Devika - A journey unbound by time

15: Apologies

Everyone present watched as the trade minister of Kuru Kingdom, Rajini's father, was dragged away by guards. Some servants brought the dead woman's body and threw it in a box planning to ship both father and daughter to Kuru Kingdom. Gayatri personally wrote a letter for the messengers to carry to her parents.

"Aunt Gayatri, we should get Miss Rajni's room checked. Who knows what other kind of evil things she had hidden there?" Devika said her voice portraying innocence. Gayatri threw a sharp look at her before nodding solemnly.

She led a few maids to conduct a thorough search of the rooms in which the father and daughter stayed. The maids successfully found a stash of drugs hidden in a secret compartment of the jewellery box.

The maids took the drug packets to be inspected by Guruji. He was the only doctor who had highest experience in poison testing and cure in the Nala Kingdom. The packets and bottles were tested b Guruji diligently. After checking them his face became sober. He rushed out of the infirmary and went to report his findings to Princess Gayatri.

"Your Highness, the drugs... They.." he huffed as he was running and couldn't speak clearly.

"Take a deep breath. Calm down. Have a seat." Gayatri told him and gestured a maid to get a seat for him.

Guruji sat down and started narrating what he found in the stash sent to him. He told Princess Gayatri that there were two kinds of aphrodisiac - a fast working and a slow working. Also there were two types of poison that could kill people easily within an hour of ingestion. However, the final potion was a miscarriage causing drug. It was likely that this drug was used on the late Queen during her pregnancy. Gayatri's eyes reddened in anger and sadness. Maintaining her composure, she told Guruji to write down an official report to submit to the King.

"Also..." Guruji hesitated before leaving.

"There is more?" Gayatri questioned.

"Princess... The two poisons and the fast acting aphrodisiac are a speciality of Gauda Kingdom. When I was there, I had seen a senior poison specialist make them. It is without doubt that Gauda Kingdom is selling their supply of poisons." Guruji stated.

"This means that they are producing poison on a scale large enough that they could sell it to people from other countries. But to what purpose? What are they planning?" Gayatri said, her tone serious.

"Thankfully, our Little Princess is a visionary person." Guruji said.

"Ah!? What do you mean?" Gayatri asked curiously.

"Princess, our Little Princess decided to make a section of maids undergo medical training. She herself wanted to specialise in the antidote treatment. It is almost as if she knew what would happen." Guruji clarified.

"Hmm. Ok, just make your report soon." Gayatri dismissed him.

Unbeknownst to Gayatri, this report was also sent to Princess Devika. Devika studied the report carefully. Each poison was detailed minutely. Their uses and characteristics were written along with their place of origin and the names of their creator. Devika was not much surprised to know that a poison specialist from Gauda kingdom was involved. She had seen how much poison was synonymous with power in Gauda.

As the events of morning replayed in her mind, hatred sprung in Devika's heart. Feeling uncomfortable, she went for a walk on the palace grounds. Unknowingly her feet turned towards the training grounds. Due to the incident of the morning, the training was cancelled. Soldiers had increased their patrolling, new methods to ensure safety of the royal family were being strategized. There was no one in the section where Devika usually trained. Today, instead of the wooden sword, she picked up a real sword. She started with the series of exercises General Abhay had told her.

Swish, swish, whistled the sword through the air. Devika twisted and turned her body, her sword hacking at the invisible enemies.

Devika remembered in her last lifetime, Rajni was simply asked to get out of Nala Kingdom. She didn't even knew the reason why Rajni was ousted but knew that her mother's murderer was not caught. In her past life, her innocence and naivety led her to believe that the world was a nice and kind place. Only after her marriage with Bhadra was she exposed to the cruel reality of the world.

In this lifetime, Rajni had died but she was given an easy almost merciful death compared to Devika's mother who was in pain until her death. The entire family was in pain due to that woman and her schemes. While she the person who should have been the most affected, had been the most relaxed.

'How could I.. how could I have been so blind? I didn't even knew what was going on around me. My Mother's murderer was in front of me and I didn't knew. Why? Why? Why?' the thoughts sounded in Devika's mind.

Sweat dripped from her face and got in her eyes. However, her moves didn't stop rather they became more and more aggressive.

Clank... Her sword struck another metal and the sound rang out.

Devika rubbed her eyes and saw that Veer was standing in front of her with a metal sword in his hand.

"Would you like to workout with a partner? I was looking for someone but no one is here." Veer asked.

Devika lowered her sword and turned around. Veer too lowered his sword. Suddenly, Devika turned again and aimed an attack at Veer. Veer could barely parry her attack before she came at him again.

Soon the sound of swords clashing rang out in the training ground. Devika and Veer fought each other using real sword. Devika's attacks were getting vicious but Veer was skillfully deflecting them. She continued attacking him until Veer pushed her back with his might and she fell. Lying on the ground, gasping for breath, Devika finally allowed herself to let go of anger and feel grief. Tears pooled in her eyes and streamed from the side of her face.

Sobbing for her lost mother, she let go of the sword to cover her face with her hands. She felt a hand stroking her hair. Devika was pulled in a seating position by Veer before he hugged her. Devika also let herself cry on his chest.

On the empty training grounds, two children held each other. One offering comfort and one indulging in it greedily.

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In the evening, Devika was walking to her antidote training class when she passed by the stairs that led to the Queen's chambers. Devika went upstairs, she opened the door and walked inside. A man was lying on the bed holding her mother's portrait. Devika felt saddened to see her Father lying curled up. Tear tracks were drying on his face. She gently covered him with a duvet and walked out.

'I promise Father, this is the last time you will cry in sadness. I promise to make our Kingdom the strongest and ensure the safety of our family. We will have the strongest military, the best doctors and enough money to ensure great living conditions for our subjects. I will make sure that all other Kingdoms envy us. And this time, whoever I marry will never be able to bring harm to us. This is the promise of the Princess of Nala Kingdom. Once a promise is made by the royal family of Nala, it will be fulfilled even if anything happens.' Devika thought fiercely.

"I have to keep training and gain knowledge. I must become the best in order to lead." Devika voiced her thoughts aloud.

Stopping for a minute, she gazed around as if regaining her bearings. She had reached the medical centre without realising. Recalling her promise, she smiled and stepped through the door to walk towards a better future.