Where One Road Ends, Another Begins ( Part 3 )

"Ten years ago teacher fell in love with a man. He was gentle yet valiant, mild of manner yet resolute of mind. Strong and brave, able to know right from wrong. He was a hero who fought for the weak, not afraid to make enemies of the strong."

In the arid valley, a voice as melodious as the lute gently told a story. Mixing with whistling winds, her words turned into song travelling far and wide. In her hands was a golden helmet, embellished with rubies. But there was another source of red on the helmet. It was blood.

Wearing a gown of light pink, she was kneeling on the ground like a goddess of love and beauty. All around her were broken limbs and corpses, the ground filled with blood and flesh. A boy who was still small for his age shivered as he stood a bit away from her. He felt cold even when the sun burned harshly as ever. However, when he honed in on that woman, his heart calmed. Even surrounded by such gore, she looked proud and pure like a beautiful white lotus.

"His name was known far and wide. Many came to him for help and advice. Even the nobles and vassals of great kings sought his advice…" the noble voice sang the solitary tune. The tone of melancholy affecting the very air and ground. "He was loved by all. But seeking what was rightfully his, he was still betrayed in the end."

The wisp of melody ended. "He died just like this."

At the beautiful woman's feet lay a body, tall and robust looking. It's eyes were open, completely lacking focus. The skin was already bereft of color, the pallor nearly ghastly to look at. The body was covered in blood. Some from others, but mostly from itself. A terrible sword wound cut open the neck, but there was an equally awful gash on the chest, reaching as deep as the heart. Considering that both fatal wounds bled, it could be seen that they occurred nearly simultaneously. Many other grievous wounds caused by a variety of weapons indicated that the man was attacked on all sides while he stood alone to defend. Even so, there was no denying that he was an extremely charismatic man when he lived. The handsome features which remained untouched thanks to the helmet were proof of that.

Chandra Kush found himself more and more mesmerized by this man, even though he was now dead. The first time he saw him was three days ago when the assassin cum guard Sheesha had fallen prey to the pursuers in the forest near the township. Kush felt it was his own fault. He had disregarded his duties as a lookout in an angry fit when his teacher refused to save Vajra. He felt like everything he was doing had no purpose when the boy was going to die anyway. But he didn't think that the minor lapse would lead to such major problems. The pursuing troop soon located the assassin and the prince. No matter how agile the assassin was, no matter what tricks and traps he still had up his sleeve, he was not going to get away this time. They were simply surrounded on all sides. And not just that, the little prince was also completely unconscious without the slightest ability to defend himself. It was dangerous to an extent that even his teacher who usually only mutely watched the happenings brought Kush away before he could protest.

But that was also when he first saw the renowned Yuvaraja Vajradhaara. He valiantly charged into the forest with his troop, raising a battle cry that made him shudder to the bone. The watched the entire battle from a tree top, opening Kush's eyes to wider horizons. He could see endless vitality coming from the man, his every roar would shake the forest, decimating enemy morale. He dealt with one enemy after another endlessly, seeming as though he could go on forever. And he did all that without a single mistake. Actually, despite being ambushed by the extremely elite Dhija assassins and hunted by them all the way to this point from the border, the eldest prince didn't have a scratch on him until then. He fought alongside his men, meeting the enemy head on every time, but even losing as many as five hundred men in the long drawn battle until then, he still didn't lose his heart. If he had followed his little brother's plan and allowed Shaura's troops to simply rescue him and return to the capital, at least one brother could've gotten away from this entire escapade without a single scratch on him. It was what his brother wanted as well. But how could a man whose blood boils so hotly as Vajradhaara hide behind his little brother who was not even ten years old?!

He understood his little brother's reasoning perfectly well. His father is at the last stages of his illness. In at most six months, or more realistically three months, the kingdom will see a change of liege. At that time, twenty-three year old Vajradhaara was naturally more suitable to consolidate the rule than the ten year old Vajradandaka. With the grand prince making his move after laying low for so many years, it would absolutely be easier for him to wrest control from the hands of a small child. Even if that child was Vajradandaka who had an untold amount of means in his hands. And so, looking at it from a rational point of view, even if it tears his heart irrevocably, the best thing for Vajradhaara to do would be to return to the capital and the solve the situation there. Then return with a new troop to save his brother if he was still living. Basically, that meant it was best for him to accept his brother's sacrifice rather than put both their lives in danger by meeting Rtadhara forces right after getting away from the Dhija pursuers.

However, Vajradhaara did not do the rational thing. Instead, he irrationally charged into the forest knowing his brother's life was in danger. He decided that he was going to do that as early as when he met Captain Shaura's reinforcements. Actually, Kush's teacher Ashangi's assumptions were correct. It was absolutely difficult to get away from the elite Dhija assassins even though they were lesser in number than the original seven hundred men the eldest prince came with. By the time Vajradhaara's men were whittled down to the last two hundred, the Dhija's original three hundred were down only by a hundred. When they could fight three hundred against seven hundred without backing down, you needn't even ask about two hundred against two hundred. This was also the situation Ashangi predicted according to her knowledge of the dryland kingdoms. But what she didn't consider was Vajradhaara deep knowledge of his little brother. When he got the pigeon detailing the grand prince's actions and understood that this was not just an attack from an enemy kingdom, he already knew his little brother would send a troop to assist him. He would use himself on the other hand to draw away Rtadhara's reinforcements. He was just a little boy. How many men could he command? Just his personal guard, the leader of which was actually his own subordinate a few years ago. Vajradhaara knew how Shaura would think and therefore knew where to lead the pursuing Dhija assassins so that it was advantageous for them to set up an ambush. This was how the eldest prince neutralized the threat of the Dhijas and then went straight to rescue his brother. It wasn't that Shaura didn't try to stop him, relaying to him that the little prince wanted him to go straight back to the capital. Unfortunately, he met with a resounding slap along with a promise of execution if something happened to his brother. He didn't even consider leaving for one second.