#WRITEPHOTO – Arrowslit
CASTLE HUNTING
By Neel Anil Panicker
Aman peered through the arrow slit.
Voila! The castle came into view.
Excited to the core, the 16 year old screamed, “Hey guys, coke and see what I have found!”.
Mansi and Arun joined in a moment, and craned their necks.
Sure enough, they too saw the magnificent sight: beyond a stream of golden brown water, stood in majestic isolation a massive all stone castle. Well, not exactly a castle, but its ruins, an all stone curved tower that rose up to the azure skies.
The next moment, , the three teenagers shrieked in unison, “Eureka! We’ve found the Lost Palace of King Prateek”.
Then, still holding hands, the trio looked around and surveyed the vast near barren landscape.
Not a soul in sight was visible and almbthey heard was the incesant echoes of their own voices reach out to the distabt mouhtains yonder and die slow deaths.
“OK, Now hear me out. Here’s what we are going to do”, stated Aman, the self appointed leader of the group.
The other two looked on with bated breaths.
“We have hit the proverbial pot of gold. This is the lost castle of a 17 the century king who was slayed in a brutal war. It is believed all his riches-gold, silver, crowns, swords, paintings et al- all priceless are buried Ina secret chamber inside the castle. All we have to do is get inside the castle and find it. But we nee to wait for…”
“Wait for whatt?”, exclaimed Mansi in a tone that betrayed her impatience.
“Unmindful of his childhood friend, Aman continued, “We are too young. And we don’t know where exactly is this secret chamber. So we need to hire someone. Seek another person’s assistance, someone who will help us find the treasure”.
“And I know exactly who that guy is”, interjected Arun.
“His name is Rahim Chacha. He is our gardener, and his grandfather used to work for kings. He has a good knowledge about castles and forts. Used to take me out as a kid to such places. The only hitch is that once he finds the wealth, he might demand his share.”
Aman and Mansi looked at one another and replied in tandem, “Oh! that’s no problem. We will have so much wealth that bringing an additional partner will not make any difference”.
As the sun’s rays began to thin out and the sky threatened to turn a darkish hue, the three super excited teens decided to head back to the city.
Tomorrow, they decided, they would be back, this time with Rahim Chacha.
An hour later, and after they had reached their residential lane, and just before bidding goodbye, Mansi hugged her friends and said, “Guess what, in a day I will become a real princess, the richest and most beautiful girl in the world”.
Her friends couldn’t help but break into wide smiles.
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