Hi, I'm Sailaja. This is a small OS I wrote on Ashwaki. This is my first one on this forum. Hope all of you like it.
Karuwaki sat beneath a huge pavilion staring in front of her with unseeing eyes out of which tears were flowing in a never-ending stream. A very distant memory of her childhood assailed her at this very moment. She was a small girl of four then, her father's darling princess! She had just hurt herself while trying to pluck the roses from their huge garden. Her father's words spoken then were still etched in her memory, "Karuwaki, everything in life comes in pairs. With happiness comes sorrow, with day comes night, with roses come the thorns, and with love comes hate also. You wanted the rose but not the thorns which are an integral part of it. Nobody in this world is perfect. Learn to accept everything in its entirety and not in its parts, don't see just the flaws, see the beauty in them also..."
Ashok had been searching for Karuwaki the whole day not heeding Devrath's words about the dangers involved in such a task. All he wanted was to see her safe. When she had come to mean so much to him, he could not tell. When he saw her tear-stained face on hearing the words, "Main Bindhusar aur Dharma putr Ashok Maurya...", he felt as though a thousand knives had been stuck into his bosom. He had been the cause of her pain. But why did her pain mean so much to him than his own?
He knew she would never forgive him for breaking her trust. She would never listen to another word of his after this. Till now he had seen just her care, affection, and trust for him. But all that was gone now. He had never intentionally meant to deceive her. He had never meant to lead her on with a falsehood. But he always feared the consequence of her knowing the truth about him. False as the premises on which their relationship was based, he treasured it in one corner of his heart as the most beautiful and fragile thing in this universe. He was thirsting to hear just one word out of her mouth for him even if it was of hate.
She was hiding from him. If only he had five minutes with her, he could explain... He slumped down completely exhausted. He had won his first victory over Keechak. But she was not with him to celebrate it. Now even his victory seemed as futile as defeat. Karuwaki sensed that she was not alone in her sorrow. She looked up and in front of her, she saw Ashok. His back was facing her. He was not aware that she was behind him.
When Karuwaki saw him so forlorn and defeated, a hand of her's instinctively rose to comfort him. But she quickly remembered Ashok's treachery and quickly slinked away from there without speaking a word. She knew that if she spent a minute more in his company, she would start believing him again. She could not afford that now. Her mind was made up. She now knew what she had to do. She would enter Keechak's palace in disguise and free her father, the mission for which she had come to Takshasila.
Ashok quickly turned back. He could sense her presence very close to him. The wind blew brushing past his face. It was her scent. He slapped himself hard. His mind seemed to be playing tricks with him. He was conjuring up in his imagination what he actually wanted to see. He was about to go from there when his feet brushed against something hard and metallic. He found something glittering shining in the sunlight. It was Karuwaki's payal. This meant that she was close by. He clutched the payal in his hand before he dashed off to discover her with renewed energy.
Karuwaki was just about to enter the palace of Keechak from the backdoor when she was pulled aside by someone who covered her mouth to stop her from crying out. It was Ashok the very person whom she feared seeing at this moment. Ashok pleaded, "Karuwaki, don't go. I'll help in freeing your father. We started this battle together. We'll complete this together as well. Are you with me?" He held her hand in his as though his whole life depended on it.
Karuwaki wrenched it free telling, "Rajkumar Ashok Maurya, our paths and goals were never meant to cross. You fight your battles and I'll fight mine. Let me go..." Ashok kept looking at the retreating figure completely numb and devastated from what had happened. He should not have let her go. But her words, "Rajkumar Ashok Mauraya" summed it all up. He was no more her friend and comrade. He was the "Rajkumar Ashok Maurya" who had cheated and deceived her, and that she was not ready to trust him with anything that belonged to her. He had never been so alone even when he lost everything. Now even when he had everything, he was all alone.
One month had elapsed after this, Ashok had succeeded in defeating Keechak in a decisive battle and forced Keechak to retreat leaving behind the comforts of his royal palace and flee into the jungles. He had succeeded in freeing Maharaj Jaganath from Keechak's captivity, but what happened to Karuwaki was a complete mystery. Though Jaganath wanted to fight along with him, he sent him back to Kaling telling that the people of his country had waited for long enough for their king. He could not keep them waiting anymore. It seemed as though Karuwaki had vanished from the face of the earth. Was she still alive or dead? At this thought, his heart told him, she is still somewhere out there because your heart is still beating and you are alive.
Just then he had received information about where Keechak was hiding. Devrath warned Ashok, "This could also be wrong information given to lure you." Ashok said, "I do not care about myself anymore. All I care about now is my goal of finishing off Keechak." True to Devrath's suspicions, it was a trap meant to bring Ashok. The path of their army's exit was blocked and they were surrounded by Keechak and Rakshas's men on all sides.
Just then an arrow pierced towards Ashok. It seemed as though the arrow was not meant to attack him. And so it was. A message was attached to the arrow. "Cover your nose with a cloth and order you men also to do the same. Count to three after this and all of you lie down without getting up for the next two minutes. I overheard Keechak speaking the whole truth to Rakshas. Sorry for not understanding you. Please forgive me for whatever I did then and for whatever I'm going to do now. I had no choice then and I have no choice now. Your battles and mine are one and the same"- Karuwaki.
All he understood was that she knew the truth and that she was going to do something dangerous. What it was he had neither idea nor time to analyze. He and his men did as she had asked them to. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a thick coil of smoke emanating amidst the enemy ranks. Keechak and his men kept falling like a pack of cards. Devrath exclaimed in admiration, "I've heard about the use of this herb and three other ingredients to disable the enemy with the poisonous gas which emanates when they are mixed in the right proportions in Kaling. I've seen in live today. I salute the courage of whoever did this even after knowing the risk it causes to their own life".
Ashok, greatly flabbergasted at the import of these words, "What?" Devrath continued, "Yes, I've heard that it is almost a suicidal mission. Even if they inhale, a very small amount of the smoke, they could lose their lives. This weapon is rarely used even in Kaling because it could cause damage to one's own army along with the enemy army if not properly timed and executed, and moreover the person who undertakes this task is at the risk of losing his life in ninety-nine cases out of hundred."
As Ashok scanned the enemy ranks for the much loved face after the smoke had died down, all he could see was one white hand raised above the ground. He ran to it. It was his Karuwaki. She had been holding on to her breath because she could not die without telling him what her heart had been aching all these days to tell him. As he placed her head in his lap, she stammered through the tears of joy that were flowing down her face, "Ashok, what...I thought...was my hatred...for you...was nothing but...my love... for you. ...I love you...I never hated...you to begin with...it was my love...all along. I'm happy that...you're alive...and the hopes of all the people... of Bharath...Karuwaki could...die a thousand deaths...to keep you alive..."
Her breath died down leaving Ashok stunned for a moment. He hit her frantically to bring her back. Just then he remembered his mother's words on what to do to save a person who had inhaled a poisonous gas. He blew air into her mouth with all his might. He did it again and again before he began despairing at her showing no sign of life. She could not go away from his life like this. Tears started overflowing his eyes. They fell down on her cheeks. She had a severe round of coughing before she revived. When she opened her eyes, he slapped her saying, "You were not wrong then, but you are wrong now. Who gave you the right to take your life? Your life is mine. Understand that before you run around endangering it."
Karuwaki made a wry face at this saying, "First I save you and your army and you blame me for this also? Excellent! You are..." Her words were left incomplete because Ashok saw this as a perfect opportunity to shut her big mouth with a passionate kiss on her lips.
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