Amravathi, Devloka...

For the next three weeks, Amravathi was busier than it had ever been. Their new Queen, Mahishi, had given the choice to commoners that they could stay in Devloka or leave the empire. Many left, citing that Asuras and Devas can't stay together in harmony. Rest of them stayed, thinking that their King Indra would win back the kingdom soon.

Mahishi was seated on the throne that her brother was able to sit on for a few months. Honestly, she didn't like the way the whole palace was designed. The walls were mostly blue with intricate white motifs. She missed her red courtroom in Mysore. She took a look around the ten important ministers who were seated, waiting for her decision.

As Asura soldier walked in, "Your Highness, Asura King Dahan's soldier is here with a proposal. He seeks your permission to enter the court."

In her mind, she beamed with happiness. This was the moment I had been waiting for for the past three weeks.

The messenger walked in before Mahishi had given her approval. Hah! The audacity of this person! Anyways, I don't have to make up any excuses to make him wait. "How dare you walk in before I gave my permission? Is this how your King Dahan sends his messenger?"

"Apologies, I thought the court had no dealings so I walked in -"

She cut him. "Leave the court"

"Huh? Are you serious?"

"I know neither you nor your King respect me. That's fine, I don't have time to deal with it. Yet you dared to interrupt the court proceedings! Leave the court."

She waited until the messenger slowly walked out. Vaayakaal sighed, "Your Highness, I know that King Dahan had humiliated both my disciples. You should have at least listened to what message he had."

"Guruji, I didn't humiliate him back. I am just making sure he knows how to respect people."

"My child, what will be the difference between him and us if we do similar things?"

"I am sure you will agree with me that sometimes a person needs to taste their own medicine. I will make sure he will taste the most bitter medicine for humiliating my brother and me."

In order to change the topic, Minister Mitrah stood up. "Your Highness, you were about to announce your decision regarding these Asura women."

She smiled. "Minister Mitrah, please bring the husbands of these wives."

Her eyes again fell upon the women in front of her. Their hands were bruised and one had a scar on her face. These women were working in the palace as maids when Mahishi saw their bruises. She had seen them occasionally covered in bruises in her previous palace. Then she didn't know they weren't slipping accidentally. Yesterday she overheard their conversation on abuse and urged them to bring this up in the court.

The husbands of the women walked in, their heads held high.

"Let's hear the complaints again, shall we? Minister Mitrah, please bear with me for sometime."

The minister nodded. Her Majesty is doing it again, she is toying with these men.

"I have already mentioned that if it's a complaint against the Asura Vivah tradition then I can't help with it. But you said it was different."

Ruma, one of the victims spoke, "Your Highness, we are here to speak about our husband's ill treatment against us. We cannot speak what we wish for. If we try to speak, we're beaten by them."

"Oh my! You all were treated worse than the horses in our stable," she remarked. "Why do you do that?"

One of the husbands replied, "Forgive me, Your Highness, please don't take it the wrong way. We think you shouldn't interfere in our family matters."

She noticed how they were glaring at their wives. To think that they will do this in front of me and advise me to mind my business. Standing up, she ordered, "To the practice grounds."

Minister Nilakukshi stood up. "Your Highness, practice grounds?"

She nodded. Another Asura soldier came running. "Your Highness, King Dahan has arrived. He awaits to seek your presence."

Mahishi sighed. This fellow is smarter than I thought. This matter needs to be finished now. I can't postpone it till tomorrow. What if these scoundrels beat them to the extent that they are not alive tomorrow.

"Prepare one of the guest rooms for him and tell him to wait. I am attending to an important case and it has to be addressed today."

*

With a few swift moves, Mahishi had defeated the three soldiers. Her urumi had grazed their limbs, inflicting them with pain. They pleaded for mercy. "According to our Asura Vivah tradition, you can win a girl in a war or abduct her. But no tradition says that you can beat your wives. Be warned, the next time I notice any bruise, that shall be your last day you shall breathe."

Mahishi took a look at her ministers to see their response to her judgement. That's when her eyes landed on Dahan who was standing out of the ring where she had just fought with the three soldiers.

"I must speak to King Dahan alone. Please leave the practice grounds," she ordered.

Minister Sumali intervened, "Your Highness, can we have at least two ministers on the ground? Of course they will be at a respectable distance -"

Dahan cut him off, "Are you afraid that I will harm your Queen?"

Kaal replied, "To be honest, we can expect that. Yet it is not like the Queen needs us to protect her. We wanted at least two ministers as a protocol. But if Her Majesty wishes, we all shall return back."

She shook her head, "I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but I would need all the ten ministers to leave the practice grounds."

When others were out of earshot, Dahan walked very close to her and whispered, "Mahishi -"

"Queen Mahishi," she hissed. "No wonder your messenger was rude. The common people take after their King."

Mockingly, he took a few steps back. "Pardon me, Queen Mahishi. I am not used to calling you queen because you weren't one when your brother came with the marriage proposal," he smirked, stressing on the word 'queen'.

Mahishi closed her eyes. He is still as handsome as he was before. Dahan was a lofty man with broad shoulders, the result of mace fighting ever since he was a kid. He was of wheatish complexion, with dark red dhoti and angavastra laced with exquisite gold border. Well oiled mustache and beard adorned his haughty face. Many gold ornaments, including the crown, bejewelled him.

When she opened her eyes and looked at him again, old memories clouded her mind. Mahishasura had thought of marrying his sister to Dahan so that the enmity between them was put to an end. With Dahan's army, they could have easily overpowered Devas with sheer numbers.

Yet the Asura king had blatantly refused and accused her of a woman of low character. Furious, her brother stormed into the court, when he was told that their mother was of lowly tribe and her blood ran through them. He had also said that he couldn't marry a woman who dueled with men.

"I hate it when people beat around the bush. Just blurt out what you want," she retorted. She threw out that one ounce of respect she had for him.

"I wonder who is being rude now. Anyways, I want you to marry me so that we can rule Devloka."

Smiling, she folded her arm in front of her chest, "I see, you have come with a marriage proposal. You must have seen just now that I was sparring with not one but three men."

"That's fine, once you're my wife, you won't have to do that."

"Ah! So you have already thought of imposing restrictions. So, King Dahan, why should I marry you?"

He was stunned. "What do you mean by why? I am the King of Asuras."

"That is the title you have received by taking birth in the royal family. Tell me about your achievements."

"Achievements? I am unable to understand what you mean."

"Like I have conquered the Devloka, enlighten me with the unimaginable feats that you have accomplished," she sneered, her voice dipping in sarcasm.

"The prosperity of my Kingdom speaks for itself. Yet I am the king and that's enough."

"Being king is not enough to be my husband. I have certain expectations like the man I marry should be at least of my level. You stand in front of me, with your level smaller than a speck of dust. I won't be accepting your proposal. Please feel free to stay until you wish, we won't disappoint you with our hospitality. Excuse me, even though you might not believe it, I am a queen and I have matters to attend to."

As Mahishi turned and started walking towards the palace when Dahan's scream startled her.

"Just tell me who will marry you? None of my ministers will marry you. Neither will your courtiers. Think again before you reject me."

She knew that everything he had blurted was true. But she couldn't let him know that.

"You are a foolish person. When my brother had walked with the proposal you rejected us. You knew if you would have cooperated Mahishasura would have even given you this throne. All you had to do was make his sister your wife. You rejected everything when all you had to do was provide your army.

If I were to marry you, you be incompetent. You will treat me as a trophy. I will always be the source through which you acquired the throne to Devloka. This is certainly not what I would expect from my future husband. About him, he will come when he has to. He will marry me for who I am."

She quickly left the grounds leaving him fuming. Within an hour, his entourage left, leaving her with relief.

*

Near Sunderbans. . .

Indra was a day behind to catch up with his wife's entourage and his subjects, who were about to enter Sunderbans. Since it was already dusk, they decided to call the day and camp for the day. Sachi stepped down from the horse and took a look around. Nothing suspicious. Yet why do I feel someone is following us? To clear her suspicion, she walked towards a small river, carefully taking steps. Is it someone from Mahishi's army? I thought I had managed to trick them away.

She continued walking a few steps until she heard the sound of branch breaking. She warned, "Whoever it is, come out now. Your life shall be spared."

A man appeared from the nipa palm trees. She looked at the man in front of her, of lofty frame, his lean body was adorned with a purple dhoti sans angavastra. He had numerous scars on his dark skinned chest. His face had almond shaped eyes, a small nose and a moustache.

She sighed, "Is this how you meet a Queen? Where's your angavastra?"

He smiled and bowed. "Your Highness, had I worn angavastra, I wouldn't have been able to follow you till here."

"Follow? You were spying on us," she dismissed, narrowing her eyes.

He shook his head, "I have been wanting to talk to you, but you've been deceiving my men. Hence, I had to step in.'

She smiled and played with the ring on her finger. "Is this how Queen Mahishi wants to talk after taking away our kingdom?"

"I don't represent Queen Mahishi," he replied, curtly.

Sachi thought she saw disgust on his face for a fraction of a second. "Then let me ask you, are you a Deva or an Asura?"

"Asura."

"King Dahan."

"No."

She smiled at amusement. "Then are you an Asura who believes Guru Shukracharya's principles?"

"Yes, Your Highness," he nodded and sighed. "I won't be able to divulge any information on that or who I actually am. Yet please know that I need to take revenge on Mahishi."

"Revenge on her? Interesting!" she exclaimed and scratched her forehead lightly. "I am assuming you won't be able to give any information on that too?"

"I am afraid, yes, Your Highness."

"You wanted to speak to me but you aren't able to give any details on your motives. Yet you need my help to take revenge. Why is it?"

His face became expressionless. "I want to take revenge on her by mentally breaking her down. You know how to do that very well."

"Is that why you want me to help you?"

"Not only that, if I win her trust, I will share another secret that Mahishi is hiding; of Guru Shukracharya."

"What is that secret?"

"A gift passed down to our Guru by Lord Shiva. A secret that caused wars between Asuras and Devas for years."

Her eyes were shocked by the revelation. "Are you sure she knows about it?"

"Yes, I know a few people who were saved by it."

"What do you want for us to do in return?"

"I will be sending updates of my interactions with her, you must help me manipulate her. Then I will need you to accept my mercenary army for the next attack that Devas will be making on her. This way I can make enough money to maintain my army."

"Mercenary army? Do you expect us to listen to what you say just because you have a lead? Why would we need the army when we can defeat her by ourselves? Don't you dare to underestimate us!"

"Your husband won't be able to defeat her. She is a master strategist and has lady luck with her most of the time."

"Don't you dare to badmouth my husband! Leave before I call the guards," she warned.

He bowed again and informed, "I will be waiting for your message after Mahishi defeats your husband again. Maybe you will consider this offer then."

He walked away, disappearing into the shadows of palm trees. Sachi walked towards her tent ignoring the commotion due to her disappearance. How dare he belittle my husband in front of me and compliment that woman!

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To the readers wondering if I had forgot about updating this story last week, no I hadn't. I had sprained my arm and had difficulty in typing. Now that I am better, I could write this chapter.

Thank you for reading.