Chapter 11 : War and predications
Palace of Nanda.
______
"Seal the gates, there are intruders disguised in the form of gaurds."
Arjun and Nayan are startled by the announcement, meanwhile Anya and Indu hear the announcement.
"There is an Attack?" Indu inquires.
Anya understand the situation, "it must be him, Indu his companions Varun was the spy of Virata. They must have taken him."
Indu and Anya rush to the dungeons to find Arjun and Nayan there.
There are many dead soldiers inside the dungeons being carried outside but what stuns them is the words written inside with blood.
"I thank you for your kindness kingdom of Nanda,
The next time we meet, our blades shall clash"
-Virata
Indu eyes widenes as she reads the words it's him, he had said the same words to her, it the gaurd who had dared to ask her the questions, they really were the spies of Virata.
"I-i had seen him, he was here." Indu says
Anya moves before her "who Indu? Who was here?"
"The Demon tyrant he, he had asked what would I do ......Anya it was him the Demon tyrant he is the one who did this." Indu confirms.
Arjun's angered at his, he keeps pushing his limits, he had declared war and now he even inflirtated our home, we can't let this go.
"He insulted us by this inflirtation, he entered our place as rats, but we won't stoop to his level,the death of these soldiers wont go in vain. we would fight him, attack Virata, like men and defeat them." Nayan declares, this caused for the sudden courtroom meeting.
The court was held Anya and Indu were behind the curtains, as they saw the Court proceedings. The guards who were responsible for gaurding the traitor were killed, and the one's left outside the dungeons were currently kneeling as they had failed to recognise the intruders.
The King of Sethu had finally arrived after disappearing for so long, there was something odd about the king not being present in the main festival of the kingdom.
But things had changed now, even more grave situation had occurred, the safety of the Kingdom was at stakes right now after the inflirtation.
"He tarnished our dignity and pride, your Highness this cannot be let go." Prince Nayan declares.
"Calm down my Prince, we will find a solution for this, we will correct the situation." The security minister speaks as he sees his soldiers kneeled.
"He wounded our Pride and Security, Your Highness, how will our people feel safe, if the palace itself is not safe?" Nayan counters, while the king agrees.
"There is only one way, to correct this situation, Your Highness revenge!" Arjun adds and Everyone's attention goes to him.
"He declared the War , your Highness We have to accept this with bravery." Arjun says while the other ministers cheer in his support.
"We can't declare a war without our assessment of force, Prince Arjun, this is not just about our dignity but our people would also suffer the war." The King states watching the youth raging and defending the rash decision.
"Virata is not small anymore, many minor kingdom have been merged within them." The minister head states.
"Then,Rana will join force with Nanda, your Highness I'll talk to my father.The is the prospect of Anya and Nayan to merge our territories, but now we must seal our boundaries before the Merge." Arjun says which is cheered and hailed in the Courtyard.
Nayan looks at her shyly while Anya's heart sinks at this, she grabs Indu hand grip tightening almost hurting her.
"If that's the case Arjun then this is my promise to you, the announcement of Marriage will only be done after we win the war against Virata and bring down that tyrant." Nayan says keeping his hand on his chest, taking a vow.
The words of the priest resonates in her head.
"You will cause the war, You will be tied to a wise man, and you will be the one who changed his fate, steal his secrets the cost of happiness will be heavy."
Unknowingly she had begun a war, she had lit the fire, once which was only the fate of Nanda and tied it ties to Rana too, and she had become the reason for that.
Indu holds her grip tightening on her wrist.
"Anya, what's wrong?" Indu asks and Anya is broken from her thoughts.
She gets up feeling breathless, "i-i need to get out of here, I can't breathe." Anya says walking out of the court.
Indu follows her behind her.watching her remove her jewelry as if the necklaces were suffocating her.
She stops her when she see the glass bangles being broken and cutting her hand as she had forced to remove it.
"Anya!!! What's wrong with you? Stop it." Indu says making her sit on the bed.
"Indu,... Indu you don't understand, the words of the priest, the war of Nanda is becoming our war now Indu! I- I unknowingly caught the spy of Virata, I am the reason." Anya says her thoughts getting jumbled.
"That is not true Anya! The Demon tyrant was going to attack as if not now then later, he was not going to stop at Nanda Anya!" Indu says she herself tensing this was turning into a grave situation. For her people too now.
"But why had this to happen now, why did this all got tied now, i don't feel good about this Indu." Anya says her eyes unfocused.
"This was going to happen Anya, you weren't the one who brought this proposal,the marriage prospect was going to come anyways and even without the prospect Nanda is our Aunt's kingdom, out father would have assisted in the war , we are not the one's who decided Anya,you are not the one to blame. It's the prince of Virata himself who brought this fate on himself, we are going to fight back Anya as you said all the kingdoms are going to merge together and fight him back. We are going to stop him Anya, this is not the time to panic you are our political genius, Anya we have no time to waste now, he declared the War and we will finish it." Indu states hugging Anya who gets comforted by her words.
That is true how can she get influenced by baseless predictions, she is going to fight if the war is coming.
---------------
Palace of Virata
Narasimha Varma, the king of Virata, was furious. He had been waiting for four months to hear the news of his son Ivaan's victory over the Nanda kingdom, he demeaned Ivaan to be cruel but he enjoyed his victory nonetheless, the last victory of Ivaan was chesa and it had boosted the gold mines and tax of the country, he knew Ivaan was planning to conquer big, this time,but instead he received a report that Ivaan had failed to conquer even a single city. He summoned Ivaan to as soon as his return was reported.
"Nanda is a weak and decadent kingdom, ruled by a cowardly king. How can you, my son and heir, be so incompetent and timid that you cannot defeat them? You are a disgrace to me and to Virata. You have wasted your time and resources on a futile mission."
Ivaan bowed his head and remained silent, it angered him even more, He did not want to argue with his father, who had always ignored him and favored his younger brother Zain who didn't even dared to join the war.
He knew that his father did not care about the truth, only about his own glory and pride he could bring to Virata.
He knew that his father did not know the real reason why he had gone to Nanda, and what he had accomplished there.
Ivaan had and gone to Nanda and successful learned about their secrets.
"I have wasted no resource your Highness! It was only me, Nimit and Varun who had been on the mission, which has been successfully completed."
Ivaan, Varun, and Nimit had managed to gain access to the royal palace and the military camp. They had observed and recorded everything they could. They had also planted some false rumors and seeds of dissent among the Nanda officials and soldiers. They had hoped to create confusion and chaos in the enemy ranks.
However, their mission was not without risk. Varun,had been caught by Nanda. He had been tortured and interrogated, but he had refused to reveal anything. He had endured the pain and humiliation with courage and loyalty.
"I heard you risked yourself to save a mere son of a minister! Ivaan you are the Prince of Virata don't forget that, you should have escaped the moment he was caught, and let him die. You are still so naive Ivaan."
Ivaan clenched his fist at this.He knew that his father was heartless but Varun was his cousin there is no way he could have left him there to die. He knew that his father would only see his failure to conquer Nanda, and not his success in spying on them. He knew that his father would only scold, insult, and demean him, and not praise or respect him. He knew that his father would never change.
He decided to prove his worth and his honor to himself and to the world. He decided to be a true son of Virata, and a true king when the time comes but right now it was winning Nanda that mattered.
"I need resource and time, the Army I have under my wing is not enough for the war against Nanda.they also have the support of neighbouring kingdoms" Ivaan deflects he had only one way to show his worth to this kingdom and that was to win and conquer.
Narasimha thinks about his request. "I'll will have to talk with the ministers for this."
Ivaan scoffs at this, he had put up a show of being a just king when it came to Ivaan's request unlike Zain, for him he would bend backwards.
----------
2k words chapter. is the best I think as someone suggested.
And yes I will be working on the song for each chapter too.
Kindly Vote comment share
Next chapter will be released at 2k reads and 5 comments on this chapter.
ð I know it's not much of a target, but I feel thankful for every comment and share and vote.
.
.
.
.
Kindly Drop a ð©· emoji if you liked the chapter