✓ Fearless - Book 1 of The Rajkumari Trilogy

Chapter 9

Chapter 9
___________

"Maharaja?" she asked cautiously. He stood in front of the window, his back facing her. He turned around slowly and met her gaze. She lowered her gaze almost immediately and spoke,

"Your Highness, I have got the information you requested. Although, I didn't- they didn't mention the specifics of the number of soldiers in their ranks." With that, she handed him the scroll.

He motioned the commander to take it. The Maharaja nodded, listening to the numbers, as his Senapati read the contents. "Well, not bad," he said at last. "You passed the test, although we didn't get the total number including allies, specifics of rankings, and strength."

Roopvalli let out an internal sigh of relief, He won't be beheading me after all.

"So what's next on the list?" she asked. "Maharaja," she added with an afterthought.

"Waiting." He simply said. "Summer isn't the right time. People are more alert, they tend to be... wandering. We cannot execute our plans then. Right after the monsoon, will be the perfect timing. People in their houses, guards aloof, soldiers relaxed... They won't suspect a thing,"

"Excellent plan, Your Highness!" Roopvalli praised.

Ballaraja turned back to the window to mask his annoyance at her obvious flattery of him. Most men would be flattered in the assumption that they were honest praises. But he was not most men. He knew this was pure flattery to get on his good side. Which would not happen, ever.

"You are dismissed until you convince that husband of yours and bring him here. Send nothing but letters of your findings discreetly. Make sure your findings aren't baseless. You know what'll happen if they were..." He left the threat hanging as she excused herself and went away.

* * *

"Aim. Pull back. Shoot. Aim again. Shoot. Repeat." Suruchi listed each action as Revati performed them. She stooped talking and looked at the arrows that she'd shot. Four on the ground and one on the edge of the target board, barely holding on. She let out a sigh. "Look at the target board. You need to hit the red mark in the center. Now tell me, what do you see?"

"The red mark," Revati answered in a flash, even though she could see everything else except that one thing. She knew what would be in store for her when her trainer asked the question.

It was just like what Dronacharya had asked Arjuna and the princes when he told them to shoot the eye of the wooden bird. And what did Arjuna say? The 'eye', of course, when all the other princes said 'bird'. Drona had praised his answer and his accurate aim when he'd shot the arrow.

"Are you sure?" Suruchi questioned.

"Absolutely," Revati said, her eyes glued to the spot, and glanced at Suruchi's reaction only for a split second. Suruchi caught her gaze and she smiled smugly.

"Ugh!" Revati exclaimed, face-palming. "I shouldn't have looked!"

"That's the first rule of battle to remember for your upcoming sessions: never show any emotion or even a slight change in your face. Even something as small as the twitching of an eye. Then your opponent can read you easily. And coming back to this, concentration cannot be forced. Go take a walk around, drink some water and come back. Believe that you can do it. Don't believe that you can master it now, though."

Revati simply nodded, put down her bow and arrows, and walked down to the valley. Suruchi watched her walk off into the distance, It twists my heart every time you're around me and don't know my true identity. If I told you my secret, you'd hate me for it.