Chapter 29 The Train Encounter

• Present Day: On a train from Kolkata bound for Goa, somewhere near Balasore, Orissa
• There was blood, only blood around him. It seemed he had fallen inside a whirlpool of blood and was being sucked inside. The more he flailed his arms to raise himself, the more he got dragged inside. He remembered last time Shivangi to have gone through the same ordeal at her sister's flat. These hallucinatory experiences had started after he met Shivangi. Was he connected to her in her previous life too? The taste of metal and salt made him feel like retching. He could hear voices in his head .. war cries rising to the sound of clarions and drums .. silenced by the slash of metallic weapons. The sound of horses' hooves, running of feet, clash of swords continued unabated. Elephants roared, horses neighed, vultures swooped down on the dead, jackals and hyenas waited for their turn to claim their share of flesh. The river Shipra turned red with blood in no time. .
• A horse rider was storming through the streets of Ambavati. It had been a long way from Ujjain the previous night and his horse hardly got an hour of rest. His helmet had fallen off revealing long, curvy hairs tied with a headband .. tilak drawn in red on long forehead .. wide eyes depicting determination and courage, rugged jawline turfed in stubble beard, handlebar moustache resting below an aquiline nose - from view offered by the parted aventail. Where had he seen those eyes, that nose, that face? Both the rider and horse were drenched in sweat and as they reached the palace, the animal dropped down on the ground from fatigue. The man shook off the metal coat from his body, unsheathed his sword and rushed through the main door of the building. It was then that Arunava saw the symbol drawn on his chest - the same 'V' symbol tattooed on Arunava's chest too.