An woman cannot be completely beautiful with her physical finery or intelligence only.. A heart made of gold is also needed to make her beautiful inside out.

4.2 | Her Challenges continues |

~*~*~*~

Tap! Dhap! Dhap! Tap!

Dhap! Dhap! Tap! Dhap!

'One, two, three, four... One, two, three, four', a raspy old voice chimed irritatedly, 'Darn it!! Are you dolls?', With that, she used her cane stick to slap the girls on their calves, 'If you continue to sway this stiffly like wood, then you can forget your purpose for learning dance here and join the house servants please'.

'Welcome the three princes of Isilwane!', the herald at the door of the dance hall announced, making the girls gasp loudly and giggle at each other.

'Stop laughing and get your pathetic limbs in here!', the old woman who used to be the main dancer of King Tej's court, barked at her students, 'the princes are not going to choose any of you for their nights if you remain this cold. Show your elegance! Move your body fluidly, as gracious as flows of water!'

She bowed at the three princes, 'Welcome young Majesties', she clapped twice, indicating the musicians to start playing some tune as the bunches of girls started to move their waist and hips sensually, their hands, legs and hair keeping up with their body moves.

This meant the end of the dance class for the five girls from training camp. They couldn't let others know who they are. It had been a ritual of Isilwane that, the secret royal guards of the future king were secrets to the king himself. Only the previous king and the trainers of those royal guards knew them as they chose the challenges that the trainees would go through and finalized the best ones for the future king.

But, there was a severe risk too. If any of the king saw his own secret guard, he would have to kill him/ her with his own hands because, once they knew of their ultimate security armour, they wouldn't be able to act as all vulnerable and it would be a lead for the enemy kingdoms to find the secret royal guards and capture them to death.

The other girls of the training camp could continue the class as they were very much tart looking and could easily blend in the crowd. But, Gauri had to hide from the princes, because of her unique green eyes. She quickly climbed a pillar of the hall, and slid in one of the folded curtains hanging from the ceiling. She peeked out to see the three princes get on their respective chairs and lean on the backrest. The girls started sway wildly with the changing beats of drums and flutes, as the princes watched them with wolfish smirks etched on their faces.

One girl, who was dancing just at the bottom of the pillars on which Gauri climbed, whispered to another, 'You see, the first prince will definitely choose me, I saw him watching me more than any other girl yesterday, so today I chose this shimmery clothes, so that he doesn't look away from me for even a moment', she flipped her hair, and moved forward, shaking her hips vigorously as she flowed through the crowd like a serpent.

Gauri laughed to herself mentally. If she came down now for a dance, she was sure that the princes would forget their breaths. But she was here only to learn the art of seduction, so that she could distract the soldiers and spies to extract information, or to busy the king towards her to save him from honey-traps or female assassins. But she hated how these dumb girls fawned so much over themselves. She was only fifteen now, and was really astonished to find out that most of the girls with whom she took classes, didn't get the tiniest part of their brains improved in these ten years. Sometimes she wondered to herself, how could people survive with this little sense of conscience?

Sighing loudly, she hopped off at the opposite side of the huge pillar and pulled a girl with her suddenly. The girl tried to scream for help, but relaxed to see her classmate. Shushing her, Gauri took out a quill and wrote something on her forehead.

'Go back to your troop', the girl nodded at the bright green orbs in a trance, peeking through the semi transparent veil. They were now gleaming in mischievousness.

The princes were enjoying the competition among the girls, but Omkara seemed very distracted. He wasn't liking the strange sensation that stirred in him every night. He felt someone beside his head, even when he had a girl by his side. He woke up in morning to see the bed beside his pillow dipped. Initially, he tried to detect if it smelt of the girl he took in for that night, but for last month, he couldn't take a single girl, he felt the presence in his room and it was more frustrating that he couldn't find any smell to detect the intruder.

Omkara was brought back to the reality by a nudge at his shoulder. He looked up at Shivaay who was looking at a girl with squinted eyebrows.

'Om / brother Om, look at that girl', they concentrated on the girl who was of average body and skin colour, but what made her special was the words written on her forehead. They forgot the other girls dancing before them and tried to read those small cursives because the girl was dancing at a long distance. Frustrated by the failure in discovering the words, the three princes grabbed the girl together, earning surprised gasps from everyone. The girl looked petrified and the other girls scoffed in annoyance at the girl's fortune. Some of them whispered some snide remarks too, burning in jealousy.

'Girls here are idiots',

Shivaay breathed out a laughter and soon Omkara and Rudra followed.

The dance teacher smiled warmly at the princes, 'I too was fooled for a moment that you were really planning to take her together tonight.'

'No way!', Shivaay stifled his laugh, 'Wash your face first, girl. We looked at you for longer time, but that doesn't mean that we want to take you tonight.'

Gauri felt Shakti behind her, when she was laughing her breaths out hiding behind the pillar. Without looking back she said, 'How was my effort to knock some senses in their thick skull, my favourite knight?'

Shakti bent at her and kissed her temple, 'Though you are small now, but I'm sure, one day you'll become the most wonderful and precious woman in the whole land of Isilwane. But now, you have to go for your last medicine class.'

'Favourite knight, why do I have to learn medicine too?', Gauri asked while walking with Shakti.

'So that you can prepare your medicines all by yourself even when you are taken captive', Shakti replied.

*****

Shivaay walked out with a girl clinging at his side. Rudra pouted at first, because, even if this was their last night in the Northern Province, Rudra didn't get the liberty to choose an woman for himself because he was sixteen.

'Royal brothers, not fare. This is my last night here', he whined, and the girls chuckled.

'Prince Rudra, once you become eighteen, you'll get your share too', Omkara said sternly and tried to walk out without a girl, like last month.

'And don't worry, there are plenty of girls at Southern Province', Shivvay winked and walked out.

'Young Majesty Omkara, I beg pardon, but you are not taking any girl since last month, I'm afraid if your health', the teacher was cut when Omkara grabbed the upper arm of a girl around his age and stormed off.

'You are going to sneak in the royal palace again, aren't you?', Shakti asked Gauri, locking the door of the dungeon. He tried hard to find the secret door that she made to reach the palace, but found nothing. He couldn't wait in the dungeon too to spy on Gauri. It would be cheating and Gauri was a strict offender of unfair means.

'I still wonder, how do you manage to fool the guards', Shakti turned at Gauri before leaving, who had now dipped herself into the herb-salt water to wash off the blood from her back due to whipping.

'I am trained to beat them, simple', she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, trying to subdue the sting by the salts.

*****

Gauri sneaked in Prince Omkara's room after distracting the guards at the window of his bedchamber.

Smiling fondly, she sat at her usual place, beside his head and stared longingly at her prince. In these ten years, since she came here, he had changed a lot. He was always the quiet type man, he believed in actions more. Now his physique had changed in a very taut way. Gauri sighed looking at her lap. Her height and eyes made her special. In these cloths of trainees, she looked more like a petite man.

He had his arms spread over the bed. His half naked body was glistening in a thin sheen of sweat and his black hair was scattered messily on his forehead. His jaws were graced by soft light stubble and a frown was etched in his face. Just beneath his arm, a girl was sleeping, her lips twitched and her body cocooned. She whimpered a bit while shifting in sleep and Gauri smirked at the mauve teeth marks that marred her skin.

Were you that angry prince? Gauri laughed mentally. She definitely knew what sex was. But the trainees were strictly abided by the brother and sister bond and nobody was allowed to meet any boy or girl other than the trainees themselves. Having sexual fantasy for someone tended to weaken a person's heart and Gauri couldn't let herself take the luxury and endanger her prince.

For the first time in these ten years, she couldn't fight the urge to touch the prince and smoothen the creases on his sweaty forehead. While running her hand through his sweaty hair, Gauri thought, though I will miss you terribly in these five years, I want you to learn well about your kingly duties, and don't worry, I will always be there for you when you come back.

She leaned on the wooden bedpost, detailed with pure gold and slipped in a conscious slumber.

This chapter depicts Gauri's life after ten years in Northern Province. I think, next will be the last chapter in past.
And, don't forget to let me know how it like it or hate it.. Let your friends know of this book by sharing or tagging if you think it worthy of more readers.

Happy reading!
With love,
Sarani.