“And where did you learn to be doctor?” he asked as she put a soothing paste on his injuries in the camp at night. Their progress in the battle over last two days had been great. The next morning was going to be decisive and they were sure of winning. She wore a soldier’s uniform and hovered around him like a bodyguard the entire day. More than once she had noticed a distant arrow coming his way and had countered it saving him from some major potential injuries. But she had one strict order from him, which she wouldn’t violate. She was to do everything from a chariot and it was a well protected chariot. “Save me when you can, but don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Not even once. I’d be very angry if that happened,” he had said. She hadn’t argued. Apart from everything else, it was a question of his reputation. If something happened to her in the battlefield, he’d have to answer the society all his life.

“Partly from overhearing our Raj-vaidya’s lessons to his son in Chandranagar palace. And partly from my friends in jungle,” she replied.

“So, when you weren’t roaming in the jungles, you went around overhearing people? Your father in the court, Raj-vaidya while teaching his son. What else?” he gave her an amused smile.

“Don’t make fun of me. Else I will leave you to the care of bitter medicines from our Raj-vaidya,” she pouted. She made to get away from him. But he held her hands and did not let her move.

“Chandrika. These medicines are not what are curing me really. It’s you, your presence.  With them I have tasted the elixir of life. Don’t take it away from me.” He sounded like a young, inexperienced man in first love, spouting cheesy lines. He was not that man, but it was his first love.

He may or may not be experienced in love, but she definitely wasn’t. It was enough to melt her heart. She stayed back and let him draw her closer to himself. He kissed her; she was giving in, when she remembered something and stepped back. “I am sorry, Priya. Not today.”

“Why not?” his voice was hoarse.

“According to the calculations, tonight, in fact for next five nights… it can lead to pregnancy.”

“And how on earth do you know that?”

“Overheard… Raj-vaidya,” she replied sheepishly.

“It can be calculated?”

“Yes. That’s how they tell you the shubha muhurta… Especially for niyoga… Or when one faces difficulty in conceiving.”

Bhumimitra guffawed, “I have to learn your overhearing skills, Queen Ma’am. You are a kshatriya, a Brahmin, a vaidya and God knows what else rolled into one. And all thanks to overhearing!”

She blushed and did not say anything.

“But don’t you want to get pregnant?” he asked somberly after a pause. You could never be sure with her. She might have a difficult-to-argue-against logic for that too.

“I do,” she assured him hastily, “But not until the battle is over. Not in this environment of violence.”

“Fair enough,” he conceded as usual, then added after a pause, “Devi. There is one thing I promise you today. No. Two things.”

“What are those?” she asked looking puzzled. Why promises all of the sudden?

“While it is too late to say that I will marry no one other than you. Because I already have. But I promise that I will not marry again in future….”

“Hold on, Sir. Think before promising such a thing. There might be political reasons.”

“I have thought it through, Devi. And I have realized that where there is a will, there is a way.”

Chandrika looked stunned. Did he really promise her that?

“Don’t look so incredulous Devi Chandrika. If Shri Rama Chandra could do it…”

“Please. Don’t compare yourself to him.”

“I won’t dare. He was Maryada Purushottam…”

“He didn’t trust his wife, even after knowing her for years. You trusted me from the beginning. I won’t want some Shri Rama Chandra as a husband. Comparing you to him is an injustice.”

It was Bhumimitra’s turn to look stunned. Then he smiled and shook his head. She won’t stop surprising him.

“I’m sorry,” she said timidly as she felt that she might have said too much, “I know he is supposed to be the epitome of manhood or whatever. I just think differently, you know…”

“Yes. You think differently and charmingly.”

“And God is kind to me. I have not been punished for it.”

“Why should you be?”

“Very early on in my life, Sir, as I roamed around in those jungles and dreamt of a life that was different from those around me, I had known that my dreams would never become reality. Because I wasn’t willing to rebel. I always felt that people apart from me would get affected. When I wasn’t willing to risk breaking the mold, how could I expect anyone else to do it for me? So, I lived with my dreams. And then one day, I learned that I was going to get married. I felt that I had lost my dreams as well. But you not only restored that dream for me, you broke all the molds to make them a reality. I might be irreverent Sir, but I am not selfish and ungrateful. You have my loyalty for life. You don’t need to do anything, make any promises to me.”

“What if I did something that broke your dream again?” he asked with a knowing smile.

“I’d know that there must a good reason for you to do that.”

“I don’t need to, but I still have another promise to make to you.”

“I am all ears.”

He held her hands before saying it, “Your son will be the crown prince of my kingdom.”

If the earlier promise had stunned her, this one shocked her. “How Sir? The eldest is supposed to…”

“As the king I am the right to select the crown prince based on merit. Pandu was declared the king even though he was not the eldest.” She had already debunked Ramayana. He waited and wondered if Mahabharata will meet the safe fate at her hands.

But her questions were in a different direction, “My son isn’t even born yet. How do you know if he would have the merit?”

“If you bring him up, he will have it.”

“Queens don’t get to bring up their children. There are nurses and maids…”

“You can. And you will. You are the queen. Nobody can question what a queen decides to do in the antahpur. And decisiveness is not something you lack.”

She grew emotional. She leaned towards him and rested her head on his chest. He put his arms around her gently.

“You have always been indulgent. Can I extract a third promise out of you tonight?”

“What do you want?”

“You won’t marry my daughters off without their consent.”

He smiled as if expecting it. “I promise!”

—

With the first attack of the day, the enemy troops camped at Raigarh were crushed for good. Then small groups were sent to the other nearby cities and kingdoms after extracting information from the prisoners of enemy camps. By afternoon, the news of victory came from everywhere the enemy was stationed.

“Where are you going?” Chandrika saw Bhumimitra changing and getting ready to go out.

“There are some prisoners that need my attention,” he replied. His tone was bitter. She realized he was talking about the two queens trapped in the now abandoned enemy camps.

“What punishment are you going to give to them?” she asked in a trembling voice.

“What punishment do you think they deserve?”

“Not death. Not homelessness.”

“Do you know who I am talking about?” he sounded annoyed.

“Queens Devamati and Shripriya.”

“Don’t call them queens. It’s an insult. And since when did you start condoning their conduct?”

“I am not condoning it. I just don’t condone violence either. If enemy tries to capture your home, it is unavoidable. But otherwise… I agree that they betrayed you. They were weak. You don’t need to accept them back. But they were also prisoners of the circumstances. In presence of Queen Padmaja, they could not accept their weakness and leave the palace. Should one be killed for being weak? Many weak men are allowed to live just fine. Why not women?”

“You are an exasperating woman, Chandrika.” The king looked perplexed. Why did she always have the right arguments ready?

“I… I am sorry. I didn’t mean to annoy you. It is your decision, Sir.”

“Will you come with me?” he asked.

“I shouldn’t… Having you to myself might be an impossible dream come true. But I had never wished such fate on any of the queens. Whether it was Maharani Padmaja, or the other two. My presence would look like I am taunting them. But if you want me to…”

“No. That’s fine. Stay here. I will deal with it. And after I come back, we will enter the city. There would be great fanfare, of course. You might want to have someone fetch your dresses and jewelry from the palace.”

“Yes Sir,” she would have liked to enter in a soldier’s uniform, but she decided not to argue. He was already annoyed.

—

The two queens fell on king’s feet when he went to them and begged to be forgiven. He spared their lives, but they were not to enter the city or the palace again. They would be given a place to stay far from the city. Until that was arranged they were to stay back in the camp.

Chandrika entered the city with Bhumimitra as the Maharani of Raigarh. The stories of her exploits, and how she was with the king at every step had already spread around. The cheers from the subjects refused to die.

After the celebrations, he asked Chandrika about their friends in jungle. “We should do something for them Devi Chandrika. And I need your guidance on what to do?”

“For most part, those people like to be left alone by the city dwellers,” she smiled, “But I will arrange for some suitable gift and go to them myself.”

“I will accompany you. Anything else?”

“Some of the youngsters, Sir, who helped us as messengers…”

“Yes?”

“They are fascinated with the idea of city life. Would you be willing to offer them some work?”

“Why not? They have already proved that they can be a useful part of the army. As messengers, and if they want to be trained, even as soldiers.”

“I will convey it to them.”

The next day, they performed the last rites of Queen Padmaja. The king looked sad. Theirs was the longest association. He was very affectionate towards her. “She wasn’t being forced,” he wondered aloud, “Why did she do that?”

“I didn’t understand it either. But feeling the way I do for you now,” replied Chandrika, “I won’t be surprised if I also embraced death in case something happened to you. But I would like to do it differently. In the battlefield beside you. Not without fighting back.”

That put a smile on his lips. “Can I extract a promise from you?”

“Anything, Sir.”

“If something does happen to me, and we are not in the battlefield for you to die while fighting, you won’t do this. You will live on.”

She thought for a moment; then nodded. “I promise!”

– The End –