DESTINED TO DEATH

THE BRIDGE

A man in his early forties walked towards the room with huge doors with the demon masked men behind him which made the crowd part ways for him. There in the middle of the room sat a man on the throne making the man bow down on his knee.

"We got the three weapons hukum" The demon masked men presented the weapons as the man said.

"Where is the last one Shatru?" Hukum asked.

"We lost it!" One of the demon masked men replied making hukum stand up and walked to the man taking the vajra assessing it before stabbing him.

"There shouldn't be a no when I asked something. It's life or death that's all with me" He pulled back the vajra as the masked man fell down bleeding.

"It was because of that stupid girl! If she hadn't jumped into the waterfall we would've gotten the Suryavnshi sword by now" Shatru explained.

"Girl? Suryavanshi sword?" Hukum questioned.

"Yes, Hukum! When we were attacking they were doing the ayudha pooja and the girl was holding the sword" Another demon masked man replied.

"Ayudha pooja can't happen unless all the bloodlines are present. If there is no Suryavnshi left how the hell will the pooja be performed? Who is that girl who stood as the Suryavnshi? I ended them years ago" Hukum yelled at him.

"Her name is Vrushali! She is the daughter of the Rudramanenis, Hukum" Shatru replied.

"Rudramanenis?" Another old voice was heard before a ninety year old walked towards Hukum "She is the little girl you left out when you killed everyone".

"I killed her along with her parents" Hukum gritted out.

"Yet! She is alive! You killed the loyal family because there shouldn't be any extended blood relatives to Suryavanshis but that little girl survived. Isn't that odd?" The old man raised the doubt.

"What do you mean Aaka?" Hukum questioned.

"The sword is protecting her" The old man replied.

"Why would the sword protect her? She is not even a Suryavanshi" Shatru voiced his doubt.

"It's because she is the bridge between the bloodlines. The Rudramanenis and the Suryavnshis" Aaka replied "It all started with them when the first daughter of  Rudramanenis,  Shivali married Mahakala Suryavanshi. It's the blood call that's why that child didn't die and even now the sword is protecting her".

"If it is a blood call and the sword was protecting her as you said then it will take her to the blood relative wouldn't it?"  Shatru looked at Hukum.

"It would but there's no one alive in both families so where did the sword take her?" Hukum questioned.

"Wherever her destiny is" Aaka stated.

Karna lifted Vrushali in his arms in the bridal style and carried her inside towards the bed and made her lay down covering her with the duvet. He patted her cheek and felt her cheeks warm "Call the royal physician".

Sanchi hurriedly ran out not understanding how her Rani sa had fallen sick suddenly before she went out and called the physician's number. Karna pushed her hair strand back as she breathed heavily sweat forming on her forehead as if she was seeing a nightmare.

"Wake up....woman wake up..." He patted her cheeks trying to wake her up.

But she held his hand repeatedly chanting "Mumma....wake...up...nanna.."
as tears rolled down her temples.

The door opened after the knock and the physician rushed inside hurriedly and bowed his head to Karna making him nod once and tried to move away but her hold on his hand tightened which made him look down at her and sat beside her while the physician held Vrushali's wrist checking her pulse and then her temperature.

"Rani sa's pulse is a little weak and also she has a high fever. Is she taking the medicines?" The royal physician asked Sanchi.

"I tried convincing Rani sa but she wouldn't take them no matter how much I tried Raja Saab" Sanchi looked at her feet.

Karna glared at her while the physician wrote a few other medicines "Rani sa will  be better once she takes the medicines Raja Saab. I'll take my leave now" and walked out handing the prescription to Sanchi.

"Bring the medicines and also the old prescription too" Raja Saab ordered making Sanchi nod and hurried out closing the door behind her leaving them alone.

Karna tried to get out of her hold but her face twisted in pain before she opened her eyes slowly to see the blurry face of his whispering "Don't let go".

He stilled at her words as she fainted again. He gulped and bent down pulling the blanket up to her waist with his free hand before sitting on the bed beside her pulling back his hand only to entwine his fingers with hers looking at her.