The giant had a face full of scars.. he was wearing fine silks and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like the stuff of nightmares.. he was looking at Pinaka with interest, he said, "are you the Prince? " Pinaka nodded, the giant said, "not bad.. you look strong and well built.. you must be wondering why I have all these scars, I am a war monger, for each battle I won, I marked myself.. these are the signs of my victory.. " Pinaka said, "where is my father..? why did you capture him? " the giant said, "you are a kid, and kids are not allowed to speak in front of me till I ask them something.. you are not qualified enough.. " Pinaka looked at him with dark eyes, he didn"t understand what to do, the giant replied, "as I was telling about myself, before being interrupted by you.. I am a war monger, I love to wage wars, kill people and plunder their treasures, I even like to plunder the women.. the women of Hindustan are extraordinary.. " he said licking his lips lechorously..He continued, "your father is under my custody.. I have not mistreated him.. but I don"t have any intention to release him either.. I didn"t tell you my name.. I am Mir Al Zaffar.. from the middle East.."
Pinaka looked at him in disbelief..the tyrant who slaughtered whole cities..Mir Al Zaffar....he heard about how ruthless he was... he couldn"t believe he was here.. what did he want from him..
.the giant continued,"I want the whole of Hindustan to kneel in front of me.. the reason I brought your father here and made you come here is because.. I want you both to submit to me.. that way you will be my allies, together with your support, I want to make Hindustan mine... "
Pinaka said, "who are you to make my country kneel before you.. we, the people of Hindustan kneel only in front of our G.o.d, our elders and the people we love.. we are not weaklings to accept whatever you say.. release my father, if you are man enough face me in open war, I will give you a scar once I defeat you.. it will be the biggest scar on your body.. "
Zaffar said, "subha.n.a.llah! this is what I expected.. ok then, I will face you in the war openly, " he looked at his men and said, "get the emperor and the men out.., and you Prince, be careful, you may soon lose your pretty neck in the war.. "
The men brought out emperor Surya Gupta and the black robed men outside.. the emperor looked at Pinaka, he got tears in his eyes, he couldn"t speak, his throat became hoa.r.s.e from grief and happiness.. Pinaka went near his father, touched his feet and said, "your son Pinaka Gupta is here father.. bless me.. "
The emperor hugged Pinaka, looked at him with a loving gaze and said, "perfect.. you are just perfect.. you killed Devadatta.. excellent.. how is your mother? " the giant said, "save this family reunion for yourselves.. I am not interested.. Prince, now is the time of your Hindu festival Dusshera, enjoy your festival..I will come prepared for the battle with my troops in two months time.. be prepared.. to die.. now get out of my sight.. "
The emperor glared at him and said, "Zaffar, be prepared to die.. " he looked at Pinaka and said, "come dear son, let"s go and meet your mother.. "
they walked out of the cave and went to the place where Shiva"s men were waiting.. Shiva said, "emperor, where were you all these years.. " Surya Gupta said, "Shiva, my loyal man, I lived the life of a recluse for few years, then I got the information that the Prince was being raised in the Magadha empire, I went to see him, I saw how he was being trained by emperor Krishna Chandra himself, I was satisfied, I saw how the people of Veera dynasty treated him.. It made me happy.. then I went to a forest and started a gurukul (boarding school) where I started teaching yougsters warfare techniques.. then I thought about the empress, I came disguised and saw her, she was leading a pitiable life.. no husband.. no son, but she didn"t leave to her maternal home.. she waited in Indraprastha(capital city of Gupta empire), I went back to the gurukul and thought of waging a war against Devadatta by forming an alliance with the tribal kings of Vindhyas..I was able to secure the trust of two tribes, but when I went to the third tribe.. they didn"t trust me.. then I planned to go and meet my father in law and ask for alliance, during the initial journey itself,my horse tripped and rolled down a cliff,during the fall, I injured my spinal cord, I was confined to bed for many years, only last year I was able to recover, again I tried to go to the tribal people to forge the alliance.. I was caught by the viscous cannibal tribe then.. they held me captive for an year, they only kill n.o.ble kings on one day of the year, according to their sect rules,they can"t injure the emperor on normal full moon day.,it"s a sin..they can kill the emperor only on bhadrapada Poornima (full moon day of the September month) I thought my life would end, when this group of people captured me.. I got to know that they are all the soldiers of Gupta empire.. they were in exile since I casted them away, declaring them as rebels.. Indra and Varuna were the majors of my army batallions. . Devadatta framed them, I trusted that b.a.s.t.a.r.d blindly.. I paid the Price.. "
Pinaka had tears in his eyes, his father faced so much of sorrow....
The emperor then said, "son, I heard you were injured... who wounded you? "Pinaka looked at Indra, he knelt down and said, "emperor, I was angry with your decision, we were cast out of our homes, away from our families, we were branded as rebels, our family members were mocked by everyone.. then few of my men discovered you in the custody of those savages.. we wanted to rescue you.. but we were not confident if we would succeed.. so I wanted to get the help of Prince.. but there was no way I could meet him.. I never had the intention to kill him.. I aimed at him to wound him.. I wanted to get his attention.. I couldn"t think of any other way.. no one would trust me.. if you feel its wrong.. I will accept any punishment you feel is apt.. "
The emperor was looking with a strange expression in his eyes....