Avantika And Her Quest

An Imaginary Lover

 Uncle Suryakant stood there and gave us a sharp glare, "can you stop your fooling around for a minute? You can't do anything about it, the boy is already aware of our covers."

The boy spoke, "Umm....I wouldn't be so sure. Except for the princess, I don't recognize anyone." Arjun's shoulders visibly lost their tension.

I gave him a worried glance and spoke, "you must swear to secrecy if you want the tyrant's rule to end. If you don't I'll be dead and you'll be next. If you value your life and your freedom, you go along with this."

The boy stiffened up his spine and said slowly, "I promise. If it means that the rightful heir of the throne rules our land, I'd do anything."

We then sent him away and told him to be careful. Arjun slowly turned to me and he spoke in an overly sweet voice, "what held you back from coming, Avantika?" I rolled my eyes at him and told him about the prime minister and the dancer. When he heard my observations about the dancer, he seemed to be both excited and wary at the same time. He said, "she could help you get to this mysterious man or ruin your chances at getting back the throne. So tread carefully around her." I suddenly remembered and told them that the Prime Minister's name was Sangharsh. Uncle Suryakant seemed to stiffen up at the mention of his name. As I was trained by him, I observed his reaction and directed a questioning glance at him. He just shrugged his reaction off to exhaustion and said he was thinking about someone else. We decided to meet the next night.

Due to my late night meetings, I was tired and staggered back to my quarters. As I was about to sleep, the door to my quarters swung upon and a soldier stood there. Before I could react he yelled, "the Prime Minister has told me to deliver you to him. Get up!"

I woke up in a daze, my mind barely processing but suddenly things clicked into picture and I was terrified. I quietly thought, what did he want from me? I dressed up quickly and left.

The soldier gripped my arm forcefully and led me to a more desolate part of the castle. The soldier seemed to perform an intricate knock on the door and the same dark voice bit out, "Come in." I walked in and was immediately hit by the chill in the room. It was dark and dingy. The fireplace cast an eerie shadow on the man's face. The soldier seemed to be holding on to his composure with a great deal of strength. He said, "I have delivered her as requested, your grace."

The Prime Minister replied, "I can see that Chand. I am not blind. Now get out!" The guard, Chand seemed to be more than happy to leave and scampered out of the room. My unease increased.

"So, what is your name?" the dangerous man crooned, with his back against me.

I squeaked, "Man...Mandira."

"Mandira..Interesting. Where are you from? I haven't heard such a name since..never. Can you believe that? I have never heard of a name like yours. Which means you are from somewhere really far. You have made me extremely curious sweetheart." He turns around and walks towards me with the slow measured steps of a predator.

I slowly crept backward and answered, "I am from Assaka."

"Ah! A southerner. That explains your snooping around."

I was very scared that I had blown my cover. Snooping around? How much does he know? Does he know about Arjun and Uncle Suryakant? How did he find out? A million questions swirled in my head. I cautiously murmured, "snooping around..., My Lord?"

"Yes...your nocturnal activities have been brought to my notice, by Urvashi. Tell me Mandira, who do you go to meet? Who are you working for? What are you giving them information on? Tell me and I might be merciful, otherwise, it's death for you."

I was a bit relieved but my mind was whirling with what to tell him to get him off my case. I was also mad at that dressed up doll, Urvashi. Her jealousy was enough to cause a person to die. She really was heartless. I started sobbing loudly. It seemed right for a person of my character. "I had gone to meet my lover...my lord. My brother doesn't approve of our relationship and I had to continue our relationship in secret... Curse his soul, always getting me in trouble. I shall never see his face again...but it hurts to be away from him. Oh, what witchcraft has he done to me, that I am this helpless." I continued to wail and sob. Sangharsh seemed to be annoyed with this display and yelled for Chand. The guard almost ran in.

He bit out harshly, "take this foolish woman away and tell Urvashi to be careful when she tips me off. I cannot deal with stupid lovestruck women." I was surprised to see a slight softening of his face when he spoke about Urvashi. This could be used to our advantage and I couldn't help but marvel at the perfect match, two malicious people with no consideration of other's well-being.

To step up the drama, I wailed harder and started thanking him profusely for his mercy. He just looked at me with disgust and walked off.

As Chand, escorted me back to my room, I wondered why Urvashi was tipping him off about me in the first place and what their relationship was. I was also curious about what secrets Sangharsh could be hiding, that he was having his dancers spied upon as well. My room soon came and I walked in soundlessly. I closed the door and collapsed on my bed.