The Queen's king |✔️

18. The search.

The beautifully vast palace of Ramapur was turned upside down in search of information and Ratan made sure of that. If the security had been tight then the royal wedding would have taken place and they might have returned back to their kingdom, but no, these brainless people have to do this and let the princess be kidnapped. Which eventually led to him being insulted in front of that security dog, Vikram.

Arjuna had already left along with Vikram to catch those bandits and get the princess back safe. The job which Arjuna had assigned for him to do was done long ago, as the investigation was a child's play. He handed over this job to his most trusted men to investigate all the guards of the palace. He will only investigate royals, Ratan at any cost would not stoop to the level of interacting with people who are of low class. Arjuna made a mistake of assigning him to do this job but that doesn't mean he will follow his words.

His investigation with the royals went smooth, it was as clear as a day that no royal was involved in this issue.

"So what is our next step minister Ratan?" Asked his most trusted man, Ganesh asked as he stood near the entrance.

"Gather a few soldiers from Ramapur's army and-"

"But my lord, king Arjuna has taken almost one-third of their army for the search of the princess. If we take the remaining army this kingdom might be in risk-"

Ratan moved forward, punching that man right in his face making his nose bleed as he yelped in pain, "I don't need your stupid opinions! I am Arjuna's right hand! An honorable minister of Abhiras, so what I say is or do is always right!!" His screaming voice made Ganesh stumble behind in fear as Ratan spoke, "And you better know your place."

Shortly, the soldier left muttering a small yes pressing his palm against his wounded nose. Ratan would reach the forest before Vikram and handover that lost Princess to Arjuna. Of course, Arjuna would be impressed and in return, he would ask something which would increase his status and respect to an unimaginable level. Smiling to himself he walked out of his chamber gathering his sword.

* * *

The scorching heat was eating away all their energy. But Arjuna is determined, he will find Chitra. It was almost an hour since they had left the palace trying to follow the clues which they got, his heart broke just to even think about how those bandits would be treating her. Chitra was too innocent for her own good and those bandits were heartless and cruel, they have burnt villages, and harming a helpless princess was almost an easy task for them.

"My lord, I have divided our soldiers into two halves, one would go towards the east side to enter the forest, while we move towards the west side."

Arjuna nodded his head in agreement, he deeply abhors the situation in which he was caught in, though all the power was on his side, his queen was not with him. Vikram and Arjuna happened to have a few soldiers with them as they marched towards the north on their horses.

But soon they reached the end of the village and all they could see were few huts surrounded by dense forests behind with no man in sight. However, fortunately on the patio of a small hut sat an old lady doing some chores and Vikram immediately jumped down his horse walking towards her.

"Old lady, did you happen to see anything weird today? As in anything different than the usual?" Vikram asked in a soothing tone, trying to be as calm as possible.

Her expressions were not visible as she has covered her head with a headscarf. Married women are bound to cover their faces and in some villages, even to stand near another male who wasn't their husband was a crime.

"Something unusual?" She spoke in a shaky voice and her tone indicating her old age.

"Oh yes," She hummed as she kept folding a few dried clothes, "I happened to smell something funny, a strong pungent smell."