A Bride To The Five

Chapter 14

The scent of blood, and other bodily liquids was the only thing that Arjun had smelled in past few days.

The pungent odor in the air, was enough to make anyone gag. It had taken him days together to adjust to the sharp smell.

If it wasn't the fierce control that the five brothers reigned on, it would have been a difficult feat to stay here.

Screams of agony reverberated throughout the place, the sounds of agony bouncing off the walls.

Since, the day they had stepped in here, screams of fear and pain laced cries,  had greeted them.

He knew for a fact, that the Kauravas were doing this to mentally torture them. With no food,  and dirty, stinky water that they provided Arjun was pretty sure, his own family was planning their demise once again.

The loud sharp cries, that pierced through his ears, almost made his heart break. Soul wrenching cries of pain, and pleadings, decorated the air.

Like a symphony of death, and horror.

The only sound they had heard, other than each other's voices was screams of agony. Dhritrashtr was trying to break them mentally.

He wouldn't lie, it would have. A normal person, would have lost their sanity by now. But, they held on.

For each other. For their mother. For the people of Hastinapur.

And for. . .her.

Draupadi.

Her name was like a balm on his unseen wounds, his friend. Or wife. He didn't know what title he should give her.

For loyalty like hers, was not easily found. She was one of her kind, there was no doubt regarding it in his mind.

A girl who had sacrificed her honor for his family, when they barely knew each other.

It is something,  that he could never forget. Every waking moment, her debt sat heavily on his shoulder.

She said it was the right thing to do, and so she had. That they didn't owe her anything. That he didn't owe her anything.

But what she didn't understand,  was that no one had ever taken a stand for them, he and his family had been struggling through everything all alone.

And, somewhere down the lane, he had expected it. His world had shrinked down to his family, they were all that ever mattered, and needed.

His brothers and mother.

That was all that were needed, and that day, he would have lost his four brothers.

Dark tentacles of agony unfurled in his chest, reaching out to him, like thorns on a vein, they wrapped around his heart.

Sinking deep within. Piercing hard.

The thought made his soul shiver, his eyes burned with a familiar sting.

And that day, for the first time, someone he hardly knew. Someone whom he hadn't even seen, had taken the initiative, accepted the name calling by the world, accepted the humiliation for life.