A long corridor stretched across a building, with walls to one end and windows to another. The window panes were carved from wood, which had decayed over time. Creepers growing along with the windows, finding their way into the corridor. The sunlight beamed in through the windows and lit the otherwise dark and gloomy corridor.
A man paced his way across this corridor straight to the other end, he looked worried with a sense of urgency. He ran across the entire length of the corridor till he reached the front of the huge door which was shut close. He stopped and arched his back, resting for a moment. Then without wasting a moment he pushed the doors ajar. On entering the room he stopped right at the entrance, bowing his head lightly to the man who was standing in front of him. The man in front of him was tall, olive-skinned. His fat face held harsh angles warmed only by deep grey eyes. He wore a brown casual outfit with a red armorial wheel crest at the shoulder.
The panting messenger who had run to the room bent in front of him, conscious of his posture. He knelt and watched his master who was covered in blood. A woman squalling under his thick boots. The woman's hands and legs were brutally damaged, her hair had been shaved off and her body was covered in cuts. But the most shocking feature about the woman was her face, it was completely burnt, even the eyes were scorched to such an extent that they had turned black.
"What is it Khudini?" the master asked calmly.
"Sire, there is a man here who wants to meet you, he hasn't disclosed his identity but he says he knows something about the deaths of the young masters."
Not once did this master of the messenger lose his calm, even when he tortured the woman under his feet, his eyes didn't falter. He went on about it as if it was just any other job. But on hearing the last few words from Khudini his eyes lit up. His calm eyes were now wavering with eagerness and curiosity. He stepped off the woman's face and commanded the servants in the room, "Hang the whore with the other prisoners, I'll get back to her once I'm done here."
Khudini walked with earnest steps behind his master, reaching the outer room where the guest was waiting for them. Right as their master entered the room, all the servants and other members of the household immediately bowed. They were not very fond of their master and neither did they respect him. But he was a first-tier, as members of the lower-tier they had now become accustomed to serving members of the community higher up in the tier system. Even the guest who had arrived bowed lightly and then again took his seat once the master of the house had taken his seat. Khudini gestured all the other servants to leave the room and took his place behind his master.
"Speak, what news you have for me." The master of the house spoke with hostility.
"It is an honour to meet you Wazir..."
"Just tell me what you know, don't bother with formalities", Wazir interrupts his guest.
The dark-skinned man, wearing a turban on his head giggles softly and then comments, "I can see you are quite desperate." He observes Wazir's clothes which were still covered in blood.
"Don't mistake my curiosity to be my weakness," Wazir warns his guest in a stern voice.
With a light scoff and rebellious eyes the guest continues, "I am Segmun and I bring a message from Aguero Francis, a name you must be aware of."
"The leader of the 'Senya'." Wazir softly remarks.
"Precisely, we believe the men who killed your sons at the bar and blew the face off the woman they were with are an acquaintance of ours. An acquaintance that we're not very fond of."
"Who? Who was it?"
"A man you must have heard stories of, Dev Zuluk."
"Dev Zuluk! Why would a Zuluk kill my children, the woman who was with them at the time pointed it was some dealer who they had invested in. They had an altercation and my sons nailed one of them to the wall but they were tricked. Which ultimately led to their death."
"Well it's a pity that your sons didn't know they were dealing with a Zuluk, but what I know now is that both you and I have a common enemy." Segmun adjusts his turban and gets up. Khudini immediately brings his hand closer to his dagger ready to attack in a flash. Segmun gently moves closer to Wazir, he then bends his knee and speaks softly, "As an old member of the society, you have considerable influence and power. But this is Dev Zuluk we are talking about, he and his siblings even destroyed the 'Prabal'. On top of that, you being in the Central marginalizes your power in the Independent. But together we can put an end to this, lend us your strength and together we can finish the Zuluk."
***
In an old underground basement-tunnel like structure. Charun and Dev along with the other boatmen and Rishu are seen storing the consignment in the basement.
Finishing their work all of them start heading out of the tunnel. After exiting from a makeshift sliding door, Rishu starts covering up their tracks. Being a kusokan he uses his super-speed to cover it up with bushes and remove all the footprints around the area. Completing his task in a matter of few seconds, he stops by where everyone had already gathered waiting for him.
Dev meanwhile hands over the boatmen their cut. After exchanging pleasantries the boatmen leave while Charun, Dev and Rishu wait.
Suddenly the air of professionalism each of them was carrying breaks.
"Don't tell Benisha that you were attacked by Echeneis. She'll lose her shit and won't let you head to work again." Dev breaks the silence with a sigh.
"I wasn't going to," Rishu replies with a pleasant smile.
Wrapping his arms around Rishu, Charun remarks, "So, little brother how was your first job?"
"You have no idea, how thrilling it was. The Echeneis were huge and tugging at our boats like trying to rip them apart. Then the canal we travelled through was filled with..."
"Calm down boys, the boatmen haven't cleared the forest yet. So let's try to keep his identity hidden for a little while longer." Dev interrupts Rishu's excited narration.
"You over-do things Dev!" Charun scoffs.
"Say's the man who needlessly killed two people in a bar fight." Dev promptly responds.
"You killed again!" Rishu exclaims with surprise. "Benisha is going to kick you out of the house."
"Who's going to tell her?" Charun shrugs, "And I did it for him." He points at Dev.
"Yeah right, as if he needs saving from local ruffians." Rishu giggles heartily.
"He was unnecessary downplaying it, for no good reason," Charun complains.
"Because we were not to attract attention, and don't get me started on it. Those two and the women with them came from money. We might have made new enemies by killing them." Dev admonishes Charun.
"They didn't know who we were and even if they did, let our enemies come to us. It'll be the end of them." Charun lashes out proudly.
"Your over-confidence scares me." Dev sighs, He turns his gaze to Rishu and bends down to his height, holding his shoulder with both his hands, he gazes deep into his eyes. "Rishu before we head home, I need to ask you this... did you have to kill?"
"No, the route you told us about didn't lead to a scenario like that."
"I'm glad it didn't." Dev smiles meekly.
Looking around the forest, and observing the area around them carefully Dev speaks, "It's clear, sound the whistle Charun."
Charun takes out a small steel whistle from his pocket and blows it loudly. After a few minutes a dark-tall man, well-built and with unkempt hair arrives with four horses in toe. He looked old, quite aged but in actuality, he was as young as Charun and Dev.
"Fine morning Leander." Dev greets the newcomer.
"Fuck off Dev, out of all the days, you had to pick today." Then turning his gaze to Rishu, "Oh our Lil hero is back, so how was it? Your sister was worried sick."
"Hey Leander, It went smoothly, fortunately," Rishu answers while scratching his head with a smile.
"Great then head out you guys. I'll take it from here." Leander takes charge.
"Also Charun, Dev there are some men asking after you. Not really great company to keep. Also, I hope you haven't covered the pitch too much, you guys go too far with your acting."
The three of them look at each other and smile wryly.
They get on their respective horses. Dev, Charun and Rishi head out leaving Leander behind as he gets to work.
Story By: Four Eighty One
Updates Every Friday
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