WEAPON OF GOD :: Mahabharat

GLIMPSE OF RUDRA & SHIVI

(I just found this chapter in one of the folders lol. I wrote this when I was writing about Shivi's swayamvar but I thought it would be too out of the plot of the book to add this scene. But since I found it after like a year, I don't wanna waste it. Ya'll probably have forgotten the plot, but yea, I just wanted to not let this go unseen)

( flashback )

Rudra paced around in the room, the door locked from the outside. He would have jumped out of the room and escaped, if Shivi wasn't in there with him.

"Rudra calm down, it will be fine" she yawned.

"Easy for you to say!" Rudra shouted, " I AM THE ONE WHO'S IN A DIFFICULT POSITION HERE! "

" You know, I am kind of in the same position -"

" You're clearly not" Rudra huffed, " you're the YUVRANI, with no other candidates for the throne. No matter what, you will be safe. I on the other hand, am disposable"

" You're Vasudev Krishna's firstborn, didn't you see the suitors back away when they realised who you are?"

" THAT'S THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM SHIVI!" Rudra whined, " I am a nobody! Look at Pradyumn, he's perfect. Look at my cousins, they are perfect! The masses love them for their abilities! Me? I am a nobody, whose only accomplishment was being conceived first!"

" Rudra-" Shivi was now concerned, " what are you talking about? Did something happen-"

" You.. why did you garland me Shivi?" Rudra approached Shivi, " it's because I am compliant isn't it?"

" Wha-" Shivi was taken aback, " where is this coming from?"

" I am not blind Shivi, I saw how your spies were taking notes of the suitors.... you were obviously judging them, and the talent show was just a farce. You ended up liking no one, coz the suitors were uptight and you wanted someone compliant who will obey you like a dog"

" That's not-"

" And because you HAD to garland someone in order to stop rumors, you garlanded me.... because I was an easy way out"

" Rudra!" Shivi was now frustrated, " you yourself said that it would be a charm to be with me"

" Yes! It would have been" Rudra exclaimed, " if I wasn't used as a scapegoat. Why didn't you invite me to the wedding before? Why wait till the last day? Maybe if someone had caught your eye among the suitors this garland would have been on their shoulders"

" Is this what it is?" Shivi retorted, " are you jealous?"

" I am offended, Shivi" Rudra tore out the garland, " that you had to come to me as an afterthought"

He went over the door and kicked it open, as the wooded planks flew open from the hinges. Curtly saying sorry to the startled guards, he rushed off, leaving Shivi behind in her room.

Just outside, the elders of Panchal were having a meeting, and they were the ones who had locked the doors on the two so that none of them could escape. But seeing Rudra rush at them, made them terrified.

" Prince Rudra-"

" Maharaj Satyajit, I am sorry for this. I was swayed by emotions and was thus led to take the action. If you wish to not marry your daughter to me-"

" NO!" Rudra heard Shivi shout from a distance, " I WILL marry him"

" I will not marry her" Rudra completed his sentence, leaving the Panchal elders in confusion.

" Shivi! WHAT IS THIS?" Drupad growled, " At first you garland Vasudev Krishna's son, and now he's backing off from the marriage?"

" You can blame it on me Maharaj" Rudra stated, " that I backed off as I wasn't man enough for Shivi but I really cannot-"