9 D -Day Finale

Chandranarayan fainted in terror. Devyani looked at him with mild distaste and walked out of the dungeon.

On the other end, the ministers had been dragged from their beds and brought to the royal court in the middle of the night. Vallabh's men had done a great job in securing the Central zilla. No one outside the premise of the province even had an inkling of what had occurred that evening. The place where the ambush had taken place on the outskirts of the zilla had been burned by Vallabh's men, hiding the death of the royal guards.

The ministers sat huddled in a corner, surrounded by masked soldiers. They had no clue about what was happening.

Suddenly, the door opened and Rani Damyanti walked in with her head held high and few soldiers trailing behind her. She came to stand in front of these men.

The leader of the soldiers stepped ahead and asked, "what are my orders, your highness?"

"Are all of them here?" she asked coldly.

At his affirmative nod, she said, "take them to the torture chamber where their beloved king awaits them. Make sure no one comes out alive."

The ministers started to howl and scream in bewilderment. It was too surreal.

One of them got up and shouted, "my queen, I bid my undying allegiance to you. Please spare my life."

Rani Damyanti paused, turned to look at him and told him to follow her. Abhaidev composed himself and quietly walked upto her. The other ministers also started to say the same thing.

"I have no use for brainless yes men. Take them away!" she said frostily.

Abhaidev followed the queen to her inner chambers where he was shocked to see a familiar but unexpected face waiting for them.

"You did very well, my queen. I will take it from here, now. Please go and rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day," Devyani got up from the sofa and told Abhaidev to follow her to another chamber.

"I knew that the queen was incapable of pulling this coup on her own. Neither does she have the guts nor the brains. But I didn't think that I would see you here, Devyani Bai. Now that you have exacted your revenge, may I ask what is your plan henceforth? How do you intend to convince the people to accept a woman to rule the country? And even if you manage to, how will you save us from being targeted by the other zilla heads or neighboring countries?" he asked archly.

"I like that you have managed to maintain clarity of thought even during the time of near death. We will be needing that skill of yours in the coming days. As for convincing the people, well, you may not be aware of it, but most of the big households in the country have had a shift in power. Currently, we have women running and ruling these households. So, I guess that takes care of your first question. The Southern zilla head is currently holding a private audience with Rani Damyanti's father regarding the safety of Chandragarh. I think the ageing king would be thrilled at the idea of his daughter gaining power and would be cooperative enough to lend us his army to subdue the armies of the three zillas in our country. As soon as we have the army's allegiance, defending our country from the outsiders would be a matter of policies and strategies, which is where you would come in. After all, you just swore your undying support to the queen," she spoke in a crisp, concise manner.

Abhaidev couldn't help but be impressed with the woman's foresight and intelligence. He also figured that the actual ruler of the country was standing in front of him and it would be in his best interest to work in tandem with her.

The next morning, the young queen sat on the throne. The court was full of people, young and old, men and women, rich and poor. The ones who came late, were right outside the door, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

At her command, king Chandranarayan's bloodied head was brought on a platter. A collective gasp went up in the room.

The queen got up and rubbed that blood on her crown. She raised her blazing eyes and looked at everyone.

"When a child is born, she is covered in the blood, gruel and pain of her mother. Today, Chandragarh & its people may be helpless and fragile. But soon, it is going to turn into a glorious nation, one which will be healthy and strong, one which will protect and nurture you, one which will serve you instead of asking you to serve. Have faith!" her emotion laden words reverberated in that packed hall.

It seemed that even the walls seemed to echo what she was saying.

Few days later

Vallabh was seated in the now familiar lair of Devyani at her brothel house. Not much had changed since he last came here, including the person who sat in front of him, dressed in non-descript clothes.

"I don't understand the reason for you to stay here anymore. Why can't you move your quarters to the palace? It is inconvenient to come here and discuss pertinent matters every time," he said.

She laughed softly at the burly man who was in front of her. He had just returned after a tour of all the borders of the country. He had managed to get the armies united under the queen, either by using force or coercion or both. Abhaidev, the ageing minister, was on a diplomatic trip along with a troop of Devyani's most skilled courtesans to the neighbouring countries. The objective was to establish a peaceful and a strong economic relationship with them, so that their interests could be aligned. As long as both countries were making money, the chances to create war like situations would reduce. The courtesans were offered as a gesture of goodwill but were actually sent to establish an information network which would be handy for the future if the time comes for a war.

"You truly are inept at political matters. It would undo all our hard work if it became public knowledge that I had any role to play in this coup. And this is not just for today. For the future generations also, only the queen and her most trusted aide should be the ones to ever be aware of the spy & information network which we are putting in place across brothels, both within and outside the country. For the world, it is Rani Damyanti who planned this coup with the help of her father," she said serenely.

Vallabh looked at the beautiful woman in front of him. She was amazing!