Cittaja || Indian Historical Romance

21.

Shakra whistled, and Vayu arrived quickly.

"Where did Mayurakshi go?" He asked the guards.

"She went that way, Your Highness," the guard informed.

Hopping onto Vayu, he quickly started riding off in that direction. He only hoped that she was still unharmed. That itching feeling always pointed toward harm befalling her.

"Mayurakshi, please be safe..." He wished.

When he reached a distance, he spotted her horse.

"Mayurakshi!!!" he bellowed through the forest.

When it brought no response, his heart sped up in worry. His eyes searched only for Mayurakshi.

He combed through the whole area but couldn't find any traces of her. He shouted her name once again. Finally, his eyes caught sight of an ornament.

He got off the horse and checked it - Mayurakshi's glass bangles, broken.

"Mayurakshi!!!" He shouted once again.

"Yuvraj!!!" He heard her voice. Instantly, Shakra traced the direction and ran in that direction. He saw her hand being grabbed by another man.

"I swear on Kalika, you leave one scratch on her, and I'm going to tear your head off," Shakra warned them.

He clenched his fists, his temper rising as he followed their direction. The tall bushes concealed their hiding. An arrow was shot toward him, but he dodged it.

That was what gave away their location. Shakra leaped over the bush and threw his dagger. The man grabbed Mayurakshi. She swiftly dodged the knife, and it hit the man behind her.

A knife came to her throat, "Don't come any closer, Prince. You don't want her throat to be slit open, do you?"

"If that knife moves an inch closer to her, I'll rip the limb from your body."

When the man's eyes focused on Shakra, Mayurakshi grabbed his arm and hit her head back. Shakra instantly grabbed her and pulled her behind him.

The men started running, and Shakra followed them, catching one of them and slitting his throat. Throwing off the dead body, he ran after the next instantly.

The man Shakra caught up with next put up a fight with him. He dodged the knife and blocked the punch. He cut the chest of the man and grabbed his throat. Twirling the dagger, he shoved it into the man's stomach, blood spilling everywhere.

Shakra's eyes glistened with rage. The one who tried to kill his lover was going to end up dead.

"Yuvraj!!!" Mayurakshi shouted. He moved aside, and the arrow went ahead, hitting the man accurately.

He turned to look at his girl. She was sitting on Vayu and had her hands on his bow and quiver.

"Watch your back!!!" Shakra shouted. She turned around and shot an arrow at the group behind her.

The arrival of a second group confused the first group, and Shakra deduced that the two were sent by two different people. Seeing Shakra, the group behind Mayurakshi started running away in different directions.

Shakra just stood in wonder. The new group didn't even aim at Shakra at all. They had pointedly come purely for Mayurakshi.

He turned around and hunted the first group. One by one, he went after them like a Naga having his revenge, hunting down every enemy one by one.

Shakra cracked his shoulders, freeing them from any stiffness, and moved casually like a hunter getting himself ready for the hunt.

Chasing the first of the left assassins, he attacked with the dagger, and the man defended himself, slashing Shakra over his shoulder. Shakra punched him hard and moved the dagger. He dodged and attacked Shakra. Shakra stepped on his foot and stabbed him in the stomach. Shakra caught the incoming dagger with his other arm and pulled his dagger out. He held the man by the throat and kneed him hard. Shakra then hit the man's head against a tree so hard that he was knocked out.

Leaving him there to die, Shakra proceeded ahead towards the others.

The man he caught next was scared out of his wits. Shakra was bloodied. He couldn't exactly figure out what was Shakra's own blood and what belonged to the ones he had killed.

Shakra challenged him to come and try his luck. Fear was his domain. He thrived on that fear and knew exactly how well he could maneuver once the feeling was born in the opponent.

Shakra dodged the dagger's attack and stabbed the man in the waist, moving to the other side. The man hissed in pain. He kicked the man's thigh hard enough to make him fall and grabbed him in a headlock, choking the man to death. Shakra dropped the body.

A wicked grin formed on Shakra's face. His violent outlet had caught him completely. Shakra was in his element as a killer. He knew battle and violence since he was 16. He had set off into battles with the Commander General of Kalika Empire. Lessons were learned in the first two wars where he almost died on the battlefield. The third one was his sole victory. The General was so much in praise of the Prince that he was almost brought back on the shoulders of his fellow soldiers with a great procession.

Shakra was proceeding ahead when an arrow hit him in the back. Shakra hissed at the burning sensation - a poisoned arrow.

Shakra threw the dagger, and it hit right in the chest. He picked up the bow and quiver from the dead man and moved on, the arrow still in his back.

He found the next and shot an arrow, killing him instantly as the arrow passed through the heart.

Shakra could feel the burning increasing. He felt the trickling sensation of blood flowing down.

Shakra groaned softly in pain from the burn. The poison would slowly get to him.

He felt the presence of another one and shot the arrow, killing the assassin instantly.

He almost fell to the ground when he saw Mayurakshi. She was herself bleeding, her hair was messed up from running, some jewelry was missing, but she quickly figured out that he was injured due to a poisoned arrow.

"Can you walk a little?" She asked, "We're almost close to Krishneri. I know a place there."

Shakra nodded. She put his arm around her and took him ahead, allowing him to climb up on the horse and sit behind her.

"Hold on properly. Don't fall off," she said, putting his arms around her waist and riding off.

Quickly reaching a location, she stopped and got off the horse. That's when some men from the assassins' group returned to finish the job. Shakra's eyes turned wild. He wasn't in the mood for playing anymore.

He got off the horse and turned to them. They froze, as if they had seen Yama himself coming to hunt them.

"Yuvraj, we can escape the-"

"Stay out," he growled at her. The change in him completely shook her. He wasn't sounding like the nice Prince Charming who wanted to enchant her.

Mayurakshi had no idea what had hit her when Shakra spoke to her like that. The look in his eyes was signalling towards the madness in his mind. He wasn't going to leave them alive at all. Mayurakshi was sure of them.