132 Crisis near the Indus River

After a long journey Shah and his army reached the Indus River bank. They were totally exhausted. They randomly made tents. The Shah assigned some of the soldiers to take watch in the night and retired to sleep in his tent.

The soldiers who were on watch duty didn't have even an ounce of strength left. They were half asleep. They were moving around, washing their faces rigorously splashing water over and tried to keep themselves awake. One hour passed by.

There was a very strange and sweet smell coming towards them. There was a smoke that was visible now..the smoke was carrying the odour..it looked like fog. They rubbed their blurry eyes and tried to stay awake.

They tried to find the source of the smoke. They struggled to check where it was coming from. As they went towards the fog..each one of them fell down and dozed off.

The fog cleared.Slowly there was a movement in the distant bushes.

Few men wearing black clothes came out of the bushes. They moved swiftly towards the tents. As soon as they approached the tents , they split and went their separate ways and disappeared into random tents.

....

Morning came. Soldiers started waking up. The soldiers on the watch duty were heavily snoring as if they were drugged.

Few soldiers woke up and looked for the soldiers on watch. They found them sleeping. However they laughed and started making jokes about them. The watch duty soldiers always boasted about themselves and their strength to overcome sleep. They waited for their generals to come out and scold the watch soldiers. But no one came out.

The Shah came out of his tent and looked at the soldiers. He shouted, ' where are your generals? ' everyone looked blank. One of the soldiers said, ' we are waiting for them to come out..' Shah looked surprised, he said, ' they are still sleeping? ' he pointed towards one soldier and said, ' you ! go and wake them up..summon Rudra Verma and Zaffar..now!'

The soldier immediately got up..he went from tent to tent, he looked utterly confused, no one came behind him..he said, ' your majesty, all generals, Rudra Verma and Zaffar are missing

.!' there was a collective gasp from all the soldiers..Shah looked at him dangerously and said, 'what?' the soldier gulped and said, ' yes your majesty..no one is there. I could not find anyoneof them in their designated tents..' the Shah shouted, ' who were on watch yesterday night?' one of the soldiers raised and pointed to watch duty soldiers who appeared as if they dropped down at different spots on the ground..they were sleeping in a random pattern..

The Shah asked ,' what is wrong with them..are they dead?" one of the soldiers said, " no, your majesty..they are asleep.." the Shah looked confused, then he looked as if he was thinking..in few moments he understood what happened..

He said, " The watch soldiers got drugged..my Generals, Rudra Verma and Zaffar are Kidnapped!!"