The Ashwamedh horse blessed with all auspicious marks, ran across many kingdoms by now. The army followed behind. There was only one cry, 'Give confidently and freely until all
who ask are satisfied.'

No kingdom till now tried to stop the horse, they didn't fear war as much as they feared a battle against Lakshman or the Ram-Suta. Hence they all let the horse roam freely in their kingdoms and accept the sovereignty of Shri Ram.

But then there was one kingdom who wanted to fight, not because they didn't want to accept the sovereignty of Shri Ram, but because they wanted a chance or an honour to fight against Rameshwari, for they had heard about her divine birth.

That kingdom was none other than the pride of Chandravansh, the Kuru-rashtra. Just as Raghukul and Kosal is to Suryavanshi Kshatriya, the Kuruvansh and Kuru kingdom is to Chandravanshi kshatriya.

When the Ashwamedh horse entered the premises of the Kurus, they stopped it. It was a chance to fight, the Kosal soldiers were delighted.

"Ashwa rokne ka parinaam jaante hai aap ?" Lakshman asked.

"Hume Maharaj Ram se koi baer nahi hai, Dashrath-nandan. Hume toh keval Ram-suta ke saath yudh karne ka avsar chahiye." The king said, standing ahead his soldiers.

Lakshman smiled a little and looked at Rameshwari who had maintained a serious look on her face.

"Kyu Chandravansh par grahan lagana chaahte hai aap ? Ashwa ko jaane dijiye, toh abhayedaan ab bhi sambhav hai." Rameshwari said.

"Hume abhayedaan nahi chahiye." The king said.

"Soch lijiye Kuru-raj, yadi shashtra uthe toh praan-daan nahi milenge." Rameshwari said.

"Brahmarishiyo se suna hai ki aapke haatho se mrityu praapt ho toh Moksh milta hai. Bhala ek murkh hi hoga jo jeevan ko moksh se pehle chunega." The king said, he was firm in his decision.

Rameshwari then looked at Lakshman, who nodded in assurance.

"Uchit hai. Kshatriya dharm ka palan karte huye, hum yudh ke awahan ko swikaar karte hai." She said.

The king of Kurus smiled, before raising his weapon up in the sky.

"HAR HAR MAHADEV !" The Chandravanshis roared and lunged at the Suryavanshis who to roared their battle cry and got ready to fight.

The only sound that could be heard was that of clashes of blades of spears and swords, the entire sky was covered with arrows released by Lakshman and Rameshwari, it seemed as if they had put a veil on Bhu-devi.

The magnificent Vajra, crushed his way through the enemy soldiers to take his rider Rameshwari to the Kuru king. But before they could reach him, a glorious chariot came in their way, on him was mounted a dark-skinned young man, of well built body.

"Pita-Maharaj tak pahuchne se poorv aapko mujhse yudh karna hoga." He said.

"Yuvraj hai aap ?" Rameshwari asked, taking into considerations his stature and aura.

"Ha." He said.

Rameshwari smiled before raising her Gandiv, pulling it's string and twanging it, which caused the Kuru Yuvraj to close his ears, his head throbbed extremely for a moment.

But the regaining his composure, he picked up his bow, and shot an arrow towards her, which she easily countered.

A shower of arrows followed as they both engaged in a duel of archery. Sometimes the arrows were countered other times the arrows hit their target.

And seeing that the sun was going down, Rameshwari didn't want to extend this battle till tomorrow, she shot one arrow that broke his bow and another arrow which broke his chariot.

The crown-prince and his charioteer were stunned, as they stood there defeated.

"Rajkumari !" The Yuvraj called seeing her leaving. Rameshwari stopped and looked back at the prince.

"Yadi jana hai toh mera vadh karke jayiye, shashtra-heen aur rath-heen kar aise apmanit karke nahi !" He said.

"Aap Kuru-rashtra ke Yuvraj hai. Aapka vadh kar mai aapke rajya ko anaath nahi kar sakti. Yeh aapka apmaan nahi, Kuruo ka Maan rakha hai maine. Mera udeshya Bharat ko akhand karne ka hai, arajakta faelane ka nahi." Rameshwari told.

And saying so she rode off, trying to find the King of Kurus, warding off some attacks from the soldiers. Finally she found the Kuru-raj who was fighting off soldiers.

"Kuru-raj ! Dwand kare !" Rameshwari said.

The king of Kurus looked at her, a small smile appeared on his face, he raised his spear and threw it at her, but she caught it by one hand and broke it down with sheer strength of her arms.

The king then got off his chariot holding a sturdy mace in his hand, Rameshwari took out her own mace and got off Vajra.

Both of them lunged at each other, their maces clashing and producing thunderous sounds, both of them looked like sun and moon duelling.

Both of them were fighting with such force that in the middle of the fight their maces broke down. The duel then was continued with the swords, which was hanging on their waists.

Their swords clashed with each other, sometimes they successfully defended other times. Both of them endured some scratches.

Seeing that the sun was about to set any time and conch shells will be blown, Rameshwari raised her sword and swung it with such a force that the sword of Kuru-King broke down into pieces.

She then swung her sword, slitting his throat as blood oozed out. The Kuru king fell behind as he joined his hands in front of her before closing his eyes.

Rameshwari sighed as she too joined her hand, praying that he gets the salvation for which he fought.

The conch shell of victory was blown, as Lakshman came there and so did the crown-prince, who fell on his knees seein his dead father.

Lakshman gently kept his hand over the shoulder of the young crown-prince.

"Tumhare Pita ki yahi iccha thi, putra. Hum tumhe Kuru-rashtra ka Maharaj ghosit karte hai aur tumhe humare Ashwamedh yagya mei amantrit karte hai." Lakshman said.

□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□
A/N

So it is not mentioned which kingdoms stopped the horse of Ashwamedh, there is a chance none of them did and all accepted Shri Ram as their emperor.

So I'm taking little creative liberty here ✨