After Vikraman disappeared into the forest, the spy chief went back into the house. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and stood looking at the statues for a while. His eyes were moist.
After a while, he addressed the old woman, “If the boy returns,
give him accommodation, but don’t reveal my secret to him. I will return in a
few days.”
“As you wish, my lord!”, responded the old woman.
He went to the backyard. There was a white horse there that was a
spitting image of the one that Vikraman rode. He mounted the horse and went
back the way he had arrived the previous night. He reached the site of the
attempted robbery.
He looked surprised on arrival. As he surveyed the scene, the look of surprise intensified. The bodies of the men who had fallen the previous night were missing!
He was expecting a gory sight. He was expecting to see half eaten
bodies after the scavenger animals ate parts of the bodies. He expected to see
a grisly scene with bones and flesh after the wild animals had had their prey.
There was no such sight. The animals could not have swallowed the
bodies whole. They might have dragged the bodies away. In that case, the
clothes and swords of the dead men should still be lying there. It was not the
case. He surmised that someone must have arrived after he had left the scene
the previous night. He dismounted and subjected the site to a closer
inspection. An object attracted his attention. It was a skull.
It could not have been the skull of one of the men who had died
the previous night. It looked old. He thought it might have been Kapaliks
who removed the bodies. ‘Kapaliks wear garlands of skulls – this
must have fallen off their one such garland’, he thought.
On further inspection, he found a few gems scattered on the
ground. They may have fallen when the dwarf dropped the bags. He bent down,
intending to gather the gems.
He heard hoof-beats. The sound suggested that a few horses, four
or five, were approaching. He mounted his horse in a hurry and rode it into the
dense growth. He left the horse deep into the forest. He returned to hide
behind a tree closer to the road, in such a manner that the road was visible
from where he was.
The horses arrived and stopped abruptly. There were six horsemen
in the group. The spy chief recognized the man who appeared to be their leader.
On recognition, his face showed anger and revulsion. The man was Marappa
Bhupathi.
Among those who arrived, Marappan stopped his horse first. The
others stopped, following his lead. He dismounted and inspected the ground just
as the spy chief had done a few minutes ago. He noticed the skull. He noticed
the marks of the skirmish that took place the previous night, including dried
blood. He noticed the marks on the grounds of the bodies having been dragged
away. He saw the gems and picked them up eagerly.
He stared at the gems and laughed. He looked at the others and
said, “It has worked out well. Fortuitous, indeed!”. The group stood around
talking for a while. After a while, Marappan mounted his horse. The horses
galloped away.
After they left, the spy chief went to where his horse was,
mounted it and started riding the way he had come the previous night. At a
turn, the horse seemed to shudder. The spy chief stopped and looked around. He
saw that eagles were circling behind a boulder at a distance. He thought that
answered the question as to what happened to the bodies. ‘Whoever removed the
bodies must have moved them behind the boulder. But who might they be?’, he
thought.
He did not stay there wondering for long. He resumed his ride.
In a while, he approached the royal highway that connected
Mamallapuram to Kanchi. At the same time, the royal entourage was coming from
Mamallapuram. Among the entourage were Princess Kundavi, who was
traveling in a palanquin, and Prince Mahendran, who was riding a majestic white
horse.
The spy chief noticed all this from a distance and sped up. He did
not slow down for the entourage or pay heed to its distinguished members. He
reached the intersection before they did and resumed his ride towards Kanchi.
Click here for the audiobook version
Parthban Kanavu: The Tamil version of the novel is in the public domain. Copyright for the translation is reserved by the translator..
Art by Sujatha, unless otherwise credited.
No comments:
Post a Comment