The Princes of Ayodhya-The Ramayan Through Short Stories

The Shakti Saga-Part 2: 'In Moments'

"Good things always take time. But bad things? They happen in mere seconds. So don't take things for granted. Because that single source of support you have, always there but blended into the background, will disappear in seconds. Hold on tight, pull hard, and pray that the demons aren't pulling harder."

Sulochana exhaled as she watched Indrajit walk out of the room. The moment his footsteps receded, and she sensed his presence gone, she rushed towards the window. There was still a large dent in the rock, where the snake had bitten into with his ominous note. Silently (for she didn't dare utter treasonous words in the palace), the wife of Meghnad wondered if the note would come true that day, if Indrajit was actually next.

There was silence, a quick inhalation in the room, and then she descended into mad laughter. Collapsing on her bed, clutching her stomach tightly, Sulochana laughed. She looked like a witch, not a princess, her hair messily strewn everywhere, her face crazed, and her laughter hacked out of her throat in little hitches. She looked, very much, Indrajit's wife, her eyes descended in bloodlust and shudderingly deranged. Next? Her Indrajit?

Sure, those monkeys had killed Prahast, Virupaksh, all the nephews of Ravan, all of his sons, even Atikaya and large giants such as Kumbha, Nikumbha, and Kumbhakaran. But her Indrajit was in a league of his own. How were they supposed to counter pure genius? She pitied those hermits and their jolly group of jungle dwellers. They wouldn't know what was coming for them. Best case scenario, they died early, or else Indrajit would drag everything out. They would feast on blood that night, she knew.

------O-------

"Putri," Trijata began. Sita showed no signs of hearing Trijata as she picked at the threads of her clothes. Years of unreplacement and heavy conditions had made them threadbare and thin, but she still clutched them around her body tightly like the armor of a warrior. And perhaps it was her own sort of defense. Perhaps she was her own sort of warrior. Awoken from her descent of thoughts with the call of a bird and the blowing of a conch, Trijata continued. "Putri. Today, Meghnad has entered the battlefield once more. The rumor is-" she looked around. "The rumor is that the brother of Ram, your devar, shall fight him."

If Sita was ignorant before, she was feigning it, for upon the sound of 'brother', she sat up with a start. Her eyes widened, popping out of their sockets, and she glanced at Trijata. A wide smile spread across her face, and Trijata stumbled back. For this was not one of happiness, but this was one of thirst. Who said Sita's soul was sweet, for at this moment, she looked like Maa Kali herself. "Yes. Now my Lakshman will enter the battlefield, and show everyone what Ravan had dared bring up. Nothing but a storm."

She stood up as her guard rakshasis hastily stepped back another few meters. "The vaanr sena was just a starter course. Now you'll see what the Raghu clan can truly do. Hermits? Ha!" Sita threw her head back and laughed, before moving it back. The sindoor placed right in the center of her hairline scattered, falling into her forehead. "They won't be hermits once Lakshman rips Indrajit's throat out and throws it into the arms and heart of Lanka. I would like to see Ravan's face then."

-----O------

"So close," Sumitra whispered, wiping the beads of sweat off her brow delicately as she stood up after her prayers in the Vishnu temple. "So close to seeing my sons and my daughter again. It has been thirteen years and many months, and finally, I feel as if I can taste happiness again." She smiled, her eyes wandering over to where Urmila and Shrutakirti picked flowers together.

It was one of the few times they were able to behave like the young princesses they were, instead of the Regent Queen and a wife without a husband, one only in the legal scriptures. Sumitra would ask herself how they both stayed so strong, but she knew that their answer would be the same as it always was. To see their beloved again. Such a big sacrifice. With what reason?