Zara smiled grimly at this evening of the odds and Daruka’s look of surprise might have been comical had it not been for the
group of his men who suddenly had them surrounded. With a growl, he took a step toward the captain, but froze when the
clank and clatter of many armed men approached the group. At the sight of Arjun’s armed guards, the Indian captain took a
few steps away and stared across the barrier of Prince Asoka’s trained warriors.
“I demand justice!” Daruka shouted as he turned to the spectators who were standing on the sidelines. “You see how they
cheat! How they deprive me of my justice!” His voice rose loud as he turned his attention to the crowd.
Prince Arjun always enjoyed this part of the competition. To see so many contestants, mostly men, all muscular, virile, young
combatants, parading or fighting in the middle of the arena. The sight of their muscles bulging from exertion as a sheen of
sweat covered their rippling skin was enough to make even Arjun hot. On the few occasions that he happened to glance at
the few women participants, he had to give a satisfied nod that his dear friends could hold their own against such manly men.
All through the day, the contest had progressed without a problem, but in the afternoon, he noticed a shifting change in the
way that the fighters were situated. As he continued to entertain the Sultan who sat by his side, the young prince kept a close
eye on the game. When he glanced up at Hiresh, he noted the captain’s unspoken concerns and then returned his full
attention to the competition.
Too slowly for most to notice, Captain Daruka and his men moved toward a single target. One by one, a few contestants
were forced to drop out of the contest, leaving a gap large enough for the captain to enter. As Arjun absently listened to the
Sultan’s comments, he noted that Daruka hardly used his sword. It was not until the man was upon Zara that Arjun
understood why he had avoided using his weapon.
The moment he saw his best friend’s shirt torn, her blood drawn, Prince Arjun was on his feet. With a clenched jaw, he
stared down as his eyes narrowed in anger. “How dare he usurp my games for his petty vengeance!” The prince angrily
thought.
Before Zara’s group could come to her aid, Prince Arjun gave a silent nod to his captain of the guard. In only a matter of
seconds, the guards had moved in, stopping the entire contest. Inwardly cursing, the prince left his place on the dais and
moved swiftly toward the center of the two groups.
“I demand justice!” He heard Daruka shout as he walked through the opening that the guards provided. “You see how they
cheat! How they deprive me of my justice!” The Indian captain’s voice grated on Arjun’s nerves and he felt his temper rising.
Only when he stood directly in front of the captain did the man stop his posturing and grow silent. Arjun maintain his silence
as he stared coldly up at the bigger man. At the continual silence, the captain seemed bolstered and began to move near, but
was instantly stopped when Hiresh blocked his path.
Daruka swallowed, then his face grew dark. “My Prince Arjun, I beg of you, I seek justice from this… this… person!” the
captain spat at Zara, then turned back to face the prince. “See how she and her cohorts cheat! They close ranks in order to
deny me a fair battle.”
Arjun kept his gaze on the man. When he glanced down at the sword in the burly man’s hands, Hiresh stepped forward and
grabbed the captain’s hand. Without a smile, Arjun’s personal guard clamped onto the Indian man’s wrist and lifted the
sword for the prince’s inspection.
The moment the sword was held up, Arjun saw the clever replacement of the edged blade for the blunted one. In silence, he
reached out and ran the tip of his finger over the metal. As he pulled his finger away, he glanced momentarily at the droplet of
blood that formed on his fingertip, then looked directly at Daruka. With a nervous gulp, the captain stepped back, but before
Arjun could say anything, the man grew defiant as he stared down at the prince. “I am a noble of the Kshatriya caste,” he
grated. “She is nothing, only a Malecha, a foreign trading captain! She is not even a commoner in our land.”
Arjun wanted this nonsense finished once and for all. Since the entire mess with Shikha, the captain had been a constant
thorn in his side. With a wave of his hand, the guards stepped away, pulling everyone except Zara, Daruka and Hiresh aside.
“Zara, I have had enough of this, but as the transgression is against you, what is your wish?” Arjun’s voice was low and
controlled as he kept his eyes on Captain Daruka.
Zara heard her friend’s question and stared at the captain. A part of her wanted to beat the man within an inch of his life. Yet
another part did not want to even deal with him. Sensing her ambivalence, the prince turned his gaze to her.
“I can have him and his wife evicted and take out future discipline later, but I have a feeling it will not end there,” Arjun calmly
stated, then added in a softer tone, “Of course, I could simply execute him for disobeying my orders.” He was gratified to
hear a gulp from Daruka, but did not spare him a glance.
As she thought over her options, the Moroccan stared at the red-faced army captain. She could feel his sheer hatred toward
her. Even though she knew that Daruka could be evicted, even banished from this place, that would only harden the man’s
resolve to seek revenge for an imaginary offense. Yet if she allowed Arjun to execute the man, his relatives could cause
trouble for Arjun and his family. With few options available and because, like Arjun, she too was growing tired of Daruka,
Zara nodded acceptance.
“I too am weary of this. Let it be done with here and now,” she stated.
Before she had time to contemplate further, Captain Hiresh handed Zara his sword. In length, weight and size, it was similar
to the competition swords. The only difference was that like Daruka’s sword, the new one she held had also been sharpened
until it had a razor edge.
Without preamble, the Moroccan stood with sword tip down. Her body was relaxed as she stared at the man who hated
her. In the silence of her concentration, she began to gauge his strengths and weaknesses and knew the moment he moved
that her assessment of him had not changed.
Since the first time that Shikha left her for Daruka, she knew that the captain was not the strongest military man in the Asoka
ranks. He was a bureaucrat, a scroll pusher who was more adept at deciphering through the government scrolls rather than
leading an army into battle. When it came to swordsmanship, the man was barely capable of picking out a suitable weapon,
let alone handling it. With this in mind, Zara stood still, her head tilted to the side as she waited for his next move.
The Indian captain seemed confused by her relaxed manner. He visibly gulped as he licked his dry lips. When his gaze
moved from her features, to the blood soaked sleeve of her shirt, a new confidence seemed to fill him. With a growl, the man
stepped toward her with raised sword.
Zara felt herself moving instinctively. She heard the sounds of their swords clashing against each other as the metal
reverberated through her arm. In less time than she would have expected, she had disarmed the captain. With an expression
of stone, she held the tip of her sword against the Indian man’s throat.
“It is over,” she hissed as she maintained eye contact.
He stood frozen in place, his arms held out to his sides as he kept his chin high enough that her blade could not touch him.
His eyes shifted from her, to his sword that lay on the grass. When it seemed that he would not fight further, she slowly
withdrew the tip, then stepped away from the man.
With a shake of her head, she backed away from him and turned to leave. Before she could take a few steps, Gabrielle’s
voice screamed at her. “Zara!” Startled, she spun in time to see the captain advancing on her, his sword raised and ready to
hack her from behind.
“I’ve had enough!” she screamed as she parried the blow. She swung a savage series of strokes which he barely parried and
then her blade flickered in and plucked the sword from his nerveless grasp. Once she had him disarmed, she dropped her
own weapon and began to pummel him with her fists. At his surprised expression, she put her foot behind his and struck until
he tripped and fell backward. Zara took advantage of this to leap on him like a tiger, all the while slamming her fists into his
body, chest and face. For what felt like a single second in time, she continued to beat the man until she felt someone behind
her, the two arms were pulling her from his torso as she kicked and tried to slam her fists into him.
Gabrielle knew the moment that she saw Daruka darting for his sword that this would not be over. When the seafarer had
him disarmed again, she watched in horror as the tall Moroccan attacked him with her bare hands. Although the Indian man
managed to get in a few blows, the dark haired woman’s were filled with greater force to the point where the Indian man was
down on the ground. It was not until the captain was straddled over the man and pummeling him, that Arjun’s guards let the
Amazon pass their ranks.
