Loving You Through Lifetimes

Search Parties

The monsoon had begun and the drizzling rain moistened the mud on the forest floor. 

"The Rakshasa sell shapeshifting potions, we still have a chance to escape!" Pauruseya reminded me. 

I said happily, "Do you have any such potions on you?" 

"No" he murmured, "I left my vial inside the common tent, at the Rakshasa army camp" 

I sighed in disappointment, "What shall we do?"

"The only option we have is to raid lone Rakshasas and steal the potion from them" he stated. 

"You are right but to do that, we need to leave the relative safety of the forest!" I cried out. 

"We don't have much of a choice here, do we?" he pointed out, "Besides, the Rakshasa soldiers will have started searching the outskirts of this forest by now" 

I nodded, "True..." before I could complete the sentence, I froze. 

We could hear soft footsteps, crunching on gravel and dead leave. A hoarse male whisper that said, "Men! Split into two divisions and search both sides"

With our Yaksha and Rakshasa enhanced hearing, we could hear them despite their low voices. 

"They're here, what do we do now?" I mouthed. 

"Let's stay hidden and let them approach us first" he mouthed back. 

We waited impatiently, hidden behind a huge banyan tree. We heard the footsteps approaching closer. From the sound, we realized that both search parties were closing in on us. 

"You combat those on the left, I will take on the right" he mouthed to me. I nodded.

The minute they reached closer, we sprang out of our hiding places. Pauruseya was already armed, he swung his battle axe, decapitating a man. 

I wrestled another soldier and snatched away his iron Mugdar[1] club. I smashed it across his head and he died on the spot. With a roar, I rushed at my next opponent, dodging his blows and I delivered a killing blow. 

I glanced to my right and saw that Pauruseya was chopping down his opponents into pieces. Convinced that he could handle it by himself, I focused on my opponents. 

After half an hour, we stood there, panting, covered in blood. Now that I had calmed down, I saw that we were surrounded by gruesome bodies, either crushed or chopped. The coppery tang of fresh blood wafted to my nostrils but I resisted my rising nausea. 

"You remain unfazed by this sight..." I heard Pauruseya ask me.

Thinking he was criticizing me, I turned towards him to give him a piece of my mind. I was pleasantly surprised to see admiration and raw desire in his eyes instead. 

Before I could answer, he covered the distance between us in a few strides. He grabbed me by the back of my neck and bent over, face inches away from mine "Push me away if you don't want this..." 

I responded by shutting my eyes and tilting my head back in welcome. I could hear husky laughter and the next moment, his lips melded into mine. I don't know for how long we kissed but by the time we were done, my lips were badly bruised. 

He nibbled playfully at my lower lip before letting go. I giggled and suddenly, his lips traced a line from my lips to my blood-splattered cheek. 

"Wait, you will get blood in your mouth..." I said, worriedly. 

He responded by licking at the blood, sensuously, from my cheek to the base of throat. "There is nothing more irresistible to a Rakshasa man than a valiant warrior woman. If she is covered in the fresh blood of her enemies, then, primal desire only increases tenfold" 

I shivered at his delicious words and sensual actions, he smirked and let go after a quick nip to my throat. I softly rubbed the spot and grinned up at him.  

"Let's go" he said, gesturing to the bodies around me. We both searched and found a few vials of shapeshifting potions. 

We gulped down two vials each, saving the remaining total of four vials for near future. The next moment we shapeshifted into human bodies. 

Without his trademark Rakshasa features, he looks even more handsome, I thought to myself. 

Two Hours Later

We managed to safely leave the forest and arrived at the outskirts of a town with a wooden board saying, 'Pollonnaruwa.' 

"This is my birthplace" Pauruseya told me, "I moved to Lankapuri in search of employment when I grew older. Where are you from, Manovega?" he asked.

"I am from Anuradhapura" I told him, "My family relocated to Alakapuri due to my father's work too" I sighed, "I keep forgetting that Alakapuri has recently been renamed as Lankapuri" 

He gave me an understanding look, "I can only imagine how uprooted you must be feeling, I feel bad you have to go through this" 

"As did you and your family, when Yakshas ruled Alakapuri. You must have felt so alienated then. It is only natural for the cycle to repeat itself, it is karma after all" I said, gently.

"Before I met you, perhaps, I would have believed this. Now, I realize that our goal should be to end discrimination. What is the point of perpetuating discrimination? An eye for eye makes the whole world blind" he said, softly, "If only my comrades could understand this" 

"True, but I still wish the Yaksha reign had handled things much better" I whispered, "I can never forgive the way Kubera turned a blind eye to the discrimination faced by the Rakshasas. I am deeply disappointed and aggrieved that your people had to go through all this." 

Pauruseya shook his head, "The Rakshasa reign is not doing any better either. If Rakshasas truly wished to end the cycle of discrimination, then, we would not be on the run today. Today, I am a traitor to the Rakshasa empire just because I protected a woman from rape. What sort of justice is Ravana trying for? Mass rape and plunder? I am disillusioned and disheartened."

He tenderly cupped my cheeks, "The way we won war was underhanded. Ravana bought a major chunk of Kubera's Rakshasa army - the Nairratas"

"What?" I said, confused. 

"We won, by a hair's breadth, because Kubera's Nairrata army betrayed him on the battlefield" 

GLOSSARY: 

[1] Mugdar - A mudgar or mudgara is a type of gada from India, and it is generally considered to be made of wood, but can also be made of iron.