So what if I'm a girl? Fight me if you can!

12.1 | King Rudra faces a problem|

What King Rudra enjoyed the most was, well, there were a lot of things he enjoyed and a whole scripture would be needed to list down his favourites. But one of them was rising late in the morning accompanied by two beauties at his sides. The thing he most hated after waking up was to see something ugly or undesirable. Thus, when his general's not so 'gentle' nudge woke him up from his peaceful slumber, his face suffered from the sickness called 'Monday blues' in modern days. Not just that, when the two beside him started to ogle over the heavily tanned bulky man, his general,  his mood soured more. He wished he could send a quick message to his brothers that his charms are diminishing these days, even his beauties have started to get interested in other men. But he soon dismissed the idea. Who knows,  his brothers might deliver some heavy kicks and punches over. He was scared of their punches since childhood, so it was best not to provoke them.

Hence,  he decided to wake up and face his general. His displeasure might have been too noticeable as the girls kissed his cheeks from his sides, and only then his lips which were jutted out,  returned in their original attractive line.

"Your majesty, there is an urgency that needs your pointers, pardon me for disturbing your rest, but I was helpless", general kneeled on his right knee, bowing his head down.

It was a punishable offence for any court official to enter the bedchamber of any Royal family member. But, King Rudra had always been an exception. Since childhood,  even though his brothers scrutinized his actions thoroughly, they never pressured him for attending his duties. Having two overprotective older brothers above him, he was used to a leisurely life. Thus, as he entered the tedious days of his reigning,  he became haggard and soon started complaining how the ministers were worthless, mooching him off his Royal treasury. His two trained eagles had spent most of their days in air while constantly delivering his complaints to his elder brothers. At last,  Shivaay and Omkara arranged for his work to be done mostly in his quarters, thus giving some of his most trusted court officials access to his bedchamber. Like his brothers, King Rudra also had three hidden guards,  but they were better off as guards only, never once they participated in the affairs of government. But, they were ready to protect their king till their last breath.

But, it never concluded that Rudra was incapable as a king. He was habitually lazy, and hated to do such works which needed his physical attention. Yet, he was seen regularly practising with his men at dusk.  It was a spectacular event for all the females in the palace, and they attended everyday without failing.

Another fact was, even though he was frivolous in his ways, he was very eloquent in speeches and always tried to talk his way out of everything. While it resulted his ministers being tricked to do overworks, he always came most benefitted while discussing a treaty.

His lands were dry, having two brothers as his neighbouring province had helped him a lot to solve the problem of water. But again, almost all of gold and diamond mines were in his province, he even managed to get his people cross the desert and win over some other kingdoms, thus attaining another riverbed to help his people. King Rudra was not very fond of wars, he mostly resorted to friendly treaties. But, if any of his allies dared to take him lightly and caused trouble, he would trample them beneath his feet mercilessly. He was more like his second brother towards his enemies,  calculative and ruthless.

Thus, he was spending his days signing different treaties and occasionally suppressing the rebellious allies, when he came upon a small island kingdom by the sea which was very famous for pearls and corals. The sea around the kingdom had a fairly large coral reef, and even though they depended on the main land for their daily necessities, corals were deemed pretty expensive and they were well off. Henceforth, that small kingdom, Qróllinia became Rudra's next target.

According to the sources, Qróllinia was ruled by a queen who ascended the throne at the age of seventeen when her father died in a sea expedition. They supplied coral to far off countries too and this often caused them to clash with the pirates. But even the children of the island kingdom were expert divers and sailors, and although the land was small,  they had probably the best naval troop among the neighboring kingdoms.

Rudra had thought that a generous lift of export taxes and first rate supplies would let
Qróllinia and Isilwane become allies. He prepared a long treaty and sent some of the biggest diamonds encrusted in a wide band aadh necklace.

Now, the reply of the queen had the ministers and the generals stunned in shock. The queen not only disregarded the proposal, she sent a coral encrusted opera necklace with seven strings (a typical Raanihar), which was way more pricey than the diamond necklace.

Rudra sat in the meeting chamber in his quarter quietly,  the beautifully polished red corals emitting a soft reddish glow,  hung in his long fingers. Suddenly, all the anger on the queen's unrestrained declaration seemed very pleasing to him. Suddenly he felt that this island would definitely be his, and he will win it from them — not by using unscrupulous means, but by fighting rightfully.

Now, this impending war needed some help from his dear brothers. Only Shivaay had the full access to the naval army of Isilwane as the ruler of the seaside Southern Province. And although it sounds very far fetched, Omkara would be desperately needed to make a proper strategy of war. Though he was the ruler of the Northern Province,  Omkara was unrivalled when it came to strategies, and he also had planned to join the ministry of warfare of the undivided Isilwane.

The officials waiting for Rudra's reaction were wiping the sweat secretly. It was a convention that King Rudra were never to be disturbed while a he was thinking something.

They were even more terrified when Rudra let out a lazy chuckle, " General, let my brothers know that I need their help in an upcoming war.

Side theatre:

Dandi: Look Ranveer,  there is a letter from Western Province's brothers.
(They hover over the update of the recent activities in the Western Province's palace)
Dandi: (Thoughtfully,)  exchange of necklaces, Ranveer,  doesn't it sound like exchange of garlands?
Ranveer: ( Looked at Dandi for a moment, but in the next second he threw a slap over Dandi's mouth), SHUT UP YOU JINX!!

|~*~|

Hola! I'm back. I didn't update last week because my phn broke.  But now I've got a new phone,  and today the first paper of my part-ii exam was really good,  so I just thought of updating today.

Happy reading!

~ with love,
Sarani.