CHAPTER 9- Hunt 2
1538, Fort Town Macherla, Golconda Sultanate.
Approximate time: midnight, 12 am.
By the time Jeeva was ready for bed, he was exhausted. He came to this town, because of some tasks assigned to him by his employer, the chief minister of Dharanikota, and the king's brother, Karana Deva. He was to examine the proof brought by the soldiers, to confirm whether or not the prince was dead.
A ring was presented by the soldiers, which they claimed was taken from the dead body of the prince of Dharanikota. It was Jeeva's job to confirm the authenticity of the soldier's claim and pay them their due.
Yesterday, after verifying the ring, he packed it and sent the ring along with a letter to the military camp operated at the Kingdom's border by General Sangama Reddy. He was a supporter of his employer and knew what to do next.
Most of the time this day was spent bargaining with the soldiers that the ring brought by them could be fake, and they needed to be satisfied with the original share as there are fewer of them now. But the living soldiers demanded that their dead comrades share to be divided among them.
The less he pays the soldiers, the more he can keep for himself. Jeeva could proudly say that he would be the owner of 15 acres of land in the Golconda Sultanate by tomorrow.
The final transfer will be carried out tomorrow, on the auspicious day of Holi.
Payments such as this are not a lot for his employer Karana Deva, but it was a significant sum for common people. The inability of the soldiers to bring valid proof cost them a part of the reward and benefited Jeeva.
"Why couldn't they be the head of the Prince? I bet it would have made a nice souvenir for lord Karana Deva and killed any doubts of the prince's death." Jeeva muttered to himself as he rolled in bed to get some sleep. The room he rented at the inn didn't have the best features.
"You are very lucky then. You can take my head to your lord." a voice replied from the darkness of his room, answering the question he asked no one. The voice sounded a lot like the voice of the dead prince.
"Who is it?!" Jeeva questioned, alarmed by the fact that somebody was there in his room. He quickly glanced around the room to confirm no one was there. The moonlight was coming from the windows, but it was secured with metal rods so that no one could come in.
It was a full moon that night, signifying that according to Hindu traditions, Holi will be celebrated tomorrow. The festival was celebrated on the day of the full moon in March.
'I must be hallucinating' thought Jeeva as he stood up and went for the oil lantern to better light up the room. But as Jeeva stretched his hand to reach out for the lantern, he felt the cold touch of metal on his spine.
"Make a loud noise, and the blade goes in." a cold voice said in his ear. Jeeva's guess from earlier was correct. There was a voice indeed and it sounded a lot like the dead prince.
"What do you want? Leave me alone! I will give you money if you want!" Jeeva quickly asked the stranger, his voice very quiet, afraid that the stranger would follow up with his promise.
"I think you know who I am." the voice answered in the same cold manner as before.
"You are the Prince! Those damn soldiers cheated me!" Jeeva connected the dots quickly and cursed the soldiers for betraying him, but was quieted down by the poke of the blade at his back.
"Now, now. Calm down. There is no need for that anger. They will also be taken care of when their time is due. Now would you please be a dear and answer a few of my questions?" the prince asked. The contrast between the cold tone and the soft words raised a lot of bells in the mind of Jeeva.
Trying to gain the upper hand, Jeeva elbowed the hand holding the blade to his back, and succeeded in knocking the dagger from the hands of the prince. He quickly lunged for the falling dagger and caught it before the prince even reacted.
"I will confirm your death myself then, bastard." Jeeva cursed as he turned around to point the newly acquired weapon at the prince. But as he turned around, he found the reason the prince didn't bother to go for the fallen dagger.
"It is not my sword, but I am sure that I can kill you before anyone can come in" replied Rudra Deva, the crown prince of Dharanikota, as he was pointing a sword at the chest of Jeeva. The moonlight coming from the window was reflecting from the blade of the sword and the prince's cold eyes.
Despite the prince having all the advantages, Jeeva decided to take a risk and lunged at the prince. There was a quick flash of light as the sword's movement caused it to reflect light into Jeeva's eyes followed by a cold sensation on the arm holding the dagger.
There was a 'Thud' sound followed by the sound of a metal clanking, as the arm holding the dagger was cut off and fell to the ground. Before Jeeva realized what had happened, the prince had already crossed the distance between them and went behind him to perform a chokehold.
Because of the tight chokehold performed by the prince, the attempted screams of Jeeva when he realized what had happened to his hand, were nipped in the bud. He quickly fell unconscious by the chokehold and the shock of the injury.
Approximate time: midnight, 2 am.
As Jeeva slowly woke up, he thought what had happened was a fever dream. But a quick check on his hand confirmed that it was not.
His right hand was now a stump, tied up by a cloth, Blood was still leaking from the improvised bandaid. As he tried to scream, he found that a knot was tied around his mouth.
He checked around the room to look for the prince, who he found was cleaning the blood stain from the floor.
"Oh, you woke up. Look what your stupidity is making me do. You spilled all your blood on the floor. Now I cannot leave this mess behind for someone to clean it up." The prince replied with a jolly voice, his eyes still having that cold look when he glanced at him.
The room was now lit up by an oil lantern, painting shades of orange and yellow across the room. The psychotic prince was cleaning Jeeva's blood with a cloth tied to the end of a stick.
"You were angry at those soldiers earlier, for betraying you. But you shouldn't be! I should be the one who should be angry at them. They did complete your side of the deal and killed me. So, you shouldn't be worried that the message you sent to Uncle Karana will be wrong. You sent the correct message after all!" The prince continued in the same sing-song voice as before as he finished up with the cleaning.
Jeeva wanted to scream at the prince but knew it was fruitless. Even if wants to talk, he physically can't because of the knot tied around his mouth. The prince seemed to have noticed this and came forward to free his mouth.
"You read my diary," Jeeva concluded. It was the only logical conclusion. There was no other way for the crazy prince to know that he sent the message to lord Karana Deva. And what is this about the prince being killed by the soldiers? Just how far was the prince gone?
"Yep, I read your diary. Excellent practice by the way. I didn't expect to meet such a cultured individual. It's a shame that such works from this subcontinent did not survive till the 21st century. Don't worry I'll make sure that yours will survive." The Prince suddenly boasted, his eyes having a sudden look of longing as he talked nonsense about something called the 21st century.
As Jeeva worried about his survival in the hands of the crazy prince, Rudra sat down in front of him. When he spoke this time, there was not a speck of emotion in his tone. To Jeeva's confusion, the prince suddenly behaved like the most sane person in the world.
"Now Jeeva, I could have killed you in your sleep, if I wanted to. But, I want my answers directly from your mouth. Not the half details you write in your little diary. You will tell me everything I ask about. Am I making myself clear?" The prince said to Jeeva, his tone leaving no doubt about what would happen to him if he remained quiet.
So, like Nagendra before him, Jeeva also answered the questions of the young prince.
To the owner of the Bhulakshmi Inn, Jeeva remained as the customer who left overnight without even informing and stole the bedsheets from the room too. At least, he paid for them and didn't leave a mess in the room as some customers do.
When a rotting headless body, wrapped in bloodied blankets, was found in the city's flood drains a few months later, no one connected it with Jeeva and the curious case of missing blankets.