Samsāra

Chapter Nineteen

The thug Upanay was in a black mood. The dark scowl on his face made him look quite ugly. His arm was heavily swathed in bandages and he was pulling at the end of his moustache whilst carrying on about his grievance with the girl. Sujit had had quite enough of the underground boss, his importance to his plans have been a necessary evil and after all his boasting he couldn't manage to carry out the one job Sujit had assigned to him.

‘There was nothing I could do, the attack was unexpected, she caught me unawares,’ he complained to Sujit gesturing at the arm the physician said had been broken, the bones smashed.

That was at least true. Upanay had been caught unawares. He must have been googling at the girl's breasts that he couldn't manage to do his work properly. Sujit had accepted the news with a calm understanding face, he even called the physician to tend to his injuries. When he heard the tale that two had been captured by the royal guards, he didn't look anxious. He nursed his dark feelings inside him, refusing to wear it out on his sleeves like Upanay was doing, vowing to take his vengeance upon the girl and her partner, Pragya.

How Sujit longed to get rid of the boorish man. But he couldn't, not yet, not when his plan was halfway complete. After he would dispose of him, quietly. It would come as a nasty shock as Upanay expected a seat as a minister in Sujit’s court. Not a chance. Sujit was trying to reform the country, he wasn't going to appoint a thief and murderer as a powerful man.

His mind switched from Upanay to the girl as he arranged the chaturanga pieces on the ashtapada. It seemed brute force wouldn't work, time for a subtle method and Sujit could think of a perfect time for it. The princes' 21st birthday would be in a few months. Even though there was two months difference between them, the Rajamata had plans to celebrate both their birthdays at the same time. That would be the perfect time to strike at the girl. He turned his attention to the sulking thug and smiled benignly at him.

‘Do you play chaturanga?’

Upanay blinked blankly rather than responding.

A mocking smile curled his lip over his teeth. ‘Oh  I forgot you love sports that lets you exercise those bulging muscles of yours.’

An ugly look of intense hate crept into Upanay’s eyes but Sujit knew he won't attack. They both knew where the true power lay and it wasn't in Upanay’s clumsy hands but rather in Sujit’s. The thug's greed and ambition had given Sujit complete control over Upanay that he would rather die that break the control. With a great struggle, Upanay managed to rein in his cruel emotions and showed in his teeth in a smile that was more of a death's grimace.

‘You are right Prabhu, I do love sports that lets me exercise but it is not too late for me to learn.’

Sujit's sneering smile melted off his face as he remembered what the fool had cost him today. The girl was within his grasp! But the thug had let her escape! His face tightened with rage. ‘I have no patience to teach dull minded thugs who cannot properly carry out instructions.’ He snapped with malice. ‘How do you plan to learn the finer rule of chaturanga then? You…’ rage constricted his throat rendering him unable to spew the rest of the venom. He trembled with fury on his couch of silk, shocked at his momentary lack of control and then his anger blazed anew at himself and Upanay who was the cause of the entire mess.  In twenty years he had never lost control of himself, emotions clouded the mind, rendering it useless, so he tucked his feelings to one side and allowed his cool rational side to work for him. Until now that is. Throwing one last venomous look at Upanay he struggled to contain himself.

Upanay was shell shocked at the onslaught of vitriol spewed his way. Quickly, his stupefaction changed into anger and he started thinking. Upanay possessed nothing like the finer thinking of the aristocrats, his was the sly low cunning of a rat and they'd served him well as a boy on the streets and now as a boss in charge of his own mob. He never forgot or forgave any perceived slight against him. Sujit would pay for his insult, he vowed in his black heart, even if it is the last thing he did.