THE WAR FOR LOVE

Part 1

Sidharth and Gaurav entered a dark hall, late at night, passing through the long and dimly lit corridors of their huge palace. 

"Apne bulaya Baba?" Sidharth asked his father, the emperor of Vijaygarh, Samrat Alok Singh Shaurya. An old man, still tall, broad and intelligent enough to run an empire. 

"Han, aao." His father said, looking up from the table that had a map displayed to his grown up sons. 

The elder one was Sidharth Singh Shaurya, Sumitra Devi's son. A merciful, faithful, humane, upright, handsome, and religious man. Gaurav Singh Shaurya was Yamuna Devi's son and 8 months younger to him. A well- mannered, obedient, good looking and hardworking man. 

"Sidharth, ye naksha dekh rahe ho?" he asked, pointing at the mountains drawn on the corner most point of the map. 

"Inn Panwandi gaon ki pahadiyoon me lootere ghus aaye hai, aadiwasion ko pareshaani ho rahi hai. Hum chahte hai ki tum Panwandi jaa kar iss samasya ko door karo. Zarurat pade toh ek sena bhi lekar ja sakte ho." he explained the task to his son. 

"Ji Baba, mai kal hi nikal jaunga aur sena ki zarurat nahi hogi." Sidharth replied after closely looking at the map as if he was saving its picture in his head. 

"Khabar hai ki in looteron ka sardar Mahendra Singh hai." Gaurav informed and the rest of the two nodded in response to that. 

"Janta hu Gaurav, mila toh usey chhodunga nahi mai." Sidharth said, determined to catch their criminal. 

"Baba, mai bhi jau bhaiya ke sath?" Gaurav asked their father then. 

"Nahi." his father denied. 

"Baba, mai bhaiya ki madat karna chahta hu!" Gaurav insisted, only to receive hard looks from his father and then kept quiet. 

"Mai tumhe Bagampur bhej raha hu Mahamantri ke sath. Jao aur dekho, vaha ban rahe naye mandiro me kisi cheez ki kami na ho." The king replied, calmly. Being a father and as well as a king had made Samrat Alok an emotionally tough guy, someone who was capable of making harsh and quick decisions by totally discarding sentiments and he had raised both of his sons like that, Gaurav however wasn't very rigid like him but Sidharth was a complete replica of his father.

A fortnight later:

Sidharth stood grounded by soldiers in the middle of the assembly, accused of attacking his own father. 

"Yuvraaj Sidharth, aap par ye aarop hai ke apne Samrat par aadhi raat ko hamla kiya. Sipahiyon ne aapko Maharaj ke kaksh me jate dekha." One of the representatives of the Council of minister's spoke. 

"Ye jhoot hai! Mai- mai apne Baba pe kaise hamla kar sakta hu?!" Sidharth asked them, utterly shocked. 

"Toh Yuvraaj aap ki talwar pe Maharaj ka khoon kaise laga? Aap aadhi raat ko unse milne kyu gaye the?" the minister cross questioned. Sidharth's sword had blood and only the king was found wounded after the attack. 

"Maine talwar apni suraksha ke liye nikali thi, mai Maharaj se milne gaya tha, unhe batane gaya tha ki jis kaam pe unhone mujhe bheja tha - vo maine poora kar liya. Raha apke sawal ka jawab, ek beta apne pita se kabhi bhi milne ja sakta hai! Mere Baba hai vo, mai unse khushi khushi milne gaya tha, jab mujhe kuch awaze aayi. Andar kisine unpe hamla kiya aur mai unki madat karne gaya!" Sidharth replied, narrating what had happened that night. But there wasn't even a silly evidence to prove that he was saying the truth, nor any other eye witness. 

It had been 3 days of the midnight attack incident and it was the final court assembly held to resolve the case. Sidharth hopefully looked at his brother Gaurav, sitting all tense and looking right at him worrily. Because he was out of the town that night, he wasn't able to help Sidharth either.