Heading to Kavish

The city was a cacophony of mixed reaction. The city dwellers of Mahina were quick to retort and while some supported their king's announcement on returning the long imprisoned Kavishians back to their country. Those unaffected by the seventeen-year-old event, backed the initiation by hailing praises. Yet some people chose to rebuke the decision especially the families who had lost their family members in the fight.

The cries of the long dead's families wailed loud, they overpowered everyone else. They screamed their disappointment on the king's unfair order. They blamed Kavish for their lost. They cursed the kingdom of Kavish to be burnt to ashes with so much of hatred. They threaten to kill all those imprisoned people right there and threw rocks and slippers to the crowd marching behind the small royal parade.

Dhruva and Prithvi immediately dismounted their horses and sprinted to the front of the crowd. The citizens stopped but ended hurting the princes as well.

Prithvi ordered a guard to get something for him to stand high up. His face was red from the dripping blood gushing out from his forehead and nose and he was evidently angry.

Dhruva witnessed his brother's other side for first time and it took him by storm when Prithvi addressed the crowd in loud and harsh tone, silencing them with his tough persona.

"Are you happy now?" He yelled, the veins on his temple, forehead and neck protruded. "This is what you had warned, didn't you?" Prithvi pointed at the cuts on his forehead. "To express your anger not on these innocent people but on us. Am I right?" his voice bellowed.

The number of masses gathered may not be visible from Dhruva's point of view but the wave of silence followed after Prithvi's question helped him guess—close to an entire city. He shuddered to think of their reactions when he returns with Nakshathra in next few weeks to come.

The young prince called out one representative to speak but promised to answer them all under the scorching heat. A man of his words, Dhruva remembered when he worried of the people rebuking his marriage alliance with Kavish and Prithvi had promised to take care of it. There he was, standing up for what truly was right for everyone regardless of their origin.

"Rajakumar, these people were the reason our families are dead now. How can we simply let them go?" Spoke the representative. A man in his seventies, tanned from the hours of work under the sun with silver hair and wrinkled skin, he appeared to be a wise man of his age but proved otherwise.

"They are responsible for your grief? These people?" He asked, loud enough to be heard to an extent. "How are they responsible?"

"Their king killed our minister back then. We as the citizen fought for the minister who was murdered in the name of friendly game." Even as the old man spoke, his tone wavered.

"Number one, did it happen with your own eyes? Number two, who are you to fight for justice or for the minister?"

The old man stumble for an answer has he searched the ground with his bulging eyes. "Everyone talked about it and we are from the same country. That makes us all the more rightful people to fight."

"You are being delusional! If we need you to fight for us then why do we even need all these trained armies? We can simply send you to a battle ground, right?" The seventeen-year-old prince asked with more clarity than most of the aged people rebuking the king's order present in the crowd.

"Listen to me, ayya. You did not fight for the man who lost his life in a game. In truth, all of you and those long dead found this kind of event exhilarating. An event where you can go wild and so, you went out of control. Targeted them first and when they strike back, you blame them for the misery path you have chosen?"

The aged man trembled in fear and in growing guilt, if Dhruva assumed right. He stayed by Prithvi's side as his brother continued to put sense into the revolting city dwellers. As he studied each and one of them in the crowd, he wasn't sure if they understood Prithvi's words but hoped at least one or two to get it and later spread the word. He understood, changing people's perception was not a one-day task but a series of reality confrontation.

"If all of you had taken some time to think, you would have understood this wasn't your problem at all. It's a problem between the kings and they would have settled it verbally or wage a war. Even then that's not your problem unless, they," Prithvi pointed to the people of Kavish standing behind him, "destroyed your livelihood, had taken your jobs and left your stranded. You have no idea the number of friends and family members they have lost and continue to, till this day." Prithvi swept a glance on the crowd from one end to the other. "So, be kind enough and make way for them to reunite with their families."

Wave of chatters rippled to every end of the crowd. While some raised their voice to disapprove, many moved away from blocking the parade.

Dhruva gave a pat on Prithvi's shoulder as he got down from the chariot. "I am so proud of you, my brother."

"I told you. I'll take care of it. I have left some men behind to control the crowd." He winked and marched to their horses. "But I think I have missed a few points and said something else altogether. You know like your brains says one but your mouth says another." He laughed out loud. "I'll be better next time, it's my first time anyway."

*-*-*-*-*

An of hour marching and three hours of sorting and boarding, six royal ratha vimana each carrying hundred and twenty passengers departed for Kavish in a smooth take off. Convincing over five hundred people who had no idea on the invention of flying ships had only delayed their trip but a successful boarding nonetheless.

Dhruva opt to board one of the vimanas with the Kavishians and Prithvi followed suit. After a couple of hours, Dhruva sauntered along the aisle to check on the passengers when he struck a conversation with a man in his late eighties. He remembered meeting him in a different look, the man had long grey hair, thick overgrown beard, filthy dress and reek of uncomfortable stench. Dhruva had called for the palace works to prepare necessary items for their guests to clean themselves, offered them fresh set of clothes and given them a much-needed makeover. The least he could do was make them look presentable when they meet their families.

"Are you comfortable, ayya?" he asked.

"I am, thank you. Yuvaraja, can you tell me what is this called?" He asked for the vimana.

"We call is the ratha vimana. It's engineered by expertise in Takash Kingdom about eight years ago and it has since made long distance travel convenient. Which means a month travel to Kavish now shorten to two days."

The man's face lit. "That's a marvellous invention." Shortly after, he delved into his own thought and as Dhruva about to leave, he asked "but what made the king decide to let us free?"

"Hmm... The situation compelled the king to make the choice."

"Actually, it's a love affair, ayya." Another voice intervened.

Dhruva turned and glared at his nefarious brother. "What?"

"The princess of Kavish and him are madly in love."

His heart thumped hard, dumbstruck with Prithvi's behaviour. Turning red in embarrassment, Dhruva stride two steps and held him by his arm but Prithvi did not stop there. He went on to weave his own story as the rest of the Kavishians turned their attention to him.

"Really? Our Kavi and Yuvaraja?" Many eyes shifted to him. He shifted on his feet uncomfortably as heat rose up to his cheeks.

Prithvi nodded vigorously like that of a child. "Let me fill you in but keep him away from me first or he won't let me share their beautiful story."

The Kavishians was quick in showing their interest, they politely filled the gap between the brothers by sitting on the aisle. Flabbergasted, Dhruva glared at Prithvi and did nothing else.

"A few months ago, this prince snuck into Kavish, disguised as merchant and met the princess and he fell in love with her. But when she too fell for him, he returned to Durja fearing for the king."

The crowd gasped and glared at the prince.

"But the story did not end there," Prithvi continued. "The princess went in search of him everywhere and found him here in Mahina. When she learnt about all of you being imprisoned, she tried to strike a deal, two-in-one. 'Marry me and return my people.' Our prince here is one scared man, he refused multiple times and the princess left dejected. Then to my surprise he said yes. I then understood, they came together and plotted for your release. He even fooled me by declining the lady's proposal only to say yes later."

"Really?"

Speechless, Dhruva found himself defenceless against his brother's half cook story. If he says 'no', he might end up denying the entire story which was not fully false and if he says 'yes', it means he accepts the story to be true. He dropped on an empty seat and let Prithvi fabricate their story as he drifted himself into a disturbed slumber.

At the end of the day, it's a story anyone would love to imagine how it had happened.

*-*-*-*-*

The solitude away from the rest provided him room to settle down. They were not just going to Sikva to return the innocent people of Kavish but also to solidify Nakshathra and his marriage alliance with the King of Kavish. It took him by surprise as to how quick things were taking place.

It felt like yesterday when he spoke to his father in regards to the marriage union between the two nations that sworn to be enemies and in a blink of an eye, they received a consent letter from Kavish. They accepted the alliance and invited them to strengthen their proposal. Did Nakshathra managed to convince her family to agree to Alli's demand?

As he sat pondering on the recent events, Dhruva's mind wandered off to the time he spoke to his father in regards to the unaccounted disappearance of the people of Kavish that points at someone from Durja.

"What do you mean by someone from the court? That's absurd. All of them know, I have abolished the slavery in this country years ago." Yogathepan admonished the claim. "How did you know it's someone from my court?"

"Through my intel. Who exactly is behind, I am not sure but if you give me permission to search and investigate all the court members, we can find the real culprit."

"Rubbish. I'll give you no such permission to disrespect my court members" Yogathepan denied. "I am sure, the person behind the abduction is someone outside this country trying to use our name to hide theirs." The protective nature of a king towards his courtiers was visible through his defence. "It's Kavish's problem. Let them figure out a way to find their missing people."

Yet as he recalled their conversation, he begun to doubt if the king of Durja had any kind of involvement in the abduction. The king's negligence into taking the matter serious led him to put his father into the suspicious list. Whether the culprit belongs to Durja or not, I'll figure out once we sort out the marriage.

But all the thought on the king of Durja and Alli vanished into thin air when Dhruva landed at the checkpoint in Sikva. He expected to be welcomed as grand as they once did for Abhimanyu but what greeted him outside the checkpoint was beyond his expectation.

*-*-*-*-*

Indrud, Durja

A malfunction was the last thing she expected to encounter when she was in no heart to sit and wait in Durja. In had been eleven days since Nakshathra reached Indrud and the severe malfunction in their ratha vimana had halted their departure by two weeks.

The delay had put Nakshathra into several session of internal probing. First that came into her mind was, does the malfunction has anything to do with Alli? Followed by a second question, does Alli's spy whom I brought along had anything to do with the delay and also why did she agreed to work with Alli? The rest of her probing revolved around Dhruva with his dagger in her hand.

Finally on the fifteenth day after she left the arogyalaya, their ratha vimana entered the airspace of Kavish. Just being in the space of her own nation made her feel like home. Nakshathra leaned back on her seat and relaxed as she waited for them to land on Sikva. When she got a panic called from the captain's cabin, she knew something was off.

"Land the vimana at the nearest checkpoint. What on earth had happened here?" she murmured; she held her damped palms together as they gradually descend.

*-*-*-*-*-