Shatru Sesham: Sequel of Baahubali ✔️

Chapter Forty-Four

Mrithyunjay's head and hands were bleeding and there were scratches and cuts at several places. After he managed to sit up with some initial difficulty, Aparaajitha dabbed and wiped the wounds and the accumulated soot from his face, body and limbs with the hem of her half-saree.

Though Mrithyunjay was fidgeting and seemed distinctly uncomfortable and embarrassed at his physical proximity with her, she did not pay much attention to that. He had never been this close to her physically. He was also finally human and fallible. Her presence, so close to him and so caring for his needs, roused tumultuous feelings and emotions which he found difficult to battle and keep under check. It seemed very easy and natural to just drift away in the sway of flooded emotions.

Both of them resumed their journey across the tunnel after Mrithyunjay had somewhat recovered from the mishap. After five or ten minutes had elapsed, they managed to navigate to the other end of this tunnel. It led them to a huge chamber that had been cut out of cliff rock. It was the last sight they were ever expecting to see. It looked like a big state armory. A huge arsenal of weapons of all kinds and sizes were stashed away. It must have been many years since these weapons were left here. All these weapons looked strong, shining and highly malleable despite the fact that they hadn't been polished for many years.

Any of the ordinary weapons would have rusted and damaged in the existing conditions of neglect and unpolish. But these weapons seemed to have survived the test of time. Apart from that, there were several locked chests stashed away in the chamber. Aparaajitha broke one of the chests open with the help of her knife.

Mrithyunjay picked up the contents of the chest and remarked, "They look like red shinning stones of some sort. But they aren't precious gems. Why would somebody preserve them so carefully? And why didn't they come back for it if they were important?"

Aparaajitha gasped, "Do you realize Mrithyunjay? We might not have sufficient man power at the present moment. But we have all the weapons necessary to arm a mighty army sufficient to take on Subahu and his army."

"But how do we transport all these weapons and chests from this chamber? The tunnel we used to get here seems hardly feasible", Mrithyunjay asked.

"Do you hear that, Mrithyunjay? I hear the roar of the sea dashing against the rocks of this cliff. I know exactly where we are. You remember the place where I spend most of my afternoons and evenings", continued Aparaajitha excitedly as realization dawned in Mrithyunjay.

"You mean we are now at the cliff side of the very same rocks and boulders on which you make marks with your knife?" An astonished Mrithyunjay asked.

"Yes, we are. See the passage to this chamber has been sealed in an airtight and waterproof manner with stone cut boulders. If anybody would try to shift or open from the other side, the sea water would rush in submerging everything inside this chamber", replied Aparaajitha.

"But that will happen only during high tide. The sea recedes back considerably during the low tide making it possible for us to transport and shift all these weapons and chests elsewhere during the four hour time span when it is low tide", Mrithyunjay suggested. "Let's go back through the tunnel and inform everyone about our findings. It will be low tide in a couple of hours."
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At the Kanchu Kota in Mahishmati,
It was a dark and moonless evening when Maharaj Subahu had arrived at the Kanchu Kota that was built girdling the Gauri Parvat in an inexorable clasp of copper and iron. When Subahu came to power, this entire area was cordoned off and kept off the limits from the common populace of Mahishmati who were evicted from there. In its place, a war concentration camp was erected. Ever since he came to power, Gauri Kant had been extracted indiscriminately. Now all the ores were depleting. The Agni Prastham when the Gauri Kant would come up naturally in the overflowing magma was still many years away. It was to this place Subahu came as a last ditch effort to unearth information about the secret weapons arsenal that had been hidden away somewhere in Mahishmati during the reign of Maharaj Mahadeva.