Out of the box
Out of the box
"Mother, this is a surprise," Ahilya said lazily, without bothering to stand up and greet her mother.
No one knew the real age of Nayantara devi and it was tough to hazard a guess looking at her flawless skin and curvaceous figure. It was said that her beauty still inspired poets to write odes. Had her father, the tribal chief, tried harder, she could have been married to a bigger kingdom's prince but belonging to a small tribe, he had been more than happy in acquiring Himprayag's future king as his son in law.
A frown marred the woman's face as she looked at her unruly daughter sprawled across the wide chair without any grace.
"Leave us alone," she instructed Gayatri. Ahilya was about to protest but at Gayatri's quiet gesture, she stayed shut.
After she left, Nayantara turned to look at her daughter with disdain.
"Is this how you plan to snatch the throne away from that concubine's son?" she nearly snarled.
Ahilya gave a mirthless laugh as she got up from the chair and came face to face with her mother.
"I should have known! So, are you here to give me tips on how to conquer the kingdom? Maybe by sleeping with the enemy?" she asked sarcastically.
"Huh, if I thought that it was possible to seduce that brat into submission, I would have done it long ago. Anyways, now is not the time to trade barbs with each other. I went to the king and asked him to tell me a sure shot way for you to win this contest," she said with a sniff.
"What?? Who asked you to do that? How dare you go begging on my behalf?" Ahilya was outraged and ashamed by her mother's actions.
In her eyes, her mother was the most shameless person alive. Notwithstanding what she said about seducing Mithilesh, how could she make her lose face in front of her father like this?
Nayantara rolled her pretty grey eyes at her daughter and said, "Therein lies your biggest problem. Unfounded, unnecessary ego issues. What is the big deal? You should know that I have only your best interest at heart. If I understand that boy correctly, he must have already asked your father about it, and without any qualms."
Ahilya sat back down with a thump. She was plain disgusted at the behavior of the people around her. Why couldn't everyone play fairly? Gayatri had often chided her for living in a wishful world of scruples.
"So, the only condition for you to win this is – do something advantageous for your country, something big. Now if it were me, I would go and get an influential marriage under my bosom with one of those useless, fair haired princes from one of the smaller kingdoms, north of us. They don't have too much money, but they do have land and resources which we can use to strengthen our country. Target the one located on the other side of the Hima river. I know a bit about them and can help. It would be perfect," Nayantara explained her strategy.
Ahilya refused to get hurt by her mother's words.
"Mother, I thank you for doing all that you have till now for me. But I think I can achieve this on my own. I would suggest that you go back to your chambers. It is time for your kesar* and milk bath, isn't it?" she said in a neutral voice.
Eastern zilla, Chandragarh
The training for the five of them had intensified and Ramanujam was showing no mercy towards anyone. After the rigorous classes during the day, including physical training and lectures, they were subjected to out of the box exercises at night. Tonight, was no exception and they had a special visitor join them tonight.
A black vulture was perched on a tree branch nearby and stared at them with its beady eyes.
"Somewhere in this jungle, there is a dead animal. One of you needs to find it before your friends do. The vulture is here to guide you, only if you figure out how to follow or trace it. Understood?" without actually waiting for them to respond, he clacked his teeth, making the vulture fly away suddenly.
The five of them scrambled to make a mad dash behind the fast disappearing bird.
"Damn it! How the hell am I supposed to look for a black bird in the middle of the night? Maybe Guruji thinks that we have night vision like the bats in our eyes" Vandit grumbled under his breath.
Mriga, who had seen her mother handle her eagle a few times, tried to concentrate and identify the vulture's voice as it hissed and grunted. If she was not mistaken, it was flying at a low height. For sure it had been trained by Guruji and in that case, all she needed to do was recognise and follow its sound.
She nearly banged into Chiranjeev who stood in the middle of her path with his eyes closed. He apparently had the same idea as hers.
Shit! She needed to hurry. This was one time where she stood a fair chance at winning the contest. Abhirath was born and brought up in the capital and she was hoping that he probably hadn't had much experience with birds as much the zilla bred children did.
Looking at Nirbhay and Vandit flapping around like headless chickens, her real competition was Chiranjeev.
The good thing about staying in close proximity with Shaurya was that she had become adept at climbing trees at a lightning speed. She found a tall one and went up on it, agile like a monkey.
Yes!
She had been right.
*Kesar - Saffron