Dharanesh spat a mouthful of blood while coughing as he tore apart his broken chest plate and threw it away. Here looking at Dharanesh, Rana suddenly got goosebumps, making him look to his right out of his instincts, only to see a massive stone coming at him from the air. Without delaying any further, Rana spun his spear which was enveloped by a shiny hue, as again a purple energy swirled around its patterns and consolidated together at its tip, radiating a powerful purple light.
Rana with a single swing, hit that stone with the tip of spear, as soon as the stone and the spear came into contact, the energy filled within the spear was completely inflicted on the stone. The powerful force applied from both the sides caused the stone to break into pieces upon the collision and spray like stone rain into the surroundings.
The entire range near Rana was covered with dust, as he stood in there wondering who threw such a massive stone at him, only to spot another tall and manly figure, long hairs, arms packed with tensed muscles. Aagam too looked towards that direction only to notice that it was Sharun.
Sharun ran towards Dharanesh, "Hey brother! Are you alright?", Dharanesh wiped the blood stains from his mouth as he said, "Where were you till now?"
"Well as soon as I came out of the carriage after the accident, someone threw a huge piece of stone at me nowhere, fortunately I didn't get much injuries, as soon as I lifted that stone, I saw you guys fighting and without any delay I threw it towards him.", Sharun said pointing towards Rana.
"Seem like another player has joined the game!", Rana said as he looked at Sharun.
"So, you are the infamous Rana, the deadly bandit leader of this region.", Said Sharun.
"Seems like you know quite well about me! Sharun!", Rana said as dashed towards Sharun.
Sharun too dashed towards, Rana, both of them darted towards each other, and instantly begin throwing powerful attacks on their opponent. Finding an opening, Sharun delivered a deadly punch to Rana, causing Rana, to be thrown a few meters away, however, he plunged his spear into the ground dragging himself to hault his momentum and regain his posture.
Rana raises his head only to see that now he was surrounded by Aagam, Sharun and Dharanesh. "Nice, very nice, I didn't realise that you have come up with more powerful warriors in a few decades while I was locked away!"
"How could I underestimate you! After all you were the famous prodigy of this region back then!", Aagam said.
"If you believe so, then come at me! All three of you", as soon as Rana said this, Aagam, Sharun and Dharanesh prepared themselves and lunged at Rana at once altogether. All of them threw their attacks at Rana, where as Rana just spun his spear, causing more purple energy to spiral around it and swril through its intricate patterns.
BOOM*
As all of their attacks collided together, the force released by that collision caused the ground within a particular radius to shaken completely, the center spot where most of the force was inflicted, huge cracks had opened up from the ground, as lot of huge pieces of rock blew out and were sprayed around, a lot of dust particles had created a dense, huge cloud around that spot, reducing the visibility.
Here, lost in the dense clouds of dust all Rudra could hear were the sounds of dust particles hitting the ground, later on several tapping sounds chimed in, as though multiple horses were sprinting towards them at the same time.
As soon as the dust settled down, making everything visible clearly, the only man left there was Rana on his knees and had stumped his spear into the ground for support to balance his body. Rising back to his feet, he surveyed the surrounding with his predatory gaze only to find that everyone was gone . The only things left around were the ruins of the broken travel cart, huge stone fragments, and another group of bandits riding their horses right towards his direction.
The group of bandits came at halt once neared Rana, the bandit who led the group dismounted his horse, "Master, the reinforcements you asked for have arrived," the bandit said.
"There is no use, you are late, they already fled."
"Damn it old man! I didn't expect you to act so cowardly," Rana gritted his teeth.
***
All four of them huddled beneath the looming shadows of the distant boulders, far from the menace they hastily evaded. Dharanesh tore off his battered shoulder and arm plates, bent and broken from the clash. Gritting his teeth, Aagam had clutched the wound carved in his waist by Rana's spear, as he loosened the grip, the thick blood gushed forth in torrents, staying the ground beneath him.
"You said earlier that Rana was imprisoned and wouldn't be coming out anytime soon!" Sharun inquired.
"Yeah, he was locked up in the state capital. How is he roaming free?" Dharanesh asked.
"There is definitely something suspicious here," Aagam murmured, his brows furrowed, "I think I'll have to delay my arrival at your clan. I need to visit the capital; this requires investigation!"
"What if he was intentionally set free because his prison term was over?", said Rudra.
"No, according to the recent reports, his prison term was extended for a few more years," said Aagam.
"But why did we have to run away in the first place? You three were attacking him together—you could have subdued Rana," asked Rudra.
"Rana is the only warrior in the entire state who has reached the pinnacle of the ninth rank Practitioner state."
Shock washed over everyone else's faces as they heard Aagam's words. Aagam stood up and said," Rudra, let's go for a walk. We need to find some medicinal herbs to treat our wounds. These two will look for a ride to Kashvyagiri in the meantime."
Aagam staggered towards a nearby cluster of trees, but his legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees. Rudra rushed to his side, only to find blood pouring out from the wound at his waist, flowing unchecked like a crimson stream,
"The wound is too deep…. And I have already lost too much blood in just a few moments. It needs to be treated immediately."
Rudra sprinted towards the nearby trees, his eyes caught the glint of a thick resin seeping from the bark of an ancient tree. Without wasting a breath, Rudra picked up a flat stone shard and carefully scraped the thick resin from the bark. His eyes then fell on a cluster of broad, veined leaves growing near the roots of the ancient tree—he plucked a select few knowing that their properties could help in cleansing and sealing the wound.
Rudra rushed back to Aagam and carefully smeared the thick, warm resin over his gaped wound, spreading it gently to seal the torn flesh and encourage recovery. Aagam gritted his teeth, a low groan escaping his lips as the resin stung upon contact. Then, taking the broad leaves, Rudra tightly wrapped them around the wound to keep the resin clean and protected from impurities–allowing it to bind properly and begin the healing process.
"You used Vanshul and vaidrika?", asked Aagam.
"Yes, Vanshul is a medicinal resin released by ancient trees to cover and treat their injuries, it helps to seal deep wounds and allows faster recovery.
Vaidrika is a special broad-veined leaf that is used to wrap around treated wounds to protect them from exposure to impurities in the surrounding and keep them clean," said Rudra as he scraped a little more Vanshul from the nearby trees and plucked a few more vaidrikas.
"Rudra, if you are thinking that I am leaving Vihaan's clan at such a time! Remember that this investigation is needed for the good of all of us," Aagam said as he slowly stood up, while clenching his wrapped wound.
"You don't have to worry, I am certain that if you wary this matter so much, then there must be some reason behind it!"
Aagam let out a chuckle as he heard Rudra Rudra's words, "You are just like Vihaan."
"By the way, when you were confronting Rana… it felt like you two knew each other," said Rudra, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Aagam was silent for a few moments before taking a deep breathe, "Its a long story…. One that began decades ago"
"What exactly happened back then?" Asked Rudra, his voice laced with curiosity.
"If I were to give you a gist—it was a war. You can hear the full story from Sharun," Aagam said, his tone heavy. "For now, we need to move… we don't have much time."
With that, he turned and began slowly walking in the direction they had come from. Rudra followed behind closely, silent but thoughtful.
Here, Sharun and Dharanesh were able to find a group of traders passing through and convinced them for a ride to Kashvyagiri and the capital. Dharanesh saw both of them arriving, and asked the cart drivers to get prepared.
Everyone resumed their journey–but this time, one of them was headed towards a different destination.