Patrani (The Chief Queen)

The other way

Aaryaveer's POV

"What? Why? " Harisenji was furious. He had every right to.  Everyone in the camp was shocked. There was a current of shock and depression amongst everyone. Especially Harisenji.

"Where is Veerti?" He tried to suppress the violent turbulence in his head.

"Guruji, she is in her tent." Whispered always cheerful Nakul. At that moment, even he felt disoriented.

"Bring her here! Now." Said Guruji and instead of asking another soldier of the lower rank, Nakul ran like a timid boy, about to get scolding of his life. He rushed towards the tent of Veerti. I, along with Usav and Bhrahamadutt stood with Guruji, stood uneasily, wondering what would happen with Veertiji.

"Guruji" she bowed her head first to Guruji and then "Your Majesty"  merely addressed my presence. I was impressed with her logical sense of audacity. I mean, she bowed to Guruji before me. That was perfect. But she didn't bowed me. She just addressed me and then left it to that. My Aaryawati wouldn't dare to do that. Ever since Veertiji has stepped into the  threshold of our camp, my mind is hell bent in comparing her with my Aaryawati, because for some lame reason, I felt that she is my Aaryawati.

Veertiji had donned fresh pair of uniform, as always fully covered. This time it was all red. She looked like the red soil of Aaryawati's garden. Okay, okay I had to stop. And focus. Yes, focus.

"Have you heard about the recent development?" Guruji asked her calmly.

"I apologise Guruji. I was in my tent. Besides, there is something I need to tell you. Actually I wanted to apolo..." before Veertiji could continue, Guruju raised his palm, to cut her in between.

"I want to apologise to you for my outburst. You were correct. If the rival is immoral, we have to resort to the similar approach." He said.

Veertiji was dumbfounded and speechless for a few minutes.

"There is a small cave, about 60 kilometers or so from our base. It is used as a shortcut by our soldiers (to travel to and fro from Aaryasatta kingdom) and doots  (Royal messengers and diplomats to communicate about the war) to send message to Sanketsingh. However they tried to injure two of our Royal diplomats. Luckily for them, our soldiers seemed to pass by that area and they saved our fatally injured doots. The enemy soldiers managed to ran away." Said Guruji.

Veerti didn't say anything while we all waited for her response. "Are Doots under the treatment in this very camp?" She asked Guruji. Guruji looked at Brahamadutta, who was in charge of the situation.

"Yes, we are treating them here. They aren't in position to talk yet." Said Brahamadutta and turned silent. In discussions like these, we never interfere the flow of Guruji.

"This is ridiculous. It's a kind of unsaid protocol that no kingdom attacks the doots diplomats of the other kingdoms!" Veerti spoke up.

"Exactly. Now I want you to employ all your OTHER METHODS of the war." Spoke up Guruji. For a flash of moment, I swear I could see Veertiji smile maliciously under the wrap of her cloth.

"Okay then" she looked at me. "I want an army of 100 soldiers. To employ my tactics. I request Guruji to conduct traditional practice of warfare for the rest of the 200 soldiers." She turned to him and he nodded.

Suddenly, the shy woman was taking charge of the whole situation. It was fascinating to see her as a shy, introvert woman at one moment and then transform into a war head as soon as something called "crises" clicks in.

"Out of 150 soldiers, I need 50 expert horsemen, 50 expert expert men with arrows and rest 50 must be known for their agility and survival skills. We would be operating into extremely rough environment." She turned to Nakul.

"I assure you, none of our soldier is a weakling." Utsav tried not to grin. The atmosphere of assurance had returned. Atleast now we had a plan.

"Still, these are the requirements." Veerti's eyes were blank as she looked towards him.

"I assure you, I will give you my most capable men within next few hours." Said Utsav.

"I need them before the lunch. There are few things I need to control." She almost muttered under her breath. Guruji looked at me, clueless of what she meant. I also nodded my head. We both were equally clueless.

"Very well then. Can you come with me on the grounds? I shall hand pick my soldiers and hand them over to you right now !" Said Utsav.

"Also, I want my men to accompany me. They are trained to kill." She said. We all agreed.

Soon, Guruji and Brahamadutta ventured out of the tent. A soldier came inside the tent and whispered something into Utsav's ears. And then left. While Veertiji patiently waited for Utsav to escort her to the grounds. However Utsav had something else in his head.

"Aaryaveer, you are going to be a father now!
One of the injured Royal Doot gained consciousness and passed the message of the King.

"What?" I was too shocked to move. Tears of happiness came from my eyes! Aaryawati is pregnant? And then my last doubt about the Veertiji and Aaryawati almost melted, until....

"Yes, and Aaryawati has gone to her maiden home to get care of herself. Also, the news are too secret. The public isn't supposed to know." Said Utsav.

But why the hell would she go to her maiden place? Weren't the comforts of the palace enough for her? And why was such wonderful news kept under the wraps? I couldn't understand what was happening at my household.

"Aaryawati had suggested that it would be better if they hide the news for a while so that Sanketsingh wouldn't attack the kingdom and she would be safe." Said Utsav.

Nakul and Utsav had confused expressions, though they tried their best to hide them. As usual, Veertiji's face was blank.

However I decided to rejoice the idea of being father. I couldn't stop hugging Utsav and Nakul.

"I am so happy. I have one more reason to go home after the war! I am going to be the father of a princess!" I couldn't stop dreaming about a baby girl with small hands and mini sized clothes smiling into my eyes.

"Or, baby could be a boy too." Nakul pointed out another possibility.

"Yeah, I mean I would be happy if it's a boy. I would get an heir to the throne. I would personally teach him everything so that he would achieve greatness. But a part of me yearns to have a girl like Aaryawati! So pure, so innocent." I spoke.

From a corner of my eye, I saw a few tears escaping from Veerti's eyes. And this time she couldn't hide them. Because her red face scarf (that she tried around her face) had became wet. The red fabric had became maroon due to the tears in her eyes.

As soon as she saw me looking at her, she turned around and declared that she would take our leave. So that I could no longer see her face.

"Before you leave Veertiji, I would appreciate it if this matter is kept as confidential. My parents doesn't want public to get the knowledge." I spoke.

"Ofcourse." Her voice almost masked the sound of choking. She said without turning and looking at me as she took large paces to exit the tent as soon as possible.

"Did you, did you see that?" I immediately turned around my friends as soon as she exited the tent.

"Yes. We did." They said and we all lost into our own thoughts.