Episode 15: The Life & Exploits of Princess Amodini
The young general’s personal guards stood in the corridor outside.
Tall, muscular, dark-skinned, and dressed like their leader, they listened to Satya in silence as she asked for the physician. She thought they’d drag her out of the room and tell her to be on her way.
Instead, the sight of Veerata’s personal emblem was enough to make them spring into action. Nodding their massive heads, their top-knots bouncing in sync, they hurried down the corridor.
As she shut the door behind her, a low moan called her attention. She returned to the young general’s side.
His entire body was covered in sweat. Moans of agony escaped his parted lips at brief intervals.
He can’t just stay on the floor. Maybe I can move him to the bed?
She tugged at his arm in vain, and then she tried pulling his foot. Even in his weakened condition, he was too heavy for her. When Vidyuta arrived, Satya had already given up on her overtures.
The young doctor’s face turned stormy seeing Veerata lying on the floor. At first, he asked the guards, “What happened to him?”
“We don’t know, doctor,” one guard replied. “The girl told us to call you.”
Satya opened her mouth to speak.
Vidyuta ignored her. He knelt on the floor and held Veerata’s wrist, checking his pulse. “Why is he on the floor?”
“He collapsed,” Satya explained, when the guards remained silent. “He’s running a fever, too.”
Vidyuta instructed the guards to move the young general to the bed. One guard lifted his shoulders while the other held up his feet. Next instant, they set Veerata down on the silk sheets.
With the guards dismissed, the young doctor turned back to Satya. “Did he speak at all? Did he say anything to you?”
Satya nodded. “Yes, he opened his eyes once, but I don’t know what he said. I couldn’t hear him at all.”
Vidyuta cursed under his breath, and sat down at one side of Veerata’s bed. “I knew it,” he muttered, removing various items from his medicine bag. “The banquet was too much for him. He must have been in so much pain all along. I should’ve attended to him right away… should’ve ignored his refusal. He’s always thinking of others first. Never of himself.”
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