Bahman sat alone by his desk inside his bed chamber. For the umpteenth time, he stared down at the letter from Vahriz with troubled face. He realized the contents of that letter must not be read by another, and so he decided to hide it.
Once he made sure it was perfectly hidden, he exited the room and went to the dining hall to have lunch with Asa, Kishward, and Kishward's family. Upon entering, he was soon greeted by Asa. He usually would smile back awkwardly, but this time, he managed to reply her greetings with a genuine smile. It was because he felt slightly relieved knowing his secret would be safe.
Asa was a bit surprised. After all, she recalled Bahman had stopped giving her that kind of smile for a while now. Not only her, it seemed Kishward and Bahar had also noticed it. Seeing his smile, they reacted by smiling in relief, although they remained unaware of the reason.
However, their smiles quickly faded when two soldiers hastily entered the room and knelt by the door. "Sir! We have an urgent report!"
"What is it? Has the prince been found?" Kishward demanded.
"No, Sir... it's not from the west." The first soldier soldier stated and the other one continued for him, "It's from the east. A Sindhuran army has crossed Kaveri River and is invading our territory!"
Immediately, the people present in the room tensed. "Now, of all times?"
"They know our condition and took advantage of it, eh..." Asa murmured to herself as Kishward asked the soldiers again, "How large is their force?"
"We believe the horsemen and foot soldiers number as many as five thousand, Sir!"
"Are there any war elephants?"
"None, Sir." As they answered, Kishward had stood up from his seat, strapping his twin blade to his back.
"Alright, then they aren't serious," he remarked, "Lord Bahman, allow me to handle this matter."
"Then I'm counting on you, Kishward." Bahman nodded.
Kishward nodded back and said to Asa, "Hime-sama, please wait here. We're gonna return with good news..."
"Nope," Asa replied immediately, shocking everyone in the room especially Kishward. She then continued with stern face, "Kishward, take me with you. To the battlefield, it is!"
"Hime-sama?" Nasrine and Bahar looked at her in disbelief while Kishward displayed an equally stern face to the princess. Meanwhile, Bahman only watched the scene unfolding before him in silence.
"Are you aware of your own request, Hime-sama?"
"I am. I'm also fully aware of the danger I will encounter should I go to the battlefield."
"I see," Kishward simply commented. He took a glance at Bahman, who was still silent before staring deep into Asa's sharp eyes again, "Give me one good reason why I should I bring you along, Hime-sama."
Asa didn't take more than two seconds to respond him firmly. "Because I'm a Parsian and the princess of Pars. It's my duty to protect my country!"
There wasn't any change of expression on Kishward's face. He only continued to exchange glares with Asa.
"That's a very good and reasonable reason, but I still don't approve it."
"Why?!"
"Protecting the country is not your duty. It is mine, as a Marzban of Pars. To add, battlefield is not a place for you."
"It's not you who decide that!" Asa yelled stubbornly, "I don't want to hide behind my people's suffering and turn a blind eye from them. I want to take their suffering as mine and for that I will also fight for them! Please understand, Kishward"
Kishward eyed her sharply. It seemed like it would be impossible to win this argument. The princess kept being stubborn, which left him no choice but to use his trump card, and that was to point out he was the one in charge there and because of that his order was absolute. If he said that, the princess would be forced to stop her stubbornness. Although he knew he would most likely be hated by her for life, he didn't mind as long as she stayed safe.
But before he could do so, Bahman had voiced his own mind that greatly shocked him. "Why not let Hime-sama fight alongside you, Kishward?"
"Bahman!" Asa's face brightened up while in contrast to her, Kishward's paled. "What are you saying, Lord Bahman?!"
"The princess wants to contribute to her country, Kishward. We should respect her wish," Bahman said with a firm nod, "Besides, you will also be there. You won't let anything harm her, will you?"
Kishward was at a loss of words. Even when Bahar said she would accompany Asa, he still could only stare. Only when he heard the call of the two soldiers behind him did he snap back to reality.
"Oh, fine!" He ruffled his hair in frustration, turning to the two waiting soldiers, "Go get an armor for the princess. And be real quick, those Sindhurans are marching on as we speak!"
And so Asa strode forward, donning a similar battle armor as Kishward's, only hers was of course smaller and lighter. A navy-blue quiver was strapped to the saddle of her mount. While Bahar, she wasn't wearing armor and instead only replaced her maid uniform with a long-sleeved lime-green robe. She also wore a leather glove on her right hand, sandals and a faded green veil over her smooth dark hair. For her weapons, she strapped a dagger around her exposed right thigh and kept some arrows for herself. Now, the two were included in Kishward's march towards Kaveri River.
As they advanced, Kishward was still thinking about the events that led them into this situation. While it's true he wouldn't let anything harm the princess, he's still strongly against the idea of her tagging along.
Once again he clucked his tongue. 'Letting Hime-sama join a campaign? What are you thinking, Lord Bahman? Does this have something to do with what you're hiding?'
He halted his mount and snorted. Well, dealing with these Sindhurans comes first. "Take a look at those Sindhuran black dogs, Hime-sama."
Asa led her mount a closer to his and gulped upon sighting the Sindhuran army. She sneaked a glance at Bahar, who continued to display calm yet stoic face and then at Kishward. His face had an expression Asa had never seen before: pure annoyance.
"We'll teach them never to have such foolish notions again. You most likely won't like what you will see, Hime-sama... but this is war. And make sure not to stray away from me."
"Yes." Asa nodded rigidly as she followed after Kishward's steed.
The Marzban stopped as the opposing party had also come to a halt. He filled his lungs with air and bellowed, "I am Marzban Kishward of Pars! For what reason do you set your foot on Parsians' lands?"
Asa waited anxiously behind him and watched as two Sindhuran soldiers galloped towards him. Slowly, Kishward reached for his twin-blade. As the two Sindhurans got within his reach, he drew his blades out and successfully beheaded them. As two heads fell to the ground, Asa's eyes grew wide.
The Sindhuran witnesses looked at Kishward in fear as the man once again yelled out, "Perhaps you know no better yesterday! But from today on, you shall never forget; if you face Pars, you face Tahir Kishward!"
"Yashasuin!!!"
Kishward's cavalrymen followed after their commander and clashed with the Sindhuran soldiers.
Asa watched as dust swirled about, fresh blood tainted the soil, soldiers fell dead one after another, and steeds without riders prowling between the sprawling corpses.
'This is far worse than our encounter with the bandits,' she gulped, '...and Nii-sama participated in something like this...?'
One Sindhuran horseman escaped from Kishward's blades and dashed straight at her. Noticing the upcoming threat, she quickly grabbed her short bow. She nocked an arrow and aimed for the man, but as he got closer to her, hesitated.
Suddenly, Andragoras' glare flashed in her mind and strangely right at that moment, her hesitation vanished. Her unsure eyes both sharpened into a glare, but before she could shoot, another arrow pierced through his temple. In the end she only watched in shock as the soldier fell dead from his mount.
"Bahar!" she called her attendant's name, knowing she was nearby.
Bahar spurred her mount towards her caller, putting her bow down in silence as the princess lowered her own bow. "Between killing and disabling someone for the rest of his life, which one is better?"
"Living is always the best choice, Hime-sama," she replied, before releasing another shot at another direction, "But in war, you rely more on your instinct. Either of them could be better depending on the condition."
Asa blinked twice. Soon, a small amused chuckle escaped her lips. "Is that so? Like always, your answers for my questions are blatantly vague, Bahar."
Bahar smiled knowingly at the princess' remark. "It's so you could freely explore and eventually come up with your answer without being influenced by mine, Hime-sama."
"Yup, and thanks to it I'm used to seeing things from many different perspectives," Asa nodded, pulling her horse's bridle, "I'll think about that later. For now, let's regroup with Kishward! We've strayed quite far from him!"
Asa kicked her mount's flanks, urging it to stride forward. Bahar followed after her, all the while cautiously watching their surroundings and occasionally shooting down any potential threats.
They soon found Kishward at the frontline, just a moment after he beheaded the leader of that Sindhuran troops. "Kishward!"
"Ah, good job keeping up with me, Hime-sama," the man nodded. It seemed he wasn't aware that not too long ago she was falling far behind him, "I'm sorry you have to see this side of me, but I'm a Marzban and I expect you've known what a Marzban does."
"I have." Asa shuddered when she saw the severed head of the Sindhuran soldiers' leader.
The still alive Sindhurans retreated in rush, and thus, unlike her brother's maiden battle, hers resulted in Pars' victory.
~Chapter 18 : End~
(A/N: And finally the princess jumps into action, wearing an armor exactly like Arslan's!
A little spoiler... the twins will finally meet on the next chapter~!
Ehem, and here's some early notice for you: I will mix the anime and manga together in this story. But as the manga only comes out once a month, eventually [maybe] this story will follow the anime storyline more.)
That's all, thanks for reading!