• 

“You’re a really good student,” Vikas said and took a step threateningly towards me. “But you’re too egoistic.”

I took a step back on the footpath beside the road. I was waiting for my bus at the stop, which would take me to my rented apartment. I had no flatmates. I had recently moved in to this new city for my degree college, and nothing so far had made me feel uncomfortable. And then there’s this guy.

“What do you want?” I said, eyeing him cautiously.

He grinned like a jerk, as was expected. “You.” He replied.

“Excuse me?” I took a step back again, frowning. I was even more terrified when his sidekicks appeared from behind and started looking at me with their sick eyes roaming over my entire form.

I was trembling in fear.

“You shouldn’t have talked back to me in front of the entire class, love,” Vikas said, stretching his arm forward to touch me. I flinched. “You’ve been so… naughty.”

His gaze turned evil. “I will punish you now…” He almost whispered darkly.

I would’ve screamed the next instant if the bus wouldn’t have come between us. I couldn’t bother to look at the number of the bus as I climbed in, and sank into an empty seat, breathing heavily.

“Yashi! You won’t escape us!”

I got up, alarmed, and looked out of the glass windows to see that they were now following the bus I was in, all seated in a jeep that Vikas was driving. My heart skipped a beat in fear.

Vikas laughed loudly. “You took the bus that takes you to the outskirts of the city, love! You’ll be a TASTY DINNER for us!” He growled maniacally, and his comrades laughed along.

I shrieked and looked at the driver. He was a poor old man, who couldn’t visibly do anything to save me. There was no conductor on the bus. I took a gulp as two tears quickly leaked from my eyes.

“Yashi… Get down at the next stop and RUN as quickly as you can,” I thought to myself. “If they catch you, God knows how devilishly they’ll devour you…”

However, I didn’t get much time to plan further. The bus started slowing down, and I dove towards the exit, almost flying out of the bus. My black jeans and grey t-shirt got covered in dust as I landed on the ground, my blue denim jacket protecting the rest. I got up again in a heartbeat though, and with everything inside me on fire, I ran. Ran for my life.

I deliberately took a tumble down the roadside, leading into the dense forest cover adjacent to the road. At least the jeep won’t follow here. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I could hear the boys howling like imbeciles and savages behind me, but I had no time to comprehend what they were shouting at.

I ran and ran until their shouting was very faint, and I mustered all the courage I had to look back. I was astonished at what I saw.

They weren’t running anymore.

They had stopped dead in their tracks, gazing in my direction, aghast. They were motioning to me with their hands flailing, to not go further. I still couldn’t stop running. Of course, I couldn’t obey them now, could I? They clearly wanted to rape me. I continued to run.

The dusk had begun giving in to nightfall by the time I took a halt, falling to my knees, gasping and panting. I was totally out of breath and my whole body had begun aching now. When I’d finally caught my breath again, I looked back to find that no one was following me, and no sounds were audible except for the crickets.

I looked back ahead to see an ancient looking sign board in front of me. I rubbed my eyes, squinting them open and stood up, tottering towards the sign. Once I was close up, I read the mystic Hindi words on the board, saying, “Puraani Haveli Ka Raasta” (Path to the Old Fort).

I rubbed my hands to keep warm, and blew on my clenched fists, keeping an eye around me all the time. I didn’t know what direction I had taken to come here, but I knew that the people of the Puraani Haveli (Old Fort), or its caretakers, would definitely help me find my way back. Without wasting another moment, I took quick steps into the Fort’s direction.

I had barely walked half a kilometer when a startling sound of footsteps came from behind me. I screamed loudly, and without turning around, I broke into a run again. I ran forward towards where I assumed the Puraani Haveli was, and kept screaming for help. “Help me! Help me!”

Damn that Vikas, and his gang! Damn their nerve! How could they trick me and follow me up till here?!

When I finally summoned the courage to look back, I was astonished yet again.

There was no one behind me.

“AAAAA! Ouch!”

I bumped into something IN FRONT OF me and fell face-front on the ground.

I should’ve stopped running to look back, I thought. I rubbed my head that had collided with something very hard in front of me, and looked up to find… a person there.

My eyes got narrowed as I observed that person. He looked pretty mysterious in that heavily embroidered robe of his, shining in the twilight. He had a peculiar turban on, the type that Kings of ancient India used to wear. His face was white like a sheet, and so was the skin of his hands. His eyes, however, had a strange blackness to them. And when I say strange, I mean…unearthly.

I stood up to my full height and realized that this guy was literally towering over me. He had an unbelievable height, almost seven feet! And the way he was gazing down at me… I did not like that. It was… Strange. And in a way, scary.

“Who are you?”

His voice sent a cold chill down my spine. It was a dark baritone, the darkest I’d ever heard in my life. I was paralyzed, not with fear, but with the cold and eerie stare I was subject to.

“I… I…” I stuttered like an idiot.

I shrieked again when I heard a wolf howl in the distance. And my stupid reflexes, I threw myself into his chest, hugging him tightly.

I was so scared. Any sound that came from the distance made me tremble with fear. What if Vikas would come and hunt me down? I shuddered at the thought. I looked back at this strange person. Tears streamed down from my eyes as I clung on to his robe and bit my lip.

“Please save me…” I cried. “They… They are animals! They will… They will…!”

I couldn’t speak anymore. I was sobbing incessantly. The thought of those maniacs hovering over me in itself was a vision worse than death.

“I couldn’t protect her… But I will protect you.”

My eyes shot open and widened as I looked back at the person. He wasn’t looking at me, but the words that had escaped his charred lips had more meaning than any truth that had ever been confessed to me.

I followed his gaze to find that he had been looking in the direction of something that looked like an abandoned castle. That… must’ve been the Old Fort. I looked back at him.

“Yes,” He nodded without looking at me. “That’s mine. I’m the King of the Puraani Haveli,”

A silent blush started making its way to my cheeks as he said the next words.

“My name is Thakur Ranvijay Singh.”

I was in awe. Yes, this was a descendant of the royalties of this place. He certainly looked like a King in every damn sense of the word, except for the mysterious unearthly aura around him. I gulped and bowed my head low, paying my respects to him. “My humblest apologies, Your Majesty.”

He fluidly turned his face to look at me. The blackness of his eyes was intensifying now. Another chill ran down my spine.

“It’s odd… You resemble her,” He said in a voice that was too low pitched for my liking. I trembled, trying to hide the reactions that his voice was causing in me.

“What is your name?” He asked in the same mysterious voice. I shut my eyes tightly, breathing heavily again.

“It’s Yashi, my King.” I answered, shivering.

It took me a while to gather some courage to look up at him, and to my extreme surprise, I found him glaring daggers at me.

“Even the name… matches,” He almost whispered. I was trying to figure out what he was trying to tell me, always referring to some other person, presumably a woman who I resembled. Before I could figure it out though, he started walking towards the Old Fort.

“Come.” He literally ordered. I followed unquestioningly.

I looked like a mouse walking behind that towering persona of his. His broad, manly shoulders, his majestic gait, and the gentle pace of his walking, all these were overwhelmingly charming. I couldn’t believe I was actually walking behind a King.

When I took the first step into the castle though, it felt oddly familiar. And not in a positive way.

The vibes that the place radiated was more negative than a graveyard’s. The sinister chill in the air was suggestive of the fact that I was probably stepping into danger.

“I will protect you this time, Yashodhara…”

I gasped when Thakur Ranvijay Singh spoke suddenly. But his voice sounded different this time. And it even cracked once. It was as if he was… crying.

He didn’t turn around to give me the chance to verify it though.

And… Did he just call me Yashodhara?

“Trust me… Your safety is mine to ensure.” He said and turned around. The charred lips underneath that thick moustache curved into the most handsome smile I had ever seen.

I was spellbound. He had cast that spell on me, that mystical, that magical spell that held me in place. There was a strange, yet pious connection between us. My feet moved on their own, and I found myself standing in front of him the next instant.

“Yashodhara…” He whispered, and I noticed the wetness on his cheeks. It made me feel a mix of emotions. There was a lump forming in my throat. He took my hand, seating me on what looked like a crumbling throne. He kneeled in front of me, looking down at my feet. He closed his wet eyes, and said, “You deserved so much more.”

My eyelids started to clamp shut into the oblivion of an unconscious sleep, when I heard his final words. “I will protect you, always.”

---

When I finally regained consciousness, I squinted my eyes open, finding myself in the same place as the one I had lost my consciousness in. That huge, crumbling throne room. I was still in the Old Fort.

But there were sun rays pouring in. It was morning already.

I jumped off the throne and looked around me. The throne room was completely empty, and there were no signs of Thakur Ranvijay Singh around. I got on my feet and started making my way out.

I got out of the Fort, looking back at it with a strange longing in my eyes. I had never been here before, yet it seemed so familiar. I called out Thakur Ranvijay Singh’s name but there was no answer. I decided to be on my way back.

I followed the road leading to the sign board, walking up to 2 kilometers ahead. I soon found the forest path, that led me to the bus stop where I had jumped out of the bus the previous day. I had been waiting for around 10 minutes for a bus when I saw that there were some people in the distance, and a barricade stood amidst the bushes.

I walked up to the place, finding that they were policemen who were examining some dead bodies they had presumably discovered there. But when I poked my head over their shoulders to see those corpses, my eyes bulged out of their sockets.

Lying dead before me were Vikas and his friends!

Their skin had turned purple, suggestive of poisoning. Snake poisoning, as the policemen were discussing.

“Of course… They were to die.”

I turned around when I heard a withered voice behind me. It was an old man, hunching over his stick and looking at those corpses.

“They ventured near the Old Fort,” He continued. “Thakur Sahab would’ve taken care of them.”

My eyes got narrowed. I walked away from the policemen to where this old man was and bent towards him. “Baba…” I asked. “What are you trying to say?”

“You don’t know the tale of Thakur Ranvijay Singh, do you?” He chuckled a dark chuckle. “His ghost haunts the Old Fort till date.”

To say that all the breath had been knocked off my chest would be an understatement. I was taken aback up to the extent of landing on the ground, breathing heavier than ever.

I HAD SPENT A NIGHT WITH A GHOST IN A HAUNTED CASTLE.

And I had returned alive!

“Thakur Ranvijay Singh had a fight with his Queen, Rani Yashodhara, once,” The old man continued. My heart was beating so fast now that it seemed to me that it would break out of my ribs any moment. Thakur Ranvijay Singh was referring to me as Yashodhara!

“He left the castle in his fury, only to return to see his Queen lying dead in the throne room, raped and murdered by his own ministers.” The old man said, and started walking away.

All of the previous night’s happenings hit me hard. It made so much sense now. My heart beat even faster now, and warm tears eclipsed my vision as I thought about the Queen Yashodhara… She was subject to what I would have gone through…

I cried harder seeing that face of Thakur Ranvijay Singh in front of me. I had never seen a soul sadder than he was. It broke my heart to think of how he would have endured the death of his beloved Queen. He didn’t even have a chance to apologize to her.

But this time… His apologies had taken the right turn. I remembered him saying that I resembled Rani Yashodhara, and even our names matched. And he had protected his Yashodhara this time. A weak smile crept on my lips amidst those tears.

I couldn’t believe I had started falling in love with a ghost…

---

As I was walking back that day, I was so lost in thoughts that I bumped into a woman unknowingly. She scoffed at me, pushing me off and frowning. “Who are you thinking about, Akshay Kumar?!”

Dejected, I walked to the pond next to the road, letting my tears fall into it, creating ripples. I closed my eyes. “It’s Thakur Ranvijay Singh… Old hag.” I said, laughing with tears continuing to fall into the pond.

When I opened my eyes though, I saw my reflection on the water surface, but it wasn’t alone. There stood another beside mine, towards my left, and I smiled wide.

I looked up to see that there was no one on my left, but the reflection was still there, keeping me company.

And I knew, Thakur Ranvijay Singh was keeping his promise. Always.

“Some wines are so red… Redder than the reddest shades of scarlet. I wonder what kind of wines they are~”

• 

“Sit, please.”

The young woman in the wine red gown ‘dripped’ down the stairs as she brought her admirer down to the cellar. The man had his gloved hands shoved deep into his pockets. It was snowing outside.

“Why the cellar, my lady?” The baritone sounded laced with the ghost of a shiver as the man looked around. “People prefer living rooms or halls…”

“It’s cold up there.” The young woman’s deep, scary voice sent chills down his spine. He got even more uncomfortable when she shot him a backward glance, and her lips curved upwards into a menacing smirk.

But she was so… alluring. The Ruby woman, he called her in his mind. It took him a lot to summon up the courage to express his feelings to her. Now he wished it had never happened. But still… the woman continued to draw him towards herself. She was intriguing, unearthly in a manner.

He sank into the black couch as he observed her from behind. That hourglass figure attracted him so strongly. The cellar smelt like roses, which made the man take a deep breath of relaxation for once. But his moment of peace was short-lived. He realized that the cellar actually smelt like dead roses.

“Here.”

His eyes darted towards the woman who walked up to him and handed him some red wine. The room was very dimly lit, and therefore he couldn’t see the container which he had been served the wine in. Its shape felt weird though, as his long fingers curled around it, and he took the first sip.

“Mmm…” His eyes closed. “This tastes really good.” He commented. Now he mused to himself, which was more alluring, this red wine in his hand or the one standing in front of him?

An unusual grin made his lips stretch towards the left cheek, making his dimples become more obvious.

“I never thought a goth woman would attract me so strongly…” He whispered, more to himself, but obviously, the woman heard him, and her smile widened. She sat on the opposite sofa, placing one leg on the other and resting her cheek on her hand. Her arm was fluidly placed on the armrest and she had her back arched a bit forward, making her gaze look darker than it actually was.

“The red wine is very precious…” The man… The normal man with a normal life spoke in a hushed voice, trying to match her own. “It is in short supply… We must preserve it. The best should always be preserved… for the best.” He winked.

The woman closed her eyes and chuckled softly, and… darkly.

“Do not worry. The red wine in here gets replenished.” She replied, her voice as cold as ice and as smooth as stainless steel. He definitely felt like a steely knife had run down his throat as he took a nervous gulp.

He decided to concentrate on the red wine in his hands. Alas! It must have been the worst decision at the moment, as he noticed that the container in which he was drinking the wine was whitish, and smooth, and… bony.

He gasped and dropped the wine on the floor, standing up with a start. “What- WHAT IS THIS?! What have I been drinking?!”

The woman remained where she was, not moving an inch. Her chuckle echoed in all directions.

“Are you my enemy?” She asked in a very smooth voice.

“You freak! You WITCH! Anyone would be an enemy to a creep like you!” His voice bellowed through the building.

Her smiled remained as it was.

“Well. I follow the old customs. As you can see,” she pointed at the container he had dropped on the floor.

He gazed aghast as he realized what it actually was.

“We drink,” the woman finished her sentence. “From the skulls of our enemies. And there’s no wine redder than their blood.”

By the next day, the wine had been replenished and the woman had got a new, and a very similar container like the previous one in the cellar. The red roses lay drenched in the red wine.

P.S. The picture included isn’t mine. Thank you.