69. Poison

                                    

                                          
"Madhu?" I asked, taking her into my arms as I felt her neck and forehead. 
"It's unnaturally hot! " I told him and I looked up at him in panic. 
"Call the vaidy. Now! " He ordered and people scurried out of the room. 
I put her on the bed, removing her clothes and ran to the bathroom. 
"Where are you going? " Yudhishthir asked, eyes flitting between me and Madhu. 
"Cloth packs. She needs to be cooled down! " I called back, as I ran into the washroom to pull out a pail of cold water. 
" This should do it. " I murmured to myself, as I ran around the room, not finding anything to make strips off when I saw my off white saree. 
I sprinted out of the room with scraps of cloth and the water, skidding into the room where Yudhishthir seemed to have decided to use a fan to fan her.
" Move move. " I called, sitting on the bed as I dipped the cloth in water and aced it all over her. 
"Don't you people store ice anywhere? " I asked, looking back at him. 
"There is, the one in the -" He'd run out of the room by then. 
"Who did this to you sugar. This isn't a normal fever. " I mumbled, as I changed a round of the cloth strips. 
"Yuvrani! " The vaidy ji called as he came in, with his attendants, observing the scene presented to him. 
"Yes, the cloth packs are smart. Now, pinch her finger, I'll draw some blood. " He ordered and I sighed, pinching her finger, apologising profusely to her as she slept even in the discomfort. She moved and slapped her other hand on the bed at the prick, but remained sleeping. 
" Please keep treating her to the cold packs till we find out the problem. " 
Yudhishthir ran in with the ice and I dumped it into the bath. 
It might have been five rounds of rechanging the strips before she cooled down and the vaidy ji had a concrete conclusion. 
"Did she eat something before this? " He asked us and I looked up confused. 
"She's only five months , I've only now started to give her rice and daal -" 
" It's a poison. " He cut in and had I not been on the bed, I would have fallen down. 
"Poison? What! " Yudhishthir exclaimed,  before looking up in surprise and rushing out the door. 
"Jyeshth! " His brothers called, but I couldn't hear a thing, all I could sense was my daughter's thankfully cooling body, due to the antitode the vaidy ji gave her, as I sat in shock. 
Poison? A five month old? Have they really stooped so low? 
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It might have been about six hours since Yudhishthir left that I heard the sound of someone rushing into the room. My hands hadn't left the pieces of cloth and my daughter, feeding her in intervals, hoped something would work. 
" Bhabhishree, bhabishree! " Arjun shook me by the shoulders as I looked at him. 
"It's not mamashree! " He yelled and I still looked, confused and altogether baffled. 
"What? " I asked, not hearing myself. 
" It isn't Gandharaj bhabhishree, it's not them. It's those two monsters! " He shouted and I finally felt myself regain control over my nervous system beyound constantly changing her cloth pads.