Kairavi

Chapter 3

"What?" asked the confused boy. He looked like a Brahmin. His head was shaved with a tuft hanging in the back, and a white tilak of chandan sat on his forehead. His armour evanesced as if it was a part of his own body, but the princess was too puzzled to notice.

"What what?" Kairavi retorted. "Why did you call me your Bhratashree?" he repeated.
"Because you reminded me of my brother.
But I don't have a brother.." she replied, confusing herself. "Did you hit your head or something back there?" the brahmin snickered.

"My doll!" she cried, recalling why the incident happened. "Okay, you definitely have a concussion, kumari." he replied seriously.
"NO, MY DOLL!" she cried even louder pointing towards the ditch. Tears had pooled at the corner of her eyes.

The young lad peered at the distance. He pulled out a bow and arrow from behind after scanning the area and shot the arrow down the cliff.
The princess watched in silence. The arrow emerged out of the great depth, carrying her doll by the garland that she had put around it earlier.

Her jaw dropped in awe as she stared at the arrow flying in a distance. The boy quickly shot another arrow which hit the first one and changed it's direction.
It rushed quickly at both of them. He caught it with one hand and dismounted the toy hanging by the string.

Kairavi squealed in excitement. She thought she'd never see her little friend ever again.
She reached out to take it from him but he raised his arm high so she couldn't get a hold of it. "Give it to me!" she whined.
"I got it back from the ditch, so it's mine now." the brahmin teased. "No it's not!" princess protested standing on her toes to snatch it away from him.

"What will I get in return if I give it to you?" he mused. Kairavi thought for a while and replied,
"You can have my other doll." "But I already have it." he pulled the other doll out of his pale dhoti. the princess was devastated.

She had to get her toys back somehow, they can't stay with some wretch who saved her life.
She closed her eyes and centred her concentration towards the brahmin's brain. A smirk played on her lips after she extracted the information she needed to rescue her toys.

"You're here to learn advanced archery and Brahmastra vidya from Lord Parshuram." she revealed confidently.
All of his vanity disappeared immediately from his face. "How do you know that?"

"Give me back my dolls and I'll take you to mahamuni. Call it a deal?" "And how are you going to find him?" he raised his eyebrows.
"Putri!" came a voice from behind. "Like that." Kairavi giggled.

They both turned around to find a fuming Lord Parshuram, ready to hurl his Parashu at the brahmin. "Guru-" before Kairavi could finish her sentence, the infuriated sage flung his axe at the youngster.
Her eyes widened and her hands involuntarily clasped her mouth in shock.

As the weapon drew near, the boy's torso began to glow as if something was burning inside him. The axe hit him, producing an earsplitting jangle and dropped down on the ground. The impact made Kairavi stumble a few steps backwards.

Lord Parshuram was astounded. There existed no substance in the entire world that could stop the blow of Parashu. "Who are you?" he thundered.
The young brahmin knelt to the ground and folded his hands. "I'm your disciple Gurudev. I long to become the finest archer in the world hence I've come to your refuge to procure the knowledge of divyastras."

"Neither am I your guru, nor have I accepted you as my student. Go back young man, I don't teach shastra vidya anymore.
There are plenty of gurus out there, you can approach them to get what you desire." he turned to walk away.
"I've heard you give justice to every solicitor, Bhagwan. Won't you do so for me?" Lord Parshuram stopped in his tracks and spinned back to face him.
"Who has done you wrong?" He questioned.

"Your own shishyas, Drona and Devavrat."