Yakshagni - An odyssey of unbroken devotion

Fear of the Prophecy

The Elapsed Era:

Amogha grabbed his daughter's hand and hauled her after him to their cottage.

"Yaksha Amogha, please...." Ekveer's efforts to explain floundered at Amogha's raised hand, gesturing him to stop.

Hanneli shrank back from the fury on her father's face and trailed after him quietly.

Ekveer did not return to the palace. Instead, he followed them, not wanting Hanneli to face her father's wrath alone.

The moment Amogha reached their house; he thrust Hanneli in front of him and questioned her, "What were you doing with him Hanneli? How many times have I asked you to avoid the royal members? Have you become so wise that you stop listening to your father's advice?

"No father, that is not true."

"Then what is it Hanneli? Despite my warnings, you spend long hours with the prince, that too in isolation. Why would you not listen to my repeated instructions?"

"Can I explain Yaksha Amogha?" asked Ekveer.

Amogha swivelled around and at the sight of Ekveer, his simmering anger threatened to burst forth, "This has nothing to do with you Ekveer. It is between my daughter and me."

"But you are angry because she was with me, so it is only right that I give you the answers you are seeking."

Wordlessly, Hanneli begged him through gestures to leave and when Ekveer ignored her, she had to speak up, "No Ekveer, I would like to talk to my father alone. Please leave..." Hanneli's eyes pleaded, hoping that he would listen to her.

"Did you hear her? Now leave us alone," Yaksha Amogha did not raise his voice but the rigid harshness of his tone dissuaded Ekveer from speaking further. Ekveer turned away, his face as bleak as the glacial winds of the Mandara Mountains. And if he had been someone other than the prince of Alaka, he would have listened to them; however, he decided to stay back in the vicinity. He crouched on the moss-laden steps of the cottage entrance, not intimidated by his mentor's animosity. He would leave only after resolving this conflict.

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"I was showing him the forest, father... my favourite spots, tree, your meditating place, and so on..." Hanneli tried to justify, afraid more for the outcome of this confrontation than her father's explicit anger.

"Why did you feel the need to show him all these places? There were other Yakshas willing to take the prince around."

Hanneli hesitated, not brave enough to confess to her father about her love for Ekveer, "The prince rescued me from Kinaras and so I thought I should be the one to show him around."

This was what Amogha had been afraid of when he had learnt that the prince rescued his daughter in Mandara. Scanning her face, he realized that she nurtured feelings for Ekveer. His next words uttered with intentional cruelty, crushed Hanneli's tenuous hopes.

"Hanneli, listen...the prince is betrothed to the princess of Vindhash. Do you really think he is going to break his engagement for a Yakshi?"

Her eyes widened in paralyzing shock. The castle that she had built in her dreams trampled under the watchful eyes of her father. Was the prince betrothed? He had never mentioned another woman to her.

"You didn't know, did you?" Amogha asked her, perceiving the bewildering distress in her eyes. Heaving a resigned sigh, he began to explain, "Hanneli, we are a tribe of forest dwellers. We have no right to form relationships with city people. Why do you think we are not visible to them? Because we are not destined to be like them Hanneli... We are a breed apart."