CHAPTER 10 - Hunt 3

1538, Fort Town Macherla, Golconda Sultanate.

Occasion: Holi.

Holi is the Festival of Colours, Love, and Spring. It celebrates the arrival of Spring in India, the end of winter, and the blossoming of love. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil, as it commemorates the victory of Lord Narasimha over the Asura king Hiranyakashapa.

But for Ezhilan, who was waiting with his 2 remaining soldiers it did not matter what the festival signifies. He was the captain of the original squad of eight soldiers, who attacked and killed Rudra Deva in the forest camp.

He was now waiting for the representative sent by lord Karana. They had negotiated all day yesterday to agree upon a final payment for the successful job of killing the crown prince. Even though the representative Jeeva, tried to undercut them and not pay them the share of their dead brothers, Ezhilan had managed to claw out their payment from him.

Originally the plan was that each of the soldiers would get 5 acres, while the vice-captain, Vereswaran, would get 7 acres and the captain, Ezhilan, would get eight acres for a total of 45 acres. Even then Jeeva stole 5 acres from them as the middleman between lord Karana Deva and the soldiers, as the allocated land was 50 acres.

Now, because of the unexpected complications that caused the number of people in the squad to go down, Ezhilan would get 15 acres of land, while the remaining two soldiers would get 10 acres each. That damn thief Jeeva now has a total of 15 acres of land that rightfully belonged to them.

Thinking of the dead members of his squad made Ezhilan bitter. He would not admit to anybody but, he was the one who made sure that Narappa woke up to the commotion when the porters were being killed.

Sure, the porters were on the way to the spot where the prince was sleeping, but it was not something some clever maneuvering couldn't solve. He wanted to alert Narappa so that the loyal and steadfast guard of the prince would take out one or two of his soldiers.

Even though they were a part of his team, Ezhilan didn't have the same good relationship with everyone. He would be sad if one or two of them died, sure, but the increase in the land share more than made up for being sad for a few weeks.

But the way the situation turned out even shocked Ezhilan. He already expected Narappa to take down one of them, while the unexpected part was that the hunters, whom Ezhilan didn't properly account for, also took out a soldier, while one of them managed to escape alive. The Prince also took out the vice-captain before going down.

He shouldn't have expected any less from the Prince. He was trained with the ways of the sword and warfare since he could properly hold it. That kid was desperate for his daddy's approval then.

He made sure to repay the favor of losing his best friend Vereswaran, by explaining to the prince why he was dying in the first place, before stabbing him in the heart. Sure, Nagendra gave the hit, which knocked out the fight from the prince, but it was Ezhilan who killed him.

The deaths that hurt the most were the two soldiers who were killed after the fight was over. They were so close to getting rewarded for their actions, but they died due to their injuries. Ezhilan got the news that Nagendra died from an illness, yesterday evening.

Looking at the remaining two soldiers of his squad, made Ezhilan regret that decision that night. Sure, he would have gotten a lot less land, but he wouldn't have lost most of the men he trained with for the past few years. If only, he could have not been that greedy.

"When will he come, captain? It looks like it's about to rain, we will be soaked if we wait for the rain to come," asked Paandu, tired of waiting for the man who was late for the meeting by two hours at this point. Ezhilan and Jeeva had arranged to meet at approximately 8 am, at a local outdoor pub. It was now after 10 am, but there was no sign of Jeeva.

The weather was unpredictable sometimes. Even though it was the onset of spring, the sky was filled with dark clouds.

"He is the one who is paying us, Paandu. Have some patience. If he tries to double-cross us, we will show exactly how we killed the prince by performing a live demonstration on him." said Ezhilan while taking a swig of kallu, also called palm wine, from a clay glass. The palm wine was at its best taste when consumed closer to when it was extracted from the trees.

"The first thing I will have to do is to buy a girl for the night. I can't wait for the transaction to be over. I'll be rich after today." said Ranga, the other soldier, who was fantasizing about the meager amount of wealth as if he was truly about to be rich.

Ezhilan knows that the land and the money they are taking for this job are not much for any rich lord. But what other choice do they have? Opportunities like this are far from common to poor folk like them. The reason they took up jobs as soldiers was for the better pay it provided than that of farm laborers.

An opportunity to get relatively rich, by only risking their life once is a golden opportunity for them. Not having to fight in wars on the whim of some drunk idiot, is a bonus.

Before Ezhilan could ask about the girl Ranga was trying to marry in Dharanikota, a commotion occurred on the road next to the pub. A group of about 40 to 50 people, all soaked in colors while playing Holi, was passing by the entrance of the pub.

Because of the decree passed by the Sultan of Golconda, any non-muslim festival was banned from celebrating in the urban territories of the Sultanate. This rule was strictly imposed in the core territories of the sultanate, near Golconda and the surrounding areas, but Machera was a town on the outskirts of the Sultanate.

To prevent any resentment from the locals and at the same time follow the decree of the sultan, the officials had come up with a clever way to circumvent the rules. 

The security personnel will follow fixed paths and only patrol slowly across the city looking for anyone violating the rules. This is to allow the local people to celebrate their festivals, while not getting caught breaking the law. 

Adapting to this, the Holi celebrations, which usually take place at fixed locations in each locality, evolved into moving bands of people who celebrate Holi with people across the town, while avoiding the security personnel at the same time. Things have also changed for other festivals similarly.

What Ezhilan and his two soldiers encountered now was one such group of people playing Holi. The last group passed by the pub half an hour ago, and they were spared from participating at that time. It seems they were not so lucky now.

Someone from the group noticed the patrons of the pub and the entire group turned towards them to drag them into celebrations. Many of the people at the palm wine shop, including Paandu had joined the group in celebrations.

The atmosphere was electrifying, filled with the sounds of laughter and music. Traditional drumbeats pulsed through the air, setting the rhythm for the joyful chaos that was about to unfold. Everywhere Ezhilan looked, faces were adorned with bright hues of powdered pigments, turning the crowd into a mesmerizing tapestry of colors.

Children squealed with delight as they darted through the crowd, their faces smeared with rainbow-colored streaks. Elders watched from the sidelines, their eyes twinkling with nostalgia as they reminisced about Holi celebrations from the past.

Amidst all the chaos, there was a commotion at the center of the celebration group. People were suddenly grouping in the middle, some of them bending to pick up something from the ground. Someone started shouting something, not audible to Ezhilan because of the commotion, but the group became more active in trying to grab whatever it was from the ground.

"Coins!" someone shouted.

"Someone threw their coins on the ground!" another person, a woman this time, shouted.

"I got a gold coin! A gold coin!" Someone else shouted, causing the group to become more proactive in trying to pick up the coins. The festival atmosphere was dying down fast, replaced with greed from these people who work every day to earn some of that money.

Ezhilan's caution spiked when he couldn't find Paandu who was just a few moments ago celebrating the festival with the group. He too seems to have gotten greedy for the money and was trying to pick some of it up for himself, even though the reason they came here was to earn money.

As Ranga also tried to join the group, he was stopped by a hand on the shoulder from Ezhilan. There was a look of alertness in the captain's eyes, which sobered up Ranga real quick.

"Something is very fishy. To be on the safe side, be cautious, and wait for Paandu to come back." Ezhilan said as he laid a hand on his sheathed sword, ready for any threats. His instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong. He felt like someone was watching him.

At the same time, a scream was heard from the commotion, and someone screamed out something and the group quickly moved away from the center, where a body was lying on the the floor.

Ezhilan caution indeed turned out to be for the right reason. There, in the middle of the courtyard, lying along with some coins and colors, Paandu's dead body was on the ground. Blood was quickly leaking from a dozen wounds caused by multiple dagger stabs into his body.

"Shit," Ezhilan muttered, looking at the dead body of his soldier. 

Holi is the day that celebrates good triumphing over evil. Unfortunately for Ezhilan, he was not on the good side that day.