Shatru Sesham: Sequel of Baahubali ✔️

Chapter Fifty-Eight

One name- 'Mahendra' again set him thinking. Narasimha remembered hearing his friend Bhavani speaking about him. At court, the old lady had again mentioned this name. She had compared this person with his own father. He ought to have been angry. But he wasn't. Even more stranger was the fact that his heart seemed to know this unknown name better than his brain which pretended ignorance.

Narasimha wished he knew what it all meant.  He went to meet the one person in whom he sought the answers to all his unanswered questions- his father. He also felt that the punishment awarded to the old lady was very harsh. He wanted to see if his own recommendation and persuasion would make his father rethink and repeal his original decision.
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Subahu's Royal Chamber,
Subahu was relaxing in his inner personal chambers. Two maids were pressing his feet and massaging his body while another two maids were fanning his face. Just then he overheard the guard of his chamber politely refusing entrance to somebody who was seeking an audience with him, "Prince Narasimha, Maharaj Subahu is relaxing after a tiring day at the court. He asked me to refuse entrance even to Maharani Eiravati or Rajamata Kamaroopi. So..."

Hurriedly throwing a silken embroidered angavastra (shawl) over his bare chest, Subahu rushed outside. He remonstrated the guard, "You fool...all those rules are for the others, not my son. He is above all rules." He turned towards Narasimha and said, "Since when did you start needing permission to go anywhere, son? Come, Narasimha. Tell me all about your Gurukul life." Subahu silently motioned the maids who were attending upon him to leave both of them in privacy.

Narasimha lovingly took the place near his father's feet and started massaging it respectfully while recounting and regaling his father with his adventures at the Gurukul. Subahu listened to his son with rapt attention. His face was brimming with love and affection for his son.

This was what he expected his son to blossom into. His face beamed with fatherly pride when he heard about his son's achievements at the Gurukul and how he and his friends, Bhavani and Dilipa had succeeded in solving the mystery of the Yeti and defeating two veritable monsters in human shape. He enquired about his friends and co-scholars at the Gurukul and if he was comfortable there. He also discreetly asked if he was facing any issues from anybody or if anybody was bullying him.

Narasimha was enjoying the time he was spending with his father that he almost forgot to ask what was troubling him and what actually brought him at that ungodly hour to his father's personal chambers when he knew his father would be relaxing after an exhausting day at court. After a while, Narasimha snuggled into the crook of his father's arm and both father and son fell asleep unmindful of their surroundings.

Even if the world had ended that moment, both of them would have bid goodbye to it, happily lost in each other's arms. Narasimha once again snored innocently and peacefully like a baby in his father's arms. Uncharacteristically, even Subahu's stern exterior softened up and held a beatific expression of joy and bliss. All his dreams of world conquest and materialistic ambitions did not hold a candle to this moment. This was all that he had ever lacked in his life which his son's arrival was filling up.
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In the narrow bye lanes of Mahishmati's capital,
Two hooded figures who held fire torches in their hands kept darting and flitting through the narrow and blind alleys of a poorer part of Mahishmati's capital. In his hurry, one of these figures almost toppled over a few stones on the gravel path before he was set right by his companion. His companion glared at him for his negligence.

A rotten stench was emanating from the clogged drains. At this hour of the midnight, the streets wore a deserted look. The sounds of a distant brawl in the city's most infamous toddy shop and the howl of the street dogs broke the silence of the night which remained undisturbed but for these sporadic turbulences.