Tale of the Princess

XXXV

After many divisams of planning and mapping and surveying, they put on their respective uniforms and put their heads together for one final roll call.

"Kaptaan," Shyra said, and Naor, clad in his military uniform- dark brown armor and blue dhoti, with a suitably decorated sword hanging from his waist- raised his hand.

"Sahaayak," she said next, and Ahsaan in his bottom level green dhoti and leather armor raised his hand.

"Driver," she continued, and Hira, wearing sturdy blue silk, raised her hand with a key dangling from her finger.

"And backup," she finished, raising her hand along with Arina.

"Alright, we've already gone through our plan, and our backup plans, so I hope everyone will remember them," Shyra said, putting her hand in for a last cheer. Everybody joined her with a muted victory cry, and set out towards their respective positions.

A short walk from their motel was the base, which was at its least security of the day. Shyra settled on the top of a tree and took out her binoculars, watching Naor and Ahsan make their way to the front of the camp. She saw them exchange a few words with the guards at the gate, her heart pounding in anticipation, until the guards parted and allowed them to enter.

From then it was an anxious game of waiting for them while Naor and Ahsaan snuck their way into the control room and got the moving coordinates of Arawn's lair.

From her earpiece, she could hear Naor and Ahsaan talking to various guards in a haughty, military voice that got quite a few feet moving for them. And when the voice didn't work, their impressive knowledge and pulling of the right strings did the trick. To her relief, she heard them enter a room and talk casually about Arawn's lair. As far as she could make out, they were able to talk about routine procedures without arousing suspicion, and when the base was set, Naor enquired about the current position of the asteroid.

"But sir..." a guard said in a confused tone. "The coordinates would have been sent to you through a code a few divisams ago, right?"

"Ah yes, I did receive the codes, but my Sahaayak here misplaced them," Naor said, and Shyra could imagine Naor giving Ahsaan a mean glare with those kohl-eyes of his.

"Rest assured that I searched thoroughly for the codes, and punished him sufficiently when I didn't find them. I requested for new codes as soon as I could, but the delay caused me to come here myself," Naor finished with an adequate self-importance in his tone. Shyra was amused to hear the way he fit into his role. But then perhaps this was similar enough to his actual position in his place.

"I understand, sir, but there are many procedures to follow before our codes are sent. We weren't intimated of your possible arrival, and I haven't even verified your identity..." Shyra heard the guard murmur. He was beginning to get nervous about being caught among high officials, which was exactly what Naor assured he would do.

"Oho," Naor exclaimed, and Shyra heard a small gasp from the guard. "Is it so hard to listen to your superiors? I've come here myself to ensure that my job is done properly, and guards as low as your level shouldn't be able to stop me from doing so."

He made sure to add suitable levels of anger and impatience into his voice, and Shyra imagined that his stance was matching his tone as well. Combined with the brooding look he usually wore and the intense black kohl he lined around his eyes, it would be more than sufficient to get the codes.

"I..." the guard murmured, and even from her treetop Shyra could sense his resolve breaking, and the instinct for self-protection overpower his role. "I'll give you your codes right away, sir."

"Good, was it so hard to do that?" Naor called to the guard's retreating back as a good measure, and Shyra bit back a laugh. He sure knew how to get things done as a leader. He would make a fine ruler someday.

The next few moments were ripe with tension as the gang waited on the sidelines for the guard to come back with the codes. "Sir, these are the codes," a voice finally said, and to her relief Shyra head a murmur of acknowledgement and the rustle of paper as Naor accepted the slip of codes.

"We'll be off now. Take care of the base well, and remain sharp," Naor said, his voice remaining even as he turned to go with Ahsaan. Now they just had to make it out of the base safely, which at this stage shouldn't be a big deal.

She heard them exiting the room, and was about to begin climbing down the tree when she heard someone calling them from behind. She froze in her position, as they must have, and listened breathlessly as Naor began a light, tensed conversation with someone who appeared to be an officer of high position.

"I need your identity proofs," the officer said, and there was a silence where Shyra knew Naor must be pulling out the fakes they had carefully forged. A brief rustle of leather later, the man's amused voice reached her.

"Do you know who I am, Sajjan?" the man asked. "Surely you must recognize me."

Shyra heard Naor's breathing accelerate ever so slightly, and she knew that this man was not on their list of important people he'd memorized.

"I'm sorry, Mahajan. I must have forgotten. With all the work and stress going around, it's been hard for me to keep track of faces and names," she heard Naor say, his tone clearly trying to diffuse and deflate the situation.

"Oh, but you should know me. Your batch was the first class that I ever taught. I remember that you guys even threw me a party when you graduating. I even have a portrait that one of your classmates drew of all of you for me to keep. And now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing your face anywhere."

Shyra's heart was about to thud out of her body, and he heard Naor take in a deep breath and let it out calmly before he yelled 'Run!' and all hell broke loose.

Scrambling down the tree as fast as she could, Shyra leapt to the floor and ran to the vehicle that Hira was going to drive. She jumped onto the backseat with a hurried go, go, go. Hira, having heard the conversation as well, took off without any questions to the camp, where Arina was waiting near the entrance as backup.

Through the earpiece, Shyra could hear sounds of weaponry as Naor and Ahsaan fought their way through the hordes of guards to get to the exit.

"Ladies," Shyra said, pulling out her own sword. "They saved us when we needed them the most. I'd say it's time to repay the favor."

"I thought you'd never ask," Arina replied as she and Hira pulled out their own weapons. "Let's take them down?"

Shyra responded with a battle cry as they ran into the foray with their weapons raised high.