Day 1 Contd...(2)

Arena, Chandragarh

Abhirath was about to follow them when Chiranjeev put his hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

"I think we can afford to take a little risk here. I am fairly confident of Mriga's performance in this round. Also, this is the first stage. She needs to believe in her own decision making more than anything else. Since the probability of her succeeding is high at this stage, I don't see why we can't let her do it the way she wants to. Receiving validation help Mriga face the upcoming obstacles more confidently."

"I will go and see that the two of them don't land into any trouble," Nirbhay said and turned in the same direction as Mriga and Vandit.

Yash pulled out the scroll from his pocket and told Abhirath, "Should we go and see the performance of the rest of the potential competition? I want to make notes on their strength and weaknesses."

"Sigh! That leaves me with the duty of guarding equipment again. I swear I will go deaf before the event is over. How much can people talk?" Chiranjeev looked morose as he walked off.

"I am not sure if I can eat something. My stomach feels as if someone stuffed blankets and pillows in there. In fact, I can barely breathe," Mriga confessed to Vandit.

He nodded in sympathy and said, "Let's get you an orange crush then. The drink can trickle past all that linen."

She elbowed him for making fun of her.

"For someone who has a big event today, you seem awfully relaxed. Lucky!" Vindhya's voice broke their happy squabble.

She, along with a few other girls, was sitting on one of the tables and had a condescending expression on her face. After seeing the acts of the next few girls after her, Vindhya knew that she had aced this stage already.

"Don't blame her, Vindhya. After seeing your amazing performance earlier today, I think most people would want to pack their bags and go back to the campus. And this one looks to be a junior, who just joined the race couple of months ago," said one of the minions.

"Are you aware that the qualifying chance of each contestant is fifty percent. That means out of every two participants, one would make it the next stage. I am sure that our friend here would find at least one person to beat with her capability," Nirbhay sauntered in and spoke to no one in particular.

Nirbhay's way of talking threw the girls' expressions into confusion. Was he praising Mrignayani or criticising her?

"And you two, if you are done, let's go. We have to, ahem, prepare for that thing," he addressed an amused looking Vandit and Mriga.

Same time, Himprayag

"Greetings, Princess Ahilya. I come bearing some good news. I just got the letter from Chandragarh. Prince Mithilesh's lucrative financial proposal has been rejected by our queen. This is her way of showing her approval of your candidacy. I am sure you will hear about it officially soon enough," this was the first thing which Bela said to the princess as the latter came to where Bela was standing.

As per the instructions given last evening, Bela and Shaurya were here to show his capability.

"So, where is your son?" Ahilya asked Bela.

Ahilya didn't acknowledge Bela's comment about Prince Mithilesh. Shaurya's cocky attitude from the previous night seemed to have created a bad impact if Ahilya's stormy face was anything to go by.

To make it worse, Gayatri was nowhere to be seen this morning. Bela had never met Ahilya without Gayatri being present. It was a bad sign. After the last night's surprise visitor, Bela and Shaurya had done a long brainstorming session, wondering how to tackle both the fronts. They agreed on the fact that Ahilya won't be satisfied till either Shaurya was thoroughly humiliated in front of her or proved his worth in her eyes without any doubt. The question was which method to choose. Ultimately Shaurya convinced her to go his way.

"My son is here on this field. He asked me to tell you that this is his way of displaying his skill. He has requested you to find him in the next half hour," Bela bowed her head politely as she said this.

She looked up in trepidation to gauge the princess's reaction. They had taken a big gamble with this strategy and Bela really hoped that it wouldn't backfire on them.

Surprise was clearly evident on Ahilya's face. The ground was a flat surface with snow covering it. Apart from behind the wooden fence line, there was nowhere to hide. Was he expecting her to play hide and seek with him? Had he actually come up something so stupid? All she needed to do was take a round of the field and she would find him. A part of her was flared up with his insolence to come up with such a childish play but then she thought back to what had happened the previous evening.

He had managed to find out something which as per Gayatri's claims, no one knew about. So, could today be a trick as well?

"Challenge accepted. You be the timekeeper. Ah, and if your son loses, both you and he can go back to Chandragarh and ask the queen to send someone else to negotiate on her behalf. Understood?" she told this to Bela haughtily.

Clearing her throat, Bela spoke humbly, "And if he manages to win today, does that mean you will cooperate with us?"

Ahilya's nostrils flared and she snorted before taking off. Bela saw her stomping away, her feet crushing the snow under her boots. Now, it was a matter of wait and watch. She couldn't do anything else except pray.

Shaurya had never experienced this kind of cold ever before in his life. He couldn't feel his face anymore and thought that if he dared touch his nose, it would just fall off his face!