A sharp knife was slowly moving towards his neck, slowly and silently the cold metal edge touched the upper skin layer of the neck. A dot of crimson liquid appeared on the place where the cold metal edge and layer of skin met each other. The hands clutching the handle of the knife was just about to be pulled backwards while forcing it downwards and other hand ready just above the mouth to perform the necessary step if needed.
An electric current run throw his body and jolted the brain like it was hammered, while eyes opened and went wide immediately, a hand was forced on his mouth sealing every voice coming out of it.
Outside the Kingdom of Prayag, surrounding the fort outside were hundreds of camps. There were thousands of soldiers resting in all those camps. Some soldiers were patrolling the camping area. While some young soldiers were just sitting around bonfires talking about their personal life, some old bones were sharing these young bloods their experiences and their heroic stories when they had fought in previous wars with the prince or with his father.
The atmosphere seems peaceful, there were no traces of fear or apprehensiveness on anyone's face. Seeing the atmosphere right now no one could say that they were here for a battle.
In the middle of those camps, there was a huge majestic camp surrounded by soldiers. Inside that majestic camp just a few moments ago a young man was sleeping on a bed draped in red velvet, seeing his face one could have said that he was lost in dreams and those dreams seem to be pleasant ones seeing the smile on his face.
But that was a few moments ago, the moment he opened his eyes a hand sealed his mouth but his eyes could see a man covered in black clothes in front of him. From head to toe, he was covered in that attire except for the region of eyes. That was the only region on his face, on his whole body that was not covered in black but a light brownish skin was visible in that region. The eyes were cruelly staring at him saying silently 'you're going to die today by my hand' and the hand clutching the handle of the knife tried to make a movement.
A hand came out of nowhere and pushed the man's hand upwards while another hand smashed on the man's abdomen pushing him backwards. At that very moment, prince jumped out from the bed towards his sword on the side of his bed. Everything from the moment he opened his eyes and jumped for the swords only took a few seconds.
But the moment he turned around with the sword in his hand, the man was already not there, he disappeared like a ghost, he vanished in the thin air. For a moment Prince Shantanu thought he just had a bad dream and was about to sit on the bed but when unconsciously his eyes saw downwards, he was shocked and he ran towards the camp entrance.
He immediately became furious on seeing every soldier who was surrounding and guarding his camp, even the two guards who were guarding his camp entrance was fallen on the ground and sleeping unconsciously. He furiously rushed inside his camp and came out with a massive conch that was at least half an arm big.
Soon the whole camping area that was filled with soldiers reverberated with a long and loud 'Shankhnaad'. Hearing that sound even the soldiers sleeping like a log jumped out of his bed for their weapons and immediately ran towards the prince's camp.
The soldiers patrolling the camp stood like a statue, the eyes sharpened and they start staring in every direction and every moment. The soldiers camping at the outer part of the camping layer came out at once with their weapons and together with the ones guarding surrounded the whole camping area not even letting a single rat escape from the camping area.
The soldiers who came first at the prince's camp were dumbstruck, the other officers and the zonal commanders' face darkened on seeing the view in front of them. The prince's white dress was slowly turning crimson in colour. A thin trail of blood was flowing from his neck, on the left shoulder area the dress was sliced showing a sharp cut on his shoulder and a river of blood was originating from there.
But the thing that made them furious was the soldiers fallen unconscious on the ground.
The commander and the other officers ran towards the prince while he ordered, "Not a single soul should leave the camping area. We have a spy who attacked me, find him and bring him to me."
Afterwards, he went inside his camp along with the zonal commanders while their subordinates left to direct and issue orders to the soldiers.
...
In the highest tower of the outer fort, Prayag King was sleeping with his eyes closed or maybe he had just closed the eyes and forcing his body to get some rest. This was not a new thing for the Prayag King that he was using to get himself and his body a rest, he had been using this same technique for a few days now every night.
Every night he unwillingly lay on the bed close his eyes, try to flush everything out from his mind for some time and get some rest but the mind was not ready to cooperate, every night it resisted with all its might to stop the mighty king to get some rest. The black circles occupying the place below the eyes tell the story of the struggle he had to go with his mind through the whole night.
But everything has a limit so as the struggle. In the end, after a long struggle both the parties of the struggle, king and his mind, become tired and lastly, the Prayag King get some rest every night for a few days now.
But today's night was much more sleepless and struggling for him and after a longer than usual struggle he finally was getting some rest when his body suddenly shaken and eyes opened and went wide.
Oooooooommmmmm…..
He heard a Shankhnaad. A very long one. His heart started beating furiously and his mind was on the verge of going blank when it stopped. The voice was still resonating in the air, waking up the whole fort. The whole fort was in much worse condition than the Prayag king. Even if their struggle with their mind every night was incomparable against the king's struggle but it was still a struggle so even they were not having a good sleep and immediately shaken up when they heard the 'shankhnaad'.
The conch was mostly used for telling the soldiers to commence their attack. So when the Prayag King heard the sound he jumped toward the window of the tower and tried to look and figure out the situation outside. When he saw the movement in the camping outside the gate, his heart started beating even more furiously and face sank.
Thud.. thud…thud..
He heard some running footsteps outside his door and when he turned around, someone pushed the room's door open.
"Your Majesty….Your Majesty…"
Said the man covered in full-body golden armour. The was bulky built with a thick moustache and bread. The man looked middle-aged and his face had some scars on it. One particular scar gave his face a unique look, a wide cut mark starting from the side of the nose leaving the eye save removing some eyebrow above that eyes to the forehead. That was the longest scar on his face with the longest history and when he close that eye, the scar can form a tangent.
He was the commander of the Kingdom of Prayag and one of the loyalist powerhouses of the king in the kingdom as well as his friend.
"Commander, what's going on in the Kashyapa Prince's camp?
That Prince won't be planning to attack in the middle of the night and breaking the Sacred Customs and Traditions of wars and battles?"
Asked the Prayag King, a great urgency can be seen in his voice when he asked that. He could try and take some rest every night cause he firmly believed that even if Kashyapa Prince is attacking them, he would not get as low as to break the Sacred Customs of Wars and Battles after all he was one of the most iconic younger generation characters from the ancient clans.
According to this long tradition established by the ancient clans, there should be no wars or battles in the darkness of the night. When the sun sets down, every party of the battle should stop fighting and get back to their camps and pay the tribute and final rituals to the ones fallen in the battle that day along with treating the wounded ones. So waging a war on a kingdom in the middle of the night was seen as low as if not lower as cowardice act.
So the Prayag King was sure, that a Prince from an ancient clan especially if it's Kashyapa Clan's Prince Shantanu, he will never break these traditions and be called as a coward.
"Your Majesty, I think that the prince had forgotten every shame and honour of the ancient clans and had gone mad."
He continued with gushing his teeth and visible anger on his face, "Heh…One brother is blind from birth and the other one is going blind in the madness of power" he mocked.
"Your Majesty I have sent orders and alarmed every post, everyone should be ready in no time. If he wants to attack at this time then let him come. If we can't defeat him, we will make Kashyapa Clan's biggest graveyard to be here."
In these past few months, the vice commander has gone throw a lot, the kingdom was surrounded by the Kashyapa Army, they were not letting anyone out or inside. Blocking the kingdom's entry and exit in every direction. The more the days were like that passing the more he was getting frustrated. Now his only wish was fighting to the death with that army surrounding the kingdom.
"Vice Commander…."
Sigh….
"Brother Rudha please calm down, what we need to do right now is how can we ask for help from other kingdoms or clans.
I know you're hot-blooded but think first, what'll we can even achieve if we are to attack that Kashyapa Clan."
The voice of the Prayag King was not carrying its usual might but it was carrying a weariness and anxiousness. The king was not ready to see his friend sinking in desperation and his kingdom's vice commander to desperately lost all his reasoning. The more frustrated the king was getting the calmer he was becoming.
...
In the camp, Prince Shantanu was sitting in the middle of them and listening to the middle-aged men. They still from time to time take a peek at the wound on their Prince's shoulder. The more they were seeing that wound the more they're feeling ashamed and frustrated along with fear.
The shame of not being able to protect their prince. If not for the Prince eyes open right on time, he would be already dead, that was shamed them. Prayag was just a small kingdom but cause of them their prince just lost their life.
Frustrated cause they were one of the best and renowned people but they still couldn't protect their prince.
Fear.. that… was pure fear. The fear of forefather, all of them know that forefather doted this prince and if something were to happen to him, they will be the first ones to be purged in the agony and anger of forefather.
When they were still talking, a soldier came inside and said, " Your Majesty, we found the one who attacked you."