Part 3

A beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn.

-Claude Debussy

 

Part 3: The sun must set to rise

 

'Another sunset! 'He sighed looking at the sinking sun through the small slit of his tent. The buzzing crickets starting to give him a headache now with their continues'turring' sound from the last seven days. 

What else could he expect from the middle of a wilderness? 

"Is there some news from maniteek? "He asked. The others in the tent more frustrated than he was!

"What else except the fact that the royal army is after you like the hunter dogs? Sniffling around all the time! " the chief, the leader of his supporters spoke. 

The frustration grew but what grew more was his thirst of power....now that he was chased like a wild pig in a forest, his want to rech to that throne had increased like never before. 

His eyes moved over the interior of the tent. The rough clothing, the uncomfortable bedding and the slick moist environment...'I disown YOU! 'The words never leaving him, not even in his sleep. 'I want him beheaded right in front of me! 'His body shuddered involuntarily in pure molten fury. 

'He would see who needs to beheaded and who must be sunk in a cauldron of acid! ' 

'Just let him reach to the power once, the throne to belongs him and he would have his revenge for every single second of his life! '

Just because his well laid plans had turned astray due to the prostitute of a princess, he wasn't going to loose.

"I am going to find my way back to the throne! "He roared, his voice reverberating through the never-ending darkness that had now prevaded the wilderness. 

"It's impossible! "a comparatively meek voice intruppted his roar. "You have an elder brother! The rightful heir of the kingdom. "

He turned around furious. His eyes glowing red and his hands itching to silence that voice forever. "The king would never choose you as his heir! "

'Now that's enough! ' his rugged fingers from fighting many a 

wars now gripped the handle to his sword. 'He had had enough of this unruly man.'

"prince Chandra! "Afraid that he had to witness another bloodbath tonight in front of his eyes, the minister spoke up.

"You could be the heir to the throne, if there's no elder brother to claim it anymore."

A silence so poignant settled into the room that it became impossible to breathe, before the fool spoke again. "And how's prince Chandra supposed to kill his own brother? He has been kicked out of the palace already...... Have no army to back him up and rarely any source of income except the looted money from the nearby villages. " before the idiota's head gets disjunctioned from the rest of his body and starts to reel on the floor. The minister spoke again to distract. "I know a way to overcome these....problems."

"The sole heiress of Rai chand's....Their coal mines, the business of daimonds....it is in billions that could solve all our set backs."

"But why would they help us, billions or not?"this time it was the prince. 

"Because you would marry their only daughter. "

~♡~♡~

She laid there on her bed, her eyes fixed on the grand glass chaleinder that hung down the ceiling of her bedroom. The streaks of moonlight falling on the crystals making it glow like daimonds in the darkness. 

She was going to get married tomorrow! 

Why was this happening to her? While every other bride she had seen has been smiling her brightest and glowing her best before she is united to her spouse. Why wasn't  she able to do the same? Why does a shiver runs down her spine whenever she recalls the way Amarendra's eyes had been moving up down her body that afternoon? 

She turned aside, her eyes now falling on the dazzling white moon outside her window.

'How would I spend the rest of my life with that man?'  An owl hooted somewhere far away and she closed her eyes forcefully, the night was already near it's culmination. And she hadn't slept a wink! 

She have to keep these useless thoughts at bay. It was already too late!

~♡~♡~

The next morning was a chaotic one more so because she was the center of it all. 

While playing the smiling and blushing bride, she was given a grandeur sented bath. The exotic perfumed oil treating her fair skin while her hair was washed with jasmine water. The jokes and teasing of the ladies never ceased as she was taken back to her room, her rouge wedding dress jutted with the brightest of diamonds and glazing pearls was laid down. 

The softest of Persian silk glided over her physic like a second skin. While the onlooker ooh-ed a aah-ed at the princess that they could not help but envy.  

The large agleam wooden box of gems and ornaments were set aside for the time being, the assemblage of woman now santured through the corridors and hallways of the mansion till they reached the temple. 

Devika's bare feet tingled with the sudden contact on the cold white marble floor. The grand idol of devi 'Durga' stood a feet feet away, sitting on the wild beast of a tiger.  The young girls rang the heavy bronze bells as she bent down to pray.

"Pray to the goddess darling, she listens to all! Ask for her blessing before you start your new phase to life!" Her eldest aunt told her. 

And she could not hold on to her fears anymore. perhaps because of the finality of it all, her eyes watered as she bent lower to seek blessing, her forehead touching the cold floor, while tears knew no bounds anymore. 'Help me mother!' She bit her lip to control her lament, lest anybody notices her deary state. 'Save me from this marriage!'  

Little did she knew that the goddess would actually listen to her wishes then, and send a devil riding her way though the wilderness....to reach straight to her!