A Good Trade (part 2)

The second queen had never found marital bliss in this kingdom, nor did she find any chance in eliminating the Yuvaraja Vajradhaara whose brilliant shine had been a thorn in her eye ever since she came here. Any hopes of being the queen mother to the next generation had been quashed because of the exemplary prince. The king himself never gave a thought to her repetitive exhortations about joining the trade coalition between the dryland nations. But that was her big brother's dream! He wanted to unite the arid lands into one big empire, and trade was just the starting point. He even sent away his favorite sister to be a second wife to a simple-minded king in order to achieve that. How could she not be frustrated when the king never paid any attention to her?

This was when the prime minister joined hands with her. He opened her eyes to the fact that she did not exactly need the king's permission to do what she wanted within this kingdom. Consequently, she brought many trading clans under her wing. This in turn benefitted the prime minister who was a middle man facilitating the interactions between the queen, the coalition and the clans. He amassed quite a bit of profit that way. Until this day, the only person who knew of these exchanges was the little prince and him alone. He deduced it through various means after the Ha'gya incident in which his step mother fooled him into almost banishing the loyal clan from the lands. However, the little prince was still a bit inexperienced to see the larger picture.

When it became clear to the grand prince that neither he nor his bloodline could indeed take the throne, he actually decided to join hands with the prime minister in a scheme. This happened about the time when the second queen's brother who was the king of the Dhija kingdom contracted a major illness and was on his deathbed. The Dhija king Vishnu-vardhana who was unable to maintain a peaceful inner palace actually lost three sons to internal strife. The last one had died unexpectedly in the battlefield. He was survived only by two daughters, one of which was married to a king of a minor kingdom. The grand prince proposed a simple trade to the second queen. If she were to convince Vishnu-vardhana to give his daughter in marriage to his third son Prince Jala-deep, thereby making him his successor, he would in turn ensure that Prince Hayagriva would be the one next in line to the throne of Rthadhra!

Of course, he knew the second queen would give in to her greed. In truth, she didn't even care all that much for the throne of Rtadhra. She was sad that her brother was dying before he could fulfil his dream of uniting the arid lands. Somewhere she held the hope that by accepting this deal, she would have a say in Dhija politics and will therefore be able to carry on with his vision. How could the experienced grand prince not see through her fickle dreams? She was not such a cut throat by herself. Despite everything, if one asked her plot and kill the eldest prince and the little prince, she would not be able to do it. Even back then when the first queen gave birth to Vajradandaka merely a year after Hayagriva, taking away the title of little prince (second in line to the throne) that was nearly in his mouth, she never once thought of killing the little bastard. She didn't even have a part in the early demise of the first queen, though many pointed fingers at her. It was not like she didn't want to do it, she just didn't have the resolve. But then, if the knife is not in your hands, who wouldn't want to eat meat?

The grand prince capitalized on this very weakness of the second queen as he joined hands with the prime minister to convince her. With that, he easily restricted the movements of the little prince in the palace who was still at an age where he would need a motherly figure in his life. In his meticulous planning, of course, the grand prince did not forget who the real brains was in the current royal family. With the prime minister's help and a little push from the captain of the royal guard who now controlled the voice of the Patr-dal clan and other Kshatriya clans in the capital, he ensured that the eldest prince was sent to the border in the name of accumulating merit. The succession was fast approaching and it was important to gain people's approval before ascending the throne, so even Vajradandaka couldn't stop his brother from leaving.

With the king sick, the heir far away and the little prince restricted to the inner palace, the grand prince only had the old regent to worry about before carrying out his plans. However, to everyone's surprise, the old warrior withdrew from the struggle for the throne all by himself! He decided to go on a journey exactly when the tensions were the highest in the kingdom! Some say he was disheartened by the constant struggle between brothers. Others say he was old and unable to do anything at all. Only Vajradandaka knew that his grandfather actually left in a fit of artistic inspiration! He did not expect to be moved to such an extent at an advanced and was simply unable to stop himself. He disappeared at such an opportune time that the untimely muse itself felt like the grand prince's scheme. But of course, it was nothing that extreme. If not, even Vajradandaka would not have been able to keep his calm.

"Grandfather will come back after he is done with his muse, and then everything will be alright…" the little prince mumbled half to himself, lying prone on the thicket.

The black clad assassin who was part of an elite team that worked under the little prince shook his head discreetly. Who knows what the crazy old man is up to? He for one harbored no illusions about old Shwetasura turning around the situation by intervening at the current juncture. The situation is simply too dire for there to be any hope!