Daughter of the Naga | Lesbian Story|

Chapter 91

All day long the whole palace celebrated with songs and music. They sang and danced in the joyous rhythms. The men took pleasure in the singers' melodious voices and delicious feast. As everyone was rejoicing, a palace maid rushed into the great hall, shouting.

"Your Majesties! Your Majesties! Grave news! Grave news!" she cried.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen. The hall went silent like the inside of a tomb. The maid was familiar to me then I realized she was one of Amarisa's handmaidens. I knew there was something wrong.

"Speak what is troubling you," Queen Indradevi said to her.

"The princess, your Majesty, O forgive me, the princess!" the maid stuttered and began to sob.

"Speak up at once!" the King said sternly. "What happened?"

"Her Highness...She...She has disappeared from the palace!"

Blood fled from my face. My body turned cold as ice. The room then erupted in alarming voices. The King in the likeness of a leader bade his people to be quiet and calm.

"Everyone look at every nook and cranny, see if anyone can find her," he ordered the guards. They obeyed and went in every direction. I wanted to go with them, but the state of shock left me rooted. My mind was racing, trying to piece together clues of where my princess might be.

"We have looked all over," the maid wept. "But she just vanished without a trace, Your Majesty. Oh please forgive us."

"Respected Hora." Queen Indradevi turned to the Oracle. Her voice quivered a little as she spoke. "Do us a favor for you are the master of prediction and could see all hidden things. Tell us while we know not where my daughter might have gone."

The Hora bowed in regard and pulled out a chalkboard. He drew and crossed symbols and words in concentration. Breaths were held and whispered ceased as we waited. Sometimes passed by, and the Hora lifted his face from the board again.

"This is odd," the Oracle spoke. "I could not see the princess anywhere under the blissful heavens. It seems as if she is irretrievably lost."

A tremor seized my whole body. My first thought was she was abducted. I imagined a tall black demon leaning over my beloved maiden. His eyes were red and glowing. His fingernails pricked into her delicate skin. I imagined her body wilting over the demon's dirty shoulder as he took her away.

"No!" I cried and went running out of the hall. My friends called after me, but I ignored them.

Heading towards my mother's ashram, I sprinted until my lungs burn. Once I reached the older Queen's chamber, I found my distraught mother sitting on her praying mat. She turned her face to me with tearful eyes, and I ran into her arms.

"Mother, Amarisa is gone! She is abducted, isn't she?" I asked. The Queen hugged me to her chest.

"No, Nikita, do not assume that yet," she said. "Woe as it might be, I will go to my temple and tell this tale to the gods. They shall hear my prayers and surely, they shall be keeping an eye on her wherever she might be."

But I knew it was a lie. My mother should have known how tricky the gods were. How they gave us one thing and took away the other! I was too heartbroken to speak. My voice faltered in twisting pain.

"No! I need to find her!" I cried and rose to my feet again.

"Nikita!" my mother called after me, but I was already running.

By now, all my friends would go out in search of the missing princess. In the bleakest turmoil, Kesar had followed me. She came in to take my hand.

"My lady," she said. But I pulled away from her and wept the tears from my eyes.

"I need to find her myself," I muttered to no one. Kesar tried to stop me, but my feet began to pound against the ground again despite my tiredness.

I went to the stable and brought out my winged-horse. All night, I flew over the city, looking for Amarisa. Yet no matter where I turned, everything was silent and dark.

At last, I landed in the forbidden garden. There was nothing different about the place, large and overflowing with night blooms.

I couldn't find my princess there. Not where we used to sit under a Bodhi tree. Not the patch of the meadow where we frolicked. Nothing.

Gazing into stars, I began to sob.

At one end of the garden, I found an Asoka tree—the same flower tree under which Sita had borne her sorrows. Now I didn't know what to do.

Anger filled my mind like fire. My breaths were like a dense smoke, choking me. I blamed myself. I blamed the gods and my fate, which I had no power to defy.

Dropping to my knees, I screamed in sorrows. My eyes spilled hot tears like rain in the drought.

She is irretrievably lost.