A Slave Who Became Emperor 26 Covert Operation

Pinaka was worried about the safety of his mother, the threat to her life did not let him relax. He did not know how his mother was, now he felt scared if he would lose her even before seeing her.. Samyukta understood his pain, she called s.h.i.+va. She said, "s.h.i.+va, in Indraprastha do you know of any place where the empress could be held captive other than the palace?"he thought for a moment and said, "Princess, there is one small palace in the outskirts of the city, it was built for army generals, Devadatta often goes there..but I am not sure..the empress could be held at a house of one of his loyal court officials.."

Samyukta said, "it can not be, how can Devadatta put the empress in someone's house, someone would have noticed..the palace for army generals..where is it exactly..can you send few spies to check that place?" s.h.i.+va nodded and went. The spies went and observed for two hours, they came back and reported to s.h.i.+va.

s.h.i.+va met Samyukta, he said, "my men noticed that the army palace was abandoned, there was no one positioned outside,but they saw one man entering it carrying a tray of food.." Samyukta nodded, she asked, "is there a dungeon or a prison in that palace?" s.h.i.+va said, "yes there is a prison ...but..." his eyes lost focus as a thought struck him, then he smacked his forehead hard, "why did not I think of it

before, Oh Princess..there is a tunnel connecting the royal palace and the army general's palace, it was built to help the royal family escape in case of emergency.." Samyukta said, "quick, let us speak to Pinaka.."

Both went and said about the tunnel..this route was only known to the loyals of the emperor ..this was precisely the route taken by the emperor while he escaped with Pinaka..during that time Devadatta did not think of it..but now he used it to get the empress out of the royal palace..they made the army palace look abandoned on the outside..everything was clear now..

Pinaka, Samyukta and s.h.i.+va headed towards the general's palace.. the old emperor Kailash Nanda sent a dozen of his best men to accompany his grandson. They reached near that palace, it was built of stone , there were no guards stationed at the gate, it looked abandoned, Pinaka said, "Samyukta, wait here with ten men, I will go with s.h.i.+va and two others, in case I need help , we will send out a signal.." she nodded, this needs to be a covert operation, if everyone barged in together, Devadatta might even kill the empress.

There was no one around, Pinaka stealthily went in, he was followed by s.h.i.+va and two other men, as they entered inside, there was a huge hall with a stage , the walls were made of stone, the ceiling was high, it was a palace for army general, there was no luxury..it looked like a fort, there were no one in the hall, as they walked further, they saw a stair case..s.h.i.+va visited this palace earlier, he knew that the prison was located downstairs..he tilted his head and pointed towards the stairs..they drew their weapons out and walked further towards the stairs..

They were walking on their toes, without making any noise, as they reached the bottom of the stairs, Pinaka heard a noise..he put his finger to his lips and asked his men to be quiet, he drew his sword out and quietly inched forward...the men were holding their breath..

Suddenly something jumped and landed on s.h.i.+va's shoulder, it was a cat..they let out a sigh of relief and inched forward..there was faint light at the end of the corridor,..they moved towards the light, the entire corridor was pitch black, there was no source of light coming in.. as they were walking, they saw two guards , they were carrying swords and running towards them, Pinaka striked with his sword , he slashed a deep wound on the chest of both the guards with a single strike..they fell..Pinaka moved forward, s.h.i.+va heard some noise behind him, he too turned and saw that one guard was approaching them from behind, he fought with the guard and beheaded him..there was a fire torch in the hands of the guard, s.h.i.+va took it and examined the corridor, there were guards coming towards them from every side..

They were surrounded completely, Pinaka took out a bra.s.s plate from his clothing and banged it precisely three times against the wall of the corridor.. It was the signal they agreed upon, but they were not sure if it would reach Samyukta..s.h.i.+va then headed in opposite direction, guards were surrounding them, he saw a war drum, he hit it hard three times with a rod and boom boom boom ..the drum beat was so loud it could have shattered their ear drums..he waited, he repeated the same signal,..he prayed to heavens that Samyukta and team should hear it, then Pinaka, s.h.i.+va and the two men took their positions and got ready for combat..