Friendship And Rivalry ( Part 1 )

When Kush woke up, he saw he was in a large tent. He was awakened by restless noises coming from the other side of the tent. With blurry eyes, Kush made out the outline of a boy running about while being chased by two grown men. One of the grown men caught this boy by the waist and lifted him up. The boy giggled, kicking his legs in the air while the other man swiftly removed the boy's soft, richly textured dhoti and dressed him up in a rough, dark cotton skirt children of the Maruts wore. The man's movements were practiced and swift, but the boy still slipped out of the two's grasp and ran to the tent flap, flicking it and causing harsh sunlight along with dust to slip inside. Kush was blinded for a moment.

Scrunching his brows, he wondered who the hell those people were. Those two grown men, though they were dressed like his soldiers, were not. His Maruts were generally not as tall as these two. But they had wider shoulders, they were bulkier and had large muscles, usually sporting one or more scars of battle on their bare upper bodies. They were also darker somewhat, usually due to prolonged exposure to sun while guarding the caravan. These two men were also tan, but it was a glowing, vigorous tan, than one that indicated sunburn. They were well toned, even muscular, but did not have the raw power of the body of a Marut. Their strength was more sedate, more even, their movements well-disciplined and most of all, they displayed a lot of patience. There were none among Maruts who were patient. Even Captain Ajagava who led them would've whacked Kush a few times instead of being patient with him if he was acting willfully as the other boy. The Maruts were men of war. They had no concept of being nice.

The two men caught the boy just in time and brought him back. They removed a bunch of gold ornaments from his body. One after another, a whole load came out. Every time one came out, the boy would try to slip from the men's grasp. His legs simply wouldn't stay at one place. If they wouldn't let him run out, he would run inside the tent. The men weren't too forceful in restraining him either. They simply ran after him. First they put an arm band made of leopard skin around the boy's right bicep. There was a star shaped burn mark there, which was clearly a larger injury that was healed on the field. Then they put a barbarian's sash on his right shoulder and tied it together on his left hip. A black leather strap protruding from behind was then brought up from his left shoulder and was connected to a pouch containing a small dagger. The two men made sure the sash was tight and did not even move a bit. They even argued among themselves that they should change it for a vest. But the boy refused. He said it was too hot and he was simply not going to wear one. Thus the men ran after the boy another full round. As they kept trying their best, Kush finally saw what they were trying to cover up with the sash. It was an angry red slash on the boy's back. It started at the right shoulder blade and stretched all the way to the kidneys. A sense of familiarity finally came over Kush. But he still could not open his eyes fully no matter what.

The two men put some silver accessories and red, oddly shaped beads on the boy next, a loud leopard skin waistband embellished with shells. They arranged, his neat hair styled with perfumed oils messily, roughly piling it up into a bun the way the Maruts do. The boy was getting way too restless by now, shoving the two men away roughly.

"That's enough! You two stay here. I want to go play now!" He ran off to the exit and sure enough, when he lifted the flap, aside from the sandy winds, Kush also heard the sounds of boisterous kids playing noisily. When he focused, he even saw their little legs going around in circles, chasing each other and kicking up dust.

The two men on the other hand completely didn't want to let the boy go. "Your Majesty, you must absolutely not let your scars. We are in the barbarian camp! This is a matter of life and death!" said one of them.

"This is Grass's camp," said the boy, with a profound look, "Kush is not a barbarian."

The other man looked around. He surprisingly found a lifeline for himself. "Your Majesty, look. The boy general is awake! See, you don't have to go play now. You can talk to him instead!"

"Oh?" Vajra looked curiously and found that Kush really was awake. He had an expression of disappointment.

He waited for four hours for this kid to wake up. Finally he was able to convince his people to let him out and play with the barbarian kids, only to find that Kush already woke up.

How would Little Cactus be Little Cactus if he let this hard won chance go to waste? Where else could he find a group of kids that played in mud and sand, without care for appearance or purpose? He ran up to Kush and said with bright eyes. "Hey Grass! You're awake. Let's go play, what do you say?!"

The guard looked like he was about to have a headache. "Your Majesty, the little general can't move a lot. His teacher especially reminded you before she left…"

"Oh that's right! My bad." Vajradandaka slapped his forehead, but his big eyes were still shining with a million stars. "Grass, you want to climb on my back? Those boys out there are playing kabaddi. Come we'll teach them a thing or two about what sore losers they are!"

Kush was still wondering if he was dreaming or if he was awake. But the prospect of beating the crap of some boys who had the nerve to play when he can't even move a limb seemed especially enticing to him. "Can you do it?" he murmured with difficulty.

"Sure I can!" Vajra showed off his muscle. "Look at me, I'm really strong now. I even beat Hayagriva!"

Kush looked at him dubiously in response.

"It's true! I could've stabbed him at anytime!"