Chapter 51: The Storm

The sea and the air was still all around them. The ship stood immobile defeated by the elements of nature and incapable of moving without the winds. Vandiya Devan stood for a while looking at the placid sea silently. In his heart arose great waves of emotion and a germ of an idea!

He lifted both his hands up in the air and shouted, “Ohm! Hreem Hasht!”and then unsheathed his sword with deliberate ferocity and swirled it around twice.

 

Sea God Demands Blood Sacrifice

“Yes. The Sea God wants a sacrifice indeed. He wants the blood sacrifice of two cowards who would attack those who are asleep. Unless I give this sacrifice he will not allow this ship to move forward. Come now! Show me your head, let me remove it from your worthless self,”

Ravidasan looked at Vandiya Devan surprised at first and then laughed out aloud saying, “Thambi! What is this game?”

“So you think this is a game? When I was in the lower deck tied and bound to those logs, I had a dream. I saw a spectre that rose above the sea to touch the skies. It spoke to me but I didn’t understand what it said then. Now I do. It demanded that I sacrifice two Kali devotees. That would be you and your friend here. Once I offer your blood to the Sea God, this ship will move. The Sea God’s thirst for blood was not quenched with the blood of those Arab fiends. Come now, let me sacrifice you,” he said swirling the long sword again over his head.

“Thambi! I have never seen anyone so well versed in spinning tales,”

“Oh! I am spinning tales now, am I? Then I will let the Sea God give you his answer now,” said Vandiya Devan shouting and it seemed as though the God of Seas had heard him and he responded too!

Yes. The sea that had been placid and petrified since that morning came back to life quite suddenly. The water seemed to shudder suddenly as the temperature dropped quite dramatically and the burning sun was soon clouded with dark rain clouds that threatened to rain. In the sea, small waves rose up almost simultaneously everywhere and its distinct white foam seemed like budding flowers!

Mandiravadi Ravidasan

It was an astonishing sight and what more the Sea God also released the winds that he had bound so long. A slight breeze touched the ship rocking it up and down. Mandirvadi and Devarallan laughed out aloud.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!”

“Thambi! The Sea God has answered your plea. We offer ourselves to the blood sacrifice that he demanded,”

Vandiya Devan was astounded by the sudden change that had come over the weather. The waves that suddenly rose had gone down and the wind was still again. He wondered whether he imagined it all. He even started wondering whether Mandiravadi had truly worked out a spell on the sea! That thought had a sobering effect on him.

No! This Mandiravadi is a fraudster and I should not fall into his trap!

Next instant he looked at them and said, “Then why do you hesitate? Come forward, let me sacrifice you now!”

“We wish to pray to the Divine Mother Kali before we are sacrificed. Give us half hour of respite,”

“Alright. Do your prayers and come to me. Do not try to trick me with your magic spells,”

“We will be back soon. We will leave our weapons here!” said Ravidasan and they threw their weapons down and left him there alone and went to the opposite end of the ship. Vandiya Devan needed that half hour respite more than the Mandiravadi did. He needed that time to understand what was happening around him. He looked at the sea for answers. He wanted to kill those scheming murderers with a single slash of his sword but the sea’s resounding answer to his call had astounded him, rendering his sword arm weak.

He looked towards the southwest direction yet again. The rain clouds that were earlier small had grown big enough to cover the entire space of the sky until the horizon. A cool breeze started blowing through the ship and the sea came alive all around him. Small waves started rising up all around him rocking the ship gently. Soon enough the breeze became a wind and with every passing second it became strong enough to steer the ship right into the eye of the storm.

Suddenly there was a splash in the sea as if something was thrown in. Vandiya Devan turned around and saw that Ravidasan and Devaralan were missing! He made his way to the opposite end of the ship and what he saw astounded him. Ravidasan and Devaralan had lowered a small boat and had jumped into it leaving him alone in the ship. Vandiya Devan expected them to scheme their way through their ship journey but he didn’t think that they would abandon him in the ship.

Mandiravadi and Devaralan escapes

Ravidasan gave his smug signature laughter and said, “Thambi! We don’t wish to sacrifice ourselves,”

Vandiya Devan who understood the situation berated himself for underestimating Mandiravadi. He also realized his own dangerous situation. He knew nothing about traveling in the sea, leave alone navigating a big ship alone through a storm. He was clueless about where they were in the sea and in what direction they were going and the danger was only compounded by the fact that those two scoundrels were leaving him alone in the ship.

“You sinners! Can’t you take me with you?”

“Thambi! The Sea God needs at least one sacrifice today,” said Ravidasan and soon he and his companion were plying the oars steadily and pulling away from the ship.

He thought of jumping into the sea to try and catch the boat but rejected the idea almost immediately for various reasons. He didn’t know how to swim properly yet and if he reached the boat, what is to stop those scoundrels from murdering him? After rejecting their offer to join their gang, they have more reasons to kill him than to keep him alive. They could turn those oars on him and it would be impossible to try to be afloat while trying to fend them off.

Let them go! It is better to be alone in a big ship rather than suffer their company in a small boat. I have escaped from many dangers with the help of God’s grace. I will escape this too unscathed!

He also wondered if it was right on his part to let them escape alive. God knows what these murderers have planned and what they might accomplish once they reach the shores.

God will see to them surely, what else can I do here? If only I could go back to Prince Arul Mozhi! He shouldn’t have abandoned me in the forest that day. Along with Poonguzhali if he had only signalled me to get on that elephant I wouldn’t have jumped into the sea to catch this ship so foolishly. If ever I meet him again, I will fight with him saying, “Is this how you repay someone’s gratitude? Is this how you treat your friend?” But will I ever meet him again? But why not? Commander and Azhwarkadiyan saw me and must have told the Prince about my predicament.

Even as he stood thinking thus, the boat had gone very far and soon would vanish from his line of sight. How did the boat move so fast? And that’s when he noticed that the ship too was moving. The sea was becoming choppier and soon it began to toss the ship around. Soon he noticed that everything was becoming dark. How is this possible? How could it become dark in the middle of the afternoon?

He saw in the South Western direction again and found that storm clouds had clouded the sun completely! The clouds kept rolling in the sky as Vandiya Devan watched the sight fascinated by its wild beauty. Soon the sky was filled with dark clouds with nary a ray of light from the sun. The wind too had picked up pace and was blowing steadily with a ‘shoo’ sound.

The waves were no longer small and had started tossing the ship around while its sails flapped wildly around. So this is the cyclone that Poonguzhali spoke about all those days ago. He had heard from someone that when a storm blows, the sails need to be brought down. But bringing down the sails of a warship is no mean task. It required the muscles and tensile strength of ten men and what would he do alone? Let God take care of this ship.

But his innermost heart whispered the truth out aloud. The ship would be tossed around for a while in the sea and then it would sink. Before it sank, it would probably break and along with it, he too would drown.

I would soon die in the sea! If only I could meet that Kudanthai Jodhidhar again, I will show him the consequences of lying. What’s astrology then? Just a bundle of lies! If only I could meet him again… What is this madness? Where am I going to see him again?

Suddenly something hard fell on Vandiya Devan’s shoulder and a hail storm was unleashed. Frozen water fell all over the ship. Vandiya Devan who had never seen them in his life touched and held one in his hands with wonderment. He was happy to experience it before he could breathe his last. He sat down in the deck and touched the ice rocks and watched them melt away back into the sea.

The hail storm stopped as abruptly as it began and then normal rain started. As he sat there, he noticed something that he didn’t know. Even when huge waves rose and tossed the ship around, the water never stayed inside the ship. This also meant that the ship was built to withstand huge waves and this realization gave him some hope. He immediately got up and went down to the lower deck and closed the door of the store room where he was locked up. He decided to lock himself in the room again when the rain and the storm above became unbearable and the rest is up to the Gods. He also felt gleeful about the fact that Mandiravadi and his friend had left a ship like this and had opted to escape in a small boat. But that boat was carefully constructed just as the ship. Even if the storm broke it apart they could escape with their life by just clutching the wooden log that was built with it. They might escape this storm and go ashore to Kodi Karai. From Kodi Karai his thoughts sprang towards Pazhaiarai.

How would Prince Kundavai learn about my fate? Who would tell her that I lost my life trying to fulfil her commands? Will these waters tell her about it? Will this wind whisper it in her ears? Why didn’t I lose my life before I met her? Why didn’t the Gods bless me with a beautiful brave death? Why did they show me the path to the heavens only to cast me down to the depth of the hell?

The wind blew across strongly, its speed picking up with every passing second. The sails of the ship flapped around madly, just as one would expect in a ghostly ship. The sky lighted up with a lightening from one end to another casting a ghostly light around the sea and a thunder was heard piercing his ears.

Vandiya Devan had seen many storms, lightening and thunders but none of that could match his present experience. As the Gods unleashed thunder and lightening one after another, Vandiya Devan soon began to wonder why the skies haven’t split yet.

The sea threw up one gigantic wave after another. Mountains of waves took the ship almost up the heavens in one instant and then plunged it deep into an abyss the next. Caught in the maelstrom of winds, the ship with its sails spread out spun round and round.

Vandiya Devan soon began to wonder how long would the ship endure the storm. As time passed his enthusiasm and joy grew. He was convinced that his death would be beautiful indeed and before he died he was determined to enjoy the nature’s work at play. As the waves lashed out at the ship, he laughed out aloud. He tied himself to the mast of the ship and spun with the sails. He lost track of time. He could have spun for a few seconds or hours, he didn’t know. He had attained a consciousness that people reach just before they see death marching upon them.

Vandiya Devan on the Ship

The speed of the wind lessened with time and the torrent of rains stopped. The thunder and the lightening too had stopped and black dark sea danced a wild dance.

Vandiya Devan had closed his eyes tight unable to bear the glare of the lightening and had shut his ears fearing that he might go deaf thanks to thunder. He opened his eyes and removed his hands from the ears to see around.

Aha! Did I indeed escape from this storm? Has the storm passed us? Did the God save my life? Will I see the Princess again? Will I meet the Prince again? It is too early to thank the Gods now. I am still not safe. Who knows where this ship right now and God knows how many more dangers are out there waiting for me.

Even as he thought this, God seemed to answer his question with a lightening so potent that Vandiya Devan felt as if he saw over a thousand suns gleaming in front of him. One can see even in the dark once the eyes got adjusted but in this extreme light, nothing can be seen. Soon he had to shut his ears too as the thunder that reverberated through the sea was the loudest that he had ever heard that day. If Lord Indra had unleashed his Vajrayudham it might probably make the same sound.

For a while, Vandiya Devn couldn’t open his eyes, but soon he sensed a light from above and looked up to see the sails on fire. He understood why the thunder had been so loud. The lightening had struck the ship! Of the five elements of nature, two elements water and wind had repeatedly struck the ship and had failed. What Varuna and Vayu failed to achieve would soon be fulfilled by Agni!

Chapter 50: Pandian’s Bodyguards

When Parthibendran saw the Prince coming towards him on the boat, he was more than surprised. He wondered whether the Prince knew that this was his ship or is he under the assumption that this is one of the ships that had come to imprison him?

Parthibendran soon learned that the Prince did not have any such wrong assumptions. The Prince related all that had happened and Vandiya Devan’s dangerous situation to Parthibendran. “Vandiya Devan is in grave danger and in the hands of fierce Arab pirates. We need to find that ship and rescue him,”

“Though all this is unexpected but I am happy to hear that the ships that came to imprison you have been destroyed. Yet this boy shouldn’t have courted danger without any thought to consequences. Nonetheless, I do not wish to leave him with those pirates. Their ship must be nearby, we will catch them soon,” said Parthibendran and called his captain and told him about their mission.

“If the winds are favourable thus, we can catch their ship by this evening. Once the ship reaches Kodi Karai, it has to go by the narrow coast.”

But the winds had other plans and there was nary a breeze in the sea. The water and air remained petrified while the ship struggled to move through the still waters. The sun seemed intent on boiling the seawaters while the humid increased through the day.

With the weather failing to cooperate, the Prince looked around dejectedly and asked the captain, “The winds have failed us and the ship is not moving! How long will the ship remain still? When will the winds blow again? What if that ship escapes?”

“My Prince! I think there is a storm nearing us. It might hit us here or it might even leave us alone but the sea will not remain calm for long. The sea is so placid now but by nightfall you will see giant waves rising above and tossing us to the depths of the sea!”

“If the storm hits the ship, wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

“It is very dangerous. If the God wills, we will survive this danger,”

“If that is so, then it is unlikely that we will catch that other ship,”

 “The wind and the sea are impartial to all. That other ship too would be stuck in the water just as we are,”

“What if they had gone along the coast?”

“Then there is a chance that people in it might escape. If not, then they too would be immobile in the sea,”

“It doesn’t matter how great the danger is, so long as people dear to us are with us,” said the Prince and looked at the sea again. Through his mind’s eye he could see the Vandiya Devan’s laughing and Poonguzhali’s haunted looks as she bid him farewell.

Where are they now? What are they doing?

We left Vandiya Devan at a truly precarious situation. Let us go back to him now. The lower deck of the ship was filled with many items strewn carelessly around him. They had left him in the storeroom filled with such sacks and wooden logs. He sat still for a long time after they left him there. This isolation allowed him to berate himself most severely for not looking before he leaped into danger. After some time his natural curiosity aroused making him wonder, Whose ship is this? How did these Arab pirates capture a Chola ship? How did Mandiravadi and his companion join hands with him?

Soon he started wondering what they might do with him? His dejected mind and heart conjured image after image of all his dreams making him more desperate. Were they mere dreams? Will I die in the hands of these pirates? No! No! I have escaped from worse troubles than these. Until I am alive there is always hope. I just need to think through this problem and find a way to escape from here.

He looked around him to see where he was kept. At first, it was very dark and when his eyes became accustomed to it he saw that there were many swords, knives and daggers lying right next to him. Though they had tied him securely to a large wooden log, his hands were not. He could stretch them out to pick a knife or a dagger. He could untie himself by hacking the ropes. He also noticed some coconuts lying in the corner. They should suffice to satisfy his thirst and hunger. But if he were to untie himself he would still be locked inside the storeroom.

How to escape from here? Even if I escape, would it be possible to fight with those fierce Arab pirates and Mandiravadi?  Moreover if I kill them all, I would still be stuck in this ship!

No! It is best to tarry and wait a while. Instead of killing me, they have tied me. That is a hopeful sign. I need to be patient and wait.

As hours passed, it became difficult to wait. He felt as if he was thrown in a bowl to steam and boil. Hot and humid, sweat poured out of his body in rivulets. If someone had told him that a ship journey would be so uncomfortable, he wouldn’t have believed it, few days ago. The night he had travelled to Elangai on Poonguzhali’s boat had been so pleasant that it hurt to remember.

Suddenly he could sense a change. The ship had stopped moving and it became more sultry and hot inside the room. With his throat dry and he felt that he could kill someone just to quench his thirst. He reached towards one of the blades to cut through the ropes and that’s when he heard steps coming towards him. He immediately sat straight and tried to look innocent.

It was Mandiravadi Ravidasan and his companion. They opened the door and stood next to him.

Vandiya Devan, Ravidasan and Devaralan

“How is your ship voyage? Are you enjoying it?”

“I am dying of thirst. Give me some water,”

“Ah! Even we are thirsty. But those wretched Arabs have not kept any water in this ship,”

“My mother Goddess Kali is more thirsty than any of us. She thirsts for blood,” said Ravidasan’s companion.

Vandiya Devan turned and looked at him. “Don’t you recognize me thambi? I am Devaralan. It was I who danced in Kadambur after the Kuravai Koothu. The Gods came upon me with their divine message and Mother Kali demanded blood. Royal blood!”

“Ah! I remember now,”

“Yes. We wanted to slake my mother’s thirst with the blood of that Chola tiger but we failed in our mission. We tried to send that Veera Vaishnavan to Vaikuntam but that too failed. Thankfully you came to us and for now we will satisfy our mother’s blood thirst with a sacrifice of a scion from an old clan,”

“Then why do you hesitate?”

“Ah! You might be many things but you are a brave man and we acknowledge it. That’s why we want to take you back and give a blood sacrifice to our holy mother with great pomp and piety. Most importantly, our priestess needs to come,”

“Who is that priestess?”

“You don’t know that? It is Pazhuvur Elaya Rani, Nandini Devi,”

“If it is truly your intention to sacrifice me to your Goddess then please give me some water. I will die of thirst otherwise,”

“We have no water thambi!”

“But you call yourself mandiravadi!”

 “That was well said. I have used a spell and see the effects; the ship has stopped moving altogether. Tonight we will be hit by a storm and it will rain,”

“If it rains, how can it help me? You will be in the upper deck while I am here…”

“You too can come up with us and slake your thirst with rain water that if you heed us,”

“Heed you?”

“Yes. We want to sacrifice those Arab fiends to the Sea God?”

“Why?”

“They wish to take this ship to the Kingdom of Kalinga while we want to go ashore at either Kodi Karai or Nagapattinam,”

“There are six of them and are very fierce,”

“Three of them are sleeping and the rest are exhausted. If we slay those who are asleep, we can manage the rest easily. What do you say?”

Vandiya Devan stared at them with stony silence.

“What do you say, thambi? If you agree to our idea we will untie you.”

Vandiya Devan’s eyes could clearly see the disapproving lines of Prince Arul Mozhi Varmar’s forehead. He would never approve of killing those who are asleep.

“I can’t do it. Slaying those who are asleep is despicable,”

“Fool! These Arab fiends attacked and slaughtered Chola sailors when they were sleeping,”

“Their vile deeds are on their head. I can’t act against my conscious and code,”

“Fine. Be that as it may,” said Ravidasan and picked up a long sword from the pile of weapons while Devaralan picked up a stout club.

When they left, Vandiya Devan noted that they did not lock the door. He twisted his body and took hold of a small knife and slashed the ropes that had tied him. Next he picked up the coconuts that were kept in the room and broke one of them. It held enough water to slake his thirst. Then he put the rest of the coconuts inside a cloth bag.

He then moved to the pile of weapons that were strewn in the room and picked up a long sword and waited with bated breath. Soon he could hear clangs of swords on the upper deck and sound of bodies being thrown in the water. He pounced out of the door and headed towards the deck.

He saw Ravidasan and Devaralan fighting with four Arab pirates with great difficulty. With a loud cry, Vandiya Devan came towards them and started attacking two pirates at the same time. One pirate fell with a deep gash on his fearsome face and while the other was disarmed by Vandiya Devan. Vandiya Devan wrestled with him for a while and then a sail mast fell atop rendering him unconscious.

In the ensuing scuffle, Vandiya Devan learned that Ravidasan and Devaralan were not skilled in sword fight by any measure. They each fought with an Arab pirate but they couldn’t match their adversary in speed or skill but when Vandiya Devan threw their friends’ body aboard they turned to look and they were able to kill them during a moment of distraction.

Exhausted they sat down together after ensuring that their enemies were truly dead.

“My boy! You turned up at the right time. How did you come?”

“Looks like you put a spell on me. The ropes slackened its hold and a sword appeared in my hands,”

“What about your thirst?”

“A coconut broke open on its own and offered me its water!”

“You are quite amusing, my boy!” said the other two and laughed.

“Thambi! We were testing you. We had deliberately left those arms near your reach and had not tied you securely to the log,”

Vandiya Devan couldn’t fathom from their expression whether they were telling the truth or not.

“Listen to me! Do you wish to live? Do you want to live with everlasting fame, power and prestige? If you do, then join us. You will get all that you have ever dreamed of and more!” said Ravidasan

“You killed them when they were sleeping, didn’t you?” asked Vandiya Devan

“We were able to kill only two of them. The other man woke up. If you had joined us earlier, it would have been easier,”

“How could you act so despicably? Killing those who are asleep is against all codes of war and morally wrong. How could you do such a thing?”

“This is nothing thambi. If we hesitate for this, how can we achieve other things that we have planned? If you were to join us…”

“You are asking me to join you, but who are you?”

Ravidasan looked at Devaralan and said, “There is no need to hide the truth from him anymore. He has but two choices, either he joins us or he will be slain and sacrificed to the Sea God,”

“Tell him everything then,”

“Listen thambi! We are Veera Pandian’s Abathudavigal. We were elite bodyguards who had sworn our lives to protect him from his enemies,”

“You failed in your oath. Aditya Karikalan won over your king…”

“How do you think he won? He won because of a foolish mistake made by a woman. She had more trust in her seductive allure. She swore to us that she could make that snake, Karikalan dance to her tune. The snake did dance for a while but in the end it lashed out on our king and took its head. Our king’s head rolled in the mud. They took it all the way to Thanjavur in a decorated palanquin. Aha! Thanjavur! Just wait and watch what we do that city of yours!”

As Ravidasan spoke, his eyes reddened and he gnashed his teeth unconsciously. Devaralan’s face too bore the same hatred.

“Whatever happened has happened. What do you intend to do about it now? Do you think you could bring your King back to life?”

“No. My spells are not potent enough to breath life back into the death. But we can avenge his death by slaying his killer and his entire clan. We will put the entire Chola clan to death and destroy their seed. Will you join us?”

“After killing all the Cholas, what will you do?”

“We will crown whomever our Maharani wishes to bestow the honour to,”

“Who is your Maharani?”

“You don’t know that? The woman who is pretending to be Pazhuvur Elaya Rani,”

“What about Madhuranthakan then?”

“He is a snake from the same family,”

“Then Pazhuvetarayar?”

“Ah! Do you think we will keep that old man around? We are merely using his power and position to fulfill our oath,”

Elaya Rani Nandini Devi and Periya Pazhuvetrayar

 “You told me that a woman is responsible for Veera Pandiyan’s death?”

“Yes. Nandini was responsible for his death. She swore to protect our king who was injured in the war. But she failed to do that. At one time, we thought that she had betrayed us to Karikalan and were about to burn her in our king’s pyre. But she swore to avenge his death and took a holy oath along with us. And we spared her life. Until today, she has been fulfilling her oath. Ah! We couldn’t have achieved so many things, without her help,”

“You haven’t achieved anything so far,”

“Wait and watch thambi!”

“He hasn’t replied to your question. Is he going to join us?”

“Thambi! What do you say? Will you join us? Who knows by a stroke of luck you might even ascend the throne as the king?”

If the mandiravadi had asked him this question a few days ago, he might have falsely said, ‘I will join you’ but the Prince’s attitude towards life had a strong impact on him. He couldn’t bring himself to say such a big lie against the dictates of his heart.

Instead he tried to change the subject of conversation. “How did you capture this ship? How did you befriend these Arab fiends?”

“That’s because of my spell work thambi!  We met them in Trikona Malai where we bought horses from these Arabs. Thanks to their superior breed of horses, we were able to follow Prince Arul Mozhi Varmar in Elangai. We saw the Prince fleeing with his elephant near Yaanai Eravu. We wished to reach the coast of Yaanai Eruvu before he did and took a shorter route. And at the coast we met the Arabs again. Their ship ran aground near Mullai Theevu and they had captured this ship from the Chola soldiers. They asked us to join to help them during their journey and we agreed.

“Why?”

“We overheard that snake Arul Mozhi talking to Budhi Vikrama Kesari. We knew that he would come back to Chola Kingdom soon. We found it impossible to kill him in Elangai. A ghost woman kept following him trying to save his life. She will not come to Chola Kingdom for sure. So we decided to wait until he comes back…”

Vandiya Devan remembered the events that happened on the night Pera Hara Festival and his first glimpse of Kaveri Amman. Ravidasan suddenly laughed thinking about something.

“You know thambi! These Arab fiends are very strange indeed. They are fierce and barbaric while fighting. Killing men is as good as cutting trees for them. They have no conscious to speak of and nor do they recognize any moral code of war that you were speaking of, a while ago. But they love their horses. In their kingdom, horses are ridden only after they are fitted with an iron horse shoe. And we ride our horses barefoot, which they believe is worse than barbaric. They don’t want to sell their superior horses to beasts like us it seems. You know what happened this morning?

“Tell me…”

“We were aboard the ship and the sails were raised and we started our journey when they heard a horse neighing near the coast. And our Arab friends immediately took a boat to the coast to see whether it might be one of their own horses that escaped from their ship earlier. They took us also along with them…”

“And then…”

“And then what? We couldn’t find the horse but we found you, which was a lucky coincidence. You were so helpful to us to slay these horse lovers!”

“Ravidasa! All that is fine. This boy has not answered our question yet,” reminded Devaralan.

“I will answer your question ayya! I have pledged my service to the Cholas and I will never betray their trust and join you,”

“Have you joined the Velkarar Army? Have you sworn a holy vow in the presence of Mother Kali?”

“No…”

“Then why this hesitation? You are just a soldier who is free to join anybody,”

They didn’t know that no holy vow or oath was necessary for a man who has drunk the bliss of Kundavai’s smiles and her loving gaze. And to this was added the Prince’s friendship too. Who would indeed turn their back on such treasures?

“No matter what happens, I will never join your murderous gang,”

“If this is your final decision, get ready to sacrifice your life to Sea God,” said Ravidasan.