Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

"How did I get hurt on the neck?" Shaurya thought back to the events but couldn't recall much.     

He tried to sit up but found himself getting dizzy at the merest attempt. Plonking back down, he breathed in deeply to make the spell of dizziness go away. That's when he registered the sounds coming from the adjoining hall. Turning his neck, he peered outside and SHE came into his view. The angle from his bed afforded him a clear view of Mriga working in full concentration as she wiped the room clean and rearranged the things there.     

"This girl actually enjoys doing house chores? Or is it that she is a cleanliness freak?" he thought with a faint smile on his lips.     

But after a few seconds he realized that her face wore a grim expression all through the while.     

"Something has upset her!" he thought to himself but his head started to hurt again and he had shut his eyes to make his head stop spinning.     

That's when she entered his room and slipped down next to his bed. By the time his vision stabilised and turned to let her know that he was awake, she had covered her face with her hands and started to… CRY??     

His mind went into a frenzy. He had no clue about the reason for the soft but gut-wrenching sobs which were filling up the room.     

"Should I pretend to stay asleep? Better… else she will be embarrassed by my presence and I wouldn't know what to say either," he told himself.     

But his heart clearly didn't get the command and before he knew it, he had extended his hand towards her shoulders.     

Present time     

With a herculean effort, Shaurya lifted himself up and leaned against the bedpost. He waited anxiously while Mriga was in the washroom.     

"Why was she taking so long? Had she started to cry again?" Shaurya was disgusted with himself for not being able to get up and move.     

"What is wrong with me? Why can't I remember the events leading to my injury?" he thought agitatedly.     

And suddenly it was like the switch had been turned on. Everything came flooding back in a tide.     

Mriga came back to the room with an acutely awkward expression on her face. She didn't know how was she going to face him. She raised her eyes and stopped…     

This guy… what was he trying to do?     

"Shaurya, what is wrong with you? You can't get up. You…" she started speaking urgently and pressed his shoulders down as he was trying to stand.     

He looked at her intensely and said, "I need to find Prithvi guruji, right now. This can't wait."     

She took in his urgency and said, "I will go look for him and bring him here. But you have to promise me that you won't try and get up. You will only injure yourself further."     

He nodded his head and whispered, "Hurry".     

Mriga entered Prithvi's room through the staircase. At this hour, she wasn't expecting anyone to be present in the Admin building and was startled when she ran into Ramanujam in the room.     

"Guruji, Shaurya… he is awake and is asking for Prithvi guruji, urgently," she panted.     

Ramanujam had been bent over some documents but his eyes became sharp when he heard her words.     

"I will go to Shaurya now. You go and inform Saraswati about contacting Guruji. She is sleeping at the dispensary," he said brusquely.     

"And don't run. I don't want you to attract unwarranted attention to yourself this early in the morning. Do you understand?" he added, as she ran past him.     

Mriga turned and bowed her head in acknowledgement before going out of the room in measured steps. Ramanujam opened the trap door and stepped down on the nearly pitch-dark stairs.     

"How are you feeling?" Ramanujam asked quietly as he entered Shaurya's room.     

"It is a dancer. The dealer is a dancer…" Shaurya said urgently.     

"Let's begin from the beginning, shall we? Your mission was to follow a small businessman in the city, right?" started Ramanujam.     

Shaurya nodded slightly and replied in his hoarse voice, "Guruji had told me that this guy was suspected of being the newest linchpin for selling a newly developed drug in the capital. This drug is far more lethal and addictive than opium and is being sold in large quantities as a white powder. As I shadowed the guy over a period of a few days, he seemed to follow a set pattern. Home to shop, shop to brothel, brothel to home. It was a fairly aboveboard routine. There was no change in this schedule on any of the days so I figured that his network was operating in the shadow of one of these three establishments. I sent one of our girls as a maid to his house, and another to apply to his shop. As for the brothel, I started visiting there every evening, coinciding with the time that he was there," Shaurya paused to catch his breath.     

Drinking a sip of the water which Mriga had left by his side, he continued, "After speaking with the Madame there, I got to know that he had started taking keen interest in one of the new dancers who had joined a couple of months ago. I managed to catch the dancer alone two days ago and paid for a private performance by her."     

Ramanujam cut in, "This was the same night that you came back poisoned?"     

Sharuya nodded and continued, "I had the truth serum in my pocket, ready to be mixed in the alcohol which I would have made her drink at some point during the night. Things went downward from there."