The Haunted Fortress of Bhangarh: Book 1

40. The necklace

The handmaidens were rushing hither and thither to gather enough ingredients to make the medicinal paste that their beloved princess would need. Kalavati had a running fever since the evening, but as the night became deeper and darker, her body temperature increased too. She was sprawled on her ornate bed, mumbling incoherently under her breath with her eyes closed. Her lips were parched and discolored and in her subconscious state, she was twisting and turning due to the discomfort coursing through her body. A wet cloth was placed over her forehead to relieve the health condition, but it seemed like nothing was working in the handmaidens' favor, for the royal girl was not waking up from her somnolence.

Hence, it was decided amidst hushed whispers that the royal medicine practitioner would be fetched from his house on an immediate basis, and it was Chitralekha who volunteered to do the needful.

She sprinted down the stairs of the princess's palace, crossing the natural waterfall encapsulating the royal premises, and she continued running without a break until she halted in front of the medicine practitioner's house in the very first lane beyond the palaces. However, she was highly disappointed when the door swung open, and the wife of the reputed physician informed her about him having gone to the eldest Prince's palace for a routine check.

Chitralekha wasted no time in retracing her steps back to the palace premises, once again jogging past the natural waterfall, the stepwell, and the numerous palaces of the kings, the queens, the princes, and the princesses. Prince Surya's abode was on the extreme end of the royal premises, and to run across the length when night had already fallen and illumination was a minimum proved to be a great feat for her. She meandered her way across the uneven paths riddled with boulders and stones, her bare feet lacerating over the sharp ends and her blood soaking the soil beneath, but she didn't pay any attention to herself as her priority was the princess who had always been sweet and kind to her.

She swallowed hard and came to a stop when she spotted the facade of the stone palace. The flickering of the flames on the torches next to the windows was visible from the spot she was at, and she could also discern tighter security as numerous soldiers lined the arch-shaped entrance. The heavy wooden door leading to the inner sanctum was boarded shut while a single torch was irradiating her luminous features.

A guard drew his sword from the scabbard and quirked his brows at her. "What do you need here, girl? Go away."

A few heaving breaths later, she said, "I am... here... to fetch Anant ji. Princess Kalavati has... fallen ill. Needs to be... checked... immediately."

The guards exchanged nervous glimpses with one another before the first one spoke up, "But Anant ji is discussing imperative matters with Prince Surya, and His Highness has barred us from disturbing him."

She clicked her tongue and scowled at the man before screeching at the top of her voice. "Prince! Prince! Please come out of the palace. Your sister needs you."

The guards edged towards her as they cracked their knuckles and cast disapproving glares at her for her audacity to scream.

A second guard pointed his sword at her. "Stop! Go away! How dare you order our Prince? Leave! Now!"

Her eyes burned with rage. "I am sure he will place his sister's life above my temerity."

The fierceness of her tone grabbed Surya's attention, for he was walking past one of the windows on the first floor, and as he peered down to see what was going on, he was mildly amused to find one of Kalavati's handmaidens arguing with his soldiers to allow her in or inform the prince about the princess's failing health. Surya didn't know her name, and he had always seen her silently receive orders from his sister, but he never knew she possessed a strange spark in her that could captivate his attention in an instant.