Ineffable Conquest

Daughter's affection

Jay had left with the remaining handful of Yoddhas to clear the dead bodies of the hybrids. He ordered them to burn their corpses. By then the human soldiers of Astralaya had come to the palace. Under the guidance of Jay they took the dead bodies of hybrids to a common cremation ground and dutifully burnt every corpse. The martyrs were buried in a cremation sanctuary of Astralaya soldiers. This was the cremation ground where each and every human soldier was buried. When there wasn't enough space to bury, the Yoddhas decided to bury the remaining human soldiers in Yoddhan graveyard. Astralaya had saved their king and crown princess but had lost its brave soldiers. Soldiers couldn't believe that it was their own queen who had drugged their food. After a long day, Jay had returned back to the palace. By then many events had happened in the palace.

Aditi was left alone with Dwayne. She was unconscious as Xavier had given her some powerful medicines. Though her vital organs were not damaged, the dagger had been dipped in poison prior to its stabbing. Aditi's condition was stable and recovering quickly. King Mahadev had gone unconscious after the treatment. Xavier explained that it was due to trauma and he will recover very soon. Swarada had gone unconscious due to pain but Xavier gave a heavy dose of a drug which had awakened her. Though it was lethal and could have killed her, Xavier didn't really bother as he was looking answers.

'Why did you do this?' said Sairendri.

'I had no other option,' murmured Swarada.

'What is the reason?' said Erica.

'My birth,' muttered Swarada. 'Because I am a hybrid.'

'You were not discriminated,' said Sairendri. 'You were instead given respect and love.'

'No!' said Swarada. 'Father died right after my birth. My mother was left alone. For ten years I was taken care by only my mother. No one ever met me. But even you my dear step sister or your son. But then mother was killed by some goons. I was left stranded. The orphanages rejected me because I was a hybrid.'

'But you know their are hybrid homes,' said Erica. 'Hybrids are kept away from human orphanages because they could be bullied and harrassed.'

'Before I could reach hybrid home. I was kidn*pped by HYRE.'

'What is HYRE?' said Beckett.

'Hybrids revolution,' said Erica.

'They loved me,' said Swarada. 'They cared for me. Then.....I met her.'

'Whom did you meet?' said Beckett.

'I met a woman. She had hidden her face. She was as madamé fuehrer.'

'The leader of hyre,' said Erica.

'Yes,' said Swarada. 'She had made this plan.'

By then Dwayne entered with Aditi in his arms.

'Is she healthy?' said Xavier.

'Yes,' said Aditi. 'I feel good now. Dwayne, I can walk. Thank you.'

'I was placed by madamé fuehrer as Aditi's caretaker,' said Swarada.

'Her mother had uterine cancer. I was given some powder by madamé fuehrer which was told to be added in the food of Aditi's mother.'

'What was this powder?' said Xander.

'I don't know,' said Swarada. 'I never questioned madamé fuehrer.'

'It must be for reducing the curing rate of the medicines that were used to treat uterine cancer,' said Xavier.

'Why didn't you kill the queen directly,' said Xander.

'What would I achieve?' said Swarada. 'If queen died then he would have remarried someone.'

'So you got close to king Mahadev,' said Beckett.

'Yes,' said Swarada. 'Whenever he used to meet his daughter, I used flirt with him. He was mesmerized. I slowly started to brainwash him. First by saying that his human ministers, advisors and commanders were keen to usurp the throne. He then dismissed everyone and his council only compromised of Yoddhas.'

'What did you achieve by this?' said Beckett.

'When I would have killed the king and the crown princess this human nobility would have revolted and caused a havoc whereas this Yoddhas could have done nothing as they are slaves of the throne,' said Swarada.

'How did you kill my mother?' asked Aditi.

'As the king lacked attention from his wife due to her disease,' said Swarada. 'He regularly used to visit me. I trapped him. He thought I really loved him. He had fallen for me. He then used to visit me twice a day. I asked him about our marriage but he rejected me. He said that till his wife was alive he would not marry again. I had no alternative. I had to kill her. But before that I created a false story that this disease of the queen was due to your birth. I knew he loved the queen more than you. He trusted me. He believed that you were the cause of her beloved wife's tyranny. One fine day I decided to kill her. You were my pawn. I gave you a herbal juice and told you to give it to your mother. It was a poison to kill your mother. You are such a naive girl that you trusted me. You went to give the herbal juice to your mother. Your mother died. She fought for her life for one week. She suffered lot of pain due to you. Because of you she didn't finish the juice. Before she could finish it, she dropped the glass from her hand as you were playing with her. I told king Mahadev that you were the one who had given the juice. I even have king Mahadev evidence of it. I told him that you were told to give that herbal juice by a wandering sage. I thought he would kill you but instead he send you to Zimland.'

'Oh!' said Sairendri. 'That is the reason why king Mahadev had send Aditi to Zimland.'

'All the time I thought I was send here to learn warfare,' said Aditi.

'He couldn't kill you with his own hands,' said Swarada. 'He thought sending you away would be appropriate. After you went away he was lonely. He had no one except me. He married me. But then you returned back. This time more powerful and intelligent. I influenced him to send you far away. So he made you a diplomat and stationed you in Southerland. But before you left he made you the crown princess of Astralaya.'

'So now you had to kill king Mahadev and her highness Aditi,' said Beckett. 'Why didn't you do it earlier?'

'I had to wait for the right time to kill them. Our force had to be large enough to control Astralaya. Hybrids from all over Sech were gathered and trained. But I miscalculated the attack. Aditi and Jay had busted my plan. They knew that hybrids were planning to kill the king. I had hurriedly plan an attack on Aditi and Jay. I send my five subordinates to assassinate Jay and Aditi. But they failed.'

'Thanks to your attack,' said Xavier. 'I could prepare the antidote for the poison you have king Mahadev. Simphox was carrying a small packet of poison with him. I spotted it and prepared an antidote of it. It was a powerful poison without the antidote king Mahadev could have died in few hours even though he was administered the poison in picograms.'

'Moron,' said Swarada.

'When did king Mahadev come to know that you are a hybrid,' said Erica.

'After marriage,' said Swarada.

'How do we differentiate hybrids from other races?' said Beckett.

'It differs from hybrid to hybrid,' said Erica. 'Simphox was a hybrid of Mandhas and Yoddhas. Though he looked like a Mandha he didn't have a tail. And Mandhas have a characteristic tail.'

'How do you differentiate human hybrids?' said Xavier.

'If it is a Forg-human or Mandha-human hybrid they could differentiated easily based on their physical features,' said Erica.

'But Yoddhas-human hybrids are difficult to recognise,' said Sairendri. 'Hence they are marked at their birth. But Swarada wasn't marked as her mother had fled before we could mark her.'

'What mark do the Yoddhas-human hybrids have?' said Xander.

'They have large black dot on their forehead,' said Erica. 'It is imprinted when they are babies and doesn't fade away till they die.'

'How did king Mahadev recognise Swarada?' said Xander.

'Every Yoddhas have a birthmark which is very different from humans,' said Sairendri. 'Some Yoddhas-human hybrids look like Yoddhas while some look like humans.'

'Swarada looks like a human,' said Xander.

'Precisely,' said Sairendri. 'But she has a birthmark on her inner thighs.'

'Wait,' said Xander. 'How did you cover your birthmark?'

'I never revealed my inner thighs to king Mahadev but after marriage I had to show him,' said Swarada.

'What is the birthmark?' said Xander.

'Black stripes,' said Sairendri.

'How did king Mahadev accept you?' said Anthony.

'He had fallen me,' said Swarada. 'He told his subjects that he wanted to end the tyranny of hybrids and hence as symbol married me. He had to face a lot of backslash. His army and council had decreased due to it. Unknowingly my marriage with him strengthened our motives.'

'Has anyone have anymore questions,' said Dwayne. 'Even if you have I won't let you ask. I going to kill this vamp.'

'But my dear son....' said Erica.

'No mother,' said Dwayne. 'I going to kill this witch right now.'

'No you can't,' said Jay. 'She is a prisoner of Astralaya. She is under Astralaya's protection. I won't let you to kill her.'

'Why did you kill the captives?' said Dwayne.

'They weren't co-operating with the interrogation,' said Jay. 'According to rules of Sech, a prisoner of a kingdom can be killed by an authority higher or equivalent to major general of the army of that same kingdom if he doesn't co-operate in the interrogation. You ain't any major general of Astralaya and I see Swarada is co-operating in the interrogation.'

'Your timing is so bad,' said Dwayne. 'You shouldn't have come.'

'If you would have killed her before I arrived then I would had to arrest you,' said Jay. 'Even empress couldn't do anything in this.'

'Isn't their any other way to kill this wile woman,' said Dwayne.

'She will be hanged to death once she is found guilty in the court,' said Jay.

'I want a way to kill her,' said Dwayne. 'RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!'

'Yes!' said Sairendri. 'If Aditi orders you to kill Swarada then you could kill her.'

'No!' said Jay. 'She is crown princess of Astralaya. She doesn't have the power to kill someone.'

'Maybe,' said Erica. 'The king is unconscious. So technically the crown princess can take powers in her hand.'

'Give me orders!' said Dwayne. 'Aditi!! Aditi!!'

'I hated you Swarada,' said Aditi. 'Not because you weren't my mother or because you replaced my mother or because you married my father. I hated you because you never loved me. I never wanted to hurt you. I always wanted love from you. I can't order to kill you. I know you never thought me as your daughter but I always gave you a status of mother.'

'She was just your caretaker,' said Beckett. 'She killed your mother and almost killed your father. She stabbed you. And the worst part is she played with your trust. You have to kill her.'

'I can't,' sobbed Aditi.

Swarada never thought that Aditi had truly loved her. Tears flowed through her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Aditi had given her the status of a mother and she had cheated her. She felt guilty. She decided to end her life for the sins she has committed.

'Aditi,' said Swarada. 'I am sorry my dear daughter. I don't deserve you. I am a murderer. I can't live with a burden on my life. Please order Dwayne to kill me.'

'No!' cried Aditi. 'I...I cannot.'

'This my order,' said Swarada. 'Let me do atleast a good thing as a mother. If you really call me your mother then kill me.'

'As you wish,' sobbed Aditi. 'Dwayne, I crown princess of Astralaya in absence of the king of Astralaya with my powers order you to behead the queen of Astralaya for the murder of former queen and attempt to murder of the king of Astralaya and crown princess of Astralaya.'

Dwayne took the royal sword from Jay. He moved towards Swarada.

'I thought I would kill you happily,' said Dwayne.

'God bless you,' said Swarada. 'May you always prosper. Take care of my dear daughter. You will keep her happy.'

Dwayne nodded.

'Behead,' said Aditi.

Dwayne cut off the head of Swarada. Astralaya was saved.