Page 208 of Rudra Nandani: The Saga of Control And Seduction

Panting heavily, now armed with two knives, I turned to face the others, ready for more.

But then a man stepped forward. He was over seven feet tall, reeking of filth, with teeth so rotten it seemed he'd never bathed orbrushed in his life.

“Take her,” Surgami Dev Singh ordered.

The monstrous man lunged and grabbed my hair in his massive fist. And I screamed as pain ripped through my scalp.

“Leave me!” I shrieked, trying to stab him, but he caught my wrists in a vice-like grip. My bangles shattered, shards slicing into my skin.

Tears blurred my vision, and with my free hand, I managed to stab near his waist. He let out an animalistic growl but tightened his grip even more, lifting me onto my toes by my hair.

“Leave me,” I screamed desperately.“I will kill you, bastard!” But they only laughed.

“This way, Rakhtbhook. Quick!” Surgami Dev Singh barked.

The giant, literally, dragged me by my hair through the hallway. As he made his way out of the bedchamber, I looked at the bodies of fallen soldiers littering the corridor.

And we did stop before the ninth chamber. A heavy iron door loomed ahead. Twenty soldiers struggled to push it open.

“You know,” Surgami Dev Singh sneered,“each one of you will be dead before sunrise,”

They shoved me inside as the massive iron door creaked shut behind us. That bastard’s grip on my hair was firm, and I screamed throughout the path.

Total darkness swallowed me whole when I heard a sound—a relatively smaller door opening. The soldiers carried fire torches and walked forward.

It was humid, foul-smelling, and deathly silent except for our footsteps echoing down a narrow underground passage.

My bare feet ached, scraping against the jagged stones. After what felt like forever, the passage opened into a dense, black forest.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I was terrified. I didn't know where they brought me.

“Where the hell are you taking me?” I cried out.

“I will kill you!” Surgami Dev Singh chuckled darkly.

“I think your mind is too old to understand the consequences of killing me,” I spat back at him. The giant yanked my hair harder, and a scream tore from my lips.

“Leave my hair! He will kill you!” I warned him again, but they all laughed cruelly.

“You would not be alive to see that,” Surgami Dev Singh's eyesgleamed with madness.

“Why are you doing this?” I gritted, earning a sinister snicker from him.

“You took me for a fool and used me,” he said.“He betrayed me for the throne. I will take you from him,” he spoke like a lunatic.

“Can you even hear yourself?” I snapped.

Suddenly, the giant man struck me with a powerful slap across my cheek.

Pain exploded across my face, and tears filled my eyes.

They laughed as he hoisted me over his shoulder like a sack.

“Leave me!” I shouted, pounding my fists against his back, but it was useless.

They carried me deeper into the dark woods. I tried to memorise landmarks, anything, but there was only endless darkness and towering trees.

Closing my eyes, I prayed to the mighty gods for protection.

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