Devika - A journey unbound by time

41: Akash's Courage II

"Father, why don't you check the rooms of everyone present? Maybe you will get a clue." Akash said softly suggesting, "We will come to know if anyone inside the home is involved or not. Also if we can send a few people to search for mother's whereabouts that would be helpful. I can bring her back to safety. Who knows what she might have to face amongst thieves?" he continued pretending to be very concerned for his mother.

"Father, I will immediately go and inform General Abhay. He will definitely help us find Mother." saying thus, he turned and ran towards the main door.

"Stop, right there Akash. Don't you dare take a step outside the house." General Surya roared loudly. Immediately two guards moved to block Akash's path.

"Father, we must help Mother. She has been kidnapped." Akash replied looking at General Surya.

"Kidnapped? No my son. Your mother died last night due to prolonged illness. I know you are sad but you mustn't become delirious. You should accept the facts very clearly. Your mother passed away last night and now we must burn her on the pyre." General Surya said decisively.

"Father... How could you? It's your wife. Instead of rescuing her how can you treat her as dead?" Akash yelled at him.

General Surya strode towards Akash and backhanded him across the face. "It is because she was my wife that I have taken this decision. If people come to know that my wife was kidnapped from under my nose then they would laugh at me. Also no one can ever know about the theft at our house. I will conduct the investigation myself."

After saying these words, he signalled his chief steward and instructed him to spread the news of his first wife's demise. "Inform everyone of the sad news that my beloved first wife has passed away. I will take a leave of absence from the court and everyone will wear mourning garb in the house. Also inform that General Abhay that Akash is inconsolable and won't attend the training session anymore." The steward left after getting the instructions.

The two guards holding onto Akash took him forcibly to his room and locked him inside. Akash laid down wearily on his bed and patted his chest to calm down the heart which was beating very fast. On one hand, he was happy that his mother had escaped safely. On the other hand he was worried that he would never be able to escape General Surya's clutches ever.

He knew that General Surya won't go around trying to find his mother now and would only focus his investigation on the missing money. He was sure that the second wife of general Surya was embezzling funds kept aside for the household expenses and had kept a significant amount of money secretly in her private stash. If General Surya is able to successfully find the private stash, he would surely suspect his second wife.

He was unhappy as he felt sad about giving up on his training and giving up the new found friendships that he had built. Princess Devika and General Abhay as well as the princess's maid Rewa... he would miss all of them. Thinking about them, he slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep deeply. He was completely exhausted in mind and body due to last night's rescue and today's drama.

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Meanwhile in the palace, Kavita, Akash's Mother, was getting her wounds treated by Guruji. He was handling the patient very gently and didn't touch her more often than was required. Rewa stood by assisting him in the treatment.

When Guruji was told that his medical expertise was required, he had assumed that someone from inside the palace was hurt. But when he approached the patient, he was shocked to see an unknown woman lying on the bed. She was beaten and had bruises all over. The woman seemed hurt not only physically but it also seemed that she suffered a lot of mental trauma. Guruji's expression was grim, even Rewa was afraid to speak loudly and scare the patient unnecessarily.

The woman was lying on the bed awake but her expression was vacant as if she was not aware of their presence. It was only in the morning that Guruji and Rewa completed their treatment and Guruji gave some sedative to the woman so she could sleep soundly.

Princess Devika and General Abhay were waiting in the outer room. Guruji and Rewa exited the room after making sure that their patient was comfortable.  Taking a glance at the two people sitting in the outer room, Guruji made his way to them and asked sternly, "What is going on Princess? General Abhay? Who is that woman? How did she get hurt so much? Just... Who is so vicious that they..." He couldn't continue and his hands trembled giving away the depth of the anger that he was trying to control.

"She is... was... General Surya's first wife. She is Akash's Mother. Her name is Kavita. She is hurt because she was paying the price of her husband's hatred towards her." Princess Devika replied in a daze.

She had been awake the entire night and had seen Kavita's injuries when the soldiers brought her to the palace. They had then left to get gold stolen from General Surya's home. Devika had a few minutes to observe Kavita by herself and after looking at Kavita's injuries, she had been reminded of her past. Though Bhadra hadn't ever raised a hand on her, she was broken mentally by him. It had reminded her once again of what she stood to lose if she let her guard down for a single minute.

In her last life, Devika hadn't been able to save anyone. In her last lifetime, Akash's mother was killed during one of the many abuse sessions of his father and Akash had no other method to take revenge on his father except forcing King's hand to punish his entire family. Hence he had launched a fake assassination attempt. But in this life she had managed to save two innocent people and that calmed the storm raging in Devika's heart to some extent.

"What do you mean Princess?" Guruji asked.

"Hmm.. no.. nothing. How is the patient? Are her injuries treatable?" Devika asked.

Guruji sighed and replied, "She seems fine. The external injuries are treatable and if she persists then she may be able to recover fully. However her mind seems out of it. It's like she is there but not quite. I am afraid that she might give up the fight and that could certainly be disadvantageous to her health."

"Akash can give her a reason to live. Where is he? It is almost the time for training session." General Abhay interjected.

"He might be late today. After all they would have discovered the theft by now and also the so-called kidnapping." Devika replied.

"Theft? Kidnapping?? What are the two of you doing?" Guruji asked shocked.

"We aren't doing anything bad. Our actions are clean in front of God Himself." General Abhay defended himself while Princess Devika merely smirked.

"I am going to rest. I had enough excitement for the day." Devika replied ignoring the banter between two men.

General Abhay nodded and sent her and Rewa to get some rest. Only after both of them left did a soldier came running to find General Abhay. He relayed the message from General Surya's home. The message contained news about the death of Surya's first wife and the subsequent absence of Akash from his training for an indefinite period of time.