The Royal Sacrifice

Prologue

The Maharaj Vaivaswan of Ujjain stood in his balcony admiring the moon, when a maid servant entered a letter in her hand. He took the letter from her. He looked at the seal and the wheels of his mind started churning. 

What could the Emperor of Magadha possibly want from him?

 He had sent his taxes last month, which had bled the royal treasury. He hurriedly broke open the seal and scanned the contents.

"Go and call the Maharani, the Rani ma and the Yuvraj. Nobody should know they are here." He shouted at a maid. As she ran away to carry out his orders.

 His heart had started beating heavily.

The Yuvraj entered with his mother and step mother in tow. Looking at the Maharaj pacing the room, the three of them worried as to what was so important that they had been summoned at midnight.

"Rajagriha has sent us a letter." He started.

Rajagriha, the capital of Magadha which was the second largest empire in India which stretched from Mathura to Ujjain only after the Kuru Empire. Their only disadvantage was they were landlocked between the Kurus and the Dravidians, preventing their further expansion.

"What more can they possibly want from us? The taxes were sent with the trusted Vithoba ji." Maharani Gayathri asked worriedly.

"Remember the attack on the Magadhan troops in Solahpuri?" Vaivaswan started and everybody nodded. "He wants revenge for the 100 people he lost. He thinks I planned it. He has indirectly hinted at treachery."

"So, what is he asking for?" Rani ma Bhavani asked.

"He wants to make sure it does not happen again. He wants to marry Niranjana to Maharaj Damaghosha's son Rajkumar Shishupal." He explained.

There was a loud gasp from the Maharani. How could she possibly marry her daughter to that demon!? Even Yuvraj Ashutosh's face showed the worry he had for his sister.

Bhavani was the first to break her silence.

"What would that help him achieve?"

"If it happens again, Niranjana would be tortured over there. He knows he is hitting me where it hurts." Vaivaswan explained.

Gayathri could not control her emotions and burst out crying. Ashutosh and Bhavani rushed to comfort her. She quickly wiped her tears and went near her husband and folded her hands in front of him.

"Maharaj, I stand before you with my hands folded not as the Maharani of Ujjain, but as your wife and the mother of your children. Please do not make my daughter the medium for Jarasandha's atrocities. She wont go there as Maharani Shrutashrava's daughter-in-law. She will go there as Jarasandha's surety of you. Agar aap me thodi si bhi mere prati prem aur samman he, to meri beti ko us janwar se bacha leejye. Aap se nahi hota, to bol dijye me apni beti ko mere haatho se hi vish pila dungi. Mar jaaeygi par us janwar se shaadi nahi karegi." Gayathri pleaded, her eyes red.

(If you truly love me and respect, you will save my daughter from that animal. If you can't, please inform me. I will feed her poison with my own hands. She will die but not marry that monster.)

Vaivaswan's heart broke listening to his wife's cries. She had not seen a happy moment ever since they got married.

"Didi, don't speak inauspicious things. The Ashwini twins are always saying tathastu." Bhavani chided.

"Don't worry Maharani. I lost my sister to his games. My daughter shall marry him only over my dead body." Vaivaswan promised.

During this whole course of exchange, Bhavani noticed that Ashutosh had not spoken, his face showed he was deep in thought.