The Last Rudra

"Who are you? Why did you burn our village?" asked Arvindo stroking Diya's head, who was crying for Ishit, for the family thought the boy couldn't escape the fire. 

Ishit was speechless. He had thought the villagers would flee for their lives after seeing him, but here they were interrogating him. Ishit could reckon the reason. The folks of this part of Glassia had never experienced any invasion or anything like this. They hadn't seen the horror of wars. The tales that Lomans brought with them were nothing but pastimes to the villagers. The druids and the evil stone giants they fought with were just characters of their folklores. 

If Ishit wanted to make them run for their lives, he would have to show them the horror coming there at any moment. 

So Ishit didn't answer the yeoman; instead, he condensed lightning balls. The fierce lightning crackled as the balls grew. The air trembled, so did the villagers. Their face turned ashen white. It was Ishit's most powerful attack. 

"Fools! Your time is up. Now, face the wraith of Ashura." Ishit thundered as he threw the two balls at the appalled villagers. 

The two balls exploded above the panicked crowd, and the blue spark cracked loudly as if they were laughing. Invisible pressure came down on them. The women and children screamed as they fled to save themselves from the frightening bolts of lightning. 

Ishit let out a sinister laugh to enhance the effect. He hovered in the sky, throwing fireballs now and then. He chased screaming folks into the hills, driving them far away from the village. 

Of course, there were some stubborn fools like the smith, the priest, and two other farmers. They'd rather die than run for his life. 

Ishit had no time to play with them, for he could sense the danger closing in on them. The defilers had come. 

So, he knocked out the four fools, picked them, and flew away in the direction where Arvindo had fled away. He had to make sure the family was safe. 

After some searching, he found the family hiding behind a formation of rocks with a few other villagers. 

He dropped the four unconscious fellows on the earth. The villagers screamed as they started to flee. 

Ishit quickly knocked them out. 

"I will kill all of you if I hear any more screams," Ishit threatened them; he could see the shadows gathering around the burning village. It wouldn't take the defilers long to guess that their surprise -attack had been discovered. The defilers would then leave no stone unturned to smell out their escaped prey. 

Ishit had to warn the villagers that they should remain hidden till the druids got the news and arrived here. 

However, for this, he needed someone who could convince the frightened villagers. 

Ishit unmasked himself before the horror-stricken crowd. A gasp of surprise ran through the huddled villagers. 

What followed, one could easily imagine. If Ishit hadn't cast a shield around them, their shouts and wailing could have given away their hiding location to their enemies. 

They called him a devil in disguise. A snake whom they had raised, and in turn, it bit them. They cursed him to suffer for eternity. 

Thanks to the priest, who calmed down the crowd and gave Ishit a chance to explain himself. 

Ishit knew nothing he would say could justify his actions unless they saw the scourge of humanity themself.

So he brought Dhrita and the smith out and showed them the red-eyed shadows who were now destroying the mill which had escaped the great fire. Apparently, they were furious, finding that villagers had already fled away. 

The smith's anger ebbed away like air from a bellows. He shuddered as he watched one defiler uprooting the tree and throwing it into the blazing fire.

A gloomy silence fell upon the huddled villagers as they saw the death bringers that had come for them crossing the living sea. 

Dhrita turned to Ishit with a completed look on his face. His half-burned goatee looked so funny that if it had been some other night, Ishit was sure, the villagers would have laughed till their bellies hurt. 

However, tonight, none seemed to even notice it. Terror had gripped their hearts as they watched hundreds of defilers wrecking their already burned houses.

"Please forgive our impudence, venerable druid." said the priest; other villagers followed him.

"What are you all talking about? I'm not a druid."  Ishit said hurriedly. Of course, the villagers didn't believe him. Who could have such powers other than a druid? 

Ishit had to give in. Anyway, he couldn't tell them he had appeared in their country out of thin air from some unknown land called Varta. 

Ishit formed a camouflage shield around the villagers and told them not to stir if they didn't want to face a tragic death. 

He took the priest and gave a complicated glance to the lady who had treated him like her son.

Uma hadn't cursed him, nor did Diya. They had been looking at him as if trying to find the boy they had sheltered in their house. 

Ishit felt guilty about deceiving the family. He had imagined many ways how he would tell them about his departure. However, the way he was leaving was not one of them. 

"Please forgive me if you can." It was all he could say. He heard Diya sobbing as he left with the priest. 

Ishit had remembered the directions in which the rest of the villagers had fled. So it didn't take long for him to track them down. Most of them huddled together behind boulders;  only a few of them were hiding alone. 

With the help of Dhrita, Ishit didn't have too much trouble convincing them. Now he only hoped the defilers wouldn't search for the villagers in the surrounding hills, and the villagers would remain hidden till he brought the druids. 

****

According to Dhrita, there was no stronghold of red-cloaked druids nearby. The reason was simple no enemy had ever invaded Glassia from the sea. 

Besides, this part of Glassia was too remote. 

Vasta, the nearby city, was a hundred miles away from Lamia. It, too, had only white-robed or blue-robed druids. 

So expecting help from Druids soon was only a dream unless Ishit ran to Vasta to inform the druids' shrine. 

After realizing nothing he could do to help the villagers staying here, Ishit decided to leave for Vasta. 

He asked the priest about the route to Vasta and told him about his plan.

And that's how Ishit left Lamia, hoping the people he had spent his month would remain alive before the help came.

Ishit felt ashamed for leaving the village when its fate was uncertain. But he had to if he didn't want to watch every villager dying. He had heard the gory tales of defilers and knew too well what they were capable of. 

His father used to say 

"a yoddha knows when to retreat and when to strike. Never let your emotions guide your actions. "

***

Vasta was to the north of Lamia. There was no direct route to Vasta, for save Lomans none came to this part of Glassia. So if he wanted to reach the city he had to travel from village to village. 

Ishit gave the last glance to the mountains. In the moonless night,  they seemed hushed and brooding. 

***

Ishit didn't take the muddy path, sneaking through the hills, leading to the nearby village called Dhuni, where Diya's aunt lived. 

He didn't know how many defilers had infiltrated Glassia. It was clear they knew the demography of the empire too well, or there was no way they had come for Lamia straight. 

So he decided to travel through hills along the path. The shield couldn't help him much if he wanted to use spirit to hasten his pace. 

He activated his senses to their full extent and dashed off to Dhuni. 

Dhuni was 30 miles away from Lamia. Ishit took an hour to reach the Kali river. There was a wooden bridge on the small river. Dhuni was across it. 

With a long jump, he was on another side of the river. 

He could see the village sleeping just like Lamia, unaware of the impending calamity. Unlike Lamia, Dhuni seemed more developed and was sprawled on a hill. 

Gladly, no defilers seemed to get here so far. Ishit landed on the roof of the tallest building. 

He amplified his voice with the help of spirit to the extent that even a man in a deep sleep woke up. 

"Oyez, Oyez," Ishit shouted, imitating town criers, " Our country is under attack. So leave the village as soon as possible. Remember, you only have 20 breaths of time.  Find a good hiding place. Wait till the mighty druids come to help you." 

After repeating the fake shrine order, he hovered over the village with two blazing fireballs to add the effect.

Noticing a couple of people had seen him floating, he rushed off to the next village. 

Dear Reader

If you find the story is going astray, let me inform you. It is not .everything will be clear in the coming chapters.

By the way, if you're wondering what happened to Onish... he is Ishit and he will return just waiting for the ancient magic of Suta to fade away.