Jhansi – Late April 1857
The moon hung low, veiled in a pale mist that turned the fort walls into spectral silhouettes. Below, in the royal stables, the smell of oil, sweat, and old leather lingered like the scent of war.
Rani Lakshmibai stood beside her horse, Badal, her palm pressed against his flank. She wasn't dressed as a queen tonight. No silk. No gold. Just a leather vest, dark breeches, and twin daggers strapped to her thighs.
Every night felt like a test now.
Every shadow, a knife in the dark.
Behind her, Raghunath Rao entered quietly.
Her cousin. Her blood. Her betrayer.
She didn't turn, but her voice sliced through the silence.
"Still riding the fence, Raghunath? Or have you picked a side tonight?"
He laughed softly, but there was no warmth in it. "I came to tell you… you've changed."
"I had to," she said. "I buried my son in this soil. The old me died with him."
He stepped closer. "You think fire makes you untouchable? You think swords make you safe?"
"No," she said, finally turning. Her eyes glinted cold. "But they make me ready."
Raghunath paused, then stepped into her space. "You know what they say in the markets now? That you're no longer a queen. You're a general. A ghost. A witch with a crown."
"I'd rather be a witch than a puppet," she said.
Then—something flickered in his eyes. A half-step forward. The twitch of his fingers.
She saw it.
Instinct.
Her blade was at his throat before he exhaled.
He froze. The tip pricked his skin.
"I trusted you once," she whispered. "I won't again."
He smiled—a bitter, broken thing.
"They're coming, Lakshmi. You can't stop them."
"I won't stop them," she said, lowering her blade. "I'll bleed them."
British Encampment – Two Miles Outside Jhansi
General Hugh Rose watched the campfires flicker across the valley like a constellation of war. Tents had been set, artillery rolled in. War drums were silent, but every soldier knew what was coming.
He turned to the rider beside him—dust-covered, hooded.
"You're sure the gate will be unguarded?"
The rider nodded. "South passage. Midnight on the full moon."
Rose studied the map. "And the queen?"
"Distracted. She trusts too easily."
The general folded the map with military precision.
"Then Jhansi burns."
Inside the Fort – Web of Lies
Ghaus Khan stormed into the war chamber. His boots echoed against the stone.
"My queen," he said breathlessly. "We intercepted a coded scroll. Delivered by a messenger posing as one of ours."
Lakshmibai took it, unrolled it, and read.
Her face hardened.
Tatya Tope looked up. "What does it say?"
She handed it to him.
"Rao has betrayed her. Midnight. South gate. End her reign."
Jhalkari Bai stepped forward. "Should we kill him now?"
Lakshmibai stared into the distance, her thoughts racing like wildfire.
"No," she said. "Let him live long enough to see what happens to traitors who kneel before empires."
She walked to the wall map and drew a red circle around the south gate.
"Let them come."
Hours Before the Betrayal – The Mask of Death
As midnight approached, the queen ordered a new command.
"I need someone to wear my robes. My armor. Someone who can buy me time."
Jhalkari Bai stepped forward without hesitation.
"I'll be your shadow," she said.
Lakshmibai looked at her—this woman who mirrored her in strength and spirit, not in blood but in soul.
"You may not return," she warned.
Jhalkari smiled. "If I fall, let it be in your name."
They embraced like sisters who had never spoken of love—but had bled for it.
That night, Jhalkari wore the queen's armor.
And the real queen disappeared into the catacombs beneath the palace—waiting for the enemy to walk blindly into her jaws.
The Ambush at the South Gate
Midnight. Full moon.
British troops advanced under silence—bayonets gleaming like fangs.
The south gate was wide open, torches unlit. Just as the map said.
General Rose smirked. "Fools," he muttered.
They moved in, squads of thirty, spreading like shadows into the lower quarters.
Until the torches ignited.
Not with oil.
With gunpowder.
A series of controlled explosions tore through the entry path—walls collapsing, flames swallowing the first two squads alive.
And from the burning archways emerged archers—not men, but women in black, firing with lethal precision.
The British tried to retreat—but the gates slammed shut.
From the rooftops, Lakshmibai herself emerged—cloaked, her sword dripping with enemy blood.
"You wanted my kingdom," she shouted over the screams, "now choke on it!"
A cannon fired. Thunder roared. Chaos erupted.
The first true battle of Jhansi had begun.
Inside the Palace – The Shadow Queen Falls
Elsewhere, British spies, thinking they had cornered the queen, broke into her chamber.
They found Jhalkari Bai, seated on the throne in full regalia.
She didn't blink.
One of them stepped forward. "The rebel queen dies tonight."
"So be it," she said.
She drew her blade.
They attacked.
She met them in a storm of steel.
Alone, she held the corridor—killing five before falling to a musket shot to the chest.
But her death wasn't in vain.
She bought the queen exactly seventeen minutes—enough time to dismantle the inner spy ring and assassinate two of Ellis's lead saboteurs.
Her sacrifice was etched in fire.
Back at the Battlefield
The rebels surged forward like unleashed wolves. Cannon fire lit up the night sky.
Tatya Tope led the counterstrike, slashing down British cavalry, his face streaked with ash and blood.
Ghaus Khan manned the war elephants—yes, elephants—armored, furious, trampling enemy cannons like toys.
Lakshmibai fought in the thickest chaos, sword dancing, sari turned to shadow, face smeared with grit and vengeance.
One British soldier saw her—and hesitated.
"Is that really her?" he asked, terrified.
Another whispered, "They say she was born from the ashes of her son."
Then she struck—cutting them both down in one sweep.
Aftermath – Smoke and Silence
By dawn, the battlefield was quiet.
Hundreds lay dead.
Jhalkari Bai's body was found beside six British soldiers—her eyes still open, still burning.
Lakshmibai knelt beside her and closed them gently.
"You were more than my shield," she whispered. "You were my sword."
They buried her before the first light touched the sky, beneath the war flag she helped raise.
No prayers. Just fire and silence.
Ellis's Desperation
At the British camp, Major Ellis erupted.
"They outmaneuvered us. Outfought us. Out-thought us."
General Rose remained calm. "Then we adapt. We starve them. We siege them."
He pointed at the map.
"Block every water route. Cut their food supply. Surround the fort. If she wants to fight like a ghost… we'll make Jhansi her tomb."
Final Scene – A Letter Unsent
That night, Lakshmibai sat in her chamber, writing a letter in secret.
To Damodar Rao—her adopted son, sent to safety months ago.
"If you ever read this, know that your mother didn't bow. She didn't burn. She didn't beg. She became what they feared most—a woman with nothing to lose."
She folded it.
Sealed it with wax.
And placed it inside a hidden drawer beneath her sword rack.
Then she stood… and walked out to prepare for the next siege.
End of Chapter Four