Chapter 66: Volume 3 - CH 2.3

“The 10,000 Parsian troops allied with Prince Rajendra are advancing eastward in the mountain pass and should reach this fortress in a day or two.”

This report reached the fortress of Gujarat at the end of January.

The fortress was one of the military strongholds, as it guarded the only passage extending from the northern mountainous region to the capital of the country, Uraiyur.

The fortress’s lord, General Govind, had two vice-lords under him, General Pulakeshin and General Tara. The troops assigned to the fortress were 4,000 cavalry and 8,000 infantry. The fortress itself was protected by high walls, a deep moat, and trebuchets.

“Hiding inside the fortress is easy, but shouldn’t we see the strength of the Parsian army for ourselves?”

Under the instruction of Govind, General Pulakeshin, who led 1,500 cavalry and 3,000 infantry, then took the initiative to attack.

The first encounter between the two armies began west of the fortress of Gujarat, across a road that is one farsang (about five kilometers) by Pars’ standards.

General Pulakeshin sat on the back of his frighteningly large horse, drew his sword, and charged into the Parsian troops. He knocked away the swords and spears thrust by the Parsian cavalry like twigs. Maybe they were scared by his strength? The elite Parsian cavalry naturally cleared a path in front of him.

Wielding a large sword, Pulakeshin charged toward Arslan, and as he pressed closer, a knight with a black horse blocked his way. The inside of his cloak was bright red, and resembled human blood.

“Get out of the way, get out of the way!”

Pulakeshin roared in what little he knew of the Parsian language. The knight in black answered blandly.

“How could the Crown Prince of Pars waste his time on some lackey like you? Be good and fight me instead! His Highness will still get to see your face as your head rolls.”

“What nonsense!”

Pulakeshin’s great sword reflected the sunlight and slashed down towards the head of the black-clad knight Daryun. However, at that very moment, another flash pierced the eyes of both the enemy and the horse.

Daryun’s longsword slashed Pulakeshin’s wrist, still holding the greatsword, then flew in mid-air with lightning speed and stabbed deep into Prakenjin’s right ear.

Pulakeshin, who was known as a fierce general, became a corpse in an instant, and the Sindhuran army was shocked at the sight.

The Sindhuran army fled back into the fortress and closed the gates tightly. Seeing the bravery of the Parsian army led by Daryun, even Govind and Tara could not help but tremble with fear. They decided to change their method of warfare and stay inside the fortress to buy time and wait for reinforcements to be sent from the capital. The method had no merit, but it was no less practical.

The future court painter of Pars stated his opinion to the young sovereign.

“There are several ways to win the fortress, but we shouldn’t spend too much time on it.”

“What should we do?”

“What do you think we should do?”

On February 1, a messenger from Pars’ army rode up to the gates of Gujarat and called for Sindhura’s army to open the gates. This messenger was an elegant young man with reddish-purple hair and blue eyes. He brought with him a young Sindhuran who acted as interpreter and guide, armed only with a sword. The messenger was Gieve, and the man accompanying him was Jaswant.

With an innocent face and an oud in one hand, Gieve appeared in the middle of the fortress’s hall. The women in the fortress forgot that their actions might attract the displeasure of the men, and gazed at this exotic young man with rapt attention.

Surrounded by the adoring eyes of the women, Gieve came to General Govind and urged the sorrowful-looking military general to surrender the fortress without blood.

“Of course, it will not go unrewarded. Once Prince Rajendra wears the crown of Sindhura, he will definitely treat the two generals with extra courtesy. Whether it is status or territory, the two generals will get what they want. In your position, this is a very generous offer.”

Because the matter was not really up to him, Gieve seemed extremely generous.

Govind and Tara did not reply immediately. Although they belonged to Prince Gadhevi’s party, they had just seen the strength of the Parsian army that sided with Prince Rajendra, and they too had personal desires. Govind prepared a feast for Gieve, and summoned ten beautiful women from the fortress to persuade them to drink. Taking advantage of this time, they hid in another room to discuss what to do. At this time, there was a person who appeared in front of them secretly.

This man was Jaswant, the Sindhuran interpreter who accompanied Gieve. Jaswant put his index finger in front of his mouth, asking the two generals, who were looking suspiciously, to keep quiet.

“Perhaps you two still will not believe me. However, he is a Parsian, and I am a son of Sindhura, so please believe my word over his.”

“…… Okay, tell us. We’ll hear you out.”

Jaswant lowered his voice and told the two generals the following.

Prince Rajendra’s supposed desire to become comrades with the two generals was a pure lie. If they were to get close to Prince Rajendra because of their personal desires, they would be immediately arrested and beheaded. Regardless of this matter, the reason why the Parsian army proposed such a condition was to make the two generals let their guard down. They intended to sneak through the fortress of Gujarat in the middle of the night and advance towards the capital of Sindhura. The main cavalry force would go in the front, and the grain convoy would follow behind. The defenders of the Gujarat fortress should deliberately spare the cavalry unit at this time and attack their grain convoy. Despite how strong the Parsian army is, if they have no food they can no longer fight and will only end up dying in a foreign land. In this way, the two generals’ merits would surely be commended by Prince Gadhevi.

“To be honest, I work under the hereditary chancellor Lord Mahendra. I have been ordered by Lord Mahendra to wait for an opportunity to approach Rajendra and gain his trust. I trust that the two generals will help me with this plan.”

After making this explanation, Jaswant produced from his turban an identity card with Mahendra’s signature, whereupon Govind and Tara believed him. The three men then made plans. Tara proposed to kill the emissary of Pars, Gieve, on the spot. However, they finally decided to let Gieve return alive in order not to make Pars’ army suspicious.

Surrounded by beautiful women and wine, Gieve played the oud, fully revealing his prodigal nature. After Govind explained their clever reply, he immediately stood up, politely and thoughtfully shook hands with the fortress lord, and hugged every beautiful woman goodbye. Afterwards everyone learned that most of the beautiful women had given their rings, bracelets and earrings to Gieve. Tara and the others couldn’t help but feel remorse and regret, thinking it was a big mistake to let him go back. However, their regret dissipated overnight.

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That night, the Parsian army secretly drew up camp and began to advance eastward along the road. The soldiers all had cotton in their mouths and towels stuffed in their horses’ mouths, careful not to make any noise.

Jaswant, who was supposed to lead the way, made his way to the back of the cavalcade. He watched in the darkness with a wry smile.

He squatted under the shadow of a big tree, took out the slender flare rocket from his clothes, and was about to light it when suddenly a voice came from behind.

“Still working in the middle of the night? How admirable, Jaswant.”

The young Sindhuran almost jumped out of his skin. He looked at the figure standing in front of him and couldn’t help but gulp.

“Gi– Lord Gieve……”

“Yes, it’s Lord Gieve, the natural enemy of Sindhura’s men. What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean ……?”

“Planning to send a signal to Sindhura’s army and tell them to launch a surprise attack, right? O cunning black cat, are you trying to light your own tail on fire?”

“Wait, please listen to me!”

Jaswant shouted and jumped back. The night wind gave a subtle whisper and thin lines of blood ran down Jaswant’s forehead.

“Hmph, a decent fighter!”

Reasserting his stance, Gieve smiled pleasantly. His strong surprise attack only skimmed Jaswant’s forehead and didn’t do much damage to him.

Jaswant dropped his flare and drew his sword. He learned that there was little point in arguing now. The Parsian army seemed to have discovered his true nature. Now there was no other way to escape the danger but by his own strength.

Gieve glided forward and swung his second sword. The glare reflected in Jaswant’s eyes, and sparks flew out in a flash that brought the faces of the two men to life. The two swordsmen locked eyes. There was tension and dismay in Jaswant’s dark eyes, and a brave smile in Gieve’s blue eyes.

Neither spoke a word. In the moonlight, only the sound of interlocking white blades echoed in the silence. The two men were equal in skill and speed. The two figures flitted back and forth, as if dancing, slashing and dodging each other. The fight seemed to drag on. Eventually Jaswant, who had stepped forward to attack his opponent, was knocked off balance by the hilt of Gieve’s sword striking Jaswant hard in the neck.

While the young Sindhuran swordsman fell to the ground, the Sindhuran army conspiring with him was hiding in the forest outside the fortress, holding its breath while awaiting the main force of the Parsian army to pass through the night streets.

The golden armor of Prince Arslan was clearly visible in the faint moonlight. The black-clad knight accompanying him should be the brave man who killed Pulakeshin with a single slash the day before, right?

“Well, Prince Arslan and that knight in black are up ahead. It seems that all is going according to plan.”

In fact, the teenager wearing Arslan’s golden armor was Elam, while the one wearing Daryun’s black clothes was a well-built cavalryman. However, there was no way to see that clearly in the moonlight.

The 10,000 cavalrymen that Pars boasted were completely separated from the grain convoy. Sindhura’s army slowly approached from the rear without waiting for Jaswant’s signal, extending their fangs towards the cattle carts and wagons. At the commanding officer’s signal, the Sindhuran army attacked fiercely.

“Go on! Take all their grain!”

The Sindhuran army raised their weapons and attacked Pars’ grain convoy. As the sound of horses’ hooves swarmed out of the darkness, the convoy seemed to stop in fear.

However, the victory that Sindhura’s army was sure of faded in an instant. The covers of the cattle carts carrying grain were lifted up, and the soldiers hiding inside launched a rain of arrows at the raiding Sindhuran army.

“Damn it, we’ve been tricked!”

Despite the anger, however, the most abominable thing was to fall for the enemy’s scheme. Once they suffered this crushing defeat of intellect, the difference in strength was clear. Watching his comrades as they were helplessly killed, Govind, who had already broken into the enemy’s line, found the figure of a teenager on a horse commanding the soldiers. Wasn’t that the Crown Prince of Pars?

“Parsian boy, stay there and don’t move!”

Govind raised his lance and rushed towards Arslan. At this time, one of the soldiers beside Arslan’s horse threw his own lance first. It flew far and fast, and pierced Govind’s throat.

Govind died soundlessly, but his body made a loud clanging sound as he rolled off his horse.

The only one who possessed such skill was, of course, Daryun. It turned out that he had also disguised himself as a faceless soldier and hid among the grain convoy.

Down the road, General Tara’s men were also killed one after another, and finally only he and Farangis remained to confront each other.

Tara let out a roar like a buffalo and waved his great sword toward Farangis. It was a blow of great pressure and force, however, the beautiful warrior priestess seemed to turn into the night wind, dodged silently and launched a counterattack without a moment’s notice. The moonlight reflected off her sword as she effortlessly cut off the head of the Sindhuran general. The blood that sprayed upwards took on an unusual hue in the moonlight.

After Govind and Tara were killed one after another, Sindhura, who had lost its commander, instantly collapsed. At this time, the cavalry of Pars, who had timed their return, rushed into the fortress of the fleeing Sindhuran army, which left behind more than 2,000 bodies as they ran away. Some tried to flee back to the fortress, but by this time, a group of men under the command of Narsus and Gieve had already occupied the walls. The Sindhuran soldiers who were besieged by a large number of arrows from the walls had to leave their weapons and armor behind, just to get out of the fortress alive. The remaining Sindhurans all fled in any direction where there was no enemy.

Thus, the fortress of Gujarat fell into the hands of the Parsian army.

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