Fuck you...Your Majesty!

8

It was after four days of continuous travelling, the royal convoy had just entered the Ujvali mountain range, and Kingdom Kaveri was now just two days away.

The sun was setting down and travelling any further in a territory with so many places for the enemy to hide wasn't a wise choice. King Samartha ordered for the camps to be set up to rest at night and immediately the soldiers got to work. As they had done for the past four days, the soldiers first set up Salil's tent and then went ahead to set up anyone else's tent. King Samartha,  like a true leader, would help his soldiers set up the camps while Salil along with Rudra, Madhur and a handful of soldiers started working on dinner. Half of the royal guards of Antharv along with warriors from Kaveri, went ahead to patrol the outer boundary of the camp. The rest of the soldiers handled the rest of the tasks like grooming their horses and feeding them, lighting a huge bonfire and keeping it alight. Everyone had a task to do and they were diligent in doing it.

Soon everyone was sitting around the huge bonfire, except for the patrolling guards, with a bowl of lamb stew, enjoying the delicious meal prepared.

"Oh, it tastes heavenly Salil! You have magical hands!" exclaimed  Samartha as soon as he took the first bite of the stew, earning hums of approval from the soldiers around.

"I'm glad you liked it brother but it wasn't me who made the stew today. It's all royal guard, Rudra's doing." Replied Salil as he dug into his fruit salad which was the only thing he could digest these days. The mere smell of meats made him heave. He dismissed it as tiredness from the continuous travelling but somewhere deep in his heart, he knew it was not the reason.

Rudra blushed when he felt all the eyes on him. He wasn't the one to blush so easily but it was the only thing he had been doing for the past four days of their travelling. He blamed King Samartha for it. The guy had no shame in flirting with him in front of everyone, not that Rudra minded it but he wasn't about to tell this to the already obnoxious King.

"That explains why it tastes more delicious today! You are talented, Royal guard." praised Samartha, not even bothering to lift his head from the bowl of heaven before him, making everyone chuckle.

Here, with all the soldiers and his brother, Salil looked at ease, happier than he had ever looked in the palace of Antharv and this didn't go unnoticed by Rudra. But what could he say, he felt liberated here, away from the suffocating uptight environment of Antharv palace.  Maybe it was due to being out here, close to nature. Maybe because of the constantly flirting, cheerful king. He didn't know but he would like to find out.

                                                                        *******

It was half-past midnight when the attack happened. It all happened so fast that one minute they were all in their camps, sleeping and the very next minute they were indulged in a fierce battle.

Swords clashed, and sparks flew. The number of assassins seemed to be doubling with each passing moment. Five of them had surrounded King Samartha, attacking him all at once but Samartha was giving them a hard time. Rudra fought his way through the ongoing battle towards Salil's tent. He feared for his High King who still hadn't shown up for the battle. No news often meant a piece of good news but not when you're on a battlefield.

But the scene in Salil's tent shocked Rudra to his wit's end. The black-clad assassins were respectfully escorting Salil out of the tent to a carriage and Salil silently complied with it. Rudra was still trying to get his head around what he just saw when someone landed a swift hit on his wind pool point, making him lose consciousness within seconds.

The soft thud made Salil stop in his tracks. He turned around only to find Rudra lying motionless on the ground. He all but ran towards the said royal guard, praying that the latter was still alive.