Palace In Ruins!

Manoj was furious at the sight before him. Whoever had been responsible for this would die a very slow, very painful death. He would make sure of that. “Royal Guard! Attack!” the royal guard exited The Silent Assassin quickly and ran in formation towards the palace like avenging angels of death. Their golden red armour with fiery red helmets cast a visual of raging fire rapidly moving forward. The blood red shields and red hot swords heated in a raging fire complemented their outfit.

Wherever they turned there was chaos. The enemy ranks melted before their onslaught. There was no warrior who could stop them. One by one the leaders fell injured and so did the other ranks. The battle was over in no time. 50,000 soldiers and 50 leaders had been taken prisoner. As Manoj entered the palace grounds he saw Chief War General Sitting on a pile of bodies ten feet high like the god of death, Lord Yama. He was obviously injured fatally if he was sitting and not standing. Five soldiers stood around him at the base of the corpse hill as if daring the enemy to fight them.

Kishore looked at Manoj with a smile that sent shivers down the latter’s spine – it was the bone chilling gaze of a warrior who had held fort against impossible odds once again. Manoj realised at that moment that his dearest friend was mortally injured and he ran towards him, the meagre guard of two Gurkha soldiers and Two Sikh Soldiers and One Rajput Captain giving way to him.

Tears flowed down Manoj’s face as he removed the spear that had been holding Kishore upright till then. As Manoj took Kishore’s head in his lap, he cried in anguish. “I was too late dear friend, I was too late!” Kishore smiled as he raised a bloody hand bringing it to his chest in a final salute to the Monarch he had served till his last breath. “The family is safe your majesty.” He coughed and spit out blood as he looked at Manoj with a bloody smile, proud that he had not failed his Protégé, brother-in-arms and his Emperor. Manoj was inconsolable as he sobbed at the loss of a legendary warrior.

“Why? Why did it have to be this way? Why did I have to lose you, Srinivas?” everyone was shocked at the revelation. The man who had fought like a god was Prince Srinivas? The mysterious prince that everyone knew about, but had never seen before? Then where was Chief War General Kishore? Or were Kishore and Srinivas one person?

Manoj answered their questions as if he had heard them. “Why did you not let Kishore take your place? Why did you insist on this mission? Did you know you were going to die?” his sorrow turned to rage as he looked up with the fury of Lord Rudra himself. No one could look into his face as he faced the sky. “I shall avenge you dear brother. Your death will not go unpunished. Everyone responsible for this shall suffer everlasting pain. This is my promise to you my friend. I swear this in front of the Five Elements of Earth, Sky, Water, Fire, and air.” His voice sounded like the Vajrayudham of Lord Indra.

“Send the prisoners to Rouravam!” he ordered the Captain of the Royal Guards who had come to him. “And arrange state funeral for the fallen.” He carried the lifeless form of Prince Srinivas to the Royal Morgue where he placed him in a Glass coffin meant for the Royal Family. The people would be allowed to pay their respects to the departed legend. From there he turned into the Queen’s Chambers. He needed to see his wife and child.

The first stop was the western corridor which was filled with bodies of warriors as he passed by he recognised the uniform of the Durga Company, a grave loss for it took a huge amount of time and talent hunt to recruit these commando warriors. His rage was fuelled again as he saw the bloody face of Captain Lasya, a promising soldier with a great potential. He decided to assess the rest of the palace as soon as he saw his queen.

As he entered the chamber, he was almost killed by the sharp knives and arrows he managed to avoid narrowly. “Halt!” he called out loud. “Cease Fire! Code 8745E5FAF32.” The shower of arrows stopped and ten warriors stepped out, their weapons pointed at him. “Pax Code!” he recognised the voice as that of Captain Amrutha, the fearless woman who could send chills down his spine with her voice which was what would have happened if he had been in a normal mood. But he replied amiably as he knew they would not give way till he proved himself as the emperor.

“ABA-F18-ZXBNR-43ASY”. He was about to move forward when the captain stopped him with a gesture.

“What is the Queen’s deepest desire?” the gravity of the situation hit him hard – if they were asking this question, then they might have encountered an imposter.

“To walk round the empire like a common woman without any security.” The captain bowed deeply and stood aside, giving him way. “Please forgive me your majesty. We had to neutralise five imposters in five hours. We couldn’t take any chances.” He was relieved that he had chosen to answer. He shuddered to think what might have happened if he had not replied to their questions. The Sivangi Company was brutally ruthless in eliminating threats. His heart beat wildly as he entered the Queeen’s chamber, his mind driving him crazy with all kinds of insane thoughts. He was stunned for a few minutes at the scene before him.

Empress Kavitha was sleeping peacefully with a tiny baby girl beside her, fast asleep. What was remarkable was that this child was woefully under sized for a baby. It was almost as if the Empress had given birth to a rodent instead of a baby. How was it even possible? Weren’t babies at least 5 feet tall when they were born? Were the gods laughing at him?