Chapter 2
The morning had arrived after the tremendous storm last night. Luckily, there wasn't much loss. The market was open, and the rustling and bustling began as usual.
"Do you know, the prince has found a new animal? I've heard that its a big one this time." One man, in a banquet said. Others made surprised expressions.
The news in the market was spreading, that there was a giant animal in the prince's mansion.
"How do you know?" One man sitting at the corner of the banquet asked.
"My nephew is a servant at his highness's mansion. He saw that animal with his own eyes." The former man replied.
On the other side, in the crowned prince's room, it was a chaos. There was food and water splattered on the floor, clothes everywhere, the prince standing on the bed with Angad as his shield, Ridhi and Sita hugging each other while sitting at the corner of the room. The new animal was throwing everything away at them, that was being offered to him. Be it food, clothes or water. He was a really aggressive kind of "animal."
"Your highness! I think we brought a crazy person here!" Angad shouted.
"Whatever happened, happened! How to deal with this now?" Kuber screamed back.
"How'd I know, your highness?" Angad shouted back while blocking things that were being thrown onto him by the ''animal."
They had to wait, until everything was thrown, and there was nothing near around the man to throw anymore. He finally stopped, helplessly. Angad jumped off the bed and helped his prince to do so too. Ridhi and Sita got up too, fixing each other's clothes and hair. They all could finally breath in relief. Prince's hair, clothes and accessories were fixed too.
Kuber sighed, "You almost took my soul away." He said calmly as he walked towards the crazy man, "Why are you so aggressive?" He questioned.
"Let me go!" The man replied. His voice resembled that of a bear. He was still trying to reach the lamp beside him to throw it towards Kuber. That's when Kuber realized that something was not right with him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach the lamp.
"Why cant' he move forward?" Kuber thought.
The royal doctor, Dhanush was called again. When he entered the room, he almost fell because of the splattered water on the floor.
"Your highness, you really need to get your room cleaned as soon as possible." Dhanush said and sighed looking at the condition of that room.
"I know." Kuber sighed in pain. Since childhood, he was always provided cleanliness around him. That became the very first time he was seeing his enviornment like that. He was choking inside, but because of the new guest in his room, he was tolerating it. Deep inside, he was screaming for help. The room really was in a mess.
When Dhanush was trying to approach the man, he wasn't letiting him do so. In the end, seeing no other option, Kuber had to ask his soldiers to tie him. The soldiers were none other than the senior soldier Nakshatra, and a junior soldier Avadh, who was being trained under him at that time.
The man was taken under control, finally. But only his body was controlled, not his mouth. He kept abusing Kuber and others by threatening them.
"If you don't le me go, I'll kill you all. I wouldn't spare anyone of you! Dare to come at me and i'll show you! Come on! Why are you tying me? Afraid or what?" The man said fearlessely.
Everyone in that room were not scared, they were rather surprised. They had never even imagined of someone saying those words. They were shocked to see someone speak like that in their country.
"Your highness, I'm sure if his majesty sees or hears this..." Angad mumbled to Kuber. Kuber, frozen in his place, gulped in fear of his father. He requested Dhanush to do something as fast as he could.
A fainting pill was forcibly pushed down the man's throat. Surprisingly, he didn't faint. He just got a little weak. The shocking fact was that Dhanush's fainting pills were famous among outer countries as well. His pills were popular by the name 'stairs to heaven' because they were so strong, that after taking even half of them, the consumer would not wake up till a week or even more. They were only given in conditions when the patient was extremely out of control.
"Why don't you give him one more pill?" Kuber asked.
"Your highess, he has already been given three. If I give him one more, he will have risk of dying. So what if he's not unconcious, at least he is calm now."
"Untie...me..." The mumbling words could still be heard from the man's mouth.
"Such tolerance! I'm sure he's come from the martial arts world." Dhanush thought and started examining his condition.
Until the examination was done, Kuber was outside with his maids and guard to take some fresh air. Whole night, the four of them hadn't sleep. Kuber was ready to sleep anytime now. Angad, being the personal guard of the prince, and the student and son of the weapon master of the country, still had some tolerance. Ridhi and Sita had already fallen asleep while standing.
"I can't anymore! I want to take bath!" Kuber shouted.
"Your highness, go if you want to. Take a bath, and a nap too. I'll infrom you when the royal doctor is done." Angad said and smiled.
"No! What if he's done just short after?" Kuber replied.
"Then what? He isn't running away anywhere."
"I guess I'll just wait for some more time----"
"You don't need to, your highness." Saying this, Dhanush walked out of the room. He was there to call them inside. They went in, and he explained them the whole situation.
"So, basically. Before fighting a predator, this man fought with humans. It must have been something very tragic, because now it seems, he's lost his memory. He isn't able to remember anything as you told me. but, there is one more problem." Dhanush said and pursed his lips.
"What?" Kuber asked.
"This man has also lost his ability to walk. Two losses at once."
Kuber and Angad's jaw dropped. Ridhi and Sita were half asleep, so they didn't hear it.
"What...a-are...you ss-s-saying?" Kuber stuttered.
"Don't worry. This isn't permanent. If efforts are made, he can gain his ability in some time. Although, it can take some days, to some...months...or even years. I can't really say." Dhanush showed his concern.
Everything was happening so fast, that Kuber was not able to process anything at all. He couldn't understand where to focus on. The messed up room, the lack of sleep and headache, a man from martial arts world inside his room, the fear of his father, or now this new tension, about the man being paralyzed and on top of that, he had even lost his memory. His head started spinning. He could imagine his father throwing him out of the palace, and him living with the beggers on street with his guard and maids, them begging for alms and everything. This was the new thing to focus on.
"Your highness? Your highness?" Angad was calling him over and over, but there was no response. He waited for his master to come back to his senses. He decided to call him one more time, louder than before, "YOUR HIGHNESS!"
He called him so loud, that it startled the prince and shook him out of his imagination.
"Are you alright?" Angad asked, in concern and fear.
Miserable prince just looked around him, and couldn't think of anything. "Somebody fix the room first!" He just shouted.
...
It became a new misson for the member of royal prince's mansion, to force the man to use his legs. What was not done?
Plan one, Avadh and Nakshatra forcibly holding the man with his legs drowned inside the bucket of ice-cold water, which didn't force him to use his legs, but instead, exhausted the other two holding him. It didn't even have any effect on him. It was surely taking some time for Kuber to accept, that the man had really gone paralyzed.
Plan two, Performing spiritual rituals by calling the royal priest herself.
Plan three, keeping food away from him so he attempts to move towards it himself, which of course, the prince couldn't see for longer as it seemed too unethical.
"Go for it! Try to reach the food!" Ridhi and Sita were motivating the man. More like scolding him.
"Don't torment the hungry man! God will curse us!" Kuber cried.
"Don't worry, your highness, its for his own good." Angad whispered, and continued hyping for the twin sisters.
Miserably failed, again.
Plan four, Dhanush trying his pills and medications.
Notihing worked. The seven of them, Kuber, Angad, Ridhi, Sita, Dhanush, Nakshatra and Avadh sat in a circle, letting go of uncountable sighs. They were exhausted to their ends.
That's when the royal gatekeeper of the mansion announced, "The great, brave, righteous and kind king of the peaceful country Stambha, His majesty himself, Shree Narsimha Bharat is on his way!"
Seemed like the news of the 'new animal' in prince's mansion had reached the king's ears too. The seven of them immideately jumped from their places in shock and true terror. They began to run here and there in anxiety. God really had no mercy on them today.
After a lot of hard work, everything was finally taken care of.
Doors of the room were opened and his majesty entered inside. He was confused to witness seven people in the prince's room. Kuber lying on bed, Angad massaging his head while Ridhi and Sita massaging his legs, Dhanush doing something with his medication box, and finally, Nakshatra and Avadh just standing beside with their heads down. All of them were acting as if they didn't just hear the announement. That's when Angad began playing his role.
"Oh, your majesty?" He acted and stepped forward to greet him. Others followed him.
"Your majetsy!"
"Your majesty? Here?"
"When did you come, we didn't even realise."
The senior-junior soldiers looked at each other with agreement and then looked back at the king.
The guard at door for announcement, scratched his head, "I'm sure I was loud enough..." He doubted himself.
The king, Narsimha Bharat, was a tall and middle aged man with a magical aura. Wherever he went, he spread the sparkles of happiness, joy and excitement. But today, he was just confused.
"What are you all doing here...together?" His majesty asked questionably. He signaled at his son, who was pretending to be asleep. "And what happened to him?"
Angad looked at the twins, the twins looked at the soldiers and soldiers at the doctor. The doctor next looked at the prince, forgotten that he had his eyes closed and was suppossed to pretend sleeping. He almost hit his forehead with his palm. He gulped and gathered the courage to look at his majesty.
"Your majesty----" The moment he opened his mouth, his voice cracked. He coughed to clear his throat and then continued, "His highness has fallen sick because of the storm last night." He said. "God save me for lying to His majesty." He loudly prayed in his mind.
Hearing his son being sick, Narsimha Bharat ran towards him right away to check on him himself. "Sick?"
"Your majesty...you don't need to----" Dhanush was late. His majesty had already touched pince's forehead.
"But his temperature seems normal..." Narshimha was confused. He looked at Dhanush with a hope of answer.
"That...hm..." Dhanush exchanged glances with Angad expecting him to speak, but Angad just remained silent. Then he looked at the twins, who weren't even looking at him.They were too busy in completing their parts, massaging prince's legs. Loosing the battle in the end, Dhanush looked back at the king, "It's an internal illness, Your majesty. The body temprature has nothing to do with it." He said, and smiled in order to convince His majesty.
Kuber kept taking view of the room by opening one eye time to time, secretly. Seeing his father from that angle, he was hardly controlling his laugh, "He looks funny from this angle. Like a tank." He almost smiled. Luckily, His majesty was looking at Dhanush at that time.
There, Angad was panicking, "Your highness, don't smile, don't smile..." He was praying.
After a few seconds, Narsimha Bharat nodded, "I see. You know more." He said and started walking around the room. His eyes noticed something then. That's what everyone was worried about. "Is there someone lying beside the prince?" He asked.
Everyone in the room froze. They had put that scene of prince getting sick, just to distract His majesty, but seemed like it was about to fail. Narsimha stepped closer to the bed. That was the moment his highess had to do something. It was his turn finally. It was the battle between the royals now. His highness vs His majesty. Everyone in the room panicked, except for Nakshatra. He wanted the strange man to be caught, because he was sensing danger around him. He was only doing all that because of his prince. He waited for His majesty to remove the blanket and catch the man.
Kuber prepared himself, and pretended to wake up slowly, "Father..." He got up. All the patience of Nakshatra had gone wasted. He closed his eyes and sighed in regret.
"Son! You've finally woke up." The king smiled.
"Yes, father. I just felt a bit tired. Probably because of the sickness as the royal doctor said just now." Kuber said and held his head.
"I guess right-hold on." The king exclaimed, "How do you know what he said just now?" He suspected.
"We're dead." Angad almost passed out. Dhanush held him quietly.
The prince looked at the king, "That----" He paused. He coughed. "Water...give me water." He started acting again. Narsimha was concerned, and distracted.
Ridhi got up and handed the small copper vessel of water to him. They also winked at each other in victory. Kuber sipped some water and Ridhi took the vessel away, acting to be serious again.
"Father..." Kuber said, "Don't worry about me. Besides, I have all these people taking care of me." He said in a calm voice.
Narsimha nodded and turned to Dhanush, "Royal doctor, please take care of my son." He said with a requesting and pleasing smile.
"I will, Your majesty. Don't worry." Dhanush replied while bowing his head.
Narsimha sighed and looked back at the prince with a wide smile, "I had come to see the new animal that you have brought. The news is now popular in the whole country. But I guess, I shall come some other time." He laughed and walked towards the exit. His servants and maids followed him.
As the king walked away from them, Kuber, Ridhi and Sita passed victorious smiles to each other. Ridhi and Sita clapped silently. Angad finally let got of the sigh he was holding and let his body fall as he was sitting on bed, pretending to massage his highness. Dhanush sighed too. Avadh, the junior soldier celebrated too by smiling. Nakshatra folded his arms in disappointment and sighed.
That's when the fainting pills given to the "animal" by Dhanush stopped their effect. He got up with blanket over him and almost "roared."
"Let me----" Kuber immideately pushed him down and lied on him, completely silencing him.
The king turned, and saw others massaging prince's body. He just shrugged, and left while chuckling. Ridhi and Sita closed the door immideately after the king left.
Everyone could relax now. Kuber stood up from the bed. "It was really hot inside the blanket!" He said while catching breaths.
The man aggressively removed the blanket from himself, almost teared it.
"Take it easy! Don't tear it!" Kuber shouted in panic. The man just stared at him aggresively. Kuber sighed, "You really brought storms with you. I shall name you..." He thought for a while, then said loudly, "Pralay!" He said.
The mansion of the crowned prince was never quiet after that.