Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

Shaurya was startled for a second at her sudden presence before his face shuttered down with a small smile hiding his true emotions. Ahilya had an unexplainable urge to wipe that smirk off his face. She didn't know but something about him irked her and made her curious at the same time. She had never fought with Gayatri the way they had a showdown the previous night.     

It had been all because of him.     

Gayatri had simply told her that she was making a mountain out of nothing. While she had been miffed with Gayatri for hiding such an important fact about herself, she didn't expect that the latter would turn around and accuse her of being attracted to Bela's son in the first meet itself.     

Ahilya had bristled at the accusation and denied it vehemently. The women had parted bitterly and neither had tried to make up since last evening. Under normal circumstances, Ahilya would have gone after her or summoned her but she held back this time.     

"You had asked me what my noteworthy attribute was. I thought to show it to you instead of talking about it. I am good at survival, whatever it may take," came Shaurya's pat reply to the question which Ahilya had asked when she entered the room.     

Ahilya stared at him in fascination.     

"Tell Bela that I am ready to listen to her proposal. As for you, make sure you cover that skinny body well. We wouldn't want Chandragarh to accuse us of mistreating its people," she said in a flippant tone before walking out of there.     

Shaurya stared at her retreating back. He was the one who had gone under the snow but she seemed to showing strange behavior. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that she was being coy with him!     

As per his information gathered during those three days, he had gotten to know about her preference towards the fairer sex instead of men. This was told to him by the same person who informed him about Gayatri's childhood dream. As Shaurya thought back, he suddenly realised that the informant had been found really conveniently by him, almost as if he was waiting for Shaurya to come looking for him.     

"Is this the minister's doing as well? If so, is he a friend or a foe?" he reflected pensively.     

Arena, Chandragarh     

"Is she the one whom you were talking about earlier?" Abhirath asked Yash who nodded his head in response.     

A well-built girl had just entered the performing area with her horse. Her name was Vaishali and she had an eerily similar background to the current queen. An orphan, she had been identified as a high performing student due to her consistently superior grades. She had already been promoted to two classes ahead and was being viewed as someone with huge potential. Yash's research indicated that she was an anti-thesis to Vindhya's flamboyant persona but no less dangerous as an opponent.     

Vaishali bowed in front of the judges before starting her act. Within a few seconds, the entire crowd was on its feet looking at the daredevil stunts of the girl with her horse. Had Mriga seen her, she would have been reminded of her mother who also was capable of similar acrobat movements with her horse. By the time the girl's performance ended, everyone was cheering her on. They had just discovered a new favourite, it seemed.     

The underbelly of Chandragarh's capital had an unofficial gambling network. It was a popular way for people across various walks of life to entertain themselves but sometimes it was also a means to understand the pulse of the town. As expected, there was a betting pool going on about the next QIT and Prithvi had two of his men on keeping an eye on the names against which the bets were being placed. It was not just a good way to understand people's preference but also to find out what was the quality that they wished to see in their leader.     

As Vaishali walked off the arena, Abhirath looked at Yash and said, "In this round, we would have the surprise element on our side which would hopefully get us the qualification unless the second round throws a curve ball at us. But looking at the competitors, I feel that we should have practiced much harder for the upcoming rounds."     

Yash smiled slightly and replied, "You know her as much as I do. She does her best when she is pushed against the corner. Having strong opponents is a good thing, as long as we can figure out what we are up against. As for the second level, I think we would be told about the details before the day ends. I wonder if it is a dual round or a group activity. In a discussion with my mother, she told me that this was the first time that the specifics of the tournament were kept a secret till the last minute. Apparently, one of the queen's motive is to find out the reaction of the participants when facing the shortest possible preparation time."     

Abhirath didn't refute his words and looked towards the arena pensively.     

Few hours later     

"Are you ready?" Yash asked Mriga in a neutral voice.     

Chiranjeev was standing behind her, putting pressure with his fingertips on her shoulders and neck. She shook her head with a smile.     

Abhirath came and handed her the equipment, "I have just wiped all of it again. I don't think that there should be any issues."     

Mriga asked Chiranjeev to pause in his ministrations. She took a step sideways and made eye contact with the three of them. Then she bowed to them as a mark of respect and walked off with her bag.     

Vandit and Nirbhay were already on the ground with the stuff that they would need for her act.     

It was showtime!