Chapter 7 - The Hunt

There is an instance, where time is not time. Where place is not a place. Peace here and now. There all existence is within one grain or infinite times bigger.  Imagination flies. Everything sometimes seems shrouded in a veil of mist. And to find truth…love and compassion rises from the heart.

High above in the sky a lonely eagle flies touching the clouds. The air ruffling in its feathers… leaves a trail in the clouds - so white. Its mighty wings spread so confidently. Sitting on the back of the elephant the king looks up to enjoy the flight of the eagle and admires its strength. He sees the eagle circling above them and then suddenly it is gone like a dream into the clouds again.

Another keen pair of eyes has also seen the eagle circling the forest. A shrill whistle calls the eagle. Perched high on the topmost branch of the mighty banyan, Tamluk’s hand reaches out to receive the mighty bird.

“What have you seen Chet?” The bird moves its head in a certain way.

“So, there are hunters in the forest? How many?” Now the bird raises its talons. “It’s a big hunting party. Well we will see.”

With agility Tamluk climbs down from the tree and after taking his bow and arrows on his back, moves swiftly towards the direction where Chet was flying. On reaching the last hill near which Tamluk had seen Chet circling the sky, he climbs a high tree. There was a moderately big clearing near the hill where he was now. He sees that a hunting party had pitched camp there. He could make out that there were almost 50 soldiers. Most of what was surprising was that there were horses and 3 elephants. Tamluk had never seen a horse though he had heard of them from his grandfather. The biggest elephant was adorned gaudily. He knew that sometimes some of the hunters boldly breached their territorial demarcation and entered the forest to hunt. But never before he had seen or heard of such a big hunting party blatantly entering their territory to hunt. Generally he would shoot a few arrows in the direction of the illegal hunters to frighten them away. But this situation was different. He decided to go back to the village nearby to this place and rest for the night as the sun was almost setting.

Tamluk went to the nearest village where the chief was a distant relative.

“Uncle Kalidas, I need to stay in Khamgiri for the night.”

“Sure nephew, you are more than welcome. “

“Uncle, I would need another favour. Please send a runner to my village to tell Chitradeep to come and join me here immediately tomorrow. He must bring my other two friends Kishore and Bikram along with him. They must bring with them all their and my war gears.”

“I will immediately tell my son Kashi to do as you have instructed”.

Kalidas summoned his son Kashi and gave him the necessary instructions. Kashi left immediately. Then he gave instructions to his wife and sister to cook dinner.

“Sit here my nephew next to me. I am very much pleased with your visit. But is there some problem?”

Everyone in the Barmura kingdom respected Tamluk and knew of his war skills as well as his good nature. They also knew that he was going to be the next king and a rightful person for the position too as per his capabilities. Sitting next to his uncle in front of the fire, Tamluk waited a long moment before answering.

“Three hills from this village, in the clearing, a hunting party has set camp.”

“So what is there to be so annoyed? I will take a few warriors of my village and shoo them away tomorrow morning. This is a routine thing for all the border villages such as ours.” 

“No uncle. You do not understand. There are more than 50 of them with horses and elephants. And they seem to be having among them a person of big stature. We must be careful.”

“Only 50? Nephew, do not worry. But it is a matter of thought though as never before this had happened here before.”

“That is why I want to find exactly who they are and what they want. I must be sure of their intentions. If necessary, we may have to inform the nearby border villages and inform the garrison of the Khamgiri hills.”

“So shall I send more messengers?”

“No uncle. We must first find out discretely. That is why I have sent for my friends. I may also need 3 of your best warriors preferable trained highly in tree climbing and jungle warfare tactics. Their knowledge of the land might be required.”

“I will see to it immediately.”

“And uncle, I do not want too many people to know about it just yet.”

As Kalidas left, Tamluk sat contemplating about his plan.

Soon Kalidas returned with his three best warriors. All of them greeted Tamluk and sat discussing about the situation and their plan.

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