Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

"You carry on. I don't want to hold you back. Mother will also be there amongst the senior officials, cheering you on. Wish you all the best!" with that, Vidyut ruffled her hair and saw her get on the carriage which was waiting for her.     

Before he could make a move from there, he saw another familiar face which brought a smile on his lips.     

"And hello to you! Don't tell me, you are also participating in the event?" Vidyut asked Mriga who had reached him by now.     

She gave him a concerned look and then bowed her head in an apology.     

"I am so sorry for the other day. How are you feeling now? I came to visit you afterwards but you had been shifted out of that clinic," she said guiltily.     

It still rankled her that she had deserted him while he was surrounded by those thugs in Eastern zilla.     

Vidyut smiled at her and waved his hand in denial, "Please don't apologize. You did the absolute right thing. And as of now you should only be thinking of the competition ahead instead of any other silly things. All the best to you."     

At his warm words, Mriga relaxed a little and bent her head again before walking away. The boys had stopped at a small distance away from these two but now reached Vidyut.     

"Yash?" Vidyut looked at him with a confused frown.     

"Hello, senior!" Yash acknowledged him respectfully.     

"I am sorry, we are in a hurry right now. I will come visit you soon," with that Yash also walked away, leaving Vidyut looking at him, expressionlessly.     

Abhirath didn't bother offering any greetings and scowled instead when he crossed Vidyut. But the latter wasn't perturbed in the least. He stood there and smiled as the entourage passed him by. This surely became interesting!     

Arena, Chandragarh     

In the two hours leading up to the beginning of the event, the entire place had started to buzz. As was the tradition, the commencement of the competition was done with a small yagya* offering homage to the five elements known to humans. Yagya was a common feature performed by many learned scholars even on a daily basis as a means to purify the atmosphere.     

The queen along with the priest completed the ritual. It was followed by the simultaneous blowing of three big conch shells marking the start of the competition. Loud cheers went up in the crowd as their beloved queen took her place at a secluded raised platform. The platform afforded her the clearest view of the happenings of the arena. There was a dais right below the place where five appointed officials were going to be sitting. Their job was to note down the details of each contestant's performance.     

But these people were part of Rani Samyukta's private entourage, which meant that the official evaluation was being recorded by another large group of people who were placed right in front of the arena. Next to them was the emergency medical team which was on standby in case of any mishap.     

This specially appointed five-member team was carrying a form which the queen had designed herself. Over and above the listed criteria on which the contestants will be tested henceforth, the queen had come up with her own set of parameters which were based on her personal experience of the past two decades. The evaluation of this team was not going to be used for elimination, but for deeper observation of a person. The central idea was that by the time the chosen candidates reached the last stage, there should be enough tangible and intangible information existing with the queen about them.     

Since this was the first round of the two stage physical evaluation, the number of participants was the maximum. In this particular event, the girls had been given only a minute each to impress the judges by showcasing their skill, knowledge or talent.     

Mriga was sharing a tent with nine other girls and their respective teams. It was quite a chaos in here which was to be as expected. The exact number of participants was 90 and each one had at least one team member with her.     

Mriga was glad that she hadn't eaten anything in the morning, else she would have surely thrown it all out at this moment. The sheer magnitude of the competition struck her bang on the head. She, along with the other participants had entered the arena from the backside. So, she didn't know the number of people out there who had gathered. But the noise level had been steadily rising and it was a terrifying sound currently. She had never suffered from stage fright or performance pressure but this moment was giving her jitters.     

The allotment of slots was about to begin and was going to be done by picking up chits with a number written on it. Thankfully, a team member could go and do the same on the contestant's behalf. Vandit and Nirbhay had argued over it briefly before Abhirath vetoed them out and went himself.     

Mriga requested Chiranjeev to guard over the equipment and stepped out. Walking to an old tree, she leaned against its sturdy trunk, placing her clammy hand on it dry, hard surface, as if seeking support. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on regularizing her breathing.     

"Mriga… what are you doing here? The first contestant just went up on stage. Guess whose turn is next?" Vandit had come running to her.     

Everyone including the participants and audience were treating Vindhya as a serious contender to the throne and every move of hers was bound to get people interested.     

She straightened up and smiled at him, "Vindhya's number was two?"     

"No, but close enough. She is third in the line. Do you want to come and see her perform?" He asked.     

She thought of refusing him but then checked herself. It was better to know the enemy than bury one's head under the sand.     

*Yagya - A sacrificial rite or offering prayers to deities