Chapter 37 Black Shadows Between the Veils of Sleep
The small chamber in the heart of Prakashgadh palace was a pocket of absolute stillness the dying flame of the oil lamp casting long trembling shadows that seemed to cling to the corners like black moss The air still carried the faint metallic sweet tang of blood Anvays blood mingled with the bitter scent of healing herbs from the Vaidya (vaidya - healer) poultice It was a smell that spoke of violence hastily patched over
Anvay lay propped on silk cushions his head wrapped in a neat stark white bandage a stark moon against his earth brown skin The pain had receded to a dull distant throb a faraway drumbeat whether from the healers potent draught or from the sheer draining weight of the evenings emotions he couldnt tell
Nirag sat on a low stool pulled to the bedside his form hunched In his hands he cradled a small still warm clay cup of forgotten herbal tea His own fingers were clumsily bandaged white gauze stained with faint rust brown where he had torn his skin in his frantic guilt ridden ministrations Unconsciously those bandaged fingers plucked and smoothed the edge of Anvays woolen blanket a repetitive anxious motion as if trying to physically mend the tear his fury had rent in the fabric of their friendship His breathing was a ragged uneven thing each inhale hitched each exhale shuddered out as if carrying the weight of the world
Anvay moved slowly wincing only slightly and reached out His hand warm and steady closed over Nirags trembling wrist Nirag flinched violently as if burned by a brand of ice
Nirag Anvays voice was soft but it held the solid unshakable quality of packed earth a foundation in the quaking room Look at me I am here Youre carrying on as if the weight of all our years just crashed down on you today
Nirags head bowed lower a curtain of dark hair hiding his face A sound escaped him a choked guttural thing that was more a vibration of despair than a sob Tears seemed to have been scorched away long ago leaving only the dry aching husk of remorse Anvay you know when your head hit the stone that sound the blood I thought This is it This is my end You were my last anchor from the Tapobhumi days and I I shattered you myself
Anvays grip on Nirags wrist tightened not to restrain but to tether To connect Shattered me Nirag you have always been the one who forges me Your rage it is your fire And it reminds my calm earth what heat feels like Without your fire I am just inert stone Unfeeling
Nirag finally lifted his head His mismatched eyes one a smoldering ember one a turbulent sea blue were red rimmed and lost They searched Anvays steady earthy brown gaze looking for the lie and finding only bedrock truth Why do you always say things like that As if you are a part of me As if my pain not being yours would make you incomplete
A real if weary smile touched Anvays lips Because it is the truth Remember in the Tapobhumi when you charged alone into that pack of forest wraiths I didnt stop you I followed silently behind Because you fight alone like a typhoon Nirag But even a typhoon needs a fixed point an eye I am your still center
Nirags choked sound twisted becoming a short bitter but genuine laugh Yes and you always become that center But Anvay you know dont you Father and Tauji they didnt go alone Mother and Father they are with them
Anvays brow furrowed slightly Nirag saw the question form
How do you know
Anvay gave a slight pained shrug A guard He came just after dusk while you were fetching the healer He reported that Lady Dharaaya and Lord Vaayansh have also taken the hidden path toward Tamogahan They follow Agni and Neer
Nirags eyes widened then a shuddering sigh of profound relief escaped him It softened the harsh lines of guilt on his face Truly Then then they will be alright Mothers steadfastness and Fathers wind they will temper Fathers fire Yes It will be alright
A fragile comfortable silence settled between them woven from shared history and exhaustion Nirag moving with the unconscious trust of a much younger boy let his head rest against Anvays shoulder The tension slowly bled from his rigid frame Anvay you know when you were unconscious I felt like my own fire had turned inward and was consuming me Your face was so pale and I I hated myself Why do I always break what is most precious
Anvays free hand came up fingers gently carding through Nirags dark unruly hair Because you are still learning Nirag We both are Your anger is your strength You just have to learn where to aim it Remember the Amar Van When you incinerated those shadow creepers That was your rage but it saved us Today today it hurt me But tomorrow that same fire will shield us
Nirag burrowed his forehead against Anvays chest a child seeking shelter His breaths were finally beginning to even out losing their ragged edge Tomorrow yes tomorrow when that war comes youll stay with me wont you
Always Anvay whispered the word a vow sealed in the quiet dark Now sleep Your eyes need to close or that fire will spark again
Nirag nodded a barely perceptible movement Anvay shifted carefully lying back down and drawing the blanket over them both His hand continued its slow rhythmic motion through Nirags hair a gentle hypnotic gesture It was the same motion a mother might use or a shepherd calming a spooked animal Nirags eyelids heavy with emotional and physical depletion began to droop Within minutes his breathing deepened into the slow regular rhythm of true sleep Anvay watched him a faint fond smile touching his own lips You sleep but I wonder if your dreams are still awake
Anvay settled his own bandaged head back onto the pillow but sleep eluded him The physical pain was a muted echo in its place was a deep watchful vigilance He lay still listening to Nirags steady breaths watching the play of the dying lamplight over his friends face In sleep the lines of anger and anguish smoothed away leaving an almost youthful vulnerability For a moment he looked like the boy from the Tapobhumi again before the weight of legacy and duality had settled on his shoulders
Then Anvays heart gave a single hard thump against his ribs a primal alarm
Nirags eyes they werent closed
They were open And both eyes were black A pure depthless light devouring black No trace of the fiery red or the watery blue remained It was as if two pools of absolute void had opened in his face swallowing the feeble lamplight and reflecting nothing back
Anvay held his breath Nirag he called his voice a thread of sound
There was no response Nirags face was utterly still but the peaceful expression was gone In its place was a cold alien blankness Then the corners of his mouth twitched upwards Not Nirags impulsive grin or his guilty grimace but a slow cruel smirk that belonged to no one Anvay knew
Moving with a stiff unnatural grace Nirag sat up The motion was not his own fluid sometimes clumsy rise it was mechanical as if strings were attached to his joints He swung his legs over the side of the bed his movements heavy deliberate He turned his head and those black pits regarded Anvay The gaze held no love no camaraderie no residual guilt Only a chilling analytical detachment that bordered on contempt
You sleep now Anvay Nirag said But the voice was wrong It emerged from his throat but it was layered resonant echoing as if spoken from the bottom of a deep well It was a voice of cold stone and older shadows
Anvay tried to push himself up Nirag wait
A bandaged hand shot out not with Nirags elemental heat but with a shocking invasive cold It pressed flat against Anvays chest pinning him to the bed with unnatural strength The touch leached the warmth from his skin instantly
No the not Nirag voice stated flat and final You rest I have work to do
The hand withdrew leaving a patch of icy numbness on Anvays sternum Nirags form his form but not his essence stood and turned towards the chamber door Each step was a deliberate weighted thud on the wooden floor utterly unlike Nirags usual light restless tread
The door opened casting a sliver of torchlight from the corridor into the dark room framing the silhouette for a moment Then it closed with a soft definitive click
The room was plunged back into near darkness save for the guttering lamp Anvay lay frozen his heart hammering a frantic tattoo against his ribs The icy patch on his chest felt like a brand Those black eyes that smile that voice
That was not Nirag
Gritting his teeth against the throbbing in his skull Anvay forced himself to sit up He pressed a hand to his bandaged head using the sharp spike of pain to ground himself in reality Nirag stop he whispered to the empty room but the only answer was the fading echo of heavy footsteps down the marble hall outside
He sank back not in defeat but in grim horrified understanding He stared at the ornate ceiling the shadows now seeming to coil with malicious intent The fear that had been a seed since Nirags first unstable outburst now blossomed into a monstrous chilling certainty
A darkness had not just influenced Nirag from the outside It had found a crack the crack of guilt of exhausted control of sleep and slipped inside It wore his skin walked with his limbs and saw with eyes that were now windows into an absolute void
The friend he had just comforted was gone In his place something else walked the moonlit halls of Prakashgadh And Anvay injured and alone in the silent dark knew with a stone cold certainty what that something was
It was Andhak And it was no longer just a distant threat in Tamogahan It was here It was wearing the face of the person he loved most
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