Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

As Mriga and Abhirath thought that the sentry was done talking, they heard him speak further.     

"The total participants have been divided into three groups for this stage. You are the last pair to make it to the first set of people who have entered stage one. Including you there are thirty contestants and their partners inside this place right now. Please note that there will be fifteen resources hanging on the tree. You need to remember that every time a resource would be plucked off from the tree, a gong would sound inside, informing the participants about the number of the things remaining on the tree," with that, the man moved aside and let them have a look at the displayed weapons on the long table behind him.     

Still trying to figure out the overload of information, the two of them looked at each other and then at the place. There was an impressive display of armaments there, including various types of swords, bows and arrows, not to mention different kinds of knives along with bags full of stones and many more things.     

Mriga was slowly unwrapping her hands and winced when the palms finally were free from the bandage. Because of the tight wrapping, the pain had been numbed for a while but now the stinging sensation came back sharply.     

Her hands had not swelled too much but was discolored and tender.     

"My brave girl," whispering softly in her ear, Abhirath moved towards the end of the long table.     

In tacit arrangement, Mriga stayed this side and considered her options carefully. She was in no state to draw an arrow and carrying a bow could be cumbersome. Instead, she chose a small knife known as khukri*. It was a versatile weapon and could serve a dual function. One was as a smaller knife by using the narrower part of the blade, closest to the handle while the heavier and wider end of the blade towards the tip could be used as an axe or a small shovel.     

On the other side, Abhirath's choice was a knife which was a combination of a knuckleduster and a dagger. It was an extremely rare fighting blade and hence many people were not trained in using it to its best potential. But it was Abhirath's father's favourite weapon to carry along when on spy missions. Both his parents were currently deployed in different countries under the garb of diplomatic attaché and he hadn't seen them in quite some time now. But he had seen the knife and also trained with it enough, using it to spar with his father earlier. The length of the knife was around 9 inches and the knuckle portion measured up to 4 inches at the widest point. It fit very comfortably in one's hand and was considered to be one of the deadliest in a close combat.     

When Abhirath reached Mriga and saw the khukri in her hand, his mouth curved into a smile. This was why they were perfect together. She had chosen a multi-purpose armament while he picked a combative one, covering all possibilities of the unknown. But he was hoping that the thick woods in front of them would be something on the lines of what they experienced in the Eastern zilla and not need a weapon.     

"Are your hands alright? Do you want me to tie them again?" he asked in concern.     

With a shake of her head, she told him that they shouldn't delay any further. They had not known that by them hurrying up in the previous round, they had actually made their chances worse. Had they come after one pair, they would have been the first entrant into the maze in group two. It felt so unfair/. Why didn't they tell all the rules properly in one go for the participants to plan better?     

Taking a deep breath, Mriga stepped into the cluster of the tall trees and the pale, cloudy light which had been illuminating the surroundings, disappeared behind her.     

It felt as if she had gone back to the night training with Ramanujam.     

"How amazing would it be if I was to find a bird right now to take me to the center of the forest," she thought on a whimsical grin.     

"Be careful. Although it feels the same as our training place, we shouldn't let our guard down and become complacent," Abhirath's admonishment fell into her right ear.     

Even though he couldn't see it, she rolled her eyes at his nagging words but subconsciously, her senses sharpened and she started paying more attention to the sounds around them.     

As they progressed further in, the vegetation became thicker. It was tough to figure out the direction that they were walking in and apart from the rustle of leaves and some sort of vague noises, they couldn't hear anything.     

"Is it just me or does it feel ominous in here?" Mriga asked Abhirath as she raised the khukri to cut the branches in front of them to make way.     

Before she could hear his answer, something slithered past her feet, making her jump and then stumble in fright.     

"Are you alr…" Abhirath had bent down to help her up but his words froze mid-way as his hands fell on something which was protruding from the ground.     

Mriga sensed him tense up next to her and asked him, "What happened? What is it?"     

It had only been a few moments but she was already feeling frustrated by the complete blindness enveloping them. She regretted not picking up the bag of stones instead of the khukri. Right now, a small light would have been extremely helpful.     

"There are booby traps in here," Abhirath's voice had gone completely cold, indicating his fierce focus on the situation at hand.     

"Ten metres from where you are sitting, there is a net and no ground under it. Had you not slipped just now, my next step would have taken me inside that pit," he said grimly.     

*Khukri - Machete, originally found in Nepal