The attack

They all reached the wedding destination. The maids were running here and there for arrangements. Nayantara chose this place to kill her uncle because here the security was not as tight as the palace. She could easily go to the kitchen and add poison to the king’s food.

Everything was ready. But she had to wait for one more day as the groom's side had not arrived yet. She had studied all the entries and exits about the castle in advance when she had come here with some maids a few days before the wedding to look after arrangements.

The day passed and finally, the groom's side also arrived. The bride’s side did their grand welcome and then everyone settled in their respective rooms. In a short time, both sides were going to meet at lunch. Nayantara was all ready. She stepped out of the castle and started walking towards the back side of the castle. There was one more gate, which could let her to the back door of the kitchen.

But before she could reach the gate, something hit the castle wall. Its impact was so strong that castle walls shook along with the ground. Nayantara fell and a huge cloud of dust covered her body. She coughed and rubbed her eyes to clear her vision. Another hit. She heard the screams and chaos. Someone was attacking the castle walls with cannons.

Nayantara stood up and looked around to figure out what was happening. She saw the flags of Maharav. They were hardcode enemies. They shared a border. And so they had maximum conflict. King Digvijay once won some of its princely states and in those fights, King Suryadev of Maharav died. But when King Rajendra sat on the throne, Maharav won their states back. And it happened because of Suryadev’s son King SiddhantVeer Agnivansh. He was a strong, ruthless King. Every other kingdom was directly or indirectly under his control. He had a huge army that could destroy any kingdom in moments. Nayantara had heard many stories about King Siddhant. He had married two times and both his wives died. Her first wife died after giving birth to a stillborn baby. Within a few days, he got married again. But his second wife also died of falling from the stairs after four months of their marriage. Then after he didn’t marry anyone else. People say he was the one who killed both of his wives.

Nayantara tensed up. Everything would be finished if Maharav wins Anhilwara. Then they all would be nothing but the winning trophies to Maharav. They would do whatever they wanted to do. And you couldn’t expect kindness from King Siddhant.

She had to think quickly. They needed their army. And here they had only a quarter of the men. Going back and coming with the army took a long time. There were some tribals in a nearby forest. They had to contact them for help. Her father had good relations with them. She could go herself, but she didn’t know horse riding. She ran to the front side of the castle. Everyone was shouting and running here and there. Soldiers were taking their positions.

‘Where is the head commander?’ she asked one of the soldiers.

‘What are you doing outside, princess? Go inside. We are under attack,’ the soldier said.

‘I know. Tell me where is the head commander?’ Nayantara shouted irritably.

‘He is at the east gate.’

Nayantara ran off without wasting a moment.

‘No, princess, stop. The east gate is down. Maharav’s army was there,’ the soldier shouted behind her. But Nayantara didn’t stop. She had to save her kingdom.

As she reached near the east gate, she heard shouts, cries, and swords clashing. Maharav’s army men were everywhere.

Nayantara scanned the area and immediately found the head commander at the other end, engaged in the fight. She took a deep breath, collecting the courage to go through the battle to reach the head commander.

She carefully made her way between soldiers. But suddenly one Maharav’s soldier dashed at her with a naked sword in his hand. Nayantara screamed in fear and tried to run away, but she tripped over a dead body.

‘Oww…’ Before she fell to the ground, a strong rough hand grabbed her arm.

Nayantara looked up at the warrior and a shiver ran down her spine. She was never this close to any man. He was huge and tall. Taller than every warrior present there. Her eyes lingered on his face. He had a straight nose, firm lips with a mustache, and a beard on his strong sharp jawline. He had a nasty cut across his right cheekbone and up over his thick eyebrow, making him look more wild. He had huge, bulged arms and calloused palms.

One look at his mountain-like structure and Nayantara realized that he could no one but King SiddhantVeer Agnivanshi. The undefeated king. Everything about him exuded manliness and power.

‘Are you blind,’ Siddhant said irritably, his voice thick and rough, his hand still holding her thin arm. He looked at the girl from top to bottom. Her face was dusty. Her hair was dull and dry. She wore old clothes, her blouse torn from the shoulder and her skirt two inches smaller than her height. She can’t be from the royal family, despite he could see the beauty behind her messy form. But she didn’t look like a normal girl either. There was something in her that Siddhant couldn’t divert his eyes from her. Her eyes were like a burning fire, filled with a motive. Only a powerful queen could have eyes like this. ‘Girl, play somewhere else. This is a battlefield.’

Nayantara relaxed a little as she realized Siddhant had no idea who she was.

‘Sorry, sorry,’ she said hurriedly and ran off. She reached the head commander, but he was busy in a fiery battle. She had to wait until he killed his opponent. But wasting time could be dangerous. Now she had to do the thing she didn’t want to do. She had to go to her uncle and convince him to send someone to the forest and ask tribals to help them.

*

Nayantara was pacing up and down in her room. Her uncle didn’t want to listen to her plan. As she went to him, he just cut her off and ordered the guard to lock her in her room.

It was now night. And everything was quiet outside. Nayantara had no news about anything. Nobody opened the door. Not even for the food. She finally lay on the bed and she didn’t know when she fell asleep.

Her sleep broke early in the morning when she heard the door open.

‘Princess…’ Savita dashed into the room. She was full of panic.

Nayantara sat up straight, sleep immediately vanished from her eyes. ‘What happened? We lost the war?’

‘Worst,’ Savita said, trying to catch her breath. ‘I don’t know how to tell you.’

‘I’m strong enough to take any news. Just speak up.’

‘They fixed your marriage with King SiddhantVeer. Your marriage is going to be done right now.’

Nayantara stood up angrily. ‘Who are they to fix my marriage without my concert.’

‘It is a political agreement. To settle the war.’

‘How could they sacrifice me?’ Nayantara cried. ‘I will not marry him.’

‘You have to.’ Rajendra stepped into the room with Veena. ‘Or I will make your life a living hell.’

That’s it. Nayantara never raised her voice in front of her uncle, but now she had her limit. ‘You sold me out to protect yourself. What kind of uncle and what kind of a king you are.’

Rajendra slapped hard across her face. ‘Speck one more word and…’

‘No, Your Majesty, it is her wedding day. Don’t ruin her face. I will make sure she will be down within five minutes,’ Veena said.

‘It will be better,’ Rajendra said and walked out of the room.

‘You,’ Veena pointed at Savita. ‘Get her ready. If you don’t want to see her in trouble.’

‘I will, your highness. Don’t worry,’ Savita said politely and Veena left them alone.

‘Daai ma,’ Tears collected in Nayantara’s eyes. ‘He is an old man. He had two wives before. I don’t want to marry him. I deserve better. He can’t be my husband.’

‘Princess, why are you taking it negatively? Think about the bright side. You will be the queen of Maharav. What is here for you? Just insult and torture.’

Nayantara fought back her tears. ‘But, daai ma, this is my kingdom. I want Anhilwara. Nothing else.’

‘Princess, throne and power are not everything. Once you will get married you will have your own family. A new life will help you to heal your wounds.’

‘But I want powers. Powers to punish all traitors.’

‘You will have powers. The power of the queen. After this marriage, Anhilwara will come under Maharav. And as a queen of Maharav, it will be automatically yours.’

Nayantara shook her head. ‘No, I’m not ready for this marriage.’

‘Princess…’ Before Savita could say anything, some maids entered the room with clothes and jewelry.

‘We are here to dress up the princess,’ one of them said.

‘Yeah, get her ready,’ Savita said.

Nayantara sighed. Her daai ma couldn’t understand her concern. It was not all about marriage. Her instinct was telling her that Siddhant’s first two wives' deaths were suspicious. People always called her negative. But she knew she was not negative. She could see what others couldn’t. She could anticipate the situation quickly and correctly. She knew her life was in danger there.