Luv soon descended to the other side of the hillock where laid his tribe: Nishad. Ekluvya was the prince of this tribe, son of the chief Hirandhanu who in turn was also one of the fierce Generals of evil king Jarasandh. Save for the fact that Nishads served an evil king, they were actually fine people connected to mother nature and harbored familial feelings for everyone in the tribe.

As their prince, Ekluvya was the most doted-on, yet he was so obsessed with archery that he’d leave the tribe for days to train alone in the forest. This was already the 23rd day since he had left for training.

“Oi! Isn’t that Ekluvya! You finally returned!” A tribesman guard shouted. He was in-charge of keeping an eye on the surroundings. Ekluvya/Luv waved at him smilingly.

“I might as well get used to this name or it’ll cause awkward situations if I don’t react when they call me.” Luv thought.

Along the way, as he passed by the many huts, people greeted him sweetly. A gentle lady gave him fruits to eat, and men patted his back, praising his dedication to archery. Teenagers flocked around him, sucking up to him in awe as they couldn’t possibly match his talent in archery. Girls were fascinated by him and revealed lustful expressions; some even inviting him over. Ekluvya responded accordingly to some and ignored some. He eventually reached a wooden small fort-like house where his family lived.

“Oh, dear! Our son is back!” An exotic dark-skinned mature woman exclaimed. She was Ekluvya’s mother: Mita. She was of medium height, a large saggy bust and rather a plump body. She was an adorable milf. Luv blushed for a moment before regaining his composure.

“Welcome back Ekluvya!” A thunderous voice echoed before a burly tall man barrelled down the staircase. He had dark hairy skin, bulging biceps, thick mustaches and long curly hair. He was Hirandhanu.

Hirandhanu hugged Ekluvya heartily and tightly, almost crushing him to death but Ekluvya was able to endure it, owing to his own strong constitution.

“You are going to be one hell of a warrior!” Hirandhanu roared, “I talked to the king while you were gone. He has given permission to recruit you into the army in our Nishad battalion!”

“Oh? That’s great, father!” Ekluvya exclaimed while groaning inwardly.

Historically this evil king Jarasandh whom the Nishads served, was slain by God Krishna. Ekluvya and Hirandhanu perished at his holy hands too. And so, the news of his own recruitment was hardly anything to celebrate. It was just doom drawing closer.

“I’d better get the hell out of here as soon as possible. If Krishna finds me…he’ll definitely chop me into pieces!” Ekluvya thought.

“Come have breakfast with me. We have so many things to talk about!” Hirandhanu roared. Ekluvya nodded.

---

The father and son duo talked at length over breakfast. Hirandhanu spoke of the merits of serving in the army. This was a chance for the future chief to cultivate the skill of leadership as well. He also brought up how it was time for him to marry a girl and produce an heir ahead of time. Ekluvya thought and nodded, agreeing to everything. He wasn’t going to entertain this ancient boorish man’s selfish desires. He was planning his escape instead.

“Horses are the fastest mode of travel in this era,” Ekluvya thought, “although chariots are faster, they need proper roads and expertise in handling them. The technology of flying ships has been successfully kept away from humans. Only the previous demon king Ravan had one. Hmm…1 horse speed is my limit then. Shall I attempt creating a steam powered cart? No, that would consume much time. I can only get accustomed to these wild times and stick to the basics. Anyway, I must head out in a week after stocking up on ration, weapons and choosing a suitable horse.”

“…and so we’ve agreed to their request. You’ll be getting married next week.” Hirandhanu finished his talk while Ekluvya was zoning out.

“Excuse me, what?” Ekluvya was stumped and stared at his father.

“Hahaha! Don’t be shy now! You’ve known Sunita since childhood. She is a beautiful girl and well-versed in our ways. She’ll prove to be a good wife for sure!” Hirandhanu said and patted Ekluvya’s back before saying, “…and if all the women have mangoes; Sunita has melons!” he clawed his hands, facing them upwards and moved them up and down, as though weighing melons.

“…” Ekluvya wasn’t stirred. If anything, he felt a great cringe, hearing this burly adult man speak perversely about a girl.

“Dear…what are you teaching him?” Mita asked as she waltzed over smilingly.

“Hehehe, just manly things.” Hirandhanu rubbed his nose.

“Ah so?” Mita cracked her knuckles while smiling.

An awkward silence lingered while a sweatdrop rolled down hirandhanu’s forehead.

“A-anyway…hahaha! Why don’t you go hang out with her and plan things out?” Hirandhanu said.

“Father, I’d like to see the armory instead. I want to upgrade my bow and arrows.” Ekluvya said, surprising his old man.

“Oh? Haha! Such a proper young warrior!” He roared, patting Ekluvya’s back. “Alright, go on ahead. Who can stop you from going anywhere? Armory in-charge is fond of you anyway, he’ll definitely help you pick the best bow and arrows!”

“Thank you.” Ekluvya bowed and quickly left.

“Sigh, that boy needs to learn the joys of life,” Hirandhanu uttered before glancing at Mita. Their gazes met. Silent words were exchanged. Mita blushed before scurrying off to the kitchen. Hirandhanu chuckled and chased her inside, closing the door behind him. Soon Mita’s moans leaked out of the kitchen.

---

Ekluvya was soon standing before a wooden building. It was well guarded by multiple Nishad warriors. He greeted the one at the entrance and was taken inside where he met the in-charge: Lokesh. Lokesh was an athletic tall man in his 40s and was very amicable. He knew of Ekluvya’s talent in archery and thus held high hopes for this future chief.

“Take your pick, young man. All these bows and arrows are made from the best materials!” Lokesh said. Ekluvya tried all the bows one by one. He was trained by his mother Kotone since childhood and knew the ins and outs of bows. He compared these ancient ones to the modern ones and deduced that apart from lacking power and durability, these ancient ones weren’t lacking any. If one serviced them regularly, they’d last long.

Ekluvya chose a bow and two quivers with new arrows. Additionally, he looked up swords but was disappointed with their shapes. These were traditional Indian swords which were mostly just curved and were made of poor-quality bronze or iron. Compared to the supreme samurai swords of Japan, these swords were trash!

“I didn’t know you were interested in swords as well!” Lokesh spoke brightly. He was primarily a swordsman. “To be honest, none of these swords are good. But King Jarasandh has the best grade swords in the royal armory, sigh. If only we could score merit in some war. Then we could request for those high-quality swords and other weapons.”

Ekluvya narrowed his eyes. This was a problem in the bud. Jarasandh was a curse that would eventually cause annihilation of the Nishad tribe.

“These swords seem fine to me, uncle Lokesh,” Ekluvya said, “a fine swordsman can even cut stones with these swords.”

Lokesh raised his eyebrows, impressed with the young lad’s viewpoint, “hehe, spoken like a fine warrior,” he said. Ekluvya bowed smilingly before grabbing an iron sword and sized it up. It was the same as others; curved, but was of the same length as that of a katana. He couldn’t possibly get any better sword for himself in a forest tribe. At least it was of length he was accustomed to.

“Do you like this one? Want to try it out?” Lokesh asked, picking up another sword. Ekluvya smiled and nodded, swinging the sword to get used to its weight. Then they both faced each other and began.

Swoosh! Lokesh leapt and swung his sword down. It was a frontal attack with downward motion to it. Quite basic but with just enough strength. He was playing easy for the young lad.

Clang! Their swords struck as Ekluvya parried and side-stepped, dodging the attack and moving his sword towards Lokesh’s throat.

“!!” Lokesh quickly jumped back. This was an immediate reversal of the momentum, proving his great expertise in combat. Ekluvya was impressed too but he pressed on. Lokesh narrowed his eyes, no longer treating him as a novice. The two began fighting seriously.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Their swords moved like gales, spinning, shining and parrying rapidly.

Swoosh! Ekluvya leapt and hacked down at Lokesh with downward motion. He had copied his move successfully! Lokesh was stumped but then he sneered, taking this attack head on.

CLANG!! The attack was completely nullified. Ekluvya narrowed his eyes.

“My strength is lacking after all,” he thought and sighed inwardly. The two of them continued fighting for another minute before Ekluvya retried the same move but this time he leapt higher and spun in the air speedily before slashing down diagonally.

CLANG!! Lokesh parried but could not negate the force. His sword fell off his hands and clattered on the floor but immediately he kicked up. Ekluvya felt a great force strike his chin up and fell abruptly on the ground. The spar ended in his defeat.

“Haha, use a weapon but don’t fully rely on it. A warrior’s whole body is a weapon.” Lokesh said, offering him a hand.

Ekluvya grabbed his hand and got up. He had worked up a sweat already.

“Hehe, thank you for the pointers, uncle,” he said smilingly. Lokesh patted his back.

“Forget that; Ekluvya, you’re such a prodigy! Did you learn swordsmanship on your own too?!” Lokesh asked.

“Uh, I merely practiced with a stick,” Ekluvya lied.

“You…” Lokesh’ mouth twitched, “your talent is as vast as the sky! You must practice with a sword! I’ll teach you everything I know!”

“He believed it?” Ekluvya thought, lost for words. But then remembering how Ekluvya had learned archery on his own too, he realized that his lie was believable, “then I’ll be in your care,” he said and bowed politely, joining his palms together.

“Hahaha! You are our Nishad tribe’s rising star! Tribe’s future is as bright as the sun!” Lokesh praised endlessly. Ekluvya could only smile awkwardly.

---

As the sun sat down, Ekluvya returned home, exhausted. He had ended up training with Lokesh the entire day.

“I guess I’ll look for a compatible horse tomorrow. Then I must procure ration as well,” he thought and yawned. He entered his room and crashed on the bed, dozing off.