Chapter Text
“Maa, I can’t.” Devasena gasped, hunching down as she clutched her abdomen in pain.
Sivagami looked around desperately, hoping beyond hope for some assistance. But the three of them were alone in the dark, at the base of the mighty waterfalls with Bhallaladeva’s soldiers seconds away from reaching them.
“You cannot give up, Devasena.” Sivagami urged, gripping Devasena’s shoulder tightly. As Mahendra’s cries increased, Sivagami gestured to the baby in her arms. “Mahendra needs you. You cannot give up. Mahismathi’s daughter never gives up.”
“I am not.” Devasena gasped, closing her eyes in pain. “I’m not giving up. I’m giving in. Take him away. Please, you have to save him!”
“And I will.” Sivagami words rang with resolve. Despite the arrow sticking from her back, despite being saddled with an infant and an woman who’d just given birth, Sivagami knew her words to be true. “He will live, Devasena. So will you.”
Devasena’s desperate eyes met Sivagami’s steely ones.
“For Amarendra,” Sivagami whispered.
Devasena’s face hardened, the familiar determination locking her jaw as she struggled to her feet.
“For Amarendra.” she repeated, forcing her body to move. Swallowing down the pain, she followed Sivagami as the older woman etched her bloody footprints on the rocks to mislead the soldiers. When the time came to fight, the daughters in-law of the great kingdom fought back to back to fend off the attackers.
“There,” Devasena gestured weakly towards the mountains where they could see traces of a human settlement. “We need to go there.”
Sivagami nodded, leading the way with Mahendra in her arms.
“Be careful-” No sooner were the words out of her mouth that Sivagami slipped, falling into the mighty river with Mahendra in his arms.
In one heartbreaking second, Devasena saw her mother in-law and son being carried away by the rushing water before she too fell into the river, not entirely sure if she’d jumped instinctively or if she’d slipped. But what did it matter, when they were all going to die? The temptation to surrender was too much. She could be reunited with her husband again but-
But her son…
He had to live. Mahendra had to live.
“Krishna!” she called desperately, struggling against the tide of the river. “I beg you, save my son! Take me instead. Save him. Save Mahendra…”
And then she knew no more.