Chapter IV
Year 8 of the reign of empress Lim-Kiririsha, 22nd day of the month of Tishritum
As the ECSS agents and some of their mercenaries rushed west to intercept the KIA task force and king Pratipa before they could reach Asandivat, the war continued raging on as brutally as ever. The kings in Pancala knew nothing of the ambush on the supply convoy and Sranjaya’s death and so did not suspect anything when dozens of ships arrived to the port of Kampila, Pancala’s capital. The guards in the city let the convoy into the main harbor, not realizing that the ships were full of explosives and the crews of the ships were composed of men from Kuru, who had agreed to sacrifice themselves for this mission. Before the guards could react, the crews offloaded their explosives and set them off, immediately blowing up the entire harbor and a large part of the city, as well as damaging the palace. This gave an opening to the soldiers of Kuru, who had been waiting nearby, to exploit the chaos and confusion in Kampila and successfully attack the capital. Both sides still had high losses, as the defenders of the city did not surrender immediately and most fought fiercely against the invaders, but ultimately the victory was gained by Kuru, even though its army chief was gravely injured. On Pancala’s side, king Kampila was killed, as he refused to leave the city he had founded until it was too late, and Resheph’s Blades found him trying to escape once the city had fallen, quickly putting him and his entire entourage to death. Many other targets marked important by Kuru were also eliminated by the mercenary company, as the Blades who had been left in Pancala had surrounded Kampila and blocked off most of the paths leading east, making it easy to catch the escapees. However, the war was not yet over, as kings Pratiswan and Mudgala managed to escape with some of the soldiers to eastern Pancala, continuing the fight from there. Still, this was a massive victory for Kuru, as its main opponent now was not a threatening kingdom anymore, but merely a shattered remnant.
To the west, meanwhile, the ECSS agents had placed a couple thousand mercenaries around Asandivat to prevent the KIA from reaching it. This included both naval checkpoints to the north and south of the city and ones on land all around the general area. The ruling council of Kuru was too preoccupied with organizing the taking of Kampila to really notice these developments and was satisfied by the agents’ explanation that this was done as a precaution to a potential retaliatory sneak attack by Pancala. The ECSS also got the western Indian kingdoms of Bahika, Madra, and Trigarta to cooperate, by promising their kings great rewards for any intel about unusual persons and ships passing through their territory. For a couple weeks, the ECSS found nothing and the leads from their informants did not yield much, but on the morning of the 22nd day of Tishritum, they received word from one of their checkpoints on the river, north of the city. Learning that a ship, which could not be a trade vessel, as it had too few goods and a crew which was suspiciously too armed, was heading their way, and that reportedly some on it spoke Egyptian, the ECSS quickly readied for a potential encounter and jumped into their own ship, heading to intercept the suspicious arrival.
“I swear, Uktannu, if this is another false flag, I’m gonna kill somebody,” Nidintu annoyedly remarked. “How many of those supposedly Egyptian vessels have we already visited this week? Five?”
“I believe that would be seven,” Warad-Sin corrected.
“Right. How many more times are we going to do this?”
“As many as we need,” Uktannu replied, looking in the direction of their destination. “Until we find the goddamn KIA cunts and the king they kidnapped.”
“We don’t even know if this theory is correct. We could be chasing ghosts for all we know.”
“What, would you rather just sit in the capital for this entire time doing fuck all?” Murdus asked.
“Yeah, actually,” Nidintu replied. “Though not like a barbarian like you would understand, you fuckers can’t stay in one place for more than five minutes, which goes for both individuals and your whole sorry excuse of a country.”
“Our quick mobility was precisely why we were hired by your emperor in the first place. You lazy Elamites could not do the job alone, always riding in your slow fancy chariots, unable to catch up to the enemy.”
“What the fuck do you know about chariots?”
“Probably more than you, you spoiled city brat.”
“Says the slimy barbarian mongrel. None of your people even knew how to read a few years ago.”
“Here we go again. Nidintu and Murdus arguing about nothing, a daily classic,” Anshar remarked.
“Truly a productive, constructive, and highly informational debate. We can only hope to learn the ancient ways of sophisticated rhetoric from these two marvelous specimens,” Warad-Sin added.
“Quiet, everyone!” Uktannu silenced them. “You see that?”
“What? Oh, you mean the… fire,” Anshar said.
“Yes. A fire. On the water.”
“Water does not tend to catch fire very often, thus I must conclude that it must be something manmade on this river that is burning, most probably some wooden ships,” Warad-Sin said.
“Yes, doctor. Some burning ships. Two? Three? Fuck, this can’t be good. I told the damn mercenaries to wait for us, but they must have begun without us. By the gods, if those hempheads killed everyone before-”
“Commander, it’s not the king we should be worried about, I think,” Anshar pointed to a ship emerging in front of them. “That’s… not one of ours, is it?”
“No, no it isn’t.”
“A trap?”
“I don’t think so. I may have just overestimated our mercenaries who were guarding this post. No matter. We have a ship ourselves. The arrivals seem to have one as well. Or, at least, only one left by now. We will deal with it just by ourselves.”
“What are your orders, commander?” the captain of the ship asked.
“Block that vessel, do not allow it to bypass us. Everyone, get ready to board it, but hide your weapons! We may still have the element of surprise. And don’t speak unless absolutely necessary. Remember, if it turns out to be the KIA ship, everyone is to be eliminated with the exception of the king. But if that cannot be done, then the ship is to be sunk and the survivors are to be hunted down.”
The two ships, of relatively similar size, continued approaching each other, until they were close enough and the ECSS ship turned sideways to block the advance of the other vessel. On its main deck stood a dozen or so distressed looking men and women, with some of them being quite wounded, while others were treating their injuries.
“You know what I smell?” Uktannu asked.
“Blood? Corpses?” Anshar replied.
“No, victory! Get us on board, Anshar.”
“Should be no trouble, commander.”
Anshar stepped forward, next to the bulwark of the ship, and addressed the opposite ship in Sanskrit.
“Greetings! As you probably know, all ships heading through Asandivat are subject to inspection, by orders directly from the ruling council! A necessary precaution due to an increase in Pancala’s attacks in this region.”
“Oh, naturally, we understand,” a crewmember from the other ship replied in Sanskrit. “It’s just that, uh, as you can see, we are quite in a predicament now and need to get to the capital as soon as possible!”
“I see you have wounded on your deck, is that right? What happened? Is this perhaps related to the burning ships behind you?”
“Yes, you see, we encountered some pirates along the way. Possibly ships from Pancala. We dealt with them, but got some bruises ourselves too. We have some seriously injured crewmembers here, it would be really helpful if you let us pass right now so we could receive the necessary medical help in Asandivat. We can deal with the paperwork and cargo inspection in the harbor.”
“I understand your situation, but we must inspect your ship now nonetheless. It will not take long, just a quick look and you can be on your way. Can we board your ship? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we will leave you.”
“Well, of course, officer. Go on, take a look.”
A boarding ramp was extended across the ships, and the ECSS agents, as well as some of their supporting personnel, walked over to the other ship. They could hear Egyptian being spoken among the crewmembers, but it got increasingly quieter as they got closer.
“Nothing here. Probably he’s in the lower deck,” Uktannu said quietly.
“Everything good, officer?” another Egyptian came forward and asked in Sanskrit.
“Are you the captain of this vessel?” Anshar asked.
“The commanding officer of this trading expedition. But I am the highest authority here, yes.”
“Trading expedition? I don’t see many goods here.”
“Well, they are mostly on the lower deck. Don’t want to risk them falling into the river or being easily stolen, you know.”
“What are you transporting?”
“Valuables from Afrika. Golden jewelry, statues, that kind of cargo.”
“May we see it?”
“Yes. But only a couple of you, there isn’t much space left on the lower deck. Shall we go?”
“Wait. Don’t move. They have guns pointed at us,” Uktannu said.
“As do you. Not often you hear Elamite out here,” the Egyptian said in Akkadian.
“Not often you hear Egyptian here either.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“That’s also true. What a coincidence, huh?”
“Not exactly.”
“Maybe not. If you were just regular Indians, we would have paid you to leave, but that won’t work on you, will it?”
“No, no it won’t. We’re here to retrieve something you hold down there. Your special cargo.”
“You know we can’t do that. We already went so far. It will reach its destination.”
“He will. Just a question of what state he will be in by then.”
“Right. So you do know.”
“I do.”
“The ECSS is cleverer than I imagined then. So you intend to kidnap the king?”
“The KIA did that first. We’re just here to retrieve him.”
“Be my guest then. Deliver him to Asandivat yourselves. Though I doubt he will take a liking to you, now that he believes it was the Elamites who had him imprisoned for months.”
“We’ll see about that. We will take him nonetheless.”
“We will accompany you then.”
“No, no you won’t. You Egyptians are not moving any closer to the capital.”
“We’re at an impasse then, commander…”
“Commander Uktannu Kuttimu. Tell that to your gods.”
“And I’m commander Kanebti Enantef. You can tell that to yours. So as I said, we’re at an impasse. You won’t move without having the king, and so won’t we. Only one agency is walking out with him today.”
“That is correct.”
“Then I see only way out of this situation.”
“So do I.”
Suddenly, both sides revealed their guns and began shooting at each other. Once the initial salvo was fired and a few people from both the KIA and the ECSS were killed and injured, a few agents began quickly reloading their guns, while the others dropped them and switched to melee combat. A chaotic battle began on the KIA ship, as some agents were trying to kill each other with swords and daggers, while the others hid behind cover and shot at the enemies. At the same time, the remaining KIA personnel emerged from the lower deck and joined the fight, as did the remaining ECSS people who had stayed behind on their own ship. In total, there were about fifty combatants, with even the translators and medics trying to help in some way, knowing what would happen to them if their side lost. The numbers began thinning quickly though, as agents and soldiers were being killed left and right, by swords, guns, being thrown overboard, or other ways. Uktannu and Anshar hid behind some crates and were shooting at the Egyptians, scoring a few kills each, while Nidintu was moving swiftly through the ship, slicing one Egyptian after another with her daggers. However, Murdus almost matched her kill count, first shooting an Egyptian with his gun, before pulling out two swords and beginning to cut down terrified agents and their supporting personnel with impunity, trampling on their corpses and continuing to fight even after suffering many cuts and even shots to non-vital areas. Warad-Sin was busy as well, shooting enemies with poisonous bullets and other dangerous substances, such as a burning powder which made many jump overboard as the pain was too great and they hoped that water would help. His rather loose robes also helped him, as it stopped a few daggers from touching his skin, since the attackers could not see where to attack the doctor to injure him.
“Nidintu! Get to the king! We can’t afford to let him leave with the Egyptians!” Uktannu shouted in Elamite.
“On it!” Nidintu said as she ran towards the lower deck entrance.
“I cannot let you do that,” Kanebti got in front of her and raised his sickled sword to strike the agent.
“Try me.”
Nidintu got down and slid behind Kanebti, slashing his leg in the process and causing him to fall. Using the opportunity, Uktannu rose and shot Kanebti, killing the commander.
“Your commander is dead, Egyptians, surrender-” Uktannu began, before himself being shot in the shoulder.
“Uk!” Nidintu threw a dagger at the head of the Egyptian who had shot Uktannu and shouted.
“Go! I’ll be fine.”
Nidintu went down to the lower deck, and while she was pursued by another Egyptian, he was knocked overboard by Murdus. Ultimately, the skirmish was won by the ECSS, due to them having higher numbers and the KIA already having some injured members at the start, as they had been fighting two mercenary ships beforehand. Some remaining KIA agents tried to set both ships on fire, but their efforts were thwarted and they were killed as well. The remaining few members on the KIA side surrendered, from the supporting personnel and oarsmen, but, after being questioned and confirming what the ECSS already knew, they were executed under Uktannu’s orders, as he wanted no witnesses left alive.
“That’s right, motherfuckers, I have the king! Now surrender or…” Nidintu got back up to the main deck, holding king Pratipa at knifepoint. “Oh, guess you already took care of that.”
“Yeah, yeah we did,” Uktannu said, as his wounds were being tended to by Warad-Sin and Anshar. “What took you so long?”
“Was hard to find him. He was hiding pretty well.”
“Well, we have him anyways. Anything else interesting down there?”
“Some documents in the captain’s cabin. I took them, if you want a look. Otherwise, not much.”
“Alright, let’s get back to our ship then and burn this one down.”
The ECSS, not without casualties themselves, as they had lost over half of their supporting personnel, while Uktannu and Murdus were seriously injured, went back to their ship, while the KIA ship, after being searched again, was burnt down, with the only person originally from there still alive being king Pratipa, now placed in the brig of the ECSS ship.
“What do we do with him, commander?” Nidintu asked.
“Tell him that it was the Egyptians who had kidnapped him and that we are the ones who saved him,” Uktannu said, as his bullet wound was being treated by medics on the ship. “And captain, get our ship away from the city and this site of battle, get it somewhere quiet so that we would have no more trouble.”
“Right away, commander,” the captain, somewhat injured himself, replied.
“Go with Anshar, the two of you will be enough. I am rather incapacitated at the moment, as is Murdus, and Warad-Sin is busy healing us,” Uktannu turned to see Warad-Sin injecting Murdus with the painkiller known as serketine.
“Got it. Come on, let’s not keep the king waiting,” Nidintu said, as she and Anshar descended to the lower deck.
They approached the brig and unlocked it. Unexpectedly, Pratipa rushed out of there, but was caught by the two agents before he could escape.
“Let me out! Let me out you goddamn Elamites! I will not be captured by you again! I would rather die than be imprisoned again!” Pratipa shouted.
“What’s he saying?” Nidintu asked.
“What do you think?” Anshar replied and switched to Sanskrit. “Your highness, you must be confused. It was not us who captured you, it was the Egyptians. They tricked you into believing that we captured you and they rescued you, but in reality it’s the opposite. The Egyptians captured you and held you as a prisoner for months, and we rescued you now.”
“Nonsense! Why would they capture me if they rescued me from the prison as well? You didn’t rescue me, they did!” Pratipa continued shouting.
“They staged it. The whole thing. They didn’t rescue you – they just retrieved you from their own captivity. We believe they imprisoned you so that they could pit you against us and then stage a supposed rescue so that you would trust the OFK.”
“Well, I trust them. They brought me back here!”
“But they took you from here before that!”
“You don’t have proof of that.”
“Do you have proof that it was us? Did you actually see anything?”
“That’s irrelevant! It was your kind, I know it!”
“No, no it really wasn’t. You have to trust us. You trusted us before, by inviting us here.”
“Yes, and I made a grave mistake. I invited you to my great kingdom, and you repaid by making me your prisoner. Treacherous Elamites! I will never trust you again, and I will inform the entirety of India of your transgressions!”
“Why would we capture and imprison you? We were allies, why would we break this agreement?”
“Clearly you didn’t want an equal ally like me, and so you wanted me removed, so that a puppet would be placed on the throne instead.”
“No, those are Egyptian lies! We wanted an equal ally, and the Egyptians captured you to make you distrust us.”
“I was in an Elamite prison, I know that!”
“How?”
“I just do! The gods told me! I saw it my visions and dreams while I was imprisoned. They told me that the Elamites had captured me, but that I would be rescued and could take revenge on you!”
“How is it going? Any progress?” Nidintu asked.
“No, he is as stubborn as at the start. He doesn’t believe me. He still thinks we kidnapped him!” Anshar replied.
“That’s no good. Maybe I could help change his mind by-”
“No! Your torture techniques would not help today, it would turn him even more against us.”
“What? Are you planning on imprisoning me in Elam again? I know you are!” Pratipa interrupted them.
“No, we intend to return you to Asandivat, so that you could retake your throne. That was always our intention.”
“Lies! I know you are lying. You wouldn’t do that, because immediately upon reaching the capital I would tell everyone of your betrayal! Your adventures in India would come to an end immediately!”
“But we rescued you just now! We are your real allies, not the Egyptians, it was them who got you into all this trouble, you have to believe me!”
“Never! I will never believe an Elamite again! Death to all of you!”
“This isn’t working. We need to get the commander.”
“Good, I was getting tired of this moron’s babbling,” Nidintu pushed the king back into the cell. “I’ll make sure he stays there, you go ask for further commands.”
Anshar quickly got back up and approached Uktannu.
“Anshar, how did it go? Did you explain everything to Pratipa?” Uktannu asked.
“I did. But we have a serious problem…” Anshar replied.
“Say no more. I’m coming down there. Warad, with me. Murdus, can you walk?”
“Walk? I could fight an entire Egyptian squad now!”
“Come with me as well then.”
The four of them went down and met back up with Nidintu.
“So as I was saying, he doesn’t believe me,” Anshar explained. “He truly believes that it was us evil Elamites who kidnapped and imprisoned him and that the Egyptians are these holy saviors of his. Nothing I said could convince him. He really hates all of us and wants nothing to do with Elam or the EC, and threatened to tell the others in Kuru and around about it.”
“That’s bad. I had hoped that we would be able to turn him back to our side, but I suppose months of imprisonment and weeks of Egyptians spreading their propaganda to him will have its toll,” Uktannu said. “For him, there was no difference between the factions, and the only interactions he had, in his mind, was us kidnapping him and the Egyptians saving him. I suppose our words won’t be enough to convince him to change his mind.”
“He believes it too deeply, I don’t think we can get through to him.”
“Yes, and if we released him back in Asandivat, he would probably do as he said and tarnish our reputation greatly. We cannot allow that.”
“Unless we wiped his mind, so that he couldn’t remember these traumatic events. You don’t have anything for that, Warad, do you?”
“Unfortunately, I believe I do not. I have a substance which could make the king lose his memory, but that would mean losing all of his memory. The unfortunate king would not remember anything and would not be able to continue living his life unassisted, to speak nothing of him being able to rule a kingdom. This substance is also potentially lethal.”
“Yeah, so basically at least making him permanently disabled,” Uktannu noted. “That won’t work.”
“What do you intend to do then?” Nidintu asked. “We can’t bring him to Asandivat. Do we bring him to Elam?”
“No. That would take too long. Would also risk Egyptians actually freeing him and bringing him back here again, making things even worse. No, he can’t go to the EC, but he can’t return to his throne either. He can’t help us. He can only help the OFK and hurt our cause. He is a liability.”
“Do you… do you want to kill him?”
“What other options do we have?”
“We can’t do that!” Anshar protested.
“Why not? We already killed one king on this mission.”
“But this one is on our side!”
“Not anymore. He is now a bigger enemy than any king of Pancala.”
“What will the people and leaders of Kuru think then?”
“We will tell them the Egyptians killed him. They will believe us. There are no other witnesses.”
“Just like how Pratipa believes the Egyptian lies…”
“Yes. The OFK made their move, now it is time to make ours. They lied, and if we tell the truth, we lose, big time. We can only avoid the worst – not win, that’s just not possible anymore – if we lie too. This is the only way.”
“Fuck. I suppose it is.”
“Welcome to the ECSS, kid. That’s just how things go sometimes.”
All of them turned to Pratipa, who was fearfully looking at them.
“As the commander of this mission, it falls to me to carry out this unenviable task-” Uktannu began.
“I can easily do it. Would be my pleasure,” Nidintu interrupted.
“Leave it to me boss, I can take care of him,” Murdus said.
“If you would allow me, I would like an opportunity to test one of my poisons on the king, commander,” Warad-Sin said.
“Oh, I didn’t realize there were so many takers for the job of killing the king. Do you want to do it too, Anshar?” Uktannu asked.
“No, I’m good, commander. I will leave it to them,” Anshar replied.
“Right. Well, I think I’ll take Warad’s offer. Poisoning is not nearly as obvious as stabbing or shooting, would make it more likely that the Indians would believe us.”
“I am glad to have been given this opportunity,” Warad-Sin replied. “I have just the substance for the job,” he took out a syringe.
“Good. Nidintu, Murdus – hold the king and shut him up, so that he couldn’t scream or escape.”
The three agents moved into the room, surrounding the king. Before he realized what was happening, Murdus and Nidintu grabbed him and blocked his mouth, and Warad-Sin closed in to deliver the lethal injection.
“I am sorry, your highness,” Uktannu said, and Anshar translated it to Pratipa in Sanskrit. “I really didn’t want it to come to this. We could have been great allies. And you didn’t even do anything wrong, really. You deserved better. I suppose you are just another casualty in this unspoken war between our factions. Farewell, king Pratipa. May your gods provide you with a better existence in the underworld than what you had in this unfair and fucked up life.”
Once Uktannu finished talking and gave the nod, Warad-Sin injected the king with a potent poison. The king tried resisting for a while, but this stopped in a few moments. Murdus and Nidintu let go of his body and laid it down on the floor. Pratipa was dead.