Here is a new chapter and before we move on, just know that this and every chapter that come after are some of my favorites and also the MOST challenging ones to write alongside the debate and interrogation chapters so buckle up, you are in for a ride ❤️
Target for next chapter - 1.2K votes and 600 comments (as this is a big chapter)
*** Sruthi ***
The general and the king left for the borders?
North borders!?
It would a take a week to atleast reach there.
Why would they all of a sudden decide to go there?
Only the Queen could answer.
I immediately ran to her chambers and found her talking with some soldiers.
"Your highness, why did the King and the general decide to go to the borders?" I asked anxiously.
"I am not aware as well, Sruthi," the Queen said and meanwhile we found Vishnu sir acorss the corridors.
"Vishnu sir," the Queen yelled and ran towards him.
I followed.
"Greetings, your highness," Vishnu sir bowed.
The Queen nodded and asked her question without any delay. "Sir, why did the king and his men leave for borders?"
"I am not aware as well, your highness," Vishnu sir replied, "but the Finance minister has called for an emergency meeting to discuss the same."
"Emergency meeting?" the Queen asked confused.
"Were you not invited, your highness?" Vishnu sir asked back equally confused.
The Queen shook her head.
"That's strange," Vishnu sir replied, "You are the Queen, head of a cabinet, and a councellor. That meeting shouldn't be happening without you."
The Queen simply remained silent.
Sometimes she truly forgets who she is.....had it been me, I would've been furious at the disrespect....
"Why don't you come with me, your highness?" Vishnu sir asked, "I am heading towards the meeting chambers now."
"Certainly," the Queen nodded and followed him. "Come along, Sruthi," she added before I could even ask and soon enough I found myself entering the emergency meeting chambers.
"Your highness?" the Finance minister and everyone else immediately stood up and bowed. "You shouldn't have taken the trouble of coming here," he respectfully told the Queen, "one message and we would've all visited you ourselves."
Perhaps I've judged too soon.
"Appreciate the respect, sir," the Queen replied, "but I do wish to fulfil my duties as a councellor as well. Please do not exclude me from the meeting invites."
"As you command, your highness," the Finance minister replied and guided the Queen to one of the chairs, "Please take a seat."
The Queen sat down and the rest of the men followed suit. I looked around and found Veer and his team standing at one corner and went to stand beside them.
"Do you know anything?" I asked Veer.
He shook his head. "Whatever, it is, I just know it's not good," he replied. Meanwhile the Finance minister started talking.
"Thank you everyone for joining on such a short notice," he started, "As we all know, the King, General Nanda and a few soldiers have left for the North borders and while this might look like an issue of concern, I would like to re-emphasize that it is not." "There have been minor riots along the borders of the Agastya empire and the Nine Kingdoms and King Vishwanath has called for an emergency meeting with the King to sort out the same and given the long lasting friendship between the two kingdoms we can expect this to be sorted out within a day."
Thank god!
"However, given the long journey time, the King is expected to be away for atleast 15 days and during that time, I would be acting as his representative, according to the orders his highness has left before his departure to the borders," he continued and the Queen immediately looked towards Vishnu sir who looked a little disappointed.
"Any further questions?" the finance minister asked.
Everybody remained silent.
"Anything you would like to add, your highness?" he asked turning towards the Queen.
"No sir," the Queen replied, "But I would urge you to keep track of the King's moments and his discussions and make sure we are prepared in case things get escalated."
"Noted your highness," the Finance minister replied, "Certainly!"
With that the meeting ended and everyone left but the Queen asked for Vishnu sir to stay.
"Weren't you the one who is supossed to be acting representative, sir?" she asked.
"Your highness," Vishnu sir hesitated and looked at Veer before continuing, "Given the recent disputes between me and the soldiers, I can understand why the King would choose the Finance minister to be the acting representative."
"Would be the right decision," Veer added, "The Intellectuals often left no stone unturned to prove how much they hate soldiers. Having one of them incharge would be a nightmare for my people."
"Veer!" the Queen warned.
"Apologies, your highness," Veer immediately apologized.
"I respect the King's decision sir," she said turning towards the intellectual, "but if you ever sense or feel that something is wrong, please let me know. I am on your side."
"Thank you, your highness," Vishnu sir nodded, "I appreciate that."
*** Nanda ***
One week of exhausting journey and we finally reached the North borders. It is nothing short of a nightmare, to be called in for an emergency travel while I am in preparations of expressing my feelings to my sweet princess.
God hates me!
Yet again, if King Vishwanath made an unexpected arrival at the borders with his soldiers and attacked our men, that is nothing short of a call for war. We shouldn't have believed him, when he said that he will not hold grudge against the King for refusing his daughter's hand in marriage.
We shoud've guessed he was being a snake all along, but again, a snake cannot defeat a lion, especially not, if the lion is as alert, stratergic, and swift as Adi!
"Your highness," "General" the Lieutenant incharge immediately bowed down and greeted us as we got down the horses.
"What's going on, sir?" Adi asked without wasting any minute.
"There have been a couple more attacks this week, after the initial attack, your highness," the Lieutenant replied, "We did manage to hold them off but your guidance is certainly required."
"Any injuries or fatalities?" the King asked.
"No fatalities, your highness," the Lieutenant replied, "Minor injuries sustained on both sides."
"And are the soldiers being well taken care of?" the King asked the question before I could ask.
"Yes your highness," the Lieutenant replied, "They are on their way to recovery."
"Good," the King nodded, "Let's talk numbers then. What's the estimate?"
"Your highness, when I wrote the letter, their soldiers were relatively less in number..." the Lieutenant hesitated, "but just yesterday there have been a lot of migrations and now they have around 20,000 soldiers, with almost a 100 horses and 30 elephants. "
"He doesn't even have that big of an army," I said confused.
"He might've been forming political alliances all the while," the King replied on behalf of the Lieutenant, "What other flags did you see, sir?"
"All the small Kingdoms surrounding Agastya, your highness," the Lieutenant replied, "They've joined forces."
I looked at the Lieutenant in shock and almost stopped walking but Adi remained unaffected.
"What about us, sir?" he asked continuing the conversation, "What are our numbers?"
"I've sent immediate orders to the nearby stations and gathered additional man power, your highness," the Lieutenant replied, "Yet given that this is the least problematic zone, our numbers are significantly low. We only have 5000 soldiers, with around 10% of them being trainees."
This is not going to be an easy battle.
"Appreciate the quick action, sir," Adi replied, "Since all the small kingdoms are to the north, I do not envision any riots on our other broders, but do send an emergency message to the capital asking them to keep all the borders at high alert and to prepare for a reduction in foreign trade. Also tell them that every available soldier, should be at the North borders as soon as possible."
"Yes, your highness," the Lieutenant said and left.
"Your highness, even in that case, we wouldn't be able to get all our men here until next week," I said worried, "What if King Vishwanath makes another attack?"
"Not a matter of if, general," the king replied, "he is going to make an attack tomorrow." "He has army 4 times that of ours, and all he chose is to cause minor riots?"
I remained silent.
"He was waiting for my arrival," Adi answered the question, "and now that I am here. War is inevitable. It's time we take Mahadev's name."
*** Prince Ravi Verma ***
"Think again, father," I said once we were in private, "There is a reason why no one ever attacks the Nine Kingdoms. Their warriors have excellent swordship, their soldiers are trained by the great general Nanda and their King Adinath has a reputation for...."
"Shut up Verma," my father yelled interrupting me, "Speak like a man! Our army is now 4 times that of theirs. What are you worried about?"
"The one leading them, father," I replied as the very thought of Adinath in the battle field sent shivers down my spine.
*** Nanda ***
"Within the Kingdom, I might be a king and you might be my soldiers," the King stated, "but within the battle field, we are all brothers fighting for the honour of our motherland." "And I don't lie to my family, so let me tell you the truth," he continued, "Their army is four times that of ours, they have elephants that can crush our men and horses that can chase us down to death and as soon as the sun rises tomorrow, their army will come for battle whether we choose to parcipate or not."
Fear was clearly evident in every man's eyes. After all, we are still human. Sure we chose to leave our families and fight for the country, but we would be lying if we say that leaving this world and our loved ones behind does not scare us, and for me, the very thought of dying without confessing my feelings to Sruthi feels worse than death itself.
"Let's not die for the country," the King's next words took me by surprise, "Let's destroy the ones who dared to steal the happiness of our mother and let's go back with pride in our eyes and show our people how strong the men protecting them are."
Those words completely changed the view point and thought process of everyone around, including me!
I will go back and tell Sruthi what I've done for the Nine Kingdoms, how vigourouly I've fought and then maybe then....she will stop adressing me as an onion....or actually maybe not....it's cute....I'll allow that....as if she ever seeked my permission....my sweet lovely Gati....
"Let's discuss stratergy," the King's next words brought me out of trance.
Right! We are in the middle of war!
"In a battlefield, anything that is considered a strength has it's own weakness," the King continued and pointed at the small elephant icons on the map, "and this, is what King Vishwanth would assume to be his biggest strength." "Elephants," he added, "large animals capable of sustaining arrows and crushing people."
"How do we tackle them?" he asked looking around despite knowing the answer very well.
It is just his way of making everyone believe that this stratergy was planned together and to make us feel included.
"Poisonous arrows, your highness," I replied, "although we need our soldiers to watch out. It would take around 10 minutes for the poison to fully show it's affect."
"Correct," the King replied, "and what are the weaknessses with having elephants in the battle ground?"
I know the answer but remained silent to give others the chance.
"If it falls, your highness, it crushes everything around, even it's own army," the Lieutenant replied.
"Correct," the King smiled, "what else?"
"Once down, they block the path for horses and other men restricting their movement," one of the officers replied.
"Exactly," the King added, "So what does that conclude?" "If we stratergize accordingly, we can potentially create a scenario where the elephants crush and block their own army, thereby letting us have the upper hand."
The soldiers nodded their heads on admiration.
"Now," he added, "Putting elephants in the front line is a stupid move and King Vishwanath is not stupid. How do we make him take this stupid decision?"
No one had answers.
Not even me!
"By making him believe that he is powerful enough to afford stupidity," the King answered in simple terms as if he is talking to children. "So," he added moving the soldier icons to the front, "We will have soldiers on foot standing at the front. Trainees in the very front line." "Judging by your postures and age, the enemy troops will assume we are weak and ill planned enough to have trainees in the front line. They will send out the elephants to crush our men."
"And the moment, they do," he said turning towards the trainees, "I want you to turn back and run as fast as you can in zig zag manner and make sure you wear your shields and helmets." "I know you want to be heros, and you will get your turn," he added, "Just not now."
The trainees nodded.
"And within the next couple of minutes, all the elephants that came to the front row will be shot with poisonous arrows. They will collapse to the ground in the next 10 minutes." "And where will the arrows come from?" he asked and pointed to the tower icon near the battle field, "here."
"But your highness..." the Lieutenant said hesitantly, "While that would be a relatively safe place to shoot from it will be hard to see properly."
"We can shoot based on sound, sir," Adi replied, "Elephants are loud when they move and slow enough to not miss the target."
"Shooting based on sound, your highness?" the Lieutenant asked confused, "I don't think our soldiers are....."
"Don't worry about it sir," the King interrupted, "It's just 30 elephants, I can handle it alone." "And once the elephants are down," he continued, "that will confuse the enemies, their moment will be restricted, some of their army will be lost and then, only then, I want all of our men, trainees or otherwise to make an attack, from a safe distance." "Start with the horses," and then the men, "he continued, "We cannot let their army anywhere near us and if they start approaching, do not hesitate to step back while continuing to shoot arrows."
The soldiers nodded, completely mesmerized by the King's thinking.
"Remember," the King added, "If we win, even stepping back will be labelled an act of stratergy, and if we lose, even leaping forward will be labelled as act of stupidity. Exibit bravery for the right reasons."
Wow!
I was worried about someone not following instructions in attempts to be brave but look at my little brother closing all the escape routes before they could even come into existence.
I am so proud of him!!!
"And finally," Adi concluded, "for this to work, I need you all to trust me. I need you to believe that I can execute what I promised, not because I am the King, not because of my reputation or skills, but because I am fighting for the lives of my men and for the happiness of my sisters back home." "King Adinath will never let his soldiers down and Shiva bhaiyya will never let his sisters down." he ended his speech with the most powerful statement I've heard till date, "Let us invoke the Mahadev in our hearts and fight for the right!"
"HAR HAR MAHADEV!" he shouted the war cry.
"HAR HAR MAHADEV!"
"HAR HAR MAHADEV!"
"HAR HAR MAHADEV!"
The soldiers repeated in unison filling the entire chamber with the war cries!
The battle of Kunjaraha begins!
Question of the day: King Vishwanath was mentioned in one of the previous chapters, can you guess which one? Also are you excited for the upcoming battles or nah? No right answer haha, I just want to know your thoughts.
Also why do you think Nanda named this the battle of Kunjaraha?
Next update: 1st March if the target is reached, and 4th March if it's not :)