The Inseparable Princes

65. The Vulture Brother

The ocean waves washed over the ends of the mainland over and over again tirelessly. The army of apes, however, wasn't very sure of how long they would be able to listen to that now irritating sound of the waves, which earlier soothed everybody. They had been there for long enough now, and they knew it too well.

"We have lost!" cried out the young crown prince finally. "We have lost this battle against the demon. And we have also lost the purpose of our lives."

"So what next?" asked Nala.

"We lose our lives!" replied Angada, glaring at him from the corner of his eyes.

"Well, yeah. That is obvious. But apart from that, what next?" asked Nala ever so casually.

"NAL! WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO AFTER WE HAVE DIED? Perhaps haunt Ravan and his family in the form of spirits, huh?!" asked Angada irritatedly.

"Well, that's actually a pretty good idea!" cried Nala, trying not to grin. "We could do that and maybe he will finally understand that doing bad stuff to innocent people will lead in innocent monkey spirits haunting an un-innocent Ravan, who will finally decide that he should jump into the ocean and die!" he said, all in one breath. Angada's frown vanished, for he couldn't help but burst out laughing at that ridiculous idea. Jambavan giggled in his bear voice (I mean obviously. It's not like people rented their voices out for people to take), shaking his head.

"Can we think of a way to find her, though, boys? She might be in serious trouble. I mean, she is most certainly in serious trouble and we need to get her out of it as soon as we can. What can we do?" asked the aged bear.

"Look, sir, I think now it's time for us to understand that we cannot find her. We cannot find her. We have come to the end of the mainland here, now what can we do? We have failed on our mission. And now, I would rather die than return to my uncle." said Angada, his previously over optimistic approach gone. Hanuman glanced at the finger ring that his Lord had given for him to show it to Sita. That job had to be done, he thought. They could not give up, for it was something that did not exist in Hanuman's system.

Hanuman would never lose hope or confidence about anything. He knew that if he was right, things would go his way. He knew that he and his entire group was right. They were fighting not against, but for Dharma. They were doing it all for righteousness, which meant that they would have to do it. And something told him that they were agonizingly close to their target and that if they missed out now, they would have to regret and repent for their entire lifetime.

"Yuvraj, I still think we should try." said Hanuman.

"No, Hanuman. This time it is really, truly out of our hands. I decide to sit here and starve myself to death, but I will not return without fulfilling the task that I was assigned." said Angada, determination reflecting in his eyes. Agreeing with their prince, all the Vanaras in the army sat down, cross legged, on the shores of the Indian Ocean, determined to give up.

But suddenly, they heard a rather irritating and unreal laughter. It was just really loud and annoying. When everybody looked to the said direction, they saw a vulture without its wings. Well, that was a pretty creepy sight for all of them to see. Chopped off wings, perhaps, with himself laughing all crazily and he seemed starved. Creepy, most certainly.

Angada got up and Hanuman stood in front of him, being protective as anybody would be for a young man who is also the crown prince.

"So many monkeys! You will all be great for me to eat. For the rest of my life and maybe for the lives of all other wingless vultures!" said the bird, laughing.

"Who are you?" asked Hanuman loudly, looking furious.

"How does that matter? I need to know who you all are! I'm quite picky with my food. I don't like eating all sorts of things, so if you told me exactly where you come from and what kind of monkeys you all are, then I can decide whether to eat you all today or tomorrow!" said the vulture, and Angada, Nala and Neela looked like they were going to burst out laughing. Neela placed his index finger on his right temple indicating what he thought was the obvious, 'His head has lost a screw!' and the other two agreed with their own unique giggles.