Chapter 1: Beauty is the Beast (Part 3)

Read Part 1 here.

Read Part 2 here.

[CONTD.]

As Hema gasped and screamed, “Stop! Aruna! Stop! What are you doing?” the king gestured to one of the soldiers.

The soldier drew his sword, walked up to Aruna from behind and without delay, chopped her head off with one fine strike.

Hema stopped screaming. Her mouth remained open. She did not blink. She saw her daughter’s head fall off from her body and hit the ground painting the ground red with a splatter of blood. The body, too, fell, struggled helplessly for a while and then became still.

After a moment of pause, there was a collective cheer from the crowd that stood watching the episode.

Hema glanced at the king with fire in her eyes. Before the cheer died away, she screamed addressing the king, “King! You rotten sinner! You have no idea what you have done. And this shall not pass forgiven.”

“Shut up, witch,” shouted a soldier at her. “How dare you talk to the king?”

“I dare! Oh, yes, I dare,” she said pounding with rage. “You killed an innocent child who was trying to help her captive mother.”

“She wasn’t innocent,” spoke the king. “She was chanting a spell.”

“She was a child. She does not know any spell, you fool!”

“Do not try to convince me you are not a witch,” said the king calmly.

Hema breathed heavily as he looked into the king’s eyes with fury. “I am not,” she said coldly. “But you know what? When you ruthlessly kill a child in front of her mother’s eyes, she does not need to be a witch to take revenge.”

The king sneered at her, looked at his soldiers and said nonchalantly, “Let’s get over with it.”

Hema shouted before the soldiers could respond, “It won’t get over soon, King! I shall not let this pass so soon.”

“Only if you’re alive, witch!” said a soldier and carried a burning wooden stick to the king. The king held it and sturdily walked towards the base of the pedestal made of logs.

“This fire cannot kill me, you sinner,” screamed Hema at which the king scoffed. He held the burning stick at the base of the pedestal and set fire to it.

“What has happened to me shall happen to you too, King,” screamed Hema as the fire rose upwards. She could feel the eager anticipation of the crowd waiting for her to scream in agony as she burnt. She continued, “You shall have a child—a very beautiful child—and she shall try to save your life thinking you are in danger. She will not pay heed to your words and will plunge in danger to help you... and she shall die!”

“Why doesn’t she shut up?” cried an agitated soldier.

Hema looked around at the crowd. The fire was rising and it was getting more and more unbearable. She shouted one last time, “I curse you all... You shall feel my pang... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHH!” and screamed in pain as the fire touched her skin.

[TO BE CONTINUED...]

Does Hema manage to escape? How? Read Part 4 here.