Five Times

“How did you get the ring?” Whalros shouted at the top of his voice.

The smile from Intelina irritated him to the core. He was at a stage of counting his last minutes, yet he couldn’t leave his authority.

As before, Whalros’ dominating tone didn’t affect or even shook Intelina. Because she was no longer the Intelina who was kidnapped by Whalros, rather she was the old Intelina, full of powers.

The queen of ocean stood boldly before him, clutching the sword. Lara’s eyes parted in disbelief on seeing the queen because these things were apart from worldly beliefs.

All others looked at the awesome magic before their eyes in sheer awe, with their mouths fully open. No one had any idea, how the ring reached the queen.

Whalros lost his patience. “What the hell is going on?”

After observing Whalros for a good long time, Intelina opened her mouth to speak. “Cool down, Whalros. Don’t get tensed. It’s not good for health,” she said with utter sarcasm.

Whalros gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.

Intelina snatched away the sword and threw it far away from them. She then looked straight at Whalros and said, “Look at there,”

Whalros suddenly turned to the side Intelina wanted him to. All others too followed Intelina’s gaze. In that place was the little girl, Diya standing, with her childish smile. Along with her were Adhi’s mom and Abi’s mom.

“Diya...” Ahana and Abi shouted and everyone ran towards her.

Ahana hugged her daughter protectively. A great relief spread through her body. “How did you come here, baby? Are you okay?”

“Ma, I am okay. See, I said you right? There was another one who is the same as Lara aunty. She is the one,” she said without any seriousness.

Abi kissed her passionately. “You are really great, Diya. Love you so much dear,” said Abi.

Lara too escaped from that awful scene and reached James safely following Intelina’s instructions.

So, at last everyone was safe and happy. If they wished, they could have moved right away to their place. But they didn’t. They wanted to talk to Intelina. The girl, because of whom they have experienced as much fear, because of whom they forgot to eat, because of whom they were restless and finally because of whom they were alive.

Everyone stood at a safe distance from Intelina and Whalros, but could very well see what was happening.

Just a few feet before them was the whale, to which Whalros had given the ring been standing, with his whole body trembling badly.

Whalros understood everything. When the particular whale was busy searching for something to crush the ring, Diya took the ring and thrown it into the sea.

Intelina got back the ring and the lost powers. She was back at the right time as the queen of the ocean to save Lara.

Whalros gave the whale a death glare. He analyzed his state calmly. Soon, he understood that he could do nothing. All the dark magic

I learned won’t help me before this ring; long years of power and strength went to the dig; the dream of becoming the king of the ocean remains the dream forever.

He squeezed his eyes in disgust. Anger rose to his mind and he wanted to show his tantrums to someone.

He glanced at the whale that missed the ring. You are the sole reason for this. You need to be punished. You made me feel like a waste. Now, I am nothing. I won’t leave you.

That whale’s eyes were pleading to Whalros. Intelina watched all these incidents calmly.

Whalros wanted revenge for his failure. The humans present there, who were once the weaker section now became stronger. So he chose the weaker section, the whales and started moving towards the whale that failed him.

When there was an inch distance between Whalros and the whale, Whalros stopped and lowered his head. Suddenly, he opened his mouth that let his sharp and pointy teeth out. He wanted to tear the whale’s flesh and torture him fully. In that case, he could satisfy himself.

That whale begged Whalros to leave him, to pardon him. But Whalros was in no position to listen to his demand. Everyone was blazed on witnessing whale’s teeth and closed their eyes.

Suddenly Intelina appeared in front of Whalros and stopped him dead in his tracks. Her eyes were filled with disgust and anger.

“You don’t have any rights to touch the whale,” Intelina snapped at Whalros.

Whalros was confused but at the same time furious. “Why? Why are you protecting whales? Just leave me. I want to kill him,” he snapped back.

But, before Intelina’s powers, Whalros was nothing. He felt like Intelina’s puppet. Sense of shame rushed all through his body and he felt low. He couldn’t withstand the pain of being under the control of Intelina.

He looked at Intelina furiously. Intelina spoke. “These whales did many mistakes hearing your words. They surely need to be punished, but not by you. Also, I strongly believe that the leader of the group is fully responsible for any actions whether it is good or bad. These whales live under my control. They are the sea creatures and I have the responsibility to protect them. They will lead a good life with a good leader,”

Whalros’ eyes widened. After a pause, Intelina continued, “So, now, after all the bad things that happened to humans, it is you needed to be punished. You deserve to be killed,” A smirk emerged in Intelina’s lips.

The smirk caressed in Whalros’ lips too. Soon, the smirk turned out to be laughter. He laughed for a few seconds and said, “You won. The girl I underestimated finally won. Congrats. But I won’t die in your hands. I won’t let you kill me. I won’t let my pride fall. I clearly won’t give you the happiness of punishing me. You can be the queen of the ocean. But I won’t allow you to decide my death,” he said and in an instant, Whalros sliced his throat and fell down lifeless.

Intelina looked at Whalros pathetically. She closed her eyes and thought of the snorkeling trainee, Anne, who lost her life in the hands of whales. She also thought of the fear everyone experienced on the ferry.

After a while, she opened her eyes, looked at Whalros again and said, “You really deserve it,”

Intelina then looked at the other whales. Everyone bowed their head and begged her pardon.

“Does anyone here in this group have the desire to become the king of the ocean?” Intelina sounded authoritative.

Silence filled the air.

Intelina continued. “If so, I am glad to give you the power,” she said and stopped.

Again there was no response except the shake of their heads indicating no.

“There is nothing wrong with dreaming. I am really happy to elect someone of you to be the king. But be a good king. Just don’t be like your former leader Whalros,”

“Sorry, queen,” a small chorus voice came traveling in the air to Intelina’s ears.

Intelina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, she saw the whales as different creatures, begging for life.

She smiled at them and said, “Be caring and share the love to every creature in this world, to animals, to humans, and to everyone. Then, you are the king,”

Intelina stood calmly analyzing the whales. They too smiled and nodded positively.

Everything ended happily, Intelina thought.

Finally, it was time to meet the whole family who helped Intelina. Intelina turned to look at everyone, standing in a distance. They were hesitant about whether to approach her or not. After all, she is the queen, right? Power matters.

Intelina, without thinking twice started walking towards them, leaving all of them astonished.

Intelina fastened her walk towards them and as soon as she neared them, she lifted Diya and gave her a heartfelt hug. Her eyes welled up and so was all others’.

“You are such a lovely kid, my dear. You made my day,” Intelina said between her sobs.

“If you haven’t thrown the ring, the exact opposite would have happened. I couldn’t even imagine that,” she said to which Diya smiled.

After a while, Intelina glanced at everyone and said, “I am really sorry for all of you. I know that every one of you had gone through the hell. I am the reason for all your sorrows. I am really sorry,” her voice broke.

Adhi instantly stopped Intelina and said, “No need to be sorry. We actually wanted to thank you for everything. Without you, we all would be dead,”

Intelina smiled and replied, “For that, you should thank this little girl,”

Intelina then turned towards Lara, who was still baffled. Lara couldn’t digest the similarity between her and the queen of the ocean. Her throats were dry in shock and she could not utter a word.

A lovely smile escaped Intelina’s lips. Lara saw her without blinking. They both didn’t exchange any words. They just smiled for a while admiring each other. They looked at each other like they were looking themselves newly.

Lara observed Intelina’s eyes, nose, lips, ears, and everything and was amazed to see a mirror image in front of her eyes, with not even a single difference, except for the dress.

Same is the case with Intelina. She analyzed Lara from head to toe and felt like something magical. Finally, they hugged emotionally, with tears rolling down their eyes.

For all others, Intelina is a magic. But to her, Lara seemed as a magic. After a while Intelina spoke.

“I saw you when you were standing there on the beach to throw the ring. You really decided to throw. Thanks for that,” Intelina said.

“No more thanks, please. This ring actually saved as everyone at many times. Everything happened as we wanted to be. Just leave everything and be happy,” said Lara.

Soon, more snaps and selfie clicks filled the beach. After a while, Intelina bid everyone goodbye and with tear-filled eyes and a heavy heart. She returned to the ocean to resume her work as the queen of the ocean.

All others started to Chennai the day itself. All their enjoyments in Andaman flashed out. Everything joined the sky. Only, Intelina stood in their hearts. They carried with themselves a totally different, incredible memory in their hearts.

(To be continued)