The water only came up to Rudra's chest. The current of it even in the canal was strong. But the strong current wasn't the worst issue.
It was the cold.
Rudra walked pushing through the muddy water with the coil of rope around his right shoulder. The ground beneath him was made less with mud and more with woods and debris of the dams.
And other things.
Rudra stepped on something which made a sickening wet cracking noise which he did his best to ignore. The bodies which were pinned underwater were beyond saving anyways. So Rudra focused on those who were floating above. He spotted a man, bloated, eyes wide and unblinking with eyes. He was stuck in a bush of reeds. Rudra waddled to him and then tied his feet with the rope. He started walking again, following by the floating corpse tied to him with the rope.
Yards apart he found a woman, floating dangerously close to the mouth of the canal leading to Rā. Rudra secured the corpse.
The sun never rose. The ashes kept the sky consistently dull and dark keeping the lands of Benevia stuck in a state of Twilight. Rudra swatted away a raven flying too close to the corpse of the man.
A canoe of a few Benevian rescue workers passed Rudra. "Bastard!" Hissed one of them. Rudra's head snapped up. There were five of them on the canoe, all of them looked angry, disgusted. Any of them could have said it.
Rudra sighed. He understood his father had been right. Dead men are better company. And livings only know how to whine.
His gaze flickered to the High Bank. There, somewhere in the dark Nayan was keeping an eye over him. Ravaan hadn't left a single soldier with Rudra except Nayan. Why should he? Dragons didn't need protection.
But Nayan insisted they needed an eye on the entire area while he did his....well, "community service ". And Rudra had allowed her, because part of him knew Nayan was right. With all the smoke, murky waters and disastrous landscape - they were completely blind from all sides. And one of the had to secure a high ground. And the other part of him knew Nayan was just finding excuses to stay out of water. She was one of the Pundākus from the other side of the Great Eastern River, she had come all the way from Vanga fifteen years ago, following her Delegate father who was sent by the Leaders of Vanga, the twelve secretive Chiefteins- for ensuring amicable relationship between Vanga and Partha. The Pundākus are rumoured to have feline ancestors. They don't generally like getting into water unless they absolutely have to.
And Rudra's community service of collecting corpses wasn't exactly a life or deaths situation, not atleast to Nayan. So Rudra continued alone. Atfirst he had tried to keep close to the impromptu 'Rescue' centers the Benevians has set up just at the edge of the submerged low bank- which had turned more or less into morgues for preserving bodies until the families come to collect them. But he had realised pretty soon that the other rescuers were failing to carry on the work but was succeeding to cause obstacles in his path- if he was anywhere near twenty yards from them.
"Look at the monster!"
"How dare he shows his face here!"
"He is pretending to be toothless because he is trying to impress the Saintess!"
"What? The Saintess? Hahaha! He really thinks she'd ever choose him?"
"Arrogant, cruel, selfish bastard!"
At some point someone had thrown a brick at his head. It has hit him at the corner of his forehead, opening a wide cut there.
Rudra had glared the rescuers, so angry that he wasn't sure if he should burn them alive or just drown them in the water.
And then he had noticed the Prince of Benevia, standing just a hundred feet away from the dock, flipping through some papers with a couple of old men hovering around him- doing his best to pretend he was working.
He hadn't been there to make sure Rudra was performing his side of the deal. He had been there to catch the second Rudra would failed. Hence he had kept his eyes stubbornly on the paper while the people threw bricks and pebbles at Rudra.
"Die! Monster!"
"Nobody wants you here! You're better off dead!"
"Hit him! Hit him harder!"
Rudra could have reacted, he could have torn off the tongue, rip away the jaws of those foolish, reckless bastards before his first blood drop could hit the surface of the water. But he didn't. He had spotted Nayan rushing down from the High Bank and had shaken his head sternly- an order.
The Benevian people wanted to see Rudra fail because they had loathed him. So he had decided to make them loath him even more.
By succeeding.
He had flicked his wrist, dismissing Nayan before she could have reached the place and had walked off towards the farthest place from the rescue centers to resume his duty or collecting bodies.
Currently he had a dozen of corpses tied to his arm by thick roaps as he dragged them back to the rescue center to deposit before venturing back into the swamp to collect a fresh batch.
He hauled the lot over the deck before untying their legs one by one. The Priest in charge of watching the collection of deads of that particular center watched him with heavy-lidden eyes. He didn't mock at Rudra or threw anything at him.
And then he suddenly moved.
Instinctively Rudra held a hand over his own face to pretend any sudden assault. Just because hehealed fast didn't mean he enjoyed getting hit.
But the blow never came. The Priest moved his hand to the jar sitting at his elbow on a small table, he then poured a glass of water and offered it to Rudra, "Drink. You have been working for hours."
Rudra narrowed his eyes, "Do you not know who I am? Did you not see others cursing and hitting me for my sins?"
"And?" Asked back the Priest, "Does that mean the sinners don't get thirsty?"
Rudra didn't know the answer. He wasn't thirsty, not really. He could live days without even swallowing his own spit thanks to his dragon origin. But he couldn't tell the man no.
It felt strange that he could be so much unbothered when people were showering him with threats and insults but a little act of kindness had made him feel..... awkward.
For some reason he couldn't meet the man's eyes. He ducked his head and took the glass simply because he didn't want this particular conversation to carry on.
He drank the water in one breath and slammed the glass back on the table, "Do not think this means anything," he grumbled, retreating a little too fast. The Priest only laughed.
Rudra stepped into the water, waddling as fast as he could pushing past the plants and debris.
And then his vision darkened.
Ofcourse. Nobody in this world would be kind to a dragon. - Rudra thought to himself as his head went down the water.
As his brain started shutting down, Rudra frantically tried to grasp at anything, any memory, to keep his consciousness floating.
The corpses. The deal with Tish. Pandākus.
But all that echoed in his mind was the words the Benevian rescuers had thrown at him- "Nobody wants you here! You're better off dead!"
And so Rudra let go.