"Have you no dignity?!" Bhanumati screamed, as she was lifted off her feet and up on the chariot by Yuvraj Duryodhan. She was ignored.

She could have attempted to jump off but she didn't because she knew that she would only be picked up and put into the chariot again. She could have attempted to slow them down by wasting more time but... she was going to be marrying some random unknown King or Prince anyway. So was there any point really?

And it was entirely possible that even though the other Kings and Princes might come to fight and win her, they wouldn't marry her because she had been alone with and 'touched' by another man.

This way at least they would get a good alliance. But still, that didn't meant she would stop protesting. She was practical, not happy!

"Get us out of here, fast!" The Yuvraj told his charioteer and then he ... and the Angaraj both climbed up behind her?! Where was the Angaraj's chariot?!

The charioteer complied and they raced out of there. Bhanumati turned on Yuvraj Duryodhan.

"Aren't you man enough to accept it when a princess directly rejects you?" She asked him coldly, while the King of Anga stood with his bow at the ready.

"But did you really want to reject me?" he asked, before turning to their sarathi, "If that is your fastest speed man, then please allow me to take the reins."

Bhanumati was left sputtering.

The King of Anga turned to briefly frown at his friend. "There are three of us on a chariot meant for two, Duryodhan. He's going the fastest he safely can. Don't mind him, my friend." He added the last part to the sarathi.

Apparently the charioteer was used to such casual addresses from his lords and proceeded to completely ignore them. Bhanumati still didn't understand why the Angaraj was on this chariot instead of his own, but she chose to put it out of her mind.

"Yuvraj," she said, "Do you think a woman does not know her own mind when she rejects someone?"

"You stepped up to me though." Duryodhan countered. "You came close as if you were going to garland me and then you suddenly whispered that you weren't going to garland me because I wasn't enticing enough. Clearly you were challenging me to prove that I truly wanted to marry you before you did so."

Bhanumati was left gaping. Where was he getting all this nonsense from? Apparently the King of Anga seemed to agree with her because he gave a light swat to the back of the Yuvraj's head.

When the Yuvraj looked at him offended, he exclaimed, "Are you actually serious?! She turned you down. She. Turned. You. Down. Without insulting your birth," He muttered the last part under his breath and what did that mean?

Right at that moment, a thundering of hooves was heard and they saw that the other Kings and Princes had finally gotten past The King of Anga's barricade and were now racing after them. The King of Anga took aim raising his bow and suddenly Bhanumati's heart clammed up in panic as she saw Bhrata Shrutayudha at the lead of the chasing warriors.

"Please don't hurt them!" She exclaimed loudly. "My brother is there!"

Karna shot her a sideways glance before releasing an arrow. Bhanumati watched with her heart in her throat as the arrow flew into the air and multiplied into hundreds and then the barrage of arrows showered upon the incoming warriors.

The arrows knocked the weapons from their hands or meddled with the mechanism of the wheels of the chariots and made some of them go off-kilter but not a single arrow hit the warriors themselves.

"Do you want us to drop you?" The Yuvraj asked and Bhanumati turned to stare at him.

"Drop me?"

"Your brother is here." Yuvraj Duryodhan stared at her intensely. "If you truly do not wish to marry me right now, say so and we'll drop you here and you can go to your brother."

Bhanumati was stunned at the offer. But she thought about it. And then she thought of Princess Amba of Kashi. Of how she had not wanted to marry Prince Vichitravirya and she had been allowed to return back to her home but had still not been accepted by her lover simply because she had been kidnapped against her will and because Mahamahim Bheeshma had won her by defeating everyone present.

Right now Angaraj Karna had defeated pretty much everyone after them, even though she could see some of them pick up their weapons again. But by now she was certain, he would defeat them again. And none of these Kings and Princes were her lovers. Why would any of them accept her after she had been kidnapped? More likely than not, they were fighting now only to win her back for their self-respect and ego and not because they cared about her. Well except for her brother of course.

If she said no... someone else equally unknown could marry her, or she could be spurned for life. If she said yes... she could live as the Yuvrani of the Mighty Kuru Empire and win her Kingdom an impressive alliance.

And at least unlike his grand uncle, Yuvraj Duryodhan actually intended to marry her. It wasn't much, but right now she would take what she could get. (Though she supposed that while the Yuvraj had been the one to kidnap her, it was the Angaraj who actually did the job of keeping their pursuers at bay and defeating them, and she was offered to Yuvraj Duryodhan who was clearly younger than the Angaraj, so it could be said that he played the Mahamahim's role, but whatever. Bhanumati internally shook her head to clear it of these useless musings.)

The decision practically made itself.

"Fine." She said. "Fine, I will marry you."

Yuvraj Duryodhan grinned widely just as Angraj Karna released another volley of arrows at their pursuers, this time incapacitating most of them for good, even though he still made sure not to kill them.

Since the Angaraj had still not hurt his brother, he continued to pursue them and he was followed by a few others like Jarasandha.

Bhanumati stood up and right at that moment the chariot lurched, making her grasp onto the Yuvraj's shoulder, much to her displeasure.

Then she thought, I am going to have to marry him anyway, so what the hell.

She grasped hold of the highest part of the chariot she could reach and heaved herself on the Yuvraj's shoulder and he let out a very unmanly yelp in shock even as he raised his arms to hold her ankles in support. The King of Anga looked in alarm.

"What are you doing?!" The Yuvraj demanded.

"Attempting to get my brother to stop coming after us before he actually gets hurt despite the Angaraj's best attempts to not do so, now that I've agreed to marry you."

She looked at the Angaraj who was wearing a beautiful orange-gold antariya and a gold bordered, white uttariya over it.

"I apologise for this." She said and pulled off his white uttariya.

"Have you gone mad?!" The Yuvraj exclaimed while the Angaraj could only gape at her in shock at her improper behaviour. Well they had done a far more improper thing by kidnapping her.

"Stand up on the seat." She commanded him. "You both kidnapped me. The least you could do is remain silent and let me do whatever I am doing."

That silenced the Yuvraj and he actually got up on his seat, somehow managing to hold her up on his shoulders.

She leaned forward, past the chariot top and grabbed tightly to one of the support beams of the chariot so that she didn't topple over. Then she raised the white piece of clothing as high above her head as she could. It fluttered behind their chariot-- like a peace flag.

She looked on in desperation hoping her brother would realise that it meant she was fine and that he could stop.

Thankfully he did. His chariot came to a halt and he raised a hand to halt the warriors behind him. She let out a sigh of relief.

Then she screamed as loudly as she could: "I will be fine. I will write to you. Tell our parents not to worry."

She could see her brother nodding as the distance between them went on increasing.

She ducked her head back into the chariot and was gently lowered by Yuvraj Duryodhan.

But then suddenly one of the chariots started following them again. It was Jarasandha, she realised to her dismay and he was renowned as one of the greatest warriors of Aryavarta.

The King of Anga raised his bow again, but then Magadhnaresh screamed "Angaraj! Two weeks hence, I challenge you to a duel! Single Combat in wrestling! If you are truly a warrior, then show your face in Magadh in a fortnight."

"Don't accept Karna-" The Yuvraj said in a panicked voice and she could understand why. Jarasandha was the most renowned wrestler in all of Aryavarta and no one had ever been known to defeat him in wrestling.

But the King of Anga had a determined look on his face.

"I accept your challenge!" He roared back and then Jarasandha's chariot came to a halt as well.

The King of Anga finally lowered his bow and took a seat next to them. It was not uncomfortable but... it was a rather snug fit between the two large men.

She wordlessly handed his uttariya back to him.

"Are you crazy?!" Yuvraj Duryodhan yelled at his friend across her and she leaned as far back in her seat as she could.

"What was I supposed to do, not accept the challenge?" The King of Anga demanded.

"Yes! You are the greatest warrior I know next to Pitamaha, but wrestling is not your purview!"

"So you are saying you think I cannot defeat him--" The Angaraj began hotly but he was cut off by the Yuvraj.

"Oh dear lord, shut up. Shut up. You know I think you are the most amazing warrior, but this won't be a fight with weapons. Any weapons. It's wrestling."

"So you think I'm bad at wrestling?" The Angaraj huffed.

"NO, I don't think that, I don't think there's any form of fighting you are bad at, but merely being good is not enough to defeat Jarasandha!"

Bhanumati watched this back and forth with great interest. Surprisingly enough, her.... fiancé, she supposed, was somehow being the more sensible one in this situation.

"I am better than merely good!" The Angaraj exclaimed, looking insulted.

Yuvraj Duryodhan rolled his eyes. "Fine, you are excellent in wrestling. I know. But, you are not as strong as him and you are certainly not stronger, like me or Bheem or Gurudev Balram!"

"You know perfectly well that strength is not always the deciding factor, even in wrestling." Angaraj argued.

Yuvraj Duryodhan buried his face in his hands. "I cannot deal with this. I am not supposed to be the sensible one. You are. Please stop being ridiculous."

There was a brief silence. Bhanumati realised she had entirely been forgotten during the argument, despite the fact that they had literally just kidnapped her. She wasn't sure whether to be amused or insulted. As it was, this was some great entertainment. If she got such entertainment regularly, maybe life wouldn't be so bad after all.

On her other side the King of Anga sighed and then reached across her to pull one of Yuvraj Duryodhan's hands away from his face and into his.

"I could not have simply refused his challenge." He said softly. "I would be called a coward."

"I know," Yuvraj Duryodhan said wearily, "but I'm worried. Jarasandha won't be like any other opponent you might face."

"I know." The King of Anga said. "But I will defeat him. Have faith in me. I will not die. I will return to you, my friend."

Then they both smiled sappily at each other. And they were still holding each other's hands. Across her lap. It was disgustingly sweet. Bhanumati did not think it was normal to think such things about her kidnappers so soon after they had kidnapped her, even though one of them was to be her husband soon.

She cleared her throat.

"Why did you have to kidnap me? You could have just married each other."

They both jerked out of whatever trance they had gotten into, looked away from staring into each other's eyes and turned to face her. Still holding hands.

"My lords, maybe hold hands when the place for resting them is not my lap."

They withdrew their hands and murmured apologies.

"You know, this is quite unexpected."

"What is?" Yuvraj Duryodhan asked.

"Well, Yuvraj-"

"Call me Duryodhan please. And may I call you you Bhanu?"

She raised her eyebrows.

"Very well. Duryodhan. And it is really rather forward of you to already give me a nickname, but I supposed it isn't causing any harm. And as I was saying, most of the warrior kind don't really hold hands even if they are very good friends, you know?"

"We're best friends." The King of Anga said it with particular relish.

"Yes alright, but still."

"Siblings do hold hands." Yuvraj Duryodhan pointed out. "We're like brothers. Best friends cum brothers."

The King of Anga looked at him so very happily at this.

"True," she conceded. "It must have been really easy to induct him as a brother given how many brothers you already have."

"Yes." Yuv- No, Duryodhan said. "It's impossible not to love him."

The King of Anga snorted loudly.

"You do realise that you are perhaps the only person aside from my parents, Vrushali and my three sons who have learned to speak till now, who would ever say that?"

Duryodhan hummed thoughtfully. "Bhabhi wouldn't say that either."

The Angaraj snorted again. "That's fair. She would moan about how hard it is to love me and that she should be awarded for doing so."

"Do I get to meet your wife?" Bhanumati asked interestedly.

Angaraj raised an eyebrow. "Slow down, Princess. Get married first. Meet your new family members, learn all their names-- I assure you that is no easy task. Then you can meet her, certainly."

"No, I just want to see her expression when she finds out you agreed to single combat in wrestling, with Samrat Jarasandha."

Duryodhan burst into laughter as the King of Anga grumbled. Suddenly the thought that had been bothering her came up again.

"Where is your chariot by the way, Angaraj?"

"Oh... well I left it there when we escaped--"

"You left it?!" Bhanumati asked incredulously.

"Well, yes, I could obviously better protect you both if I was on the same chariot as you. And in any case, once my charioteer finds out what happened, he'll take the chariot back to Hastinapur since he'll know that's where we're going next."

"So, you're friends with all the Sutas then?"

The King of Anga laughed like she had made some great joke.

But then another, more pressing concern came to her.

She turned to Duryodhan. "Your family will accept me, right?"

Duryodhan blinked. "Of course, they will. Why wouldn't they?"

"Um... because... You... uh... kidnapped me? And the Angaraj just fought against the Kings and Princes of several kingdoms on your behalf?"

Duryodhan waved that away airily. "So did my grand-uncle Bhishma, to win my grandmothers for my grandfather. The elders in my family will be displeased at first--"

"As they should be--"

"But once I remind them that we have only followed in Pitamaha Bhishma's footsteps , they will accept you."

Bhanumati stared at him.

"You always follow in your Pitamaha's footsteps then?" She asked archly, and the King of Anga shook his head on her other side, sighing heavily.

"Only when it suits me." Duryodhan grinned.

Notes:

This chapter sort of ran away with me. Tell me what you think?