The Crown Prince and His Love

Chapter 8 |Por munai muzhangatum|

Blow the war horns!

The soldiers gathered in a tent as per the Prince's request. Pallavan stood at the edge of the tent leaning against a wooden pillar.

"We can't just throw ourselves at the enemy," A soldier threw his arms in the air and scoffed. "Do you know how many soldiers they have stationed at the entrance?" He asked.

"How many?" Another one asked.

"I-I don't know," The guy with the big mouth shrugged. "The Pallavan Prince went spying on them ask him," The guy pointed at Parthibendran.

"Oh please don't call me a Prince, I don't own a grain of land anymore, it all belongs to the Chozhan empire no?" Parthibendran said as he folded his arms and looked down.

The other soldiers laughed. "Maybe if you befriend the Prince, he'll return your land!" Someone said in a mocking tone. Pallavan fisted his hands and glared at the man.

"I don't have the desire to rule anymore," He said, but it didn't come out of his mouth wholeheartedly.

"C'mon, man," A guy nudged his arms. "Who doesn't have the desire to rule?" He joked. "Plus, didn't your ancestors rule half of Thamizhagam? Such a shame they had lost everything"

Pallavan had had enough, he stepped forward and held the man's collar in his fist, and raised his other hand to punch him.

"The Pallavan lion has risen from its sleep it seems," Adithan's voice stopped everything. Pallavan's punch stopped abruptly in mid-air just like the soldiers ceased their mutterings.

They all bowed as they saw him and Malayaman enter. Parthibendran dropped his hands and stepped back making way for the Prince.

"Save some anger for the battlefield Parthibendra," Adithan said throwing his arm around Pallavan's shoulders.

Pallavan nodded curtly.

"So what's the issue?" He asked Pallavan, who shook his head in reply. "Nothing?" He asked. "Okay," He turned towards the soldiers and gave them a smile. "Oh look who I have the pleasure to meet, The Chozhan empire's brave tigers," Adithan addressed the crowd gathered in the tent.

The soldiers looked at the ground as they realized Karikalan's sarcasm.

"Why are we here Parthibendra?" Adithan asked Pallavan.

"For war," Pallavan said matter-of-factly.

"Hmm," Karikalan nodded. "What are we doing instead?" He asked the crowd. The crowd didn't dare to meet Adithan's eyes, they felt ashamed. Deep down in their brave hearts, they wanted to fight, but they felt disheartened at the loss of their war general.

"Ilavarese," A soldier called out. Adithan turned to him and gave him permission to speak. "The Rashtrakutas have twice the number of men, it'll be like pouring a bucket of water in a forest fire," He stated.

"Quantity is not proportional to the quality," Adithan answered simply. "Don't you think you're better than them?"

"Well, what's the use of fighting for a losing war?" Another guy asked.

"How do you conclude that it's a losing war when you haven't even tried fighting them yet?" Malayaman finally spoke out. The soldiers spoke among themselves in hallow whispers. They felt what Malayaman said was right.

"If we let them go without a fight they'll invade our motherland one day, they'll think we are weak!" Adithan raised his voice, his deep voice sent chills down their spines. "then there would be no use crying then, no matter how much we cry out we won't get out land back," He said walking around. The soldiers avoided Karikalan's piercing gaze, they felt ashamed.