Adil-e-Chand, the ashes of desire

8. BLOOD

CHANDRIKA

Gradually, I opened my eyes, a sharp pain piercing my back. "Agh," I groaned, attempting to rise, but my hands were tied behind me. Sweat covered my body, a white cloth gagged my mouth, tears filled my eyes, and my throat was wilted.

Everything appeared blurry; shifting slightly to sit upright, I glanced through the curtains draped over the carriage window.

My eyes widened as I gazed at the horizon; we were in the midst of a desert, devoid of residences and people.

Where was I being taken?I tried to move my head out of the carriage a little more to get a clear view of people who were moving the carriage and along were some horsemen wearing armour, Suddenly, a horse rider came up from behind, leaned over, and cupped my cheek, pushing my head back into the carriage and pulling the curtains closed.

All I could observe was his armour and the roughness of his hand as it approached me. "You will fall," he said, offering this as the sole explanation for his intervention.

The sound of his horse moving forward reached me, and within minutes, the carriage halted making my heart race faster than a rat up in a drainpipe.

Footsteps neared me as the curtains parted, someone landed right in my arms, "Chandrika, are you okay?" Chetna sat on the carriage too and started untying me.

"I don't know why they kidnap us like this when the king-" she said, beginning to rub my hands

"Who are they?" was the sole question haunting my thoughts. "And why did they kidnap us? Could phufo be behind this?" She gazed at me, lost in thought, and gripped my hands tighter, "yaad hai humne apko humare paas aane kaha tha?" I nodded.

(remember when I called you to visit me?)

"If you had come, this wouldn't have happened. Although I intended to discuss something else, but that night I learned that Phufo planned to sell you to the king of Sohangarh for money. And a part of me believes these people are from Sohangarh."

"What?" I asked, frowning at the information she had just delivered.

"Yes, the King of Sohangarh wishes for you to be his next wife," she continued. "I read the letter sent by him to your father. He wrote that he has heard of you, someone who has never seen the outside world, untouched by any man's charm and conscience, which are precisely the qualities he seeks."

"Then, was the marriage to the Prince of Kannauj just a pretext?" I asked, becoming increasingly terrified by how he had addressed me, which clearly indicated his intentions towards me.

"no" she shook her head, "they are going to marry princess Aradhya on demand of phufo"

I gazed at her, my heart, which I believed had hardened enough to handle any situation, was now cracking as slowly as possible, allowing me to feel every shred of pain.

It wasn't just the fact that Aradhya was marrying the person I was promised to, but the extent she could go to make my life miserable, to the point of selling my dignity. "And Bapu-sa?" I asked, clinging to the hope that he wouldn't let this happen; after all, he was my father.

But Chetna's words shattered me completely, "He sent the letter of response himself."

I smiled, not knowing how to deal with all these emotions, so I just smiled. Chetna didn't waste a second in wrapping me close to her chest and started caressing my head, "but look na Chandrika I'm always with you, you never appreciate my existence I feel betrayed" I laughed at her failed attempt to make me feel better.