(Book 5) Hayden Mackay and The Pride of Haima-Endira

32. Briefing

Part 3: The Warfare

Chapter 32: Briefing

"Pruthvi?"

The clip-clop of horses created slight tremors in the quiet area like my insides were doing at the moment and my teeth chattering with cold.

"Pruthvi?" I called him again and gasped, before slipping behind the bushes and plonked myself down to the snow-filled ground. It was way too early in the morning and had been quiet and easy to sneak out of barricade until the entrance to the Uttarameer began filling up with the bustling and chatting of the knights.

"Pruthvi?" I articulated his name, again and again, desperately trying for the mind connection. I had my jaw clenched, waiting for his reply, entire body rigid with anticipation of getting back home.

"Holy hell! Is that really you?" Pruthvi finally answered, in a nervous restless manner.

"Yes, I'm coming back. You gotta open Gates for me."

There were a sniffle and an expelled breath. Pruthvi remained silent for a while but I was aware that the connection wasn't lost. "Is everything okay?" I asked, getting a hunch that something terrible must have happened. It's simply mayhem down in Dakshinpur, she had said, hadn't she?

"Y..yes," he stammered, "Nothing that we hadn't dealt with before. So you're coming home. Terrific. I'll ask Ira to open Gates."

"Tell me the truth!" I growled, and it hurt my jaw. "Please, just tell me that atleast it's not one of us."

Every time I returned home from a job, it has become a tradition to lose someone near and dear to my heart. Maybe I was predictably paranoid, but I couldn't ignore the signs, especially when they were this clear in his voice.

Pruthvi sniffed again. "Not really sure if it's one of us. Just come home, Hayden. We can talk about this later."

I pulled my bag up giving a rueful sigh. "I want to see you and Leena first. Nobody can know I'm coming back. Absolutely no one. Do you understand? Let Ira be the exception. Come and see me behind the apartment?"

"And Nazira too?"

"No!" I said, hurriedly sitting straight. For the very first time, there was no longing to see her. "Not her. She has to wait a little bit more."

"Who's there?"

A gruff voice came from a distance. I lost my concentration and Pruthvi's voice eventually faded away. I crouched up, casting frightened glances. A knight walked closer holding a lantern, squinting into the darkness and pointing a musket straight ahead without even knowing that he has taken me as an aim at the target. I quickly ran further inside the bushes like a sneaky little thief. To open Gates for me was going to be a little bit of a hassle.

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Ira wouldn't let me go.

She grabbed me in a big bear hug and squeezed until I was going to suffocate. Despite the aches in my muscles, I felt cocooned in her warmth. A sort of a cure, it seemed to be, to erase the negative effects of all the suffering I went through in the past months as if it never happened.

"I'm so glad you are back," she said, finally letting me go, her eyes watery.

"Same here," I replied, with a soft snigger, "Mrs. Zutshi, er, did anything happen?"

She ignored me. "Pruthvi and Leena will be here in a moment. Your aunt has come back and living in Sharad's palace. She's worried sick about you. Don't you want to see her?"