Clang! Clang! Clang! Swords clashed continuously as Ekluvya & Lokesh sparred. Since his transmigration, this was already the 5th day and with his extremely fast learning capacity, Ekluvya had absorbed the essence of Lokesh’s swordsmanship. Not only that, he often merged the moves with the samurai sword moves, upgrading them into a new improved move. The more Lokesh trained Ekluvya, the more he realized that this lad was no less capable than a demi-god! Thus, he too ran the extra mile to teach Ekluvya everything he knew.

Lokesh was a boorish tribal man who knew nothing about hygiene or etiquettes but his heart was pure and he was always eager to teach the younger generation selflessly. In comparison, Dronacharya, who was not only a learned sage but also a legendary martial artist whose battle prowess could match avatar Parshuram and was also the mentor of all the nobility of the empire…was so cheap that he tried to sabotage an innocent youngster’s talent shamelessly. All his knowledge, wisdom and divine providence were wasted on him. The two teachers were so strikingly different!

“Father, I’ve brought lunch,” a girl called out as the spar ended.

“Ah Sunita, set it up on the table at that corner,” Lokesh said. Ekluvya paused. He slowly turned to look at this girl and many memories flashed in his mind.

Sunita was a teenaged girl with brown skin, long black hair cascading down to her thighs, beautiful black eyes, a pretty face and twin soft melons!

Sunita smiled at Ekluvya who blinked absentmindedly. He remembered Sunita was his childhood friend. But since Ekluvya was a recluse, cultivating archery in the forest almost every day; they didn’t have many conversations. Regardless, they were always nice to each other and had a natural mutual affinity.

But the most crucial thing was…she was Lokesh’s daughter!

“What the…how did I not remember this earlier!” Ekluvya thought. He should have avoided the girl and her family since he wanted to escape from the tribe but he had ended up training under Sunita’s father! “Oh well, no real harm has been done. I can still just up and leave. Come to think of it…isn’t my marriage set with her, just two days later?!” Ekluvya’s face changed many colors. Sunita kept staring at him smilingly.

Lokesh chuckled, watching the adorable young couple.

“Hahaha! I was wondering why you didn’t bring up Sunita’s topic these past few days,” Lokesh spoke, “you’re a shy lad! Haha, what a fitting pair you two are!”

“U-uncle, w…” Ekluvya stuttered, “wouldn’t it take me another week to master all the moves?”

Lokesh blinked, wondering the many possible meanings of Ekluvya’s words.

“He wants to postpone the wedding!” Lokesh deduced correctly. His face changed colors too before he chuckled, “ah truly a devoted warrior heh. He’d rather focus on training first instead of his marriage.”

“Indeed, it will take about another week for you to learn everything,” Lokesh smiled, “if you don’t want to break the training, we can postpone your wedding with Sunita to the next week.”

“F-father…” Sunita uttered sadly before blushing at her own reaction and in a fluster, left the armory.

“Hehe she must be eager to marry you,” Lokesh said to Ekluvya who smiled awkwardly. Now he was starting to feel guilty!

“Not good! I must get out of here quickly!” Ekluvya thought as a sweatdrop trickled down his cheek.

---

It was a full moon night. The worst possible night for an escape, but Ekluvya had no other choice. He sacrificed learning the remainder of Lokesh’ swordsmanship and risked defamation and humiliation to escape the trap of marriage! Well, more accurately, the looming death called: Krishna.

Ekluvya shivered thinking about Krishna. The world had many names for Krishna; and people saw him in different lights too. For some people, Krishna was God, for some he was a warrior, a king, a philanthropist, and for some he was a cunning and dangerous threat! But for Ekluvya, he was nothing short of a soul reaper!

“Nishads are loyal people. There is no way they will betray Jarasandh. Even if they learned Krishna’s real identity of that of a high God, they will still choose that son of a bitch Jarasandh! Death is the only thing that awaits them,” Ekluvya thought and sighed. He tied his ration bag to the horse’ saddle and then climbed up. There were two quivers full of sharp arrows, hanging by his sides on the waist. A new bow was slung across his shoulders and his new sword was strapped to his back vertically.

He pricked the horse, urging it to start running. Their speed was merely average as Ekluvya needed to keep the escape silent.

But as he passed by the tribe’s pond, he saw a beauty sitting near it, gazing at the full moon whose white light was illuminating her beautiful figure. At once Ekluvya paused, mesmerized by the lovely scene. Moonlight, cool night, fireflies, a beautiful girl.

“Eh? Ekluvya? Where are you…” Sunita mumbled as she spotted him. Then it dawned upon her that her to-be spouse was running away! It hurt her deep and she shed a painful tear, turning and running away.

“Sunita…” Ekluvya uttered, feeling guilty. He winced and sighed before getting off the horse and chasing after her. His great escape had been foiled by a beauty.