‘That also sounds like a good idea,’ said a smiling Shiva. Why Nandi, you are almost like a
fount of brilliant ideas!’
Nandi laughed along with Shiva, always happy to be the cause of a smile on his Lord’s face.
‘I’ll just be back, my Lord.’
Shiva lay down on his bed and was quickly lost in the thoughts that really mattered to him.
I’ll finish the meeting with the Emperor as soon as humanly possible, give him whatever the
bloody hell he wants and then scour the city for Sati.
Shiva had considered asking Nandi about the whereabouts of Sati but had eventually
decided against it. He was painfully aware that he had made a less than spectacular impression
on her at their first meeting. If she hadn’t made it easy for him to find her, it only meant that she
wasn’t terribly stirred by him. He didn’t want to compound the issue by speaking casually about
her to others.
He smiled as the memory of her face came flooding back to him. He replayed the magical
moments when he had seen her fighting. Not the most romantic of sights for most men of his
tribe. But for Shiva, it was divine. He sighed recalling her soft, delicate body, which had
suddenly developed brutal, killer qualities upon being attacked. The curves that had so
captivated him swung smoothly as she transferred her weight to swing her sword. The sober
tied hair had swayed sensuously with each move of the sword arm. He breathed deeply.
What a woman!
It was early in the morning when Shiva and Nandi crossed the bridge between the Tamra
and Svarna platforms to reach the royal citadel. The bridge, another marvel of Meluhan
engineering, was flanked on the sides by a thick wall. Holes had been drilled on the walls, to
shoot arrows or pour hot oil on enemies. The bridge was bisected by a massive gate, a final
protection just in case the other platform was lost to an enemy.
When they crossed over to the Svarna platform, Shiva was completely taken by surprise,
not by the grandeur of the royal area but by the lack of it. He was shocked by the fact that
there was no opulence. Despite ruling over such a massive and wealthy empire, the nobility
lived in a conspicuously simple manner. The structure of the royal citadel was almost exacdy
like the other platforms. There were no special concessions for the aristocrats. The same block
structures that dominated all of Meluha were to be found in the royal citadel as well. The only
magnificent structure was to the far right and sported the sign ‘Great Public Bath’. The Bath
also had a glorious temple to Lord Indra to the left. The temple, built of wood, stood on a
raised foundation of baked bricks, its cupola plated with solid gold! It seemed that special
architecture was reserved only for structures built for the Gods or ones that were for the
common good.
Probably just like how Lord Ram would have preferred.
The only concession to the emperor, however, was that his standard block structure was
larger than the others. Significantly larger.