HIS (SECRET) MAIDEN IN SHINING ARMOUR

Chapter : 3

~•~ The Northern Province ~•~

"She was scared, but her determination kept her walking on the path full of thorns."

|~•~•~•~|

The other kids were sleeping. Gauri kept her head on Khanna's lap and looked at the road and sceneries the large carriage was leaving behind. The road became reddish muddy from the fine black soil of their region and changed to rough and stony as they proceeded further.

It was tough to keep an account of the days and nights. The carriage was barred like a cage, and was covered by thick cloth for most of the time. They halted twice a day to eat and purge.

Gauri furrowed her eyebrows when the carriage jerked and started skipping like myns on the stony hills. She shot up from Khanna's lap and hugged him tight,

'Bwother(brother)',

'Shh Gauri, my brave girl, everything is fine', though Khanna acted tough, he was scared inside.

Their bone-aching journey ended at a huge iron gate. It was black, sky high, and large, shiny spikes were embedded on the door panels. A man from the caravan blew a trumpet which produced a very tart sound, and the gate was opened immediately.

As the caravan of numerous horses, palanquins, and the huge barred cab entered through the gates, Gauri stared amazed outside from the small slit of the thick curtain. They were slowly passing through a market. Two horsemen at the forefront of the caravan, swished their whips to make their way through the crowd jamming the narrow road between the shops at both sides. The hay or sack roofing of the shops ended almost upon the roads and the shops were brightly lit by the numerous hanging lamps. Smell of meat, flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables, perfumeries filled the air in a clogging heaviness, and the shopkeepers hailing, quarreling with customers, people talking to each other, carts passing with their bells tinkling furiously attacked the ears in a battle of dominance. Winter was arriving and the people of Northern province were collecting their basic necessities as much as they could.

When they crossed the hustling-bustling market, the barred cab was taken inside a gigantic stable, and the kids, were finally out on their legs. A man came to tie a rope around their waists in a row and Gauri hid behind Khanna, not liking the rope that was coming to get wrapped around her waist, after twirling around her brother's waist. Her whimpers were royally ignored as a bulky knight came and holding her neck in one hand, tied the rope around her waist.

They were pulled with a knight from ahead and a knight was guarding them from behind. The knights didn't really talk except barking orders at each other. The kids put their heads down and walked out of the stable. They were walking through different alleys and it seemed like they were lost in the maze of stone houses, their rough, stony walls looked the same in the gloomy white moonshine.

They stopped abruptly before a wall. The wall was a dead end to an alley coved in mire. Not just the slimy layer of algae that made the kids slip or trip often, but a frowzy smell was also clogging the narrow, heavy air. The kids exchanged confused glances, but chose to stay quiet. Gauri was looking for her favourite knight. But it seemed that he had left them.

'Soldiers!', Gauri jumped in excitement when his voice boomed, 'Sort the children!'

The men who were at the front of the caravan, came to sort the children. After freeing them from the rope, they separated the kids with golden chain on their left ankle. Rest of the kids were packed back in the barred cab.

Gauri started whimpering the moment Khanna, who was hugging and soothing her, was forcibly thrown in the bars, after yanking them apart. She stood there crying her eyes out, her beautiful emerald eyes were now a faded shade of bottle green, as she watched his brother being taken away and Khanna looked longingly at his sister, gripping the bars, as long as he could, his eyes also overflowing.

'Shut up kids!', Gauri flinched at the raged voice of her favourite knight, 'All these kids will be taken to dungeon. Count the girls.'

A man counted the heads of the girls, they were only five out of the hundred kids. Gauri was trembling, clutching the ends of the coarse cloth wrapped around her body. Her face was designed with scratches and tears, and her hairs were loosing out from her braid, she was the tiniest of them all.

'Soldiers!', Shakti barked again, 'Post around the area. Open the secret door to dungeon!'

Soldiers immediately divided in groups and covered the area in compact privacy. Two soldiers rolled sometimes on the slime to remove a thin layer from the ground and a rotten wooden panel was seen. Shakti pulled it open and jumped inside. After him, the kids were thrown down, ignoring their dreadful whimper.

Gauri was surprised when she landed in soft, noisome mud. Thankfully the tulat was tied at her back and she landed face first. Her little hands and face were covered in stinking mud and a guard pushed her to follow the other kids.

The passage they were walking through was a tunnel. It was small, and the floor, for whatever purpose it served, was full of mud that reached the mid-calf of the soldiers. Gauri was having trouble in walking for her extremely small stature. She was struggling to move forward while pushing through mud that reached her upper waist and she gagged every time she tripped and her face hit the mud.

Their painful journey ended when they reached another tunnel through a hidden door made in the walls by cutting the rock of the cave. Nobody could tell if it was a door with their open eyes. The doors had a switch which opened only when Shakti put his palm upon the button. The new tunnel was surrounded by cells carved at the walls. They looked like honeycombs, extremely small and full of slimes on the seemingly floor. Ragged men and women were rolling on the litters, their own purge. And a gagging smell was thickening the air. As soon as Shakti entered the tunnel, the residents of the cellar started banging the bars in frenzy. They were shouting  ugly words at him and Gauri was more scared hearing their curses.

They stopped at a bigger cell and the kids were pushed in there. They couldn't even sit properly altogether on the floor. An inedible hardened piece of wheat-bread was given to each of the kids and they had to eat them without washing their hands. They ate silently because they were starving till morning and it was almost midnight. After that, they were given a tumble of water from which they drank like a man caught up in desserts for a year. After their eating, Shakti stood outside the cell announcing, 'My mission is to make the worst human beings out of you. Remember, your life is a game of survival and tolerance from the moment the golden chain wrapped around your ankles. This  chain is a reminder to you that you belong to your future king(s), and the only thing that would allow you to serve the prince, is that you have to survive through all the challenges we cast upon you. Now, here is your first challenge. Let me see, how many of you can survive here without a hairline movement, food and water.

Gauri didn't understand what the army general was rambling, but she straightened up when she heard the word prince. Shakti's words went echoing in her ears, ... allow you to serve the prince, is that you have to survive through all the challenges we cast upon you. She didn't know what survive meant, but the only thing she knew was that, she had to live through every hell in order to serve her prince. She took a deep breath and pressed her small hand at her back, feeling the roughness of the tulat against her skin, hidden in her cloth.

'I wilwe(will) shubbib(survive) fow(for) u pwinsh(prince)', she whispered.

Some of you asked that how could Omkara become a king at ten.. But from chapter 2, I'm describing the past. After passing the coronation of the three princes, the story will complete a loop and then there will be only the story of their adulthood. I will let you know when I will go back in the seemingly present time.

Aww.. Little Gauri is so determined.. What do you think, will she be able to survive through the challenges? Will she be able to fulfill her dream to serve the prince?
Happy reading!
With love,
Sarani.