It's a Mahabharat what if? thingy... It has no connection with the real MB. It's mostly inspired from SP MB...
This begins like after Drupad exiles Draupadi from Panchal. Here Arjun is also kinda exiled by the andha kanun... I mean his uncle for raising his weapon against Angraj. (I don't know if you guys remember that episode)
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'The gods forced you upon me. I never asked neither did I want a daughter!!' Draupadi was sitting near a lake in the outskirts of the Panchal city. Her mind kept repeating the words spoken by her father.
She was heartbroken. She thought her father loved her. But truth is he never wanted a daughter and he didn't even want to see her face.
A tear rolled down her cheek as his words were jabbing her heart. She wiped her tears and got up from the rock she was sitting on and looked around. Where would she go now? Her father had exiled her from Panchal city. She still didn't know much about the world. She had the knowledge about the Vedas, but she was naïve to the world.
If she was to reach the next city, she had to take the path through the forest. Malini's mother had informed her. She sighed, she was tired, but she had to.
As she made her way into the forest everything was so pretty. The trees, the path filled with green grass and lovely flowers. Tiny-tiny rabbits and deer's moving around the bushes. She even sat down for a few whiles to play with the little rabbits.
But she had to continue and as she went deeper inside the forest, the trees were bigger, and the canopy was denser. The light that reached the ground was much minimal as compared to the outskirts of the forest. Here instead of the lovely rabbits and deer's, she could hear the growling voices of wild animals, which send chills down her spine.
She stopped in her tracks as she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw none. She walked backwards and she heard footsteps behind her again.
Suddenly someone grabbed her hand from behind a tree and she screamed. Three men with swords and their faces covered, stood in front of her.
'Wh...o... who are you?' She stammered. The men smirked and looked at her from head to toe. She was adorned in jewelry and fine clothes. Was she a princess? Or a thief... like them? Whatever she was, she was ravishing.
'It doesn't matter here.... woman... tell us... where did you find all that gold?' He asked with a vicious smirk. She stepped back and her back hit the tree.
'My... my father...'
'Is your father a king...?'
'Yes...' she stammered and told the truth.
'Stop lying if your father were a king, he would never leave you all alone in the middle of this forest without guards swarming around.' They stepped closer, their intentions didn't seem too good.
'My... my father would not spare you if... if he knows...' she tried to protect herself, although it was a lie. They chortled and one of the men held her hands. The other man's hand went towards her neck and pulled the long golden har harshly. She shrieked and pushed them with all her power.
But before she could run one of the men pulled her dupatta making her fall back. He held her hair tightly and she screamed loud. Her voice echoing through the forest. They forcefully removed all her jewelry.
She hoped they would leave her. She was horrified when one of the men's hands moved towards her dupatta as if to remove it. She resisted... she was slapped. They pushed her on the floor. She closed her eyes; she regretted being born at that moment.
Unexpectedly she heard one of the men scream and the hold on her hands were loosened. She opened her eyes and saw two of them injured with arrows on their legs. The man who had held her down was lying dead. She got up from the ground and looked ahead.
A well-built man with a bow in his hands was standing there. He appeared to be a commoner by his attire, but his physique said otherwise. His hair was pulled up in a man bun. His eyes held fury.
He walked towards the men and warned them never to look at any other woman with their ill eyes and they ran away scared for their life. Draupadi was just standing there looking at the man who saved her. He walked towards her,
'Are you alright?' He questioned in a low voice. She looked down, her eyes were dewy. She couldn't believe she was about to be manhandled. He asked her again and she looked up nodding slightly.
'Thank you... for saving me...' She said and he smiled, 'It was my duty...' He humbly replied. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he spoke.
'Devi... if you wish to take rest... there is a small village nearby... you would be able to find yourself new clothes too.' He suggested. She looked at her clothes. It had torn at the end of her dupatta and mud covered her skirt.
'You may follow me... I'll show you the path.' She looked at him, after the fiasco that happened, she was not very sure whether she could trust him completely. 'It's okay Devi, you can trust me... I am not like those men.' He assured, she thought for a moment, he did help her...
She nodded and they both started walking towards the east side of the forest. They walked in silence. Her eyes were still downcast.
'May I know your name?' She looked up and hummed in a questioning manner. Her mind was elsewhere.
'Your name...I assume Princess?' She was shocked. 'How did you...?'
'Your clothes... a commoner cannot afford such clothes.' He replied and she nodded. Really? she didn't know that.
'Are you lost?' He asked, she nodded not wanting to tell him that she was exiled by her own father.
After waling for a few more minutes, they reached a small village. It seemed like a festival was about to take place there. The houses were decorated with flowers and there were few vendors selling things.
He took Draupadi to one of the shops which were selling clothes. He told her to pick a cloth of her choice. She refused at first, but he insisted her and finally she chose a very simple red coloured skirt and blouse with a sandal shawl which had red patterns on it.
He had asked an old lady if she could let his wife change in her house. Draupadi looked at him wide eyed, but he told her that it was necessary if they didn't want to be blamed for anything else.
The kind woman had agreed. Draupadi changed into the clothes she had got and came out after a few minutes. The old lady put a kala tika behind her ear. She smiled slightly, but her face had lost the glow she had a day ago.
She stood there thinking, she was in an unknown place... she had been tried to be manhandled a few moments ago and the person who saved her seemed to be really nice. She sat down near the huge banyan tree and watched the children play, as the man had gone to pray to the local deity.
Suddenly she saw the same men who had attacked her earlier. She was appalled and alarmed. She got up from there and silently walked towards the small temple with her veil covering her face....
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To be continued...