CHANDRALEKHA - The Beginning Of Destruction ✅

70. Who is Mayura?

Raghav POV

My council sat before me, that comprises my wife, who is also my queen, my brother, Indrajeet, my hand Abhimanyu, and my head commanders, along with a few good scholars of my Gurukul.

Chitra and Ambika stayed safely inside the tent, protected by sentinels who were warriors. We are under attack now, with no certainity of when the enemy could attack us. Safety of women and children was our prime focus at this moment.

"My King, I've fetched the information from the palace interiors."

One of my disciples spoke up. He was a secret agent sent by me into the palace of Vijaygarh as one of the sentinel. They couldn't recognise him because he stole the identity of one of those warriors who were slayed by Ranveer when he had visited Vijaygarh a few days ago.

"Say it!"

I commanded him, and he nodded.

"The usurper has an army of 1,00,000 men, with nearly 10,000 elephants and 40,000 horses. The swords and weapons are of the best quality, especially constructed under his guidance and the kingdom prepares for war."

He informed me about the preparations of Yuddhjeet, and the people sitting in the council gasped listening to such a huge number, but I didn't flinch. A King should not appear weak before his subjects.

"What about the small folk?"

Suddenly Chandani spoke up, and his gaze shifted to her. He greeted her before speaking

"They aren't happy with the usurper's reign. They are starving, and are turning rebellious. I think they will support us. All we need is to ignite them."

He informed us, and we nodded.

"Throne doesn't make us Kings, the public do."

I spoke, and the people around me nodded unanimously.

"How many men do we have?"

I asked the head commander of my army, who is Indrajeet now.

"Counting all the disciples of Gurukul and the Devgarh army, we have only 10,000 men with around 1000 horses and certainly no elephants.

He said in a low voice, lowering his gaze.

"Any word from any kingdom whom we had sent the letters."

I asked my hand, Abhimanyu. I had assigned him to send passenger pigeons to all the kingdoms of Bharatvarsha. We need an army, and now they know my identity because I hold the traditional sword of Vijaygarh, the one that only its blood can handle.

"All of them have pledged their support to the throne, and right now Yuddhjeet sits the throne. Only Awadh agreed to join us."

Abhimanyu asserted in a low voice, lacking zeal. Awadh, the kingdom of the descendants of Sri Ram has agreed to join us.

"Maharaj Shauryaditya of Raghuvansh clan?"

I asked them recalling my lessons where Gurudev had enlightened me upon the names of the Kings. Also, I have met him personally when Maharaj Vishwaroop had sent me to him regarding some political work. He had a four year old son then, who must have grown in these three years.

"Yes!"

He replied sternly.

"That's not the real count."

Indrajeet interrupted the conversation, and all of us gawked at him with astonishment.

"Ranveer used to send letters to me when he was staying here as Vikrant. He had the observed a significant hatred amongst the army men of Yuddhjeet. They aren't loyal to him, and we can use them to fight for us."