93. What is your death wish?

Ivan consoled her, "Don’t worry, Axe… He has the unique ability to heal himself. Did he ever tell you about that?"
Akshara wiped her tears and nodded negatively, "Nothing much!"
Ivan wanted to console Akshara by distracting her from sorrow and sharing information about Dev. "Do you know, he was born out of an egg"
Akshara asked him, "What's an 'egg’? However, the Queen is a witch... How did he come from an egg?"
Ivan noticed her curiosity and felt little success in getting her out of the sorrow, "He was shaped normally in the womb of our queen. But his hybrid nature and spiritual energy eventually drained the strength of his mother, as he grows…"
Akshara widened her eyes to listen to Ivan, and Ivan continued, "So, our king, Dev’s father, asked the entire medicine practitioner... "
Akshara interrupted, "...Doctors?"
Ivan told her, "Don’t interrupt me... The king tried out every possible way, including witchcraft, for the revival of the queen’s strength and the safe delivery of Dev."
Akshara asked him, "Then what happened?"
Ivan continued, "Finally, our king found a solution from his human friend of transferring the child from the womb along with the amniotic sac which could make the child safe until the time approached…"
Akshara told him, "So weird? How did he survive?"
Ivan told her, "Our queen used her spiritual witch power to thicken the thin layer of amniotic sac in such a way that he could receive all the nourishment until his birth."
Akshara deliberated, "Dev is the hybrid child of a dragon and a witch who was born out of an egg. However, our human friend is extremely gifted at detecting such critical births. What happened to his father and where is he?"
The royal guard interrupted them and informed them of the most shocking news: "General, the bride of our crown prince is summoned to the court of Las Oajar."
Akshara looked shocked and looked at Ivan. Ivan approached the guard and asked, in a puzzled tone, "Why Las Oajar?"
The guard replied, "It is the decision of Las Oajar and we are not in a position to question it."
"I can’t send her with you until I know the exact reason?" Ivan stood stubborn in not sending Akshara to the court of Las Oajar. The royal guards apologised to Ivan and opened their swords to show that they must fulfil the words of Las Oajar.
Ivan Shirk breathed heat and flames with his eyes turning deep red. "Ivan!" Akshara came towards him and held his hands tightly with pity eyes, "Don’t protect me when you are general of this Ayruzglow kingdom."
Ivan’s flaring red eyes intimidated the royal guards, and one of the guards said, with much hesitation, "General, you can escort the bride of our crown prince to Las Oajar court."
Akshara murmured to herself, "Why is this Lost Jar haunting me like a phantom?"
Ivan held Akshara’s hand firmly, protecting his little human sister from impending peril, leaving his wounded friend in the castle.
Inside Dev’s chamber, he was treated with sacred plants and roots to kindle his healing power quickly. In his partial conscious mind, he murmured, "Sara!"
Akshara hissed and pressed Ivan’s hand tightly when the amulet on her neck brightened and sent some sparks to her.
Ivan hurriedly asked her, "What is happening?"
"Devil! I think he has been healed." Akshara told Ivan, and he replied back, "Or may be fighting."
"I wanted to be by his side when he needed me more." Akshara shared her agony on the way to Las Oajar.
Ivan consoled her, "It won’t take much longer to introduce you as his bride to the court members and neighbouring kingdoms."
"I hope so," Akshara exhaled deeply, hoping for the best, but she had no idea what had been waiting for her.
*****
In the hall of Las Oajar,
Akshara was made to stand in the middle of the hall where everyone was seated around her. The white queen was seated in the middle on her dragon throne; behind the throne, Akshara could see the statue of the mighty dragon. Akshara couldn’t recognise many, but her eyes glimpsed Nora, the White Queen, and a few familiar faces of royal guards.
The grandiose appearance of Las Oajar gave her a fantastic feeling.The White Queen looked void in her facial expression and fixed her eyes somewhere else, not to see the accused person, Akshara. Akshara tried to catch her eyes but failed, and was disappointed when she felt she was ignored.
One of the commoners threw a stone at Akshara, which hit her forehead and her blood oozed out. She cried in pain, "What the hell?"
Following the commoner, many civilians threw stones at Akshara, wounding her more and soaking her in a pool of her blood. Ivan Shirk was raged to see her treated so badly in court. He rushed to protect her, shouting, "Are you out of your mind, you know who she is?"
One of the commoners replied, "General, we know she is a liar and a murderer."
Akshara was shocked to hear the word "Murderer". Ivan spoke for her, "What a murderer?"
Ivan looked at the white queen and landed his eyes on Nora, and he understood the entire trapping plot. "Whom did she murder?"
"Our crown prince," Indigo replied loudly, alerting Akshara to what had been wrapping around her.
Akshara was perplexed and Ivan tried to explain to the court people, "Respected people of glorious Las Oajar, she wouldn’t do anything like that to him. Why would his bride ever try to murder him?"
"General, we need to clear the same with the accused person who is entitled as the Crown Prince’s bride." One of the court people replied to him with a stern look.
Silence prevailed around the corners of the court, and everyone’s eyes were focused on Akshara. When she was about to speak up, the Ayruzians threw stones at her, yelling, "She murdered our crown prince."
Ivan asked the Ayruzians to stop their action, but nothing happened. So Ivan changed to his dragon form and splashed fire in the direction of the Ayruzians. Akshara was traumatised by seeing the furious red dragon.
The white queen ordered her soldiers to capture Ivan, the red dragon who has been bringing disgrace to the court and the kingdom. The soldiers attacked the red dragon that was eventually protecting Akshara.
The white queen stood from her seat and waved her hand to Jinx. She threw a chain-like thing at the Red Dragon, and the chains tied around and pulled Ivan the Red Dragon to the ground. In a few seconds, Ivan calmed himself to obey the royal soldiers.
One of the royal soldiers replied, "My general, please obey Las Oajar and our queen. Don’t force us to be hard on you."
Ivan the Red Dragon calmed and obeyed to be tied in the corner of the hall of Las Oajar where his flaring red eyes were fixed on his sister Nora, who had been avoiding his eye contact from the start.
One of the members of Las Oajar told her, "My queen, this human must be sentenced to death."
Akshara was shocked to hear their decision, "What... Death...?"
Another member asked her, "Human! Tell us your death wish... Ayruzglow will grant it."
Akshara looked around every corner of the court and decided to stand for herself, "I wanted a clear explanation for my accusation and my punishment."
The member of the Las Oajar replied, "As if you are not aware, you are sentenced to death for poisoning our crown prince."
Akshara was shocked to hear, "Why would I do that? I am his bride. Who would poison her groom to be?"
Nora got permission from the queen to speak and said, in a loud tone, "That is your biggest plot you ever planned to defeat our kingdom."
Akshara was puzzled and got confirmation that the entire plot had been webbed around her by Nora. But Akshara wanted to get the answer to the only question, "Why."
Akshara asked her in a calm tone with a smirk, "Are you the witness?"
Nora called the servants of the Royal Kitchen, and the two female dragons appeared, "This human cooked the food. We saw with our own eyes."
Nora dismissed them and turned towards Akshara, "Is the witness enough for you to be sentenced to death?"
Akshara replied, "I agree that I cooked the food, but I don’t use any poisonous ingredients."
Nora questioned her, "Can you say what the ingredients you used were? And who helped you get those ingredients?"
Ivan came to his mortal form and understood the situation. What is exactly happening in Las Oajar? The words of Nora echoed in his mind; "Let me reverse it to get what’s mine."
Nora was transformed into a completely wicked person to get her love back, and she was ready to sacrifice anything to get back the love of Dev, even her biological brother.
Akshara replied to the question posted by Nora, "Ivan Shirk, your brother, this kingdom’s most notorious warrior general, helped me to get the ingredients, and I was preparing it for the queen."
Nora replied to the members of Las Oajar, "My queen! Even though he is my brother, I ask you to exile him for his sin. His mind was corrupted by this wicked human and she made my brother obey her. They were preparing food poison to defeat our queen, but unfortunately, our crown prince ate that poisoned food and is struggling to overcome the poison in his body."
The white queen asked Akshara, "Why would you want to poison me to defeat? What is your motive?"
Nora explained, "My queen, you will know the answer if we get our analysis of her background. After my father, Dark Knight, mentioned her history, I dug deep into her past.
"I, too, have been longing to hear that history," Akshara stated in the court of Las Oajar.
Nora continued the same with a warning, "You will regret your birth. (She faced the queen). This human was brought up by a black witch, our greatest threat of all time, and was guarded by werewolves. Though human, she is as wicked as the evil witch. She acted upon the orders of the Black Witch to defeat our kingdom and you, my honourable queen."
Akshara is shocked to hear her past being narrated by Nora, "What... I was raised with witch and werewolves?"
The chief member of Las Oajar stood to reply, "It is evident that this human was sent by a black witch and attempted to poison our queen to defeat her. Also, she is the reason for the condition of our crown prince. She wickedly strategized to make our loyal general Ivan Shirk help her."
They went on accusing Akshara with harsh words and continued their verdict, "So I hereby verdict upon the name of the Great Dragon that this human is sentenced to death and our general Ivan Shirk has been exiled to the arid land of volcano, Eldornagton."
Before royal guards executed their orders, Dev flew to the court of Las Oajar and landed in the middle of the court. He turned to his mortal form and bowed to the elders of the court and queen.
*****