Her: A Song of Shadows (Part II)

In the afternoon, Chhaya slipped out of her house quietly. She knew that her grandmother was back home, and her mother was resting. Now it was time to act out her plan. She had to go to the marketplace again, but this time, to another area.

She knew that the south end of the market had the local drinking bar, run by old Jaggu. Towards the afternoon, all the rough men of the town gathered there, and they kept drinking until it was very late at night. Working men came, so did adventurous young boys, and some guards from the royal office came too. And of course, the local lowlife hung around all the time. She knew that a man like Karkarath can be found there.

There were shops around the place too. She went straight to the paan and tobacco shop. The shopkeeper knew her, and he didn’t mind. She hung around the shop, spending the time chitchatting, but kept an eye open for her target.

Her anger hadn’t subsided one bit. She didn’t know what she would have done if her father was at home. Maybe she would have told her father. But he wasn’t here. Her father was away at war, so she had to do what needed to be done. She was thinking all this over and over, when she suddenly saw him. He was coming up the path, probably going to have his drinks at Jaggu’s place. He never paid for them anyway. Jaggu knew better than to demand money from Karkarath.

She stepped forward and called out to him. “Hey! Don’t you need to be away at war? Serving the town, protecting the people perhaps?”

Everyone around fell silent hearing her voice, addressing the man in this way. The man looked at the tiny little girl talking to him. This was highly unusual.

The people were shocked. No one spoke to Karkarath that way. And Karkarath was shocked too. But even more than that, he was angry. Anger filled inside of him like lava, and then he screamed at the top of his lungs, “What? What did you say, you tiny mortal?”

“I said, why aren’t you away at the war, instead of bumming it out here in the town? Are you chicken, or just simply useless?” – she replied, with a taunt in her voice.

“Ugh, now I will kill you,” growled Karkarath, “Dare you come out of your house, and have the guts to talk to ME? Say that to ME?” And he took a step forward and flicked a massive arm, open in a huge slap, hard enough to knock the girl out. But the hand went through air. She had dodged it.  The people were shocked and watching. He felt his anger rising. “You tiny piece of-,” he shouted, and another punch came around through the air, but again it was dodged. The man then moved to grab her hair but before he could do that – out of nowhere – a swift kick hit him on the legs and he fell, face first.

He fell. His mind was confused. How the hell-? He could feel the dust taste like a disgrace on his tongue. He spat in rage and got back up, screaming dirty words wildly. He was here, in the town’s market, getting beaten up and taunted by a little girl? He saw the young face smiling cockily, and his eyes went red. He hurled a massive punch again, his ego fuelling his anger. But he missed, and she put out a leg and tripped him. He did not bother to get up this time. Scrambling up, he grabbed the girl’s legs and tugged, to fling her off the ground, and then he would -…… but the girl didn’t move. “You think a weak girl like you can insult me?” he snarled, and tugged at her legs again. Karkarath had misjudged her strength. She just stared at him and smirked. The townsmen wanted to intervene in the fight, but they had suddenly noticed that something was wrong. The girl should have been killed by now, Karkarath should have pounded her to death. But that was not happening. The girl was still smiling, and Karkarath – why, it looked like the man was struggling with all his strength! The townsmen kept silent, and watched. They had never seen something like this, what was happening in front of their eyes.

Karkarath had already tried to fling her off a few more times, while she just grit her teeth and stood rooted to the spot. He was confused, but he was too enraged to think.  He started to get up, and as he did, he roared. Roared like a lion. But this did not scare her. She was ready for this. She wanted to see what he could do, and she wanted him to see that he could do nothing.

The man pushed up like a giant, picking her up as he stood, and threw her at a flower stand nearby. She crashed into the baskets, but as she hit the ground, she rolled and absorbed the blow like her father had taught her. And she was back on her feet. She did not cry or groan in pain, but instead – she laughed. The man was perplexed. But he was still not thinking, and he ran at her like a mad ox. He was so blinded by rage that he didn’t see her coming. She sidestepped the man as he came, grabbed him as he went, and using his own weight, threw him on the ground. As he began to turn and get up, she kicked him in the face, and he felt his head dash to the ground like it was hit by a mace. There was a sharp stab of pain – she had broken his nose.

He rose, growling, “I will- huGGh!”  She had kicked him again. This time on his neck, sending him down again crashing. It was hurting like hell. What was happening? And before he could move – ‘GaRH!!’ the next hit came as she kicked him by the legs, turning him over so he lay on his back. Then suddenly, her foot rested on his huge chest. He began to throw her off, but found that he couldn’t.  He couldn’t move. He was pinned. He screamed in anger, “Let go at once, or else-” but then, slowly and calmly, the girl started to crush his chest. He could not finish his line as he screamed out in pain. “Get off, get off you sl-UUURRGGhhhh!!!”, he screamed, and he heard the girl say distinctly, ‘Not until you are dead, Karkarath.’ And suddenly, he was filled with fear.

He had once killed a man by choking him to death with his hand, crushing his windpipe in the process. He heard the girl saying – ‘You won’t leave this place alive, Karkarath,’ and the memory of his own crime came back to him like a nightmare. She was going to kill him! Oh God, she was going to crush him! She was crushing him!!! Karkarath screamed again in pain, but he was not screaming in anger any more. It was just pain. And fear. She rubbed her foot harder, and he felt his ribs creak with burning pain, and began to cry. He cried in agony, begging and begging for his life.

She saw him crying and smiled, because she was thinking of the crying woman in the market. She did not want to kill him, she had a better idea. She guessed that he had already broken a few ribs, he was having trouble breathing. She could see flecks of blood in his mouth. She removed her foot. The huge man was still crying, weakly, like a broken child. She dragged the man by his hair and pulled him up to his feet. Everyone was watching. And they could all see. They could all see the power of – a girl. She jerked his head and turned it towards her, and said loudly so everyone could hear, “If you ever lay hands on any man, or woman, or animal, here in this town again, next time I will kill you!” and she whispered in his ear, “Slowly.” And then she hit him in the knees, so he collapsed and knelt before her. As she stood before her proudly, hands on her hips, legs apart, the big man did not even have the guts to lift his head and look up at the people. The townsfolk were hooting now, taunting him from all sides. Like his chest, his ego was crushed to pieces; his nose was broken, just like his reputation in the town.  She saw the same woman that Karkarath had beaten in the crowd, hiding behind her husband. Chhaya called her and asked him to the unthinkable.  Chhaya screamed in his ears, “APOLOGIZE TO HER NOW”. Karkarath feebly said without resistance , “ I am sorry.”

Chhaya  did not wait to gloat on her accomplishment. She wanted to punish the man, and make him feel the humiliation. She knew that this was not the last she was seeing of him. Men like him don’t learn lessons very well. She knew somewhere in her mind, that she would see him again soon one day, and that day he won’t be walking away. She thought of this as she walked home. And she told herself that when that day comes, she would give him an even bigger surprise.

Word spread soon. Almost the whole marketplace had seen the thrashing of Karkarath that day. Of course, her mother did not say anything, she just asked her to be cautious. Her grandmother was too old to bother about bazaar drama, she was unaware and content. But all her friends, and most of the people around town, were happy and proud of what she had done. Most of the people, but not all. Many people were furious at Chhaya. They didn’t want their blossoming daughters to be inspired and be like her, a killing machine. So much that these conservatives were actually fearful of the petite girl. Whenever Chhaya used to visit the market, she would get the odd looks from the old folks sitting by the peepal tree, smoking. 

Karkarath had disappeared the very next day. No one knew where he went, but it became clear after six days, when he returned with a small team of guards from the capital, carrying an order from the king. Karkarath had friends in the army, crooked guards who liked him, who belonged to the class of soldiers that loot, violate and rape wherever they go and whenever they can. He had used their influence, and brought a false charge against Chhaya.

And so it was one morning, that she heard a harsh knocking at her door. The guards had come to get her.

To be continued.