Ayana was one of the Independent states with the maximum civilian villages, henceforth it was an extremely turbulent area as the majority population exercised dominance over the Kusokans. States like Ayana with a majority civilian population did not join the Central and its allies because that would mean giving up their own influence and power. Henceforth to maintain their own authority over the states they remained as a part of the Independent.

'Shindi' was a civilian village in Ayana, lying near the border of 'Land of Rivers' and 'Ayana'. The village is looked after primarily by the Rana family who are like the de-facto guardians of the village. The Rana family is a community that absolutely detests the Kusokans who they believe are the ones who desecrated their gods with their abilities. Many members of the Rana family were killed by Kusokans in the never-ending power struggle with the Kusokan villages. The Rana family were pioneers in the dairy business and helped in the development of the village, because of which they had unconditional support from the town people.

Sridha was the eldest daughter and the only remaining child of the Rana family. Her father an extremely influential man and the current head of the Rana family. He is the most powerful entity in the civilian camp against the Kusokans. During the skirmishes with the Kusokan villages he had sent all three of his son into battle, two of them died and the eldest went AWOL. After he lost his sons his hatred for the Kusokans which was kind of a family heirloom became an obsession, he tried to force Sridha into a marriage when she was only seventeen to strengthen his alliances with other civilian villages. Disgusted by her father's behaviour Sridha ran away from home. She only came back when her mother had finally convinced her father to not force her into a marriage. It has now been four years since then. The demise of her brothers and her father's obsession had taken a toll on the Rana Family name.

Mister Rana who is Sridha's father stayed away from the work that he was responsible for as the village head and focused all his energy and attention on persecuting the Kusokans and a Rebel-faction that had set base near Shindi. The town was already suffering from a lot of problems and the renewed war with the Kusokan villages only created more problems. The 'Concentric' clearly had no interest in solving this dispute and the people higher up had given complete freedom to Mister Rana.

***

Sridha, a twenty-one-year-old young woman with average height and sharp features walks into a small establishment, seemingly looking like an office. She keeps her purse on the desk and then sits on the chair next to it and starts fumbling her purse. Another young woman of about twenty-five years of age walks out of the only room in the establishment.

"Sridha! you're early today." The other woman exclaims.

"Good morning Madhuri", Sridha replies still fumbling her purse.

Madhuri glances at the picture on her table,"You were again at the barracks? It's been four years now."

Sridha doesn't say anything just puts the picture inside the drawer.

"You are the smartest person I know Sridha, you've even surpassed your father. Today because of your investments we have a steady flow of food and water. Business is slowly getting bigger while your father is waging an unnecessary war, you are the one who's actually taking care of this village. Everybody here knows and accepts that."

" But this is madness, after seeing Sameer and Digvijay's bodies' do you really want to go through that again."

Sridha clearly irritated with Madhuri's rant replies in an agitated tone, "So what should I do? Give up on the chance that Manish bhaiya (elder brother) might be alive? Or just simply move on like his fiancée"

A visible startled Madhuri replies with her head down, "That's cruel"

A long pause ensues.

"I'm sorry." Sridha tries to make peace realizing her outburst was unnecessary.

"Alwad ji (An honorific added after the name, with respect to elders) wanted to meet you to discuss when you plan on opening the second school. It's almost ten, so I'll check on Yahaan and come back in twenty minutes. He's at the neighbours because my husband and I both had to go to work early today and has a running fever." Madhuri leaves the establishment in a hurry completing her sentence quickly.

Sridha fondly looks at Manish's picture, "Hmm, You did move on though.". She speaks very softly.

***

In a semi-large poorly decorated room with dim lighting, Alwad and Sridha sitting on opposite sofas.

"Sridha beti (beti is something an elderly person calls a young woman/girl fondly, it means-daughter) The first school is doing well, all our children are doing well, it's so surprising that we've been able to do this, two people who never went to school."

"Yes Alwad Ji (Ji- An honorific you add after the name to address respectfully), with the second school starting we'll be able to focus more on higher education. I've spoken to some of my friends, they don't have a formal education but they can help out with the children."

"That would be more than what anybody is doing in the whole state of Ayana. To achieve one's dream one has to be selfish and brave." He smiles warmly glancing at Sridha, but carries an uncomfortable demeanour,"Sridha you are brave. We all have dreams but give up on them and settle for a compromise when the going gets tough. Don't settle for a compromise Sridha, talk to your father."

"Alwad ji you know we haven't spoken in almost four years. He alienated me from the household and doesn't even consider me his daughter."

"Yet you are much more than a daughter; Rana is so blind with this vengeance of his that he can't see that you're the son this village needs. While he's nurturing his obsession you've done much more than he ever did. But Sridha this bloodbath needs to stop. Rana has crossed the line this time."

"If he killed more Kusokans then I don't see any reason to stop him. No matter how we look at them the only way to treat a kusokan is to put them in chains." Sridha replies with angst.

"He massacred children Sridha." Alwad speaks in a deep-grave voice, Sridha looks back with an expression of shock, "This is a line we, the people of Shindi didn't cross even during the war. With this act, he's put the whole village at risk again. You need to talk to him Sridha. He needs to stop."

Sridha now panicking, "I'm not brave Alwad Ji and neither am I selfish, if I was I would have stood up to him when he sent my brothers to die, I would have stood up to him when he tried to force me into marriage. But I chose to run. I couldn't even raise my voice when he rebuked me for being born as a woman. Unfortunately, I'm like my mother, she never raised her voice even once her entire life. He sent her sons to die but all she did was watch and shouldered all the responsibilities of this household while he pursued his revenge. Maybe it's better this way Alwad Ji."

"No, it's not, talk to him, please. He needs to stop this madness."

***

Sridha reaches her home at some time in the evening; the fact that her father was hunting Kusokans never really bothered her because somewhere in her heart she too wanted vengeance for her brothers but she had never imagined that her father would stoop to killing children. She had made up her mind that it was time she spoke to him.

She walked up to his room and found him sitting in his chair reading a newspaper while her mother was sitting on the bed arranging the clothes.

Taking her time to rearrange what she wanted to say in her thoughts she spoke;

"Papa, is it true? Did you murder kusokan children?"

Sridha's mother immediately glanced at her with curious eyes while her father maintains an indifferent expression and keeps reading the newspaper.

"How could you! How can you kill children? How are you any different from those mass-murderers then?" Sridha shrieks at the top of her voice.

But no matter how loud she shrieked, her actions couldn't generate a response.

"It's almost time for dinner, I'll set the table Sridha you please come down and help me with it." Sridha's mother interjects with a forced smile, trying to alter the mood.

Sridha still stood there waiting for a response, but there was none.

Speaking to herself softly with a bitter smile, "Sometimes you make me regret my birth."

***

In the dining room, Sridha sits alone at the table, it's late in the night and like most days there's no electricity. The solar-powered cells have been malfunctioning for a long time now and due to scarcity of funds, they haven't been repaired. She sat at the table, upright chewing her food softly, her face morose.

This was the first time she had confronted her father and not run away from her problems but her father's coldness and alienation had got to her. She sat there alone in the darkness trying to hold back her tears.

***

In the darkness of the forest, a group of Civilian policemen carrying firearms swiftly made their way through the forests. After about several minutes they reached the borders of the 'Jamundi Forest'. In an enclosed area surrounded by trees were a few poorly constructed mud huts. The officer leading those men smiled when he set his gaze upon the huts.

***

Sridha lit up up a small battery-operated torch to finish her dinner and then using the light slowly walked up to the kitchen, making sure not to topple over anything. She kept the plate in the basin and rested the torch against the kitchen wall so that she could wash her hands in the light. After drying her hands with the towel she picked up the torch and was about to turn to walk out of the kitchen. She had kept the torch against the kitchen wall so the light went behind her but she couldn't see, as she had her back turned towards it while she was washing her hands. She turned towards the kitchen door with her torch in hand, right in front of her she a man was standing concealed in the darkness. He immediately caught hold of her neck choking her with one hand and covering her mouth with a cloth which he held in his other hand. He signalled another man to come in who grabbed hold of her hands and legs so that she couldn't move to break anything and alert the others. Sridha started to lose consciousness and could feel her body getting heavy. After Sridha lost her consciousness the two men pulled her out of the kitchen and slowly took her out of the house. They had a small wagon parked behind the house filled with potato sacks.

***

The policemen handed over a huge canister to the leader, it was a mobile explosive launcher. He then aimed at the only exit of the hut. The reason for the leader smiling earlier was because luck had really favoured them. Not only were they able to find out the Rebel hide-out based on the children's information, but they also found them all gathered in the same room. The candle lights gave away their position, which was easily detectable through the windows. Their shadows were so prominent that they could be easily shot down if they had a sniper with them. But since that was not the case, the policemen wanted to avoid frontal combat with the Kusokans. They would be especially in trouble if some of them had a 'Nguyen Armour'. Keeping these points in mind the leader planned a better strategy. He targeted the only exit of the hut where they had all gathered and fired the explosive launcher at the gate setting the entire area on fire.

***

The wagon driver kept watch, one man opened one of the sack while the other pulled the sack over Sridha's entire body. Then without caution, the man put her body on the carriage like a sack of potatoes. While the man holding Sridha put her in a sack and place her on the wagon the other man head to the stables, right next to the house. He found a beautiful white horse which caught his fancy, he set fire on the stacks of hay lying around the stable and escaped with the white horse. The man riding the horse stopped where his companions stood next to the wagon carrying an unconscious Sridha. The two men next to the wagon looked at rider with perplexed eyes which said something on the line of, 'What the hell are you doing?' The rider just smiled back in return. By that time the fire had grown and chaos had ensued.

***

After the explosive set fire to the entire area, all the policemen opened fire at the hut. Shooting the shadows one by one in an overwhelming display of firepower. The gunfire did not stop even when the shadows were no longer visible. When the leader ran out of bullets is when he finally signalled them to stop firing.

***

The fire had become uncontrollably huge and was now spreading. The workers of the Rana family ran out to save the horses and the crops. The men carried wagon after wagon out of the house to prevent the crops from burning. Among those wagons, there was another wagon carrying something much more precious than crops.

***

The policemen stepped forward and inspected the surrounding area for survivors. It had been easy, too easy in fact. When they started looking through debris their facial expressions changed. Their bodies froze, what they saw was so startling that none of them moved. There were half-burnt bodies that had been riddled with bullets. But they were not the bodies of the rebel-faction. They were all the prisoners that the Kusokans had captured during the war. They were residents of Shindi and among those corpses was the blood-laden body of the eldest son of the Rana family; Manish.

***

When the fire was finally doused Sridha's mother started looking for Sridha, who was not in the courtyard where all of them were gathered. She knew Sridha was not hurt because the workers had already reported that there were no casualties in the fire. She thought maybe Sridha was still sleeping but that's not like her. She checked her room but in vain. Searching for her around she came to the kitchen where she saw a torch lying on the ground.

Story By: Four Eighty One

(The story, character, and art are all original pieces of work, kindly do not use without permission)

Two New Chapters Next Week