Shadow and Light

26

The Shadow

I heard what he did, when I was unconscious, all I could say was nothing really, I just had a huge smile on my face for the rest of the week.

I had healed, somehow Druhyu didn't get punished, but I was glad because once I had hold of my weapons, I am going to do the same exact thing I did to his father, slash his fucking throat.

I was up and walking in no time, but everyone looked at me in terror, not because they know what I am capable of, but because my husband will literally behead them if something happened to me, but that was all bullshit, I know it was just a stunt he pulled to make everyone believe he loves me and cares about me etc.

It was noon, the sun was high up in the sky, when I trailed around the practice room, there were hundereds, no, thousands of shirtless men practicing sword fighting, and leading them was none other than my husband.

He was shirtless, and his bare torso did something to me that nothing ever did. His bronzed, perfectly sculpted body, embedded with scars from battles long forgotten, made me suck in a breath.

His movements perfect, sharp and lethal. He was strong yet bendable like a bamboo, he was everything a soldier should be, seeing him leading his vast army made me smile. I hadn't thought that something so simple as a practice session would make me delighted.

I came out of my trance when I noticed I couldn't hear the sound of their swords gliding through air, I looked at all of them, thousand pairs of eyes stared back at me.

I cleared my throat and gave a little bow, "Greetings, I am sorry to interrupt you" I began to leave when, "Ada! Why don't you come and show us some of your moves" he smiled, I stared at him then at the cavalry of men present there.

"Me?" I asked, pointing towards myself, "Yes, you" he nodded, I walked up to him and whispered to him, "What are you doing?", "You might be a criminal but you are also an amazing swords woman" he stated, my mouth hung open.

I nodded after a thought, I extend my arm and a daas (Servant) handed me a sword, I arched an eyebrow, weighing the sword, "Hm, not bad"

I turned the sword in my hand, making a vertical circle, and then pointed it towards the men standing before me, my left leg behind me, the hilt of the sword parallel to my eye.

"I can work with this" I said, "But not with this" I pointed towards the saree I had decided to wear today.

"No worries we can fix that" Ranvijay said, "All men, turn around" he barked, "Lets see" he took my pallu from the shoulder and unclipped it from my torso, "Take this and put it in the back taking it from between your legs" He handed me the pallu and I did as he asked me, in a minute the lower part of my saree worked as a salwar and my blouse was well my blouse.

"All men, turn around" he ordered again.

He nodded at me; I did the same.

This makeshift dress was so comfortable, I wanted to dance, but I didn't because I didn't know how to and also there were about thousand men who could see me.

I started my routine, which I had religiously followed for the past 7 years, I had made this myself. It gave me the ability to enhance my swordsmanship and give me strength.

I performed the routine in a rhythm, my sword cutting through air, as if cutting it in a million tiny pieces, my sword was all over the place, my legs moved as if they were actually dancing, my left hand behind my back, my face devoid of any emotions.

Once I finished, I could hear cheering and clapping, they were all cheering for me? Why? They did this sort of routine everyday. Their reaction towards me wasn't a shocker and neither did it give me any sense of triumph.