The Crown Prince and His Love

Chapter 37 |Blood Oath|

Good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people, the worse of things happen to Karikalan.

******

The Chola soldiers were overjoyed with their victory over the Pandiyan king, their chests swelled with pride that their Prince Aditha Karikalan had taken Veera Pandiyan's head.

They drank around and celebrated their well-deserved victory, the rule of the Pandiyans in the south was over, and Madurai fell under the Chola control as soon as the news of Veera Pandiyan's death reached them. The Pandiyan soldiers lost their morale to fight and surrendered.

Pallavan's face was full of joy that evening. Malayaman and Periya Velar had just left the Chevur fort to oversee the imprisonment of the rest of the nobles. Pallavan slipped into the tavern in search of Karikalan. Parthibendran forced himself not to join the raging celebration which was going on, he had other jobs to do. He turned away and looked for a sober person who could answer his questions without stumbling every few seconds.

"Do you know where the Prince is?" He asked, pulling aside a friend of his.

"Yes, He walked in a few hours ago and Man was he furious," He said shaking his head. "He picked up a jar of wine and left,"

Pallavan hung back his head and groaned, What does he need this time? He let go of his friend and walked toward the Prince's tent.

"Ilavarese?" He called out pushing the red curtains out of the way. "Adith--a?" Pallavan said almost tripping over a broken vase. "He threw a tantrum again didn't he?" Pallavan muttered to himself, He pulled back his hair and groaned at the thrashed tent.

He is going mad. Pallavan confirmed he picked up the fully downed jar of wine and placed it on the table. Oh, for god's sake, who knows where he is passed out?

"Aditha!?" He repeated as he searched around the camp.

"Who are you searching for?" The man responsible to guard the stables asked.

"Have you seen the Prince anywhere?" Parthibendran asked looking around.

"Haan," The man simply nodded. "He walked in, untied his horse and rode out," He shuddered. "A ghost only has possessed him, do you know how mad he was?"

"Why didn't you stop him!?" Parthibendran exasperated, fed up with his life.

"Are you deaf or what? I told you he was furious, I didn't want to lose my head, I have kids back home,"

"We have cowards in our army," Parthibendran sighed as he mounted his horse. "Alert the soldiers that our Prince is missing, the Pandiyan rebels must be roaming around here, we can't risk it,"

The man nodded.

"I'll go first and search for him, if I take long arrange a search party," Parthibendran said and took off on his horse.

******

"Nandini!" Karikalan called out, standing on his tip-toes scouting around the area for Nandini. "Where is this girl?" He thought pacing around the river banks. After a few minutes of searching around and calling out her name for the thousandth time, he found her.

Karikalan let out a sigh of relief and walked up to her. "I've been calling you---" Karikalan arched his eyebrows. "Why are you crying?"

Nandini sniffled and wiped away her tears. "It's nothing Ilavarese,"

"Won't you tell me?" Karikalan asked, concerned. "Did Kundavai hurt you?" He frowned.

Nandini shook her head. "No..." She looked down.