The Echos of longing

The snake charmer

"Her eyes are hooded. And the colour is peculiar. Greyish blue. She must be of a higher clan. We can use her skin,her meat is quite nourishing too. And her venom,it would be quite potent"the group surrounding the little child talked as she laid there. With her forehead bleeding with wound.

The dark alleys of the city,what was she doing there. No one was there to show such concern. It did not matter to them anyhow. In that dark place all that mattered was,crystals. The more crystals they had,the easily they could live life. Such is world. Where money,power and strength are the only thing that matters.

As the group of thugs sat talking among themselves,the little girl moved slowly. Actually she was running away,when she encountered this group. They had knocked her out.

Her lashes big enough to touch her cheeks fluttered open as if butterfly opening it's wings. As she looked at the group of men with tattoos and muscles,she felt fear.

But she choose to close her eyes. May be death would be better than that.

She thought to herself. As the thought of her arranged marriage came back. She was barely a teen. But her father had fixed her wedding with someone whom she had never seen before. So she had choose to run away.

Just as the men were alerted by the bells tied around her wrist,on the trinklet that her mother had gifted her on her birthday,they did not notice,the vibration of the trinklet was far from over. It was like waves. Travelling somewhere.

As they started to move towards her,to go ahead with the brilliant plans they had made,a figure,like shadow appeared out of nowhere.

That figure was like a phantom,covered with a Grey long hooded coat. Long enough that it was trailing behind him. Even his hands were gloved.  He was walking on the dark soil but it felt like he left no foot prints behind.

Only the young snake girl noticed him. As he moved,the sharp knife slashed the necks of the people who came closer to her,as if they were butter under hot knife. Melting at touch.

They lied lifeless,but it seemed the man never moved.

He did not turn towards the girl. Did not pay any heed to her,as if he could not see her. But something caught the eyes of the young princess of the Azure snake clan.

That man was wearing a ring. Not on ring finger. But on index finger.  It had eight stones on it. Why did it caught her eyes. May be light reflected on it. As the globe was transparent.  May be it hid only skin. But not material objects.

After sometime,the soldiers of her family found her. She closed her eyes. It was enough to terrorize her. She was ready to marry whoever her father arranged.

But the news came. The Lord whom she was going to marry,he was dead. She sat stunned. Again that phantom figure flashed across hee mind. Who was he.

Her parents and she walked towards the small house by the river. Where the body of the lord with whom her engagement was fixed lied. She did not care.

As she walked closer to the coffin,crystal,she cared not to look at the face of the man who lied in it. But again. Something caught her eyes.

The sunlight from the windows fell on something and she was caught looking at the very familiar light.

As she looked down towards the finger of his. There it was. The ring with eight stones. And she wondered looking at the Crack,minute but Crack on the greyish blue stone. So similar to her eyes.

As the lid of the coffin was put,she stood stunned. What was the relationship between the phantom and him. How did he die?

How to find the answer,she wondered. Why was her heart feeling restless thinking about a man whom she did not even know. Why did she feel like she was somehow familiar with him. That she knew him. Who was he?

Those questions,it started to grow bigger and bigger. She browsed the books in the royal Library. She asked those questions to all the teachers. But found no satisfactory answers.

But one day,she found someone.  A snake charmer.

But the price was. She must give him her poison once. She agreed.

And the snake charmer told her tale. Of ancients. Of ancient Gods,of war that happened. Of love. Of hatred. Of regrets and of life.

She gave him her poison.

The snake charmer smiled and walked away. Leaving a princess,about to marry someone else wondering. 

Because she again saw the ring,in the index finger of the snake charmer.

Should she trust him,she wondered. And decided against it. Forgetting it was easier it seemed.

The snakecharmer smiled as he poured the venom into his mouth.