AMRAPALI: the beauty of heaven

Ch 10 - truth of nakabposh

Amrapali was ready to dance for Vaishali despite being weak.. but a black shadow was outside her room.. Sarna also chased the shadow but it disappeared from sight.

The city stage of Vaishali was decorated. People from Vaishali as well as Samastipur, Kaushambi and Patna as well as other nearby states had reached Vaishali to see Amrapali dance. From children to the elderly, everyone was present on the city stage, everyone's face was full of happiness and excitement about the dance of the Nagarvadhu. Such a huge crowd of spectators had gathered that the soldiers were having a lot of trouble controlling them. In this crowd, the masked man with blue eyes was present with Banbhatt.

Amrapali was ready to dance despite being unwell, Sarna was also with her who was walking with her like her shadow. She had not yet forgotten about the shadow seen at night and today when Amrapali was about to dance in the middle of the entire city, anything could have happened at that time.  Although Sarna had not told Amrapali anything about that shadow, he was still worried about Amrapali.

Sarna said to Amrapali, "Devi Amrapali, today you are going to start a tradition once again which was stopped years ago. Your favor for this Vaishali will always be remembered."

Amrapali said smilingly, "This was necessary Sarna, this was the only way to save the honor of Vaishali."

Slowly a new friendship was being established between Sarna and Amrapali, Sarna had come to know that Amrapali is very kind hearted and at the same time she also loves her kingdom very much. Now Sarna started feeling proud of himself while serving Amrapali.

Amrapali said, "Sarna, do you remember?? We have given you a responsibility, as soon as we see that masked man in the crowd, we will signal you and you catch him at that very moment."

Sarna said, “Don’t worry Devi, I remember everything. Today that masked man will not be able to escape from here under any circumstances.”

Amrapali was sure that the masked man will definitely come today. That is why she had already made a complete plan to catch him along with Sarna and the palace guards.

Amrapali and Sarna came to the stage where everyone was already present. The king of Vaishali was also present there. The minister announced the start of Amrapali’s dance with the king’s permission. Amrapali was on the stage.

All the citizens were mesmerized seeing her unmatched beauty. Amrapali greeted the king and all the citizens by bowing and in a short while the dance started. Amrapali’s feet also started dancing to the beats of Sarangi and drums.

Everyone was left with open mouths seeing her dance.  When Amrapali's feet danced to every beat of the tabla, the entire public started applauding her.

Along with Amrapali's dance, the entire surrounding environment also started swaying with her.

The members and people from other states who had come there were not tired of praising Amrapali after seeing her dance and beauty. One said, "Amrapali is even more beautiful and skilled dancer than what I had heard about her; no one had ever seen such a beautiful courtesan in Vaishali before today, Vaishali is blessed to have such a courtesan."

The masked man's eyes were also fixed on Amrapali, he was lost in her dance.

While dancing, Amrapali's eyes fell on him, but she did not let him realize that she had seen him. Increasing the speed of her dance, Amrapali started moving round and round on the stage and while dancing she signaled Sarna with her eyes.  Sarna, who was already waiting for Amrapali's signal, entered the crowd as soon as she got her signal.

The masked man was unaware that Sarna was coming towards him like his death. Sarna had reached close to the masked man and took out a dagger from her waist. Before she could attack the masked man, someone grabbed her from behind. Sarna tried hard to save herself but the person holding her was very strong. Then the masked man looked at Sarna and Sarna saw a wicked smile on his face. With a gesture of the masked man's hand, he started taking Sarna away from there.