"Ram, eat a bit more now would you?" Kaikeyi asked hopefully, pushing another roti towards him. Ram swallowed, and shook his head frantically, directing her attentions towards Bharat, who collapsed.

"Oh, honestly! None of you eat!" cried Sumitra angrily, as even the twins looked full. "If you are bone-thin and unable to fight then I will be very angry, mark my words." Bharat laughed at this, shaking his head.

"Lakshman is always willing to fight. If he hasn't eaten for thirteen years, he'll still be able to defeat the worst enemies*." he said. The doors flew open with a loud bang, and a man suddenly came rushing into the room, eyes wide in alarm, and gait urgent. All chatter stopped, as they recognized his expression. Battle, war, death, imposter.

"Sir, the Dora Republic is charging on Ayodhya! 15,000 troops, half cavalry, half infantry." Dasharath paused for a second. This meant that half of their men were on horses. That was much, much more than them. Ayodhya, or rather, Kosala, was a peaceful state, and the only reason that the Dora Republic would attempt an attack was gold.

"Can we see them?" asked Bharat, standing up. Shatrughan stood up as well, but Ram just whispered with Lakshman. Dasharath shook his head.

"No, you all keep me informed through signals and messages by Bharat's parakeet. You shouldn't look at the enemy. Hide." Bharat wanted to interrupt, but at that very moment, his father looked more fierce, scarier than ever before. For the first time, the princes understood how Raja Dasharath Raghuvansh had conquered the world, brought people in awe, and made demons fearsome as Ravan run away. But, as their father walked away, Ram decided that just him wasn't enough.

Once out of earshot, Ram began to lead his brothers. "Bharat, Shatru." Ram ordered tersely. "You will be the best at planning. Bharat has a detailed eye and Shatru is good at strategizing." They nodded. Ram turned towards the third prince.

"Lakshman can keep us informed, since you are the best in recognizing battle strategies, and putting two and two together. I'll work on defense." Lakshman stood up, hand on dagger, and Bharat led them through the halls of the palace.

The pure white marble upon which they walked suddenly seemed ice cold, as if hands were about to snatch it away. No longer did the tall palace walls seem like a nuisance, stopping them from exiting, but a protection, stopping bloodthirsty enemies from entering. No longer did those windows appear just to look outside and daydream upon the trees, but to see how far the enemy had reached. However, the princes weren't about to look past simple windows.

Bharat turned left down the narrow hallway, and looking around sneakily, lifted up a hatch, into which they all crawled. The stepped into the secondary viewing area, a large, semi-circular room with spears and arrows and weapons galore, but also a large window which showed the viewer directly where the enemy was. The king did not know about this place, and Bharat had discovered after running after Shatrughan, who had dyed his hair yellow.

A table was positioned right in front of the window, with a viewing scope positioned on it, complex dials and lenses littered beside it. Gulping, and looking around for permission, which Ram gave him, Bharat peered into the scope. Gasping, he pressed his face closer against the lense, not believing his eyes.

"Not 15,000, they have 50,000 men. How, how do they have so many?" Bharat whispered, stepping away, and stumbling back, Ram catching him before he fell. All four brothers crowded around the window as Dasharath marched forward with his army. It was a magnificent sight.

The brave men of Ayodhya, sporting full battle suits, wrenched away from their families in order to defend not only the kingdom, the city, their families, but the honor of the king. Willingly ready to give away their lives upon one person's command. Looking upon their enemy with unflinching faces of resistance, loyalty in their hearts for their ruler, no fear building up in their heart for they put full trust in the abilities of their king, his ability to win, his ability to protect their family in case of their absence.

Ram wanted to deserve their full faith. He would, and one way to do that was win this abrupt battle. Shatrughan swallowed, breathing deeply, Bharat bit his lip uncertainly, and Lakshman squared his shoulders determinedly, looking to him for orders. Now was his time to lead.

Ram gestured for Shatrughan to take the view. Hesitantly, he did, preparing himself or any sight he was about to see.

"Interesting, they are taking a Spearhead formation, I think? I need some more information." He handed the scope to his elder twin, his superior in battle formations and tactics, although where he had exactly learned all of it was a mystery. Exhaling deeply, Lakshman put his eye to the lense.

"Spearhead formation is correct. Good strategy, almost undefeatable. Except, father isn't adopting a Circular command to trap them, he's going straight in a Block form." He stood up sharply, then looked right back into the lense. "No, no, no, Block form is going to completely be counter productive and-" Shatrughan cut in.

"Ahem, human please?" A scowl, and he began to speak again. "If you take Block Form, which is basically rows and rows of soldiers, no strategy, and the enemy is taking a spearhead, the enemy will charge into your formation, kill half of your soldiers, kill the king, who is in the middle, and invade the city." he said bluntly. Shatrughan gaped, and Bharat began to sweat again. "The leader is laughing at us, see, he is charging!"

Ram pushed past, looked through the scope, and snarled. There he was, not the leader, a mercenary, charging into the block of soldiers with a long, sharp dual sided sword. He looked up, grabbed a random bow, and peeked through the window, before letting loose an arrow. It struck the mercenary, and they fell off the horse.

Shatrughan and Bharat were discussing, Lakshman was at the scope and calling out important information in Shatrughan's definition of "human" and Ram was taking out some of the enemy's spearhead formation people.

"We got it!" cried Bharat, and Ram looked up from his arrows, Lakshman stopped speaking, and Shatrughan beamed. "Tell the front line people to pull their spears in a diagonal towards the sky. Tell the next people to stand up taller and put out their spears in a straight form. They'll knock off anyone who tries to enter the block." Ram nodded, and sent three arrows, lined up, a code for spears up and diagonal first row, straight out second row.

And the fateful moment. They noticed it, and followed Ram's orders. The first man to come charging in was run through. That continued until the enemy started doing something different, abandoning Spearhead. Bharat practically pushed elder Soumitra towards the scope.

"They are throwing soldiers over the spears on top of our men." Simple words, and yet they stopped Shatrughan's heart. Bharat's heavy breaths were the only thing that invaded the astonished silence. Shatrughan, for once did not speak, Ram did not lead, Bharat did not comfort.

Conflicting ideas were thrown around in Shatrughan's mind, buzzing chaotically like bumblebees. They would all die...no, they wouldn't, he would come up with something...Father was going to die, they were going to die, and his mothers...someone was going to come up with something, like reliable Bharat...his mothers, what was going to happen to them...or maybe Ram! Ram had to come up with a solution...they would be mutilated, tortured...no, Lakshman bhaiyya was going to say something, he had to! He did.

"Let's hit every single one of the people that get thrown over the spears with an arrow when they are mid-air." That outrageous idea re-amped everyone's minds. "Actually, that might be one of my better plans." he murmured, tossing a bow towards Shatrughan. He caught it, gaping.

"Bharat has the best eyes, so he can tell us when to shoot. I'll take a bow as well." Bharat slowly stepped up to the scope, nodding towards everybody first. Breathing deeply, he began to time them.

"Now!" he cried, and three consecutive arrows flew from the shooting area into the three people who were thrown over. Again, and again this process repeated, until Bharat suddenly stopped cuing.

"They have a cannon launcher." he hissed, and Shatrughan choked. Lakshman took up the viewing again.

"They do, and they are directing it towards us. Someone informed them about this place. We'll all be crushed and dead quick, best case scenario, if that thing hits us." True to his pessimistic nature, something Shatrughan teased him for. A sudden breeze travelled through the battlefield. The flag of the Raghuvanshis was flying, blown to the right by the new wind. Suddenly, Shatrughan had an idea.

"Ram bhaiyya, one more arrow!" Ram followed without asking, trusting that their strategist knew what was happening. True to what Shatrughan thought would happen, the arrow didn't fly straight, but was dragged to the right by the wind, making it seem like it came from a place that wasn't in the palace. The launcher moved away from them, and they all heaved a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Lakshman stood up, pacing out of the room before anyone could catch him.

A few minutes later, the enemy stopped targeting the army in specific formations, just charging. The Raghuvanshi army was well-acquainted with direct charges, overpowering the enemy in a few minutes though much smaller. The three remaining brothers watched as the leader was killed, as their father stood up, clapping, and everybody cheered. Ram stepped back, beaming, about to hug the brother he loved the most, only to notice his absence.

"Where's Lakshman?" Ram asked tersely, looking around for his magnetic companion in fright. "Are not you all worried about him?" Bharat winced. He had forgotten all about him.

"We've lost a brother! God knows where he is, with an enemy spy in the halls, he may be dead! What will father say?" cried Ram frantically.

"I'll do you one better. What do we say to father?" Shatrughan responded.

1 hour later...

"And that's what Shatrughan said before we crawled out of the hatch, and back here." Ram finished telling his father everything, and he gaped at the three brothers. The queens' eyes widened, and Sumant bowed his head in thanks.

"So, where is Lakshman?"asked one government official. Bharat was about to speak, although he wasn't exactly sure what he should say, as he really didn't know, but he was saved from acting like a fool when said prince stormed into the throne room dragging the messenger behind him.

"A spy. He's a spy." he hissed, throwing the man in front of him with immense force. Dasharath stood up angrily.

"This is my messenger, one of my best! Lakshman, I would never have believed-" He was cut off by Lakshman again.

"He said 15,000. There were clearly many, many more people than that assembled. He knew of the viewing room, and he told the enemy. And besides, how did he know it was the Dora Republic? There were no flags flying other than ours. Once I captured him, as he was trying to communicate with the enemy, they were clueless about our side, and therefore engaged in a direct battle not knowing that was our strong point, because there was no spy to inform them." He took a deep breath, and was encountered with disarming silence.

"I don't think I've ever heard you speak that much in one go." Muttered Dasharath, and everyone agreed tersely. "By the way, how did you overpower him? I insist that all of my messengers have a dagger with them in case of attack." Ram clapped a hand in front of his eyes, afraid that Lakshman would suddenly fall dead due to his stupid pain resistance, which also resulted in late treatment of injuries. What if his dear brother was bleeding to death right in front of him?

But Lakshman smiled a small, proud smile, something that Dasharath had rarely seen him do. "Apparently, I'm very good at predicting about when people will stab me!" He held up a gleaming silver dagger, handle carved intricately with wood and lions. "You give your messengers better weapons than me, father."

*Yes, I did just do that.

A/N-Okay guys, I am not quite sure if this is the last chapter in the era or not, because I am sort of in a dilemma. This doesn't sound like the final chapter in the era, but I can't think of another chapter to add after this one, and I don't want to delete this one so that the previous one can be the last chapter, because it's pretty well-written. So, until I decide, please hang on! Posting schedule will go on as normal, but don't expect Tadaka or Vishwamitra in the next chapter as I have not quite decided yet.

However, I can say very happily that in the next few chapters, there will be many giggles, and dare I say...first meetings? No, I dare not say!