Prithvi... [Vol 2]

Chapter 37

"I've been hearing your explanations about Prithvi for years now, Sumer. I've had enough. I think it is time we were given a chance to talk to him."

"Yes, I agree with Nath. I have been waiting to talk to Aditya's son for so long. And he is coming here right now. This would be a good time for us to approach him."

"That won't be advisable," Sumer Singh repudiated, holding his ground against the three elderly men surrounding him. "Prithvi is not yet ready to listen to or accept our version of the story, and forcing something upon him is as wise as needling a sleeping lion."

"You have been standing in our way for too long, Sumer," one of them snapped. "We have done as much work as you to protect him to the best of our ability all these years.  We deserve a chance to get to know him as well as you do."

"I agree, but Prithvi accepted my presence in his life on the sole condition that I will not rake up the past, and especially not any topic concerning his father."

"What I cannot understand is how you could have let these thoughts fester in him for so long!" a bearded man said angrily. "Adityaraj gave you the freedom to choose an occupation when it had been your duty to simply stay by his side, protecting him. You owe it to him to tell his son the truth.....The truth that his father would have preferred to die rather than be the cause of Priyamvada's tears." 

"Perhaps Sumer has grown too fond of being a father figure in Prithvi's life and is reluctant to give up the position," the third man rasped out. 

"How dare you question my loyalty to his majesty Adityaraj!" Sumer Singh demanded angrily. "I have told Prithvi everything I know, and yet he refuses to forgive and forget. And no one can blame him for that, after everything that he has seen Priyamvada endure, and after everything he has gone through himself."

"That is the problem. That you've only told him what you know….the limited parts what all of us know," the first man said pensively. "If we need to convince Prithvi, we need to find out once and for all what had truly happened back then."

The bearded man spoke up again, "We don't have much time for all that. Whatever the king is planning will definitely come to light soon. And I will not stand by and watch Prithvi accept the inheritance on his mother's side, when it is

 only right that he claims his lawful share in the royal legacy of his father."

"But Indrajit -"

" - is still apparently recovering from his last encounter with Prithvi. The injury on the head is taking its time to heal. So we need not worry about him - for the moment. As and when everything comes out in the open, he will have no choice but to share everything that Adityaraj left behind with his younger brother. I do hope I won't have to fight one son of Adityaraj to secure the rights of the other, but if Indrajit doesn't relent by choice, we'll be left with no option but

 to use force. "

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In the fading light, Sumer Singh looked at the boy who was walking beside him quietly.