THE RULERS OF RISHABHAPRIYA

Hero

Surabhi's POV

"Move out of my way", he growled. I stood there unable to move but when I heard the clashing of metals which sent loud vibrations all over the dungeons, I stumbled back. My mind immediately went to how there were unarmed commoners with me and this guy had come in with a sword. I assumed he was there to attack them. I watched as he ripped the door of the cage open that was holding us away from the whole world and step inside. He was soaked in blood from head to toe but the rain was slowly washing it all away. There wasn't much visible except for that because of the pitch black dungeons. 

I stopped him and stood in front of him trying to save the others behind me. I could hear the little girl's whimpers as she saw this man breathing loudly while he looked at me furiously. A bright lightening struck making his face visible and a shiver ran down my spine looking at him and how animalistic he looked. But I couldn't back down. I was a princess. My people or not, I had to save them. "Get out of my way, woman", he barked angrily. I took a step towards him and said loudly, "They are unarmed and above anything else they are older than you. Keep that in mind. If you still want to attack them, you will have to go past me".

He suddenly grabbed me by the chain around neck and pulled me closer to say, "Watch your tongue, woman. I will not think twice before snapping your neck. Step. Away", Janaki's voice made me turn to look at her while I still felt his stare on me, "He is my brother, Rajk-", I widened my eyes and she immediately corrected herself, "I mean, don't worry, sister. He will not harm us", I looked back at him and he released his hold on me while pushing me away slightly. 

He helped his sisters stand up on their feet and undid their handcuffs and the sisters helped their parents to get rid of the handcuffs. "Why is there so much blood on you, Bhargav?", Janaki asked, worry in her tone. He looked her right in her eyes and said while pointing at their parents with his sword, "I killed their Maharaj", My whole form stilled as I watched the old couple fall to the ground while banging their hands on their heads crying. Janaki's eyes were wide open looking at her brother who was still panting. "I killed him and now, I am the king of Rishabhapriya. I will show you what being a king is and how prosperous our kingdom could be if the right person sat on the throne". He asked his parents to stand up and when they did not, he ordered some guards to pull them up. I immediately stood in front of them and the guards hesitated to step forward.

"They are in shock. Give them some time to recover. Then you can drag them all over your palace", anger was very much evident in his face. But he sucked in a deep breath and said, "You want to save them? From me? You know what, you will be their guard from now on. They will live with me, in the palace and you will be around them all the time and save them from all the stupid things they do", he said. I replied angrily, "I am not a guard. Aren't you a king now? Go appoint someone else for that", he ordered, "Take them to the palace. I want them to see what ruling a kingdom is all about. And take her too. She likes being a hero. Lets see how long she'll survive with them".

He turned around and walked away while the guards pulled the old couple up and lead us to the palace. For the first time in four years, I stepped out of the dungeons and I was welcomed to a dark sky which was starting to clear slowly. The rain had stopped but it was still thundering when we walked back to the palace. The wet grass under my foot started to cool my chapped up feet and the cool breeze made a shudder. In no time, we had reached a huge palace which looked like a cemetery to me. There were people everywhere talking and waiting for the huge announcement. We were lead inside the palace past all of them.

I saw how the people scrunched up their noses when they looked at me. After all, when you look at a woman who had worn the same pair of clothes and never had a chance to take a shower for years, what else can you expect? I knew I looked disgusting and scary. But when a kid started to cry after looking at me, I felt shattered. Pushing all that aside, I walked behind the guards and into the royal court. I saw the guards bowing in front of some saint as he walked towards the throne and stood in front of the stairs which lead to it. He was talking to someone who looked like he was recovering from some injury. They looked like they were in deep discussion but then I saw the guy from before walk in still covered in blood and rain. The whole court immediately turned pin drop silent and I could see some guards shake visibly. 

His presence demanded submission and I myself felt goosebumps grow all over my skin as soon as my eyes landed on him. He walked to the saint and bowed down to him to which he placed his hands on his head and blessed him. We were asked to move towards the throne near the new conqueror and we obeyed having no other choice. Slowly, the noise grew as the people who were out of the palace started to flood into the court. It was very noisy for sometime making me cringe because of the pain in my ears. I hadn't been around so many people at once for a long time and it felt different to do that. 

The man who looked like he was injured, cleared his throat and stood on the stairs which lead to the throne and started, "You may all know why we have gathered you all today here already. But to make things transparent and official, we have gathered you all, authorities of each and every province of our kingdom. Last night in a series of events, our king, Maharaj Meghnath was defeated and killed", gasps were heard as a whole discussion started about it and it took them a while to digest the news. "It was Bhargav here who defeated the king and as per the Kshatriya Dharm, he becomes our new king", if there wasn't any discussions before, it definitely was there now, as so many voices were heard asking so many questions.

"We will answer all of your questions but one after the other", the conqueror announced silencing the crowd with just one sentence. "What happened last night exactly?", one faceless voice asked from the crowd, "He had captured my family and snatched away our house from us. I challenged him for a fight and told that if I won, I would become the king. He agreed and then during the fight, I defeated him."

"How do we know if that is what happened? Was there really a fight or is all this just a cover up for his murder?"

"There are number of witnesses for what happened here last night. Maharaj himself had asked us to not interfere. He knew what was at stake when the fight started", the injured man stated. 

"The people won't be very happy knowing about this. How do you plan on winning their trust?"

"Everything that happened last night was the result of what I had said to him four years ago before he left for the war. I want the best for our kingdom and I will do it. And in that, I will need your co-operation", he answered.

"We need you to control your people and make sure no riots arise in the kingdom for the time being. Slowly, we'll make plans for the new arrangements".

Many other questions were asked to which they kept saying that had no plan for the moment and would come up with a solution soon. I stood there listening to it while my mind flew back to Ratnagarbha and wondered if they knew about all this. Usually, news like these will be sent to different kingdoms quickly and the responses are also sent as soon as possible. After the people were asked to leave, the saint walked to us and spoke to the conqueror's parents. They immediately started to cry and the saint told them how he was sure they will understand why their son had to kill the late king.

His eyes then landed on me and he walked towards me slowly. "Could I talk to you privately?", he asked and I nodded knowing all eyes were on me. We were escorted to a corridor which was empty and he started, "Rajkumari Surabhi of Ratnagarbha. It is a pleasure to meet you finally. I have heard great things about your family".

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