(Book 2) Hayden Mackay and The Tears of the Maiden

13.The Enemy Strikes Back

Pruthvi sat on the floor resting his back on one of the huge trunks in the room. Apart from rescuing his cousin, by relation whom he liked to call his sister Nazira Khan and keeping Leena safe, he now had the responsibility of proving to the whole of Paramarashtra, that his father was no coward.

Leena knelt beside him and held his face in her hands. "It's going to be alright," she said, keeping her voice as assuring as she can, "We will be okay, understand. Worrying will get us nowhere."

         "Yeah, you are right," he said trying to smile, "Are you done talking with Celina? Are they fine?"   

          She nodded. "They are still on their way to Rawat."

    He sighed and looked away. He still wasn't able to look into those brown eyes of hers filled with concern. He knew she was gazing at him when she slowly took his hand and clutched into hers.

    "What's bothering you Pruthvi?" she asked, her voice cracking slightly.

    "I just don't know how I'm going to clear my father's name," he said, surprised finding his own voice so low.   

            "Tell you what," she said, squeezing his hand, "We stick with our mission of finding your sister. She is the only prime witness. She can prove that your father was innocent."   

Pruthvi looked up at her sideways, his heart filling with hope. "Do you think she is aware of the truth?"

    "Yes, I do. You are a very good son Pruthvi, you surely will restore your father's honor. I have faith in you."

    Her absolute faith in him touched him. Her support was everything that he needed the most. He finally looked back at her finding her smiling brightly at him. He drew her closer to him slowly. Watching eyes dropping at his lips, Pruthvi bent over and they came together in a rush of passion, their lips fused driven by the need to be close to the one they love in this time of uncertainty.

After the much needed blissful moment, they broke apart. Slightly panting and caressing their foreheads, they smiled at one another, their hands still tightly clutched upon. Blushing and slightly embarrassed, Leena then placed her head upon his shoulder.

    "Pruthvi, why do you think Hardik brought us here?" she whispered.

Shutting his eyes and placing his cheek against the softness of her hair, he said "Seriously, I don't know Leena. But I really wish it has a mouth to speak."

Leena snickered gently and said, "Where do we go now? We still haven't found your sister yet."

"That's the problem. I don't know if we can trust Hardik anymore."

Leena looked up at him, frowning and said, "Why not? He didn't harm us in any way."    

             "It didn't?" he said, raising his eyebrows, "What about visiting Shashi's lair? We were only lucky he wasn't there at the moment."

              "Yeah but..."

      "What if it takes to some place more dangerous?" he said, "What if it straightly hand us over to Shashi?"

    Hardik suddenly jerked and settled back silently. Pruthvi then remembered it doing the same at the lair when he was thinking constantly about finding the Holognome.

    "Pruthvi listen to me," said Leena holding his chin and forcibly pulling him to look at her, "Hardik might have acted suspiciously, but think, whichever place he took us to, has been always benefitting."

             Leena statement forced him to change his opinion. In Shashi's lair they had learnt about the existence of Holognome.  And the next stop was the Holognome; but Hardik taking them to these places must only mean that it was listening to them and acting upon it. Was it a whim or how trustworthy was it? Was it acting on the orders of someone else?