302 To the finishing line (Part 2)

Himprayag

Gayatri grinned and pumped her hand up in the air, silently. Before Rudradev returned from the border of Saptsindhu-Himprayag, Ahilya had given him a stamped authority letter under which he was the newly appointed prime minister in her court and was tasked to carry out her executive order after the successful takeover of Saptsindhu! The clean-up was going to begin now..

Royal Palace, Chandragarh

Mriga finished arranging everything in the queen's chamber. Her hands were trembling and a sheen of sweat was dotting her eyebrows even in this cold weather.

The personal men of Prince Mahendra looked at her with suspicion in their eyes, which further increased her nervousness. One of them murmured into the ear of the other and the guy went out after a bit.

"I am done with my work here. I will go back now," she said to the men in the room.

"Hold on. The prince wishes to reward you for your effort tonight. He will be here soon," One of the men replied to her, gesturing her to stand in a corner.

Mriga's face turned white but she bowed her head and went to stand next to one of the walls.

Gurukul

Vindhya had tried looking for Mriga and her gang but couldn't find any of them. As per the order earlier today, everyone needed to be back in the gurukul till further orders. So where had they vanished? Had they been captured per chance? But why would someone capture harmless students? She couldn't believe that she was worrying about THAT girl.

But her bigger headache at this moment was to find an escape from the situation which her brother had thrown her into. She still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Vidyut was a male supremacist. She had grown up in the shadow of the guy and didn't ever see anything except his gentleness and understanding. How could such a person be so vicious to go ahead and betray his country just because he didn't think girls were good enough to rule the nation?

Shaking her head, she told herself to get a grip. She was not a martyr but she will try her damn best to not become a pawn in the hands of the big bunch of bullies, including the Saptsindhu prince.

"Vaishali, can I talk to you for a bit?" she said, walking upto the girl.

4am, Royal Palace, Chandragarh

Prince Mithilesh was deep in slumber when he was woken up. Usually a really light sleeper, he had succumbed to fatigue late last night and was visibly disgruntle at being woken up in this manner.

He had managed to keep his alliance with Saptsindhu a secret for so long due to the loyal information network which he had formed and nurtured in the past many years across the region. These were not spies but common merchants who had trade relations with Himprayag. In return for good profit margins, they provided information which they heard and saw on the streets.

Practically no one knew about this network and one reason for it was that these guys normally didn't have too much concrete information to give. But in the past, they had proven their resourcefulness by helping Mithilesh realise the two-facedness of Rudradev. The merchant network was spread across the three countries and some or the other information always trickled in, making the network's existence worthwhile to him. It was how he realised the weakness of Indrani, the queen's trusted aide, as well.

One of those people had sent the information yesterday to the pre-determined location as always. By the time the message was retrieved and sent to Mithilesh in Chandragarh, there was a delay of a day. It was now that his trusted subordinate got that letter and ran to wake him up.

"What has happened?" The prince asked as he sat up.

His irritation vanished, looking at the pale face of his subordinate. The guy didn't say anything and handed him the message.

With a vague trepidation in his heart, Mithilesh took it and started to read. After a few seconds, his face lost all its color.

"This is impossible. He must have made a mistake!" The prince murmured to himself.

But this nervousness lasted only for a few seconds. He collected himself and started giving out orders.

"Go and find Indrani for me. Bring her to me right this moment. Second, prepare a few of our trusted men and tell them to be ready to leave in an hour. Most importantly, make sure that the Saptsindhu people do not catch our movement," He spoke softly.

The man nodded and left the room. Mithilesh got up from the bed and looked at the still dark sky. His thoughts were in a frenzy.

"By this time, the sun would have arisen in Himprayag. Will I ever get to see it again?" He murmured to himself, rubbing the country's symbol engraved on the gold bracelet on his hand.

His eyes fell on the letter which he had just received. It said that Princess Ahilya was seen with a few people and a big military troop at the border of Himprayag-Saptsindhu. Looking back at the events of the last twenty four hours, he realised that things had gone too smoothly for them. The whole process of entry and capture of the Chandragarh royal palace seemed almost like a staged event… staged for him and Prince Mahendra? By whom? Did this mean that the Chandragarh queen wasn't dead?

Damn! Had it not been for the fear of revealing his identity early amongst others, he would have gone in the queen's chamber to check her face personally. That's it. Indrani tricked him! They sent the queen out of the palace and then…

"Greetings to the Prince! How may I help?" Indrani's sneering voice fell onto his ears.

With a mocking smile, the prince turned away from the window and looked at the gorgeous woman in front of him.