Chapter 31 - The Traitor

Suddenly, Onish felt the darkness around them deepen. The trees moaned.

"Don't do anything stupid, lad. Just remain calm." He heard Bhadra's whisper.

Before stunned Onish, a raven as big as the boulder he had thrown at Bhadra descended, flapping its dark wings. His red eyes were burning embers glowing in the dark. 

A figure, hooded just like the fowler, was riding the giant bird. The man stroked the ravine's head as he got down.

"Wait here; you wouldn't like his presence," said the figure. 

The bird rubbed its beak against his arm as if in agreement. The man walked over to the coal-black tree with blood-red leaves. As the man approached, Onish saw the bulging veins of the tree wriggled; its twisted branches moved. And a frightening face emerged out of the tree trunk. Its big bloodshot eyes glared at the approaching man.

"You're late, human." the face grunted. 

"An emergency needed my attention." the hooded figure said, his hand fumbling something over his chest. 

"Human, you'd better abandon any funny ideas. Let me remind you, Once you close the Ulysses pact, there is no turning back." said the face in his guttural voice. 

"I don't need you to remind me. And It was really an emergency or, to speak precisely, an opportunity to make your lord happy." replied the man as he stopped a few feet away from the sinister tree. "The son of Oman is still in the woods alone with only a fowler to accompany him. Suppose we can find him before dawn. What do you think the lord would say?"

"He would fly you alive. Haven't you spooked Oman enough?" The face distorted as the guttural voice thundered, 

"Orders are clear. We just have to keep a tab on Oman and his men and wait for Jora's arrival. You'd better stick to it, or I fear," The bloodshot eyes glanced at the hooded figure's chest. 

"No amulet of Nimoi or spirit-bird could save you." 

The man didn't retort the tree. He kept standing there as if listening to the rustling wind. 

"Ok," after a long pause, the man said, "It was your lord who wanted him and Ronan's son dead, to begin with. I don't know why he keeps changing his plans like a weathercock. Tell him if he wants my help; he'd better not keep me in the dark anymore. There are still many ways to rat out all of you without breaking the pact. I'm sure you know this too."

The tree's face contorted as blood or something rushed into its bulging veins. Onish saw night darkened around the tree. 

The blood-red leaves glowed faintly. The harsh voice thundered, "You puny human! You dare to threaten me, Djall, the son of Elanor, the great."

The bloodshot eyes bulged out, and the dark threads surfaced up in them. 

The hooded figure took a step back as his hands glowed with golden light. The spirit rushed towards him. 

"Yes, I do. And I would do as I've said. Because it is me who is risking everything and for what? An empty promise for which my ancestors had sacrificed their lives. A promise that they would be given an abode in some mythical place. Tell him, the betrayer of hope. The time has changed, and his cock-bull story wouldn't buy him an army this time. I reckon he is even real. As far as I know, Mora never holed up like a coward. He would .."

"BLASPHEMY! ..." The djall's howl cut off the man. A long twisted branch lashed out like a whip. The hooded man swiftly formed a simmering shield as he leaped back in the air. However, the branch still caught him in the air. The clash sent the man flying into the trees. The raven cawed as he flew towards him. 

"No! Grimma, you stay out of it. It's my fight." The figure shouted as he balanced himself in the mid-flight. The air trembled as he closed his right hand. A long sword simmering with a golden glow materialized out of thin air. The man clasped his both hands around its jeweled hit. His eyes glowed in the dark. 

"So, you lied to us. You're not a falconer." the djall howled as he whipped out his branches in all directions. "But it doesn't matter. I will feast on your body tonight. A jidda's (apostate) only fate is death in the lord's eyes. So, accept your doom, you traitor." 

The djall struck out with his long whips. Onish, hiding beside the fowler, holding his breath, watched as a bitter battle started out in the dead of night. 

He feared the battle would expose them. But seeing how calm the fowler was, he let go of the worry and focused on the fight. It was his first time when he was witnessing a spirit- wilder fighting. 

As the whip came for the hooded man, swishing in the air. The man slashed his long sword. Facing the lash head-on. The branch licked the glowing blade. Sparks flew off in the air. Onish heard metal clanking. 

The branch coiled around the sword like a snake. And another whip came hissing in the air to catch the man from his left. But the man let go of the sword. The spirit blade disintegrated.

A shield red as lava covered the spirit wielder. The whip caught him in the shoulder, but the shield took the burnt. The man was sent flying again.

"You're not my match. Just accept your doom." the djall said, "Or you can do penance. Lord is merciful. He will still save your soul. It's not your fault the company of heretics has sullied your soul."

The man stopped himself again in the mid-flight; his shield had shattered. He looked at the djall, who seemed invincible with his hundreds of branches whipping in the air. 

"Save your lies. I knew too well how merciful he is. Rumors say he killed his mother to eat her heart and silted his father's throat for his blood. Which of these things Mora ever did?" The man replied. 

"So you've decided to break the sacred oath of your ancestors. Kruma, let me remind you once again. It's your duty to serve him, and the lord would keep his promise. I reckon that's why your mother had brought you here among the heretics. Bearing the risk that it would blemish her soul and her son's."

"Don't drag her into this. You have no idea who she was and why she had brought me here." 

Onish could feel the melancholy in the hooded man's voice. 

Suddenly, something rose behind the man, and before he could notice, it caught him in the back. The man's shield flickered as it engulfed him. The hooded man leaped into the air. But another branch was already waiting for him there. It coiled around his body like an anaconda, trying to crush his simmering shield. 

"Haha, it seems you have not only learned heretics' ways but their foolish emotions too." 

The djall's sinister cackles resounded in the night. The man seemed not to hear his ridicule as he continued to strengthen his golden shield. 

"You know, falconer. Oh no! you're a yoddha. I think that's what heretics call a sword wielder here. I've seen it coming since our first meeting. Then Ronan's pup escaped the well-planned assassination. It rang a bell in my head." Djall spoke as his branch dragged the struggling man to him. 

"What's more, the rat of black hand guild vanished without leaving a single trace. But you know I still thought it must have been the bald man, Griva, who sniffed him out. But then, the son of Udder perished in the camp of the fire tamers. What surprised me, Lustro, the old bridge burner, knew Asharar's well-guarded secret. The soul of the fire beast lives in its heart pearl. I doubted a book written by boffins would have documented it. For none save lord has lured a son of Udder out of the fiery pit. So, how the secret passed between us made it to the fire tamer's ear. What's more, the fool had only half of the secret as you did."

"But It could be mere coincidence. Lustro might have guessed something, or it might have been a desperate attempt." The man said, who had stopped strengthening his shield as if he had accepted his fate. 

The branches held him in mid-air just a few feet away from the djall's face. 

"Yes, it could be. But was it, Kruma? You planned out our deaths on the very night when we contacted you, haven't you?" the djall said as he tightened his grip around the dimming shield. 

"You're not the only one who has betrayed the lord; many others have done the same. The fools think the awakening of the lord is just a rumor of warlords to spook Aslan. They will pay for their sins."

The shield was now flickering like the wick of a burnout lamp.. Onish thought the man was going to die.