The emperor and empress hurried down to the arena.. they summoned the vaidya. The person"s dead body was secured for further examination.. meanwhile Samyukta was carried into Pinaka"s chambers. She was unconscious.. her pulse was dropping down.. the vaidya crushed few herbs and poured a concoction down her throat.. after few minutes Samyukta spat out blood and then a green liquid came out of her mouth..there was sweat on her forehead.. a herbal paste was applied on her forehead and soles of her feet..

Her pulse slowly raised.. the vaidya sighed in relief.. Pinaka, the emperor and the empress were standing around Samyukta"s bed. The vaidya said, "she is out of danger now.. but she will be unconscious till tomorrow morning.. I will come and examine her in four hours.. once the paste applied on her feet and forehead turns black, remove it with cloth and reapply the fresh paste.. make sure that one of you is present.. I will take my leave now.. " Pinaka said, "Vaidya ji.. what kind of poison is this.. " the Vaidya said, "its a poison made from mercury.. very dangerous.. it attacks the blood directly.. it"s lucky that I was able to diagnose her quickly.. any delay would have been fatal.. " Pinaka looked at Samyukta, his heart ached, she was here for his sake.. he couldn"t take care of her.. he felt useless..

He looked at his mother and said, "mother, please stay here and take care of her.. I need to go and meet Shiva, to check on the culprit.. Vaidya ji, can you please accompany me to check on the dead body, he too used poison on himself.. " the Vaidya nodded in agreement... the empress sat beside Samyukta, she was very much worried for her... The emperor said, "Pinaka, pa.s.s on the message to the emperor Krishna Chandra (Samyukta"s father) we need to notify him about his daughter"s condition.. "

Pinaka nodded, Samyukta was their responsibility.. they had to inform her father.. how will he react.. he was worried.. will their relationship be affected..??

With all these thoughts in his mind, Pinaka moved.. he went to the place where Shiva was trying to get some clues from the body of the culprit..

The body was placed on a platform, it was stripped naked.. the Vaidya went and looked at the dead body, the body turned a shade of red.. the Vaidya immediately said, "cyanide poisoning.. "everyone was shocked.. they heard of this poison but they never saw anyone injest it in front of them.. within minutes he lost his conscious, his body underwent seizures and he died on the spot.. how can someone be so cruel towards oneself..??

Shiva looked at Pinaka and said, "We checked his belongings, there was nothing, but on his chest, there is a mark of a crescent moon... " Pinaka too noticed it.. he said, "thank you Vaidya ji for your opinion, Shiva send someone to accompany Vaidya ji.. " the Vaidya left with one of Shiva"s men..

Pinaka looked at the body closely again, he said, "Shiva.. where is the sword with which he wounded Samyukta.. " Shiva said, " I got it examined, the tip was coated with a poison containing mercury in a very high dose.. " Pinaka nodded his head..Vaidya ji also said the same.how accurate was his diagnosis.... he said, "send a message through pigeon to the emperor of Magadha (Samyukta"s father).. ensure that it is encrypted (coded) " Shiva instructed one of his men to carry out what Pinaka said....

Pinaka"s father, emperor Surya Gupta walked in, he looked at the body of the man, he was clean shaved, he looked at him closely, somehow he felt that he saw this man earlier.. who was he...?