Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

A few kilometers from the battlefield in Warangal. An army was marching towards the battlefield. Balaji's eldest son was leading the entourage, along with a commander assigned by the First Prince, Chandra, for the battle.

Their goal was to reinforce Raghav Reddy and win the battle against the Shekhar noble family. A task that was easier said than done. The reinforcements were relatively small compared to the total army of the Mudialiar noble family.

Chandra already took the soldiers of the Mudialiar household under his wing to face Bhairava. The capital city was going to witness a bloodbath battle for the throne right on its outskirts.

He required many soldiers to fight off and win against Bhairava, who might have a superior army than his considering the deals with Alfonso. He was definitely wary of Alfonso's deal, so he bolstered his existing numbers of soldiers with additional ones from the Mudialiar household.

"Commander, When will we be reaching?."

The commander was a tall man riding his horse, a lance on his and a sword on his waist.

"We will be reaching soon at this pace. Maybe an hour or two."

The battle in Warangal was already underway.

The army entered the dense forest strip to reach the road. It was a detour to the road, saving time to reach the battlefield.

The army easily navigated through the dense, lush forest with ease, as the commander knew the area well. Despite their small army, the forest made it difficult to stick close as the soldiers formed smaller groups and followed the main group.

*CLANG*

*SWISH*

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Screams of agony cut through the silent forest as everyone turned towards the source of the voice. It was a group that had fallen into a pit.

The commander came close to the trap. It was a spike pit trap with numerous pikes embedded in the pit. Tens of soldiers lay impaled in the pit, and that wasn't just the end of the trap. Many more agonizing screams echoed throughout the forest.

The commander looked around.

"What is happening?" He yelled.

Multiple groups of soldiers had walked into spiked pit traps and lost their lives. The spike pit traps were deliberately placed in the area, knowing that they would pass through the area.

'Who the hell is it?' He thought.

Amidst this chaotic situation, the scouts ahead never returned to relay any information to him. Gears turned in the head of the commander as he realized they had walked right into a trap set up by the enemy.

"TAKE POSITIONS!" He roared.

All the soldiers quickly took up positions, waiting for a potential ambush by the enemy. But nothing came. The commander was still cautious about the situation and instructed the soldiers to remain in their positions.

"Move with the positions intact. Look for threats."

The eldest son looked anxiously; he was having cold feet right now as it was his first ever time seeing a dead person and also the first battle.

The attacks didn't come. The army kept moving, assuming defensive formation. The eerie feeling of being watched by someone was definitely dawning on the commander as they kept walking towards the exit of the forest.

A scream was heard, and some soldiers were again found dead. This time riddled with arrows from afar. The enemy was chipping their numbers off with hit-and-run tactics. Soldiers of different groups fell as the scattered enemy picked off each of them one by one.

The morale was pretty low as their enemies were nowhere to be seen and their comrades fell to the arrows and traps as time passed.

"MOVE FAST. WE NEED TO GET OUT OF THE FOREST."

A shield wall was made to protect the eldest son of the Mudialiar household as they began swiftly moving towards the exit. The enemies were still using hit-and-run tactics, with some of them eventually getting cut down by the Skirmishers.

"Don't worry, Lord. We can make it out. The numbers of enemies are low, or else they would have done a full ambush."

They poured out of the forest after taking a significant loss of morale, deaths, and injured soldiers. The enemies vanished without a trace as soon as they reached the exit.

Meanwhile, Nayakas were camping after the rout of Vijayarama and Ram's army. The huge army was camping in a fairly large open field with heightened security and scouts for lookout.

Bhima and the patriarch were having a discussion.

"Father, any orders from the prince?"

"Well, our orders are to take over the region after the Shekhar family fails and proceed towards Hampi."

"So the Prince will be moving soon?"

The patriarch, Rudra Simha, looked amused.

"He already started to move towards the capital. The fight would be bloody, but I doubt the prince would lose the fight."

"Are you sure, Father? If he loses, we are done for."

"AHAHA, Son, you are always worried. I think he would lose if either Rakthasura decided to intervene or Emperor woke up."

Bhima sighed and drank some water. The battles so far have been a breeze for the Nayakas, as the victory had been easy as his father timed the arrival well so he could easily defeat both armies with minimal casualties. But he was still worried about the main battle that would occur in Hampi.

"But Father, why have you sent special units to Warangal?"

"Reddy would be sent reinforcements that would be pretty bad for shekhars."

"But isn't the goal to destroy shekhars?"

"The goal is not just to destroy Shekhars but to destroy both. I wanted to delay the reinforcements as long as possible so the Reddy army takes a chunk of damage." Rudra Simha declared.

"Hmm.. So it's easier for us to just swoop in while we take over the region?" Bhima pondered aloud.

"Yes, minimal casualties for us." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Rudra Simha leaned back into his chair and sighed deeply.

"I wanted to fight Raghav Reddy for a while now. Alas, he was made into a prey for someone else." He muttered.

'Well, the youngsters under the prince seemed eager to prove themselves' He mused inwardly with a wide grin, sipping his wine.

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