Stories of Jivavarta: The Monster of Igati

Adhaka stepped out of the house. He did not bother to lock the door -- he knew that nobody will ever try to steal anything from his hut.

After walking some distance, he noticed a small puppy following him. As it came closer, Adhaka kicked the puppy hard. Wailing in pain, the puppy looked at Adhaka, and whimpered away.

Adhaka continued his walk. As he reached the lake, one of the kids who were playing in the waters noticed him. 

"Adhaka, Adhaka is here!" the kid screamed with terror in his voice. "The monster is here!" 

The other kids didn't even bother to look. They jumped out of the water, and sprinted away. Their mothers, who were gleefully washing clothes till just a moment back, immediately stopped, got up, and left quietly. The contempt for Adhaka was visible on their faces.

The lake which was bustling a moments back, had now turned completely silent. This did not bother Adhaka. He bathed, put on his work clothes, and continued towards the town square. 

From a distance, he could see the junior city officer waiting for him. Although he too was scared of Aadhaka, he tried hard not to show that. 

"Do it quickly." he ordered. "And don't mess up."

Adhaka didn't. After all, he had been doing this job for more than twenty years.

He quickly finished his job, and went to the city treasurer for his payment.

"Come back later." said the treasurer, without even looking at Aadhaka's face. Like everybody, he feared that looking at Adhaka's face will bring him a bad luck.

Aadhaka was used to this behaviour. People had avoided looking at his face, ever since old Kasu had bought him from a slave trader in Trishala and brought him to Igati.

Realizing that Adhaka did not understand the Rongcha language, Old Kasu had taught him a few
sentences.

"You don't need to learn more than this." Old Kasu had laughed. "Nobody is going to talk to you. Nobody is going to even look at you."

"But learn to wield your weapon perfectly," he had added, "and you won't ever starve."

Adhaka had worked hard, and learned whatever old Kasu taught him. But he was now starving.

"Please sir, give me one copper karshika at least." Adhaka pleaded  before the city treasurer. "I haven't eaten anything since yesterday."

The officer thought for a moment, then threw a copper karshika towards Adhaka. He wanted Adhaka to go away.

"Now, be gone!" shouted the officer. "And don't sound so grim all the time, be happy."

Be happy! The words reminded Adhaka of Old Kasu, who kept telling him to be happy. Adhaka genuinely liked the idea of being happy, but he could never figure what happiness felt like.

As Adhaka picked up the copper karshika, he noticed a few blood stains on his hand. He wiped the hand on his cloths, and walked towards the eatery.

He didn't enter the eatery, but spoke from the outside. 

"I need food," he called out.

The owner of the eatery saw him, let out a curse.

"Don't step inside," he shouted. "Stay where you are, you monster. Just throw the coin to me."

Adhaka threw the coin. It landed at the owner's feet.

The owner picked up the coin, poured some water on it, and wiped it clean. He then picked up a slice of fish, wrapped in leaf, and threw it towards Adhaka.

Adhaka picked up his fish, and walked back towards his house at edge of Sahiya mountain, just outside the city of Igati. There he stood feeling lonely and bitter.

Adhaka remembered his first assignment as if it had happened only yesterday.

"Don't think, don't look them into the eye." Old Kasu had repeated over and over again. "Do it as you practiced. You should able to do the job with a single hit."

Adhaka had practiced for weeks on dead wood and dead bodies. But none of that prepared him for a live person.

He was scared, and sick, and had pleaded with old Kasu. When old Kasu did not listen, he had adamantly refused to go ahead.

"Do this now," old Kasu had growled, "or I will kill you right here." He had put a knife on Adhaka's neck as he spoke.

Adhaka wanted to live, so he killed. It did not go well, but old Kasu assured him that it will get better after sometime. 

"I can kill a dozen a day without a second thought." old Kasu had bragged.

For Adhaka, it never got better. The eyes of the people he killed haunted him at night. After some time, he took to drinking strong sura wine to help him forget. At least he could now sleep peacefully.

Old Kasu had died ten years back, and Adhaka had since taken his place as the official executioner for the kingdom.

But now times had changed. A new king had abolished the tradition of human sacrifice, and Adhaka was now needed only when some hardened criminal was sentenced to death.

Today was such an occasion. It had earned Adhaka a rare few days of fish.

Adhaka entered his hut. It was dark, and the gusty wind was making noise outside.  As he made way towards his bed, Adhaka felt something at his feet. It was the puppy who had followed him in the morning.

"Cha!" shouted Adhaka. "Go away, you vermin." Annoyed, he kicked the puppy towards the the door.

The puppy gave a soft whimper, then stepped back and sat at a distance from Adhaka, timidly watching him. 

Adhaka was too hungry to bother. He ate a bit of his fish, drank some sura wine, and slept off.

A short while later, he was woken up by the sound of thunder outside. Opening his eyes, he noticed that the puppy was still there -- curled up, and shivering. Adhaka stood up. He was going to kick the puppy out of his hut, as hard as he could, so that it would never come back again to bother him.

As he stepped towards the puppy, it started to wag its tail. Adhaka realized that for some unknown reason, the puppy was feeling safer with him. This made no sense to Adhaka. Looking closely, he noticed the puppy was malnourished, and there were signs of abuse on its tiny body.

Adhaka felt a connection to the puppy. He knew what is to be not loved, what is to be an unwanted, to be treated with contempt. He didn't want the puppy to face that. He felt an uncontrollable desire to protect the puppy from any harm. This was a new feeling for Adhaka. The loathing that he had felt a few moments earlier was now gone.

He sat beside the puppy, and patted it gently on the head. As he sat pondering, the puppy moved closer to Adhaka and jumped into his lap.

"Wait, wait, you sily boy! You must be hungry and cold. I will give you some fish to eat, and then we will a make a warm bed for you." 

Adhaka got up, his face beaming with a smile for the first time in his life.

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