Chapter III

Year 8 of the reign of empress Lim-Kiririsha, 7th day of the month of Tishritum

Almost three months had passed, yet there was still no sign of the king of Kuru Pratipa. Despite the ECSS agents’ and Resheph’s Blades’ searches throughout all of Kuru, Pancala, and the surrounding kingdoms, the search for the lost ruler still remained unsuccessful. Many had begun thinking that the king was lost for good and preparing for the possibility that he may never return to the throne. On the war front, however, the situation looked better for the EC and Kuru. They had a numerical superiority over Pancala and were better informed and supplied due to Elamite support. While in the first few weeks the armies had trouble organizing and fighting without their king, they quickly got back into shape and defeated Pancala’s forces in a few decisive battles, including one where Yavinara – one of Pancala’s five ruling brothers – was killed. This gave a huge morale boost to Kuru’s forces and further legitimized its new leaders, while also weakening Pancala’s defenses. Kuru’s army continued advancing east, taking village after village and town after town, while the mercenaries and the EC agents worked deeper in Pancala’s territory, disrupting its supply lines and carrying out stealthy strikes and assassinations to cripple the kingdom. Finding the king was considered important, but as time went on and there was still no sign of him, winning the war without him became a bigger priority and so they started focusing on that matter more.

One day, a supply convoy was travelling from eastern Pancala to the west to reinforce the army fighting there. However, the food and weapons there were not the most important things the convoy was carrying. That was because it was also secretly transporting a person of interest – Sranjaya, another one of Pancala’s rulers, who had been in charge of the kingdom’s eastern fringe and in turn supply routes and trade, but he had been recalled to the capital Kampila for an emergency meeting with his brothers. Or so he thought. The actual message was forged by the ECSS agent Anshar Idadu and sent to Sranjaya to lure him out. The ECSS scouts, meanwhile, followed the young king and quickly informed their superiors of his position and route.

“Why are we stopping?” Sranjaya asked his guards in his boat, which was part of the supply fleet sailing on a river on its way to Kampila.

“There seems to be an obstruction on the river, my lord,” the ship’s captain explained.

“I picked the river route specifically because I was told that it was the safest and quickest way to get to the capital! Now that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, does it?”

“I assure you, my lord, this inconvenience will be removed momentarily and we will be on our way before-”

Before the captain could finish, a volley of arrows and bullets was launched at the supply fleet from both sides. More than a dozen men were shot immediately and screamed in pain in their last moments, some of their bodies dropping into the river below. Some ships also were caught in a flame as they were hit by fire arrows. The remaining ones tried turning back, only to find that the way back was also now blocked by the same bladed nets that had been placed in front of the convoy. The fleet was now trapped and could do little as the countless mercenaries of the Resheph’s Blades company, as well as some accompanying ECSS agents behind them, descended on and continued shooting at it.

“It’s an ambush! My lord, you must hide!” the captain of Sranjaya’s ship said.

“You must get me out of here right now!”

“I will, we just need to-”

The captain was shot in the chest with a bullet and fell overboard. The guards on the ship picked up their bows and began shooting back at the attackers, but had little success, most of them being shot and killed almost immediately, before landing a single arrow on any of the mercenaries. Sranjaya, seeing how desperate the situation was and that the ship was not going to move anywhere, jumped out into the river and started swimming east, hoping to evade the ambushers. He did not manage to get far, however, as he was soon spotted and identified by the ECSS scouts. A large metal hook was thrown at him and attached to his flesh, pulling him upwards. Despite desperately trying to get it off, Sranjaya could not detach it and remained hooked, before he was pulled to shore and picked up by a few mercenaries, who dragged him away from the river.

“I am a king! You have no right to treat me this way! You will pay for this! You will all pay for this! My brothers will destroy you!” Sranjaya screamed as he was being dragged further inland.

Soon, once he had been transported further away from the site of the battle, he was dropped, and the mercenaries returned back to the fight. Sranjaya, meanwhile, was now surrounded by the ECSS agents.

“Quite a good catch, wouldn’t you say? Didn’t know they had fish this large out here,” Uktannu chuckled.

“Yes, indeed. However, this “fish” appears to be bleeding quite profusely right now. Should I attempt to save his measly mortal coil?” Warad-Sin asked.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. It’s an assassination mission, after all. But maybe we can get something useful out of this one before he drops dead.”

“What? What are you saying? Someone, translate what these vermin are saying right now!” Sranjaya shouted.

“Your life might be spared if you talk,” Anshar said to him in Sanskrit.

“Talk? You must release me immediately! I won’t say anything, I will not betray my brothers! You best free me before they hear of this, or you will suffer their greatest wrath!”

“What’s that?” Uktannu asked.

“Usual threats, nothing special,” Anshar replied. “He doesn’t want to talk.”

“Alright,” Uktannu motioned, and Nidintu drew out her dagger and placed it near Sranjaya’s throat.

“Ah! Okay, okay, I’ll talk! I’ll tell you anything you want to know! Just don’t kill me, please!” Sranjaya begged.

“There is only one thing we really care about here – what happened to Pratipa, Kuru’s king?” Uktannu’s question was translated by Anshar.

“I… I don’t know. I don’t know anything about Pratipa,” Nidintu’s dagger pushed closer and started cutting Sranjaya’s skin. “Okay, alright, please stop! I know just one thing!”

“And what’s that? Don’t waste my time, or you will regret it.”

“I- I didn’t see it myself, but I was told about it by my brother Pratiswan, who was present during the battle where Pratipa disappeared. He told me that in the heat of the battle, when Pratipa detached from the main force and attempted to flank us with some of his soldiers, the king was kidnapped!”

“Kidnapped? By who?”

“I don’t know! My brother didn’t either! Pratiswan first thought it was his soldiers, but when the battle ended and there was still no sight of Pratipa, he realized it was some third party which snatched him. A heavily armed one and well trained. But he doesn’t know who that was, he was too far away, as were all his soldiers!”

“Hm. Is your brother a reliable source?”

“Yes, very much! We share all our discoveries among each other, since we are all equal kings! He wouldn’t lie to me! Especially not concerning a matter like this!”

“Kidnapped huh? I suppose that could be true. Where was he taken?”

“I don’t know, but my brother said his captors headed west before disappearing out of sight.”

“Is that everything?”

“Yes! I don’t know anything else.”

“Think very carefully about this. Is there really nothing more you know about this?”

“I swear, there is nothing more! Please, will you let me go now? You promised you would let me go if I cooperated!”

“Did we now?”

“Oh, uh, sorry. Must have mistranslated,” Anshar shrugged and smirked.

“What? No, wait, wait, wait, this was not supposed to-” Sranjaya screamed and tried to get out, though that was fruitless as he was being held in place by Murdus.

“You may finish, Nidintu,” Uktannu said.

“You don’t want to kill a king yourself?” Nidintu replied.

“King? My village elder is more of a king than this backwater whelp.”

“Suit yourself.”

Nidintu slashed the king’s throat and, once Murdus released him, his body hit the ground.

“A royal specimen. May I take it with me?” Warad-Sin asked. “I wish to conduct some experiments, see if royal blood differs much from the blood of the commoners.”

“Uh, maybe not. Do your experiments here, Warad. The corpse will decay soon in this heat anyways, and we will still have to stick around here to oversee the cleanup,” Uktannu said, overseeing the scene on the river, filled with ship wreckage, sunken supplies, blood, and dead bodies, as well as an occasional survivor emerging, before being shot down by the mercenaries.

“Understood. I can examine him here just as well.”

“So, kidnapping, huh? You believe that tale?” Nidintu asked.

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“Maybe. I suspected it myself for a long time,” Uktannu replied. “We knew Pratipa was not killed, he wasn’t taken by Pancala, and he wasn’t captured by any of the surrounding kingdoms either, as they would have used him as a bargaining chip as well. And I don’t think he’s lost, he would have found his way back by now. So kidnapping makes the most sense.”

“Do you have any ideas on who could have kidnapped him?”

“Someone going west. But who exactly? Well, that’s a good question.”

“Doesn’t really make sense to go in that direction. Who would care about some nobody Indian king there?”

“That is true. But maybe they care about something else other than the king.”

“Destabilizing and crippling Kuru?”

“Maybe. But killing the king would be enough for that. If they kidnapped the king, that means they need him alive. They need him to return back to the throne. Just… as a changed man…”

“You mean… A man with different allegiances.”

“Precisely. And what is the only organization with enough personnel and resources to learn of the king’s location, kidnap him, transport him somewhere, most likely overseas, keep him there for months, and make him change his mind about whether he wants his realm to join the Eastern Coalition? More importantly, what organization would believe this to be a worthwhile cause, doing all this only to damage the EC by depriving us of potential allies?”

A week earlier…

King Pratipa was sleeping in a small rundown prison cell. It was completely dark, as there were no windows and so the light from the outside could not reach the cell. Suddenly, the door opened and a couple armed men rushed into the cell

“What? What’s happening? Is it morning already? I just fell asleep!” Pratipa was woken up by the sound and got up from his bed.

“Your highness, we are here to rescue you,” the third shadowy man, standing outside the cell and holding a small lantern, answered in Sanskrit.

“Huh? What do you mean? Who are you?”

“No time for questions now. We need to go before the Elamite guards find us!”

The two men inside the cell picked up Pratipa and helped him outside the cell.

“Alright, alright, I can walk myself,” Pratipa said. “Where are we going?”

“Firstly, out of this prison,” the third man – the leader of this group – answered. “Then we will sneak into the harbor, we have a ship there waiting for us. And then we will bring you back home to Kuru.”

“That sounds good to me.”

“We need to move quickly. Follow me!”

The door of the cell was closed and the four of them began sneaking out of the prison, moving through one hallway after another while trying to make as little noise as possible. They passed through some bodies lying on the ground along their way.

“Whoa, are these…” Pratipa began.

“The Elamite guards, yes,” the rescue leader confirmed. “We took some out on our way to you, but many are still alive, so we have to be careful.”

The group continued through the prison, eventually reaching one of the exits, with more bodies next to it.

“This is the side entrance, used only by the personnel of the prison,” the leader explained. “The guards don’t expect inmates to escape through here, so it’s not so observed from above as the main front entrance. There is more guard traffic here, but, luckily for you, we already took care of it. Let’s leave this place!”

One of the men opened the door and the group left the prison. They were now in a small sandy port town, with the harbor being in sight.

“Where are we? What is this place?” Pratipa asked as they were moving through the town.

“A small port in Elam. We won’t stay here for long though,” the leader said.

“Why wouldn’t they hold me in the capital?”

“Too obvious. Too many interested parties would have had access to you. This port, meanwhile, is known to few, and so you remained well hidden here. Of course, that wasn’t enough to stop us, our intelligence is better than the Elamites think.”

“Huh, I suppose that makes sense. Is our ship far?”

“Not at all. Just a few more minutes. It will take hours until the guards notice what had happened in the prison, and more hours until the relevant authorities are informed of it, and by then we will already be far away from this wretched place.”

The group soon reached the harbor and the ship which was waiting for them there. The crew onboard quickly extended the ramp, boarded the four men, and untied the ship from the dock.

“So that’s it? I’m free now? I can’t believe it… The nightmare is finally over,” Pratipa said as the ship began sailing away.

“Well, your highness, it’s still a three-week journey to your capital, but the most difficult part is done, yes,” the leader replied.

“Three weeks? I thought it was two weeks from Elam to Asandivat.”

“That’s from the eastern edge of Elam. We are deep in the west, will have to traverse the entire Elamite Gulf. That adds another week to the journey.”

“Won’t we get caught?”

“There are many patrols in the gulf, yes, but we will avoid them. We planned this rescue quite meticulously, so you don’t need to worry. Still, I would suggest going to the lower deck right now, just in case, so that nobody could recognize you.”

“Oh, yes, of course.”

The two of them went down to the lower deck and entered the captain’s cabin.

“I never caught your name. Who are you, and who do you work for?” Pratipa asked.

“Commander Kanebti Enantef, Kemet Intelligence Agency,” the leader replied. “Please, sit. Do you want a drink?” Kanebti poured a couple glasses of rum and offered one to the king.

“I’ll take it, yes. Haven’t drank anything good in months. Same for eating.”

“Our chef will prepare something for you. Something actually edible, not those prison leftovers.”

“I appreciate it. Thank you very much, commander Kanebti, you cannot imagine how grateful I am for this rescue.”

“No need to thank me. I was just doing my duty to the pharaoh. And he is doing what is right.”

“Relay my gratitude to the pharaoh then. But why would he order such an operation? Why would he go to such lengths to rescue me, even though I am not allied with him?”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And since Elam, with its Eastern Coalition, is the Commonwealth’s and OFK’s greatest enemy right now, we seek to weaken them as much as possible. We’re not fully sure why they kidnapped you, but we figured we would rescue you to foil their plans, whatever they were. And don’t worry, you are not in debt to us. We don’t require that you repay us for this, we don’t require that you ask to join the OFK immediately upon returning home. We are just doing what is right. Though you should probably reconsider your allegiance to the Eastern Coalition, considering how you had been treated these past months.”

“Oh, I absolutely will. I thought it would be good for our kingdom to ally with Elam and the other surrounding states, but now that doesn’t seem to have been the brightest idea. I thought we could be equal partners, and look how betrayed I was!”

“Many fall for this deception by the Elamites. They promise freedom and equality to everyone, even though in the end all their allies become puppets. Make no mistake – the Eastern Coalition is nothing more than a tool for Elam to legitimize its imperial ambitions and trick other states into being exploited by them.”

“So I had feared. Still, I didn’t expect to be betrayed in such a dishonorable way and treated like a common criminal for months! Why would they do this?”

“Like I said, they need puppets, they don’t need capable rulers. You certainly look like a strong and independent ruler, and so by removing you they would have been able to control your kingdom more easily.”

“By placing one of my young and inexperienced sons on the throne, who couldn’t resist the Elamite encroachments. Curse these damn Elamites!”

“Indeed. But do not worry. We will make this right.”

“I hope so. I still do not understand why I was not killed immediately though.”

“Who knows. Maybe they wanted to use you as a bargaining chip before killing you anyways. But luckily we got here in time before that could happen.”

“Yes, I was fortunate enough for that. Indra truly has blessed me.”

“The gods have blessed us all today, and hopefully this will continue for the entire journey.”

“I cannot wait to get back to my land, I have been away for a long time. Tell me, do you know what has happened in Kuru in my absence?”

“We don’t know much, it is all quite cloudy. But some EC operatives have apparently remained in Kuru, as your family and officials have no idea that the same EC was responsible for kidnapping you. They have their own intelligence agency, and I imagine Elamite spies are now poisoning the minds of your people so that they would become willing puppets for the empress in Susa.”

“Why didn’t you inform my family of what has happened?”

“We couldn’t have risked it. The EC agents surely would have caught wind of it and informed their superiors at home, which would have led to your relocation or death. We chose to keep quiet so that we would have a chance of rescuing you.”

“I understand that. And what of the war? How is that going?”

“Well, apparently Kuru is winning against Pancala, with EC’s help. It’s logical, Elam wants a large puppet, encompassing most of northern India, since it is easier to control a single kingdom than a dozen or so of them. The EC thought it had eliminated you, and now it is probably eliminating the kings in Pancala, which, according to their plan, would leave no viable opposition to their rule in the region.”

“This damn war with Pancala dragged me into this mess in the first place. At least these traitors are now getting their comeuppance for attacking my realm. But now I have a much bigger enemy, and I don’t know if I will be able to deal with it.”

“You will. You will restore order to your realm and kick out those EC invaders. And, of course, we would be ready to help, if you wished us to.”

“Like you said – the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And this pharaoh of yours might not be such a bad friend, now that I think about it.”

“I’m glad you think so, your highness. To the destruction of Elam!” Kanebti toasted.

“To the destruction of Elam!”

“It is still the middle of the night, and I imagine you didn’t get much sleep before our rescue. You should rest, gather strength before we reach our destination.”

“That’s true. Some more sleep would be nice.”

“Let me show you to your room. We prepared it specifically for you, your highness.”

As king Pratipa went to sleep in his cabin, the ship left the Puntite port of Wadwer and began sailing east on the Arabian Sea.

Present…

“The motherfucking Kemet Intelligence Agency!” Murdus exclaimed.

“Yeah, genius, glad that even you could figure it out at this point,” Nidintu replied. “So the KIA kidnapped the king? Not usually their style, but entirely possible.”

“So the KIA gets here before us, snatches the king, keeps him a hostage for some months, and then brings him back? Is that the idea?” Anshar asked.

“More or less,” Uktannu confirmed. “It’s a convoluted plan, but the KIA is known for their convoluted plans.”

“That’s bad news for us then,” Nidintu said. “If they are planning on bringing the king back, he will be an OFK man now. And he will want our heads. Will make the mission much more complicated. Not that I would mind shedding a little blood here and there, slitting the throat of another king and what not, but that would sabotage our efforts to bring Kuru fully into the EC.”

“How would he be an OFK man now? Wouldn’t he hate the OFK even more now that they kidnapped him?” Anshar asked.

“And how would he be able to differentiate between the two factions?” Uktannu asked. “He doesn’t know any of our languages, cultures, doesn’t really know how the people look. Egyptians, Phoenicians, Mesopotamians, Elamites – all would be the same to him. The KIA would only have to tell him that it was us who kidnapped him and then stage a rescue, so that the OFK would look like the good guys.”

“What about the location?”

“Would you be able to differentiate between an Egyptian and an Elamite prison? Especially if you were blindfolded the whole way in and isolated from all the other inmates, which is what I imagine the Egyptians did to him.”

“Fair enough.”

“It appears that the situation has developed not to our advantage,” Warad-Sin said. “Either the king is dead, which would already be unfavorable for us, or he is now partnering with the enemy, which is arguably even worse. And the second possibility may be more likely.”

“Yeah, basically, we’re fucked either way,” Uktannu pondered. “These clever bastards. They don’t care much for India, it’s too far away from them to be a useful ally, but they care about depriving us of an ally, and they seem to have thought that through pretty well. Either the king believes their lies and now opposes the EC completely, maybe even partners with the OFK more, or, if something goes wrong at any stage in their plan, they can always just kill him, thus leaving Kuru leaderless and in turn susceptible to Pancala’s conquest and a succession crisis, rendering it useless to us.”

“So what do we do then, commander?” Murdus asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll write to the court and await further instructions. But we cannot stay still. The KIA and the king may be on route back to Kuru already, and we need to stop them. We can’t let the king return to Asandivat, not before confirming what he believes. We have to go west, set up checkpoints along the Indus river, search the ships for the king and extract him from the KIA’s hold.”

“That would take a lot of resources,” Anshar noted. “And the Indians can’t be involved.”

“We have hundreds of ECSS personnel and thousands of Resheph’s Blades at our disposal. We will manage. I will inform our mercenary friends of the change in plans. But not before I get them to send a fleet of ships full of explosives, disguised as supplies, to Kampila.”