Love and Redemption

Chapter 23

Aparajita was beyond angry. The dacoits had brutally attacked the search party. While most of the police officers were fine, the commander-in-chief of the royal army and the queen’s bodyguard, Avdhesh Singh Ranawat was still unconscious.

Siddharth Pratap Singh, Aparajita’s most trusted man, suggested her to stay calm, plan effectively and attack the dacoits tonight.

Having studied their modus operandi, Aparajita was sure that the dacoits would plunder Vanpur tonight. As Trayambak and other officials from the search party had informed the queen, Maharani Aparajita Singh Rathore knew that dacoits would assemble at the heart of the forest, along the stream.

Though Siddharth Pratap Singh had suggested her to not go alone in the forest as the enemies were just hitting her at the wrong nerve and for Vijaygarh, the safety of the queen was most important but Aparajita, who was beyond hurt by the words of the bullock cart drivers, knew she needed to prove her strength.

However, as per the advice of her mentor, Aparajita devised a plan. She decided to prove her strength by going all alone in the forest. She knew she can overpower eight masked men, as Trayambak had told her.

After that, she planned to assemble the villagers of all the five villages to collect the dead bodies of the dacoits, after all, they were to be hanged at the clock tower of Vijaygarh for the public to see the strength of the queen and be assured that they were in the safe hands.

Taking a deep breath, she wore her hunting costume and took her sword. Covering her ebony black long hair with a white colored cotton turban, Aparajita was ready to tell the dacoits that her loyal staff were not any dogs and she was capable of protecting her people.

Remembering the words of Trayambak for one last time, being a Kshatriya, Aparajita planned her game wisely. Attack on the dacoits tonight was highly coveted operation which was known to only two people other than the queen, Siddharth Pratap Singh and Trayambak Sharma.

Preparing herself for a bloody battle, Aparajita mounted on her black horse, Shera and rode off to the forest. It was the time of dusk and sun was setting.

As the blue sky was covered with the hues of orange and yellow amidst faint moonlight, Aparajita had reached Vanpur. Instead of waiting for the dacoits to come and plunder the village, she rushed towards the forest as she knew they would assemble near the stream of water and she would attack them then and there.

On the other hand, Trayambak’s wife Maya served him dinner. He was unusually happy tonight. Placing a morsel of food in his mouth, Trayambak remembered his encounter with the Prince of Shivgarh.

When Trayambak had informed about the queen coming to attack the dacoits tonight, he had seen the prince, Yuvraj Veerbhadra Singh Rajput was beyond happy.

Delighted at the course of events, Veerbhadra had given Trayambak, a velvet pouch containing thousand gold coins.

It was wrong to cheat one’s own ruler but the money obtained was worth it, Trayambak thought as he chewed the chapattis his wife had made. He knew the future of his children was more than secure and hence, Trayambak was happy cheating on the royal Vijaygarh. Being a believer of the fact that money can buy everything, Trayambak did not regret his deeds.

On the other hand, the queen Maharani Aparajita Singh Rathore was patiently waiting for the dacoits to come. The forest was pitch black and the only source of illumination was the dazzling moonlight. It was a full moon night but the moonlight was coming after getting filtered from the impenetrable canopies of the dense evergreen trees in the forest.

The sounds of various wild animals, like roaring of the lions, howling of the wolves and others along with the soft sounds of the little insects like crickets, grasshoppers and others were disturbing the peaceful forest. The calm waters of the river stream was burbling with tranquility unknown to the fact they were soon to witness the most treacherous conspiracy of the history.

Aparajita sighed impatiently when she heard hushed sounds and clashing of swords. Not to make any sound, carefully Aparajita walked in the direction of the voices along the river stream.

Being well-versed with the terrain of the forest, she was assuming that the dacoits were perhaps in the middle of the forest.

She wondered what those sounds were. She was sure Siddharth Pratap Singh would have not sent any of the royal guards because her mentor was loyal to the words of Rathores and she had made it clear that she would fight the dacoits by herself. Then who it could be, she thought as she proceeded to walk. She wondered if Siddharth Pratap Singh was right and indeed, the dacoits had some other plans.

Clearing her negative thoughts, Aparajita proceeded towards the sounds of clashing of swords which were increasing at every step she took forward. Making her mind to face the worst effectively, Aparajita continued to walk.

She stopped in her tracts to see a tall man getting beaten by eight masked men in the forest. She was astonished to see eight tiny huts made after clearing the tract of forest. A big log of wood was burning as the source of illumination along with the moonlight which was falling clearly on the ground.

One of the masked men was beating the tall man whose face was bleeding. His hair were tall reaching his shoulder and his ear had big golden earrings. All the seven men were holding him tight while he was roaring like a lion.

Aparajita assumed that the dacoit who was hitting the man on his nose which was bleeding profusely was perhaps the leader of all the other dacoits but she wondered who the brutally injured man was.

Aparajita closely observed the man who was howling in pain. She realized his torn clothes were of silk fabric. She wondered either he was some merchant or a royal. Being the queen, Aparajita knew all the royal staff and he was surely not one of them. She saw the swords scattered on the ground.

She was busy observing the sight when she heard the leader of dacoits, “We will loot everything. We will plunder both Vijaygarh and Shivgarh. After all, Vijaygarh is ruled by a beautiful queen and Shivgarh by an old king”.

“I will kill all of you”, Aparajita heard the brutally injured man speaking to the dacoit leader who punched him heard in his stomach.

Now Aparajita understood the situation. She realized the brutally injured man was from Shivgarh and perhaps the borders of the neighbouring kingdom were also plundered like Vijaygarh.

Being a true Kshatriya, she knew what she had to do. She knew she had to help both the kingdoms and protect the royal who was beaten brutally. She knew she had kill the insane dacoits who were inhumanely committing crime every day. She knew she had to end everything today itself.

However, little did she know that the brutally injured man was none another than the guileful prince of Shivgarh, Yuvraj Veerbhadra Singh Rajput, the mastermind of the whole plan.

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Hi everyone
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