CoS 24- DOSTI

And after a few minutes I was in the warriors’ world. All was same yet different. Ajabde had realized that her dream that she had dared to dream can come true. She decided to atleast know whether he loves her or not. She made her mind to be close to him. She knew that every time she spent time with him she felt happy. She would be lost in him every time. Her thought were broken by the knock at the door.

Kaun??

Hum Phool Kanwar

Rajkumari aayiye andar aayiye

Ji

Ajabde could not believe that a princess that too a one who was such a beauty freak came to her room but her doubt was for what.

Ajabde…hai apka naam??

Ji Rajkumari

Ajabde jaise aap janti hai ki hume yaha kuch mahine rukhna padega kyu ki Marwar mein yudh chal raha hai…humara yaha koi nahi hai…aur humne suna hai kahi logo se ki Ajabde bahut acchi hai…aur isliye hum chahte hai ki hum apse dosti karen

Aap humse dosti

Haan Ajabde

Nahi nahi rajkumari…yeh koi guna ho jayega

Ajabde kuch nahi hoga…waise bhi yeh humari iccha hai

Thik hai rajkumari jaise aap chahe

Ek kshan…agar aap humari mitra hue toh aapko hume humare naam se pukarna padega

Kya??

Haan aur ab se ap hume phool kehkar pukarengi

Nahi nahi

Haan haan

And she left the room. Ajabde had one more person in her group along with Saubhagyawati. Now all the three grew very close.

Pratap meanwhile made plans to impress Ajabde but the Marwar war brought war to Mewar also. Without any information the borders of Bijolia were attacked when Pratap had gone to the mela in the city for buying something for his Ajabde.

Rao Mamrak reached the border where Mahmood Khan had attacked from Akbar’s side. Ajabde had no idea on what to do…all the responsibilities were left on her by her father. She had to take care of the queen of Mewar also.

Meanwhile under urgent notice from Rao Mamrak, Rana Udai Singh too reached from Kherwa to the battle field but was surprised to not to find Pratap. Pratap still was not aware of this. In the mela also plans were going on to kill the young prince.

Phool’s dance teacher was involved in all this, she was a vishkanya who was waiting for a chance to hiss on Pratap with her two forked tongue. Nobody knew about this. All that everybody knew and believed was that she was sent from Marwar for teaching Phool dance.

Ajabde got an idea and quickly tied her dupatta to Sarang and sent it to the mela. Sarang was a cleaver horse who could identify who his master was. Ajabde this side evacuated all the ladies and took them to the safety underground room. There was Jaiwanta Bai, Hansa Bai, Phool, Saubhagyawati and her. All the dasis were sent through the secret passage to the village.

Everybody held their breathe in the underground chamber while Ajabde constantly prayed that Pratap get the message and that the war was over. Ladies were quite scared but Jaiwanta Bai encouraged them all by saying all the men are there who would take care of the enemies.

Pratap receives the message and understands from the torn dupatta that something was wrong in the palace. Meanwhile the other conspirators plan, Gauhar Jaan, the dance teacher shoots an arrow on Pratap after having it coated with her venom. He rushes out therefore the arrow does not even touch him.

He had to pass the battle field to reach the palace to know what was wrong with the people in the palace. In the battlefield, in both the sides, all are fighting equally. Mewar has lesser army comparatively but they are fighting with courage and valor to protect their motherland from the invaders.

Pratap passes by the arena when the clashes of swords pull him there. Seeing the Mewari soldiers, he understands and estimates that there had been a sudden surprise attack on Bijolia and surely it was Ajabde who sent him the message to make him aware of this war.

He jumps in the pool of blood to fight. What Mahmood Shah had dreaded of had happened. According to him Pratap was to be dead but the plan misfired and he was caught in his own trap. A fellow with one arm and one eye wanted to flee but the faces of his family forced him to stay there.

Akbar had called Mahmood Shah for negotiation which led to the conclusion that Mahmood Shah will lead a piece of army to fight with Mewar. But again the negotiations took a new turn as it was believed to be impossible to win over Mewar when the crown prince was alive. Thus it was decided that Pratap would be killed and Mahmood Shah would attack on Bijolia, the current location of Pratap’s stay.

When Pratap’s death looked impossible, Mahmood Shah decided to back out of the plan. Akbar had known this already and had captured Mahmood Shah’s family. It was decided that if Mahmood Shah does not participate and flee from the battle ground his family would be killed and quartered into pieces.

This sole reason held Mahmood Shah in the war after Pratap’s arrival. The reason why he did not want Pratap to see him was his promise which Pratap had taken in the previous war with him. It stated that Pratap would chop Mahmood Shah’s other arm and his eyes if his dares to touch his sword and if necessary he would cut his legs also for stepping into Pratap’s sacred motherland.

Pratap was quite furious and killed most of the soldiers single handedly. Seeing his father and Rao Mamrak there relieved him but again he got tensed of the fact that there was no one to protect the ladies especially his mother and Ajabde.

He left the war to the other men there and rushed to the palace with Sarang flying him. He reached to find a huge battalion standing in front of the gate trying to break the huge closed and bolted main door.

He went inside the palace through the tunnel, a secret passage known only to him and Rao Mamrak. As he reached the place only things were seen. He could not see a shadow. Only thing he knew was that the ladies were hiding somewhere.

He remembered while talking about the wars Rao Mamrak had mentioned some underground protection chamber for the ladies. He ran towards the place to find all the ladies sitting in the dark with their faces filled with droplets of fear.

Ajabde was missing; she was not to be seen there. As soon as the ladies saw him there were sure that they were safe, now not even an insect could harm them. A life came into all of them.

Ajabde…kaha hai mousi??

Veh…humse toh yeh keh gayi ki turanth lautegi

Kya??

Haan Kunwar Pratap…humne pucha toh kaha ki woh kisi mahatwapurn karya ke liye kahi jaa rahi hai…humne socha ki jhokra gayi hogi yudh ke mahol ko dekhne

And Pratap left to find the missing Ajabde.

The book left me back in my room. By the time it takes me back I had my lunch and sat waiting for the book to carry me back to know the Ajabde’s mystery.