17 The Queen of the Hearth Part 17

"One day, there was a marriage at my neighbour's house. The people of the baraat (marriage procession from groom's side) stayed in the village for three days as they had come from far away. During those days, people of the village used to treat any bride or groom as the village's child and guests stayed with anyone who had an extra room to spare. My house was big and many of these guests stayed at my home.

Between my own large family and about 10-12 guests in the house and all the noise of wedding ceremonies next to my home made me anxious. I was not being able to get my 'quiet' time which rattled me so much that I ran away in the evening on the second day and decided to stay in the fields until these guests went away.

I came to know later that though my mom did ask for me twice and thrice during those two days, nobody got worried about me because everyone was thought that I was with children or may be at someone else's house huddling in a corner. With so many people milling around in and out of the home all the time, they did not even imagine that I will take off by myself.

I was 7-8 years old at the time. I had never stayed in the fields in the evening – not even with my fathers and brothers. Until the sunset, everything looked beautiful. There was greenery all around and there were silence and peace.

Sometimes, my father used to sleep in the fields when grains were ready for the harvest to protect the crop. He had a machaan (tree house) atop a big bargad (banyan) tree – well-hidden by leaves from the outside. I was thrilled to find it. The tree was easy to climb and made my way up the tree house. In the tree house, there was a pot of water, some fruits, a blanket, and a big stick 'laathi' – probably kept there to be used as a weapon against anyone with evil designs.

It seemed like a heaven to me. I sat there looking out at the fields and enjoy my view. In the evening, I ate fruits, drank some water, and lied down.

The fields look very different at the night. The occasional sounds of the Nature – chirping of crickets or hooting of a stray owl – seem eerie. There was no light anywhere. There are only fields all around and since it was not the harvest season and there was a wedding procession in the village, there was no one around for miles and miles.

As the darkness set in, I felt as if I had become blind. I could not see anything anymore. Normally, farmers take lanterns to the fields but I was a child with no experience of what to expect in the fields. I had not brought anything with me and had just run away looking for the quietness.

I decided to close my eyes, pray to Wahe Guru, and sleep until the morning and return home. The sounds that looked fairly normal at the daytime sounded eerie now.

I was almost asleep when I heard a low growl. It was a guttural sound and it was coming from the fields. My eyes shot open. When I saw that I was alone, I wanted to scream but I stopped myself somehow. For some time, there was no other sound.

I felt around with my hands and crawled silently to the entry passage of my tree house and tried to look outside. My eyes adjusted to the darkness. It was a no-moon night but the sky was clear and there were stars twinkling in the sky. In the fields, a few feet away from me I saw a dark humanoid figure. It was certainly taller than my father – who was the tallest man in the village. This thing outshot my father by at least an arm's length. I could see the side-view of his body and face. Its face was like a man but hideous. Its cheekbones were too pronounced and one eye which was towards me was glowing green – like a wolf's eye.

Its hands were longer than a normal man's hands. It reached his knees. He had long nails, and his skin looked leathery.

I was terrified of him. Suddenly, his nose twitched. He sniffed loudly and turned his face towards me – looking right at me. I was well-hidden in the tree house but it seemed that he could still see me.

At that moment, he stretched his right hand towards me and at the same moment opened up his wings which were huge. I saw him lifting off the ground with little effort before I fainted.

When I woke up, it was still dark and someone was holding me tightly. It was definitely a woman. Below the tree, I could hear sounds of fighting – roars and growls of the demon and another person shouting something in a language I could not understand.

Before I panicked and started screaming, that woman kept her hand on my head and started transferring her thoughts in my head. 'Don't worry, dear girl. We are here to protect you from the demon outside. My husband is fighting with him and will soon chase him away and I am here with you to protect you from him.'

I whispered, 'Where did you come from? You were not here when I fainted."

Perhaps, she understood what I was saying. She again transferred her thoughts to me, 'God sent us to you as He loves you. We are angels and we flew down from the sky to protect you from the demon. We will always be there with you but it has to remain a secret. If you tell anyone about us or the demon, we will have to leave and you and your family will have to face the demon by themselves. Understood?'

I nodded. The woman's face was softly glowing. I could make out that she was lovelier than any other woman I had ever seen. She was calm even though her husband was fighting with that monstrosity.'

'Can I look out?' I whispered.

'Sure. But do not make any noise.'

She crawled with me to the entry point and we looked down below. Softly glowing white angel and the black demon were fighting with each other. They both had wings. The demon had long nails while the angel had a sword. Something was flowing out of the demon, which was probably its blood. After some fancy fencing moves, the angel struck hard at the demon's chest and it roared loudly.

Then, it flew away.

The angel flew to us. Silvery blood was flowing out of him too. His wife smiled softly at him, kept her soft graceful hands on his wounds and hummed a magical tune which healed the angel's wounds.

The male angel was handsome too. He turned towards me and patted my head. Then, he chatted with his wife in his strange language.

Then, he kept his hands on my head and communicated through telepathy, "Little girl, what you saw today was extraordinary. It is very rare for a human to witness this. If we had not come on time, you would have been killed by this demon. The sun will rise soon. You will see some silvery blood around here which is mine, and some black gooey blood which is the demon's blood. We cannot allow this blood to remain here or it will spawn new angels and demons – and the humankind is not read to deal with any of them. You are the dearest daughter of the God and he has given you the responsibility to make sure that you will not let it happen.

We have to disappear now but as soon as the sun rises, find every drop of blood, collect the leaves or the soils or the things on which it has fallen, and burn it. Will you do that for us, for God?"

I promised.

His hand glowed for a while which made me feel wonderful, joyous, peaceful, and happy. I was not afraid anymore. He then smiled at me and left with his wife.

Soon, the sun rose. I collected every sample of blood I could find and burn it but I could not stop myself from saving a small drop of angel's blood. It was so beautiful. – like mercury and had a heavenly fragrance. I could not think of any harm coming to our world because of a new angel. I slid off that drop in a glass and covered it with a plate.

I kept everything a secret as I had promised to the angels. I had grown quieter and more religious with time. I used to help my mother with her household chores and pray all day.

Every day, I used to open the plate to see if it had turned into an angel. I started doubting whether a new angel will ever be born from it but it had almost become my ritual to check the glass every day after saying my prayers."