Some hurried footsteps were heard outside the courtyard and a person suddenly barged inside pushing the door of the courtyard and said in a hurried voice, "Prince Shantanu, is he here?"
"Ah.. forefather… why are you in such a hurry?" slightly surprised Prince Vinetra asked on hearing forefather's hurried voice.
"I'm finding that student of mine. I just heard he was leaving for conquest again without even telling me this time." A fit of slight anger was seen in voice for his student.
"Forefather please calm down first." Said the young man named Vijanat.
"Yes. Now tell me is he here or has he already left?" asked the forefather without calming down and again in a hurried voice.
"Royal brother had already left a while ago but before going he told us that he will return soon this time," said the prince while trying to calm down the forefather.
"Yes, forefather… did you forget, the elder brother was originally supposed to be on his conquest. If not for that unfortunate event he wouldn't even have to return before the time." Said brother Vijanat.
"But forefather why do you look so anxious? Is something wrong?"
Forefather stiffened, he had an ugly expression on his face. He stared at both of the young men and then…
Sigh….
"I just received an intelligence report, according to the report, Ajatshtaru is marching toward Shakya Clan with his elites for helping them."
Shocked…... there was complete silence due to that great shock they had just received. A great clan was moving its elites? This was most definitely shocking news. For the Kashyapa Clan, this movement of elites of a great clan and their coming to the Shakya Clan was definitely not good news. They just had a battle with Shakya Clan.
For Kashyapa Clan the casualties were not that big but for the Shakya Clan, their casualties were very great. They lost all their princes except Prince Subala and Princess Saubaleyi. But even their princess and prince were held in Kashyapa Clan with a status of nothing more than captives.
"Ajatshtaru…? What is Kashi King planning to do?" asked the prince.
"Yes forefather, do you know what he is planning? He is not planning to attack our clan right?" said the young man Vijanat standing beside the prince.
"How could he dare to? He wants to take the wrath of all of the ancient clans?"
...…..
Meanwhile inside a palace of a certain kingdom….
A man was quietly standing at the same spot for hours now. He had not even moved an inch. The royal robe he was wearing look like it was just draped around his body.
The face that used to look like filled with vigorousness a few weeks ago was looking like it had aged and lost its previous mightiness in just a few weeks. Even some of the hair on his head was getting white. He seems liked he had aged many years just in a few weeks. He was the king of the Kingdom named Prayag.
But eyes were still sharp as before, the only change in them was that they were filled with worry and tense. He was thinking of all the events that had taken place past few days. For a few weeks now he was just spending most of his time at that place.
Right behind him was a wooden table and on it was a Karpasika Pata. The content in it was an order of surrender of his kingdom. This order was from a crown prince of an ancient clan. He wanted him either to surrender his kingdom and come under his banner or prepare for a battle.
This was sent to him by Prince Shantanu before he left for the Shakya Clan. If he hadn't left that time then the kingdom would have already been under his control either by force of words or by force of army by the time. But he had to leave that time but some of his forces still remained there.
When Prince Shantanu left unexpectedly that time, the Prayag king felt that God is helping them but when he heard where he headed he left his skull going numb cause even if Shakya Clan is far from his kingdom they still had a very good relationship.
Both the kings were once acquaintances since childhood. So when he heard that the Shakya King was in trouble, he thought of taking his army and help him. But this thought was immediately crushed and buried under his mind. Some of the prince's army was still there surrounding the fort of his kingdom.
While he was thinking all this he heard a voice behind him. The voice that rang out behind him caused him to wake up from his thinking open but he remained like a statue and did not even turn around to look at the owner of that voice. Instead, he asked in a dry and calm voice, "How is it going outside?"
Those four short and simple words contained a terrifying might of a king, which was much heavier than it usually was. The recent news and the crisis of the Shakya Clan had clearly unsettled the Prayag King. He was far less calm than he looked.
The man dressed in golden robe replied respectfully, "Reporting to Your Majesty. I have confirmed that the Kashyapa Prince is back in his camp and planning for something. As for the news of the crisis of the Shakya Clan and rumours of the capturing of Prince Subala and Princess Saubaleyi is also true."
"What about the rumours of the direct involvement of the Kashyapa Forefather?" This was the most pressing question for him as well as everyone who knew anything about forefather.
"Mostly like this is also true and according to the reports we collected from our investigation, it seems like forefather was also the one who killed all the Shakya Princes." The man said. He was the highest intelligence-gathering official of the kingdom. He was the first one in the kingdom to receive every rumour, every news happening on the mortal plane.
When he was reporting the intelligence he had received to the king, they heard a voice suddenly.
"Royal father, royal father… did you hear this?"
A young man barged into the room while shouting. He was one of the favourite sons of the king so instead of getting angry on his sudden barging and disrupting the meeting. He turned back and looked at him with a smile on his face and fatherly love in his eyes and said, "My dear son, calm down first and drink this." He lifted a glass filled it with water himself from the jug and give it to his son.
While he was drinking there was no previous hurriedness or anxiousness in the eyes of the king. He was patiently waiting for his son and looking at him without even saying anything. After a while…
"Thank you, royal father."
"Now tell me why were you in such a rush?" the king said while still looking and smiling at his son.
"Oh yes.. royal father did you hear that the Kashyapa Forefather is also coming in a few days."
""WHAT?""
Two voices resonated in the room.
...…
Meanwhile in the Prince Shantanu's camp…
"Your Highness, the messenger we send to meet Prince Suradvis is back."
"Send him here," said Prince Shantanu.
The soldier bowed and left the Prince's camp for bringing back the messenger.
When the soldier left, Prince Shantanu asked the man sitting beside him.
"What do you think? The plan would work?"
"Of course it will work. If they had confirmed even a speck of the rumours then they definitely think that the forefather had broken the oath and had attacked and killed the Shakya Princes. Along with the rumours we are spreading of forefather's arrival. They will surely surrender," The man beside him said, "Now we just need to ask forefather to come here.
Your Highness, now you just need to ask forefather to come here? He doesn't have to take part in the battle."
"It's easy said than done. Forefather will never come if we ask him just like that. He was already troubled when he helped me back then. We need a reasonable excuse for him to come here that he does not suspect that we are using him in a battle."
"Then….. Your Highness how about...."
"Hmm… haha….Great Clans…. soon these great clans will be at our foot." Mocking laughter was heard from inside the camp.
Outside the Prince Shantanu's camp were hundreds of camps like his own but just less majestic and massive than the prince's camp. Outside those camps were thousands of soldiers, some practising their skills, some cooking and some just wandering in others camp. Few miles away right in front of them was a massive boundary wall.