Rain (The Quest Trilogy-Book Two) (31 page)

“Look, just move your knight …”

“Rain, Please! Stop bothering me!”

There was silence for a while and Earth concentrated hard on her next move. Ten minutes later, she had made no headway, having worried about everything from the way her hair looked to the way she smelled. Everything, other than what move to make next in order to save her game. It was no use. Rain had short circuited all the connections in her brain.

“I guess I’ll just have to call it quits.” sighed Earth, throwing her hands up.

Rain couldn’t contain himself any longer.

“No, Earth, you just move …”

Earth had had enough.

“What’s your prob…!”

She swung around to confront him, and ended up slamming her lips onto his in the process.

She hadn’t realized he was this close!

Earth jerked her body back and jumped five paces away, sitting in a crouch, ready to attack at the slightest instance and glaring at him furiously.

All around the camp an ominous silence descended as everyone waited with bated breath to see what would happen next. Did this qualify as a kiss? Did this qualify as an act of mating? Would Rain and Earth be pulled into the ground?

Rain stayed where he was, not moving a muscle. He only looked at Earth, keeping his face carefully neutral. This had entirely been an accident and not his doing. He knew Earth was searching for the answer to this very question on his face, and he needed to let her know.

After several cautious moments, Subodh finally broke the crackling tension in the air with a cough and a casual wave of his hand.

“I don’t think we have anything to worry about. If something had to happen, it would have happened by now.”

Rain got up slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements because Earth still had her angry gaze pinned to him, and walked out of the clearing without another word. Once he was sure that he was alone and nobody was following him, he stopped and leaned back against a tree.

Now, alone in the privacy of the forest, he closed his eyes and sank to the ground, reliving the memory of the short, almost-kiss with a smile on his lips.

*****

By the time he returned to the camp, the atmosphere had normalized once more. Everyone, except Subodh, was collected around the campfire, laughing and joking among themselves.

Rain walked over to the group and sat down beside Heart. Nobody said or did anything to make him feel he was in any way unwelcome. Apparently, they had all come to the conclusion that he was not guilty. Good, thought Rain, because he wasn’t. He was just really lucky.

“What are you guys doing?” asked Rain.

“Talking.” replied Heart.

“Want to play a game?”

“What did you have in mind, brother Rain?”

“Truth or dare!”

“Um, I don’t think so …” said Destiny.

“If you don’t want to, then we won’t.” said Heart.

“Oh, come on, guys.” protested Rain. “It’ll be fun!”

“It’s just a childish game.” echoed Angel.

Rain shrugged his shoulders. “Fine. Whatever you guys say.”

“Actually, I think it’s a good idea.” said Earth, surprising Rain.

“If you say so, baby.” said Angel at once, shifting a little closer to Earth and then looking at Rain to see if it was irritating him. Rain met Angel’s gaze with a smug look on his face.

I’m the one she just kissed, loser!

If you can call that a kiss.
Angel returned Rain’s look.

Rain frowned as Angel turned his attentions back to Earth.

“ I’ll spin this pen.” said Rain, placing a pen on a flat stone, “Whoever the nib points to, gets to dare the person facing the other end of the pen.”

Everyone gathered around the stone to sit in a circle. Heart convinced Destiny to join the game, too. Rain spun the pen. It stopped with its tip towards Heart.

“Heart, you get to go first. Angel, you’re the lucky guy who gets challenged.”

“Yeah, lucky me.” murmured Angel.

“Brother Angel, truth or dare?”

Angel looked at Earth. “Truth or dare, baby?”

“Dare!” said Earth, clapping her hands.

“Then dare it is.” said Angel, taking Earth’s hand and kissing the back of it.

Rain scowled at him.
Keep your filthy hands off her!

It was Angel’s turn to appear smug now.

“Go on, Heart.” he said. “Dare me.”

“Brother Angel, here’s the dare. Tell us about your Quest.”

The smile on Angel’s face died and was replaced by a distinctly uncomfortable look.

“Brother Angel… you are from Mt. Chimpu?”

“Er … yeah. How did you know?”

“Wild guess …” smiled Heart, looking at Rain.

“Wait a minute,” said Rain, “you’re from Mt. Chimpu, too? But you weren’t in my batch. This means … you’ve been here for a little more than six and a half years!”

“And that is not counting the three years spent in training!” said Earth.

“Wow! That is a lot!” said Destiny. “What have you been doing here for that long?”

“Can I please have a moment to answer?” said Angel, looking irritably at everyone around him. All of them fell silent.

“When I jumped into the Well of Origins, I didn’t land in any forest, or mountain, or familiar territory. I landed on another planet.”

“Another …!” began Earth, but was shushed by everyone else.

“Yes, another planet. When your Geeya’s told you that Quniverse has everything, they weren’t kidding!” he sat up straighter now. “My Quest required me to stay on the planet and survive for three days. Sounds almost too simple, right? Well, in wasn’t, because one day on that planet equals to three hundred and ninety-five days of ours. The inhabitants of that planet were all animals. Only, with the capability of thought, speech and emotions, just like humans. Turned out, they had planned to establish contact with us but abandoned all plans when they saw the junkyard we had turned our planet into. Needless to say, humans were at the bottom of their ‘like’ list. My ability to turn my imagination to reality was what saved me. I was able to show them how humans can be kind, generous and helpful, too. In short, it helped me to survive there long enough to be able to finish my mini and master-Quest, for which I had to help them fight off some alien invaders. Can you believe that? I helped aliens fight aliens.” Angel shook his head at the irony of that. “Once I had done all that, I got pulled back to Earth. I’ve been roaming these forests, ever since.”

“You’ve been all alone for over three years?” asked Rain.

“Not really. I made a friend here. The one who gave me the belt of Astra before she died. And besides that, I had a pet cat until recently. Her name was Miss Mint.”

“The one who limped and got crushed under the boulder. Yeah, I remember you talking about her that day we rescued Destiny.” said Rain.

“Yup.”

“But if you’re done with your Quest, then why are you still here?” wondered Rain.

“Because I haven’t met my soulmate yet.” Angel looked meaningfully at Earth.

Earth giggled, and Rain scowled some more. Heart nodded understandingly.

“Now there is a reason to stay.” he said, stealing a glance at Destiny who ignored him resolutely.

“Okay, time for the next dare.” said Rain, spinning the pen again.

“Heart gets to question again. This time, Destiny, you’re on the line.”

Destiny nodded. “I’ll take truth.”

“Certainly. Destiny …” Heart paused to clear his throat, “Destiny, why don’t you trust men?”

Destiny remained quiet for an endless amount of time. Finally, deciding that nobody should be pushed to do something they didn’t want to, Rain reached forward to spin the pen again.

“Wait …”

Rain stopped midway and looked up at Destiny.

“I want to answer that question.” she said softly.

Rain withdrew his hand.

“Ever since I was very young, I have had bad experiences with men. My father left my mother when I was six for a very beautiful, very shallow woman; and I learnt that to a man, beauty is everything. Then, my mother remarried and my step father would beat her up every night. I learnt then that men are violent. In grade eight, a professor repeatedly failed me in my papers because I did not allow him to complete the explanation of a lesson alone in his office. I learnt then that, if a man does you a favor, then there is a price to pay in return…”

Destiny closed her eyes to prevent the moisture in them from overflowing. After taking a few deep breaths to steady her voice, she went on.

“Then, when I was sixteen, I tried to run away from home to find a better life. But I was caught by the police and brought back. My step father decided that I needed to be taught a lesson …”

Destiny paused to take a few ragged breaths.

“He beat you!” whispered Heart through clenched teeth.

Destiny nodded as a single tear escaped from her eye and Heart almost leapt forward to take her in his arms. But Destiny started to speak again and Heart restrained himself.

“I was crying on my bed late in the night when he came into my room again. He said he was sorry … that he wanted to make it up to me. He sat down next to me and began to rub my back. I didn’t realize when he had opened the zip of my dress, but suddenly, he was pulling my dress off …”

Destiny’s voice now took on a steely edge.

“I pulled out the lamp beside my bed and hit him hard on the head with it. I hit him again and again … there was blood everywhere … and I was terrified. That night, I learnt it all. I learnt never to trust men. I ran away that night, again. This time, nobody caught me. I still don’t know if my step father is dead.” she finished tonelessly.

“He is now.” bit out Heart. “Once I get out of here, I’m going to find that …!”

Heart got up and stalked off into the forest. His exit was followed a few moments later by a loud crashing sound. When Heart returned and took his place again, his breathing was labored.

“What did you do back there?” asked Rain, curious.

“I had to let out certain frustrations.” said Heart, speaking in a monotone.

“On what?” said Angel.

“A tree.” came the swift reply.

Rain and Angel exchanged amused glances. Angel then reached forward to spin the pen, directing a questioning glance at Destiny. “May I …?”

Destiny nodded. “Please go ahead. I am finished with my story. As must be obvious, this is the first time I have spoken about it and it is a huge load off my chest.”

“No problem, Destiny. If Heart fails to get that rat of a step father of yours once he’s out of here, remember, I’m available.” Angel offered.

“Count me in, too.” said Rain.

Destiny smiled and shook her head. “You people … you are too nice to me. I was very rude when I first came here. I would like to apologize for how I behaved back then and to thank …”

Rain caught sight of Subodh reaching for his walking stick and hastened to interrupt Destiny before she could finish thanking them all and in the event, land a nice blow to her head. 

“It’s good, Destiny. We’re all fine. No offense taken. Now Angel, spin the damn pen!” said Rain.

Angel spun the pen and it pivoted in place for several seconds before stopping with the nib facing Earth.

“Rain and Earth.” declared Angel without any enthusiasm.

“All right!” cheered Rain, eager to disperse the somber tone their game-play had taken.

“Truth or dare?” he asked her with a glint to his eye.

Earth looked at him pointedly. “No need to look so excited. I’ll take truth.”

“Aw, shucks! Never mind. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Ask away, then.”

“Who were those two girls trapped along with you in the grave yard? The one’s who looked just like you? Were they really sequestors, or were they decoys or illusions of some kind?”

“They were … are, real. They are my sisters, Snow and Fire. We are identical triplets. Identical twins are fairly common, but identical triplets aren’t, that’s why people usually do a double take when they see us together.”

“Your sisters!” exclaimed Rain, looking guiltily at Earth.

“Yes. But why are you looking at me like that?” said Earth, wondering why he was looking at her in that manner.

“I feel terrible about not saving the other two, now. I’m sorry.” answered Rain.

“Don’t be.” said Earth with a lift of her hand. “It isn’t your responsibility to save every person in this world. You did what you were meant to do.”

Destiny stretched and yawned. “You know, I’m tired. I think it’s time we called it a night.” she said.

“Yeah, I’m sleepy too.” agreed Angel, rising to his feet.

“Um, Earth … I was thinking …” began Rain.

“Yes?” said Earth, looking up expectantly.

“Why don’t you sleep outside, you know? It’s more open and pleasant. Besides, on such warm nights, the tent must feel awfully stuffy.” said Rain.

The nights were not warm. They were, in fact, getting colder with each passing day. Rain was just making lame excuses. But Earth knew that, and she also understood clearly why he was doing it.

“I like it better under the stars, too ...” she said shyly.

“You mean, you will sleep outside?” said Rain, hardly daring to believe his ears.

Earth nodded and a dazzling grin split Rain’s face into two. Heart turned to Destiny.

“What Rain suggests is a good idea …” he said hopefully.

“No.” said Destiny firmly, and Heart let the matter drop.

Rain was so happy to have Earth sleep outside that after setting up his bed, he offered to set Earth’s bed for her, too. Once he had hers neatly laid out next to Subodh’s, he proceeded to put Heart and Angel’s for them, much to their combined amusement. With his heart happy and his mind in peace, when they all finally got into their sleeping bags, Rain was the first to knock off.

*****

CHAPTER 27

“Can you make the list shorter, please?” said Earth.

She was standing near the vegetable patch while Rain rattled off a long list of what he wanted her to grow.

“Okay,” said Rain, “just make it corn, mushrooms and onions, then.”