Shatru Sesham: Sequel of Baahubali ✔️

Chapter Sixty-Three (Part 1)

At the Medical Dispensary,
"You are a coward."

The words came out of Narasimha's mouth slow and steady. He wasn't going to back down from his stance, "You just cannot make serious allegations like that without any proof and expect me to believe it. If you believe in your convictions, you will stand by them."

The best way to make Bhavani stop was to rile her up. He was making neither head nor tail of what she was saying. He needed time to process what he had heard.

"Didn't you listen to what I said? I am the proof. I was reduced to this state by your father", her hands on her hips and an angry pout on her lips. Narasimha's mind strayed for one odd moment about how Bhavani looked quite beautiful and feminine when she was angry. He had always seen her as his friend. But a growing awareness surged through him that she was a beautiful girl too.

"What proof or witnesses are you going to present?" He cooly asked without ruffling himself in the very least.

Bhavani was extremely frustrated. Her whole body had flushed red-hot with anger. She stilled her quivering lips and her shaking hands, "You don't expect me to produce dead people as witnesses, do you? If my uncle were alive, I would have introduced you to him. He would have explained everything to you. But then, your father awarded the death sentence to him and all the rebels. You were there too when this judgement was delivered."

"Yes, I remember. You are talking about that wrestling match where I saved that old lady from being whipped, aren't you?"

"She isn't just any old lady. She is Sanga Amma, the foster mother of Mahendra Baahubali, the former and rightful king of Mahishmati, who was deceitfully deposed and murdered by your father's men. As a matter of fact, your great-grandfather, Bijjaladeva and your uncle, Vijayamarthanda pursued him and his family and killed all of them unrighteously. I never heard the full details but this was what I often overheard my uncle talking with his men", Bhavani replied.

At last, she was talking a bit logically and coherently without simply making sweeping allegations. He understood from her words that his family hadn't always ruled over Mahishmati. Somebody called Mahendra Baahubali used to rule Mahishmati. He did remember his great-grandfather talk about a legendary warrior called Amarendra Baahubali and exhort him to live like him. Maybe this Amarendra Baahubali was Mahendra Baahubali's father.

His father had probably conquered Mahishmati from Mahendra Baahubali's hands. Lawfully or unlawfully, he still had to find out. He wouldn't condemn his father just like that. But if Bhavani was telling him all this, it was definitely worth investigating.

"I actually assumed you would be at the Gurukul. What brought you here at the same time that I came back?" Narasimha asked.

"Our Guru called me after you had left and told me to go home telling my motherland was going to need my services. It is good that I came back too. Or else, I would never have known who you truly were. At the time my uncle was awarded the death sentence along with the rebels, he would have been assuming that I was still at the Gurukul, away from these harsh realities. But I was right there watching him being led away to his death."

Bhavani broke down and started crying. He held her in his arms sympathetically. She hadn't noticed where she was for a couple of moments until her eyes widened in disbelief looking at Narasimha's strong, sinewy and muscled arms holding her close to his heart. She literally jumped and sprang apart pushing him quite forcefully away from her.

"I can do without your sympathy. Your life was in danger. I saved you despite myself. Now you are fine. Please let me go", she looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes. "I am tired of fighting with the world, with you, with myself.  There is no name or future for what we have with each other. Our worlds can never meet."