Mishka - The gift of Love

22|| Is that you?

Rajvardhan POV: 

"Brother when is the Afghani Sultan arrive?" Yuvraj asked me being impatient as usual. 

"Pata nahi Yuvraj, abhi tak unki taraf se koi patra tak nahi aya hai, na hi Diwaan Saheb ka koi ata pata hai!" 

"No idea Yuvraj, we haven't recieved any reply from their side, and there is no sigh of Diwaan Saheb as well" I exclaimed with a sigh. I too was getting impatient minute by minute when suddenly the royal guard announced. 

"Kanwarsa, Diwaan Saheb apse milne deewane khaas main intezaar kar rahe hai, agar agya ho to apse milne ki anumati hai?" 

"Prince, Diwaan Saheb has arrived to meet you and is waiting in the Palace's Hall, if you permit he wants to have a word with you?" he announced out loud making me stand up and walking towards the Hall rather than wasting anytime with all the protocols. 

"Kanwarsa, hum apke patra ka jawab leke aye hain!" 

"Prince I have brought the answer to your letter" he said taking out a royal letter from his waistband. 

"What took you so long Diwaan Saheb?" I asked getting suspicious since whenever a royal letter is sent the reply is generally sent through the reciever's soldiers and not the other way round. 

"Yesterday night when I went to Afghani Sultan he didn't let me go till he came to a decision of whether accepting your invitation or not! He wanted me to deliver the message." he explained in one breath before starting to pant a little. 

"And what did he reply?" I asked out of curiosity!

"He'll be here in an hour with 4 of his men whom he trusts the most. And he has also accepted the offer of him staying in the palace for the next few days if the peace treaty between you goes well. And if not, he'll return back and prepare for a war against Jodhpur!" He read the letter making me feel more unsure about my decision of sending him the invitation in the very first place.  

"Alright then, call the Senapti 'Cheif of the army'!" I asked the guard before walking towards the King's seat and settling myself down. I was yet to be Crowned as King but Mehrangarh's seat was always mine since the day I was born, just like some other kingdom's seat are decided for my brothers as well. 

From the very beginning my father decided to be very different in aspect of dividing his kingdom between all of his 4 sons. Though me being the eldest will hold the ultimate power as a central power along with the West of his Empire, whereas North, South and East will be equally divided between my brothers. He wanted to make all of his sons rulers, so he came up with this idea even after a huge debate with all the Court members and the Advisors. 

"Hail, the king!" said the Senapati and stood straight infront of me as a well trained soldier. 

"As we discussed yesterday alot all the soldiers in their particular places and keep your eyes and ears all the time open. And always remember if a war situation takes place, your first priority will always be to keep the Queen safe. Understood?" I ordered before dismissing him to work upon all the strategies we decided late at night. 

"Aap Afghani Sultan ke aane ki tayari kijiye, hum nahi chahte ke unke swagat main koi bhi kami rahe jiski wajah se halat bigad jaye." 

"You go and start the preparations for the arrival of Afghani Sultan, I don't want any mistakes which could lead towards any type of disputes in the mere future!" I asked Diwaan Saheb and he immediately started to look after all the preparations and also double & triple checking. 

"Bhaiya, aapko kya lagta hai yeh Afghani ki koi chaal to nahi? Yahan atithi banke humare hi logon ko maarkar rajgaddi chhin lena?" 

"Brother, don't you think that it's some kind of trap by this Afghani? And visiting us is just the diversion and his real motive is to kill us and take over the kingdom?" Yuvraj asked speaking my mind out loud but in a quite open way.