CHAPTER 8- Hunt-1

1538, Fort Town Macherla, Golconda Sultanate.

Approximate time: 2 pm.

Nagendra hated the situation he was in. He hated the bed he was in for how uncomfortable it was. He hated the stupid fever that caused him to be bedridden here. He hated the wounds for causing the illness in the first place. He hated the prince for not dying quietly, and taking Vereswaran, the deputy captain with him. And he hated Vereswaran for dragging him into this in the first place.

It was Vereswaran who approached him about the plan to kill the prince a month ago. He and the captain promised the whole squad enough wealth and land to live comfortably outside their small kingdom. They told everyone of the backing of a high-level court member, Their only goal was to kill the damn prince and leave no evidence behind.

If it were not for one of the porters making a sound while dying, they would have executed the plan without a hiccup. It was necessary to kill them first because they were the outermost members of the camp. That damn sound woke up Narappa, who then alerted everyone. 

The porters died without much resistance, as the captain had expected, but the hunters did put up some unexpected resistance. They should have planned for that, Though the twin brothers may not have been traditionally trained as the soldiers have, they were still experienced with working with each other, 

The Hunter brothers had occupied valuable manpower and prevented the soldiers from grouping up on the prince and his loyal guard. If they had planned better, maybe they could have prevented the whole thing from turning into the shit show it had become.

From the initial group of eight soldiers, only five survived that night. They had taken care of the chef, who wanted to poison the meals, shortly before exiting the forest. After all, the fewer people left alive, the more profit to split between the remaining people, or so the captain had told them.

Another soldier had died of the wounds sustained from fighting that guard Narappa. They had to leave that body at a temple, in a small village to be taken care of. 

Nagendra's wounds were caused by the prince himself. He tried to overwhelm the prince with another guard, while the prince was occupied with the deputy captain Vereswaran. They had succeeded but the prince managed to kill the deputy while going down himself.

Nagendra successfully incapacitated the prince, but not before the prince managed to wound him with his sword and slashed him in his ribs. The wound itself wasn't that deep and he managed to shrug it off in the rush of the battle. The satisfaction of taking down the prince triumphed over any pain he felt from the wound. He was set for life now after all.

The troubles started later. Even after washing the wound with the water from a nearby stream, the pain continued. The wound swelled up by the end of the day. It didn't help that the ex-soldiers had to walk from the forest to the town of Macherla. Less than an hour after entering the town, Nagendra collapsed. 

He woke up in a hospital he didn't recognize. The people treated him like an untouchable and didn't bother to answer any questions. The captain had visited later and informed him what had happened. He collapsed from a mix of exhaustion and damage caused by the wound.

The captain spoke to him in the same tone he used when the other guard was dying. It also didn't help that he was suffering from a high fever and could not gather enough strength to wake up and walk out of the room.

The captain also informed Nagendra that the loot he took from the prince's corpse had taken care of the cost of his stay at the hospital, which Narendra believed was a straight-up robbery. 

It was agreed upon initially that, whoever kills the target, gets to keep the loot. There was also not much discussion about it because everyone would get paid after arriving at Macherla. This is the reason why Nagendra got to keep the rings and the decorated sword. As he delivered the blow that took down the prince, he was entitled to them.

There is not much he can do now but to recover. He couldn't even participate in the negotiations to get his share of the payment. All because of that stupid prince. Why couldn't he die quietly? 

And that idiot, Vereswaran, Who boasted about taking on the prince, arguing that he is just a kid, where is he now? That idiot took care of Nagendra's negotiations before he was dead. Now he has to start from the beginning again.

Just as Nagendra was cursing at his situation, the curtain to his quiet corner opened. A young Brahmin, probably a medic in training, opened the curtain and led someone in. The stranger was wearing a bandana, but Nagendra had a feeling that he had seen those eyes somewhere.

"Thank you, doctor. This is the right person. Now, I would like to have a private moment with my friend. If you would?" the stranger said, prompting the doctor to go outside.

Nagendra was still confused as to what was happening, but before he could muster up the energy to ask any question, the doctor replied himself.

"Of course, Of course. With your generous 'donation', I will even leave the building if you wish." The doctor quickly replied and then turned to him and said " Nagendra, look! Your friend has come to visit you from Dharanikota. You should be lucky to have such a generous friend." before promptly leaving.

"Who are you? What is happening here?" Nagendra finally managed to ask the stranger as the doctor left the room. In reply, the stranger simply pulled down the bandana covering his face and left Nagendra speechless.

"I would advise you to keep quiet. If you try to alert anyone, your throat will be slit, before a scream escapes your mouth." the man wearing the familiar face said, in a quiet tone letting out no emotions in his voice. A dagger was pointed right at his throat, threatening to slice it open.

Nagendra refused to believe what was happening in front of his eyes. He saw the prince die himself. He even dealt the final blow that took the fighting out of the prince, stabbing him in the stomach. How could he be standing in front of him? 

Could he have been mistaken that night? No, that's not possible. As the prince was in his last breaths, the captain boasted to him, explaining his plan. But after that, he made sure to stab everyone in the heart, confirming that they were dead. 

The only one who had escaped that night was one of the hunters, but that did not explain why the dead prince was sitting in front of him. No, this is not the prince. This must be something evil, inhabiting the prince's body. Yes. That is it. An evil being is sitting in front of him.

As Nagendra fell into a panic and questioned everything, Rudra stared at one of the men responsible for his death. He traveled from that clearing in the forest to accomplish this. This man's death will be the first of many that will happen in the coming days and months.

There was still a chance to leave everything and to live somewhere obscure. Away from all the threats he is going to face in the future. Away from all the bloodshed this land will be put through by him, if he wants to accomplish his goals. He could get up and leave and nobody would care about Nagendra's ramblings. To the world, Rudra Deva would be dead.

Then Rudra thought of the corpses of the people, who had accompanied him to the forest. He thought of the people who died when the famine hit the land two years ago, partly because of crop failure, partly because of his father's careless policies. He thought of his mother who died, years ago, and the promise he made to her.

He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them back there was a firmer resolve. All the doubts had been squashed, thrown into the back of his mind, to be dealt with at another time.

Nagendra, who was terrified by the walking corpse in front of him was scared even further when the eyes of that monster turned completely cold. The dagger pressing into his throat was pressed even further, and a drop of blood oozed from the wound caused by it.

"You are going to tell me everything that you know of your group of fellow backstabbers. I want to know everything. From the very beginning of this plot to what they are doing now. " the man who should have been dead spoke to Nagendra.

Nagendra already knew he was dead. Even if the prince didn't rise from the dead and threatened to kill him, he was going to die from the illness caused by the wound anyway. So, he talked. He told the Evil creature residing in the prince's body, everything he knew. He can only hope that the creature grants him a quick death.

In the evening of the same day, a new death had been noted in the records of a hospital in Macherla. The recorded cause of death of patient Nagendra was - 'illness'. Only a few knew of the stranger who was in the patient's room a few hours earlier.