Chapter 223: Battle of Kashmir Part - 6
Moments before seige, Palace garden, mid night at Hari Parbat fort.
Prince Tsewang sat alone in the garden. The soft rustle of leaves broke the silence under a faint breeze. His blade lay on the grass at his right.
His gaze was fixed on the dimly lit Jhoola(swinging ride) where he once pushed Princess Zara. Her laughter was still ringing in his ear. But it become more distant with each passing of time.
The air was filled with tension, as soldiers roamed the walls in preparation for defense, yet Tsewang felt strangely distant from it all. His mind drifted to happier times, when he once carried the high ambitions as Ladakhi prince and the bittersweet memory of falling in love with an enemy princess.
He knew he’d chosen a forbidden path, but deep inside he never regretted it. Princess Zara was worth the risk, as it was only with her that he spent his most beautiful moments.
He had played all his roles faithfully as prince of Ladakh and also as lover of his life, but the greed of his own people had destroyed it all. He wondered why she gave him the ring—the emblem, which was the symbol of authority over Kashmir.
’What did she mean by gift?’
’Did she hope he would protect the Kashmiri people, the ones she had once claimed as her own?’
She was a indeed a complex soul, capable of ruthless ambition like killing her own brothers for the throne. Yet at the end, she simply wished for him to take it and protect them.
’Were they really so close to her than me? Why she didn’t allow me to die and join her in the afterlife, and instead left me with this heavy burden?’
But still a question lingered in its mind that gnawed his conscience time to time, ’is it worth it even if he sacrifice? He honestly wished one thing and that was to die.’
He felt an immense amount of pain in his heart, but there was no one to share it with, nor did he have time, as the empire would soon attack and destroy everything in its wake of revenge. Maybe it was time for him to pay back for his sins. Now he only has this night.