Devika - A journey unbound by time

Treasure Found

The two soldiers helped the woman out of the dungeon and quickly took her out of the mansion. Reaching a safe place they waited for the other team to complete their task. It was deep in the night and one could only hear sounds of night creatures like owl and mice in the surrounding area.

The whole situation of being rescued from her husband's constant abuse felt unrealistic to the poor woman. She waited with tensely for her son to come back outside of General Surya's mansion.

Akash stealthily went towards the study to check if the second team had completed their task. He gently pushed open the door of the study. Almost at once a sword came down on him. Akash jumped to the side barely missing the blow by inches. He turned quickly to check who tried to hit him, very afraid that he was discovered and their plan foiled.

Fortunately though the person who tried to hit him was none other than the soldier who came for their rescue. The soldier was afraid that he was caught and this reacted before thinking.

When they saw each other, the soldier quickly bowed in apology. Akash patted his chest to calm his heart and pulled the soldier inside the stidy and shut the door.

"Were you both able to find the money?" Akash asked them in a whisper.

"We found this safe in the wall but where are the keys?" the soldier replied back in a whisper.

Akash and the two soldiers searched the study thoroughly but weren't able to find the key. Tired, Akash sat on the study table and accidentally moved the small statue placed on the table. Almost at once the wall of the locker swung open. It was designed to look smaller from outside and hide the true wealth of the General. The opening was barely large enough for a man to duck inside the safe.

Akash jumped in surprise and along with the soldiers he peeped inside the safe. There was so much space inside the safe that it appeared like a small room instead of a wall safe. There were rows and rows of gold bricks lined up in the safe. Pots of gold jewelry and precious stones were placed to another side. The soldiers looked at each other in surprise.

General Surya was a decorated of their kingdom and as such it was expected that he would have a small fortune. But the sheer quantity of the treasure they found was almost equal to the public funds of a small city. Even Akash who had a certain idea of his Father's corruption was shocked at the wealth. The three of them squared their shoulders and silently began moving out the treasure they had found.

The two soldiers carried out two bags filled with gold bricks each and Akash carried out a single one. Together they managed to take out five big bags of the loot to the safe place where Akash's mother and the other two soldiers were waiting.

"One of you please stay here with Mother. The rest of us need to go and get the rest of the loot out of the safe. When you are done, I will go back to my room and you can bring this loot to Princess Devika." Akash offered the soldiers. Nodding their heads they quickly started to work. It took them quite a few trips back and forth to clean out the wall safe.

As Akash laid out the last bag of gold, his mother held his hand and whimpered, "Please let's leave this place. We need to go from here quickly."

"No, Mother. I need to get back to my room. You leave with these soldiers. They will take you to Princess Devika and General Abhay. They will keep you safe." Akash replied.

"But... But what about you? Once that demon discovers me gone and the treasure missing, he will definitely have doubts of your involvement. He will hit you. He might even try to.. to kill.. kill you." Akash's mother started shivering.

"Mother, please be brave. I have trust in my Teacher and my Princess. I implore you to listen to me this once. We know what we are doing. Please mother. Trust me." Akash said and left her with the soldiers.

On the way back he saw a couple of servants moving around and hid himself till they walked out of sight. He went to his rooms and washed away the traces of their nightly activity from his clothes and his body. He dressed in his night robes and went to sleep.

It was the General's abode and the people who were supposed to be guarding the mansion and those on the duty at night should have been working. However it is said that like master, like servant. Since General Surya was filled with pride due to his past achievements and was relaxed in his work, so were his servants. None of them would have thought that any thief would find the guts to loot the mansion.

So when the morning came and the family and servants woke up, they received the biggest shocks of their life. The treasury in General Surya's mansion was completely empty without even a single coin left.

The first to discover this was the servant who came to clean the study room. He was shocked to see the wall safe open and his master nowhere to be seen. He curiously took a look inside the safe and was shocked at the size of the safe. But what caused him to lose his wits was the fact that the safe was entirely empty. After a minute or so, he started yelling for all the servants and created a commotion to gather everyone.

Someone informed General Surya, who sat up in his bed groggily and couldn't focus for a while. When he collected his wits after hearing the news he ran in his night robes to the study. The maids screamed to see their master half naked and hid their faces desperately. The man servants merely averted their gazes.

General Surya saw the state of his study room and was shocked speechless. He sat on the floor while holding his head with his hands. His concubines and the second wife came running as well when they heard the news. When they saw the state of the study and the General sitting on the floor shocked beyond words, they started wailing loudly to express their grief.

"Shut up.", the General roared. The women folk immediately stopped their loud wailing and started to sob softly.

"Summon the soldiers who were supposed to keep the night guard. Find out how this happened." Surya said to a man servant who was standing close to him.

He threw a gaze towards all the family members that were standing in the study. He saw that Akash was missing and he asked loudly, "Where is Akash? Where is that son of a bitch? Such a huge thing happened in the house and he is not present?"

"My lord, do you think that Akash stole from you?" his second wife questioned him hesitatingly.

"Go and drag that little bastard here." General Surya roared incensed beyond reason.

The second wife smirked happily. She had wanted to get rid of this evil spawn for years and now a chance had presented itself. She will definitely grasp it well and use this incident to get rid of Akash.