How could everything have gone so wrong? He had believed he was doing the right thing when he chose her over the others.
How would it have gone had he not overheard her conversation with her maid all those years ago? A conversation that changed his mind regarding his choice of bride. A conversation that made him hope he had found someone who would be willing to accept him for who he was, warts and all.
* * *
Seven years ago… a few days before Veer was to present his choice to King Chandraketu
The Narmada was a normally calm river that flowed through the fertile lands of Amaravathi, giving its life-giving sustenance to many of the villages that dotted its banks.
However, where it emerged from the Dandakaranya, it was often swift and impulsive, raging between rocks and crashing over waterfalls.
It also dashed across the only road that cut through the Dandakaranya in intermittent floods. The road that connected the northern kingdoms to the south was important for the transport of essential supplies and many times was the only safe route for business.
During the war, Rajgarh was dependent on this road to get part of their war rations. While Amaravathi relied on this road to get assistance from the neighboring kingdom of Hoysyala.
A dam was built to restrain the exuberance of the Narmada. The only structure constructed with the cooperation of the two warring kingdoms. One bank belonged to Amaravathi, while the other was under the control of Rajgarh. With tacit agreement, no one was allowed to travel across the dam itself or use it for military purposes.
And while the dam protected the road from the occasional floods from the Narmada, it altered its course downstream and left several villages of Amaravathi without water. A temporary solution was reached, with the surrounding villages providing water for essential needs, but it meant their crops depended more on the weather and rainfall. It meant their women had to travel miles to get water.
With the end of war in sight, many people were eagerly awaiting the day the dam would be dismantled.
In the discussions of truce between the two kingdoms, the problem of the dam was a hotly debated topic. While both agreed to destroy the dam, both parties wanted the other kingdom to take the first step.
The subject ballooned, until it became a matter of pride and principle to wait until the other capitulated. The advisorsand courtiers who were part of the peace talks were unwilling to compromise, even if it was for the common good.
Veer walked along the timber logs that shored up the embankment on Rajgarh’s side of the river late one evening.
He was pondering about the meeting he had just finished with one of his father’s advisors and an emissary sent by Amaravathi. After many days of trying to escape the meeting, they had finally cornered him, and he was forced to present his choice of bride.
Shota was present there, too, and the faint pity in his friend’s eyes didn’t help.
Veer hated being forced to choose a wife, but he would never go against his father’s decree in a million years. He may drag his feet and prolong the choice as much as possible, but he couldn’t run forever.
The advisor and emissary had begun by extolling the virtues of each of the princesses of Amaravathi, and when Veer tried to dodge them, by saying he needed more time, they obliquely referenced the issue with the dam and how it was a pity it wasn’t going forward because the prince of Rajgarh was unable to make a choice.
Exasperated with their antics, Veer finally gave them a random name so they would leave him alone, then stormed out of the meeting to get some air. He hadn’t planned to head to the dam.
He waved off the guards standing sentry at the entrance of the dam bridge. Oftentimes, when he needed a quiet place to think, Veer would climb down from the bridge across the dam and sit on one of the huge logs that supported the wooden bridge.
It was cool there, under the shade of the bridge, with spray from the fast river and the turbulence drowning his chaoticthoughts. As an added bonus, he was hidden from everyone’s sight, so no one would bother him.
It was a pity, but today would be the last day he could enjoy the solitude here. The dam had existed for a long time, but tonight he planned to destroy the main supports that held it together on Rajgarh’s side. He hoped someone on Amaravathi’s side cared enough or got vexed enough, like him, to do the same.
But it didn’t matter. The dam had seen its last days, and if he had to sit through one more round of negotiations detailing its demise, heads were going to roll.
Veer cushioned his hands behind his head and leaned back against the log, preparing for a short nap, but the usual peace evaded him. He had the vague sense he had made the wrong choice earlier but couldn’t figure out why, and when he thought too deeply about the matter, he saw her face. The princess he had forced to stay with him that night. Chandrasena.
He found his mind dwelling too much on her, which was precisely why he didn’t name her as his preferred choice for wife. He liked her a bit too much, and he didn’t want to give the daughter of an enemy that much power over him.
Contrary to her fears about sullied reputations, his men were circumspect, and the news of her forced stay came out only as rumors instead of confirmation. Rumors that Amaravathi was quick enough to crush. Her honor was unscathed, and Veer got what he wanted—a reminder to King Chandraketu, to bring him down a peg or two, that his family was once at his mercy, and he had released them out of the goodness of his heart.
Veer didn’t likeRajaChandraketu. He thought he was too proud and too set in his dislike for people he considered different from them. He was polite in his words, but there was no denying he looked down on “foreigners” and considered them beneath his own prestigious background.
If his own father hadn’t more or less commanded him, Veer would have preferred not to do anything with him, but there was another meeting coming up in two days where Veer was going to officially ask King Chandraketu for one his daughters’ hand in marriage, cementing the bond between the kingdoms. All so the truce could proceed.
The restlessness returned and Veer sat up, thinking about leaving and coming back under the cover of night to finish his job.
But at that moment, he heard voices from the other side of the Narmada.
