Chapter 8
_______________

Revati gathered her papers, laid them on the table, and smoothened the creases on her dress. Her elbows were propped on the table, her fingers interlocked and her expression betrayed nothing. She then spoke, "Father, as summer is fast approaching, we need to recruit and train new soldiers. I suggest it to be a change of procedure."

"We have always done the same thing for years, why change it now, princess?" one of the courtiers questioned.

"Yes, sir. We have. But over the past few months, the armies of some of our allies have been growing as gathered from our spies since the kings made sure to keep it out of our notice. They have been distant with us lately, leaving us with suspicion if they are turning their back on us. So, the king and I came to a conclusion that stricter measures were necessary to avoid any upcoming conflicts or possibly... war."

Oh princess, princess. If only you knew what a fool you are. As the proverb goes, 'Closing the fort gates when the enemy is already in', She thought suppressing an evil laugh as she stood quietly in the corner of the room, her face hidden beneath the cloak.

"So I propose, that the newly recruited soldiers are spied upon without them knowing," she held up a hand to one man who opened his mouth to speak. "I know what you're thinking, We cannot afford to waste a spy on each soldier. But we can alert the generals to mark the attendance of all the soldiers, at any time of the day. Or night.

"The chieftains can speak to a few trusted soldiers to keep an eye on the new recruits and to report any suspicious behavior. But they must not know whom the spying task has been assigned to. Then we can easily find out and catch hold of moles in the army. Not just that, this provides more discipline to already employed soldiers."

Several courtiers nodded their heads. The King had his elbow propped on the table, his hands interlocked and under his chin as he asked, "Good. I think you still have more to say?"

"Yes, your highness," she confirmed. "This method is to get rid of possible spies already in our army. To prevent spies from entering, I think that each soldier's background must be checked and approved. Make sure that their information is original. And that is all for the military security. Do you all accept my proposal, gentlemen?"

Murmurs of agreement passed through the council members. The King proudly smiled once more at his daughter. She smiled back in return.

"Alright men. Now that's passed, I want to know the latest additions to the numbers of the army. General Neelkant." The king said with a dip of his chin.

"Yes, your majesty!" he said in a surprisingly squeaky voice. Well, only squeaky when compared to his build. 'She' strained her ears to listen.

"We have one lakh ten thousand army men, sixteen thousand ashwāha, eighteen thousand five hundred chariots, two hundred seventy war gajāha, seventy thousand cavalries and that is only Vaibhavgarh's strength. Excluding our allies," he reported.

The King nodded. "By the end of summer, our numbers should increase by a few hundred at the least. See to that, Senapati."

"Yes sir!"

After some more light discussion on political matters, the courtiers stood up to leave but were stopped by the princess. "Nuh-uh-uh gentlemen, not so fast. We still have to settle your tax payment."

She could see a wave of annoyance passing over their faces but they kept their mouths shut and reluctantly sat back down.

My task is over, time to leave. 'She' thought and was about to make a move for it when Revati called out.

"Please refill our glasses of water!" as she held up her empty goblet.

She froze for a moment and waited for the other maid to serve, but she realized that the pitcher of water was beside her. She picked it up and refilled their goblets one by one.

After everyone else, it was Revati's turn. The princess frowned slightly when she eyed the gold bracelet with a red ruby on the maid's wrist. It looked familiar, but she couldn't seem to place it. Her arm shot out and touched the red gem.

"Nice bracelet," she commented lightly, sidetracked by other matters at hand.

She was rooted to her spot too afraid to move. Revati cleared her throat and dismissed her. She internally sighed in relief that she remained unrecognized.

She quickly left the hall without stopping there for a moment longer. I'll leave them to their tax discussion. Thank heavens I wasn't caught!

* * *

Finally, after several long many months, they decided to pay taxes! Revati thought, releasing a long, relieved sigh. She bit into guava as her frame leaned against the window of her bedroom. She shivered from the breeze and pulled the robes closer to her body.

That bracelet though, seemed vaguely familiar, Revati pondered, fingers rubbing her tired eyes.

Maybe it was a maid who would help me and I had seen it? 

But, normal maidservants wouldn't be stationed in the private meeting.

And the bracelet was made of gold. The ruby, a priceless piece. How can a financially poor maid be able to afford such a thing? Her heart raced as her thoughts picked up the pace. She ignored the faint throb of her head - a forewarning of the migraine that would most likely hit her in a while. 

She couldn't have stolen it from the treasury, could she? But why would she wear it in public and give herself away? Revati frowned, this made no sense.

I better go right away and try to find out her name.

She took fast strides down the stairs and to the maid's chambers. She asked for the private maids to be present before her, who had appeared at the meeting that day.

She saw three maids come forth. Where was the fourth maid?

"Could you possibly give me the name of the maid who served us water today?" she asked gently as to not instill fear.

The maids shot confused looks at each other. "We have no knowledge of it, Rajkumari. The two of us were present and the other didn't attend today as she was ill. And Lakshya was at the kitchens today. But we have no idea of the maid with us today that you speak of." One said.

Revati was careful not to give away any emotion. "Wait, only two of you attended?"

The tallest among them replied with a bob of her head, "Yes, Your Highness. There were two other maids, but they did not come in together. Mayhap they were unoccupied and decided to attend?"

She smiled at them in agreement and excused herself. It had to be a spy, who else could it be? But what about the other one? Who was that? she thought as her heart rate sped up again.

Lost in her thoughts, the princess bumped into someone. It was a maid. A maid whom she knew, Maya. She immediately apologized for her mistake.

"It's not your fault, Your Highness," the elder woman smiled. "Pranam, but I must get going now."

As she was about to go past her, Revati caught her hand. Her eyes widened as she spotted a gold bracelet on her wrist. But when she turned it over, it was a plain gold-painted bracelet with no embellishments.

The maid frowned in concern. "Your Highness? Are you alright?"

She smiled weakly. "Ah, it's nothing, just a little drained by state affairs. A beautiful bangle this is, Maya."

"Thank you, Rajkumari," she replied sincerely and went away.

Her shoulders dropped. She had been wrong. How could I have suspected Maya of all people? What is the matter with me today? I have to focus on only one 'maid' now.

That other maid must've been a real one.

Oh god, the meeting discussed all kinds of important security matters of the kingdom. I have to stop the spy from leaking out the information somehow. But how? She or he must've gone a long way by now.

The princess paced back and forth in the hallways as she pondered. Suddenly Roopvalli arrived and asked her with her voice sickly sweet, "What are you doing here, princess?"

"Oh nothing, just thinking about something," she said absently, waving her hand.

Revati's eyes shifted to her wrist as she thought she saw a flash of gold there before it was covered up by the folds of her saree. But she looked away as she didn't want to seem rude.

Oh goodness, what's gotten into me? Everyone wears bangles. Roopvalli does, Mother does, some maids do and even I do! I seem to be examining every woman's wrist today. This has gone too far, I must stop.

"I'll get going now," her sister-in-law said as she walked up the hallway and disappeared around the corner. Revati paced the hallways, her brows furrowed in concentration.

Her eyes widened a moment later and she ran to her chambers. She bolted the door and went to the right side of her bed, pushing a decorated circular tile. 

The wall beside the title gave way to a tunnel. Revati rushed through the tunnel that Suruchi had taught her about. She went through a number of different paths to check if Suruchi was there somewhere.

Dammit! She cursed breathlessly as she spotted Suruchi with some maids in the garden. I cannot reveal myself coming out from here to the maids.

She waited for a while until Suruchi was alone and picking the oranges and peeling them. Revati sneaked up behind her when Suruchi abruptly turned around and sprayed the juice of the rind of oranges into her eyes. Her eyes widened in guilt as she realized who had suffered her attack.

"Suruchi!" Revati shouted as rubbed her eyes to get rid of the stinging juice. Suruchi slapped her arm and hissed. 

Revati's shout had the maids' group standing far off turn their attention to the duo. "This orange is the definition of Su-ruchi! Excellent pick Goutami!" Revati shouted once more, quickly covering it up.

The maids' resumed their work, mostly gossiping, without a doubt.

"At least you could apologize!" the princess whispered loudly, glaring at her. Her friend simply rolled her eyes and promoted her, "What did you want to tell me?"

Revati lowered her voice and pretended to casually walk with her. She narrated the story of the maid to her without missing any details. "It was no spy. I mean it was a spy, but you wouldn't believe who. It was...."

Suruchi whispered the name with her simultaneously.

"How did you know?"

"I just guessed based on the way you told me the story. Are you sure it was her?"

"Yes! I'm positive."

"How?" Suruchi raised her eyebrows.

"Her bracelet. She wore it on her wedding day, I distinctly remember the style!"

"I'm actually surprised. I knew she was a sly woman and had bad intentions of acquiring power and wealth, but this? Betraying her kingdom for another? I didn't expect it from her," Suruchi said, shaking her head in disapproval. "And the fact that she has the information of the strengths of the army is a very dangerous thing. The kingdom that is plotting against us could attack us anytime. But then again, she could just be doing it for something else and not pairing up with another kingdom. It is a stretch, don't you think? Who was the other maid, then?"

"I don't know, she might've been a real maid-"

"-might've. We don't know her identity yet, she could be anyone. Even a man. But one thing's for sure and let's focus on that. The other maids say that she gets quite jealous of you sometimes, maybe she wanted to listen to your views and try to counter them in court or elsewhere? There are thousands of possibilities... "

Revati let out a frustrated sigh. "Why did my brother have to get married to that evil, selfish, loath-"

"Reva- Princess," she corrected raising her voice a little, "I have got the Kingdom Governance books from the scribes as you asked for, I have kept it in your chambers." She smiled sweetly. 'Sweet smiles' rarely existed in Suruchi's dictionary.

Then why is she smiling?

Revati bore a confused expression. But when she saw that Suruchi's smile was directed behind her, she spun around silently. She smiled as she saw her father take a few steps towards her from where he was. Suruchi bowed and left.

"History and governance books? Glad to see my daughter not only managing well in just normal things that girls your age do but also political and kingdom-related affairs," he told warmly. Phew! Thank goodness he wasn't within earshot.

"Glad to see that you're up and about walking in the gardens, breathing fresh air as the doctor told you had to, Father." She said, genuinely happy for him as a smile bloomed over her face.

"What can I do my child? Every passing day I obtain a new strand of grey hair," he said then whispered in her ear, "I'm getting wiser, aye?"

She chuckled, eyes closing involuntarily. "No father, you're getting old,"

"Don't you dare call me an old man!" he threatened with mock-anger, wagging his finger.

"So Father, I had to tell you something," she said growing serious. She bit her lip, considering whether to tell him about Roopvalli or not. "Uh, about the..."

"The what?"

"The marriage proposals for me," she supplied quickly.

The King raised an eyebrow, unmistakably taken by surprise. "I never thought you'd be interested or approach me about it. That's good, the faster you get married, I can live at peace that you are in good hands an-"

"About that," she interrupted, her tone taking on something that could be made out as guilt. "I know how much it means to you, but... I don't want it. I don't want to get married. I'll manage everything on my own, I don't want a man to look out for me."

He sighed. "My resolute daughter... you're just a child, you will not understand its importance right now. A few more years and you'll know."

"Exactly, I'm just a child. You can't marry me off, I'm too young to understand. If I'm married off before I'm old enough, I will struggle, won't I? And you wouldn't want that for your daughter, would you, father?" Revati asked, batting her eyelashes at him dramatically, a hint of a playful smile decorating her lips as she turned the tables.

Her father's lips twitched into an amused smile. "Taking advantage of my words and using them to defend your opinion. That's my girl, just as bright as ever in debating."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glossary:
Senapati - General
Ashwaaha - Horses
Gajaaha - Elephants
Su-ruchi - good taste
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ooh! Was it really Roopvalli?🔍
Or could it be someone else? 👤
A new character perhaps? Or am I gonna roll with the same ones?
That's for you to find out and me to write to satisfy your curiosity!✍️

Hey guys!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you did do vote and comment below!

Thank you for reading ❤️
-Chinmayi, 14.