Beyond the Fence

Chapter: 17

It was a week since Itis and Lavi had left to get Sir Robert and Agni's son. Kashvi could only wish they had taken a horse instead of walking all the way back to the town. If they don't make it in time, Kashvi could not even think about what the Potion master might do and yet they were so adamant to walk for 3 whole days! 

Sanjay had not let her practice for the entire week and Kashvi had felt restless. She wanted to do something instead of sitting and wondering where Itis and Lavi were. Agni wouldn't let her help in the kitchen either and in her spare time, Ojas took Agni away to teach her to make potions. Darsh and Asav were busy going around and asking for people to join them but even after a week, they could get no one to even consider joining. People were terrified of the Potion Master's wrath that they did not want to talk about a treason. Kashvi had no idea where Hardik would disappear at nights. She had asked him a few times but he would wave her off.  

If her calculations were correct, Itis and Lavi should be back in another week - if  Itis and Sir Robert could keep up with Lavi. The week had gone very peacefully and there were no suspicious deaths or fire and Kashvi wasn't sure that the next seven days would be the same. 

Kashvi sat on the porch's steps as she watched Sanjay and Asav train. She had wanted to train or atleast practice her powers but Sanjay wouldn't let her and even if he did her broken ankle wouldn't help. Though Agni's healing potions helped her ankle heal quickly, she did feel a prick of pain every time she put pressure to it. 

Sanjay's sword struck Asav's with such force that Asav took two steps back, panting. The blow was filled with anger and frustration, "what the hell was that?" Asav bellowed.

"Sorry- Sorry I was distracted," Sanjay said. "We better take a break."

"You better take a break, Sanjay. We are all desperate for this to get over but this fight will be nothing but a death wish if we are not patient, okay?" Asav said as he snatched Sanjay's sword out of his hands. "You better start training her. Tomorrow may not be so rosy." Asav patted Sanjay on his shoulders and walked inside. 

"You know, when you get worked up, a vein pops out right here-" Kashvi said, pointing to his right temples. "Come here."

Sanjay sat down in front of her and Kashvi gently massaged his temples. His shoulders were tensed for a long minute until Kashvi put a little more pressure. She worked her way down to his shoulders, removing the tensions there. He finally relaxed as he slid down and rested his head on her lap.

"Will we ever win?" He asked, his eyes closed.

"I don't know. Maybe."

"That is not something I want to be hoping on."

"Sanjay, I know you are not the man to believe on maybes' or ifs' and I know you want answers to everything. But sometimes, there are no answers and there will be no meaning to life if you just stop just because you don't have an answer or two. We fight for what we think is good, isn't that answer enough for you? We may win or we may fail, atleast this fight might give hope to this village." She said as she ran her hands through his hair, "let's make sure that we give the Potion Master something to fear."

"Heh, you have a way with words." Sanjay's eyes were closed and Kashvi wondered what was going on in his brains. "Do you have 'hope,' Kashvi?" Kashvi stopped massaging him, she wanted to hang on to her hope, she wanted to believe, but knowing that this fight was entirely upon her made her doubt they would even get close to the Potion Master. And even if they did, she wasn't sure she would be able to kill  a man, evil or not.

"That depends on how good a trainer you are." She ruffled his hair and he chuckled.

"Well, want to practice your powers with me?"