An Indian Princess - A Modern Day Fairytale (Completed)

Chapter 8.5

Dedicated to tbabie74.

Part 5 of 6

Nidhi woke from the throbbing pain in her leg.  It was dark and Nidhi didn’t recognise the place she was in.  She couldn’t see much except for the opening to her far right and it looked like it could be sunset or sunrise.  Nidhi moved to get of the not so soft and comfortable bed but the pain in her leg was excruciating. 

As she got used to the dark she started to notice things around her.  It looked like she was in a cave and when she saw the bottle of water she poured some into the cup.  She would have drunk from the bottle but it was too heavy for her weak arms.  She brought the cup to her mouth and drank as much as she could and only realised too late that it tasted like leaves and stuff.  She poured a second cup and drank that too, she was too thirsty to worry about the taste. 

After about three cups of water Nidhi saw the packet of chips and slowly ate a little.  She didn’t know if there was more so she ate just enough to give her the energy she needed.  After some chips and more water that tasted better after the fourth cup, Nidhi rested on the bed for a few minutes before she tried to get up again. 

Nidhi realized that the bad tasting water was the cause of herbs or something that was in the cup to relieve pain because she felt the pain in her leg numbing minutes later.  Why did he bring her here and why did he go through the trouble of leaving medication water and food for her?  Nidhi decided that she should get up and inspect the area and to see if it was morning or night. 

Nidhi got out of the bed and as soon as she lifted her good leg out of the bed she heard the sound of steel chains rustling.  She tossed the blanked to the side and saw the shackle on her leg that had a chain attached to it.  Nidhi couldn’t see where the chain was connected to but knew that it would be somewhere close and that she wouldn’t have too much chain. 

Nidhi was surprised that she didn’t expect this.  The creature wouldn’t leave her here to roam freely.  He probably knew about the beads too and Nidhi felt a shiver run down her spine.  She was so naive to think that she would be able to fool the creature.  Nidhi didn’t give up and decided to see how far she would be able to walk before the chain stopped her. 

Nidhi reached the opening of the cave and saw that it was a new day.  To her calculations it was about an hour after sunrise.  Nidhi walked on and reached the water stream.  She felt dirty and decided to take a bath.  She only removed her shoes and her pants.  She didn’t want to be caught in her underwear and her dress top was so long it came to her knees.  Nidhi floated on her back and dipped her head back so the water could run through her hair to rice out the sweat and dust from the long walk yesterday. 

Nidhi has been in the water for almost an hour when she felt a tug on her leg.  Nidhi looked up and saw that she had floated a good twenty feet away from the cave and that the chain was now at its limit.  She swam back to where she had left her clothes and sat on a rock.  She could feel the sun on her and sat there for a while to dry. 

The afternoon sun had brightened the cave and Nidhi was able to inspect it properly.  It gave the impression of a dome shaped rock that was hollowed out to form a room.  There were no tunnels leading to more.  Nidhi found more chips in a crate and bottles of water in a small pool of icy cold water.  She also found an extra set of clothes and Nidhi didn’t like the fact that the creature knew about underwear. 

Nidhi changed into the clean clothes and went back to the water stream to wash the dirty clothes.  Nidhi found it very strange that both her own pants and underwear bottoms and the ones that the creature left her had buttons on the side where she could take it off without having the problem with the chain. 

Nidhi ate and when the sun started to set, Nidhi got onto her bed and fell into a restless slumber.