"What happened to those two men?" Raksheet asked.
"They recovered soon. They needed medical treatment and medicines and for that, they needed money. Their family members were unaware of their condition and they also didn't had money for treatment. Their king didn't helped them. To save their lives, I and Vijay spent our all money."
Raksheet smiled and caressed Ahil's head "Very good. My brother is very generous and kind."
Ahil laughed a little and continued telling "When they woke up, they got to know the situation. They were so angry on their king and wanted to leave the kingdom with their family. They were heartbroken that their king, for whom they are working day and night; he didn't helped them when they needed him the most. They were thankful to us for saving their life and said they are ready to work for us. They were even ready to become our slaves."
"Then what you did?"
"I asked them to stay in Bayar and work for me." Ahil said proudly and Raksheet looked at him with one eyebrow raised doubtfuly.
"And?" He asked.
Ahil stopped smiling and scratched the back of his neck "And....I.....made them my slaves. Yes, they are my slaves. I bound a slave-master contract with them and their families."
"What?" Raksheet asked with narrow eyes "You bound contract with their families too? You shouldn't have done that."
"But it was important. I can't trust them blindly. What if they were just faking their anger for their king infront of me? And I can't trust their family. What if their family members leaked about our contract and me getting information secretly? I didn't wanted to take risk so I bound contract with their families too." Ahil explained, not feeling guilty at all.
Raksheet sighed lazily and asked "How many family members they have in their family and who?"
Ahil thought for a while, recalling the information about his two slave's families "One of them have parents, wife and a son. And other one have a wife and two daughters."
"How old are they?"
"The son is may be of 8-9 years old. The two daughters, one is of 18 years old and other is 10. It was about last year."
Raksheet took a deep breath, thinking his brother made two child slaves and more importantly, one of them is a girl. "But they are kids." He said to Ahil.
"I know, and I will never trouble them. They are free to live their life as they want. I don't want to harm them or make them my slave for real. I just want them to be under my control for sometime until they grow up and understand the seriousness of the situation. I don't want them to spill the information infront of anyone. That's it! I will never bother them. I promise."
Raksheet nod in silence and asked "Fine. Did they gave you any useful information about Bayar?"
Ahil shook his head "No, not much. The financial condition of Bayar is good and they are not trying to increase it suddenly or asking buisnessmen to give financial support to their kingdom yet." Suddenly he remembered something and turned towards his brother "A few months ago, Bayar buyed few more swords than usual. And the man who is transporter, he told me that Bayar had buyed more shield attires."
Raksheet looked away thoughtfully and said "Swords and shields....are necessary for war."
"Do you think they are planning a war against us?" Ahil asked.
Raksheet gulped and looked at Ahil. He nod and again looked away "We have to prepare for war. He knew I will not accept the marriage proposal and he will take it as a reason to start the war, saying that I disrespected his daughter and broke her heart. I should have understood it before."
"We should inform grandfather about it." Ahil said.
Raksheet nod and stood up. "Let's go. We should inform father too."
Ahil quickly stood up and followed his brother to Abhiveera's chamber. Raksheet asked a soldier to summon his father to Abhiveera's chamber.
They knocked on the door and Abhiveera turned to look at them.
"Come in." He stood up from his bed and walked towards the couch and sat down. "What happened? You two here?"
At the same moment, Ashwant also came and Abhiveera signalled him to come in.
"What happened? Why did you summoned me?" Ashwant asked.
They sat down around Abhiveera and Raksheet started telling them everything.
"What? They sent marriage proposal for you?" Abhiveera asked and looked at Ashwant "Why didn't you told me about it?"
Ashwant sighed lazily and replied "I knew Raksheet will reject it. So I didn't thought to bother you."
"Bother me? Ashwant, you know what this proposal can bring for us. If Ira comes to know about this, she will be heartbroken. You should have talked to me about it before telling Raksheet. He just got married and this marriage proposal.....it's too complicated for him. He have to focus on his married life and kingdom."
Ashwant nod and apologized "I am sorry father. I should have informed you first."
Abhiveera breathed deeply, fisting his hand tightly to suppress the turmoil he was feeling.
"Don't know how they will react when we reject their marriage proposal. Abel will try to create problems for us." He said.
"Not problems but a war." Ahil suddenly spoke.
Ashwant and Abhiveera looked at him shocked as well as confused.
"What? A war?" Ashwant asked.
Raksheet spoke "May be, they are trying to announce war against us and they have started preparing for it long ago. Marriage proposal is just a way to find a reason to announce war. Ahil's informer once told him that Bayar is importing more swords and shield attires. As we all know Bayar is famous for illegal weapons supplies. They don't need to import more weapons. They can make it by themself."
"That's serious." Ashwant said
"But why are they importing swords? They can make it easily." Abhiveera asked.
The silence followed for awhile, thinking the reason for Bayar to import swords and suddenly Raksheet and Ahil said together.
"Illegal swords."
Ashwant and Abhiveera looked at them and Ashwant said.
"Illegal swords? From imperial capital? But how? Every kingdom can get limited swords from there. Then how they can import more swords?"
"Illegally." Ahil said "Some kingdoms and peoples buy swords illegally from imperial capital. There are some bladesmiths who make those swords illegally and sell them. Some of them are retired workers from imperial factory of sword making."
"Does the emperor know about it?"
"I think yes. He knows everything that is happening in empires. Then how he don't know about it? He is silent because he gets a lot of taxes and secret money from this which goes into the government treasury. As long as these illegal weapons are not creating any big problem in empires, the emperor will not take action." Ahil explained and the atmosphere in the chamber turned more tensed. They can't ask emperor for help in future because may be he already know about it and still not doing anything.
"We don't have any other option. We have to prepare for war." Raksheet exclaimed.
"But the chances of winning the war is low. The difference between our army is too big." Ashwant said tensed.
"But we have to face it." Abhiveera said "Winning or losing is not in our hands. We can only fight and try." Abhiveera looked at Ahil and said "Prepare the army for war. We will fight."
Ahil quickly nod and stood up. "I will check the war equipment and start soldier's preparation."
"Don't tell them about war. The war is not declared yet. Don't scare them." Raksheet said.
Ahil nod "Fine. I have to make war strategy too. I am leaving."
Raksheet stood up and said "Let me help you." He then looked at Ashwant and said "Father, send the rejection letter to Bayar."
Ashwant nod but suddenly Abhiveera said "No, not so soon. Let's buy some time. Send it after few days. Until then, I will try to find a way out of this mess."
"As you say father." Ashwant replied.
Suddenly a soldier came and knocked on the door.