NOVPUBThe smoke and dust filled the air of Qom, radiating a stench of gunpowder and iron. As dense fireworks lit up in the morning sky, burning brighter than the first rays of light falling on land, signifying the arrival of reinforcements and the conclusion of contact. Hundreds of squadrons, including the 6th squadron, made contact with the soldiers of the Special Forces every second.
The Special Forces, no matter how well-trained and experienced they were, were utterly outnumbered, one to several dozen, causing their casualties to mount up every passing second. But fortunately, with the arrival of the reinforcements, the pressure they had been feeling was suddenly lifted, giving them a chance to breathe, pick up their fallen brethren, rebuild their morale, and fight back.
As time passed by, the sounds of gunfire and explosions, which were only a few moments ago completely centralised to the core area of the city, had now begun to spread out like a sunflower that is blossoming for the first time in the warm morning glow.
Near the outskirts of the city, a group of 20 to 25 soldiers were jogging at an erratic pace, dodging all the debris and obstacles in their path. Though despite the uneven road, their movement speed was unobstructed as they ran steadily in disciplined steps.
There were smiles on the faces of the soldiers who were quickly moving towards the wilderness, their exit, their extraction point, where not only another squadron would join them in their escape but also be responsible for eliminating whoever would be following them from behind.
Thankfully, Jvalā's 6th squadron, coupled with Lieutenant Colonel Sri Ram Kakkar's Special Forces, had eliminated all the enemies that were on their tail. The squad at the extraction point did not have to do anything, but no one was complaining, since the fewer enemies they had to face, the more chances they had of getting back to their bases unharmed.
Just then, Jvalā, who was running beside Lieutenant Colonel Kakkar without any expression on his face, suddenly furrowed his eyebrows, wrinkled like a dried-up riverbed. He looked towards the east, the sense of worry slowly seeping into his mind.
His speed decreased, from moving in the middle of the team to the rear, and finally coming to a halt. 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝔠𝔬𝖒
Lieutenant Colonel Kakkar and the soldiers in the 6th squadron immediately noticed the weirdness of Sergeant Jvalā.
Looking back, Kakkar immediately frowned as he looked at Jvalā, who was doing nothing but looking to his left without moving forward.
"Jvalā, what are you doing? This is not the time to play," Kakkar yelled with annoyance. Even though their group had crossed the period of danger and they were only a step away from disappearing into the wilderness, they were still in enemy territory. If they delayed any longer, they would once again plunge into danger, and that was not something Kakkar was willing to see.
Seeing as how he received no response, Kakkar finally got angry. He moved forward in quick steps, wanting to slap Jvalā awake, but the next moment something happened which drained all the colour from his face.
In the east, a line of bright red fireworks appeared in the sky. This was undoubtedly a warning signal alerting them that enemy reinforcements were coming. But that was not what made him worry, since they had already achieved what they set out to. What made him worry was the fact that it was not merely one firework that blasted into the morning sky—it was a whole four of them, set off back to back in different angles of the east.
What does it mean? Maybe among the lieutenant colonels participating in the mission of Qom, a few would not immediately realise it, but being one of the top-performing middle-level military officers, Kakkar exactly knew what it meant. The four fireworks setting off in the east at roughly the same time meant the reinforcements of the enemy were very large, spread across a wide area, large enough to engulf a whole front of the city.
This was not something they could face. "We have to retreat quickly," he said in a hurry, preparing to pull along Jvalā even if he had to. But the next moment, he was stunned further, because to the south, a similar scene occurred, where fireworks were set off one after another, straight in a line. What was fortunate was that these fireworks were blue in colour, meaning they were communication fireworks used to send their distress signal back to the base. But what made him extremely horrified was that, apart from their distress signal, there was another signal identical in setting off at the same time, but it was of a different colour—a colour that was not known to many people. But Kakkar knew what it meant. It was a signal that was shot when the royal family was in danger.
"No! This can't be." The realisation haunted Kakkar, making his whole body shiver uncontrollably. 'The probability of His Majesty covertly participating in this operation was next to none. In that case, is it His Royal Highness Agni?' He took in a big gulp, unable to even imagine what His Majesty the Emperor would do if something happened to his eldest son, the future inheritor of the Great Bharatiya Empire.
Just then, a shadow passed by the group out of nowhere at a speed that was almost equivalent to the speed of top athletes of the empire.
'Oh no!' The soldiers of the 6th squadron immediately realised that the shadowy figure was heading straight to their sergeant. They screamed in their hearts, but what happened next completely stunned them.
The shadowy figure actually knelt down in front of their sergeant on one knee, as if a loyal servant paying respects to his master.
"Your Highness, unexpectedly, an army of an unknown number is approaching the city as we speak. We have to evacuate immediately or it will get dangerous."
Agni, who looked down, was startled because it was Kattappa. 'Why was he here?' The thought momentarily appeared in his mind, but he immediately figured out, 'Father must have sent him to secretly follow my actions.'
He felt a little thankful, but looking towards the east, his expression became more grave than before.
The reason he suddenly stopped was because he felt a sense of danger appearing from the east. At first, the danger was not too high, but as time went by, the intensity of this sense only began to increase. It was as if the temple bells were constantly ringing in his mind.
The soldiers of the 6th squadron, as well as the soldiers of the Special Forces, did not know what was happening. Why did the black-cloaked man suddenly appear next to the young sergeant? Why did he bow down? How did he know the information about the upcoming army? Why did he call him His Highness? Could he be the prince from any of the countries in the alliance? And more importantly, why was the Lieutenant Colonel's expression like he had seen a ghost?
Connecting all the dots, the Lieutenant Colonel was horrified. The kid whom he thought was a junior was actually the Prince of the Bharatiya Empire? Not even in his wildest dreams would he have imagined such a day would come. A sour feeling immediately hit his heart. The meeting, which was supposed to excite the emotions of happiness in his heart, was now exciting the emotions of fear, panic, and despair.
Sadly, he knew that there wasn't any time to lose, he quickly went forward and saluted. "Lieutenant Colonel Sri Ram Kakkar of the 3rd Quadrant of Panther Special Forces, reporting to you, sir—Your Royal Highness."
It was only now that everyone realised what was happening. The looks of shock and disbelief were evident, but given the enormity of the situation, there was no time to think. Everyone quickly gave a salute, waiting for their orders as they directly looked at Jvalā.
Kakkar wasn't annoyed by this action, since he was doing the same—or rather, he was hoping that the black-cloaked man, who was undoubtedly a confidant of the royal family, would come up with a solution.
"Your Highness, if we set off right away, we may be able to retreat back to the base without being noticed," Kattappa suggested, sweat starting to appear on his brow, as he began to get worried since his highness was not moving from the spot.
Hearing the suggestion, Agni shook his head immediately. "No, it will not work. Maybe we can survive utilising the wilderness and your expertise, but the vast majority of the soldiers present in Qom will undoubtedly be slaughtered, since there is no city wall to defend this city in the first place. Not to mention, I can feel that the enemy this time around is in the hundreds to several hundred thousands. Even if the wilderness can provide us some support, when faced with such an overwhelming number, the advantage dwindles and actually becomes a disadvantage. After the 10 to 20 kilometres of wilderness surrounding us, the remaining area is arid and dry land without any vegetation, providing an excellent platform for the enemy to use their cavalry while robbing us of our advantage of utilising the wilderness to survive."
Despite the situation being so dangerous, the reason why he is confident that he can escape unscathed is because of his sense for danger, which would allow him to take detours or hide whenever the Ottoman soldiers appear close to his line of sight. With his ability, he is actually relatively safe, but he could not say the same for the rest of the soldiers in the city.
For the mission of eliminating the top officials of Qom City, a total of 300 Special Forces were dispatched along with 2,500 regular troops to reinforce, assist, and evacuate the Special Forces. If he left now, Agni is 100 percent certain that even if not everyone is killed, at least the vast majority will. This was not something he wanted to see.
Steeling his determination and clenching his fist, he made up his mind. He wants to save as many people as possible. Didnt his father say that in order to deserve the position of the emperor and have the right to sit on the throne and bear the burden of the crown, he had to work for it, make himself eligible for it? Then now that the opportunity had shown itself, how can he hesitate?
Looking at those blazing golden eyes whose brightness can no longer be restrained by the glasses, Kattappa had a very bad feeling.
To Be Continued...
