========================================================================= Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 14:03:19 CST Reply-To: sraghava@ST1.CLC.CC.IL.US Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: "Vatsan \"Kinslayer\" Raghavan" Organization: College of Lake County Subject: Tricks of the Trade Part 3/?? X-To: thezorker@aol.com, nbarja1@icarus.cc.uic.edu Tricks of the Trade Part 3/?? ==> A Highlander fanfic by Vatsan "Kinslayer" Raghavan Oops screwed up in part 2 with the Location. It all ('cept for the 2nd flashback) in Virigambhacam, India. Yes, this town exists, my relatives own a near palatial house there. Sorry, Enjoy. --------------------------------* * *-------------------------------- A small village on the Ganges River, India. 328 B.C. (To become Pakistan in 2273 years) "Huuh." Life infused him, he lived again. <> thought Vijay. Vijay pushed over the body on top of him, and he had no choice but to look at it. It was Ramesh, his second-in-command. He fell down to his knees in tears. "NO!!!!!!!!! Ramesh, my friends, you were like my brother. I should have died with you, and yet I live. Now my sacrifice is in vain. NO!!!!!!!" Tears fell from his eyes. Vijay cried, and kept on crying. HE tried to control his tears, his feelings but could not. All that he was, everything that defined his very being was gone, destroyed in a battle, a war that had no purpose. No meaning except land. << LAND!!! This want, this greed for land had done nothing except kill hundreds, no thousands of people. Such a futile waste of so many lives. Perhaps I can still help my people survive, so might still live, I can do no less than try and help.>> Vijay began the trek home, by the time he reached the remains of his village, it was near dusk. There was little left of the little village that had once held nearly 400 men, women and children. Only a couple of burning huts could even tell that the village had ever actually existed. Bodies were scattered across the whole area. He continued walking until he reached the center of the village where the ancestral home of his family had been located, very little was left of the near palatial hut. His family had expanded on it for years. His great-grandfather had built on it originally, his grandfather had expanded on that small residence, and so on down the years. Vijay weeped bitter tears of sadness and anger. His father's body lay on the ground, nearly cut in half. His sister's body was hid under some burning embers, obviously dead. And what was even more obvious was that she had been raped. Her clothes had been torn off, ripped open by someone's bare hands. "NO!!!!!!" Again, Vijay wept. The pain he had felt at seeing Ramesh's body all came back now, but somehow stronger, more powerful. In the middle of his tears, he heard something. <> Vijay followed the sound, followed it to his grandmother. "Patti, good God you're alive." His grandmother's eyes awoke, went hazy for a while, then finally focused on him. She smiled lightly. "Vijay, my boy, you're alive, good. Good. Before I die, I must, I must tell you of your birth." Vijay wept bitter tears. "No Patti, do not speak. Conserve you strength, it can wait." She smiled darkly "No, it cannot. I am dieing, Vijay, nothing can stop that now, and you must know the truth. I owe you that much, at least. When your mother was pregnant I acted as her midwife, as is tradition. We went out into the forest and delivered her male son, as is also tradition. However the baby was still-born. Your mother was shamed, but nothing could be done. So we buried the body and I dragged your mother home. On the edge of the forest we say a basket with a beautiful baby boy inside. We took that baby home and she raised it as if it were own. " She started coughing up blood. Vijay grabbed for her. "Patti!!" She pushed him off. "No, Vijay it's all right. That baby we took home was you, Vijay " Vijay, in tears, replied, "No, no, that is not possible." Not hearing him, she continued, ". . . Vijay, you must know, that even though she did not give birth to you, she loved you like every parent loves their child. Everything that defines who you are as a person was given to you by her. Know this and accept it. Continue the Shankar family line, my boy. And be proud of your heritage." She died in his arms. Vijay wept for hours, by the time his pain subsided enough for the tears to stop, dawn had risen, telling the world of the beginning of a brand, new day. Vijay wandered for days, weeks, months. He could not stay near his home, the pain was too great. He relied on his expertise as a hunter to keep him alive. He did not go into any of the towns or villages he ran across, he wanted to be alone, separate. Every face he saw brought back the old pain. Approximately six months later he came upon the foot-hills of a chain of mountains. {Authors Note: These were the Himalayas, but Vijay of course didn't know that.} He wandered through the mountains when he saw someone, Vijay still wanting to avoid anyone tried to step away but a stabbing pain flowed across his body and he fell to his knees. The man kept approaching and the pain increased. Vijay, wanting to know the face of his killer looked up. The man was old, nearly 40. His hair was white, set in a ponytail and he had a short, trim beard. Still in pain, he mumbled to the old man, "Who are you? WHAT are you?? Why do I feel this .. . this thing?" The old man smiled, pulled Vijay to his feet and said " I am Tak Ne, former Sensei to Prince Goujian of the Zhou Dynasty. As to what WE are, and the sensation you are experiencing, come with me. WE have much to discuss." "WE???" The man stopped, grabbed Vijay's arm, and turned to face him." I have never met you, yet let me tell you about yourself. Some time ago, . . . " "Vijay Shankar." " . . . you were in a battle, and you died, you know this to the true because you remember the blood, and the sword that went through your body. Yet you came back to life, and there was no way for you explain it." Vijay stepped away in shock. "How . . .how do you know this?" "Ha, Ha, Ha. Because we are the same, Shankar. WE ARE BROTHERS." ---------------------------------->>>>> but I've got to save something for my next story.> -------------------------* * *---------------------------- Virigambhacam, India. 1683 "Well, Connor, you know how the rest goes. Ramirez taught me the Rules of the Game, rounded off the corners of an adequate swordsman and pretty much taught me everything I needed to know to do more that than survive, but to live, really live!" "You had a difficult death, I've heard of others, more painful still, "said Connor, obviously implying himself. Vijay became enraged, and he couldn't control his anger. "You claim to think that your fate was worse than mine was? You may at least find solace in the fact that even after your banishment, your clan; the clan Macleod, will continue, will live on. I have no such reassurance. I died in the defense of my people. Everything that I loved, everything that defined who I was, died that day, over 2,000 years ago. So don't you dare try and say that any pain you might have felt at your banishment can even BEGIN to equal mine!!" Connor stood mute, he could find no response to Vijay's words. Vijay sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have burst out at you like that." "No, No. It's all right, I deserved that." "Still, it was a bit excessive. Come on, you can meet my latest student, Chum Sei." -----------------------------* * *------------------------ End Part 3. ==> Well we're about half-way through. (I'm figuring on 6-7 part.) Little bit more flashbacking in Part 4 but Part 5 should get back to the present. Any of you Math Whizes notice anything interesting about Vijay's age? Prophetic? Possibly. (Re-read Part 2 for the numbers.) Answer in end of Part 4. Send all comments, replies, and other non-flame mail to: Vatsan "Kinslayer" Raghavan sraghava@st1.clc.cc.il.us "What can I do to make you believe that I'm mortal?"-Q -"Die."-Worf --"Oh very funny, Worf. Eat any good books lately?"--Q.