Rewriting the War (Duryodhan)

Chapter 16 - Something Warm

I ran wildly into the hut the minute she put me down, praying that someone would be inside, and to my utter relief, the very man I wanted sat by the cot.

He rushed towards me, taking in my disheveled state, and before he could even speak, Hidimbi entered the room in her human form.

"My brother... He is here." She stuttered, and simultaneously we heard the cause of her fear roaring in anger.

"Come out, sister. You still have a chance for me to forgive you. Turn the mortals at me."

Bheem immediately stepped out with his mace, having gotten the hang of the situation.

Hidimbi tried to voice out that it was a bad idea, but I silenced her with a simple shake of my head. It was going to be alright, or at least, that's what I wanted.

As I peeked out to witness the fight between a human and a demon, Hidimbi joined me with trembling fingers.

They were equally matched, and only when I finally saw some hope dawn in her face, it all crashed down.

A particularly nasty blow hit Bheem's chest, sending him down to the ground.

Hidimbi ran out ahead of me, changing into the demon that she was, while I ventured towards the lying human, who appeared to have no life threatening injury from the hit.

"Come on. You are not a match for me, little one."

"I may not be, but that doesn't give you the right to not acknowledge my efforts." She spat out.

"So this is all about praise, isn't it?" He twisted his lips menacingly.

"No!" Hidimbi yelled out so loudly that I saw birds fly collectively from the surrounding trees like those scenes from the movies.

"It's not about that, you piece of shit." Despite the situation, I managed to snort in amusement.

"When will you stop controlling me and accept that I am my own person!"

"What! Are these the ideas that the girl had sown in your head!" He was getting his temper back as I saw him jerk his head towards me.

"Are you dense! Do you seriously think my hate towards you is because of a mortal!" She roared with fury, and the man next to me regained his consciousness.

"I have been meaning to run away, and it has been in my head for days and days." Hidimba's undivided attention was on his sister's outburst; he didn't notice Bheem pacing towards him.

"But I knew you would catch me. So I waited, and this girl came, telling me about the brother that she had. I saw a chance. I knew that I was going to either be safe or dead. So I took it."

She finished softly. Her anger, which had grown from grief, returned to its original state as tears fell freely from her eyes.

Her brother looked stricken at her accusation yet he remained aloof.

"Fine. Go back to the cave; I will spare your life." If she was angry then, she was overcome with fury now. Her eyes were ready to burn her brother into a pile of ashes, while I just couldn't believe how dumb he was in reality.

"Gosh! I hate you." She screeched at the same moment Bheem hit the unsuspecting demon on his head.

I saw Hidimba's head split open and the blood splattered over his sister's and attacker's faces.

The next few minutes passed by in a blink.

Hidimbi fell on her knees crying.
I was running in her direction.
Bheem was already comforting her. One by one, the Pandavas were making their way out of the creepy forest with concern and questions in their faces.

"I am sorry." I heard Bheem say to her.

"No. You shouldn't be." She stood up, wiping her tears despite looking like she wanted to cry even more.

"He was your brother after all. Obviously you cared somewhat about him. I understand." Bheem put a comforting hand around her, and she crumbled again in his embrace.

"I don't like him, but..." She hiccuped.

"Shh...let us sit." He made her lean back against a tree, asking me to watch over her.