Chapter 11 : Curse

Bali , Sugreev and others entered the garden . The garden was within the castle , Different types of fruit trees and plants ,to different types of flower plants were growing there , The garden was not too small but also was not too big , A fountain made of white marble was adorning the centre of this garden , Some small and tall white statues were placed in all corners of the garden , Bali and his company crossing the other plants sat on the ground, near the fountain. 

Sugreev was just a five year old Adipuru who was a bit younger than most of them present there , Sugreev with a nervous tone and In a low voice talked that ,

"What do you all think , why father is , instead of giving attention to what happened to mother He is doing a meeting on a different matter."

Bali placing his fingers on his chin with a serious face said that ,

"I don't know but , Before that strange bird came in the hall , Father was already in a serious mood , Looks like there's something happening that concern's Kishkindha kingdom, It seemed that the matter is not a financial or economical one , But it must be something about foreign kingdoms , Don't ... tell me .... We are under attack"

When Bali stopped talking he looked at the faces of the others , All of them were staring at him in awe , Prakriti while chuckling said that ,

"What ?!... Why are you talking like an old man...so seriously "

Bali realised that the tone he talked was not came out as of someone the age of six , Scratching his back he said in flustered tone ,

"Oh !! Do I really talk like that .. haha."

On the other hand Sugreev was still sad about  what happened with Apoorva , He was lost in his own thoughts and he again making a sad face talked ,

"But .. mom disappeared in that blue light and father said I shouldn't worry about her , she will be fine ? ...how?

Shakshi while placing her hand on Sugreev's shoulder , Comforting him she said ,

"Sugreev , Do You really think ? our king will let something happen to the queen.... "

Keshav too jumped in too comfort Sugreev,

"Yeah ... And do you really believe our queen is weak or something? Yes she is an apsara.... but she trained here in Kishkindha after she met the king for the first time hundreds of years ago ."

Shakshi  with a tone of enthusiasm said,

"Yeah , She will fight it out if something wants to harm her."

Prakriti smiled a bit and she also joined her friends in comforting the little prince , she said ,

"Well , Sugreev, we kids don't have to worry about the elders , they are strong ,so they can take care of themselves pretty well , And if you are worried about that if you won't be able to see your mother for now , So don't worry okay... And do you know , when we go to school we meet our parents after a year ."

Looking at Prakriti , Shakshi left out some air from her nostrils and in a proudful manner she said ,

"And upon that , Prakriti's parents do business, so they are always out of the kingdom, that's why Prakriti has less chance to meet her parents."

Backing down a bit and sitting on her previous position , Prakriti looked at the flowing water from the fountain and said in a monotonous tone that ,

"yeah ...I myself want to see them , I want to know how they are doing?.... If they are okay or not , but you know that's why they are our parents they can take Care of themselves , So it's our duty that we also take care of ourselves and meet them with our happy faces , Right?!"

Hearing these things from his friends Sugreev's eyes brightened again ,and while standing up from the ground , In a enthusiastic voice while clenching his fists , Sugreev said,

"Yeah , I understand. From now on I will also act like an adult and instead thinking , If something bad happened to my mother or not? , I will only think that whenever I meet her again, I will be strong like father."

All the three friends who was comforting Sugreev awhile ago , all smiled and talked at the same time that,

"That's the spirit."

Bali sitting near them also smiled to see all of their enthusiasm , 

Prakriti while looking back at Bali said that ,

"Well I know , tomorrow will be your first day in school , But do you two want to visit the school now , with us .... To see how's school?!"

Sugreev talked with a joyous voice ,

"Yeah , let's go , I wanted to see that too."

*SHIKK  SHIKK Shiikkk*

The plants of the garden made a sound that alarmed all of them , They looked in the direction , Where the sound came from.

"Prince , Are you sure you want to go there now?!"

Tikshana entered from a corner in the garden making a concerned face.

Bali stood up from the ground and asked Tikshana ,

"Tikshana , Did the meeting over "

Approaching all of them Tikshana talked ,

"Yeah , The meeting was short , and ... I'm here to inform you about something that was decided in that meeting."

Making an awkward expression Bali said in a. hurry,

"Why , Are you making this kind of suspense... Just tell us already."

Tikshana reached to all of them and while standing in front of them , She talked in a nervous voice ,

"Well ... The king had an urgent matter to attend outside of the kingdom ... So they will not be available tomorrow on your first day of school."

stepping them all aside Sugreev with a loud voice,

"What ?! ... First mother and now father is also leaving us..."

Grabbing Sugreev by his shoulder , Bali said to him that,

"Sugreev , You just said you will act like an adult right?! "

Sugreev while calming himself nodded.

"Yeah , Brother!"

Bali thought to himself that,

'What is happening all of a sudden ?'

Than he asked in a firm voice to Tikshana that,

"Tikshana , Tell us what you all discussed in the meeting ."

Bowing down a bit ,Tikshana said,

"Sorry .. Prince ... I can't unveil anything at this moment , But I am going tomorrow with the two of you , for your admission in school."

Question marks appeared on the faces of all of them .

"What?!"

Tikshana smiled awkwardly seeing their reaction , Then clearing her throat , she talked again in a serious tone.

"But , First tell me are you really wants to visit the school today."

"Yeah , we all are going ... I want to see what the school looks like."

"Then.. we have to take permission from the king.  let's go before they leave ."

"Okay."

All of them talking in the background , While Bali was lost in his thoughts , Rummaging through his mind , he was thinking about what is happening all of a sudden .

'Father is going outside of the kingdom , It must be something serious , Because why would a king would leave his kingdom in a hurry , I don't no what's about to unfold in coming times , And upon that , the matter with Mother ,Well according to father , the summon was from heaven but is she really in heaven ,Because we can't confirm that , where is she right now?."

******

 In an unknown location , A dark blue light with lotus petals like thousands of pieces swirling around that light , appeared suddenly , And suddenly Apoorva appeared from that light floating in the air , When she completely came out , from that light , The blue light disappeared  and the lotus petals fell on the ground .

*TAAP*

Apoorva landed on the ground slowly , Then she looked around her , Around her all the vicinity was looked as the life from the atmosphere was sucked out from it , The sky was dark red colored , The trees , Plants ,Grass everything was looked dry and shrivelled , Its looked as if that all of these were green and bloomed a while ago  ,but now the greenery had been lost , The green colour of nature was nowhere to be found , There was only grey and dull colored withered plants could be seen all around.

"Where am I? Where is this... It does look familiar but ....?"

"KHAAACK UVACKK*

A voice of cry and helplessness came from afar , Apoorva ran immediately toward that voice.

After awhile she reached in front of a withered tree and under that tree , a women was lying there  but after seeing her ,Apoorva's face became pale , Placing both of her palms on her mouth in a shock she cried ,

"Subhadra .... SUBHADRA .... NOOOOOOO!!"

Apoorva ran shouting that name to the woman.

The woman was wounded badly ,an arrow was pierced through her left eye  , Her left arm was cut off and stream of blood was flooding from there and it seemed she was trying to stop the blood from some piece of torn up clothes, Her clothes that seemed white colored were became red now , she was coughing blood again and again ,A small pool was made because of her blood , around the area of that withered tree ,Also a small stream of blood was flowing downside from there making a small river where it seemed a river of water was there sometime ago, but now it was all dried up.

Apoorva tried to do something to help Subhadra , But she was not an expert in healing so she just cried out loud for help.

"Subhadra ... open your eyes ?  ... IS ANYBODY THERE..."

Subhadra while stuttering talked in a very low voice.

"Shhhhhh... Don't ... don't .... make .... sound.."

Nodding her head ,Apoorva reached out her face to Subhadra and whispered slowly.

"Okay .... but how is this ....Did you come alone here.... or is this really 'Kaéndran ' if I'm guessing right , And if that's the case then... What about the others ... where are they?"

Subhadra again struggled to talk a bit 

"A..... curse.....Almost.....everyone .... is dead... Uaachkhhh"

Talking midway Subhadra coughed out blood , Apoorva making a concerned face while still water flowing from her eyes she tried to lift Subhadra's head a bit.

"Hey... relax"

Placing Subhadra's head a bit high so she can relax , Apoorva tightened the piece of cloth around Subhadra's arm , Clearing sweat from her face Apoorva thought to herself.

'A curse?!"

<Chapter 11>Ends.