~A few hours before the war~

Rajan marched through the corridors of Abhiras's palace leading to the king's royal chambers. The corridors were dark with only a few oil lamps at each corner. His large steps came to a stop as a guard placed a hand on his chest and pushed him backwards roughly.

"You ignorant boy! You cannot barge inside!" The soldier sneered in anger and both the soldiers at each side of the door placed their spears in a cross manner preventing him from entering inside.

"I need to discuss an urgent issue with our king." Rajan replied, irritated that any moment after a few hours a war might break out.

"Royal courts are for such issues kid, you cannot disturb the king at this hour."

"It is important!!" He stressed on each and every word as he moved close.

"What's the ruckus over there?" Arjuna's faint voice can be heard as he walks near the entrance.

And immediately both the guards and Rajan bowed down paying their respects.

"My king! I have something really urgent to discuss, please just give me a few minutes!"

Arjuna could sense the urgency and fear in Rajan's voice. So he allowed him to come inside his chambers, the chambers looked nothing royal with few furnitures tossed around with just only a small oil lamp in the middle of the room but the moonlight gleamed through the balcony and window not letting the room be completely immersed in darkness.

"What is it Rajan?" Arjuna asked, placing his hands backwards as he looked outside his balcony.

"My king, yesterday when queen Chitra was being abducted I happened to be around but they were extremely large in number which means I cannot fight them, so instead I followed them to their hiding spot at the forest."

" I even got to meet her when she was a little far away from the group-"

Arjuna felt an immediate feeling of relief flood over him, "Where is she now? Is she resting at her quarters?" He wanted to see her, to hear her voice, so he didn't care if his voice came out too desperate.

Listening to that Rajan's head dropped to the floor as he spoke, " I failed to convince our queen to come with me my lord."

"What?" Arjuna's eyes narrowed as he heard him speak and a tingling sensation of suspiciousness filled his brain as in why would she refuse to come? "Why will she refuse to come? Can I even believe you?"

"My lord!" Rajan's face filled with panic as he fell to the ground kneeling in front of Arjuna, "Please, give me a chance to explain myself!"

Arjuna signalled his index finger in an upwards motion, indicating him to get up and explain.

"Queen Chitra got to know the conspiracy behind the attack on our villages and on minister Ratan, King Aditya and king Indradas have joined hands with those cruel bandits and they are going to attack our kingdom with all their army before early morning, unethically to say."

Arjuna was shocked for a second wondering about why Chitra's father did this. King Indradas had everything, a flourishing kingdom with good wealth but greed always blinds one from seeing what treasure they already have.

He clapped his hands and two guards walked in, "Your majesty!" They bowed down paying their respects.

"Go and inform our defence minister Gopinath Rao and our army head Vikram Singh that I summoned them."

Rajan explained in what situation Chitra had chosen to stay behind and mostly how bravely she had put her life aside and had decided to be a queen and save her kingdom and her people.

Just in a few minutes both the minister and army head have reached his chambers and have started to discuss a plan to handle the situation.

"My lord, women and children will be hidden in our underground safe rooms at our fort and we should hide the royal treasure outside the fort so that even if we happen to loose-"

"We are not going to lose this war!" Arjuna's angry voice boomed loudly across the chambers stopping Vikram's sentence.

"You are right my king, Abhiras will never lose but these are the protocols which are to be followed before a war and from what Rajan has said this was the reason our queen has decided to risk her life."

Arjuna roughly rubbed his face with his hands in frustration and took a moment to calm himself, he can't lose his calm and mess up the situation anymore, those bandits have Chitra with them which in itself is a weak point for Abhiras.

"You are right, I got carried away. Vikram, give out orders for your men to hide our royal treasure in a small village temple in a highly confidential way and your initial plan about hiding women and children in our underground safe houses is perfect so let us follow that."

Vikram bowed down taking a leave and left the room to follow the orders given by his king.

"Minister, get the army ready and try to take in young men from the villages who have the capacity to fight. It is important for us to have as many men as possible although we don't know the size of the army the other side."

The meeting was dispersed and everyone was silently preparing for a war, it would be the first war Abhiras would be fighting after ages. After sometime Arjuna went to see how the army was preparing itself he expected everyone to be either tense or anxious however they all looked angry and ready. He felt proud that his army was ready with all the might they have instead of backing off like cowards.

Although Arjuna stood on an elevation his face was not clear as the night sky was preventing the soldiers from having a view of their king.

"Tonight Abhiras would be facing their enemies, a war. But we warriors are not scared of them, no one can ever make us bend in fear." Arjuna's rich voice made the soldiers listen in silence, they stood in lines with discipline and respect for the man standing in front of them, " Abhiras is a century old, our great ancestors have begun with a small tribe and fought several wars to build this empire year by year by shedding their pious blood. And tonight it is our turn to prove our loyalty and love for this great empire!"

"The cowards who are fighting us are unethical and immoral, they may be substantial in size but we are enormous in valiant. I strongly believe that after this war everyone should shiver in fear even if a thought about messing up with Abhiras passes their mind!"

A wave of euphoria mixed with pride passed through everyone who just heard their king's speech. Every soldier took a long breath as Gopinath Roa stepped forward, standing beside Arjuna.

"Jai Mata Di!" The defence minister prayed to the goddess of war and all the ground was filled with huge hails and prays for the goddess.

Meanwhile Vikram was busy helping the old women and men vacate the safe houses. Women warriors were placed near the safe houses for their protection. He was looking at the food arrangements when he felt soft fingers grab his hand.

Even without turning behind he can tell who it was, Nandhini. But unlike usual her happy face looked sullen with a deep frown, "Why don't you stay behind and guard this safehouse?" She asked in a low voice controlling her tears. What if they lose this war?

"Even you know that it is impossible." Saying he bent down a little and wiped a lone tear which was rolling down her cheeks.

Nandhini looked away instead of facing him as her tears took no name to stop, Vikram pulled her close by her waist flushing her front to his forcing her to look at him.

"You can't blame me for your tears Nandhu, you were the one who pounced on me demanding to love you." He smirked as he spoke.

Nandhini's eyes went wide and her mouth hanged opened in surprise as she hit him hard on his chest, "I didn't force you!" She complained as her nose and cheeks turned red with a blush and embarrassment.

" Oh yes, you never did." He mocked her in the same complaining tone in which she spoke which bought a huge toothy smile on her cute face.

" That's better," Vikram said, rubbing his nose to her and Nandhini closed her eyes in content taking in his heavy musky smell, "My wife should always smile, even in my absence and that is my first priority."

"Accepted," She whispered and put her hands around his neck pulling him more close,their lips touched as she spoke, "And my husband should stay with me forever and ever and that is not a priority Mister! It is an order, come back in one piece and take me as your wife."

Vikram laughed listening to her ordering tone, "Adorable!" He said and took her face in his hands and kissed her, pouring all his love through this kiss.

He will help his king Arjuna win this war by hook or crook, for saving his gentle and innocent sister Chitra. And also to come back for his one and only love, Nandhini.

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