Somewhere in the forest of Vindhyas, there was a clearing between the trees.. the whole area was lit with fire torches.. giving it a mysterious feel. There was a group of people wearing black robes and eye masks.. one of them looked like the leader standing apart from the others.The leader was in deep thought... he was thinking about something.. he was looking towards a man. The man was bound under a tree.. he exuded the aura of an emperor,though he looked weak, he didn"t look defeated.. his eyes held a fire.. it was as if they were lit ambers....
He looked at the leader and smiled, it was a majestic smile.. the leader looked at him and said, "what makes you smile emperor Surya Gupta? " so the person who was bound was none other than emperor Surya Gupta, the emperor of Gupta empire.. father of Pinaka..
The emperor said, "who are you? why did you save me from those savages? "....
Few moments back, the emperor Surya Gupta was held captive by a group of savage tribals who were cannibals.. the man eaters ,trapped the emperor and held him captive for a week, they had a practice to offer human sacrifice to their evil deity on the day of Poornima (full moon) .....
. then they ate the sacrificed person"s meat...
No one knew how the emperor was caught by them, this bunch of black robed people were just in time, they fought against those savages, drew them away... they rescued the emperor..
The leader said, "what do I want? don"t you know what we are fighting for? we are the group of warriors who were black marked as terrorists by you and your general Devadatta.. from then we were roaming in the vindyas(mountain range that divided Gupta and Magadha empire). .cast away from our kin.. can you go back and erase that black mark and give us back all those years of our life? "
The emperor sighed, it was his mistake, he trusted Devadatta"s judgement.. he never questioned his loyalty.. the serpent ..whom he treated as a bosom brother.. Devadatta.. that b.a.s.t.a.r.d.. he made him pa.s.s a wrong judgement.. what exactly happened was..
There was a group of soldiers who were carrying out welfare activities in the empire.. they were led by two men.. Indra and Varuna.. both Indra and Varuna were majors who were leading two batallions of the Gupta army respectively.. they were reporting to General Devadatta..
When the empress was pregnant, they noticed that Devadatta was trying to take over the power stealthily.. they wanted to notify the emperor.. but their group was falsely accused of stealing the money from army fund and spending it for people.. Devadatta created fake witnesses.. the emperor trusted Devadatta blindly..he then declared them as rebels and casted them out of the empire.. they had to leave the empire.. away from their families.. their kith and kin were always targeted and insulted..
Their once popular and loved group became a mockery.. in fact they always pooled their personal money and helped for good causes..all their efforts were erased.. they were nothing but thieves in the eyes of the people..
The emperor said, "you are.. Varuna.. my army major.., where is Indra? " he looked at the emperor and said, "Indra is in Indraprastha (capital city of Gupta empire).. he will be back soon.. but tell me emperor.. how will you compensate our loss? "
The emperor said, "you decide.. I deserve punishment.. being an emperor.. I must be able to see through lies and fake people.. I failed to do so.. just like you.. I too paid the price for trusting that serpent.. I lost my empire, my son.. I left my wife under the control of that serpent Devadatta.. I abandoned my people.. if you feel this is not punishment enough for my sin.. tell me how you want me to compensate you.. "
Varuna sighed, the emperor was right.. he too suffered.. at least they had a group of people but the emperor was all alone.. he asked all his loyals who followed him to flee with his son... he lured Devadatta"s men away..
Varuna said, "emperor, I think it"s time you know, the Prince has returned.. he killed Devadatta.. the empress is safe.. but.. "the emperor was shocked.
his son.. he was alive.. he came back.. was it true.. he looked at Varuna and said, "but? " Varuna said, "he is wounded.. " the emperor said, "wounded? Devadatta must have harmed him.. how is he now... " Varuna shook his head and said, "emperor, the Prince is recovering..it"s not Devadatta who harmed him... "
"then who harmed him? who is it that dared to harm the future emperor of the Gupta empire? "..