The Haunted Fortress of Bhangarh: Book 1

77. To the armory

The celerity with which the humans were charging towards them forced the trio into backing further up the stairs of Surya's palace. Indeed the circle of light was ineffective against the men and women darting towards them at enormous speed, for they were able to cross the barrier with an ease that pleased Kalavati.

But Ishita was highly horrified, for she had no defense to muster against the horde of humans with blades in their hands and their eyes turned to milky-white stones. Comprehending that they were under some form of dark magic that rendered their thinking capacity useless, she grabbed the wrists of both the discombobulated boys and ducked sideward, thereby deftly evading the onslaught of weapons and a bloodthirsty crowd. An outcry from Rishabh indicated to her that one such sharp blade had caught him while Rudra's scream also told her that his skin got slashed too.

Not wasting another second, she pulled the two of them closer to herself, backed away a couple of steps, and began rushing down the stairs, striding down a path in a direction opposite to the lady in red and her army.

She could hear the clanking of the swords behind them, but she didn't have the courage to halt for even a moment and discern what was going on. The men and women—perhaps they were the villagers from the nearby settlements—were busy following the trio, and the scores upon scores of people were also gliding down the same gradient, keeping a close eye on the dancing mane of black hair belonging to Ishita.

Rudra was feeling a constriction in his chest as blinding pain from the wound he had received tore through his existence. The erratic throbbing of his heart narrated a tale of exhaustion, fatigue, and sheer loss of blood, but he didn't have it in him to stop at any point in time. It was not just his life on the line. He couldn't let Ishita or Rishabh die when all they did was enter the haunted fortress to save his skin. Hence, he clenched his fist around Ishita's wrist and increased his pace, scampering past the ruins and scurrying along the uneven trails.

On crossing one such dilapidated edifice that he didn't even pay attention to the first time they visited the fort on the trip, he doubled back to take a good look at it as recollections from the yore flashed through his mind, and his brows furrowed.

Ishita sensed him stop prematurely as her hands slipped from his, and she halted in her tracks too. "Rudra!"

Her cry caught him off guard, and he eyed the incoming horde of furious humans. "Come on, you two," he said, motioning at the tired Ishita and Rishabh. "Inside this edifice."

Rishabh peered at the broken walls of the timeworn structure lying in ruins along the side of the road. Without wasting a second, he tugged at Ishita's arm and ran straight up the set of stairs closely followed by Rudra. The three of them crouched down behind one of the supposed windows near the opening. She expeditiously took off the chain and shut her palm with the locket in it, allowing the circle of light to recede to a very small radius just so they could evade detection by the humans. The trio watched on as the angry crowd sprinted down the incline, screaming in fury that was not even their own.

Rudra collapsed on the floor full of rocks and pebbles, shutting his eyes for a moment and letting out a shallow puff.

Ishita took some time to trace the wounds on the two men. Rudra had a gash along the length of his chest. His bloodied shirt was drenched in the red hue while Rishabh had a deep incision on one of his arms. Her own cheeks were on fire due to the numerous cuts and scrapes she had received until then.

Rishabh sighed in relief once the mob had passed. "That was close." He groaned in agony when Ishita lightly touched the gash on his arm. "Yeah, it hurts," he mumbled.

"Sorry, dude." Rudra patted his own laceration. "It's all on me. I owe you one."

"Damn right, you do!" Rishabh chuckled. "You owe me big time if we get out of here safe and sound." Glimpsing at the cut on Ishita's cheeks, his lips drooped. "You are injured too."