"Then you are convinced I will die."
Tish asked, her tone clearly suggested she didn't believe it.
Rudra didn't answer, he just looked away, jaw working. He had always taken lives. This was the first time he was actively trying to save someone's life. And gods, it was hard.
"Then enlighten me," Tish said abruptly, "How did I die?"
"Arrows," answered Rudra in a heartbeat, "Made of same thing Sword of Mamon is made. You couldn't heal yourself."
A long pause.
And then she asked, "Just to be clear.... there is a sword of Mamon and also arrow of Mamon? What's next? Spear of Mamon? Or perhaps hammer?"
A low rumble escaped the cavity of his chest and his pupils sharpened. The growl could be felt as much as it could be heard, both by living beings and non-living things. The glassware trembled. The air around him turned drier, hotter.
Percival couldn't stay by the door anymore. He walked inside, his eyes fixed on Rudra as he took his stand behind Tish, all protective.
But Rudra didn't look at him. He didn't care. He kept glaring at Tish. "You think this is a joke?" He asked, his voice dropped several octave, "You think I'd come all the way from Partha only to see you fooling around when both of our life is on line?"
Tish did not back down. The same girl who used to tremble if Rudra had just looked at her, just tilted her head. And then she leaned in. "I know you haven't come just to see me fooling around," she hushed, "I know why are you here. You are here to do the same thing your grandfather has been here for."
Rudra blinked. Blinked again. Tish looked dead serious.
"My what?" He asked, dryly. Behind Tish, Percival looked mildly alarmed. He hissed, "Tish!" He warned, "Don't -"
"Rāvanya!" Tish snapped, "Ring a bell? Your grandmother?"
Rudra tilted his head, wondering if Tish's words would make sense if he was looking at her from a different angle.
"How come you know my grandmother?"
Tish exploded- a supernova of gold and white light erupting from her skin, her hair whipped up in a halo of pure radiance. Somewhere, a stained-glass window Cracked. Percival leaned away, squinting his eyes- his expression silently screaming - oh no, not this again.
"HOW COME I KNOW YOUR GRANDMOTHER?" The words came out with their own shockwaves, "BECAUSE SHE WAS A DAUGHTER OF RĀVA TOO! AND YOUR GRANDFATHER BLACKMAILED OUR PEOPLE TO GIVE HER AWAY TO MARRY HIM!"
Rudra's hair started stinging- a few strands might have caught fire- he leaned back flattening himself against the mattress.
"You don't know that," Rudra argued, "It could have been a love marriage!"
For a second, the temperature dropped. And then the heat came back in ten folds.
This time it wasn't a supernova. It was an extinction event.
Light tore out of Tish's hand like a white solid pillar and slammed into Rudra, his flesh started burning while his draconic core worked overtime frantically healing the fresh burns. The bed under him broke with a loud crash. Holy sigils appeared on the floor- glowing, chasing eachother in blazing rings across the stone.
Mamon abruptly appeared at the door. Took a look at Tish glowing like the second coming of Goddess Rāva herself and then spat at Rudra, "Serves you right!" Then he simply walked away- wise enough not to intervene.
Tish didn't care about Mamon.
"LOVE MARRIAGE?" Tish's hair floated as if she was underwater, her robes snapping in a wind that wasn't there, her eyes burned pure gold, "IT WAS BLACKMAILING AND KIDNAPPING! LIKE YOU ARE TRYING TO DO WITH ME! YOUR WHOLE FAMILY IS A BUNCH OF BLACKMAILING LIZARDS!"
Percival, Rudra noted vaguely, brave and fool, came to hug Tish from behind, "It is not worth it, Tish. It's not worth trying to torture him without finding the Sword of Mamon first!" He soothed her, "You are wasting your holy magic, Tish! He is not worth wasting Rāva's blessing!"
Tish squeezed her eyes shut. The glow guttered out as fast as it has flared, leaving Tish standing there with heaving chest. Her hair and robes settled first. But when she opened her eyes, they were still glowing a little too longer before the light in them flickered out.
"I need to sit down," Tish announced. ''Outside," Percival suggested, "In the garden." He didn't wait for her to agree. He placed a hand on the small of Tish's back and led her to the door.
He looked back once throwing Rudra a dirty look as if her angrer issue was somehow Rudra's fault, go figure.
Once they had left, Rudra turned to look at Nayan who was cowering at a corner.
"What are they feeding her here?" Rudra mused, "She wasn't like this back in Partha!"
Both of them fell quiet for several seconds. And then Nayan whispered, "Could be because of that incident."
"Because of that shapeshifter ?" Rudra mused, a little surprised, "She should be grateful I saved her that day! She would have died had it not been for me!"
Rudra had always remembered that day he had saved Tish from the hand maiden- who was not a human but a shapeshifter.
Last year, that particular species had been running havoc in entire capital city, causing deaths left and right to the point Ravaan had to appoint Rudra himself to handle the matter. And Rudra had spent days and nights hunting shape shifters across the Capital city of Ashkavar only to spot one hiding right under his nose, pretending to be his fianceé person, inside her quarter.
The absolute. Nerve.
Not to mention thoss freaks hunted only those who were lonely and neglected- meaning Rudra's Fianceé- with atleast a dozen of maids shadowing her wherever she went, while she live in possibly one of the most luxurious building in the entire continent - was lonely? Neglected ??
He had killed it immediately ofcourse. He didn't even wait for any gratitude or thanks. He had left to check whether any other shape shifters was hiding as one of her other attendees.
But now Nayan was asking him questions he hadn't asked him before.
"Did you even tell her that woman was a shapeshifter?" Nayan whispered, "She might have thought that was a incredibly kind and sweet woman and you have just..... murdered her."
The thought was ridiculous. Rudra laughed, "Sure. Everyone knows shapeshifters smell wrong. Also their blood is darker," he rolled his eyes, "She must have noticed when I cut off that monster's head."
Nayan closed her eyes.
Rudra blinked, "But you were sent off outside the capital to hunt those things at other parts of the country. If they are not so noticeable, how were you doing that."
It was true. While Rudra was in charge of hunting shapeshifters inside the capital, Nayan was ordered to do the same outside the capital, with her own group of seasoned soldiers.
"Days," Nayan sighed, "It took us days. We would receive news, travel to a place, capture a suspect and keep them quarantined for days - observing them day and night to see them slip, see them slip into their animal form. Why did you think it took me months before I could come back while you cleared the capital in span of few days?"
Rudra opened his mouth and closed it. It was also true that it did take Nayan months before she came back to the Palace and found Rudra angry and frustrated out of his mind.
She had never been there during the entire time Rudra and Tish had tussled with eachother.
Would things have been different had she been present?
"But," Rudra cleared his throat loudly, "But I saved her life!" The words- excuse - sounded weak, petty.
"And does she know that?"
For that Rudra had no answer.