A ruler, who is kind, compassionate, and popular.. Is not what a bunch of rogues need.

6 | The Welcome Ceremony |

~*~*~*~

'What happened to you?', Gauri whispered in Shakti's ear worriedly and hurriedly looked around before springing back to branch she was settled in.

Shakti cleared his throat to snap the crowd out of their daze, 'I guess all of you must be curious to know what happened to us, or do you know already? Just look at yourselves, your King haven't ruled for a day and you sent a bunch of rogues so that he dies even before he reaches his Province! But, don't worry, the traitors' corpses would be very useful for the hungry wolves and snow leopards in the forest. Now, let our King enter his palace', he kicked the belly of the horse sideways to make it run fro and Omkara too followed him.

Northern Province has become my home in these years, but still I can't help loathing them for their savageness, I'm so relieved that you could save yourself, my King, Gauri shook her head in despair and sneaked in the secret passage through which they entered the dungeon for the first time.

• • • • •

'Hail the King Omkara of Northern Province of Isilwane!', the herald of the court announced, and a heavy trumpet was blown to welcome him, which shook the throne room.

Omkara entered the court with steady steps, dressed in a red mantle and black robe detailed with intricate gold wires. On his head, was the amethyst crown bestowed upon him by his father.

He got onto his throne, and motioned his sword from up to downwards, silencing the officials of his court. Clearing his throat he said, 'Let the Court begin'.

Gauri was hiding behind a curtain hanging from the pillar just behind the throne. She was standing tiptoed on the bar with detailing of carved stones, at the top of the two storey high pillar, where it met the ceiling. Omkara was seeming as a tiny doll to her due to the great distance, but to her advantage, she was getting a bird eye view of the whole throne room. And with that, she saw some unknown faces in the group of dancers gathered at the far end of the balcony of the throne room. Eye signalling Ranveer and Dandi, she snuck towards the women.

Omkara was observing the way Shakti had schemed the ruling. He was accordant with him in most of the cases, so he decided to go on with the old system and put his observations on this later when necessary.

The dusk was approaching and the court was dismissed. Omkara walked behind Shakti towards his new bedchamber. It was a huge room, its roof pyramidal. Intricate gold murals covered the pyramid, and a bar of murals ran along the border of the roof and the walls. An enormous window opened towards the pine forest at the bay of Northern Province. Behind the forest, was the DragonLand, one of biggest threat to his kingdom. Sighing at the forest he turned back at his room. Smooth grey stone walls shone in a golden glow by the flames of incense candles. With heavy steps, he flopped on the enormous bed at the middle of the room. At the bedside tipoy, there was a fruit bowl and he picked up an apple. The bed was soft, fluffy, covered with feathered pillows and animal furs. There was no curtain surrounding the bed to provide the king privacy, and Omkara was thankful for it. He didn't like having his way with his concubines, hiding behind the curtains.

A maid bowed at the door, 'My lord! Its time to attend the welcome ceremony. Do you wish some refreshment, my lord?'

'No. You're dismissed', he stood up and walked towards the throne room again.

Welcoming the king you want to see dead, interesting irony, Omkara smirked while ignoring the buzzing crowd and leaning on the backrest of the throne.

Shakti was looking around nervously. He noticed Gauri missing from her place on the pillar, and since then even Ranveer and Dandi failed to guess where she would be. It was a public celebration to be held and Gauri was much needed to keep an eye on Omkara.

Suddenly, Dandi dropped a plate on Shakti's lap. There was something written in honey upon it, I will drizzle some red in this celebration.
Gauri.
Scrunching his brows up, Shakti pondered over the decision to continue the ceremony, yet, he had complete trust on Gauri. He licked the plate clean hurriedly and hid it in his robe.

'My King, today on the auspicious occasion of your ascension to the throne of Northern Province of Isilwane, your subjects want to show their gratitude through a welcome ceremony. Should we proceed?', Shakti bowed before Omkara.

Laughing manically at the grandeur of artificiality in his mind, Omkara ordered, 'Let the ceremony begin.'

The ceremony started with a band of musicians playing various instruments they carried with them. It consisted of different kinds of bells, flutes and monochords. They started playing cheerful beats along with a heavy drum and a group of knight presented their soul lifting dance.

After the soldiers went off, the crowd roared in cheer as a group dancers entered dressed as the dancers of Southern Province. They were subtle dancers with measured appeal. Their movements were artistic, symbolic, but they lacked the natural grace. It was said that the dance of Southern Province needed an educated audience with fine taste of art.

Whereas, the drunk males in the crowd, behaved themselves for the sake of the king when the would be concubines of the king entered the court, dressed in shimmery skirts with slits, blouses that ended at their upper abdomen, and their faces were hidden behind half transparent veils. Chains with small bells went round their forehead, neck, waist, wrists and ankles, and everyone had golden powders scattered at their eyelids. Only their eyes stood out from their faces. The musicians started playing a slow tune which had lengthened sensually intoxicating beats. The dancers sprawled on the floor started swaying their hips and waved their hand according to the dips and leaps of the beats.

Shakti's tense spine relaxed a little when he noticed a tiny woman in the group. She was dressed up in shimmery golden-black clothes, even her veil had gold patterns sewed in it. She was dancing at the centre of the group and what pulled the attention of the king too towards her was a pair of eyes, shimmering as emeralds.

Omkara was looking around the group smirking, until his eyes landed on the emerald eyes. She was the stunner in the group. His hungry gaze ran along the waves her smooth velvety hands made. His hand itched to grab that petite buttery waist swaying flawlessly. Soon the intoxication of the music increased, so did Omkara's desire. The girls produced daggeres from their waistbands and started balancing their tips on their waists, chins and continued swaying according to the music. Omkara loved the dagger part most, for it was the best part of Western Province's dance.

The green eyed woman was balancing three daggers - two on her fingertips and one on her chin. She swayed a bit to catch the dagger on her chin between her lips, and grabbed the hilts of the other daggers firmly in both of her fists. Omkara's breath hitched in his throat as she threw the two daggers in a lightening speed towards two girls, implanting the blades in their tracheas with inhumane precision. Before he could order the guards to catch the woman, she took a final twirl and threw the last dagger straight towards him. His eyes bulged out of their sockets as the scared screams of the dancers and the crowd went blur. Only the swish was heard and a painful scream of death pierced the panicked crowd.

The whole throne room fell into pin drop silence for a moment and Omkara touched his face, neck, chest, slowly. He was alive. Breathing out in relief, he turned at his back to find a man dressed up as a commoner, his eyes still widened in shock, his fingers entwined around the hilt of a spiral edged dagger. But what stunned Omkara was his chest. A dagger was wholly interred in the left side of his chest. Slowly, the man fell face first on his feet with a thud.

The crowd breathed audibly in awe, and Omkara turned back at the group of the dancers in a flash. But to his utter surprise, the girl wasn't among them. He traced the crowd too, but nil. He couldn't believe someone could escape that fast, even if she hid in the crowd, her eyes would not let that happen. But it was sure that the woman knew of the attack that was planned. He closed his eyes for a moment, thanking his green eyed savior for snatching him from the gape of death by a hairline.

'Investigate the dead ones. The ceremony is dismissed', he stood up and turned to go.

'My lord, you didn't take anyone of us for tonight', a willowy woman called from behind, dressed in half transparent red clothes.

He turned at the crowd. After scrutinizing them with crinkled brows, he took the red clothed girl by her upper arm and pulled her along with him.

Upon reaching his bedchamber, he tore off the veil from her face. She had black eyes as him and a beautiful sculpt face. The red clothing complemented her complexion justly and he momentarily praised his blind choice. Gripping her rich black curls in a tight grip, he pushed her on his furry bed and lunged at her without changing in his night robe. Throwing off his robe and mantle he tore off her clothing too. She ran her fingers upon his crown and he started nibbling her lips furiously, groping her mounds in his callous palms. In between his hungry attacks on her lips he gasped, 'What is your name?'

She gasped back pulling his lion mane in her fist, her bare legs clinging on his hips, "I am Ishaana".

I didn't know it would turn out to be this long.. 😂 1700 words, are you kidding me??
And yeah, we need a very strong reason for Omkara to distract him from Gauri and to me, none is better than Ishaana in this.

Happy reading!
With love,
Sarani.