The Rise of a King - A short story

My name is Abimanyu

My name is Abimanyu. I’m young, agile and poor and I belong to the kingdom Vidharbha. My father was a soldier when he was young but as he became injured, he later became a blacksmith, now he makes swords for our soldiers .I’m an adopted son, but was never treated like one. Im a guard at the palace and Im madly in love with the maiden I guard, our princess. Only an insane fool would dare to love a princess, but then I’m one such insane fool. Adithi‘s features are that of a goddess, making anyone succumb with awe; beauty being her synonym; a glance at me and her eyes seemed to suck everything out. My heart pounded each time she crossed me and my words scrambled whenever I had to reply to her commands. All in all, I was in love with Adithi and crazily so.  

  

My father had a small store house where he kept his finished swords and this store house was my battlefield, and my only enemy was my friend Ajay who was a soldier. I always dreamt of becoming a soldier but my father didn’t allow me to as he didn’t want me to get injured like him. But I loved fighting; Ajay and I dueled with each other till our hands could no longer lift a sword. All this was just for a hobby but I enjoyed it, fighting was fun and the sword, my Barbie. Our neighboring kingdom was Mathura , our arch rival ; our countries had been fighting for more than 3 decades and right from our childhood we were taught to hate Mathura.

Im called Yaksha

Im called the great Yaksha, commander of the army of Mathura. Im a great warrior, the best in the world. Killing is my passion and to rule my kingdom is my ambition but regretfully im not the heir to the throne nor there is any prince. According to our kingdom’s codes, the heir to the throne must possess a dragon tattoo in his arm; this dragon tattoo is imprinted on the new born princes; who are destined to become kings later. Though I don’t possess this nonsense in my arm as I wasn’t born in the royal family, I will in future somehow take over the kingdom.

Our neighboring kingdom Vidharbha has been our first enemy for a long time. The war seems to have no end at all. Whenever there is a battle there is a lot of blood and killings. Abductions are also common; invariably children, women and men are taken to be used for different purposes as slaves. During one such battle , the royal family was burned alive and hence the absence of any heirs; but the king was saved with injuries , he has grown old and useless now. This worthless king now wants peace, which I hate the most. It’s time we destroyed those bastards.

Im princess Adithi

The sun had not yet come out when one of the slave girls woke me up. Today is an auspicious day; I have to offer my prayers to the gods. The slaves helped me to bath and I wore my jewels one by one and then admired my beauty for sometime in the mirror. Satisfied with myself I strolled outside, my guards stood ready to escort me to the temple and there in the end Abimanyu stood gazing at me as though he had never seen me before. He had this expression with him always making him different from the other guards I had. I knew for certain it was not fear.

The temple was far away from the palace, so it took us some time to reach there. I got down from the chariot and walked towards the deity hall when a thorn pricked me on the sole. I gave a small scream and the slave girls rushed to me. One of them shouted “someone fetch a medicinal plant”; from the corner of the eye I could see Abimanyu rushing away. Suddenly across the temple a group of men in horses rode towards me at a ferocious pace, I knew something was wrong. A guard shouted, “its Yaksha, commander of Mathura”. Quickly my guards formed a circle around me,                 but It was a child’s play for Yaksha with two strokes he broke through the guards and grabbed me.

I screamed and twitched in vain, as he lifted me like a doll and shoved me onto his monstrous shoulders. Now only one can save me,     Abimanyu. I grouped all my energy, at the top of my voice I bellowed, ABIMANYUU.                                          

 Far away , among the bushes a small figure came scampering, with desperation I murmured “save me Abimanyu” and then fell unconscious.

Im Shikhar

Im Shikhar, a soldier under Yaksha. Yaksha carried the princess to his chariot and I closely followed him and got on my horse, waiting for my commander’s order. But he seemed to be in another world. I could tell, he was awestruck by her beauty, he slowly ran his fingers through her beautiful hair. Suddenly I heard heavy footsteps, turning back I found one of their guards scampering towards us. “ Commander Yaksha……… Commander Yaksha….. there is an enemy “; “ Kill him”, he grunted back.

Five of us proceeded with our swords. I quickly recognized this was a new guard, didn’t face him in the temple.” New or old I’m going to kill him” , I said to myself. I ran with fury. With a flurry of clashes he pushed all of us down. His motions were fluid, eyes of a hawk, strength of a lion, as brave as gokul. And in his eyes I could see there was desperation, he would go to any extent to save Adithi. As the 5 of us tried to keep him away from the chariot, Yaksha jumped out and pulled his bow. The arrow struck him on the ribs. He fell down writhing in pain. “we cant waste anymore time, lets go” , Yaksha bellowed.

I, Abimanyu

I staggered to get up. The enemies were long gone. I had to do something, I have to save my princess, my love. The arrow hadn’t got very deep; with an agonizing cry I pulled it out and whistled for my horse. It came at once and I was in pursuit of my love.

I slowly sneaked through their kingdom as a traveler. I struck one of their soldiers who was alone and changed my dress. I hurried into the palace searching for Adithi. Two guards stood outside the room, it was now or never. I took out my sword and before they could react, with two strokes, their throats were bleeding. I found Adithi in the corner of the room, her face brightened as soon as she saw me. “I knew you would come Abimanyu”, she said. I couldn’t stop smiling and blushed. “You risked your life for me, but why….. is it because im your princess”      

“No….” , I mumbled. “ I know you love me Abimanyu, it doesn’t matter that you’re….”

I heard heavy footsteps, didn’t want her to stop but I had no choice;  “Adithi we have to leave”. I let out my hand and she grasped it at once. My nerves shivered with joy but there was no time for romance now. I quickly took out my sword and looked for a escape, before which 6 soldiers came to prevent us. I gently pushed Adithi away and attacked them with rage, more soldiers came pouring in. I could no longer hold on, I surrendered in dismay as they took Adithi , my love away.

I knew death was inevitable now, that didn’t pain me much; I couldn’t save Adithi, which hurt me more. I was tied to a pole with my hands outstretched. 5 archers stood a few feet away ready to impinge their arrows on me. The crowd cheered and jeered, it was fun for them. The first archer let his arrow; it missed my neck by a few inches. The crowd booed. The second arrow tore my shirt in my arm. The crowd went to silence. They started to talk with themselves and one by one they began to bow at me. All were startled with something on my arm, ……………………….a black dragon stood with pride.

The author:

Abimanyu had no clue what that black dragon meant, but to the people of Mathura, they had found their prince, the heir to the throne. During that old battle when the royal family of Mathura was burned alive, not only the king was saved but prince Abimanyu was too saved by a servant. But the servant grew greedy and took all the jewels from the small prince and afraid of being caught he put the prince far away from the palace, thus Abimanyu (prince) was assumed dead. A soldier from Vidharbha then found him, pitied and adopted him as his own son and took him to his homeland.

I,Yaksha

My head seemed to spin in all directions, didn’t expect such a thing. The heir to the throne has arrived. It isn’t safe for me here anymore. I quickly sent two of my men to kill the king. I wanted both my kingdom and Adithi, I will get them no matter what comes in my way. I forced Adithi into my chariot and we rode to Vidharbha.

Vidharbha was my enemy, but in the present situation it was a potent ally. I held a private meeting with the king, “ im Yaksha, commander of Mathura, but now I want to turn against my kingdom, ill tell you all the secrets of our country. In return you must give me your daughter and make me king of Mathura”. The king thought for a moment and slowly a smile curled upon his lips. I could guess what he was thinking; Mathura had been a headache for them for many years, now was the chance to set it all right.

Im king Abimanyu

My father, our king was killed before I could save him. I quickly grouped all my ministers,” Though I was not brought up here , my blood belongs here, and I want to avenge my father’s murder. It’s time we attacked Vidharbha or they will attack us anyway. Yaksha knows all the secrets of our country, but there is one secret he doesn’t know about and that’s me”.i had to save Adithi in any case, I could not let her down, not after becoming a king.  “Prepare the men, we attack Vidharbha at dawn”.

At dawn we marched towards Vidharbha. We lined up ready for the battle, infront of us stood rows of Vidharbha’s soldiers led by Yaksha.  I gulped and shouted ,” For our Mighty King,  For Mathura ,  Attackkk “. As my horse slithered forward, a guilty feeling surged inside me. I was attacking the nation which adopted me.. which made me a man. My only enemy here is Yaksha, im going to kill no one else. I passed through the layers of soldiers, defending myself from any attacks with the easy swaying of my sword. Suddenly I met an unexpected person, it was Ajay.  

I became motionless not knowing what to do. But Ajay attacked me with rage, I fell down from my horse. “ Ajay, you are my friend, I don’t want to harm you”  while he said,” my country comes first than anything”. I regrouped myself and struck blow by blow. At last I pushed him down and ran to kill Yaksha. If this war has to come to an end, I have to kill him. Far in the centre Yaksha stood with his teeth clenched. As I came closer I realized I was no match for him, he was a giant. But I didn’t deter, attacked him as hard as I could , he didn’t flinch. With a kick in the ribs, I fell a foot away, he proceeded towards me to give the fatal blow when another sword clashed with his and pushed him aside. It was Ajay , “ what happened to your country now”, I mumbled. “ country is insignificant when compared to the whole world, you are my world Abimanyu”.    “ Nanbaen da” , I exclaimed. “ now finish that beast”, he screamed.

I got up and with renewed energy struck Yaksha, I focused all my energy on my sword . we dueled each other with a flury of blows and at last with with a deadly blow, I killed Yaksha. As soon as he was killed the soldiers started to scramble, fear got to them, they retreated to the palace. I commanded my soldiers to keep their positions. I along with a few of my ministers got into the palace for peace talks. The king had no choice but to accept. He also agreed to marry his daughter to me. Finally the wars between the two nations came to an end.

I want to meet Adithi in her chamber. She smiled as she saw me, “I love you, Abimanyu , king Abimanyu”. I smiled back,” call me just Abimanyu”. I moved closer to her , I put my arms around her slender waist and kissed her softly and then….. they happily lived ever after.