"Let me give you a helping hand in honor of my late friend, old man."
When it seemed like old man Parakranta had reached a stalemate with black-robed experts, a shout came from a little away.
A pale unhealthy looking man was swinging the sword in his hand and making his way towards the old man.
"Ah! Third… Come… Come." The old man looked towards the man who was offering him his help in the middle of his crisis.
The pale unhealthy looking man was the third noble of the Prayag Kingdom, the most influential figure in the Prayag Kingdom after the Prayag King.
"Where is the second? Has he sided to the royal faction?" The old man while swinging his sword towards the black-robed group asked the Third Grand Noble who had come very closer to where he was.
"Before the clash we were with our guards taking reports on the number of men we lost but since the fight broke out, I didn't see him." The third grand noble replied.
The man they were talking about was the second grand noble even if he was the head of merchants in the Prayag Kingdom it didn't mean he was not a good fighter. On the contrary, he was a good swordsman.
The old man was now hoping of getting even his help. Parakranta was assure that if he could get help from the other two nobles then it would be not that difficult to turn the tides on the royal faction. And even if he could not do that, he could still escape alive with the other two's help.
"Ahhhh..."
One of the black-robed experts screamed in pain, a sword had slicked half of his arm from the shoulder. In front of him, the Third Grand Noble was still swinging his sword.
"Ah…."
Clank… Clank….
Thud….. Thud….
"Ahhhhh...…"
Soon more sword clashes and screaming sounds were heard as the black-robed men started falling one by one with just a sliced arm or hole in their shoulders and the experts surrounding the old man started decreasing.
The black-robed experts were already on the stalemate with the old man so when the third noble came to aid him, they started losing and the previous stalemate turned into a one-sided clash.
Soon the third noble broke the circle of the blacked robed experts surrounding the old man and entered inside the circle.
Now in the middle of the circle were two people, one of them was Parakranta and the other was the Third Grand Noble. Both of them were standing facing each other's back and were attacking the experts surrounding them.
Suddenly the third grand noble took out a purple piece of cloth that looked like velvet and threw it wide open towards one of the black-robed experts in front of him. That expert's gaze shifted towards that piece of cloth, as his sword stopped and with eyes wide open he fixed his gazes at the middle and the corners of that slowly falling little piece of velvet. Surprised with his action both the expert at his sides too slowed their movements and stared at that.
At that very moment, a bright light flashed before their eyes, and before even they could understand anything it pierced at someone's back.
"Haahhh...….."
A painful breath-stopping sound reverberated in the air as all the experts suddenly stopped their movements and started staring at two persons in the middle with a confused expression on their faces.
A sword was coming out the abdomen of the old man and just behind him, the Third Grand Noble was holding the hilt of that sword.
"Tra...….."
Thud...
But before he could finish the word coming out of his mouth a mouthful of crimson fluid came out of it and Parakranta fall on the ground with eyes closed before he could even swing his sword towards his slayer.
The experts in front of the old man were unable to understand the flow of events but soon their eyes fall on the piece of purple velvet in the hand of the expert behind the Third Grand Noble.
That piece of velvet had a golden lion embroidered in the middle and the corners had golden linings. They had seen that piece of velvet many times before but not in the hands of any grand noble instead in the hands of Vangupta.
"You can give that back to Vangupta but I am taking this old man's body away." The Third Grand Noble said coolly before leaving with the old man's body.
...
"Pranam Forefather."
Both hands folded against each other, with bowing head Prince Shantanu made his salutation towards the white-bearded man in front of him.
Behind the Prince were at least twenty other men, who were kneeling on one of their knees with their head down. They were the commanders and vice commanders of the regiments his army.
"Heaven bless you with eternal fame and success, my son." With a tranquil face, the forefather blessed his student.
The Prince with his entourage was standing outside the outer circle of his army camp to welcome the forefather. After the greeting, the forefather left with the Prince towards his camp, and the men behind him went with their subordinates in their camps.
"How are your injuries?" Inside the camp, the forefather was staring at the shoulder and neck of his student. There doesn't seem to be any marks left so he felt relieved but he still asked.
"They were nothing compared to the injuries I got while training with you, master." Seeing the concern in the eyes of the forefather, the prince replied with a slight smile on his face as he tried to lessen the anxiousness of his teacher.
"Your Majesty."
While they were talking, one of the soldiers guarding the prince's camp outside came inside and addressed the forefather.
"What happened?" With a stiff face, forefather asked the reason of interruption while he was talking to the prince.
"Your Majesty, a soldier who was placed near the Prayag Fort had returned just now and is asking an audience in front of his Highness." The soldier replied and looked towards the prince.
"Send him in." This time the Prince said.
The soldiers he had tasked near the outer fort of the Prayag Kingdom were highly trained soldiers in hiding their presence. Before sending them he had strictly told them not to leave their posts unless they listen or see something important. They were responsible for reporting every important matter happening inside as well as nearby the fort.
The soldier left after bowing his head and soon a man draped in black robes entered the camp.
"Your Majesty!" While kneeling, he addressed the forefather.
"Stand up." The forefather ordered.
"Your Highness, something is happening inside the Prayag Fort," after standing up he looked towards the prince and started addressing him, "A few hours ago we heard few screaming sounds and then after that the sound of swords clashing against each other and painful wailing is coming from inside the Prayag Fort."
"What?!" A surprised voice leaked out of the prince's mouth. He moved his gaze from the soldier towards the forefather, maybe he wanted to see his reaction or maybe he wanted him to say something. But the forefather was neither looking towards to soldier nor the prince instead with his eyes closed he was facing his head towards the direction of the Prayag Kingdom.
Unable to understand what he was doing, the prince gazed back to the soldier standing in front of him before ordering, "Tell us everything you heard after their army returned inside the fort."
"Yes, Your Highness." After that, he started telling everything he and the other soldiers that were placed near the fort along with him heard.
After hearing everything the prince ordered the soldier to return to his post as he himself sat on the chair near a table while waiting for forefather to open his eyes.
After a while the forefather opened his eyes, his face still had the tranquility he had before.
Just when the forefather opened his eyes, the prince stood up and waited for him to speak.
"Shantanu, tell me everything that happened here since you returned." The forefather said.
The Prince clearly knew that his teacher was one of the most powerful individuals on the mortal plane but even he himself didn't know exactly how powerful he was. He only knew there were only a few other experts existed like forefather on the mortal plane.
Prince Shantanu started narrating everything that happened except a few things that he planned with the vice commander.
After listening to the prince, the forefather only said, "Something had happened inside the Prayag Fort. Tomorrow you will lead the army." After saying that, he left the prince's camp.
...….
Early in the morning when the sun had still not reached the horizon, two men were sitting in their chariots a few miles away from the Prayag Kingdom's outer fort. One of them was young and the other had a silver-white beard, they were the crown Prince of the Kashyapa Clan and the forefather of the Kashyapa clan, sitting in their golden and silver chariots respectively. Due to the sunlight both of the chariots were shining as if someone sees them from afar; he will think that both sun and the moon had come down to earth.
Behind them were eight chariots in two rows, four chariots each row. Ahead were the chariots of the commanders of the main Kashyapa Army, and just behind them were the chariots of the commanders who came with Prince Shantanu on his conquest, the vice commanders of the main Kashyapa Army.
And behind them was an army of thousands of men. But unlike the last time they were not in any battle formation, they were simply standing in their regiment uniformly side by side.
Soon the huge gates of the fort in front them opened. Hundreds of soldiers came out of those gates and stood outside the fort in a uniform manner.