บท 21: The Journey
Samyukta and Pinaka along with the set of men who came searching for him were ready to start, they took leave of the emperor, the veera dynasty and mounted their horses. They had to cross the Vindhya mountain range to enter the Gupta empire, it was a rough terrain and the horses were getting tired. Chaitanya, the mount of Samyukta was a good breed, he was brought over from the Arabian region as a pony. He had a white coat which became all dusty now, after travelling for ten hours, they stopped to water their horses by a lake.
The group of men went to hunt something for lunch, it was post noon, looking at the position of sun, they were able to notice the time. Samyukta and Pinaka collected some twigs and wood to make fire, the men came back with their hunt. It was a deer, all of them sat around the corpse of the deer, Samyukta extended her arm and extracted the arrow from the deer's chest region, she closed her eyes and prayed, 'noble creature, you are providing us with nutrition, you are blessing us with your life essence, may your soul find peace and move on towards light.. Durga Maa (mother goddess) thank you for providing us with the meal, please bless this noble creature.. ' everyone folded their hands and joined Samyukta in prayer.
Then Samyukta opened her eyes and expertly skinned the deer with a Short knife,Pinaka cleaned the meat and started roasting it on fire. The horses were grazing on green grass and they were resting.
After resting for two hours, they moved forward, they only had few hours before sunset, they wanted to find a good place to camp during the night. They crossed one small mountain and found a small village, the men went and requested the village chief to provide them shelter for the night. The chief saw Pinaka and Samyukta and understood that they must be from a rich family. Though Samyukta was dressed in common clothes for journey, her noble bearing couldn't be hidden. Pinaka too looked like a warrior king though he wore plain clothes.
The chief asked, 'that man and the woman , are they from a noble family? ' the men exchanged glances, they were very clear not to disclose the identity of the prince and the princess as it would compromise their security. One of the men named Shiva said, 'chief, they are a couple, they were rich and belonged to Tripura village, they lost their wealth, bandits looted them, they are now trying to migrate to Indraprastha as they have relatives there, we used to work for them, we too are going to Indraprastha in search of livelihood. ' the chief nodded and bought the story.
The chief said, 'very well, you are welcome to our humble abode, the man and the woman can take the guest room, all of you along with your horses can rest in the corridor, I will provide blankets to you. Before that please come and join us for dinner, my wife has cooked a meal.. we will all share it' Shiva went and conveyed the story they told to the village chief, Samyukta felt shy that they had to share a room for the night and felt awkward, Pinaka too was little embarrassed but was thankful for the shelter they got.
The wife of village chief asked Samyukta to use her room for getting dressed. She said, 'you look like a princess, your husband is lucky.. why are you wearing men's clothing? ' Samyukta said, 'the journey is long, I can't ride a horse in a saree (Indian dress for women) so I don't have any option, I borrowed my husband's clothes, ' the woman gave Samyukta a new saree and said, 'wear this saree, I have bought this for my sister, 'Samyukta was touched by the act, she looked at the woman, she was smiling.. that simple expression of love moved her. Samyukta hugged the woman and took it. She took a bath, wore a saree and went into the kitchen to help the woman.
They both served the dinner together to all the men, Pinaka couldn't take his eyes off Samyukta, though she was wearing a cotton saree, she looked mesmerizing, Shiva and others lowered their gaze respectfully ,not looking at Samyukta, they felt she looked like a mother goddess serving them food. This act of the men was noticed by the chief, he was moved seeing how loyal these men were towards their master's wife. He too felt that Samyukta was alluring but her beauty was pure like Ganga (holy River of India), no one could have profane thoughts towards her.
The men completed the meal and rose, the women sat together like sisters and had their meal chatting for some time. Samyukta helped the village chief's wife to clean up and then they retired for the night. Pinaka was sitting nervously on the bed waiting for Samyukta. He never thought this situation would arise, he was scared what Samyukta would be feeling. She came in and locked the door from inside, she came and sat near Pinaka, her heart was beating too fast, he extended his hand and held her hand. She didn't reject him, he came near her, turned her face towards him, he brushed her long tresses out of her face, she looked at him. Her cheeks had a pink attractive blush and she had a shy smile on her face. Pinaka's heart skipped a beat, he took her face in his hands and gazed at her saying, 'Samyukta, you are the moon that brightens my heart,.. ' she bent her face shyly, he moved his hands and held her willowy waist, she looked at him, he kissed her forehead, he felt it was not enough. He kissed her cheeks, that too felt incomplete. He then saw her beautiful lush lips that were quivering nervously, he ran his finger across her lips, she closed her eyes,her lips felt like petals of rose, he went close and locked her lips with his lips. The first kiss of love, is meant to be special. Then Pinaka started kissing her passionately on her lips. Samyukta didn't shy away, she too returned his passion, they kissed each other for long time,inhaling the scent of each other,exchanging the sweetness, suddenly both of them came to their senses. They moved apart mutually, there was an awkward silence between them.
Pinaka took a pillow and a blanket and said, 'I will sleep on the floor.. have a good night, we will start our journey as the dawn breaks, ' he hurriedly went to the corner of the room,laid the pillow and blanket down. He turned towards the wall not facing Samyukta and went to sleep. She came out of her daze and smiled to herself. He stole away her first kiss and acted as if he didn't do anything, she too felt tired from the journey and fell asleep....long journey awaited them the next day...
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