Enemy's Woman

Chapter 42 - Ramnagaram

Shubhraj heard the latest news from his spy. It wasn't good. Shivaditya had escaped yet again. And instead of moving forward, he had backtracked towards Ramnagaram.

If he wasn't quick enough their secret would be out!

"What do we do now your highness?"

"Send a message to Ganpatrai of Ramnagaram immediately," Shubjraj said to the spy.

"We trusted you Shubhraj, but now we are not sure if we took the right decision." Vijayrao provincial leader of one of the territories said.

"What do you mean? Haven't I been trying everything possible to safeguard you, people! I even risked my life! went into exile for you."

"And what was the result of that? You failed to kill Shivaditya. You said you will do a coup and install your son as the king. Your son would be your puppet but we don't see that happening."

"My son would do as I say. I will send him the instructions when the time is right. For now, we need to ensure that our secret is not revealed. That is our main source of funding!"

"Hopefully my message will reach on time and Ganpatrao will take care," Shubhraj said.

****

The imperial army was moving towards Ramnagaram. Shivaditya observed the empty villages alongside the road. When he had left these villages were thriving will people. They were all empty now. He arrived in the ancient city of Kishkindha.

Kishkindha is an ancient city that dates back to the Ramayan age. As mentioned in the epic it was here that Hanuman met Lord Ram.

Shivaditya's arrival was already known to Ganpatrai. It was the Vassal state of the Chalukaya empire. A week back Shivaditya fought with the rebels who had occupied the city.

Killed all of them and given back the control to the Ganpatrai. As per the orders of Bhojraja, this was his mission - To flush out the rebels and establish control. Now he wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing.

The Palace of Kishkindha was huge and cut out from rocks.

The city looked normal as before. If there had been a massacre after he left there were no traces of it.

Shivaditya whispered something to Jayaraj who nodded and left in another direction with few of his select soldiers.

"Welcome your highness!" Ganpatrai said as Shivaditya reached the Palace entrance.

"Welcome to my humble abode. I am glad that you gave me a chance to serve you again after your earlier help."

Shivaditya smirked, "I wasn't expecting such a warm welcome. Seems like you were informed well in advance about my arrival. I wonder how?"

"Oh well! I came to know about it just today morning when you reached the state boundaries, your highness!"

"Really! that's interesting anyway, I am sure you would have already arranged accommodations and other things for my army."

He jumped off the horse and proceeded in " Make sure they are treated well."

Ganpatrai nodded nervously.

The royal guest room was quite comfortable and Shivaditya desperately needed some rest.

He threw off his armour while some servant girls rushed in to prepare a warm bath for him. All he had to do now was to wait for Jayaraj.

Shivditya woke up after hours to the sound of tinkling anklets and bangles. He opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by girls.

At first, he assumed they were maids. Sometimes maids/servants stayed in guest rooms to keep running the fan or to burn oil lamps.