BATTLE OF LOVE (completed)

CHAPTER 3

Arjun offered to guide us to the palace and we readily agreed.  We didn't have any formal introductions. Dev was so engrossed in talking to Arjun that he didn't bother introducing me. The three of us were riding our horses while the soldiers from Anjan guarded us. From the corner of my eye, I could see the man captured by Arjun lying in the bullock-cart still unconscious amidst soldiers. He could easily be mistaken for a dead body and felt that he needed help,  at least water. 

"He needs help, maybe," I said loud and clear enough for Arjun to hear me.

"Who?" he asked. He genuinely didn't get me.

"The man," I said pointing towards the cart. Technically I should mind my own business. Yet, I decided to raise my voice.

"The Accused?" Arjun asked raising his voice but still being polite.

"He is not guilty yet?" I asked surprised at the way Arjun treated him. I literally thought he was a notorious criminal or something. In Mithra accused are treated with respect unless proven guilty, however here it is completely opposite.

"In the case of robbery, yes he is not guilty but in the case of escaping from my custody, he is guilty," Arjun replied without even looking at me.

I noticed the way he emphasized the word 'my'. It was as if all the aggression is not about escaping from custody, but about escaping from his custody.

" Stop wasting your energy caring for the wrong people princess. We will be reaching soon and I will make sure he doesn't die, " he added.

As normal as this sentence seemed, the way Arjun delivered it sent shivers through my spines. It was as if he is going to make him face something worse than death.

"Start caring for you," Arjun continued. "You went near him with a single sword which wasn't even in your hand. What would have happened if he attacked you?"

"I was trained to protect myself," I said slightly offended by his statement.

"I never expected that!" he gasped.

"You shouldn't go by the stereo.."

"Some of the greatest warriors I've seen are women," Arjun interrupted before I finished my statement. "It's not about gender, but about the personality. Maybe you are great at defending and maybe you could save yourself out from any situation but what about attacking?"

I fell silent. 

"You suck at it, don't you?" Arjun continued, "It's not a great idea to be polite all the time."

"Neither is it a great idea to be aggressive all the time," I added, "Dev told me that there was one time you hit the wrong person. How often does this happen?"

Now it was his turn to fall silent. 

"Don't you think you could prevent it if you were a little less aggressive? Don't you think that would make your citizens trust you better?"

"My job requires me to be demanding," he said clutching the rope in his hand. I could feel him losing his cool, yet I continued.

"There is a fine line between being demanding and being aggressive, " I said as I noticed that we were nearing the palace. He stopped his horse as we reached our destination and turned towards me. This was the first time we made eye-contact all the while in the discussion.

"Wanna fight?" he said looking straight into my eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"Sword fight. I wanted to demonstrate something to you. "

I stared back at him. I desperately wanted to say no. Not that I am afraid of him but the reason we came here, at least as far as I know, is to settle the land dispute and having a sword fight with him might make things worse.

 "The rest of the guests are in the king's private room. We cannot go there anyway. So why not? It's a sport and I am sure it will not damage the relationship between the two kingdoms, " Arjun added. I was kind of surprised that he could grasp my thoughts and reluctantly agreed.

Arjun took me to his academy. That's what he called. It was a room, a really big one with a circle inside. All along the walls were swords of different shapes and sizes. He had a huge collection.

"Pick your choice or you can use the one you have," he said moving his hands along the wall while he himself grabbed the sword with a lion symbol on its handle.

"They are real," I said quite surprised. We don't fight have sword fights with real swords in Mithra. We use wooden ones while practicing it as a sport.

"Enemies don't come to party and play sword fight with you. They come for war and just so that you know princess, they will have real swords." Arjun replied sarcastically.

I was fed with his tantrums.

"I know that Prince Arjun, but we aren't enemies," I said in a slightly aggressive tone.

"For time being we are. Either fight with a real sword or accept defeat. Neither do we have wooden swords in here, nor are we ever planning to get them."

I signed. I didn't want to use a real sword but I didn't want to accept straight defeat either. So I pulled out my knife and signaled that I am ready. We decided to have three rounds. Whoever knocks the other person's sword for more than once would win. 

(Hello everyone. Thank you for making it till here. Please vote and comment on the story. I would love to hear your opinions. Also, the next chapter will be released on 20 October. Sorry for the delay. I'll make sure to upload the next chapter early in the morning.Thank you. Love you all)