Pinaka, Samyukta, Shiva and his men walked towards the market Street, the city of Indraprastha was well designed. Samyukta liked the simplicity of the city, she was never a fan of opulence. As they were walking towards the street, they saw women sporting short hair. They remembered the words of Shiva, women with long hair had to pay tax, according to Hindu tradition, it was considered inauspicious if a woman cut her hair. In ancient times, ladies who lost their husband used to shave their heads. But due to the unjust tax system,the women were cutting their hair against their will.As they were walking they saw a small conflict. There were soldiers surrounding one family. Pinaka walked towards the commotion, others followed him.
One man was on his knees and begging the soldiers. A young woman was crying uncontrollably, the remaining family members were looking helpless and defeated. Pinaka approached a person in the crowd and asked, "brother what is the matter? " the person looked at Pinaka strangely, "are you a new comer? this is a regular thing that happens here, " he pointed at the young woman who was crying and said, "she needs to be presented to General Devadatta tonight, " then he pointed towards the man kneeling, "he is her husband, begging the soldiers to leave his family.. "
Pinaka"s eyes flashed with anger, the person who was talking to him felt little scared, he said, "this is the rule here, don"t interfere, you will be arrested and it may lead your family into danger.. " he said pointing towards Samyukta. She too was angered and was feeling helpless and didn"t know how to help the woman.
Pinaka stepped forward and said, "leave them,! " everyone was shocked, the woman stopped crying, the man raised, the family looked at him with some hope. One of the soldiers pointed his spear towards Pinaka, "who are you.. this is the matter of the Royal Family, general Devadatta"s word is the law, get lost.. we will leave you condidering it as your first mistake, " Pinaka was not scared, he pulled the spear out of the soldier"s hand and repeated, "leave them,! " the other soldiers surrounded Pinaka.
Samyukta and Shiva stepped forward, the soldiers looked at Samyukta, her beauty was very much superior compared to that woman. The leader of the soldiers said, "let"s grab that woman" pointing at Samyukta, the other soldier said, "yes, she looks much better than her, I have never seen such a beauty, this woman cannot even hold a candle to her, what a majestic beauty, she looks like a princess, after the General is finished with her, may be we could have a go,.. "
That"s it, those were the last words he spoke, before he knew it, the soldier"s throat was pierced and blood gushed out of his throat. His body collapsed, surrounded by pool of his own blood. No one had seen when Pinaka acted, he was as quick as lightning. Samyukta took out her sword and took her position beside Pinaka, Shiva and his four men, stood around Pinaka and Samyukta. Everyone was holding a weapon and they were combat ready.
There were ten soldiers, one fell already, Pinaka and party were seven members. The leader of the soldiers was shocked, he never expected Pinaka would attack and kill. The leader said, "since you want to die, I will grant you the wish, be careful and don"t harm the woman, kill all the men, don"t spare them, " hearing his command, the soldiers moved. Shiva and his men were highly efficient. They blocked each strike, and acted as a shield, protecting the prince and princess. One soldier entered through gap between two men and tried to get near Samyukta, with single strike his head rolled on the floor, Samyukta"s sword dripped blood, she looked fierce like a mother G.o.ddess.
Shiva effectively beheaded one man. Out of nine soldiers, two were dead and most of them were heavily injured, Pinaka stepped forward, took out his axe and swinged his arm to gain momentum,turned in a circle, and appeared before the leader,with one swift hand moment,he cleanly chopped off the head of the leader as if it were a piece of wood. This shocked the other soldiers, without leader they were not confident to carry on with the fight. One of them said, "stay back here if you dare..! " and fled. Other soldiers followed suit and ran away... The woman"s husband came forward and knelt before Pinaka, he said, "G.o.d sent you here to protect my family, I am blessed.. " he took Pinaka"s hand and kissed it.
One person in the crowd said, "quickly, all of you flee, a bigger group of soldiers will come and kill you all, " Pinaka said, "We are here to fight, let"s see how many more will come, " Samyukta nodded,.. this was something that didn"t ever happen. The citizens were in shock. There was a glimmer of hope in everyone"s eyes.. is it happening for real? are the bad days coming to an end?
The tyranny of Devadatta was too overwhelming, though he didn"t take the t.i.tle of the emperor, he acted like one. Publicly he never proclaimed that he overthrew the rule of the emperor. He was scared that people would rebel, though people knew that this Devadatta was a serpent, they were scared to act since empress Chandramathi was still held captive. They already lost the emperor who took care of them like a father, now they must not lose the empress.. the people knew that the empress gave birth to a baby boy, but no one has seen the Prince, they didn"t know if he survived or if he died.
There were rumours of the prince being killed along with the emperor, some say that the emperor took the Prince and fled.. no one knew the truth.. this young man who fought the soldiers today and the lady beside him, looked like royals, they exuded a n.o.bility and majesty that were unmatched.. who were these people... why were there men protecting them..??