Chapter 124 - O Time! Here I Come.

"That last attack was cool. " Nandani chirped as Ishit rejoined them.  Her beautiful eyes were sparkling.

"AH! What was so great about it? Just look at his pathetic state. I doubt even aunt Padma could recognise him. Boy, you've shamed us all. " Guha sneered. 

"Really! You should have faced him in the arena. There is no way he is a school pass out. " Ishit said, smiling. He knew Guha was just jesting.   

"Ignore him, Ishit. You should recuperate. " Nandani said as she wiped the bloodstain from his sweat dowsed face. "You did well. Look, everyone is praising you."   

Ishit thanked his kind-hearted friend. She was always like this --so caring and lovely. Ishit shook his head to stop his thought from taking a new flight. 

The injuries he had gotten in the battle were not too serious. So he was not worried about them. He just needed to circulate spirit and he would be alright. However, Nandani didn't agree with him. She forced him to take a healing pill of the Nimahi guild. Ishit had purchased a few for this occasion. He took out one from the jade bottle. The blue pearl like pill melted into his mouth like butter. The dense herbal energy reinvigorated him in a few breaths of time. 

Suddenly Ishit felt a tingling in the back of his head. A weird sensation as if some invisible and indiscernible energy was brushing him. 

Ishit turned to look back. In the second row from the top, Esha, Karuvaki and a couple of royal youngsters from other states were sitting. They also wanted Ishit to sit with them.

However, as Guha was not a royal he was not allowed to have a seat among these arrogant youngsters; so Ishit declined them politely and decided to sit in the fourth row instead, with his friends. 

Ishit's gaze swept past the chatting crowd and landed on Karuvaki. The snobby girl had been doing nothing but causing trouble since the day she had stepped into the castle. 

Yesterday he had to show her around the city and because of that, he had to skip his dinner to finish his sword in the night. 

The girl glared at him furiously, as if he had touched her soul pet. Ishit shook his head and closed his eyes to focus on his injuries. He didn't know what he had done now to make her angry.

But what was that odd sensation? Ishit wondered. 

New contenders had arrived in the stadium.  The announcer assigned them thier arenas one by one and matches started. 

This round didn't take long to conclude. 

Ishit didn't pay too much heed to the duels. There wasn't anything worthy anyway. Only a single contestant piqued his interest. Tamuli was a warrior girl from Ahom.  Donned in colourful traditional clothes of Ahom, the girl was not less charming than annoying Karuvaki.  But it was not her chief virtue. The girl was a fierce warrior. The way she was wielding her hengdang amazed the audience.  (hengdang- a single-edged sword with a long handle used by the Ahoms in India. a lot similar to a samurai sword).

It was then he received a telepathic message from Udlof, who was sitting in the sixth row. The sixth row was for wealthy commoners like stewards or officials. Ishit couldn't help but laugh. If the guards knew they had made a wizard, one who could even challenge Mora, sit with commoners whom they thought low borns, Ishit couldn't imagine what expressions they would have on their faces. 

Udolf was not welcomed in the circle of nobles, and the reason for this apathy, Ishit thought, was his dark hooded cloak. 

"Boy, what the hell  were you doing in the arena?" Udolf's voice grumbled in Ishit's mind. "Why didn't you use the advanced battle arts I have so painstakingly taught you. Meet me in the tower after the event. I have a bone to pick with you.  " 

Ishit smiled ruefully hearing the wizard's angry growl. 

It was true he knew a couple of powerful battle arts. And If he had used them, he might not have been beaten so badly. However, Ishit couldn't expose them in his first battle. 

Moreover, his lord father had advised him not to catch too much attention, and this strange advice had puzzled Ishit. The sole purpose of competing in Inna's feast was to catch the attention of Judges so that you could enter a prominent academy. 

Ishit gave his father a puzzled look, but like always he didn't bother to explain himself.  And with him watching over the matches, Ishit couldn't discard his advice even if it didn't make any sense to him. 

The next group gave twelve winners.

Arihant from Vaisali (Garuna's city) and Márcia from Kambhoj couldn't defeat each other. 

Similarly, no victor received from the seventh arena. 

Uni from Kirat and Sefu from Vatsa fought till thier faces turned red and clothes became rags.  But no victor emerged from them. However, the battle didn't fail to entertain the crowd. Just like Matsyans,  Vatsians also had special powers apart from spirit arts. The kingdom shared the boundary with Vrikshas ( sentient trees). As a result, they faced endless incursions of tree monsters.  Which forced thier ancestors to develop unique arts to deal with these elusive creatures, who could hide in any spirit trees. 

Contests continued till Inna, the sun, got bored and decided to take some rest. 

As soon as the western sky turned red, the keepers of the colosseum removed all the arenas for the city brides.

And a melodious raga Shree started to hum in the evening breeze. The crowd erupted into loud cheers as the jingling of anklets echoed into the wind. 

Bewitched Ishit watched as the spirit dancers descended into the stadium like mythical apsaras of Swarga. 

Adorned from head to nail into all kinds of adornments, the city brides charmed everyone just with a few mudras. 

Suka, the bard, and Manorama was singing the raga.  In the sky, birds halted in the middle of thier flights to listen to the two divine voices.

Ragas was another gift of dwizas to Vartian. They said it was first Hara who had composed the first raga to make Inna sleep so that his beloved Nisha could come and meet him. 

Nisha liked the song so much that she told him to sing for her daily. Hara was now in trouble so he called a dwiza called  Purandara Dasa and taught him the arts of composing Raga. 

And so with the grace of Hara and Nisha, the pious sage mastered the arts and composed numerous ragas--like Shri, Yaman, Kalyani, Bhairavi, Mohana etc. 

The arts evolved with time, and now Vartians had thousands of ragas sung for different purposes. Yes, entrainment was not the sole goal of these divine songs. There were ragas if sung properly could revive a dead. 

Raga Mega could bring rain;  Raga Deepak could light lamps and set fire to the world. Raga Mohana could enchant beasts and birds. 

Of course, one had to master all the components of ragas first. viz. Nāda ( primordial sound), Swara (seven basic pitches), Gamaka ( controlled shaking, articulating, sliding, glottal stops and other vocal or instrumental manipulation), shruti (audible pitches) etc. 

And It was harder than mastering battle arts. More so when the dwiza shrines that used to teach ragas got demolished long ago.  Now a spirit musician could hardly achieve above mention feats. 

As the dance proceeded, the audience began to sway like serpents. 

When raga stopped, the whole colosseum erupted in applause and cheers. The city brides, whose a single glance could enslave a maharathi, bowed gracefully. With exhaustion thier enchanting faces were flushed red, drops of sweat were sparkling on their conch shell necks like pearls. 

In the bright light of the large moonstones embedded in the stone pillars, their rosy cheeks were tempting to kiss them. 

The announcer reluctantly announced the end of the day. 

Along with Guha and Nandani,  Ishit walked out of the colosseum. At the gate, both his friends bid goodbye and left to report to thier respective guild. 

Ishit was waiting for Esha and others when he heard a familiar jeering voice. Without even looking back he could say who he was.

"Haha, look! Who we have here, the renowned disciple of Queen of the dreamland." the voice said, mocking tone. 

Durjya stepped out of the crowd, along with a couple of other boys. 

Ishit ignored the fool. His eyes lingered at another boy's face.  A robust boy of his age, with grey eyes and dark curly hair flowing on his shoulders, the thin lips stretched in a scornful smile. 

"So It is what you have learnt from fabled Nyx. " the robust said, his eye twinkling with contempt. "You should be ashamed of yourself for disgracing Garuna. "

He was Karna, a noble's son. His half family lived in Atlantia. It was said Aslan favoured them. 

From his red cloak and sphinx sigil on his chest, Ishit knew why he was being so cocky. 

He was an apprentice of the royal academy of Atlantia.. The best academy of Varta, the dream of all spirit wielders.