A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 30

        Suddenly she heard the ferocious barking of a dog and started quivering like a leaf. By then she had come upon a small room-like place hewn roughly out of the rocks.  She felt as though she could glimpse dusk from the other end of the room.  Probably she had successfully crossed the tunnel.  Though bedraggled and dog-tired, she was elated.  Now the mystery of where that tunnel led to; would be solved.  She prayed that it led into the shrine. 

        Meanwhile, a huge Alsatian, brown, furry and absolutely vicious had pounced on her and was scratching her flesh.  It had been trained to maul any trespassers and had been obviously baying for blood since ages.  It clawed at her limbs, torso and face until she started bleeding from everywhere and pleading with unknown forces to free her from its vice-like grip.  May be the beast would feast on her tonight, she wondered as she became unconscious.  The beast lost interest, but nevertheless, it dragged her out of the tunnel and stopped only when it reached the Master of the shrine, who was sitting on a small charpoy under the shade of an evergreen tree.

        He promptly ordered a seer to sprinkle water on her face.  As a cool shower of water descended on her beautiful face, she immediately opened her dark eyes and looked straight into the eyes of her first love, Juan.  He was the seer chosen by the Master to revive her.  She licked the drops of elixir thirstily and felt rejuvenated.  She didn’t feel any pain at all.  She slowly attempted to look at her self and saw that the scratches had vanished, her bleeding had stopped miraculously and she could sit up on her own.  As she sat up, she saw her gown glinting in the torch-light.  It was golden in color.  Not just golden, but made of gold!  She couldn’t take her eyes off it.  She didn’t even realize that the gold reflected on her face and made it look ethereal.  Her face glistened with youth and bewitching beauty.  Juan was spell-bound. It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck him.  He was in love.  Head over heels love!  With this angel.  He had no doubt that she was his Sara.  Only a Princess could be so beautiful!

        Had she risked her life to rescue him?  Now she had unwittingly landed in the same trap as him.   He bitterly remembered how he had been badly wounded, sought help and refuge in that shrine, only to be imprisoned forever.  But now he wouldn’t mind staying with this regal beauty forever there!  He’d even follow her into the other world after death. So enamored was he, that he didn’t notice his Master staring sternly at him.  An invisible, powerful force shifted him to a side, as she got up and fell at the feet of the Master.

        She instinctively knew from his demeanor that he was the revered one, the Head of that Order in that mysterious shrine.  She could feel his magnetic aura washing over her entire being.  She already felt as if she had become a permanent resident of that shrine.  She felt strangely happy, peaceful and carefree.  With great will-power, she willed her brain to remember her purpose of being there and vowed to resist the powerful energy vibrating all around her.  She ran as far away from the Master as she could, even as she could feel the energy chasing her from all directions. 

        She felt desperate and helpless and wanted to enter the tunnel again to escape into the outer world.  But that beast of a dog was ferociously guarding the entrance, his eyes hostile and challenging her to cross the threshold.  She shuddered and looked to her right and left.  To her right was a large pool of shimmering water.  She jumped into it recklessly.  In a flash, Juan had reached there and dived in to rescue the heavenly damsel in distress. 

        When he emerged with her in his strong arms, he was surrounded by several curious seers.  They just watched in stony silence and looked at him reproachfully.  He had breached the cardinal rule of that shrine.  “Don’t touch any woman, even by mistake!”  This dictum had been brain-washed into them, right since day one of their stay in that shrine.  Now he’d have to face the punishment that the Master was sure to mete out to him, his errant disciple.

        “You are banished from the shrine forever lad!  Go back to the dirty world from where you had come.  You aren’t worthy of living in the haloed premises of this shrine.  But I curse you that you’ll never become a father in your entire life.  You’ll crave for an offspring till you die,” the Master thundered ominously across the assembly.

        Juan quivered under the accusing gaze of the Master and fell at his feet pleading, “I’m sorry, learned one, please forgive me and take back your curse.  Now all that I desire is to lead a peaceful life with this damsel whom I now love more than my life!”

        With a look of pure hatred, the Master turned on his heel and stormed into his special quarters as the others dispersed to their respective rooms.

        Tears streamed unabated from Myara’s eyes as Juan kissed her cheeks saying “I love you” again and again.  He reveled in the coolness and warmth of her nubile young body.  He now realized what he had been missing all these 3 years.  She stirred and struggled to sit up.  Then she jerked away from his grasp and said quietly.

        “I’m Myara, the Princess Sara’s best friend.  I came to contact you and rescue you from here.  Now look at what I’ve achieved.  Zilch! You’ve been rendered impotent by the Master and worst of all, fallen in love with me, just a lowly maid of the Princess.  Won’t she think that I’ve betrayed her?  Believe me Juan; I want you to reunite with Sara.  I don’t want anything else so much in this world.  Please forget about me, come with me, marry Sara and rule over Regina for the rest of your life.  You can always adopt a successor.  I’m happy that I at least found you alive.  I feared the worst!”

To be continued.... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.