The King's Shield

Chapter 37 - The Mirage

Shiva's head was hurting. Her body felt heavy and drained of energy. The floor around her pricked her skin like the talons of a preying bird. She tried to open her eyes but they seemed too heavy. She tried again forcing herself to open them. From the slit of her eyelids, she saw the blurry image of the room around her. The desolate and colourless walls, the leaking roof and a lone window at the top of a wall on the left. Through which a beam of light shot across the room. For a moment, her vision faltered and she tried to look around again. But the hammering pain in her head was too much.

Her hands were tied behind her, and she could feel the rough strings of the rope grinding against her wrists. She curled her legs and, with great difficulty, tried to sit up on her knees. Falling twice she pulled herself up and steadied her head. She tried to get up but the wet floor made it impossible.

When her vision was cleared all the memories came hurdling back to her like tumbling bricks.
The struggle, the fight, the fire, the kidnapping... It was all clear.

She remembered it all.

She called out if someone could hear her. There was no one.

She tried to get to her feet, and after several falls, she managed to reach the wall with the window. Leaning her back to the wall she managed to get on her feet. She was kept in a dark room with a heavy wooden door.

She looked around the room for something that she could use as a tool to cut the ropes. The room was utterly empty. She tried to wiggle her hands free but the rope dug into her skin with every move.

The door flung open, and a few men entered and walked towards her. They didn't say anything, just dragged her out of the room, holding her elbows. She didn't struggle; she wanted to check where she was, so she looked around while she was being pulled by them.

They dragged her across a corridor of a building which seemed to be like a storehouse. But it was abandoned; no one was around, not even birds. The eerie feeling in her stomach grew stronger and made the headache worse.

She was taken into an empty room. Bal was standing right in front of her. The anger inside of her festered rapidly just by looking at him.

" I thought I hit you too hard on the head," he chuckled, " thought you were gone, comatose." He moved closer to her slowly, tilting his head, he ducked down to see into her eyes.
" I had started to wonder whether your streak of immortality had ended. "

He turned his head to one of the men standing next to her." This bitch has survived death three times till now, can you believe it?" He gave out a small gurgling laugh.

The men around him laughed too.

" I thought that I wouldn't get a chance to torture you like I had planned to. There's no fun in breaking you when you are unconscious. I'd miss the pleasure of your screams." He smirked.

" And your beloved king would be disappointed to see that you have been sleeping all the while he's been turning the town upside down to look for you... We don't want to disappoint our sweet king now, do we?"

So, that was his plan. He wanted to lure the king by using her as bait.

Their ship was attacked just before they had taken a halt and she was taken away.

Bal and a group of men had ambushed their ship just before they reached the port. Two dozen men had come on a smaller ship.

Bhumi, Varah and the crew had given a good fight. When Bal saw that there was no way that they could win the fight. He had resorted to cunning and set the ship on fire, the same as he had done all those years ago when he had set fire to her village.