The army returned to the fort, but the drums weren't playing. It was a rushed return.
"Maharaj!!! The army is back."
"Why is the whole fort so quiet then?" Shatrujit asked, worried.
"Yuvraj is unconscious. It has been three days. He had been hit by an arrow. No one knows where the arrow came from, but it was poisoned, and he is unconscious."
"Where the vaid in the army?" Shatrujit instantly stood up and walked towards the infirmary at a quick pace. It didn't take long for the queens to show up with the princesses.
Shakra was lying on a bed with vaids all around him. Translucent curtains surrounded the bed to keep some around to reduce unwanted infections. Shatrujit watched his boy lay unconscious. "What poison is instilled in him?" He asked them.
"Maharaj, we do not know yet. He is in a very serious condition. He is injured terribly. The poison seems to be rare." The head vaid explained.
Amritakumari rushed inside and moved inside the curtain. "Mahadevi, I advise against touching the prince. His condition is critical. Any infection can lead to death."
Chaos began to be audible outside. Shatrujit walked out to see Aparajita, Saahiti, and Medhajiti blocking Mayurakshi's way.
"What do you mean, 'I am not allowed to see him'? Who are you to issue such nonsense orders?" Mayurakshi challenged, and her eyes blazed with fire.
"Oh, please. Don't pretend, Rajkumari. This is what you really prayed for. You wanted my brother to die. It seems that the goddess did fulfill your wish. My brother is close to dying."
"Which stupid woman would wish for widowhood, Rajkumari? Do you hear yourself before you speak?"
"You tried so many times to kill him. We all know. You tried to kill him that day in Veenapuram but failed. Now, somehow, you may have given information to the enemy to kill him. Just like how your brother tried to kill him using trickery, you must have also done the same. No apple can fall so far from the tree!" Aparajita spewed venom.
Mayurakshi's temper hit the roof. "Stay in your lane. You don't want me to start spilling venom on you. Don't start slandering me when you wish to remain pearly white."
"Really? There is something like trying to kill the man who only loved you. You tried to kill him while he was in Pragvamsa. You couldn't have known he was in Pragvamsa unless you had people following him." Saahiti accused her.
"Why would I not know when he was visiting me the very night he was leaving for Pragvamsa? He came to see me. I met him. He told me himself that he was going to Pragvamsa."
"You couldn't have known which forest he was hunting in. No one did. Even we didn't. It was a sudden plan on Prince Aadhitya's part. You couldn't have known which forest he was in unless you had yourself sent assassins."
"I don't have time to play detective with you, Saahiti. Get out of my way."Mayurakshi growled.
"I am not going to let you kill my brother!!! You're just an assassin. God knows why my brother loves a woman that even her own father couldn't."
Mayurakshi stood up with Aparajita and drew out a knife. "I've been pretty nice to you. If you don't like me, then stay away from me. I didn't come to beg for attention. I didn't come to your brother begging for attention. I didn't come to the Kalika Empire begging for attention. Neither do I care for your affection nor the stupid crown that rests with your mother. I didn't ask your brother to marry me, but from the moment he tied the mangalsutra around my neck, he belonged to me. Neither you nor anyone else can tell me otherwise. None of you have the right to his life. Not even Yama. My husband belongs to me. I don't need your expert advice on marriage. I know how to handle mine. I am not in your way. Don't get into mine." The rage that outpoured her could scare anyone. "I am generally not a violent person but don't push my buttons. You stand dangerously close to making me react in a way you will regret later."
"Mayurakshi!!!" Shatrujit warned her about the knife daring to touch Aparajita.
"My husband is serious, and all of you dare to tell me that I am not allowed to see him. Trust me, I will make my way inside. If that means I have to kill people who are blocking my way, I will do so. Anyone brave enough to come and fight, please be foolish enough to let me show that I will go to any lengths when I mean to achieve my goal. I will go see my husband. The choice rests with others." The usually calm and contained Princess seemed willing to kill anyone and bring upon ire. She was almost bursting out into rage. Shatrujit knew that pushing her any further would start an altercation that the family did not need.
"Aparajita, that's enough. You cannot decide who gets to see Shakra and who doesn't." Rani Anvesha scolded Aparajita.
"Amma, I am not-"
"Aparajita!!!"
The tone had Aparajita moving out of the way. Mayurakshi didn't care for anything else as she ran inside. She didn't wait for anyone else. Her maids followed behind her.
The moment she reached the room and saw the number of vaids inside the curtain separating people from the vaids and patients, she felt her breathing stop. The air was heavier in her chest, the ground began to rumble beneath her feet, her heart raced faster than a horse, and the strength within her bones began to shake.
Mayurakshi turned to the assistants who came with the vaid. "I'd like to see him."
"Rajkumari, it is imperative that we do not let any infection touch him. So, it is advised that you do not enter."
"That is my husband. Just hand me some change of clothes that you brought along for the assistants. Just let me see him."
"The vaids know who they are, Nana. Don't get worried." Shatrujit placed his hand on her head.
"Just let me go see. I don't mean to bother them. I... I just..."
"Maharaj, I also request that you let Rajkumari see him. She's well-versed in medicines and poisons. She is well known for her efficiency with poisons and venoms. She might find something." Karma stood up.
"Yes, Maharaj. Rajkumari has treated many patients with poisons in Krishneri. She will definitely be able to help Yuvraj in this situation." Disha also requested.
"Let her see."
The assistants handed Mayurakshi a robe to change into so that no infections would happen. She washed her arms, hands, and feet. After all the cleaning processes were done, Mayurakshi walked past the curtains. The smell of herbs and medicines was a familiar memory to her.
Yet, the sight of Shakrajit lying on the bed, unconscious, was horribly unfamiliar. The last time she saw him like that, she was sure that Shakrajit was going to survive the arrow. She had instantly taken out the poisoned arrows and taken care of them. This time, she wasn't so sure. It had been three days, and the treatment showed no effect on him.
Mayurakshi walked close to him. A bedsheet covered his lower body. His shoulder had turned blue.
"Did you find out the sight of entry?" She asked them.
"The arrow. The soldiers had announced it."
"Rajkumari, he was hit by a stray arrow. He kept fighting him for a while and then collapsed after the drums of victory were beaten." Manas explained.
"That's not it." Mayurakshi knew. If it was a poisoned arrow, it wasn't a stray arrow. If it was a stray arrow, then it wasn't poisoned. Poisoned arrows are always specifically aimed. If it hits the wrong person, then their whole effort will be lost. Someone came up with a plan to attack him, especially when they were celebrating the win. The stray arrow may have added to the ease of poisoning him.
Mayurakshi walked over to Shakra, moved the hair by his neck, and began to check all the spots over him that would not have armor protecting them. The whole body was burning up with fever and showed signs of dehydration. She ran her fingers carefully over his arm, looking for any small incision points. Her eyes fell on the tiny puncture hole in his arm. The blueness made it almost impossible to notice it. Everyone who saw him assumed that the poison entered through the arrow. The puncture hole was tiny.
She noted a slight coloration difference near the puncture wound. "Manas, you might want to start investing in everyone who was there on that field at that moment. Someone from within our camp had poisoned him." Mayurakshi told Manas.
"What?" He stood up, shocked by that. Everyone did.
"A puncture this tiny means someone hit him with a needle. A tiny needle. It was done after the arrow hit him. He wasn't poisoned by the arrow. If it was the arrow, then it couldn't have been a stray arrow hitting. If you had accurately rounded up all the enemy archers, then it wasn't the arrow that injected the poison. There is a tiny puncture wound on his armor. The poison was injected while someone was very close to him. Either during the battle or while handling him. If the distance was larger, then the puncture wound would have been slightly larger."
"Shouldn't Yuvraj have known someone who punched a needle in his arm?" The vaid questioned.
"It must have been a few moments after the arrow hit him, so he didn't notice the pinch in comparison to the pain rushing at his shoulder. Or it was after he had collapsed."
"Manas, I want every single man who was on the battlefield around him to be under the radar. Mayavan, inform the spy master to start keeping an eye on each of those soldiers. I want to know who dared to poison my son." Shatrujit ordered.
"At this point, we need a miracle to save Yuvraj." The head vaid sighed.
"Well, the miracle would depend on whether we have all the materials to create Mritasanjeevani." Mayurakshi said as she checked all of the signs up to the seventh stage. Loss of consciousness, inflammation, excessive salivation, rashes on several spots over the skin, eye discoloration, irregular breathing, a fall in heart rate, and paralysis. The muscles don't react to a reflexive stimulus.
"Mritasanjeevani?" The head vaid asked. "That is a highly specific mixture that only the choicest vaids in the Himalayas can create that needs Sanjeevani herbs only found in the Himalayas."
"People said the same thing to Savitri: once Yama comes to take a soul, it cannot come back," Mayurakshi replied. "Hopefully we get ready on time. Start the distillation setup." Mayurakshi stared at Shakra while she gave out instructions to people around her.
The man who always reacted to her lay on the bed, unreactive to even fire touching his skin. The man who promised to come back and finish the conversation they had left in between. The man who was a topic she feared speaking with anyone. Someone who could only open a can of worms would ruin her mental peace. The man she couldn't dare to think of a day without.
"Ask Yama to contact me before he comes for you, Yuvraj. Remind him that your life is a property around my neck." She whispered in his ears and rested her head on his for a few moments.
"The processes are out and running, Rajkumari." The assistants told her.
Mayurakshi stood up, and Disha opened up the box she had brought quickly. She began to hand out some rare herbs to the assistants and told them how to draw out their medicine. Tiny vials were stored in the box without any names on them. Mayurakshi knew them by just looking at them and their smell. She took out the vials and ran the distillation process.
Mritasanjeevani was a mixture that had to be prepared carefully. It was a mix of 40 herbs. Some of them have to be taken out in different ways. Some needed to have run distillation. Some needed grinding. Some have to be removed from their poison first to have them work as medicines. Some needed to be boiled on low heat in ghee. Some are in high heat.
"She has herbs with her." Anvesha was surprised.
"She had always been peculiar in her demand for gifts when someone offered to give her some. If I'm not wrong, at least 50% of her stock has been given to Yuvraj himself." Karma pointed this out. "She never really liked when he tried to give her flowers or gold. I pretty much ignored them all. So he gave up and asked her what she would take as a gift. Although Yuvraj wasn't particularly fond of the method, it usually worked, and she accepted them with a smile. So, he gave her anything she wished."
"She chose herbs instead of gold? That sounds silly. Not really focused on her future." Nayanika, Shatrujit's newest concubine, commented.
"That's because she's not a concubine who has to worry about her future. She's a princess." Amritakumari dryly commented on the woman speaking out of place.
"Amrita, can we please focus on our son instead of taunting?" Shatrujit sighed.
"Sorry..." She shrugged her shoulders and looked away.
"Just be quiet. This isn't time to comment on her choice of gifts." Shatrujit told Nayanika.
"I just wanted to--"
"Shshhh." Shatrujit silenced her.
It took around a few hours, but all 40 individual herbs were brought to Mayurakshi. She carefully mixed them after measuring them. She tasted a bit of it to check if it was done right.
Mayurakshi sat before Shakra. She closed her eyes. "Amma Chandika, you have to make this work. You promised to protect my saubhagya. You gave me that kumkuma for your puja as a promise. You have to make this work. I don't know what miracle you need to perform. Just do." She silently prayed to the goddess.
Chanting the secret Dhanvatari mantra that Guru had given her while she was learning from him, Mayurakshi made him drink the mix. "Burn this and let it smoke the place. Breathing these herbs might allow the absorption to become faster. I feel that I might need to use an administration pipe to administer the medicine. I'm not sure if it will properly enter his stomach. He is almost paralyzed in this state." She suggested the head vaid.
"I have prepared the administration pipe. We should start it." His assistants brought the pipe. Piercing a blood vessel, he inserted the pipe and made sure the pipe was put in place.
==========
Some Information.
The infamous Mritasanjeevani is a combination of 50 herbs. It is the careful creation of a mixture. Giving this to a patient is said to cure all types of poisons. Charaka Samhita mentions it. Some of the ingredients are mercury and lead, which are highly poisonous, but with the right preparation method, they can actually act like medicines.
Some of the parts have to be taken as vapors, so they have to be run through distillation, which takes a long time. Some of the herbs are found in different parts of the country.
Also, Charak Samhita says that the herbs should be collected during Pushya nakshatra.
You'd be amazed at how wonderfully descriptive our ancient medical texts can be. They're so damn detailed that it's a huge thing to read. Various herbs have various methods of preparation as therapeutics. It is brilliant.
About the guesses on what Cittaja means.
Cittaja n. चित्तज lover. Citta means mind, intelligence, reason, thoughts, or intention. It refers to someone who is always on your mind.
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