"If you ate a little less, probably, we won't be in this situation in the first place, you fatso!"

Ranakrit said huffing after another attempt to drag Prabal out of the borehole where he had fallen earlier.

"Don't you dare call me that again! Or I will eat you for my next meal, you moron!"

Prabal threatened angrily as Ranakrit, Vibheet and Sarvaay took deep uneven breaths after a failed attempt to get him out.

"Of course you will! The way you are, you can even digest an entire elephant without any problem."

"Let me get out of here, then I will tell you!"

"That's the problem! We won't be able to drag you out of this hole unless you lose a few pounds."

"Not happening, bhrata Ranakrit! Think of something else."

Sarvaay pitched in between their banter.

"Someone please think about me too!"

Nirmay's voice was heard as his feet earlier got trapped and he was now hanging from a tree upside down. The traps were set up by some hunters probably.

"Latakte raho tum! (Keep hanging!)"

Ranakrit said in irritation.

"Bhrata Ranakrit, please don't leave me alone!"

Nirmay requested in a whining voice. The way Prabal kept arguing and irritating Ranakrit, that was a real possibility.

"I'm here Nirmay. Don't be afraid!"

Prabal replied to him instead.

"But you yourself are in trouble bhrata Prabal. What will I do with you?"

"Stop! Let me think."

Ranakrit interjected them. But Prabal wasn't going to listen, was he?

"Well, you'll need a brain for that first."

"That's it! Let this elephant rot in this hole."

Ranakrit said while looking around the place.

This morning Guru Prana had divided all the hundred and five princes in groups and gave them different tasks to complete. The task assigned to a few of them was to find a red flag hidden in the surrounding area of the ashram. To the astonishment of Prabal, Ranakrit and all others, the two cousins were put in the same group. When both of them protested, Guru Prana said they didn't have to go. They could simply choose to stand under the blazing sun without any food instead.

And that's how they came inside the forest to complete the task. Well, they were actually following Dharmesth's group.
It was Nirmay's idea. If it was anyone he trusted to reach the target first, his bet would be placed on Abhayam and he happened to be with bhrata Dharmesth only. With Prabal and Ranakrit's constant bickering, they were never gonna find anything. While arguing the first thing the two of them had done, was to rip apart the clue that was given to start the hunt. So, there wasn't much of a choice anyway.

But the problem started when Abhayam spotted them and fled, leaving them clueless on where to go next. And they kept roaming and came further inside the forest. Now, first Prabal fell into this trap and then Nirmay.

As Ranakrit was glancing around to find some way to save them, something hit him on the back of his head. His head started to spun and before losing consciousness he heard the screams of his brothers and saw a pair of feet only.

***

"Jyesth! I got it!"

Abhayam shouted in excitement holding the flag.

Dharmesth was relieved and Agamya's mood soured again. Why luck always favored this boy! First he got separated from his Jyesth bhrata and now this irritating favorite student of Guru Prana again won the competition.

"Okay. Now, we should go back to the ashram. But before that find Ranakrit and his group."

"Why Jyesth? We found the flag, now we should leave. They'll come back on their own."

Abhayam said in objection.

"I am not leaving them behind. We found the flag, task completed. Now we'll find our brothers and take them back to the ashram."

"But they'll find their own way back. Why should we bother?"

"You can go back if you want, I will not."

"Fine."

Abhayam made a face, but Agamya, Ranak and Laksya were impressed with the decision of bhrata Dharmesth. It didn't really occured to them to find the other group to be honest. But Dharmesth thought of it. He wasn't irresponsible at least.

The five of them started searching for their brothers then. It took them a while, but they couldn't find them anywhere near. With passing time, they started to worry. They went further and further inside the forest to find them.

"Where are they? We're not supposed to venture so deep inside the forest. Gurudev forbade it."

Abhayam wondered with worry.

"They're not in any trouble, are they?" Laksya asked looking at Dharmesth.

"Don't worry. We'll find them."

Though worried, Dharmesth remained calm and kept searching.

"Bhrata Dharmesth?" Ranak called him suddenly as his face turned pale.

Dharmesth looked up only to find Ranak on a pretty high branch of a tree. He was looking at something with fear and pointed at the north side.

"What is it?"

Dharmesth asked and started to go in that direction cautiously. After some time, he while being hidden from view, peaked at a clearing among the trees to find some people there. In the middle, a group of bandits had lightened a fire. Ranakrit and Prabal were bound to a tree together. On another tree, Sarvaay, Vibheet and Nirmay were bound looking scared as several members of the group taunted them with knives and laughed.

"Hey, Narayan! What's happening?"

Abhayam gasped in horror.

"They're captured by bandits!"

Laksya whisperer in a shaky voice realizing with everyone else.

"What will we do now?"

"The question should be, what will they do to them now."

Ranak muttered earning an irritated look from his brothers.

"Agamya run!"

Agamya's face crunched at Dharmesth.

"What?"

Dharmesth replied calmly.

"You're the fastest among us. Run to the ashram. Inform Gurudev. We'll keep watch over them till then."

"I'm not leaving Jyesth!"

"There's bhrata Prabal, Nirmay, Sarvaay and your other brother Vibheet too. Your Jyesth isn't alone there."

Abhayam reminded him getting annoyed.

"Whatever! I am not leaving anyone here."

"Stop arguing you two!"
Dharmesth said before Abhayam could retort back.
"Agamya, we need to rescue them and we can't do that on our own. Call Gurudev. Go!"

After sharing a look with Ranak and Laksya, Agamya agreed and left silently.

"Now what? Are we going to watch only?"

Laksya whispered at Dharmesth questioningly.

"I have a plan!"

***

"What do you think? How much will we get for this fatso?"

One of the bandits asked looking at Prabal in contemplation. Prabal in return glared at him.

"Not much. He is too fat."

"But he is strong! Don't you remember how much trouble it took to bind him finally?"

"Right! We'll get good price for them."

Said the first bandit again as they made plans, how to sell the boys into slavery and drank alcohol.

"These two aren't going into the market. They're the sons of Maharaj Jagadeesan. We can get good ransom money for these two."

"First we need to get out of this damn forest. I am tired of camping here and hiding."

As the two bandits kept talking Prabal's eyes went to the corner as he saw something moving silently. A smirk appeared on his mouth and he decided to engage them.

"Well, we all are princes of Amvastapuram. You can get ransom for all of us."

Nirmay's voice was heard by the bandits. One of them replied,

"No! Not happening, boys. It was you two only we wanted. They're just bonus."

"What do you mean?"
Ranakrit narrowed his eyes at the two bandits.

"We have been hired to kidnap these two sons of Maharaj Jagadeesan. You three are collateral damage."

The bandit said dismissively. But Ranakrit asked again.

"Who hired you?"

The other bandit was going to say something, but was stopped by one of his companions.

"Stop talking to them!"

"What else to do? I'm bored!"

The one sitting with the bound boys said. They had been hiding and waiting for the right opportunity for weeks.

"You can ransom me too! I weight more than these two."

It was Prabal this time who enthusiastically told them that.

"Boy, don't we know!"

The drunk bandit said as he narrowed his eyes at Prabal. Getting the fat kid out of that borehole and binding him had tired five of them to the point of death.

"You do. But do you know if you ransom me, you won't need to ransom anyone else for the rest of your life!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Who's your father?"

"The question should be where he is."

"Where?"

"In swarg (heaven)!"

"What?"

"Yeah! Just imagine how much wealth there is up there! He can get you anything you want!"

"It's possible?"

"Of course! I just need to pray and call him. He can then give you everything in exchange for my life."

"I don't believe you."

"Okay. Your loss."

Prabal looked the other way nonchalantly. Here, Ranakrit was thinking what sin had he committed that even in bound state he was stuck with this idiot!
But did Prabal stop? No!
He turned his head towards Nirmay and asked,

"Nirmay, who's going to take care of the horse now?"

"Which horse?"

Nirmay gave him a confused glance.

"The one my father got for me! Remember! On my birthday, the horse Pitashree gifted me. The one he brought from swarg!"

Prabal exaggerated his words signing his brother something which Nirmay quickly caught up to. He nodded his head and replied,

"Oh! That one! The horse that can take you to anywhere within a few moments. Are you talking about that one?"

"Yes, yes! That one."

"What horse?"

Sarvaay looked at the two of them like they had lost their minds.

"My horse. My father brought for me. From swarg!"

Prabal exaggerated with a bright smile.

"He can do that?"

The bandits came nearer to them and asked with curiosity. And Prabal was all too eager to engage them.

"Yes, he is friends with Indradev, you know! He can bring me anything."

Here, when it continued, on the other side of their camp, two of the bandits had disappeared into the woods. Now there were only seven remaining. As to see if Prabal's father from swarg could actually appear or not, the bandits freed his hands. And in the next second, Prabal came rushing towards them and fell on top of the two. He deliberately kept jumping on top of the two while sitting only.

"You called me fatso, didn't you? Now take this!"

As Ranakrit after a little maneuvering freed himself, he rushed to free the others. As other bandits noticed what was happening and started to come over to Prabal, arrows started hitting them randomly. Laksya and Ranak started throwing stones at them from up a tree branch.

Total chaos continued! And after a while together they managed to subside all the bandits and bound them.

The boys took a few moments to soak in their success until,

"See? With intelligence and strength, I defeated them all! It's okay you don't need to thank me boys!"

All the eyes turned to Prabal. Vibheet asked,

"Bhrata Prabal, which one of your father you were talking by the way? You have two up there, don't you?"

"Just like you have two mothers? So, should I call you Viswaputra, or Ghatuputra (son of pot)?"

"You just did not go there!"

And that was how Guru Prana found them at the scene.

With Prabal, Vibheet, Laksya , Abhayam and Ranakrit rolling in the mud beating each other.

Nirmay and Sarvaay leaned on a tree bark betting on who was going to win.

Ranak sat on a tree branch eating berries and watching.

The bound bandits kept gawking at them with their mouths open and Dharmesth was pleading,

"Koyi to sun lo meri baat!
(Someone listen to me please!)"