Kroniikles

[BSCVadhan]

[FONT=&quot]The Sage and the Mage[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The first impression of the grotesque man was quickly changing. Appearances apart, the Rap Sage was able to discern something else about the man. It was like discovering a beautiful lotus in a murky pond. So powerful was the yogic pulse, it could have only come from a Warrior Mage. Could have. There were no Warrior Mages left, the sage knew. The little man broke away from his thoughts to study the tall man. There was self loathing there, completely at loggerheads with the yogic pulse, so much so that the Rap Sage realized that the pulse could have almost been an aftermath, an abstract ebullition. [/FONT]


‘This is a wound dressed like a man!’
[FONT=&quot]For one, he was cocooned in bruises and cuts. He raised himself shakily as the duo neared him. When they were near enough to lock eyes with each other, mild shock jolted the sage. A flicker of something; was it a memory? ‘[/FONT]Have I seen this man before?’[FONT=&quot] He was clad only in a ragged, dirty cloth wrapped around his lower torso. He hobbled unsteadily onto his lacerated and wound festered feet.[/FONT]
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The Rap Sage took the easy route. He turned to Parashuram.[/FONT]
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“My Lord, who is this unfortunate devil?”[/FONT]
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Parashuram halted their advance. [/FONT]

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“Devil?! This creature has served his sentence and has been released off his penance. Alas! He is broken down and amnesic. A Mage he was beyond compare. The wretch that this foremost of warriors has become, does not recall some things even about himself. He is the one who is four, the gifted and peerless son of my disciple Drona. Aswathaman was he named after the neighing celestial horse that proclaimed his birth.” [/FONT]

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The Rap Sage was gaping at the tall man. The man’s head was angled as such that it could hint at humility or potent threat. The sage had seen Aswathaman once during the war of wars; resplendent, with his Shiromani gem glowing on his forehead, his long bow rock steady. Then, Aswathaman was invincible, undefeated. Now, he was nothing more than a shadow.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“I want you to heal him,” said Parashuram. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]It was not a question, nor a request. It was an order, pure and simple. It never occurred to the Rap Sage to refuse the warrior saint. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot] “Your wish is my command Sire,” he said and bowed low. When he raised his head, Parashuram was gone. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“You went and got yourself cursed and I have to heal you! How am I going to counter Lord Krishna’s curse. What do you take me for, a miracle worker?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Don’t remember asking you to”, was the whispery reply the sage
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[FONT=&quot]got.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Why don’t you tell Parashuram that?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Don’t need to, he did what he thought was right. I am fine the way it is.”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Where does that leave me? Do you know how he is when he gets angry?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“He’ll only be angry with me, not with you. Go your way. By the way, where is this place?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Didn’t he tell you?” The Rap Sage asked.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Why would I ask you if he did?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Hmm…you are in Mount Kailash.”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“The Himalayas.”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Err…No, the other one.”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“You don’t say!”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The sage had no answer for that. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Who are you?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“I am the Rap Sage.”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“What’s a Rap Sage?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Your only chance!”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The Mage had no answer for that, just a cynical smirk. Aswathaman hobbled a couple of paces and stood swaying. Then he promptly collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.[/FONT]

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His wounds were infected. Maggots were crawling freely within his infected body. The stench of decay was revolting. Aswathaman’s eyes were half glued shut and his nose was bent and broken. The ends of his mouth were white with dried saliva. The man shuddered uncontrollably even in his stupor. [/FONT]

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The Rap Sage swung into action. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Tearing loose a lotus, he fashioned the soft flower into a cup. Whispering incantations, the sage dipped the makeshift cup into the lake. With the cup brimming with chilled water, the sage picked up a few leaves from a nearby tree along with blades of grass. He dropped the leaves and grass into the cup still chanting his incantations. They dissolved into the water in a fraction of a moment.
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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]He sprinkled some of the water on the unconscious Mage, waking him. The sage made him drink the water. Laying Aswathaman down on a plank made of young branches of pine and beech trees, he dragged the makeshift stretcher under the shade of a tree, grunting with the effort. [/FONT]

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He bathed the amnesic mage and cleaned him as best he could. The sage set about disinfecting Aswathaman with dark green juices squeezed out of medicinal leaves. As the day drew to a close, the sage built a roaring fire. He fed the wounded man a pulp of mango and oranges. Ointments and pastes from herbs soothed the wounds, dressed in medicinal leaves. The Rap Sage made pellets out of medicinal plants.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Swallow them whole” the sage adviced.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“For God’s sake, each one’s the size of an egg and there are six of them.”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“So…swallow them, it’s important”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“I told you to leave me alone” Aswathaman hissed.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“I told you to swallow them, why don’t you[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Or you’ll get malaria and the flu[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I aint gonna sit here and let you suffaaaa[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You gotta get up and you gotta guffaw”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“What?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Do you like the song, I just made it up. I have plenty of them here” the Rap sage said excitedly. He appeared to have forgotten about the pellets.[/FONT]

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An hour later the Rap Sage wasn’t showing any signs of tiring. He pulled out one piece of paper after another from his sack, each worse than the one before it and burst out in raucous melodies. An unsettled Aswathaman volunteered to swallow the pellets. He did not resist the sage’s efforts at healing after that day. [/FONT]

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]It was late in the night when the Rap Sage stretched himself lazily on the grass, a little distance from Aswathaman but close enough to the warm fire.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Why have I been brought to this place?” the Mage asked him[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The Rap Sage shrugged. “All I know is that one minute I was having a cozy afternoon nap and the next minute Lord Parashuram was there.”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Didn’t you ask him why we’re here?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“I was too petrified to ask him. Didn’t you?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The Mage gave the sage the benefit of a hard stare before lying back on his plank. [/FONT]