Hastinapur Quest

2019 AD

"I'm fed up of you Sid, now I won't stay in this relationship; just get out and leave me and Rohit alone." -said Sunita irritatingly and dropped my gift on ground.

"I'm out; enjoy your life." —said I and picked the gift back from the dirty road. I looked at the impression less face of Sunita and left.

The dull and foggy morning of Will City was a bit sad, all my efforts to patch up with Sunita have failed the charismatic Rohit was everything now for her. My six-month tour to the USA changed everything. This time period was enough for Sunita to forget me and develop a new relationship with Rohit; her fellow commuter.

It was a little Soddy on Max avenue, so I decided to use this road to go to Parking area of Metro railway station.

"What ha ya got in that wee sack?" —one of the four boys who appeared from the fog said to me.

"Nothing ruffians, just be on your way." —said I and increased my pace towards the parking.

"Give that packet and all your money......hurry goffer otherwise you'll be beaten like pulp." -said one of the four boys.

I knew those boys were capable of extreme violence so I handed them my valet but I had no plan to give them the ancient dagger which I bought for Sunita.

"Hurry bum give it fast." —said one of them and tried to snatch the packet from me.

"You ain't getting it so easy lads........" —said I and ran towards the parking.

The ruffians were also running behind me, suddenly a half brick hit my head and I fell back, before losing my senses the last thing I saw was the ruffians who were snatching the dagger from me.

3139 BC

"Come with me you bloody low born; you are very proud of your power, the king has a job for you, he wants you in his court right now." —said the man clad in royal attire.

Yesterday a local feud kicked a kid girl while riding through the streets of Devdurg. It was enough for me I pulled him from his horse and thrashed him. Result; the royal guards arrested me and I was awarded the death sentence for attacking a royal man.

"Now move your lazy bulk fast the king doesn't have all the day for people like you." —said the royal guard with disgust.

"So, you think you can fight with royal people?" —asked the king of Devdurg.

I said nothing.

"Speak you lewd creature when the king ask something." —said one of the ministers of the king.

"Yes, I can..." —answered I briefly.

"So, you need to guard a royal convoy which is going to Dharampur with my youngest daughter." -said the king and dismissed me.

The convoy consisted of five royal guards, a palanquin and four palanquin bearers. The convoy left the royal city early in the morning. It was surprising for me that none of the royal family members came to bade bye to the princess.

Cowardice Act

By the noon the convoy was deep in the adjacent jungle. The wild creatures were roaming here and there. The supercilious royal guards were infuriated to accept me their leader, one of them even warned me to keep distance as they didn't want to see me near them.

When we crossed the jungle, it was almost night and no human habitat was in sight.

Soon the guards selected an open field and decided to spend the night there.

"Hey you low born, go give the food and water to the princess......" —ordered one of the royal guards.

"Beware I'm the leader of this convoy......." —warned I.

"To the hell, your leadership......just fetch the food to the princess, you are just worthy of this kind of job.

I wonder why didn't they give food and water to the princess all day and my human instinct guided me to take the food and water to the princess.

I took some fruits and cooked salted rice in a plate and took it to the princess. Instead of saying anything I just inserted the food plate and water mug inside the palanquin.

I also took some fruits and lay down on the rough ground.

"Do we need to act now?" —I heard saying one of the guards.

"No, in the midnight." —answered the one who was supposedly their leader.

What were they up to; I wondered? But it was sure that they were planning to do something in the mid of the night.

My curiosity didn't let me sleep and I pretend to be asleep. Just after midnight two guards darted at the sleeping palanquin bearers, two came running towards me with their swords and the leader of them ran towards the palanquin.

I just didn't understand but all I knew I had to save the princess. The guards attacked at me I jumped up and retaliated. The guards underestimated me, they took deep wounds from my sword and fell on the ground. In the meantime, the guard had taken the princess out of the palanquin, he was about to stab her but I took him by surprise and stabbed him. Now it was turn to save the palanquin bearers, by the time I reached to them they had been slain by the guards. The royal guards were astonished to see me retaliating they tried to escape but I darted at them and cut their heads.

The blood of the guards was all over me. I went to the princess who was sitting on the ground now.

"What the hell did you do young men...?" —asked the princess in her sweet but sad voice.

"They were about to massacre us all......" —I replied briefly.

"They were doing what they were told to do." —said the princess.

"Meaning, you knew that it was going to happen, they were also about to kill you." —said I.

"This convoy was meant to be slain, and a backup troop will be here soon to see if the previous one was successful or not." —informed the princess.

"Means they are coming to slay you...." —asked I.

"Yes......" —said she.

"Want to save your life?" —asked I.

"No just save yours and run from here." —said she.

"As you wish." —said I and looked at the innocent face of the princess.

I ran for a few hundred yards then I thought about the princess who was being slain for the reason she certainly knew. But my human instinct stopped me and I ran back to see if the princess was all right.

The sight at the plane was bizarre, the princess was on the ground and a burly man was trying to rape her. Four other armed men were there who had turned their faces from the princess. I was disgusted to see this heinous act and darted at that man like a hungry hawk. No one expected this I cut his thick neck just in one powerful blow of my sword. I kicked away the body of that man from the princess and looked at the other guards who were ready to attack.

"Want to save yourself? If yes just go back and save your life." —warned I.

The coward guards left with their faces down.

"What was all that princess?" —asked I looking at the sobbing princess.

"They were meant to slay me not to rape me...." —said the princess with her broken voice.

"Why are you so eager to be slain?" —asked I.

"We are a weak state and the King of Dharampur who is of the age of my father wants to marry me. My father cannot disobey him and he cannot even give away his dear daughter to an immoral king, that is why he decided to........" —she stopped like she did break an oath.

"Do you still want to stay here to be slain?" —asked I.

"No.....but where could we go? There is no safe place for us now, the king of Dharmpur will certainly send his men to find me." —said she.

"There is a safe place I think." —said I.

"No there is no safe place." —said she.

"We shall go to Hastinapur where great emperor Yudhisthir rule, there is no inequalities in his rule, all human beings are treated equally, he'll not let any king of Dharmpur marry you against your wishes. All the kings of Bhartvrsha are the feuds of his empire, they cannot disobey him." —said I.

"How do you know it all and who are you?" —asked she.

"I'm an ordinary human being name Suketu, I'm a lowborn and in the quest of finding the great kingdom of Hastinapur I'm travelling eastward." —said I.

"Will you take me to that great place...." —said she with a hope in her eyes.

"Sure, let's go." —said I but a sound of running horses startled us.

"Run Suketu, it seems the troop of Dharmpur has found us...." —said the princes running with me.

End Of The Quest

We couldn't run far and a troop consisted of twenty soldiers started chasing us.

"Do you know this is the proud moment of my life, I'm running with a man of honour." —said she holding my hand.

I reluctantly held her hand and ran. To my surprise, there was a horse grazing out there and I knew how to handle such a wild horse. I whispered to the princes and in a single hop I was on the horseback and with a little effort, the princess was also on the horseback. I held the horse by its neck fur and kicked it. Within seconds the wild horse was running loose and the chaser was left behind.

"What a good horse and you are handling it without any rein." —said the princess holding my shirt cloth and keeping the necessary distance.

"If the luck favored us we'll be in Hastinapur by the dawn." —said I but the painful scream of the princess startled me. Before I could realize anything the limp body of the princess fell from the horse. I stopped the horse and ran towards the princes, took her in my arms. There was a big dagger stabbed in her back. I pulled out the dagger.

"My journey is over Suketu, I'm happy I'm dying in the arms of my savior." —said the princess.

"Don't talk like that o princess, I'll take you to a medicine man, you'll be okay." —said I with my wet eyes.

"No, dear Suketu, see you in another life." —said the princess and her neck fell back. She was dead.

Meanwhile, the horsemen have surrounded us.

"So, you lowborn dared to elope with my bride." —said an aged man getting down from his horse.

"You killed this innocent girl; her death will be avenged......" —said I and darted at that man with that dagger in my hand.

The dagger went swiftly in the chest of that aged man, but his armor saved him. I tried to stab him in his neck but a number of spears thrown by the soldiers pierced my body. I fell down and looked at the princess last time soon the there was darkness all over.

Present

The moments of death brought me to the present. I saw all the ruffians had run away and policeman helped me to get up.

"Who were those men?" —asked the policeman.

"Thugs...." —said I.

"Wanna complain?" —asked the policeman.

"No.........waste of time." —said I and moved forward towards the parking.

"Hey mister you are forgetting something...." —said the policeman holding that dagger in his hand.

"Oh, I just forgot her...." —said I.

"What do you do with this dagger, cut people throats?" —asked the policeman giving the dagger back to me.

"No...just bought it to present a friend....." —said I taking back the dagger.

I looked at the Mahabharata period dagger as told by the ancient article seller, which took me to that period and forced me to think about the princes and Suketu. Who were those people? There is no history of those people they came silently played their roles and left silently.