Durga by Kevin Missal

Author:Kevin Missal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: S&S India
Published: 2022-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

14

Gauri was kept in a cage for a long time. She realised that she shouldn’t have showed her face. Perhaps she could have instigated the attack on religion in some other covert way. She could have convinced someone else to do it.

But it was better than dying.

She knew the risks when she had joined Operation Nine Nights. She knew she could die and the plan would still move on. All that mattered was Mahisha’s fall by the end of the ninth night.

It was perhaps the fourth day when the darkness finally gave way to light and she saw a sly, crony figure walking inside.

She could immediately recognise him. It was Shukr.

The lack of food and water had left her feeling weak and exhausted. Her body was frail and she was lying on the floor.

‘How is your punishment going?’

‘Kill me,’ she replied. ‘It’ll be better.’

‘Hmmm,’ he contemplated, coming close to the cage. ‘Why did you do it?’

She clenched her jaw, ‘Because the rituals are wrong and wasteful.’

‘Did I choose you for your morality, woman? I chose you because you listen to orders and execute them well.’

She remained quiet. She thought apologising could work and get her out, but she hated Shukr’s guts. He was a slimy man. And he was bad in his own way. She didn’t want to touch his feet and do something she wouldn’t be proud of.

‘I know,’ she whispered.

He knelt down, glaring at her. ‘You have to realise who you work under is a god. And he has to be treated like that. Do not disrespect him.’

She was quiet yet again. She had one god, and it was not someone who wore buffalo horns.

‘I feel keeping you here is doing a disservice to your skills. You are doing nothing but lying like a slugger. It’s better that you serve your punishment and work at the same time,’ he straightened. ‘Your insubordination shall affect everyone. All two dozen of the women.’

She shot him a glare of contempt.

‘Ah, angry are you? You should be. It’s understandable. You care for your friends. They will face the brunt of what you’ve done, the same way you do.’ He began to walk towards the door. ‘You leave in an hour for the farm.’

The farm? She had not been to it for a long time. And she hated that place.

‘You should feel lucky, girl, that I have not killed you,’ he said. ‘I should have…but I feel you can still redeem yourself.’

And he left. She stayed there, flaring her nostrils and yelling loudly. Screaming at the top of her voice till her throat became hoarse, she fell back on the floor and remained there.

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