Love you forever

Chapter ninteen/ Finally we arrive

Have drawn a rough map of Abhaneri as I have envisioned it. It is not to scale, just a rough idea of  city.

Love is a smoke raised with the fumes of sighs.
Being purged....a fire sparkling in your lovers eyes.
Being vexed... a sea nourished with your lovers tears.
What else is it? A madness most discreet......
The course of true love never did run true.
Romeo Juliet.............

"Look!!" As Parth pointed ahead. "Abhaneri." He spoke a bit of an awe in his voice.
The golden sun was on the horizon, slowly setting down to rest. As they watched it turned into an orange orb, just like an orange, so beautiful, so calm. Lending a beautiful golden glow to the surroundings. Everything around them was still wet from the heavy downpour that had happened in the afternoon. Everything seemed so fresh,so pure. The rusty wet fragrance of earth along with the warmth of the filtering sun wafted through his senses. They had the forest to the left and the thick lush green fields on the right. The warmth  of the declining sun lending a very ethereal look to the landscape. Rudra was finding the scenery very different. The trees bordering the fields on the right were thick acting like canopies. Most of the land was cultivated, open for miles around.
He looked up, finally! Abhaneri!! the place that Gaura belonged to. He looked up to his left....what he saw left him speechless. The first thing he saw was red!! a blur of red ......he looked again, of course he sighed and took a few step forward, lifting the branch that was hanging before him, the reason for his blurred vision. What he saw was amazing, there in front of him, maybe ten kilometers ahead of them, from where they were standing, on a high hill, he spotted a high red wall, running exactly from where his eyes could see, from the left to the right. He looked again, and was stunned, his eyes unwilling to believe what they were witnessing. The wall must be, at least thirty feet.
"That wall?" He asked. " But I can't see any building...."
"Yes!! I know!!" Spoke Parth pride evident in his voice. "The city is behind it, or rather inside it. The wall runs all around the city, encasing most of the city. But the wall is so high that no one can see the buildings. Even from this vintage point that we are standing at. Just maybe parts of the palace. His voice full of laughter.
"So the whole city is inside?" He asked sounding like a simpleton he knew but he couldn't help not asking.
"Not the whole city, really. Just the main city, that is the royal palace, the government block, the houses of the prestigious and the workers. The rest is outside but on the other side near the river banks. What you see in front of you, that I s the east side. The govt buildings and the royal palace are on this side. As the city kept expanding the houses spilled out towards the river side too. This side that is the eastern side there is no gate. And if the enemy approaches, they have to cross the marshes which is not possible for an army because of the quicksand and the crocodiles and then there is the moat. It is very deep. You need to cross over in a boat. After all that comes the fort wall which is so high that it is impossible to climb over. The moat is fed by the river Kaushiki, which curves into a natural arch, like a bow, creating a defence for the outer city."
"Kaushiki!!" Rudra asked.
"Yes!! The river Kaushiki, after whom Gaura has been named." Parth was really enjoying himself. He did not know why but he liked this man. He projected true honesty and strength. He looked like a warrior.
"You seem to know a lot about Abhaneri." Rudra commented.
"Not really! I know the the city layout well, but anyone living in Abhaneri will too. However if you really want to know all about Abhaneri, it's history everything than Gaura is the person. There is nothing that she does not know." Obvious admiration on his face.
"Tell me more." Rudra simply asked.
"Well the river Kaushiki as I was saying is a river which joins two holy river. It starts as a tributary of the holy river Narmada, and mixes into the holy river Godavari. It is very wide through out so we have a lot of trade by the water also. There are only three entry gates, one in the north, one in the south and one in the west. The western gate opens into the outer city. We have three ghats ( a berth ) on the river banks. One which is a dock for the commercial boats. One for the travellers and the center ghat is for the religious events."
Surya was closely listening to the conversation between Parth and Rudra. He too was very proud of Abhaneri, it was a grand city, the biggest and the grandest there was. There was none to parallel it for miles around. Besides Gaura was not telling them anything about Rudra and  he thought maybe if he was friendly he could needle out some information from him. He had seen the way they looked at each other. Rudra he could understand, he had that hunger look when ever he was looking at Gaura, which any man would have for Gaura was an amazing woman, beautiful, intelligent brave. But Gaura, he did not understand the look she gave Rudra. There was pain, and hunger both in her eyes, and the way she looked from the side of her eyes, hiding the fact that she was looking at him. Chhhh....He just did not like the way they looked at each other. Something was not right. And to top that they had spent the night together under the tree! That was so unlike Gaura. She never encouraged men and definitely did not allow them to come near her. She was hiding something from them. Her eyes held such sadness, he could see it so clearly. She was more silent then usual too. He loved Gaura she had done so much for them and their families. Chandrika, Parth and him, they all three had sworn undying allegiance to Gaura.
On the other hand unaware that he was the object such deep introspection Rudra continued to keep looking at the city in front of him.
Rudra looked at the wall, my god! He couldn't  help exclaiming in his mind. He had travelled a lot but yet he for sure had never seen such a large city.
They travelled straight on for about an hour more, when Parth raised his right hand. All of them stopped.
Rudra looked questioningly at Parth again since he seemed the most willing to answer all his questions.
Parth liked Rudra. He had just gotten to know Rudra, and yet he felt very comfortable around him. He had seen the way Rudra and Gaura looked at each other. They obviously had feelings for each other, deep feelingS. But knowing Gaura she wouldn't easily share her feeling with him. But he must be an exeptional man for Gaura to have fallen for