The Enemy's Daughter

Chapter Twenty-Five

 Her breath came in gasps as she pressed a hand to her mouth, striving to stifle the whimper which rose in her throat. The footsteps, for that, is what they were, not some scurrying animal, were approaching closer. Priyadarshini wished for a cloak of invisibility to cover her, make her so inconspicuous that none would be able to make out her darker shape against the darkness of the night.

"She couldn't have gone far," said a voice, alarmingly near to her hideout. Torchlight fell in front of her, lighting the entrance to the overhang where she hid. Silently, she prayed, the well-learned words getting jumbled in terror. She turned her head, and suddenly, there in the faint light of the fire, was a deadly scorpion, native to these arid regions, crawling towards her, its tail raised to strike.

Sweat broke out on her forehead. Any movement which she made to push it away, would draw attention to her. Caught in a cleft stick, there was nothing left to do but wait for death.

*****

"Milady, this is what your lands fetched." The servant placed a bag of gold coins in her hand. Neelanjana weighed the bag with satisfaction. There was enough to last for a very long time.

"And the jewels?" she asked.

He placed another, smaller bag, on her hand. Turning with a smile towards the man standing by her side, she handed the bags to him. "Put them away safely, my love. That is my life's earnings. I have paid for every coin with my misery. Used and abused by men and made to work like a slave, I vowed to myself that I would never again be in such dire circumstances in this lifetime."

Hassan drew her close and placed a kiss atop her shiny curls. "As long as I draw breath, my dearest, you will never have to work another day. You shall be my beloved wife and the mother of my children."

A dreamy look entered her eyes as Neelanjana imagined her days by his side, with a little one on her knee and another running about the house.

Her trunks were loaded on the waiting camels, along with all necessities for the long trek back to his home in the north. Two of the guards and a group of servants would be accompanying them. Neelanjana bid a tearful goodbye to the mansion which had been her home for so long, before turning her steps towards the gate, to come to an abrupt halt. With a heart pounding with fear she noted that the royal guards were approaching, Prithviraj at their head, a drawn sword in his hand.

*****

Harshvardhan held his breath. In front of him was a man, a lighted torch in his hand, searching the forest for his wife.

"She is not here," he called out, as another came running from behind some trees. Harshvardhan hid behind the thorny conkerberry bushes, waiting for them to approach.

"Let us search under that rocky ledge again. She couldn't just have disappeared into thin air," said the first man.

"...Or a tiger could have carried her away," suggested the other.

"Well, we cannot go back without finding out for sure, or the master will have our heads," the first man protested, bending down on his haunches to look into the bushes.

Choosing that moment to strike, Harshvardhan jumped out in front of them with a roar, bringing his sword down on the neck of the crouching man.

*****

The first light of dawn was breaking out in the sky, coloring it a deep pink. Priyadarshini dared to peek out of the overhang, her heart racing wildly. The two men who had been looking for her had not returned. They had missed her by a hair's breadth, having neglected to glance under the ledge. The scorpion too had gone its own way, thankfully. Could she hope that she was at last free to make her way out of the jungle without the risk of being caught?