Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

Prithvi scanned the poorly lit area for a moment and could recognize most of the people from day before and yesterday. Probably, he could take a quick break and come back. He stood up slowly, as if in a haze, and teetered towards the close-by tavern which served cheap alcohol and barely edible, greasy food. His body was ready to revolt at the thought of another bout of the same grub which he had eaten many hours earlier but he knew that he couldn't be away from the post for too long. This was the only option.     

As per his source, this was the place where the foreigners convened often. Since he had no idea who they were or how they looked like, he couldn't make any enquiries about them. Also, his presence here was not even known to the Suraksha Chakra office in the Eastern zilla. Anyways, apart from his link at the local brothel, he trusted no one.     

When Prithvi had first taken over the position of the chief of recruitment at Suraksha Chakra, he made sure to visit the main brothels in all four zillas. Without anyone's knowledge, he had continued to use the network which already existed in these brothels and other establishments but also established his own connections. Every time any information came to him through any of the zillas, he chose to reconfirm its authenticity from his own sources.     

Even Ramanujam and Saraswati were unaware of his parallel source of information. This was how he remained on top of all the happenings when others reported it to him. He had chosen to take a house away from the Gurukul also for the same reason. He needed different exists and options to manipulate timelines and escape scrutiny.     

The incident with Charulata had not only left a deep impact on him but also influenced the choices and decisions which he made that moment onwards. He considered her to be his only guru, despite undergoing training with many other teachers post that summer. Despite all this, In these many years, he visited her only once and that too many years ago when she had just recovered from the injuries and was contemplating what to do with her life.     

Ever since his arrival here in Eastern zilla, he was yet to encounter anyone who stood out of the crowd. It could be because he hadn't been able to correctly identify the persons or it also could be the result of the businessman's absence in the capital city. Prithvi assumed that the people involved would be keeping track of their mole carefully and his sudden disappearance would be a reason for them to be on guard.     

In fact, he had pondered over the choice of going to meet Charulata or coming straight here on that first night itself. Had he come here that night, the advantage of surprise would have been on his side but he still chose to go to Northern zilla first because he needed that meeting to be completely shrouded from everyone's eyes.     

So, now he had no option but to wait it out. If his hunch was correct, the mice shall not be able to stay away from the cheese for too long!     

The young woman in the Eastern zilla brothel, who was his mole, had told him something weird. She mentioned that the new people who had been visiting recently, chose to hang around the main hall of the brothel for a long time. But that was not the surprising part. After an hour or so into their stay, a poor guy who definitely couldn't afford the services of the brothel would show up in the queue to find himself a woman. This had happened more than two to three times in the past month or so and hence she had made note of the same. In fact, she had tried to keep a track of the last homeless guy who turned up with money at her adjoining-door girl's room. The next time that he came, he had not only cleaned up but also seemed to have come into money suddenly.     

Unfortunately, she couldn't quiz him or the girl without calling attention to herself and hence had nothing further to report. But this was enough for Prithvi who could fairly presume that the infiltrators were on a hiring spree. In order to know what exactly was their final goal, he needed to be recruited as well.     

So, he told his informant to stage a scene with him on the first night of his arrival here. A couple of local thugs had approached him and demanded money which he owed them from the previous time that he had been in the zilla. There was a big scene which had resulted in a scuffle between him and them. As per the instructions, they had left him with a couple of bruises and loud warnings. Hoping that his credentials of being an original settler of the zilla were established with that, he had begun the game of wait and watch.     

But by the looks of it, tonight didn't look very promising, either.     

Seashore, 3AM     

High tide had brought along the pungent smell of the sea, jolting Prithvi out of the slumber that he seemed to have fallen in. By now, even the most ardent lovers had gone away, leaving him shivering in a tattered shawl.     

"Am I getting too old to be involved in stakeout?" he grumbled to himself, as some aches and cricks made their presence known.     

"Brother, are you hungry?" someone's soft voice broke his reverie.     

A middle-aged guy had come next to him, almost soundlessly.     

His senses screaming, Prithvi showed a wary face to the stranger and mumbled, "I will return the money soon, I promise. Don't hit me."     

The stranger moved even closer, bringing along his alcohol laden breath towards him.