The royal court was noisy. The ministers were talking to each other, anxiety all over their faces. The four Peshwas* sat silently in their seats looking at each other and occasionally towards the throne at the end of the court, where sat a man in his forties. The king’s eyes were only focused on the entrance of the court. Besides him sat the queen, a beautiful woman with an elegant aura, she was talking with some of the ministers as the king had refused to.

[*equivalent to Duke] 

One of the Peshwas stood up his place, fed up with the current situation.

“Your Highness! Will you sit silently while the court has fallen into chaos?” He said in a dissatisfied voice. He was a middle-aged man with a huge scar across his face and a massive build.

“Your Grace, the messenger should be arriving any minute now so please have patience.” The chief of the ministers, sitting the closest to the king got up to calm down the irritated man.

“He is right Sarthak. Just sit down and wait.” Another Peshwa said. He was rather slim compared to Sarthak, yet his eyes were such that they seemed like a predator staring at you.

Sarthak sat down furiously. After this, the court went silent. 

There were no further voices, no talking, only the sound of the wind gust from outside. Suddenly they heard footsteps, not just normal but of someone running. The doors opened and a man came running in, panting, sweat all over his face.

“What is the news?” Asked the king finally breaking the silence.

“Your Majesty, the… Raghu Peshwai** …has officially… become part of the Uttara Kingdom!” he said barely managing to breathe.

[**- Dukedom]

After this, the entire court became noisy again. The king finally stood up. “So they have decided to betray us.” He slowly walked down the stairs on the red carpet that went from the door to the throne. All people stood up with him.

“Minister other than direct war do we have a solution for this?”

The Chief Minister came to the king and whispered something in his ear.

“That is something real?” the king asked in astonishment.

“Yes my lord, the people of Tamas also indulge themselves in studies like this. If they are successful, it will be the best solution. But for this, we have to give the village a huge pay or even something that they wish for.” The minister said bowing down.

The king laughed and slowly continued to walk towards the door. “Well, if this world is not helping us it’s not that bad to take help from another.” He said in a low voice and turned to the minister. “I give you permission to initiate the plan you told me.”

“As you order your highness.” The minister said bowing down to accept the order.

The king turned to the Peshwas. “Increase the forces at our border. When I say border, I mean the new border and hunt down any person related to the Raghu Peshwai. Alert the commander at Madhya Kila, increase the troops there by thrice.”

The four of them bow down. The king then finally turns towards the door.

“All our hope now lies in the hand of eight people h? This is the most bullshit thing that has ever happened to me in my life.”