297 Loose Ends (Part 2)

Royal Palace, Chandragarh

Sharada was really fatigued and felt sore all over the body. Apart from the Saptsindhu prince, there weren't many who knew about her fetish for baby-faced young boys. So, it seemed that the 'gift' was really sent by him.

"What am I getting paranoid about? The palace is teeming with our people, anyways…" with that thought, Sharada waved her acquiesce to them.

"Guards, stay vigilant!" with that, she closed her eyes and let the boys get to their work.

Vandit nodded politely and picked up Sharada's feet. He put them in the large tub filled with medicinal water while Nirbhay went forward and removed Sharada's kurta. The expressions on his face didn't change and he started applying the crushed herbs to the wounded area. On the face of it, the wound seemed to be healing. But when Nirbhay came closer to it, he could faintly see pale green lacerations breaking out around the affected area.

He smiled nostalgically and stood up after a thick layer of herb paste had been put around the wound. Ramanujam truly had been a genius. His love for tinkering with the poison potions wasn't known to many. But what he loved the most was, increasing the misery of the opponent.

This person must have been stabbed by guruji with a slow acting poison. There was no other way that this kind of lacerations would show up when the wound was getting better.

"How do you feel?" Vandit's voice was like a feather in Sharada's ear.

Sharada felt as if she was floating in the air. Within a few minutes, the pain had seemed to reduce drastically.

She gave a short bark of laugh and said, "If you are able to cure me, I will make sure that the next seven generations of your family don't have to even lift a finger."

"The zilla head is too kind. We will be happy just by being able to serve by your side. You may not know this but the news about you being the real mastermind behind this success is all over the palace. I and my brother just want to stay under your wings…" Vandit's mouth seemed to spew only honey at this moment.

Sharada closed her eyes in pleasure and patted the thin shoulders, "Help me to the bed. I want to sleep for a while."

Both Vandit and Nirbhay bowed politely and moved ahead to help. They had just successfully administered the newly invented drug on Sharada. This drug suppressed pain and created an illusion of happiness in the person's mind. Since Sharada had received a double dose of it, through the medicated water and the herb paste, she would definitely visit the La-La land tonight!

Devyani's brothel

As per Prithvi's order, the fiercest of the royal guards were accumulated here. They weren't large in number but each one of them equalled ten soldiers in fighting skills and strength. On the other side of the tunnel, Mriga was standing inside the queen's chambers. Indrani had left from there and so had Prince Mithilesh, with a bunch of guards to keep her company.

Mriga knew that the Saptsindhu prince would be wary of her presence here and she had to come up with a plausible reason to stay in and carry out her plan.

Capital, Saptsindhu

Shaurya came out of the changing room and looked at the expressions of the people around. The soldiers whom Princess Ahilya had brought along, were stationed at a deserted area, slightly away from the capital. It was difficult to have strangers come in large numbers in a city suddenly. As a result, only Shaurya, Abhirath, the tribal chief and Ahilya had come inside and were at a place arranged by the prostitute who had helped Shaurya the last time.

She was also the one who helped get the costumes for the four of them to change in. Unfortunately, Shaurya had drawn the short straw and was given the costume of an eunuch belonging to the Saptsindhu Palace.

Abhirath tried to hold back the snort which was hovering right at the edge of his nostrils.

Instead, he said with a straight face, "Guruji, I am really looking forward to seeing you put one of your lessons into practice today."

At Shaurya's raised eyebrow, he continued innocently, "You always told us that the disguise is not about the clothes or the make-up but about the person becoming whom he is emulating!"

Suddenly, there were noises of clearing throats, and stifled laughter in the room. Shaurya stared at Abhirath without blinking his eyes, making the latter go pale.

"Uh, I am going to change as well," with that, he ran out of the room.

"Princess, by now, your stepbrother would be expecting news from his people about you. Considering that he didn't rope in Minister Rudradev into this assassination plot, he may be suspicious of the minister already. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to find out the people behind the assassination. So, our window to take over Sapsindhu is really short. If we fail to do so before dawn tomorrow, please go back with the help of the tribal chief. It is imperative that we don't let the enemy take any more that they already have," Shaurya spoke in a serious manner, impressing upon the gravity of the matter.

It was purely due to Rudradev's information network that they were able to fool the princess's attackers. Even if they failed in the coup tonight, Princess Ahilya needed to take control of Himprayag with the backing of the minister. Prince Mithilesh was in Chandragarh at the moment but at the first sign of trouble, he would run back to his motherland. The distance between the two countries was only 8-10 hours.

"I don't like back-up plans. It makes me feel that the existing one is weak and would fail. I would rather spend my entire energy in making it successful," with that, she rolled open the detailed blueprint of the Saptsindhu palace.

Shaurya was impressed with this side of Ahilya. Ever since they embarked on this mission, she had been an entirely different person from what she was back in Himprayag.