The Cloud Of The Princess - Part 1Chapter 25

Language sometimes does not provide words to describe one's feelings completely. Sometimes its love,sometimes its hatred. Sometimes its pain, sometimes its happiness. Sembaruthi was in a very similar state. The feeling that she was undergoing also could not be completely expressed in words. But on the contrary to emotions mentioned before,the closest substitute to her emotional state might be 'unimaginable fear'.
Yes!
What the Vaithiyar had said were not words. They were rocks thrown right on her face when her hands were tied behind'. You know the rock will fall right over your face and smash you. You know it is going to happen in a split second's time from now. You know you will suffer pain that you have never suffered in your lifetime before. It felt as if it will just be a split second and death will be instantaneous, yet it felt as if the world had come to a standstill. Everything seemed frozen in time. Space seemed meaningless when time was frozen. It is the moment. It is eternity. It is infinite pain. It is nothing. It is everything.It is blackout. It is lightning

It is fear.

Sembaruthi took a resolution.
'Tonight, if i shall die, i won't care. But tonight if i shall die without knowing if i have served or betrayed my motherland, i will certainly go to hell. That would have been the worst possible thing i would have ever done. I swear to god and myself that i will not let that happen. I will do now what the Vaithiyar has instructed me to , but if i don't get answers to my questions even after a while, i will start going by my instincts'.

She jumped out of the tunnel onto open space.
Darkness ate her. A blast of extremely cold wind blew over her face. It felt even more colder because she had come in the dusty tunnel till now and was profusely sweating.
'Move to your right and find the first tree' was her first instuction from the Vaithiyar.
She walked to her right. Suddenly a streak of light hit her face. Her eyes shrunk instinctively. She realized it was moonlight and a huge tree at a distance was hiding her from it till now.
'How surprising that it felt as if it was Ammavasya till a few seconds back while it was actually a Pournami day?' . She had seen a tree to her right at some distance and was carefully walking towards it. A thought struck her mind. 'May be the tunnel's mouth was carefully and skillfully constructed so that moonlight did not enter it even on a full-moon day. I am for sure caught in the middle of a few extremely intelligent people. But the big question is what they are using their intelligence for? For the benefit of Pavazhanadu or to betray it? By the way which place is this? It seems not really unfamiliar. Oh... there at a distance. What do i see? Is it not Madiyamalai? Yes, it is. But what is this? How can this possibly be the case? The shape and height of the cliff resembles Madiyamalai in every aspect. But where is the hill temple? It is missing! How can that happen? No no..i might be making some mistake here. This can't be madiyamalai. This has to be something else. Oh..no no..it is Madiyamalai. No doubt about it. Ah..now it is clear..How silly of me not to realise that this place is just on the other side of Madiyamalai. The hill temple is not right on the top but at a small distance from the top of the hill. Looked from this side of the hill, the temple is completely hidden from view. But this means the tunnel has started from Kumudhini's house which faces Madiyamalai temple and has ended here which is facing Madiyamalai's back. Such a big tunnel this is then. How did someone build such a big tunnel without anybody noticing? Intelligence. Yes. Pure Intelligence. That is the only word that comes back again and again. Such tunnels require years to be built. To imagine a size of this tunnel, it must have taken atleast three to four years to build this. But...But that means, the construction should have started when i was staying right here in Araimedu three years back. It feels so strange that people have been constructing tunnels right below where i would have been standing when we girls met daily at the foothills of Madiyamalai. It really feels strange ... rather frightening'.

She had reached the tree she was aiming to reach.
Now she recalled the second instruction of the Vaithiyar.

'Wait until you see something happening.If my guess is correct, you will find a Palakku coming very near to you in sometime'

'Who possibly would come to such a deserted place in a Palakku at this time of the night? And why should i stab that person.Oh my god! What a terrible night this is going to be.The vaithiyar says it will not be a Man who will come in the Palakku. Of course it will not be.Men never travel in Palakku. But which lady could it possibly be? And why should i stab her? I can't even imagine that there is a lady of such skills who can even shake up the Dhalapathi and Vaithiyar Elanchezhiyanaar that they have to resort to such techniques as to stabbing her from the back. I will certainly want to look how this lady looks like. How powerful her eyes would be? Does the Dhalapadhi know this lady ? Has he met her before? Why was i chosen to stab this lady? And more importantly what is this lady planning against the kingdom ? What are the Dhalapadhi and Vaithiyar afraid of? How can a lady possibly do something against the king? Didn't the Vaithiyar say that the king was not being targetted? So who else would they target? It must be someone in Araimedu. Otherwise why is all this happening right here? May be it is Sethupadhiyar , the oorarasar of Araimedu. But that looks improbable.No No... I think i should stop this guessing game. My head is paining like hell. How long would i have to wait. It is too cold here.. oh my god.. don't you have mercy on this poor girl? '

A sharp sound interrupted her flow of thoughts. The sound was familar. It cannot be dismissed as mere sound. Neither was it music. Nor was it noise. It was mesmerizing. Sembaruthi was shocked to death. It was exactly the same sound from a flute that the mysterious person sitting on the rock was playing the night before at the Durga temple.

Sembaruthi suddenly knelt down and hid behind a bush under the tree. There was no one that she saw in the vicinity. Terror started to eat her up slowly. Her mind was racing in such speed and with such confusion and fear, that she was not even able to correctly guess which direction the sound was coming from. Her eyes moved rapidly in all directions to see if there was any human movement.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
She tried to look at the direction of the mouth of the tunnel to see what the Vaithiyar was doing. She was shocked for a second. The tunnel was not there! 'The Vaithiyar should have closed it. Did he see the person playing the flute? Is that why he has closed the tunnel? Where is this person playing from? Why has he stopped playing now? Can it be like this? Oh my god.... i don't even want to imagine such a thing. Can it be the Vaithiyar who played the tune? Yes... it could be... the sound seems to have come from the direction of the tunnel. Now what does that mean? Was it the Vaithiyar who was sitting on the rock last night? Or was it the Vaithiyar who screamed out loud when the stone hit him? And now the tunnel is closed and the sound has stopped. Whom did the Vaithiyar signal to then? Oh...how long do i have to wait here. This place feels like a graveyard. Oh .. it will be a graveyard for the woman i will stab. Oh my god. I will be a killer. Not in the wierdest of dreams have i imagined myself in a hopeless position like this...'

A Palakku was approaching her from a distance!

Once the Palakku comes, the people who carried the Palakku will walk out of the place. And once they are out of sight, you need to make your moves quickly for you will not have time left later on. You need to get into the Palakku and stab the person inside. And then drag the person' body behind the tree where you will hide. And then get back to the Palakku and sit inside it till someone comes

That was the second part of the instruction. Even after a while since the Vaithiyar told her that,his dynamic voice reverberated as waves inside her brain.
She hid herself a little more for no particular reason.
Four strong men were carrying the Palakku. They certainly seemed not like Sevagars who carry palakku. 'Who are these people? Ah.. here they keep the palakku right in front of the tree that was hiding the tunnel from the moonlight. And now..exactly as the Vaithiyar said, they are moving out of the place. How far should i let them go before going into the Palakku and ..and...stabbing the woman inside? Let me wait for a minute. I need to mentally prepare myself for this act'

A minute passed in absolute silence. Even the wind had stopped to witness the mystery behind the happenings of the night. The trees were silent. There was no sound. Neither human nor animal. Neither from a flute nor from wind. It was like a painting, the entire place. Captured by an able painter on is canvas. Sembaruthi thought of her father for a second . Why she did so cannot be answered with certainity.
Her hands began to shiver. She took out the little knife that she had hidden so far. 'What am i going to expect now? Who am i going to expect now? Lord Arivamudhar will take care.. Yes it is always best to leave it to the Almighty when things go beyond your sense of understanding...'

Sembaruthi began to walk in quick steps towards the palakku.

She reached the Palakku.

She came around the wrong side of it so that when she opened the screen, she would not face the person inside but only look at her back. She did not have the courage to stab a woman on her chest from the front. No way can she do that.

She was there.
She just had to pull the screen away and push her knife right into the back of the person sitting inside. 'Can i do it? Can i not? Even I can know the answer only after a few seconds'

She took a deep breath.
She pulled with amazing force the golden cloth that was covering the Palakku.
She closed her eyes tightly and pushed in the knife as fast as possible.

Silence!

More silence!

The least expected reaction for a knife stab - Absolute Silence!

She opened her eyes slowly in fear. Tears were already flowing down her cheeks. Tears of terror!
She was expecting someone to cry out loud. Nothing like that happened. Why?
It was pitch dark and she cold just make out that she had stabbed a lady on her back. She now had to pull this lady outside and then go and sit inside the palakku. She pulled the woman with tremendous difficulty to the tree. And when she was about to rush back to the Palakku, she saw in moonlight that the lady's mouth was tied tight with a cloth. And her eyes were closed. she probably had fainted already and thats why did not shout when stabbed.
The face was not clear but Sembaruthi had a sudden feeling that she knew this lady. She had seen her before for sure. But who is she? 'Oh my god. Have i killed someone i know? I can never be forgiven for such a thing that i have done' .. She turned around and ran towards the Palakku and jumped inside it. Her whole body was shivering. She curled into herself and tightly closed her arms. She was in a huge shock and was not in the right mental state to make decisions other than what the Vaithiyar had asked her to.
A part of the screen that she pulled open to stab the person inside was still open. She sat in the Palakku staring blankly at the open dark space outside.

A minute or two passed in silence. She heard footsteps outside. 'Is someone coming to take the Palakku? No,it can't be. Only one person's footsteps is heard. Atleast four people are needed to carry a palakku. Who could it be?' She could not control herself and opened the screen a little bit more. At a distance she saw a person running as fast as possible towards the Palakku.'It will be atleast a minute before he reaches here. But who is he? Oh...is he not Jayendiran? Kumudhini's brother? Yes it is him..But .. What has he got to do with all this? The way he is running, it seems he is rushing towards the Palakku. Oh no..what is happening to him? Why is he falling down? This is unbelievable. He has been attacked by a knife that has been thrown from a distance. Should i go out of the Palakku and help him out? Yes... i think i should... '. She started to get out of the palakku when she heard four or five people's footsteps at a distance. She suddenly dropped the idea of going out of the Palakku. 'I can't go out now. I don't know if i can go out now. May be i should not. Let me first look at whats happening.' She looked carefully in the direction Jayendiran was coming. A black figure was now moving Jayendiran's body out of the place. It dragged the body behind a huge tree that was at a distance. Then the black figure rushed towards the tree where Sembaruthi had put the body of the lady whom she had stabbed from behind. It took the lady on its shoulders and started to rush away.

It was at that moment, a single moment that Sembaruthi saw it!
The eyes... the eyes of the black figure glittered in moonlight.

The eyes... the same pair of eyes Sembaruthi saw three years ago!

It was the Vaithiyar!!!

Sembaruthi was speechless. It all had happened in a few seconds time. She decided to get out of the Palakku. She started to come out when she saw at a very close distance the same four people who had left the Palakku at this place exactly a few minutes back. She could not get out now. No way. She will get caught red-handed. She slid back inside.

In a few seconds, the palakku started to move!

Sembauthi was looking like an innocent deer caught in between tigers.
She reflected for a second on what she had seen. She derived a few conclusions.
'The Vaithiyar is the culprit. He played the flute . He went inside the tunnel. He came out from
a different mouth of a tunnel. He threw a knife at his own son Jayendiran. He then dragged his body behind the tree. He carried the body of the lady that i had stabbed and escaped before these men who are carrying the Palakku came very near it.'

And suddenly, what possibly could be the biggest shock of that night came to Sembaruthi as a realisation of what she had seen in the moonlight a few minutes ago.

'I know the lady whom i stabbed. Yes...Yes... I certainly know her. Not only me...the whole of Pavazhanadu knows her. Oh my god! I just stabbed to death Queen of Pavazhanadu -Maargazhiyal!'

Sembaruthi fainted inside the Palakku that was slowly approaching a destination which she had no clue of!


=============================================================================================
END OF PART 1 (MADIYAMALAI) OF "THE CLOUD OF THE PRINCESS" (ILAVARASIYIN MEGAM)
=============================================================================================