Chhaya headed for the kitchens after serving lunch to get a quick bite to eat before she would need to tend to the General. General James Connolly came to stay with the king a couple of months ago to take the place of the general before him who perished after 25 years of battle. Chhaya turned into the doors to the kitchen, “Chhaya I was expecting you, now come eat your food while it’s hot” said Rashmi. Rashmi was one of the cooks of the castle, she had been watching over Chhaya since she was a little girl after her mother and father died when they were hit by a bomb from the British in Kashmir. The food felt so good in her tummy. She hadn’t eaten any breakfast because the general had her up at dawn and she had been working, doing his laundry and such all morning, she came to find that he was one dirty man. Chhaya looked out of the window that was sitting near the top of the wall. It was almost noon which meant the general and kings were ready to set out to make speeches in downtown Agra. “Rashmi I have to go, king Bahadur and General Connelly are almost ready”
“Ok, but make sure you are not late for dinner again”
“I will not”
Rashmi started washing the dishes as Chhaya headed down the narrow hallway. There were pictures lining the wall of all the rulers before King Bahadur. Chhaya hated walking down this hallway, Every time she could have sworn somebody was watching her, like the eyes were following her. She entered the premises of the main hallway and King Bahadur and General Connolly stood at the head of the marble stairs and were beginning to walk down the red linen that covered each stair. General Connolly was not very aged he looked as if he were in his mid 30’s. He had a much-defined jaw line as if he always had his teeth clenched tightly together; his nose was long and rounded at the tip. His hair was covered by his hat but Chhaya had seen him with his hat off and knew that his hair was dark brown and long enough that it sat atop his head. He had He was dressed in night sky blue trousers that were the same color as his jacket that matched the color of his eyes. He was walking alongside king Bahadur who was dressed in long red robes that were lined with a thin stitching of gold. The kings shaggy jet black hair was covered by his red turban. Chharya was startled that king Bahadur looked as if he were enjoying the conversation he was having with General Connolly. Chhaya had over heard King Bahadur although she scorned herself for doing so, saying that he wanted General Connolly to leave or he may have to help him find the door. Chhaya greeted the two at the foot of the stairs with a low bow. “ahh, hello Chhaya” said the general. Chhaya bowed her head in reply
“Now Chhaya make sure you tend to General Connolly’s room. Chhaya nodded and then they headed off towards the front doors. Chhaya hurried up the stairs to go tend to the generals room. When she walked inn she found nothing out of place from yesterday except for the fact that the bed was unmade. This was not the first time the general had done this. She found it very strange; nobody she had ever worked for had done this. After she had finished tiding the room up she went to the kitchen and Rashmi was preparing lunch. “Oh just the person I wanted to see, Chhaya I need some beef and spices”
“That’s great, I’ve been wanting to get out of the house”. Rashmi handed chhaya a sling to put al the food in and sent her off out of the door. Chhaya walked out of the backdoor in the kitchens and started down the hill towards the town where the meat and spices were sold. Nearing the town she saw the square where the king and general were supposed to speak. Chhaya wanted to stop by the speeches because ever since she was a little girl she had love the politics in India but Rashmi always said that girls were not meant to do that. Chhaya quickly got the meat and spices from the vendor Rashmi always took her too. After loading her sling with the stuff that Rashmi asked for she veered towards the stage where the king and emperor were talking. Chhaya made her way into the crowd and saw that the king looked stricken with anger while the general had a smirk wipe across his face. “I can assure you that the general and I are doing everything we can in order to bring peace upon India” said the king
“But we will not be withdrawing any troops anytime soon” said the general. All it sounded like to Chhaya was that the general and the King were not going by the plan; Chhaya thought they were going to try to agree in front of the people. A couple of minutes later the two got down off of the stage and starts towards their car. They must have been speeding because by the time Chhaya got home she walked over to the general’s room but before she got to the room she overheard hushed voices in the king’s room. “We must get him out somehow, the people are starting to ask questions” said a gruff voice
‘Well I can only think of one thing and I think you know who I’m talking about”
Chhaya heard a grunt and footsteps coming towards the door but she bolted away from the door back down the stairs into the servant’s quarter to lie in her bed. The cool pillow felt nice against her overworked face. “Was he talking about me? What could I do”, all these questions passed through her mind. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight but it’s not like she had been able to sleep many nights. Not since her parents both died. Chhaya heard her door creak open and footsteps come inn. She immediately feigned sleep not knowing who would be in her room at this hour. Whispers suddenly erupted in the silent room. She could only make out two of the voices filling the room it was Rashmi, what was she doing. The second voice Chhaya heard was what scared and surprised her the most. It was the kings voice, what had she done now she thought there was no way the king would be up at this hour unless it was something important. Now the third voice Chhaya heard was very familiar yet she could not put her finger on it. It was a very deep gruff voice, the man mostly made grunts after the king spoke as if to respond but for some reason it seemed as if the king and Rashmi understood what he was saying. Then all the footsteps started towards her bed, and she felt what was a slender but tough hand forcefully shake her shoulder “Chhaya wake up, someone is here to see you, wake up!” it was Rashmi’s voice . Chhaya sleepily rolled over to face Rashmi casually faking her tiredness. “Rashmi why are you waking me so early, it is not yet dawn”. Rashmi leaned towards me until she was an inch away from her face “it is the king, now don’t be foolish get up” Rashmi backed away from her and went to join the king the king who was standing with the man who was short
and salky and sported a long beard and a moon shaped
scar under his left eye. She rolled out of her covers, suddenly “awake". Smoothing out her skirt Chhaya bowed her torso down to the king and his companion and gave Rashmi a head bow because she was an elder. “Chhaya I am sorry to wake you at this hour of the night”
“No, no apologies sir, it is my pleasure”
“I must ask you a favor to do for me”
“ Anything for you sir” King Bahadur took a minute to take a deep breath before looking back at Chhaya. “ I need you to look for anything suspicious in General Connolly’s room since you are the head maid of the room”. “Suspicious” Chhaya asked.
“Yes anything that might look out of the ordinary blue prints and such”
Chhaya was stunned the king would ask such a favor but Rashmi would scold her if she said no. But her thoughts floated off to the man next to Bahadur. She had only heard him whispering but she knew the voice. She tracked back through her day, bingo he was the man from the kings office when she overheard the king talking to somebody. This was the man. “Chhaya” the king said questioningly. It was as if somebody walked in on her private thoughts. She shook her head and looked back up at the king and nodded her head “I will do that sir”
“Thank you for your time” He turned around following the man who accompanied him and abruptly left the room. Rashmi followed there after with a quick goodnight. Chhaya was too tired to think about what just happened and collapsed in her bed.
The next morning Chhaya woke to the smell of roti and honey wafting into her bedroom. Oh how she longed for a peaceful day so she could rest and re cooperate from the loss of sleep she had gotten last night. She quickly dressed and followed the sweet hypnotic smell of the roti and honey pushing the doors to the kitchen open and seeing that Rashmi had already set out the foods and a cup of what seemed to be steaming tea. This was odd but chhaya didn't bother to ask she had a long day to think about so much to do but so little time. The honey and warm bread felt good inside her tummy, it was just the kick start she needed for her day, she meant to say thank you to Rashmi but she was nowhere to be seen. After she had finished her dish she cleaned and left the kitchen heading up the backstairs near the kitchens to the commanders room. Her feet went faster then she wanted but she was at the commanders room in short second. She was trying to forget the orders she was giving but as soon as she had opened the door everything seemed suspicious to her. There were papers scattered on the desk, mail was scattered on the bed side table and there was stationary balled up in the trash. Chhaya started cleaning the room like she normally would and skipped anything that looked suspicious. Chhaya headed towards the desk to tidy up before she would move on to report to the king. As she was staking the paper she caught a glimpse of something on the corner of the desk. It was nothing she had ever seen before. Chhaya picked the strange contraption up and a couple of the papers that were around it up. She thought they may be helpful to the king. As she was carrying the papers out of the room she saw a note scribbled on the back of the paper. Chhaya tried to make out the impossible chicken scratch and couldn't believe she had read the right thing. Etched on the back of the paper was get rid of the king. Chhaya always knew the commander and king never got along but never thought...just pondering it was horrific. She headed to the far side of the castle where the kings office was. She knocked on the gold door “come inn” said the king
“ah, Chhaya, I am assuming you have something for me”
“yes sir, she reached down into her apron and pulled out the papers and the contraption out of her pocket. “ I found this on his desk” she handed him the two items and stood quietly contemplating weather to tell the king about the assassination. it was not hers to know so she might as well. “sir” the king looked up from the papers. “sir if you turn that paper over there, well i read something on the back of that and i think that it is important. King Bahadur turned the paper over and in seconds his face was stricken in terror. Bahadur was a fairly young man he wasn't ready to die. “ Thank you Chhaya” without anymore talk she left the room.
The next few days the king;s face was stuck in a state of anxiety. He was seen with the scar faced man more and more. The king and the commander had a scheduled meeting for the coming day and for some reason Chhaya felt as if something may go wrong and the thing that made her fell worse was the fact that ever since the general came to stay she seemed to be right about a lot of things. There was nothing more to find in the generals room that was suspicious so Chhaya stopped looking. It was the day of the kings meeting with general Connelly and she was heading up to the generals room to clean but instead of an empty room she found the general. “oh my, i am very sorry to disturb you” but before she could shut the door the commander stopped her. 'no, you were just the person i wanted to see” startled by this remark Chhaya headed into the room barely leaving the doorway. “ you do a great job with the room”
“thank you sir”
“i noticed you move some of the papers on the desk” he looked up at me from where he was sitting on his bed. “ no sir, i did not take anything”. He stood as Chhaya backed away “are you sure you did not move anything”said general Connelly his voice in forced calm . “yes sir”. He gave Chhaya one last glare and returned back to his work as Chhaya left the room. Sweat trickled down her forehead. She had confronted like that before and she didn't like it. It was time for the meeting

2nd part

Chhaya headed for the kitchens after serving lunch to get a quick bite to eat before she would need to tend to the General. General James Connolly came to stay with the king a couple of months ago to take the place of the general before him who perished after 25 years of battle. Chhaya turned into the doors to the kitchen, “Chhaya I was expecting you, now come eat your food while it’s hot” said Rashmi. Rashmi was one of the cooks of the castle, she had been watching over Chhaya since she was a little girl after her mother and father died when they were hit by a bomb from the British in Kashmir. The food felt so good in her tummy. She hadn’t eaten any breakfast because the general had her up at dawn and she had been working, doing his laundry and such all morning, she came to find that he was one dirty man. Chhaya looked out of the window that was sitting near the top of the wall. It was almost noon which meant the general and kings were ready to set out to make speeches in downtown Agra. “Rashmi I have to go, king Bahadur and General Connolly are almost ready”
“Ok, but make sure you are not late for dinner again”
“I will not”
Rashmi started washing the dishes as Chhaya headed down the narrow hallway. There were pictures lining the wall of all the rulers before King Bahadur. Chhaya hated walking down this hallway, Every time she could have sworn somebody was watching her, like the eyes were following her. She entered the premises of the main hallway and King Bahadur and General Connolly stood at the head of the marble stairs and were beginning to walk down the red linen that covered each stair. General Connolly was not very aged he looked as if he were in his mid 30’s. He had a much-defined jaw line as if he always had his teeth clenched tightly together; his nose was long and rounded at the tip. His hair was covered by his hat but Chhaya had seen him with his hat off and knew that his hair was dark brown and long enough that it sat atop his head. He had He was dressed in night sky blue trousers that were the same color as his jacket that matched the color of his eyes. He was walking alongside king Bahadur who was dressed in long red robes that were lined with a thin stitching of gold. The kings shaggy jet black hair was covered by his red turban. Chharya was startled that king Bahadur looked as if he were enjoying the conversation he was having with General Connolly. Chhaya had over heard King Bahadur although she scorned herself for doing so, saying that he wanted General Connolly to leave or he may have to help him find the door. Chhaya greeted the two at the foot of the stairs with a low bow. “ahh, hello Chhaya” said the general. Chhaya bowed her head in reply
“Now Chhaya make sure you tend to General Connolly’s room. Chhaya nodded and then they headed off towards the front doors. Chhaya hurried up the stairs to go tend to the generals room. When she walked inn she found nothing out of place from yesterday except for the fact that the bed was unmade. This was not the first time the general had done this. She found it very strange; nobody she had ever worked for had done this. After she had finished tiding the room up she went to the kitchen and Rashmi was preparing lunch. “Oh just the person I wanted to see, Chhaya I need some beef and spices”
“That’s great, I’ve been wanting to get out of the house”. Rashmi handed chhaya a sling to put al the food in and sent her off out of the door. Chhaya walked out of the backdoor in the kitchens and started down the hill towards the town where the meat and spices were sold. Nearing the town she saw the square where the king and general were supposed to speak. Chhaya wanted to stop by the speeches because ever since she was a little girl she had love the politics in India but Rashmi always said that girls were not meant to do that. Chhaya quickly got the meat and spices from the vendor Rashmi always took her too. After loading her sling with the stuff that Rashmi asked for she veered towards the stage where the king and emperor were talking. Chhaya made her way into the crowd and saw that the king looked stricken with anger while the general had a smirk wipe across his face. “I can assure you that the general and I are doing everything we can in order to bring peace upon India” said the king
“But we will not be withdrawing any troops anytime soon” said the general. All it sounded like to Chhaya was that the general and the King were not going by the plan; Chhaya thought they were going to try to agree in front of the people. A couple of minutes later the two got down off of the stage and starts towards their car. They must have been speeding because by the time Chhaya got home she walked over to the general’s room but before she got to the room she overheard hushed voices in the king’s room. “We must get him out somehow, the people are starting to ask questions” said a gruff voice
‘Well I can only think of one thing and I think you know who I’m talking about”
Chhaya heard a grunt and footsteps coming towards the door but she bolted away from the door back down the stairs into the servant’s quarter to lie in her bed. The cool pillow felt nice against her overworked face. “Was he talking about me? What could I do”, all these questions passed through her mind. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight but it’s not like she had been able to sleep many nights. Not since her parents both died. Chhaya heard her door creak open and footsteps come inn. She immediately feigned sleep not knowing who would be in her room at this hour. Whispers suddenly erupted in the silent room. She could only make out two of the voices filling the room it was Rashmi, what was she doing. The second voice Chhaya heard was what scared and surprised Rashmi the most. It was the kings voice, what had she done now she thought there was no way the king or anyone in the castle besides the guards would be awake, at this hour. Now the third voice Chhaya heard was very familiar yet she could not put her finger on it. It was a very deep gruff voice, the man mostly made grunts after the king spoke as if to respond but for some reason it seemed as if the king Rashmi understood what he was saying. Then all the footsteps started towards her bed, and she felt what was a slender but tough hand forcefully shake her shoulder “Chhaya wake up, someone is here to see you, wake up!” it was Rashmi’s voice telling to get up. Chhaya sleepily rolled over to face rashmi casually faking her tiredness. “Rashmi why are you waking me so early, it is not yet dawn”. Rashmi leaned twards me until she was an inch away from her face “it is the king, now don’t be foolish get up”. Rashmi backed away from her and went to join the king. The king who was standing with the man who was short and stocky and sported a long beard and a moon shaped car under his left eye. She rolled out of her
Covers, suddenly "awake".