Thirst of Power (Complete)

Part 27

All pain is punishment and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice.
-Joseph De Maistre

"Arrest him!"
There was no necessity to repeat the command. The very loyal lords and soldiers of the former king marched forward with blood in their eyes and nothing or nobody was able to stop them. They didn't stop at thousand and one orders from Roopak, as the heir to the throne .....since until his official coronation, he held on real power and until then the queen will remain as the chief of the kingdom and its people.
They didn't stop or even flinch at Chandra's very explicit threatening, that they were making a mistake neither did they paid any heed to his petite wife who continued to holler the fact aloud that he could not have possibly murdered his father since he was in his chamber the whole time.

But it was all futile. He was lead away with a hundred blades at his throat through the darkest corridors and tunnels of the palace and thrown into a muddy underground dungeon.

But the night was barely over.

While the iron bars shut upon him, the central gate of the town was opened. The preparation of the funeral started while it was still dark outside. As the news spread through the villages and towns about the death of the vile king, people made their way in large number to the gates of the royal palace, less out of love and respect but more because of curiosity about the story of murder going around.

And with the first ray of sun touching the ground, the funeral procession started, the customs and rituals being carried out by the elder heir alone. It was him who laid his father's sword beside his demised form. It was him who slid the golden crown atop his head and lead the way to his last journey.
And it was him alone, who lit the large pyre of wooden logs upon which laid his demised father. It was then he realized that however obnoxious and diabolical the man was, he was his father! His and Chandra's! And beyond all, he deserved the last chance to see him for one last time but even that right was snatched away.

It was barely mid noon, as the last embers of fire died down and all but the meaningless ashes left scattered around that the summon came.
"It is time for the hearing, the court had been set up, the queen is leading it."

'I am surprised that she waited this long.'

But apparently as soon as his horse touched the ground of the palace once again another messenger came running his way.

"Wh..what's happening?"

"Your highness, the sitting at the court had been adjourned and the hearing of prince Chandra delayed."

Roopak should have felt relieved at the news, relaxed even but, instead a foreboding dread  has started lurking beneath his chest, a terror that gradually became a nasty prick in the pit of his stomach as he walked towards the dungeons, where his brother was kept, the nasty prick that morphed into a horrendous reality as soon as he came face-to-face with his brother behind the bars.

'God No!' He was forced upon his hunches with his front facing the mossy wet walls and his muddy arms were tied to long iron chains on either side fixated at the walls like a common prisoner about to be flogged. It was as if the most ghastly horrendous nightmare was coming true.

"Noooooo!" The lasting lash of the leather whip fell on her husband's back and yet it was Devika who felt the breath knocked out of her lungs, leaving an impact so hard that had her falling upon the empty cold floor of the prison. 

For a moment Roopak thought, it was him who had howled that long, 'noo.' 

But it wasn't him, since his throat had choked up and he couldn't speak even if he wanted to.