Are you out of your mind? You are going to get all of

us killed,” said Fire God.

“Listen, I am going to come back to Lygrenn. I have

some unfinished business. I will hand over the child to

you; do whatever the hell you want to do with your

child.”

“I have never seen such a disgraceful lady in my life.”

“You have never seen my family. Or else you would

have been proud of me now.”

“Just shut your mouth and take this gold. Dhruv will

accompany you; he is my most loyal guard.”

‘I will stay somewhere along the Ganges, it is the safest

and most sacred place in India. I will be safe there,” said

Sameera and started leaving with Dhruv.

“Thank you for being serious Sameera. Take care of her

Dhruv,” Fire God said while Sameera and Dhruv left for

the Ganges.

*****

Master of Masters Hamish was in a meeting with his

Council Members, a soldier from his investigation team

came hurrying into the room and called Master Hamish

aside to have a private talk with him.

“Sorry to interrupt Master, King Marshell’s dasi

Sameera has not been seen in the castle since morning.

We have searched the whole castle and I have also sent

our guards in Lygrenn to find her.”

“Holy... Send more guards and find her. I want her

alive,” screamed Hamish.

The soldier rushed immediately to send more of his

guards to find Sameera.

How the hell did she run away? I should have kept a guard to

keep an eye on her. I needed her to fulfil my dream. How can I

be such a fool?

After two days of vigorous searching, Hamish’s men

were not able to find her.

“Highness, my men have searched her for two days

throughout Lygrenn, but they didn’t find her, she ran

away,” Hamish said to Marshell in guilt.

“It is fine Master, you don’t need to worry or feel guilt

for it. We will appoint a new dasi for me. Why you are

worried so much about Sameera? There are many ladies

in my Kingdom willing to serve their King,” said King

Marshell.

“I am not worried about her Grace, I am worried about

you. I saw your expressions when she was introduced to

you by Fire God.”

The King felt embarrassed though he blushed.

“Your Highness, did you like her?” asked Master

Hamish.

“Yes Master, I was smitten by her beauty. I really

haven’t seen a more beautiful woman than her. But she

is almost double my age,” said the King laughing.

“Age is just a number Highness. It is your body that

gets old, but your soul always remains young.”

“Hope our men find her,” said the King.

“It is just a matter of a few days Grace. My men will

find her and get her back into your service. Where is

she going to hide in the mountains of Himalaya?” said

Hamish.

“Master Hamish, I was thinking, I should go on a visit

to our Kingdom for few days. We need to keep vigil on

the Droka. They must not start to take us for granted,”

said the King trying to cut short the topic of Sameera to

avoid more embarrassment in front of his Master.

“As you command, I will arrange everything needed for

your visit,” said Hamish and left the room to make the

arrangements for King Marshell’s visit.

*****

11 months later

“He wants to meet you, he is forcing me to call you or

else he says he will cut his throat in front of the King,”

said a guard to Fire God.

“Send him IN,” answered Fire God.

“Dhruv!” shouted Fire God.

“Yes Master.”

“Everyone leave the room now. Dhruv you stay here

with me,” said Fire God.

“How did you come here, did anyone see you?” asked a

worried Fire God.

“No, I am safe and I want you to come to Taikini as

early as possible. God has blessed you with a son. I have

kept Sameera in one of the caves near the mountain

hills,” said Dhruv.

Fire God’s eyes became moist with happiness after

hearing that he had become a father. Still there was

guilt in him which was seen in his eyes.

“You go ahead and I will meet you in Taikini. I know

where you would have kept her,” said Fire God smiling

and patting the back of his most loyal guard.

Fire God came to the cave and before he could speak or

see his child Sameera came forward and hugged Fire

God.

“I am sorry for the way I behaved with you. You can

take your child with you,” said Sameera.

Fire God took the child in his hand and stared at him.

“Why did you take so much time to come back to

Lygrenn?” asked Fire God.

“It’s a long story Master, we can talk about it later, we

must first decide what to do with your child,” said

Dhruv as he knew Fire God was going to abandon the

child.

“I have decided about it but first I want to know what

Sameera has decided to do? Is she still going to

Lygrenn to serve Marshell?” asked Fire God.

“I am going to Lygrenn to serve the King,” answered

Sameera with a firm voice.

“What are you going to tell him? What will you say

when they interrogate you for your absence?” asked

Fire God.

“You are not as smart as you appear the God of Fire,”

replied Sameera laughing at Fire God.

“While doing the laundry of the King’s dress at night

one of the Shubhadra soldiers kidnapped me and took

me to the North of Himalaya. As you have told

everyone that your loyal guard Dhruv went on a visit to

the North of Kingdom, I will say that during his visit he

found me in one of the brothels of North Himalaya and

he bravely brought me back to Lygrenn with him,”

answered Sameera.

“This story is not going to work. It is a foolish story,”

said Fire God.

“I am sure the King and his Masters are more interested

in me than the story I am going to tell,” replied

Sameera.

“As you wish, I have already broken my vows I don’t

want further complications in my life,” said Fire God

and continued, “Dhruv, before going to Lygrenn, you

have to take my child to Taikini. You know the farmer

Shreshta who lived near the ghat, he had a daughter and

she is a widow. I think she still lives alone in that

house,” said Fire God.

“I do know her and she lives in his house alone,” replied

Dhruv.

“I want you to take my child and put him in a basket

outside her house at her door. I am sure she will raise

him and will take care of him like her own child.”

“But Master, he is your son, how can you abandon

him?” asked Dhruv.

“I know he is my son but I can’t accept him as my son. I

have already broken my vow Dhruv and I don’t want to

break more vows. Just do as I say,” answered Fire God.

“Yes Master,” said Dhruv bending low to Fire God and

left with Sameera.

*****

Dhruv came to the castle along with Sameera. Hamish’s

guards immediately rushed to them as they recognized

Sameera and presented both of them in front of King

and Hamish.

King Marshell asked his guards to free their hands and

asked Sameera where she had been for almost a year and

why was Dhruv accompanying her. As per plan

Sameera recounted the same story of how Dhruv saved

her from the Shubhadra kidnappers. Dhruv even told

the King that it was Sameera who insisted that he take

her back to Lygrenn to return to his service. King

Marshell was amused but Hamish was least interested

in the story. He interrupted her and asked King

Marshell to let her go and forgive her and asked the

King to meet him in private.

“Is there anything personal or secret you want to

discuss?” the young King asked Hamish.

“There is no secret I want to share Highness. It’s some

personal talk,” replied Hamish.

“Go on then.”

“Grace, you know the situations arising in our

Kingdom, there are many people who might rebel

against you. The Kingdom needs you.”

“I know that Master but I am not getting what you

actually want to convey.”

“Highness, People are not going to obey your orders

unless they fear you.”

“So, what should I do?”

“Get married to Sameera, I know you love her.”

“Master Hamish, this is not the right time to make fun

of your King,” Marshell said angrily to Hamish.

“Your Highness, I am serious. Sameera will become the

Queen of Kalahar. She will look into the usual meetings

of the council. Whereas you will get time to concentrate

on your training and you can frequently pay visit to

Kalahar and the North of Himalaya for making more

alliances with Western Tibet.”

“I am just 12 and she is almost double my age.”

“As I say, age is just a number. I am taking the burden

off from your shoulders Highness.”

“I am still not getting this Master.”

“Grace, you love her, marry her, simple. Marry her

before she makes any other choices.”

“She doesn’t love me. What if she rejects me?” asked the

King.

“You are the King of Kalahar, Highness. No one in the

Kingdom can dare to reject your offer.”

“I am getting worried Hamish.”

“Sameera will function as chairperson in your absence.”

“Are you sure you are going the right way?”

“Trust me. I am giving you the best solution ever to

sustain our Kingdom. Trust me.”

“What should we do now?” asked Marshell.

“Call a meeting of our council tomorrow and I will

handle the rest.”

Hamish immediately called his guard and ordered him

to bring Sameera in the private chamber. Sameera came

into the chamber and stood silently. She behaved as if

she knew what was going to happen next.

“Sameera, I don’t know how you are going to take it.

King Marshell loves you and he would like to marry

you. We will announce it tomorrow in front of the

council if you agree to our proposal. Do you have any

objection?” asked Hamish in firm and confident voice.

“I... Ummmm… My Highness, I…” Sameera replied and

stopped.

“Speak up Sameera. I am not going to force anything

you on. It’s your life and truly your decision,”

interrupted Marshell before Sameera could say

anything against her wish.

Sameera gained her confidence and looking into

Hamish’s eyes said, “If my Highness so wishes I don’t

have any problem marrying His Grace.”

There was smile spread on the face of Master Hamish

and King Marshell. King Marshell blushed and looked

at Sameera with a smile.

You are a gem Hamish. I have never imagined I could get to

marry the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I can’t tell

you how much happy I am.

“My Lady, I have no qualms marrying the most

beautiful woman in my Kingdom,” said the King of

Kalahar and left the room with his smile.

*****

The meeting of the council was called as per the

direction of the king. All the masters, military heads,

and councillors were present. King Marshell stepped in

and everyone stood on their feet for their King. Master

Hamish stepped forward and asked all the members to

maintain silence and asked King Marshell to allow him

to address the meeting.

“I know this has never happened earlier; two council

meetings were never called in one week. But there is a

special announcement which our beloved King wanted

to make in front of all the Council Members of our

country. I would like to take the honour to announce

that our King, KING XAVIALLO MARSHELL has

decided to get married in the upcoming week to Lady

Sameera.”

The court stood silent for a moment, there was no

response from any of the persons present in the room,

some couldn’t believe what they heard few seconds

earlier. Fire God and Dhruv were in shock. Immediately

Master Hamish started clapping and so everyone

present in the council hall followed him and started

clapping. Everyone in the room was shocked but no one

dared to speak to their King.

Something is going wrong, someone is misleading Marshell.

Should I raise objection now? No. It will disrespect the King

in front of everyone. I am sure Hamish is behind every

conspiracy going on in the Kingdom. But he loves this country

and he loves Marshell. Why would he mislead Marshell? I

must talk to Marshell in private. And how the hell did

Sameera agree to marry a boy who is half her age? She has

just given birth to a child. What if she loved the King and

that’s why she was forced to come back from India?

“What are you thinking Fire God?” asked the King.

Fire God nodded and said nothing to the King and

smiled.

“Let me have your blessing,” said the King and bent

down to touch Fire God’s feet to take blessings from the

most respectful person in the Kingdom.

“May the gods bless you with all the happiness and

power to rule this heavenly land,” blessed Fire God.

“You know what you are doing?” asked Fire God.

Marshell didn’t listen to Fire God and nodded at him

but he was lost in his own joy and happiness.

Preparations for the marriage of the King of Kalahar

were going on in full swing in the city of Lygrenn. Few

days were left and the whole city was lightened up with

bright colours. The castle was renovated. Flowers were

used to decorate the castle, small structures made up of

ice were created outside the castle by the renowned

artists of Kalahar, which gave a whole new and pleasant

look to the castle. Though people in the kingdom were

against the marriage of their King at such a young age

but no one dared to object the decision made by him.

There were many thoughts quarrelling around in the

minds of the people of Kalahar.

How could a King marry a woman who was once his dasi?

The King is too young to get married? Will this decision

benefit the future of our tribe?

Whereas, there were many people also who were

considering this a brave decision by their King. There

were mixed reviews throughout the Kingdom but these

were not going to change any decision as it was

declared and it was going to happen.

There are only two ways to react to something happening

around us—whether it is a decision, a quarrel, a result, or a

law that has been passed. First is to accept it or secondly to act

against it if you are against it. Those who are wise, discuss,

whereas the remaining ones debate. ‘There are two kinds of

people in a debate, one who fights to prove their point right

and second who also fights to prove their point right.’

Special platform was made on the stage to ensure that

the King looked the same height as his queen. The

ceremony took place as per the Tibetan ritual and

finally Marshell and Sameera were declared Husband

and Wife by the priest and they kissed each other in

front of lakhs of Droka people. The King later slowly

bent on his left knee and raised his right hand which

had the precious ring made of blue diamond in his hand

and gave it to the lady, “The most beautiful diamond in

the Kingdom for the most beautiful woman in the

Kingdom. I love you Sameera,” said the King and put

the diamond ring on her ring finger of the left hand.

Kingdom of Kalahar got their first Queen and

celebrations were started.

CHAPTER THREE: RISE OF THE KINGDOM

King Marshell, Masters Kaalki and Hamish were on the

visit to entire Kingdom along with a large convoy of

five thousand men and thousand horses. Master Hamish

wanted to create fear in people and let them know the

power of their King so they would start obeying him in

a manner similar to those people who were kept in fear

by Zakati in Eastern Tibet. Queen Sameera was given

the charge of Lygrenn with Fire God accompanying her

in the political matters. Master Rudraa was protecting

the Queen and the capital of Kalahar from any foreign

intrusion or an attack.

“It would have been very difficult for me to look after

the Kingdom without you Master. These people would

have killed me by now,” King Marshell said to Master

Hamish as they were riding on a horse side by side on

their visit to Kangra. Kangra was becoming one of the

most powerful and wealthiest cities in Kalahar. Kangra

was located fifty kilometres below Himkhadi.

“You are being nice to me Grace. I have told you many

times that it is my duty to serve you and this Kingdom

with my best till I am alive,” replied Master Hamish.

“I am really proud to have such a loyal and intelligent

Master like you in my Kingdom,” said the King.

The convoy was about to reach Kangra within an hour.

The city was decorated with flowers and beautiful

colours were given to buildings and markets. The

Mantri of Kangra was waiting at the gates of the city to

welcome the King.

“Please be seated Highness,” said the mantri.

“How can I serve you Highness?” asked the mantri.

“How is our trade going on with the Shubhadra?” asked

the King.

“Everything is perfect, they have provided their most

fertile lands to us and our men are working day and

night to increase the yield.”

“It’s wonderful! What else you have got for me?”

“Your Highness, there is a little worry among us. The

yield which we are generating is first sent to Lygrenn

and then to China for trade.”

“Yes, then?”

“Why don’t we trade directly with the Chinese from

here? The gold we get will be then sent to Lygrenn by

our men.”

“Do you think your King doesn’t know this?” shouted

Hamish angrily on the mantri.

“Don’t try to teach your King what should be done and

what should not be done. We know everything that is

going on in our Kingdom and if we feel it is against the

interest of Kalahar we will abandon it,” continued

Hamish.

“I didn’t mean to disrespect King Marshell Master

Hamish. I was…” said the mantri and stopped. He knew

he was doubting the decision making abilities of his

King.

Everyone in the room was silent, no one dared to speak

a single word. They had never ever seen their Master of

Masters getting so angry.

I don’t understand why Master Hamish is getting angry.

What mantri said is correct. We are wasting our time and

gold in this long procedure. I must do something. I am

unaware of the pact made between two trading partners.

Father must have decided this with Master Hamish. I should

stay silent. He is the most intelligent and loyal guard of my

Kingdom, I must not doubt him and that too in front of so

many men.

“You don’t need to be sorry Mantri, actually I over

reacted. I must not have talked with you in so much

anger. It’s just that I cannot stand if anyone doubts the

abilities of my King,” said Hamish to control the

situation and be polite in front of Droka’s most

respected mantri.

I was wrong, I doubted my most loyal Master. I need to learn

many things before I fully take charge of this Kingdom, maybe

Master Hamish was right, I am too young to be a King. I

must obey him until I personally feel fully accomplished with

the ability to rule.

*****

Council meeting was called after the afternoon lunch. It

was an informal meeting where the Queen was

introduced to her council. Though she was acting as

Queen on behalf of King Marshell, she had been given

no right to pass any law. She only had the right to

terminate any council member apart from the Fire God

and Master Rudraa. Her presence was to keep discipline

and fear in the Council Members and in people of

Lygrenn.

Five personal guards were kept outside the King’s

room. Even the Queen wasn’t allowed to enter his room.

Door keys were with the King himself. Master Rudraa

was given the charge to guard the room personally as it

had all the precious gold of the Kingdom kept inside in

the Dark Room. Access to nearby rooms was also

stopped and no one was allowed to enter the floor

where the King’s room was located.

What should I do? Should I talk to her about our child? She

is now my Queen. I cannot talk with her like this. I must

never talk to her unless it is related to political matter. I have

already broken my vow. But there are many answers which I

want to know. I should try once to talk to her maybe for the

first and last time.

“My lady, can I have a discussion with you regarding

tomorrow’s financial meeting?” asked Fire God getting

inside the Queen’s chamber where she was sitting with

her dasi.

“Sure. Manju why don’t you wait outside while we

discuss some important issues.”

Manju dasi of the Queen graciously bent low to her and

went out of the chamber.

“Listen Fire God, I have told you and I am telling you

again for the last time. Don’t ever dare to come inside

my room. You don’t know these evil people; they will

kill me if they get to know that you came into my

chamber alone. I am your Queen and it’s my order that

you never ever talk to me like this in private,” said the

Queen in anger.

Fire God left the room in anger without speaking single

word and promised himself to never again talk with the

Queen.

I must do something, someone is misleading Marshell. The

guard who served wine to Xaviallo is also dead.

Who must have poisoned the wine?

Who wanted to kill Xaviallo?

How did Marshell agree to marry Sameera?

Why is Marshell going on so many visits to the Kingdom?

He is a child and he should not risk his life.

I should discuss it with Dhruv. He is the only one whom I can

trust now.

*****

“How is my child, Dhruv?” asked Fire God.

“Indra is very healthy and happy, Master. I don’t think

you need to worry about him. His mother is taking care

of him like she would her own child,” replied Dhruv.

“Indra!” said Fire God in a surprise.

“Yes Master, she has named your child Indra.”

“It’s a beautiful name,” said Fire God as tears started

pouring from his eyes.

“May I leave Master?” asked Dhruv.

“Wait here,” shouted Fire God.

“I haven’t called you to ask about my son, I want to

discuss something with you.”

“Apologies, Master.”

“I have many questions and I don’t have anyone to talk

about it. I need answers to them.”

“You can tell me Master, I will try to solve it.”

“I will slap you Dhruv, I am not playing that ridiculous

riddle game with you.”

Dhruv didn’t say anything, just kept his head low and

waited for his master to ask, as he had never seen his

master in such worry and anger.

“I am worried about Marshell. Someone is misleading

him and I think someone is playing a conspiracy against

us.”

“I think he must be Master Hamish,” said Dhruv

quickly to his worried Master.

“What? How can you be so sure about him?” asked Fire

God.

“I have seen him and the King talk in the private

chambers for hours. He also holds private meetings

with Masters Rudraa and Kaalki at night,” replied

Dhruv.

“Have you heard any of their talks?”

“No Master.”

“I thought you must be a wise person to talk with but I

think I am wasting my time talking with you. He loves

Marshell and he loves Kalahar. He is doing everything

that he can to fulfil Xaviallo’s dream. How can you even

think of this?”

“I am sorry Fire God but I feel something wrong is

going on between Hamish, Rudraa, and Kaalki. Even,

Marshell listens to whatever Hamish says,” said Dhruv.

“I don’t think so. Marshell respects Hamish,” replied

Fire God.

“Dhruv, listen. I respect you. I trust you. But I am not

going to believe unless I have any proof against Master

of Masters Hamish,” continued Fire God.

“There is something which I want to tell you,” said

Dhruv in fear.

“I have got the news that all the Masters of Emperor

Zakati have been killed and he has appointed Shakeel as

his heir to the Kingdom of Eastern Tibet,” continued

Dhruv.

“What?” said a shocked Fire God.

“Yes. Emperor even tried to send some of his men to

Kalahar to look upon King Xaviallo but someone killed

all of those men. Emperor Zakati doesn’t know about

the death of King Xaviallo and he has even made

alliance with the Chinese. He has promised the Chinese

Emperor to provide him gold every year and the

Chinese in return have promised to never attack the

Himalayas. That’s the reason they are engaging in fair

trade with us. Also Master Hamish is unaware of this

and he thinks the Chinese are supporting him due to his

friendship with their King.”

“How do you know all this? Are you sure about it?” Fire

God asked in shock.

“I met one of the soldiers whom Emperor Zakati had

sent to the Himalayas to look in on King Xaviallo.”

“Where did you meet him? What did he tell you?”

“I met him a month ago near Oshah. He was hiding in

one of our caves. He said the Emperor had sent five

soldiers to see if King Xaviallo was safe in Himalaya

and to let him know about this treaty he had signed

with the Chinese. His companions were killed by

Rudraa’s men. I told him to come with me, but he

refused.”

“What if that soldier is alive? We must find him.”

“I don’t think so. They must have killed him too.”

“You are leaving for Tibet tomorrow. I want to know if

Emperor Zakati is alive. Don’t get caught.”

“I will do as instructed.”

“Have you told this to anyone?”

“No.”

“Great. Go get ready for your work. May Agnidev bless

you and give you strength to fight against the evil.”

Dhruv nodded and left.

“Wait! I am sorry I doubted your abilities. I was too

worried about Marshell. It is my only duty to keep him

safe and alive. I have already failed in my duties,” said

Fire God.

Dhruv said nothing to his Master. He smiled and left to

perform the task which Fire God had assigned him.

Marshell doesn’t trust me. I was his father’s most loyal

Master. I must not let him go on visits to the Kingdom

without me accompanying him. His life is in danger. I must

protect him till my last breath. Maybe Dhruv was right, I

need not trust anyone now.

I must not forget my promise which I have given to Emperor

Zakati.

I swear to Lord Agnidev, I will never fail in my duty,

whatever happens I will never break my vows.

*****

King Marshell, Master Hamish and Master Kaalki were

back from their visit to the Kingdom after almost a year.

There was a grand reception held in Lygrenn to

welcome their mighty King. Queen Sameera was

waiting for her husband at the gates of the castle to

welcome him after his first long journey throughout the

Kingdom.

Marshell, Hamish, Fire God, Sameera, Rudraa and

Kaalki were seated in the royal chambers of the castle

for dinner. Marshell was recounting everything that

happened on his journey, though he avoided telling

about the incident of Master Hamish arguing with the

mantri that occurred in Kangra. Sameera was least

interested in the conversation and was pretending to

listen to her husband but Fire God wanted to know

everything that happened on the journey, he was

listening to every minute detail very keenly.

Fire God had called King Marshell in his private

chambers to talk to him.

“Marshell, I hope you had safe journey as you told

during dinner,” said Fire God to Marshell to strike a

conversation.

“It was a wonderful journey, I have learnt a lot of things

and Master Hamish has helped me in every moment and

in every situation, he is like a father to me. Actually I

have started feeling matured and a grown up boy now

after this journey. I am happy,” replied King Marshell.

“It gives me pleasure to see you happy,” said Fire God.

There was a moment of silence between the two as no

one tried to speak later.

“Now that our formal talks have been completed, can we

come to the point Fire God? Why did you call me

here?” asked Marshell in a rough tone.

Fire God was upset by the rude behaviour of his King

towards him

“Marshell, I have noticed in this one year that your life

is in grave danger. I think there are few people in our

Kingdom who are plotting a conspiracy of your death.”

“Few? There are many, and I am not going to spare a

single person. I am going to kill every Droka person

who is dreaming of killing me,” said Marshell angrily.

“I think you don’t understand it Marshell, I am not

talking about the Droka. They are your followers, why

would they want to kill their King?” said Fire God.

“For the same reason they killed my father,” interrupted

Marshell.

Fire God didn’t respond to Marshell’s reply and decided

to keep silent on this topic and said,

“Marshell you have threat from your close friends more

than from the Droka.”

Marshell was shaken by Fire God’s comment, he stood

silent.

“Can you be more specific?” asked King Marshell.

“I am not sure about the people involved in this but I

am sure their intentions are clear. They want your

throne,” explained Fire God calmly.

“So now you are going to tell me what I should do? You

are going to teach me what is right and what is wrong?”

asked King Marshell.

Fire God became angry. He didn’t control his anger this

time and shouted angrily at his King for the first time.

“Your safety is my duty and you are not going to leave

Lygrenn unless I accompany you.”

Marshell frowned. No one had ever dared to scold him

earlier in his life. He was the King.

He angrily went out of the room shouting to call

Master Hamish.

His guards immediately rushed to call Master Hamish.

Hamish came in a minute and closed the door of the

room. Everyone present in the castle was worried, this

had never happened before.

*****

“What has happened Highness?” asked Hamish as he

entered the room.

“Fire God wants me to obey and listen to him. He

thinks I am incapable of handling my own Kingdom,”

replied King Marshell.

“Marshell, I didn’t say you are incapable of handling

this kingdom, I am concerned about your safety and I

don’t want you to leave the castle alone for next ten

years unless I accompany you,” said Fire God.

This time even Hamish was left speechless, he didn’t

want this to come on him. He immediately decided to do

something as he knew that if Fire God got angry and

decided to do what he was saying he could not stop him.

His dreams would shatter in a moment. Hamish kept

silent and started thinking for a minute.

“Tell him Master, he is speaking to his King and also

remind him that I can behead him anytime,” loudly said

King Marshell to Master Hamish.

Master Hamish tried to keep his head calm and slowly

putting his hands on Marshell’s shoulder he said,

“You don’t have the right to behead Fire God and

neither are you his King. He is not your servant like us,

King Marshell. He is following the vows he has taken

and is doing his duty towards your grandfather. He is

an individual who has vowed to protect you and your

heirs to come. I am sure there must be some reason why

Fire God is asking for something from you. You must

respect him and listen to him,” said Master Hamish.

Marshell frowned. Marshell didn’t know anything that

Hamish just spoke about; the only thing he knew was

that he was the King of Kalahar and every person living

in his Kingdom was bound to obey him.

“I… I… didn’t know this Master. Apology, Fire God,”

said Marshell in a low voice feeling sad.

Fire God was also calmed down; he never wanted to

scold his King.

Though no one was intended to be Fire God’s King, he

considered Wongs as his King.

“You don’t need to apologize to me,” said Fire God.

“My father had taught me, one should always apologize

for the mistake he has committed, knowingly or

unknowingly. Apologizing may not correct the mistake

we have done but it is the least we can do to get things

done again,” replied Marshell.

“No doubt your father was the most humble human

being I have ever seen in my life,” said Hamish

interrupting King Marshell and Fire God.

“Hamish, Marshell’s life is in danger and it will be not

wise to let him go outside Lygrenn till he is totally fit to

protect himself on his own,” said Fire God.

“I don’t think someone would even dare to threaten or

try to hurt our King and as per my knowledge he has

done his training well to protect himself from any

attack,” replied Hamish.

“Maybe you forgot, his father King Xaviallo was killed

in front of his four Masters by someone who has not

been caught yet.”

Hamish was silent.

“I am not asking that he abandon all his visits every

year. But all I want to make sure is that from now

onwards Marshell will never leave the castle without

me accompanying him and you must now look into the

council meetings and support Queen Sameera in the

political matters,” said Fire God and left the chamber.

*****

Queen Sameera was in her private chambers with her

husband King Marshell. Marshell told Sameera to keep

her eyes closed and took her along with him into the

next room located in their chamber and told her to open

her eyes. A beautiful bed was prepared for them laden

with fresh flowers. The room was beautifully decorated

for the Queen by her husband. Marshell was lying on

her lap, while Sameera was rolling her hand on his curly

hairs. They were having their first private moment after

their marriage. Marshell was deeply in love with his

wife. Queen Sameera while slowly rolling her fingers in

Marshell’s hairs started pulling his hairs for fun.

Marshell arose from her lap and held her waist tightly

and pulled her near him. He pinched softly on Sameera’s

soft and curved waist, she felt nice and closed her eyes

asking her husband to keep on doing it again and again.

*****

Dhruv was back in Lygrenn after few months, he was

looking for Fire God in the castle but before he could

meet him a soldier came and told him to come outside

the castle with him in the backyard garden where

Master Hamish and Master Rudraa were standing.

“Leave him alone with us and wait outside till we tell

you to come,” said Master Rudraa in his loud and rude

voice.

Fear was seen in Dhruv’s eyes. He was desperate to

meet Fire God and talk to him. He was thinking to

anyhow talk to them and leave as early as possible. He

had a lot of secrets which he wanted to share with his

Master.

“Come to the point directly, tell us everything and you

will be spared,” said Master Rudraa.

“I didn’t understand what you are saying Master,”

replied Dhruv.

Masters Rudraa and Hamish both didn’t say a single

word and still kept looking into his eyes waiting for him

to speak up. Dhruv knew what they wanted to hear, he

finally spoke.

“Fire God had sent me to Eastern Tibet to see if

Emperor Zakati is alive and safe.”

“And? Where is his dead body buried?” asked Master

Hamish and started laughing loudly.

Rudraa too started laughing, but before Dhruv could

speak, Hamish again talked to him.

“Boy, you are brave and fearless. But do you know what

you lack? Your decisions, your decisions on whose side

you should be with.”

Dhruv wasn’t getting anything that Hamish was

saying; his only thought was to meet Fire God. He was

waiting for both of them to stop and leave so that he

could talk to Fire God.

“Now speak up boy, where has Emperor Huketu’s army

reached?” asked Hamish in a more cruel voice.

Dhruv frowned.

“Emperor Huketu?” asked Dhruv in surprise.

“Yes, Emperor Huketu. Where has his army reached? I

have been waiting for this moment since the day I killed

Xaviallo. Now the time has come, Huketu will be here

in few weeks,” said Master Hamish to Rudraa.

Dhruv stood silent, in shock after hearing that his King

was killed by Master Hamish.

“I still don’t understand Master what you are talking

about. I was sent to see if Emperor Zakati is alive. I

confirmed it after meeting him and came back, I don’t

know anything about what you said,” replied Dhruv

weakly in a low voice, he started fearing more.

Hamish’s and Rudraa’s laugh was turned into silence in

a moment, eyes wide open in shock.

“What did you say? Emperor Zakati is alive?” asked

Master Rudraa in shock.

“Yes, what would happen to him, he is the Emperor

Master,” replied Dhruv with a smile.

Master Rudraa immediately called his guards and

ordered them to capture him.

Hamish was still in shock. He came closer to Dhruv and

asked him again.

“Is Zakati alive?”

“Yes Master, why would I lie to you?” replied Dhruv.

“What about Master Huketu? Where is he?” asked

worried Hamish.

“Huketu is dead. All the 6 Masters are dead. Someone

killed them almost a year ago.”

Hamish was getting angrier. He was lost in his

thoughts. He was in a shock.

How can this happen? Is he lying to me?

“I will give you the most horrifying death this kingdom

has ever seen boy, I am asking you for the last time,

don’t lie to me,” said an angry Hamish. Now he was

losing his senses, he knew if whatever Dhruv said was

true his dreams would be shattered.

“I am not lying Master Hamish. Emperor Zakati is alive

and all the six Masters are dead.”

Before Hamish could speak to Dhruv, Rudraa took out

his huge sword and plunged it inside Dhruv’s stomach;

blood splashed on the bodies of Master Hamish and

Master Rudraa. Dhruv died the moment the sword

went inside his stomach.

“Burn his body without letting anyone know. Clean this

blood. I do not want a drop of his blood in the garden,

that vicious Fire God will kill us if he got to know we

killed him,” Master Rudraa said to his soldiers.

Hamish lost his consciousness and fell on the ground.

He was immediately taken to the medical ward in the

castle.

*****

Hamish was lying in his chambers, he was told to take

rest for few days.

Zakati is alive. Huketu is dead. Xaviallo is dead. Then who

will be the Emperor after Zakati? Maybe he doesn’t know

Xaviallo is dead.

But who must have killed all the Masters of Eastern Tibet?

What if Zakati has got to know they were working for me?

If Zakati knows everything, then why hasn’t he sent his army

yet to Kalahar to kill me?

I need answers. I must send my men to Tibet, to get answers

to these questions.

But what if they get caught and tell him Xaviallo is dead?

I must kill Marshell the way I finished his father.

No. It’s foolish. Fire God will become the King, and if Zakati

comes to Kalahar he will chop me into pieces. I cannot do

anything right now. I must wait, if Dhruv has lied, then

Huketu will anyhow come to Kalahar along with his army.

I won’t let my dreams shatter so easily. I will wait till Huketu

attacks Kalahar with his army.

*****

18 years later

People of Kalahar had started liking their King though

he did not have the charisma and loyalty like his father

but he had devoted himself to the welfare of his

kingdom. He saved his kingdom from smaller attacks

from the nearby tribes many a times. People would not

call him the messiah but some would blindly follow him

and obey every order of his. Hamish had become silent,

his aim and his dreams were shattered but he was not

broken at all. He was still trying his best to make more

allies and continue using his power and his abilities to

fulfil his long awaited dream. He was waiting for the

death of Emperor Zakati. Hamish’s men were successful

in camping in Eastern Tibet and were watching every

move of Zakati. They would send timely messages to

Hamish about the tactics and laws which Emperor

Zakati passed in Eastern Tibet. Fire God, due to his

loyalty towards his King and his kind nature was

considered as the new messiah of the Droka people,

though nobody dared to call him messiah in front of the

King but he was the most respected and loved person in

Kalahar.

Lygrenn was decorated for a grand celebration as per

the traditions going on for the past eight years. Whole

city was renewed for the grand celebration of the 10th

birthday of their King’s daughters. Laurel and Arya

were the two most precious jewels of King Marshell’s

life. He loved them the most, more than his Kingdom.

Sweets were going to be distributed to everyone in the

city, all the one lakh people were invited in the central

park for the event where Marshell’s daughters were

going to cut the cake, a Wong tradition where the

individual cuts the cake and then pieces of it are

distributed to everyone to eat and share the happiness

with each other. Sweet and delicious, the cake was made

from the fruits grown only in Western Tibet and was

brought specially for the occasion in a large amount for

everyone in Lygrenn. Though the city came for the

celebration of their King’s daughters’ birthday,

everyone was eagerly waiting to have a bite of the

delicious cake after the cake cutting ceremony which the

Wongs followed.

King Marshell, Queen Sameera, Master Hamish, Fire

God, Arya and Laurel came on the stage. Arya and

Laurel came forward and cut the cake. Flowers were

showered on them after the cake was cut, it was the

happiest moment for the King. Everyone present in the

central park was waiting to eat the cut pieces of cake

but King Marshell wanted to make an announcement on

this occasion so everyone was told to keep quiet and

listen to him.

Though no one was in the mood for listening to their

King’s speech everyone waited in silence just for the

slice of cake to get into their stomach. King Marshell

came forward and said “May freedom prevail. May

justice be delivered. May power be bestowed upon us.”

Crowd started cheering. They wanted their King to

stop his speech so that they could enjoy the slice of

sweet and delicious cake which they had never eaten in

their life.

The King raised his hand to stop the chaos and listen to

him and continued his speech.

“I am thankful for the support and trust you have shown

in me for years. I commit myself to the safety and

prosperity of Kalahar. After the sudden death of our

ally, our beloved friend Kailash, the ruler of Himkhadi,

his son Ganesh has taken over charge as the chief ruler

of Himkhadi. I have had discussions with Ganesh and

would like to take the opportunity to announce the

expansion of our kingdom to the north. Himkhadi will

now onwards be under the rule of Kalahar. Kingdom of

Kalahar is now the Himalayan Kingdom.”

Everyone started clapping for their King, no one was

really interested in what the King said; mainly no one

really listened to what their King said. Their ultimate

wait was going to be over. They were rushing to the

stalls to open and hunt down the pieces of the delicious

cake.

*****

“You are telling me now to change my decision?” asked

King Marshell angrily to all the mantris present in the

castle for a meeting to convince the King to not include

Himkhadi in their Kingdom.

All the Masters and Council Members were present in

the meeting. Master Hamish knew this was the chance

for him to gain the confidence of the Droka people. All

Council Members and Masters had voted for their King

to include Himkhadi in their Kingdom and expand their

Empire though voting was just a protocol to follow,

final decision was of King only.

“Highness, this issue has been discussed with all the

villagers and they are against the decision to include

Himkhadi in Kalahar,” said a mantri to Marshell.

“What is the problem with you people?” asked King

Marshell.

A mantri spoke “Your Highness, we can trade with

them, we can share our lands but we cannot share our

cultures. We Droka are the followers of Lord Brahma

whereas they follow the principles of Lord Shiva. Our

principles don’t allow us to merge with people of any

tribe.”

“I am your King and my principles say God is one. Stop

fighting with people in the name of cultures and

traditions. Every religion, every tribe, every caste has

its own culture, own tradition, and we should respect

that. Stop discriminating against human beings in the

name of God,” replied King Marshell angrily to the

mantris present in the council hall.

Many believed what King Marshell said was true

whereas many were stuck to their decision but didn’t

dare to reply to their King. Everyone in the room

remained silent.

“Your Highness, I did not mean to question your

principles neither I doubt your belief in God. I just want

to express my views. May I?” asked Master Hamish.

“You can always express your views Master Hamish.

You are the Master of Masters of this Kingdom, you

have almost every right that I have,” said Marshell

graciously.

“Your Highness, I think you should consider their

request and think again before taking any decision.”

“May I know why so?”

“Your father King Xaviallo never wanted to expand his

kingdom neither he wanted to rule any other tribe. His

only aim was to fight for the injustice done to these

people and provide them safety.”

“I remember what my father’s dream was and I am

doing the same. Thanks for the advice,” replied King

Marshell.

Master Hamish looked at King Marshell in shock and

didn’t say anything. Fire God stepped forward to

officially announce the formation of the new Empire.

“I hereby take the opportunity to announce Himkhadi

and Kalahar to be part of King Xaviallo Marshell’s

Kingdom. The newly formed Kingdom will now be

addressed as The Himalayan Kingdom.”

*****

“Your Highness, many people from the Kingdom have

started killing our soldiers, some have even burned our

army camps in the Kingdom,” said Master Rudraa.

An outrage was started in the Kingdom against King

Marshell on including Himkhadi in his Kingdom.

“What!” said King Marshell angrily.

“Yes Your Highness, people have become wild and

angry, they have killed many of our soldiers, and have

threatened to kill more if you don’t take back the

decision of including Himkhadi in Kalahar.”

“What are you doing here then? Go and stop them,”

shouted Marshell.

“Your Highness, we’re waiting for your orders to attack

them.”

Hamish stepped in and interrupted King Marshell and

said “Have you found out who is leading them?”

“Yes Master,” replied Rudraa.

“Bring him to me in the court within a day and attack

the people who oppose you but try not to kill anyone,

just harm them,” said King Marshell and left.

*****

“Your Highness, the situation is getting worse and

worse in the nearby villages, many of our soldiers have

been killed, we need to attack them or else they will

keep on killing our men,” said Master Rudraa in a

worry.

“Bring me their leader first,” replied King Marshell

angrily as he was waiting from yesterday to meet the

person who opposed their King’s decision.

“Bring the boy,” ordered Master Rudraa to one his

soldiers.

The soldier brought the boy who was leading the people

against the decision of the King.

“This boy?” asked a shocked King

The boy kept quiet.

“You are leading my people against me? You want your

King to take back his word he has given to Ganesh?”

King Marshell asked angrily.

“You are being misled by someone Highness. I am not

leading anyone against you. I am fighting for justice,”

replied the young boy.

Everyone in the court remained silent but the boy didn’t

bother to oppose his King, he was fearless.

King Marshell immediately stood up from his throne,

anger was seen in his eyes, he was even impressed by

the bravery of the boy, and no one had ever dared to

speak to the King in such harsh manner before.

“I like your bravery boy but rather than wasting it in

such foolish things use it more where it is needed to be

used. Come join my army and I will make you the

commander, Master Rudraa will give you personal

training,” said the King.

Sameera, Hamish, Fire God, Rudraa, Kaalki and all the

Council Members present in the court were shocked by

what their King just said. The boy just opposed him and

he was offering him the post of a commander in his

army.

“I am not here to make deals with you, I want justice,”

replied the boy.

“Justice is delivered to you and this is final!” shouted

King Marshell angrily.

Two guards immediately came forward to capture the

boy as Marshell was coming down the steps from his

throne near the boy.

“What’s your name boy?” asked angry Marshell looking

into the boy’s eyes.

“Indra Shreshta,” promptly replied the boy looking into

his King’s eyes.

Fire God suddenly stood up from his seat, he was

shocked. He remembered Dhruv telling him the name of

his son, Indra Shreshta. Before Fire God could speak a

single word, King Marshell spoke “I am giving you a

day’s time young boy, stop attacking my men, I will

spare you and your men, or else, you will see what I can

do.”

*****

Indra however didn’t listen to King Marshell’s offer and

later that night told his men to keep attacking Master

Rudraa’s and Master Kaalki’s soldiers. Master Rudraa

told this to King Marshell and waited for the orders of

counter attack. Fire God was worried about his son; he

knew the King would defeat Indra in a day and maybe

kill him.

Fire God decided to go to Taikini to meet Indra’s

mother and tell her to stop Indra or else King might kill

her son. Fire God immediately rushed to Taikini in the

morning with his two guards.

Fire God reached Taikini and ordered his guards to

wait outside and he went inside the hut to talk to

Indra’s mother. Fire God came inside and stood still, he

was shocked, he felt unsteady. He didn’t understand

what to do and just stood numb for a minute.

King Marshell was inside the hut along with his

security guards, Master Hamish and Master Rudraa.

Indra’s mother was being captured by two soldiers and

there was a girl in the house as well; she was holding a

year-old baby.

“How did you manage to come here Fire God?” asked

King Marshell.

Fire God somehow regained his composure and replied,

“I was searching for Indra. I got the news that he is

hiding in his house so I came here to capture him.”

“Don’t you worry Fire God, my soldiers must be on

their way. I have sent them to bring Indra and his

companions here,” said Master Rudraa proudly in front

of his King.

Fire God didn’t say anything and stood expressionless.

After some minutes, Master Rudraa’s soldiers brought

Indra into his house and held him in front of King

Marshell. He had been handcuffed, blood was flowing

from his head and shoulders.

King Marshell stood up from his chair and held Indra’s

head in his hand and looked into his eyes and said “I

told you boy, I would have spared you. You committed

your biggest mistake by fighting against me.”

Indra didn’t say anything, he kept looking at the

ground, he wasn’t able to look up and talk, he didn’t

have the energy to talk.

Fire God came forward and ordered to release Indra. He

went to King Marshell and told “Marshell, this is cruel,

you are killing innocent people.”

King Marshell was silent. He had always listened to

Fire God’s advice and so he started thinking for a while.

“Leave my mother, my wife and my son Highness, this

fight is between us. Leave them,” said Indra gaining

some energy.

Fire God looked at Indra in shock when he said ‘son’,

that child was Indra’s son, Fire God’s grandson. He had

Fire God’s blood.

Master Hamish came forward and went near King

Marshell and said to him, “Your Highness, people’s

messiah is trying to save his loyal people. But maybe he

has forgotten that his LOYAL people have disregarded

the orders of their King and are fighting against him.”

Fire God was getting angrier. But his only duty was to

serve and protect his King, he remembered, 20 years

ago when he had broken his vow. He didn’t want to let

his King know that he had broken his vow and was the

father of a boy who was now the King’s enemy and the

mother of his son is none other than the wife of King

himself. Fire God remained silent, he had no choice, on

one side was his King and on the other side was his own

son.

King Marshell too felt that whatever Hamish just said

was true and so he made up his mind.

He went to Fire God and said, “This country should

remember now and in the years to come what happens

when someone disobeys their King.”

Master Rudraa was waiting for the orders and Fire God

was lost in his thoughts, and he had to decide between

his Son and his King.

King Marshell came forward to talk to Indra again,

“Bow to your King and mercy will be granted to you.”

Indra took his head up and replied, “Take back your

decision and mercy will be granted on you by my

people,” and spat on King Marshell.

Marshell got angry and shouted “Behead him.” Within a

moment of a second, Rudraa’s guards took their sword

out and swung it through the neck of Indra’s mother

and his wife. Their heads were decapitated from their

bodies; blood was flooding out from their neck, their

bodies laid out without their heads in front of Indra.

Indra too, before he could do anything, was chopped

into pieces by Master Rudraa. Flood of blood was

flowing in the house. Fire God, before he could do

anything, saw his son getting killed in front of his eyes.

King Marshell and Master Hamish started laughing and

started walking to go out of the house. King Marshell

before he could go out of the house turned back to Fire

God and said, “Burn the hut,” and left.

Everyone left the hut, Fire God was in tears and started

crying loudly. He had let his own son die in front of his

eyes just to be loyal to his vows, the promise that he

made to himself to not break his vows again in his life.