The sky was pitch black against stars that shone like diamonds scattered on a new black silk waiting to be glued. There was no moon. The streets were asleep in the blackness except for a few street lamps in the corners of the main roads. The fire in the lamps was eager to die and insects flew around them drawn by the beauty that hid the danger. And they waited, as silent as the walls of the bell tower, the guardians. Guardian was a title that was as ancient as the temple of Heles, a position that held power and respect, a position that died with the last Guardian Saket, the late prince of Sarayuha. But it was now revived, by those who were ready to shoulder the responsibility it offered.

Eyes take a lot of time to adjust to the darkness. So for fighting in the dark you should either keep your ears sharp or you should wait till your eyes would adjust with the darkness. The guardians were crouched over the sculptures of extended elephant heads on the bell tower, ready to pounce on their enemy in any moment to come.

Haya was confident that he would be able to complete his job without any interruptions. It was the middle of the night. There were hours before sun rise. He was in the outskirts of the town and no one would be able to trace him. It wasn’t an easy task for him. It took months to get things in order, had to put in a lot of effort, but finally he has done it. He had promised a load since a few months now, but it was tough to convince people in the city and kidnapping was a risky job. It was easier for his gang to carry out such activities before the last five months but now the masked warriors of the night were all over everyone who tried to do anything illegal. They came at night without any warning and left behind headless corpses and pools of blood. However, till now they have only appeared in the city and not in the outskirts and that is the reason Haya chose the place. One by one Haya and his men loaded the children in the cart. The children were skinny, both boys and girls. Food was scarce in the kingdom especially among the poor people in the outskirts. It was one reason he was able to convince the people to send their children with him for work. Most of the mothers only wanted their children to have at least a meal a day.

Living has become tough in Sarayuha since the last few years. Sarayuha bordered with the sea in the east, mountains in the north, miles of waste lands in the west and Mahishmathi in the south. Sarayuha’s business with the outside world was mainly through sea after Mahishmathi had closed its borders with the kingdom and stopped all trade with it. They had also built a dam to stop the Kuntala River from flowing to Sarayuha. It was really tough for the kingdom to survive with the little water that came through the Kuntala River which once used to flood its banks and flowed to the sea. Farming was hit badly and so was trade. Mahishmathi provided the best arms throughout the kingdoms; hence a conflict with Mahishmathi meant that Sarayuha would no longer receive good quality weapons. While Bhallaldev was alive it was easy for the kingdom to carry out trade with Mahishmathi and all other nations through land but after the war with Mahishmathi, King Mahendra had not only ended the lives of all the male heirs but also blocked the traders of Sarayuha from entering the Kingdom by closing its gates. But Princess Jayara, the daughter of the late king of Sarayuha, Dhakshasheel was not ready to accept defeat. She had cried enough, enough for the death of husband and her child, then her father and her brothers. She cried for years but her kingdom needed her to act. Jayara was never taught to rule. She was taught to groom well, to sing and dance, to respect elders, agree to her husband and she exceeded in all her lessons. But none of it helped her when she was left alone to take decisions for herself and her kingdom, to protect her people and feed them. Jaya opened the sea route and made trade with other countries through the sea. They brought in weapons and even water in ships. But it was tougher than the mainland and sea was always a challenge. But since the last 7 to 8 years, pirates had become a great threat to the merchants. They stole goods, money and even the ships and most of the times killed the voyagers. It was tough to transport things through seas and many lost their lives doing it but there was no other way to keep the kingdom alive and many undertook the task due to their immense love for their families and kingdom, which was now under threat. Their love and patriotism was vanishing for the fear of their lives.

Water was scarce; they had to evaporate sea water for drinking during the summer. Monsoon was short in Sarayuha and summer was becoming longer every year. Also there were raids of pirates in the coastal areas. The worst part was that Sarayuha had very less number of soldiers now and without good weapons and checking crimes had become an impossible task for them. This was one of the reasons people like Haya could go about doing his activities in the country. He convinced people that he can take their children for better jobs in nearby kingdoms and that will safeguard their future. Many children died a premature death in the outskirts of the cities because of lack of food and less medicines. If the parents wouldn’t send their kids Haya and his men kidnapped them. Who would ask them, or who would arrest them. Haya smiled the smile of person who had won the world after he had loaded the last child in to the cart. The cart goes right to the ship and the ship to the land of the pirates. But little did he know about what was waiting for him in the dark.

When in dark as you are ready to ambush, you can’t communicate through words or hand gestures, the only way is to see the shining edge of the sword ready to separate the head of the enemies who are blind to the chill of death. Sahasra raised her sword and the light from the street lamps fell on its edge and that was the signal. The guardians jumped from the sculptures they were sitting on and smoothly landed on the ground. Four of them stood in the dark facing Haya and his men. There wasn’t much time for the men to protect themselves. The guardians were all over them. The music of steel clashing against steel sounded loud. After less than half hour time Haya and all of his men were fallen dead. Blood filled the street gutters instead of water. One of the guardians slowly opened the wagon which held the children. And he looked at them. The children were frozen with fear. Their faces were not much visible but their fears would be heard even in the loudest of noises.

One by one the children got out of the wagon and stood outside, the royal army would reach there by dawn and would find the children. The guardians were walking away and that is when Sahasra heard a child weeping. She froze for a moment and then she touched Charan on the shoulder and turned back to the children. Their faces were dark and orange at times in the street lights. Sahasra walked to the crying child and she sat down next to the seven-year old girl. The girl was weeping. Sahasra placed the child in her lap and hugged her and all the children sat next to her. One of the children said: I am scared. Sahasra touched the child on the chin and said: I know that you are scared, I know it’s a bad world but all bad things would come to an end and if doesn’t happen on it’s on we will make it happen’. Three of the guardians walked in to the dark and Sahasra sat there with the children. When she heard the soldiers arriving, she covered her face again and stood up and then she disappeared in to the space were the horizon was wielding a new sword of red light.

Sarayuha was an ancient kingdom, it was built on the mainland by voyagers who reached there thousands of years before from a faraway island kingdom. They were looking for a new life. They built the kingdom from bricks. As Sarayuha was at the edge of the mainland, there were very less occupants there. Hence, the visitors chose uninhabited areas and raised a thought more than a kingdom, one which was rooted in peace, happiness and love. The closeness to the sea, the fertile soil and the Kuntala river water helped their kingdom to prosper. They called it Sarayuha, which in their language meant paradise. Sarayuha was bordered in the north by mountains and beyond it laid the sea. Even though they got rainfall they were mainly dependent on Kuntala waters for agriculture throughout the year. And Kuntala River which they called Zeyal was enough to sustain their life. They built canals to channel the waters to every part of the kingdom. The elders of the kingdom built the temple of Heles in the Hanan hill ranges. Heles was their mother, a deity who taught only to love. The kingdom had gleamed in art, sculptor, music and dance and also in magic. But with the years that followed, new kingdoms emerged and the growth of Mahismathi was a constant threat for Sarayuha, the kingdom was forced to go in to war with Mahishmathi at times and the guardians, of the kingdom who were meant only to keep peace, were forced to lead armies to battle. But later both the nations found peace. There was trade and immigration. The culture and religious beliefs of Sarayuha was affected greatly. Their dying rituals and forgotten deities were replaced with those in the other mainland nations. More temples of other Gods and Goddesses were built and the royal family started worshipping Shiva. Intermarriages with the Mahishmathi Royal family and the Sarayuha royal family was the main reason behind it.

The rituals were forgotten but the tradition of choosing the guardians was still intact and the last guardian was Prince Saket who died in the war with Mahishmathi. The temple of Heles in the mountains was abandoned. None had visited the place in years. But Sahasra went there at times. It was the symbol of their existence and it gave her immense strength. She knew very less about her ancestors, or the country from where they came from. Her knowledge about the Goddess Heles was also little. But she knew that her people came here to pray, for vision and for help in sustaining the kingdom. A country is like a tree, its past is the roots and the present is the fruit bearing branches. So in order to keep the branches from dying and withering away you need to keep the roots alive, you should know the past and also give it breath of life, like how you would water the roots of a tree. If a culture could keep a country alive for thousands of years, it would also sustain its present and future. The temple of Heles was a place where once the prayers of her ancestors echoed and sometimes when listened Sahasra could hear their words. When a place of worship becomes older, when the first worshippers has already become soil, their prayers becomes powerful forces in the places of worship and that gives more strength to the people who later comes there to pray. Hence, the temple of Heles was the most powerful place in her Kingdom.

It was were Sahasra chose the other three guardians, a year back and they had to wait for months in order to put their plans in to action. The crime rate in the kingdom was increasing day by day and the sea trade was becoming deadlier with the arrival of the pirates. She didn’t know how to end the suffering of her people but she had to do something and she did though she knew it was a small effort and wouldn’t end the real problems.

Her queen mother Jayara loved Sarayuha but with lack of food, weapons and very less soldiers, she even had trouble sustaining the royal family. Sahasra knew her mother cared for the people but there was nothing more she could do, and that thought pained Sahasra the most, seeing her mother helpless and weak was something Sahasra couldn’t bear. And the pain of her people kept her awake and crying throughout the nights. But there wasn’t much she could do, the pirates were unpredictable and the sea was not a familiar place for her. She didn’t know how to fight them. Worse was King Mahendra of Mahismathi Kingdom, how can a king be this heartless, she thought, if she hated any person in this world with her whole heart it was Mahendra. He blocked the waters of Kutala, then closed the gates and stopped the trades and he had also killed her grandfather and her uncles. She could forget the deaths in the war, that is what war is about, deaths, and if you hold grudge for the casualties in the war nations will never ever find peace again, but she could never forgive the torture her people were going through now because of Mahishmathi and she knew that one day she would definitely avenge their sufferings.

Sahasra stood on the rocky edge of the Hanan hills facing the mountains that surrounded it, listening to the sea waves in a distance, the sun was shining bright. The Temple of Heles stood more than a hundred feet tall carved in to the hill behind her and below her feet was a deep crevice that went down unmeasurable distance in to the earth. It was time for her to go to the palace. Her mother would finish the court in a few hours and Sahasra had to be there before Jaya started looking for her. For a queen the calamity in her country would be heart breaking but for a mother even when the world around her is collapsing, nothing else would bring a moment’s peace than knowing her child is safe and is standing in front of her with a smile.

Amrutha