A Slave who became Emperor Chapter 28

Pinaka roared in anger, he cursed himself for losing an important chance, he was just about to meet his mother . . he failed . . he felt his hopes shatter . . his heart ached . . he longed for her . . . Samyukta patted him on his shoulder and looked into his eyes . . she said, 'go on . . find your mother, I believe in you . . '

He shook his head and said, 'I am scared . . for the first time in my life . . I am scared that I will lose her even before seeing her . . Devadatta turned out to be a venomous serpent . . he is too dangerous . . . if he hurts mother . . ' she said, 'Pinaka, there is absolutely no way that he would hurt the empress, she is the only trump card he is holding now . . . he will be torn to pieces by the people of the empire if he makes a move against her . . don't lose your reasoning abilities . . in the face of danger we need to act with caution . . be courageous . . I will go and inform father and grandfather regarding the happenings here . . go on . . '

They came out of the prison with the note . . . Shiva went forward . . Samyukta gave the note to him and signaled him to read it out . . he read what was written . . his face lost colour . . the men who came along were all enraged . . these men are from Gandhara empire . . the empress Chandramathi is the daughter of their emperor . . their blood was boiling . . how can someone old her as a prisoner . . .

Pinaka said, 'ok, all of you go with Samyukta, speak to both the emperors . . . I will be going through the tunnel . . Shiva . . stay back with five men'

Samyukta said, 'be strong . . ' and she moved up the stairs . .

Shiva picked five men and asked them to stay back with him . . all others followed Samyukta out . . Pinaka waited till they went away . . he said, 'all of you wait here . . Shiva . . lead me to the tunnel . .

Shiva led the way, Pinaka was following him . . they crossed the prison and went ahead . . they reached the wall . . Shiva was groping in the dark . . . he looked as if he was trying to grab something . . he caught a hidden lever and pushed it . . the wall slided aside, revealing a path . .

This was the tunnel connecting the Royal Palace and the army general's palace . . Shiva took out a whip from his pocket and gave it to Pinaka, he said, 'your majesty, this belonged to your father . . I kept it for him . . I think it's time for you to take it . . there are too many people behaving like beasts . . and beasts can only be punished by a good beating . . ' Pinaka hugged Shiva and thanked him . . he walked towards the tunnel . . as he entered, Shiva pulled the lever closing the tunnel and waited there . .

Pinaka walked through the tunnel, it was a long way, he kept going . . after some time he felt that the path was going upwards . . he understood that he was approaching the palace . .

He came across a wall which was just like the sliding wall he crossed, he understood that he reached the palace, he sat down facing the wall, closed his eyes and calmed himself . .

He looked for a lever . . . he was able to find it . . he pulled the lever . . the wall slided slowly . .

Chapter end