Chapter 23

After they hanged Edward's head on the top of the fence, the palace servants prepared for Chandramukhi's sati. And the sati was a historical Hindu practice, in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband's funeral pyre. And that's completely different than Jauhar.

Every single person there was wearing white clothes – Hindu people were wearing white getups in funerals.

The pyre started while Sundarta was watching the burning of her dead father and her dying mother. Her eyes shed only one tear. But despite that, she was crying and lamenting inside. Her heart was burning as much as the pyre of rage, anger, sadness and suffering heartbreak…

***

Meanwhile, in Great Britain, while Edward's younger brother Prince William knew about the latter's death, he came from one of the kingdom's regions. And as long as he knew that his nephew George is banished, he decided to keep him there, to take him off the throne and to become the official king of Great Britain.

A few days later, when the rest of the beaten British army barely arrived with the dead body, William realized that Michor was in a very weak situation that the simplest war against it will lead to its fall, after that the soldiers informed him that there was no army in Michor.

So, in no more than 7 days, William prepared his little army to travel to Michor, and to officially announce it as a colony belonging to the British royal family.

Before he left, he called Ann, who was the cause of Sundarta's running away and of his brother's murder, to the throne room.

Ann, who already knew her early death, came in with steady steps as she was walking toward a gibbet.

William stood in front of her, the same way that the passed away Edward did with his banished son George. And he interrogated her: "So, were you the responsible for the running away of Princess Samantha?"

Worthington said nothing; she just kept looking at him angrily.

"Do you know that Edward died?" He informed normally. "He was killed by The Adopted Princess…"

He kept silent for a while, and then he continued his questions that were hitting the mother's head like a thunder: "Do you know that informing the enemy of your kingdom's secrets is betraying for it, for the public and for the royal family?"

"It wasn't betraying for me as long as Great Britain was the mistaken here and especially when my daughter and the nice people who raised her were in danger." Ann spelled her last words…

And suddenly, William hit her with a knife in her belly. The poor woman started bleeding and all of a sudden she fell on her knees then on her back, shedding a tear…

William threw the knife and cleaned his hands with his handkerchief, ordering his men who were shocked and terribly sad to watch one of the kindest persons in the palace dying: "Take the body out of the room."…

***

It was night, Sundarta was sitting on the throne; she was officially the Rani (Queen) of Michor.

She was silent, looking straight. Her face was neutral. But her eyes were telling and revealing everything she was feeling: she was angry, sad, and heartbroken. Her mind was working in a non-stop way. She was thinking the whole day about a way to form a new big army as soon as she could to protect Michor from any sudden attack, and to release her husband from the jail.

She knew that her kingdom was in a very dangerous position; if Great Britain knew that she no longer had army, they would attack even with just hundreds of soldiers.

And her thoughts came true: one of her men came in the room with no even a Namaste for her, completely scared: "Your majesty, you must come and see."

The Queen ran with him until they arrived at the fence. She saw the British army resting a few miles away from Michor that she barely could notice them.

Sundarta interrogated the guard, in Hindi of course: "How much they are?"

"Nott sure… But what I'm sure of is that they're way too numerous than us…"

"When will they arrive to us?"

"… In the morning of tomorrow…"

She looked again at the enemy, and ordered, murmuring: "Gather every single woman at the throne room now…"

***

Every woman in the palace received the order to come to the throne room.

Sundarta didn't sit on the throne; she was standing with no reaction on her face.

Milady stood close to her with Lilly. Everyone there was worried, especially after they heard the rumor of the coming enemy.

As most of present people didn't speak English, their Rani was obliged then to speak in Hindi:

"In every epoch, a battle between the good and the evil must happen. And the good always wins… Our Gods witnessed many such battles like the one between Lord Rama and demon Ravana which we celebrate the victory of the Lord every Navratri… Or also many kings and queens who sacrified their lives for the good and for serving the right, as what Rani Padmini did when she lead the Jauhar with Rani Nagmati, the two wives of Rawal (king) Ratan Singh who also sacrificed his life for his kingdom Mewar against Alauddin Khaliji, the Delhi ruler who did the impossible to obtain Ratan's wife Padmini for her known and extreme beauty…

Last week, the majority of our brave army sacrificed their lives to protect our honor… For us, they're not less important and sacred than the Gods themselves…

Great Britain betrayed us although we trusted it… That didn't lead but to the death of king Krishna Bai and the sati of his wife Chandramukhi Singh…

Today, they're still proving to us that they're selfish, greedy and monsters enough that are ready even to murder innocent people just for their benefits, and that by attacking us although they know that we're in a week situation…

Even if we died tomorrow, the enemy is still the loser… Tomorrow, we'll be attacked by a large number of soldiers enough even to destroy the great and legendary palace of Michor…

The only solution left for us… is to give our bodies to the holy fire… The rest of soldiers will fight their last battle for the good and against the evil… Our brave men passed away to protect our honor, dignity and principals… and their souls won't go in vain…"

She stopped talking, her eyes shedding tears, and finished her speech in a crying tune: "The enemy will witness how we will turn our misery into victory…and their victory into a shameful loss against the good…"

Women were deeply sad and crying silently. Milady didn't understand why they were all in an extreme melancholy, she asked Sundarta: "Dear… what's going on? What did you say?"

The latter bowed her head and a tear fell down. Cook insisted with her question: "Sundarta, tell me! What's going on?!"

She looked at her, and murmured in English: "We're going to practice the Jauhar…"

***