Later the Prayag King changed his plans and instead of meeting at gate of the fort he decided to meet everyone in the throne room. Thinking that maybe this audience in the throne become his last audience as a king.
In just a day everyone gathered from lowest level minster to highest level adviser, from his most favored son to every noble in the kingdom.
The meeting was convened within the Royal Palace of the Prayag Kingdom. Few soldiers were standing motionless behind King Prayag, who was seated on his throne with closed eyes. When the throne room reached its capacity he opened his eyes and looked at everyone sitting before him one by one and gave a serene smile.
This gathering together was a rare occurrence for the kingdom. The last time this gathering happened when he was crowned as the king of the kingdom at his coronation ceremony.
The heads of all of the big noble families were there, some of these noble families have their own soldiers whom they call their family guards but most of these noble families are merchant based, it was even rumored in the kingdom that their cumulative wealth if brought together will surpass the royal family's wealth itself. That was the reason most of them were rarely called or summoned cause in many instances they had contradicted even the Prayag King and as a proud nobles they themselves frequently excuse themselves from the Prayag King's summons.
His eyes looked at the section were his children were sitting, especially on the young man who was sitting in the middle of them. He was his most favored son, he had thought so many things for him. He had even thought of soon retiring and make giving him the command of the kingdom. He remembered the days when he was born from his second queen. He remembered the days when he used to teach him.
Next to him was his youngest son, even if he was youngest in all of his sons, he has a handsome, tall and strong muscular body. He was fierce in nature, he loved fighting and training in various fighting skills. It can be even said that he was if not strongest, then second or third strongest prince. Prayag King had many hopes for him as a commander of Prayag Army but he had no thought of making him his successor.
Next to him was his second eldest child, a peaceful face, tall and elegant were enough to describe this prince's look. He was courageous but equally peace loving young man. The Prayag King had even heard that he wanted to go in the mountain forest and live a secluded life. Prayag King felt a little pity on this son of his. He had always thought that this son was born in a wrong place. But he couldn't bring himself to hate him or even love him cause he showed Prayag King's own desire of having a peaceful life that he had hated and crushed a long time ago.
In the end of that section he looked at his beautiful daughter, average in height but most intelligent in all of his children. After seeing him he remembered a suggestion that was given by one of his advisers, the suggestion was to marry this child to Prince Shantanu as a political alliance and as a sign of surrender, in that way they could even request some sovereignty for the kingdom. And since the prince was still unmarried there was even many possibility that she could become his first queen and Kashyapa Clan's new "Her Majesty".
Then the Prayag King could use her influence to gain as much sovereignty as they want. But this made Prayag King furious as he rebuked and trashed that adviser in rage, he didn't want to use his daughter as a pawn and the chances of her being first queen was very less as he had heard about Prince Shantanu engagement to Kingdom of Prastha's princess.
Next his eyes went to the section where his main advisers were sitting. Especially to the three men sitting in the middle. The first was Aryamya , this adviser had handsome features even when he was approaching his mid sixties as well as he was the most handsomely dressed person in the court. He was the king's childhood friend and one of the few people in the whole kingdom who knew about the secret tunnels down the Palace which goes all the way outside the kingdom.
He was away from the kingdom for a while, going to all the four great clans of the north to ask for help but the Shakya Clan, the nearest to them refused cause of their recent battle, the Magdha Kingdom had tightly closed its door for some reason, he was not allowed an audience in front of the king, the Videha Clan had a strange atmosphere surrounding it as they even refused to let him inside the kingdom and lastly in the Kingdom of Kashi the Kashi King was not present. This was the first news he told the king as soon as he returned. And he was sitting there along with other advisers with a friendly smile on his face.
On the side of Aryamya was sitting a man in his mid thirties, he was the youngest of all of his advisers but he was the most calculative and analytical person the king had ever seen. He know very little about his personality but his ability to analyze anyone's strength and weakness was top notch, his father used to be a loyal noble who died while saving the king in the throne room from an attack.
And in the end was old looking man. His hair was white, but they were so tiny that one could easily see his scalp. His body and limbs still looked full of vigor as he exuded an aura of an respected elder, this old man was his brother in law, his first queen's eldest brother.
In the other row in front of the row which was filled with Prayag King's advisers, sons and ministers were sitting the nobles of the kingdom. In them the ones sitting closest to king were some grand nobles of the kingdom.
First was a man already in his sixties, his muscular body look perfect even then and showed his unrelenting training and strength, he look nothing less than a veteran warrior and he was the man who even had his own army called as family guards which was almost a tenth in number and strength of the kingdom's army.
His father and grandfather used to be commander in the royal army. And he himself was a very capable in commanding even giving competition to the kingdom's commander-in-chief in managing and commanding forces but it was pity for the Prayag King that he never wished or even intended to join the royal army.
Next to him was another grand noble, the de-facto leader of the merchants in the kingdom. He was a man with an appearance which always contain a friendly smile and amiable voice. But he was a living image of a fox as he could resort to any ways and means to get his deal once he aimed at something, then he didn't even care for the suffering or pain he was giving to others in process.
Next to him was a man in a very simple robe. His face was pale and unhealthy-looking. He was tall and skinny with a sallow complexion. The man's actual age was still in forties but he look much older than his age. He was also a grand noble and the most influential person in the kingdom after the king. He could even be called as the brain of the grand noble fraction but except Prayag King and Aryamya no one know that he was also the most loyal supporter of the royal family and a friend of the king.
With some inexpressible emotion inside himself and with a slight smile on his face he looked towards the rest of the noble fraction for a while.
In the throne room everyone sitting was confused seeing their king's behavior but without saying anything they kept on siting on their places understanding the gravity of the situation. Most of them already heard about that letter that came with an arrow when he was in the outer fort.
"First of all, thank you all for answering my summon and coming as soon as possible."
"..."
Surprised. Everyone sitting in the throne room was surprised on hearing that. Prayag King's tone seemed different than usual. Today he had started with a very amiable and friendly tone. This was not the tone which he use while talking to his subjects, there was no might of a king or pressure of a superior in it instead it was the tone which he use while talking to his fellow kings. Those who didn't know about the letter showed suspicion filled with curiosity.
"I am in the believe that many of you must have guessed already that why I have called everyone here today.
But still as a king it is my responsibility to clarify things. So yesterday when this king was at the outer fort, an arrow unexpectedly arrived there. That arrow had a letter knotted to it."
The king then looked toward his the row where all his minsters and advisers were sitting and asked to the kingdom's chief intelligence officer,
"Brother Vanagupta can you please read out that letter for everyone here so that they can hear what are the ways that Prince Shantanu has offered us."
The intelligence officer was dumbfounded, it was very unexpected for the chief intelligence officer to be called as brother by the Prayag King in presence of this audience. But still he was a top spy so hiding emotions was one of his forte so without showing his shock he bowed his head in acceptance of that order and then took out the letter and started reading.
The letter contain terms and offer of surrender and ended with a warning that if the Prayag King choose to refuse to surrender then he will have to face the wrath of the Kashyapa Army. But in that letter there was also a favorable offer for the king, if he was to accept this and surrender then his royal family would always remain on the throne of the Prayag Kingdom and even the Kashyapa Clan will support the royal family if any rebellion is to arise in the kingdom.
After reading that content in the letter, the intelligence officer sat down quietly even without looking at the ruckus or chaos and the flood of the whispering he had caused.
"What? This is insane?"
"Yeah. What he thinks of himself?"
"We are not a weak kingdom to be easily bullied."
"These are not terms of surrender, he just want to downgrade our kingdom!"
The boisterous cry rang throughout the huge room especially from the row where nobles were sitting. The grand nobles were infuriated after hearing that letter. The terms of surrender in the letter were in no way favorable to these nobles. In fact according to the terms of the letter if the king decided to surrender then they will be the one losing most of their power and influence.
The first ones to show their disapproval to the letter were also these grand novels.
"Although we are not a great clan or an ancient clan but this kingdom is also not such a weak kingdom he think of is. He is just shaming our kingdom and downgrading our kingdom. What do you say brothers? We cannot let that ancient clan prince to ridicule our kingdom, can we?"
His words were followed by approval from almost everyone in the noble row and some approval from ministers row too.
"Of course we can not surrender, we will show him what are we made of."
The grand noble with a friendly smile said but there was a tinge of disdain on the face.
While the whole throne room was filled with ruckus and cry, the Prayag King was silently sitting on his majestic throne and seeing everyone and their response. Maybe he was thinking of his strategy for the battle or maybe he was thinking about how to safe his throne.
Just as the throne room was about to fall into more chaos due to silence of the king, a voice came out from the row where the king's ministers and advisers were sitting.
"I think before going aggressive and deciding between ourselves on what to do. We need to ask what his Majesty think cause everything is irrelevant if his Majesty thinks otherwise."
Hearing what was said from the other row, many brows furrowed in the nobles row but still they know what was said is also true so they decided to be quiet and listen to the Prayag King.
"That's correct. It is as the honored minister said. Your Majesty please enlighten us with your opinion on this matter or what you have decided?"
"Yes your Majesty, please tell us what you think our best course of action should be? Someone from the noble row said, "If you ask our views then I think these terms are absolutely ridiculous, that will only bring harm to our kingdom. Our only recourse is war."
"Yes your Majesty, now is the time to show these ancient clans that we are not afraid of them."
"You're absolutely right, I'm tired of the bowing my head and accepting all of their unreasonable demands when we do trading in their territory."
"Exactly…"
Once again the war cry and the demand of war was about to start in the noble section.
"Enough."
A sound rang in the throne room, this was the voice of the Prayag King himself. The voice was calm but it was loud enough to crush any other voice in the throne room. Then he looked towards his advisers section and asked with his youngest advisor.
"Adviser Arthya what do you think, our chances of winning in case we fight with them are?"
"Your Majesty, if we apply all our battle formation and combine the royal soldiers with noble's family guards, even that strength will not be enough to defeat the Kashyapa Army."
After hearing these words the nobles were like someone had splashed cold water on them. But still few nobles there had some hope so they immediately said,
"Don't try to scare us adviser Arthya, I'm sure the great clans will not sit ideal and see an important kingdom like us be taken over by an ancient clan."
"Brother Aryamya, can you please tell everyone here the response you got from the great clans when you went to ask for their help." The Prayag King asked his friend and adviser.
"Yes Your Majesty, so when I went to ask for help to all of the four great clans of north, all of them were in no condition to help us. They were already facing some issues in their kingdoms." A friendly tone rang out in the throne room shattering many nobles' and ministers' dream.
"Brother Aryamya, do you have any suggestion on what we should do in this situation?" Once again the king was asking his main adviser but he had a little hunch of what he was going to say but still he asked.
"Your Majesty if we choose to fight with the Kashyapa Prince's army then as little brother Arthya said we'll definitely loose that battle and then I think we'll also loose a great king like you.
And it is highly possibly that he'll make one of his pawn, someone who isn't even born on the soil of Prayag, sit on that throne so to crush any rebellion in future.
And most likely he can even kill many of the nobles so to avoid any rebellion against him."
Hearing till that many nobles who were wishing and planning for the war sucked a mouthful of air and fell into deep thought cause what the man stranding there had said was a most likely scenario.
Adviser Aryamya continued, " But in case Your Majesty you remained on that throne then we can hope that one day we can get back our freedom, if not tomorrow then a month after, if not a month later then a year later but we'll definitely be able to snatch back our freedom one day."
When everyone heard that in the throne room, they felt energized, they saw a ray of hope. Shortly afterward adviser Aryamya again continued,
"But for that, for you to be remain on that throne we need to surrender on that terms giving by the Kashyapa Prince. "
In the end he peacefully said that and sat down on his chair still maintaining that smile on his face and waiting the throne to explode.
Soon his wish came true and after a moment's silence, the throne room exploded with angry shouts and rebukes that flew through the air directly to him.
"Aryamya you craven coward!"
"Your Majesty treat you like his brother and always show you such kindness but you become such a coward!"
"How shameless of you Aryamya, you chicken-heart?!"
"How can you turn into such a wimp and advise his Majesty to surrender to that Kashyapa Prince?"
"Have the Kashyapa Clan offered you some big reward to make and advise his Majesty to surrender?!"
"You can be swayed by those riches and become a coward in front of a war but we are Kshatriya, we never fear battles unlike you dirt."
" Your Majesty, you should immediately throw this coward bastard out of the kingdom. We don't think a coward like him is fit for advising you."
"Yes your Majesty, maybe he has already sold his motherland for some riches and become a lap dog of the Kashyapa Prince."
The throne room was filled with these shouts and accusations that came from the row of nobles.
On the face of such accusations and criticism, the adviser didn't say anything as he had already expected this outcome so he maintained his smile and kept looking at his friend, maybe he was trying to read his thought or maybe he just wanted to show those nobles that their opinion and accusations were not even worthy of his attention.
And even when his other two colleagues wanted to stood up and say that even they agree to his suggestion, he signaled them by waving his hand and stopped them.
"Enough."
Suddenly a sound vibrated in the throne room. The owner was Prayag King himself and his voice contained some anger in it as he was looking at the row of nobles.
"But, your Majesty...….!" Someone tried to stand up from the noble section. But he was ignored as the king continued.
"It was this king who asked brother Aryamya for his suggestion and this king himself had appointed him as adviser. You think this king is blind? You dared to question this king's appointments."
Prayag king berated everyone who was previously questioning the allegiance of his friend as he himself become angry on hearing those accusations. He clearly understood the motives of these nobles. And he again continued,
"Brother Aryamya this king thank you for your suggestion. Let me clear everything to everyone here, all the appointments this king had made previously from a simple minister to my army commander in chief and advisers, they all have my trust and they allegiance can never be questioned. Many of them had fearlessly put themselves in danger for this king's sake. Someone like them would never do anything to betray this king and the kingdom."
The Prayag King made his instance clear. He was going to trust and believe on the advice of his ministers and advisers rather than nobles. That speech of the Prayag King had one other purpose and that was to assure the ones who were at his side that in case if he surrender, they'll not be affected much. That assurance was necessary cause if the nobles were to rebel when he decided to accept the surrender then these ministers and all will be the one crushing them.
"Your Majesty even if what the adviser Aryamya said is best course of action for our kingdom I still cannot agree to it. We are Kshatriya, your Majesty this land is our, this is our mother and as a Kshatriya it is my duty to protect my land even with the cost of my life. Giving up one's land without a fight is not befitting for a Kshatriya. Such an act will be shamed by our future generations, they will call us cowards and bastards."
One would have to praise the grand noble sitting closest to king, his commanding skills were really fearful. When he said those words with his determined eyes and solemn face. After hearing him everyone in the throne room was feeling hot, there fighting spirit rose. No matter who, from the ministers section or the nobles section, everyone start burning with fighting spirit. It was the duty of Kshatriyas to protect their motherland so how could they surrender they started thinking.
"Your Majesty these are my thoughts and I hope you will forgive me but I cannot allow myself to bow down before an outsider."
After saying that he bowed his head before the king and sat back on his seat but there was a smile he was hiding inside that solemn face. When the Prayag King made his move and laid down a ground work for the surrender. He was countered by the first grand noble and he even made his move and showed a strong instance full with vigor and duty towards the motherland.
The image of the Prayag king was of a bold and fierce king. He was seen by the people as a strong ruler. Even if the Prayag King had given some concessions to these nobles and did not mind their behavior. But still no one had tried to rebel against him was cause that he was seen as bold and ruthless strong king. That's the reason the nobles still supported him. Not only nobles but also most of his ministers support him cause of their fear of the ruthless Prayag King. Thus, the King could not afford to show weakness after that speech.
"A king also has a duty to prevent undue suffering to his people. Kshatriyas duty is not only to protect his motherland but also to protect the subjects under him. And according to the terms presented by Prince Shantanu for surrendering, there is no such thing as bowing to him. Even after surrender everything will be same except we will have to provide our army to them and pay taxes."
The one who spoke was none other than the peace loving second prince. The words he used were pretty and no one could say that he was lying cause even in the letter it was nowhere mentioned that Kashyapa Clan will be the new king of this kingdom. But what it said was, the Prayag King will continue to rule as king.
Meanwhile the Prayag King was lost in thoughts. If he shows weakness now then it was very possible that the nobles will try to use this excuse and portray him as a coward and weak king who was unable to protect even his subjects. And if once the rebellion started cause of that then it would be very hard for him to even keep himself as king much less accept that surrender. And if he would be removed from the throne then there were chances that all of the royal family will be executed for being coward and betrayal.
That being the case, the Prayag King would have to show off his strength so to quell any attempts at revolt from the potential rebels even before it started.
"As though we are going to surrender, we will like to die before surrendering ourselves to that bastard prince!"
"Heh.. just a bunch of cowards!"
"You are the ones who are truly trying to burn the kingdom in the flames of battle!"
When Prayag King came back to reality he saw that the flames of childish squabbling had engulfed the entire throne room.
"I think it's about time we should stop this petty squabbling like children. Your Majesty please tell us on what you think?"
A voice cut through the commotion as everyone fell silent as they looked towards the source of that voice, the voice from the most influential third grand noble sitting in the row. He continued while looking at Prayag King.
"Your Majesty, whatever the conclusion is going to happen, we have to prepare ourselves. If we are going to fight then we have to prepare for that or if were going to surrender before them then we need to explain this to our citizens so to avoid any harmful rumors."
After hearing this, the Prayag King sighed inwardly before saying,
"All right. The Kashyapa Prince has forced us to the edge. First he surrounded us like a hunter so to cage us inside our kingdom and then when he saw that we're at our weakest he want us to surrender. By now I'm sure he must be also thinking that he is the one controlling our fate and he can make us do whatever he wants like puppets in his hand but he forgot that there is no coward in the Prayag Kingdom, even if we are forced to surrender we are not doing that without a fight.
Noblemen gather your troops, they are going to fight alongside the royal army. We are going to declare war on them. Prepare yourself, this time this king will himself lead the army."
"Royal father this prince asks the permission to go with you in the battlefield."
"Royal father this prince too asks the permission to follow you and join in killing of some ancient chickens."
"Please let me too join you on the battlefield and witness our brave soldiers fighting, father!"
Except the second prince everyone voiced their desire to join the their royal father on his campaign even the princess herself requested that.
"We would gladly contribute our troops to you Majesty, after all this battle is for the protection of our kingdom, our home. How could we back down now of all the time." The noble's row unanimously said.
Sigh....
In the ministers and advisers row a sigh was heard as the two advisers looked in opposite direction at their sides towards the person sighing.
.....
"All of these nobles are such selfish bastards. Always thinking about their own benefits even at times when the kingdom is going thorough such a crisis."
In a room sit four people, all of them had grave expression on their faces. The room was an average medium size room. But it was filled with bookshelves. The books and labelled scrolls were stuffed in those bookshelves. This place was the advisers' chamber. The person who said that was an old looking man with white and short hair. There was anger in his eyes as he looked towards the other three people sitting in front of him.
This chamber was one of the most protected room in the royal palace as the whole room was made from cutting and crafting the huge rocks and every inches and gapes of the room's inside were covered in various magical formation that were designed and casted by some of the great saints on the mortal plane. This was all done cause this room was where the king spend most of his time after his personal chamber and throne room. So this was necessary to protect the room from eavesdropping and some other observation techniques.
The other three person sitting there were the two advisers and the Prayag King himself. After ending his meeting with everyone he was now sitting in that chamber with his three main advisors. His face look tired and completely run out of energy. He was just sitting on his chair, his back was leaning back on the chair and his head on the upper edge of the back resting part of the chair. While his face was looking upwards but his eyes were closed. Right now there was no might of a king present on him at most he looked like a tired middle aged man who was sitting among his friends.
"Calm down old man, if they're being selfish and greedy than we just have to let them be till the decisive moment."
"Huh? What do you mean Aryamya?" The old man questioned but advisor Aryamya didn't told him anything further as he kept a mysterious smile on his face while looking towards the man leaning on the chair with closed eyes.
"Your Majesty and senior brothers forgive my slow-wittedness but I didn't understand one thing, may I ask?" Suddenly the youngest advisor asked.
"You must be curious on why His Majesty didn't mentioned about the rumors of Kashyapa Forefather joining the battle. Hmm?"
A light flashed in the eyes of youngest adviser as he understood something. Advisor Aryamya saw the sudden enlightenment of his fellow adviser but he still continued,
"His Majesty had thought of using it as a last weapon for persuading the nobles as they must have also heard about the rumors but even after that when they declared that they still want to fight, that's when our plan failed."
Hearing till then the faces of other two advisor twisted as it turned ugly. They thought that the plan their king had prepared failed. After a short while adviser Aryamya again continued,
"When they started talking about courage and duty, it was then decided that even after the rumor of possibility of forefather involvement is brought up, the end decision would be still fighting cause if his Majesty kept refusing to fight then it'll show his weak side and at time like this we can't afford this."
"So what we going to do? Don't tell me you think you can win against that prince's army. Ok even if I assume that you have a plan that can somehow ward his army off but then what about their forefather, there is not such trick that can ward him off. So now tell me what's your plan then?" The oldest man in the chamber looked towards the advisor Aryamya and asked while mocking him.
"Your Majesty…?" Advisor Aryamya asked permission for something.
"Go on tell them." An almost inaudible voice came of the Prayag King's mouth which after hearing that advisor Aryamya's lips curved into a big smile as he started to tell something to the other two fellow advisors.