Brinda

Sati

The smile smeared across his face suddenly dampened and he watched himself fall into a hole of despair. Like a nightmare brought to his doors and to the feet of his throne, he felt his breath fail him, his strength wane, and his understanding of life suddenly become jumbled up. For the first time since he arrived in Brinda, King Adigun felt both happiness and sorrow strike him at the same time.

It was morning, right after his wife, the Queen of Brinda, had informed him of how he would soon become a father. The joyous news still lingered atop his lips as he struggled to let it out, and the more he stared at the figures standing before him and that which was laid down at his feet, the harder it felt for him to understand what could have happened.

"What is this?" he asked the guards who had brought the lifeless body into the castle and laid it at his feet. "I will not ask again!"

One of the guards went on his knee and looked down into the earth as he replied, "We found his body at the market square and witnesses who observed the ordeal aren't willing to speak to us or give us any useful information".

Like a nightmare he desperately needed to wake from, King Adigun rose from his throne and fell to his knee while he reached for the clothing sheltering him from seeing the body's face. His hand trembled and his fingers felt sore as he touched the clothing. It wasn't hard to know who was lying before him and he could only wish it was some kind of prank.

"Suraj", he called out to his loyal servant and friend. "Wake up, Suraj".

Death was a concept the King was familiar with but never one he had felt so close to home. Killing on the battlefield was just and necessary and it could not be avoided, but having someone so dear and close to his heart get put down was another feeling entirely and it made him absolutely disturbed. There was just no understanding how it could have happened.

"What happened to him?' the King asked again while he never looked away from his man. "Who did this to you, Suraj?"

The same guard replied, "We understand it has something to do with the disgruntled officials from whom you relinquished the powers to run the kingdom's affairs before appointing new ones".

It was as he had thought but not as far as he had assumed they could go. Casting them all off and taking power away from there was the best possible thing he could have done for the kingdom but he had not expected they would retaliate in such manner. It made his heart sore and it left the King feeling speechless for a moment while he continued to access the body.

Feeling warm tears form in his eyes and his fingers threatening to fold up on him, he unmasked the body in totality and stood before a badly beaten, bruised and battered Suraj. His face was barely recognizable except for his hair, and his fingers had been broken as though they were intentionally smashed. It was gory to witness and equally heart wrenching.

"I want the all", the King initially whispered. "I want every single one of them brought to me alive so I can run the edge of my blade right through their hearts! I want them brought before me now!"

His roar set the guards scrambling backwards and in fear. Ambika Devi raced into the room and stopped just some feet away from the guards and the dead body. King Adigun looked up, teary and confused, and then looked back at the body of his dead servant.

"What happened to him?" Ambika Devi asked as she approached. "No! This cannot have happened!" she lamented.

It was not something the King wanted to believe either; it was such a good time and the kingdom felt as peaceful as any kingdom could be. More so, he had been waiting on his throne that morning to hand out the message of his wife's pregnancy so his loyal servant would in return share it to the people and ask them to come dine and wine in the wee hours of the day.