Interlude 01

[July, 1990.]

[Somewhere in the Greater Middle East]

Alamgir pushed the door open before walking into the straw house. His mouth briefly curled in disgust as he saw the man he had only met recently sitting in a chair. He suppressed his disdain for the kafir and put on a lazy smile before turning towards the man who had an indifferent expression as he looked at Alamgir. The sheer indifference creeped Alamgir out but he could not afford to look weak, after all that Haider bastard was just looking for an excuse to mutiny against Alamgir's command.

So, suppressing his indignation at the arrogance of the foreigner in his area, Alamgir said, "Vasudeva, you are here early. I told you yesterday that the girl won't be here until the evening," even as he took a seat on the protesting chair opposite to the foreign bastard.

"Alamgir, do you think I am an idiot?", the casual question from the foreigner made Alamgir pause before he frowned and said, "What do you mean Vasudeva?"

"A friend of mine recently found out who took the girl, Alamgir. Funny thing that the description of the warlord that took the girl and killed her family matched your own description."

Alamgir froze before his frown deepened and he said in a reassuring tone, "I can assure you Vasudeva that I had to pay a total of seventy thousand dollars to the warlord that had been holding the girl," even as he said this, Alamgir knew in his heart that the Kafir would only confront him if he was sure that Alamgir had tried to cheat him.

The man looked into Alamgir's eyes before he said, "Is that so?"

"Of course, Vasudeva. We have been conducting business for the past six years with your group. I am not betraying my best source of income."

The man nodded his face expressionless before saying, "Of course, Alamgir. Common sense dictates that you won't try to betray us. I just have one doubt, Alamgir, if you haven't betrayed my trust then why the fuck did I find her in your home?"

The man pointed towards the ground on his right and Alamgir saw the girl he was supposed to hand over to the man lying there as he had seen her a few hours ago in the bunker basement of his own home.

Alamgir did not wait for the man to continue, he was perfectly aware, unlike his peers, that Vasudeva would not confront him if he wasn't sure of his safety when speaking to Alamgir. So he did not stop to make excuses and immediately bolted towards the exit of the straw house so that he could alert his people to take Vasudeva hostage since Alamgir did not know if there was a drone above his head or not.

"Where do you think you are going?", the chair Alamgir had been sitting on turned into chains that immediately rushed and wrapped themselves around Alamgir's ankles before they were tucked and he was hosted upside down.

The speed of his capture and the force with which he was dangled from the chains made Alamgir's head dizzy even as he felt the injury the chains gave him.

"AAAAGH!!!!"

"Silencio, you will wake the child up, Alamgir," his screams were immediately silenced by the monster whose face remained set in a stony mask and, for the first time since he started working with the foreign bastard to negotiate with the other warlords for children and their families, Alamgir was sure that whatever he was dealing with, he could not fight against.

He settled for glaring at the infidel as he cursed himself for not bringing his revolver and having left it in the hands of his most loyal friend and subordinate, Abul.

Vasudeva tilted his face and Alamgir felt the man radiate joy even as his face remained as expressionless as before. The man's eyes sparkled and Alamgir could feel his heart sinking even as the man said, "You believe your guns would make a difference."

'Had I not been a bit lax, I would have had your body sliced into a thousand pieces by now, you son of a whore.'-- Alamgir howled in fury within his mind even as the infidel pulled at the end of his chain and started dragging his levitating body to the wooden door of the house.

Vasudeva opened the door and Alamgir flinched at what he saw. The five Toyotas that he had been using to get around were up in flames. He could see his men kneeling on the ground in a line with their hands tied behind their backs.

"Any problems?" Vasudeva asked pointedly and Alamgir grew even more alarmed when the reply was a scoff accompanied by, "Nah, what could a bunch of can't spells do to us?" The question made Vasudeva nod before he focused on Alamgir again.

"Why did you kill the family, Alamgir?" The question forced Alamgir into a momentary pause. He had orchestrated the family's demise because locating the girl by her name and her father's had been a straightforward task. Unfortunately, this family had been free, unaffiliated with any warlord's protection, unlike most of his other victims for whom he could inflate the ransom amount. In this case, his usual tactic of overcharging Vasudev wouldn't work. Therefore, he had decided to eliminate the family and falsely claim to have paid a hefty sum, seventy thousand dollars, to secure the girl's release, hoping to pocket the difference.

Alamgir was about to try to spin a tale about how Haidar had been responsible for the mission when Vasudeva hummed before saying, "So you did it for money, huh? And you can't blame it on Haidar, I already killed him- he actually was planning to kill two days from now, you know."

Alamgir froze. His body seized up even as he turned his face in a mechanical manner towards the demon in human flesh. The revelation of Haidar's betrayal and plan did not surprise him rather it was the fact that Alamgir hadn't spoken anything yet, he wasn't capable of speaking after whatever Vasudeva had done. It was almost as if…..

"--I read your mind," Vasudeva's soft-spoken words chilled the man's blood.

Before Alamgir could try to explain himself, Vasudeva pointed the stick at him and said, "Knew couldn't trust barbarians like you. May you suffer in the deepest corners of hell, Alamgir. Avada Kedavra."

The last thing that Alamgir and his militia saw ranged from a sickly green light to a blade that reeked of evil cutting through their neck as if it was cutting through butter.

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[Kashi, India.]

Vasudeva entered the old temple that had come to be associated with the headquarters of the Indian magical community. He walked up to the reception and stated to one of the many receptionists, "I am here to see the Indian Mugwump for the ICW."

The woman paused her writing on a sheet of vellum and looked up at him before asking, "Can I know your name, sir?"

"Senior Warlock for the ICW, Vasudeva Kumar. Tell him it is a general inquiry about the muggleborn registry for the Middle East."

The woman's eyes widened at his title before she nodded and quickly left to inform the man.

And even as she did, Vasudeva could only hope that they could finally get the registry working so that magical children could be detected by the ICW task forces without having to use unreliable divination magic. For the hundredth time, Vasudeva cursed the British for not letting the ICW conduct a study on Ravenclaw's quill and book.

'Fucking Whites! If we had that artefact, so many children wouldn't suffer!'

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A|N:

Hope you liked the interlude. Vasudev is a member of the elite combatant units known as the 'Warlocks' of the ICW that operate in only special circumstances.  The ICW has many military powers, unlike its non-magical counterpart. Most of its members are, however, largely unaffiliated wizards who have either a nomadic lifestyle or don't come under the jurisdiction of any magical government.

They can only be deployed either during a national level clause 73 breach or when the two/thirds of the ICW vote for them to move during special circumstances.

Vasudev's racist remarks against the British and the Arabs are wrong but remember that he is a real person with the faults of a real person. Cursing a nation or ethnic group for the actions of a small group is perfectly normal. (It's not rational though.)

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