Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

As Mriga looked at Abhirath's grim expressions, many more people had reached the base and were poised to start scaling the hill. Mriga shrug her shoulders as if to say that the situation couldn't be helped. But Abhirath raised his palm to stall her.     

Then he gestured that they needed to climb back down. Mriga looked at him in stunned silence but he was already retracing his steps and went past her.     

Due to the cold weather, he had insisted at the Gurukul that Mriga wear a cotton jacket on top of her uniform. In fact, he had made her go back to the dorm for it. It was a knee length jacket which Abhirath now asked her to take off as soon as they hit the ground.     

"What are you trying to do?" she gritted her teeth and asked him.     

She could see so many people go past them. They had lost the first movers' advantage!!     

Abhirath took the jacket and tore it into three long strips. He tied one of them around her waist, another around his own and used the third one to create a loop between the two of them.     

"I will lead first, you follow. When my shoes become too slippery, then you come ahead. Make sure to keep wiping your hands every few minutes. Speed is no good if we slip and have to restart," with that, he shifted the loop towards his back and started to walk ahead.     

Mriga suddenly noticed that many people had stopped to look at them unashamedly and were now trying to figure out a similar contraption with whatever resource they had.     

The ones who weren't really affected by this were Yuvati and her female partner, who were climbing the mountain like agile monkeys. They were already nearing the top of the small hill.     

Abhirath and Mriga made steady progress in silent accord. Another reason why Abhirath had delayed their start was because he wanted to use small toeholds created by others' shoes between rocks. Also, his thought had been that as more people would climb before them, the slickness on the rocks would also hopefully reduce.     

Saraswati, who had been standing at the terrace of a high tower along with Prithvi had a bird's view to the proceedings.     

"One more suitor? He is a bit hot-headed but not a bad option," Saraswati muttered as she saw Abhirath helping Mriga along the way.     

"Has the Southern sun addled your brain so much that you have started talking to yourself?" Prithvi's lazy voice intruded her mumblings, making her zip her mouth immediately.     

By the time Mriga and Abhirath made it to the top of the mountain, they were clearly amongst the last batch of competitors. But they were also few of those who hadn't hurt themselves in the process.     

Standing at the top, Mriga looked dismally at the tunnel which was sharply sloping downwards. It was narrow and seemed that at a time, only one person could enter it, slowing the process, making the entry crowded and cumbersome. Not only was it dark, there were screams and shrieks which could be heard continuously, making it feel ominous.     

Before Abhirath could say anything, Mriga turned to him and said decisively, "I will be in the front this time, but you stay right behind me and I think we should let the loop stay as is, right now."     

He grinned at her pale face but stopped himself from pulling her leg on whether she was scared.     

Mriga sat on all her fours and crawled in gingerly. She closed her eyes since they were useless in here, anyways. Using her nose, she let her hands and ears guide her. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes but it was still pitch dark. She stopped for a nanosecond and immediately, Abhirath was almost next to her ear, whispering to ask if she was ok. Hearing his voice, she grunted a yes and kept moving ahead. Suddenly, she was pushed back roughly.     

"Argh… ahhh…" Mriga grimaced in pain as a big shove came hurling at her from the front.     

Since they were people behind Abhirath, she was pushed into his chest, causing a squeeze. After a few seconds, Mriga tried to push the object which was in front of her but her hands met only thin air. How was that possible?     

Her hands had been badly crushed in the process but she drank up the pain and forged ahead. There were many people behind them who were pushing Abhirath and her ahead, almost making her tumble ahead. Her knees were skinned along with her hands but she dare not stop.     

The tunnel widened a bit as it curved ahead and made her breathe a little easy. Not only was it dank inside, the low ceiling was making Mriga feel a bit claustrophobic. Thankfully there were not too many people up ahead in close proximity. Something suddenly slithered past her, causing her to suddenly shriek.     

"What is it?" Abhirath asked anxiously.     

He had a feeling that Mriga had been hurt badly in the last few minutes but he had no way to determine it or help her at the moment. He should have been leading. But then, had it not been him between her and the people behind, she would have surely been squeezed to death sometime back. He quietly urged her on, helping her stay focused. At her panicky yelp, he nearly banged his head against the top of the tunnel in a hurry to reach her.     

Since there wasn't any space for him to move sideward next to her, every time he came close to her ear, was by bringing his body on top of hers as she was on all fours.     

"Nothing, sorry… I think I just touched some slimy plants and accidentally took them for a reptile," came back her sheepish reply.