A SHORT FOREST STORY

Enchanting Forest in Chitrakoot

So Many Lives and Loves

In the days of Emperors and Kings it was imperative for the King to have many sons. He therefor had many wives. The first son of his legal wife, the Empress, was usually the most favored and most likely to be named Crown Prince. It was always the King who decided who would succeed him.... and there began the intrigues. The various sons and their mothers were prone to plotting, always trying to make the favored son look bad, in the eyes of the king, to enable their own son to look better.

The Royal Family was always a pretense of everyone being fond of each other. But, there were those sons and daughters who were truly kind and loved each other dearly. The favorite daughter of the King and Queen was the Princess Lila. She would be forced to marry whichever suiter most benefitted the Kingdom. An alliance between a strong and prosperous country and the King was arranged. The princess would marry a young handsome prince, the Crown Prince of the near country, whose King was thought to be fair and kind to his people.

 

Mystical Path in Chitrakoot Forest

Princess' lazy summer

The summer palace was in the mountains, cooler than the city, surrounded by forest. The Royal family would spend summers in the forest palace, while one of the Kings' brothers stayed back in the palace, in charge of all but the most important things. Princess Lila was capricious and loved to feed the Koi in the pond. Her summers were lazy, though interrupted with wedding plans. She had met the prince, she was bethrothed to, only once. She imagined what life will be like soon, in her new home and kingdom. The prince seemed handsome and noble and had the self confidence of a warrior.

 

Enchanting Forest in ChitrakootWedding plans

The King and Queen came out to greet the princess. They talked to her about the wedding plans and how different her life will become. The King was well acquanted with the King of the Kindom she will marry into, when they both were crown princes they were friends and knew each other well. It was a marriage that would forge better bonds between both countries and benefit them both.

The King and Queen reassured their daughter she will always be welcome home and should visit every year. Her former palace would always have its' gates open to her.

 

Alarming News An unexpected visit from the Prince interrupted the peaceful afternoon. The bethrowed prince came rushing in looking panicked and his news struck the Royal Family like thunderbolts! The Kings' treacherous brother had developed his own secret army and invaded the palace and slaughtered all of the Kings supporters and friends and family. All was lost! Everyone killed! The Prince had raced here before the Traitor could send his army up to the summer palace to capture the Royal Family.

The reality of their peril was clear with the looming danger that his army would soon be sent to kill them. They were left with no choice but to flee. Quickly.

With haste, the prince led them to the stables. He had already warned the stable men to prepare the horses for the Royal family, when he had arrived.

Escaping Kings' Traitor Brother

The King and Queen and their respective bodyguards, The Princess and Prince and their bodyguards. The rest of the royals were left behind, in the hopes they might be spared. The Queen was Buddhist, as were they all. She had often spent time at a nearby Buddhist Monastery so they thought they should go there first, for counsel about where to go to survive the enemy army of the brother traitor.

The bodyguard of the prince was actually his older brother, but his mother was a lesser concubine so he had little chance of becoming Crown Prince . They were truly close friends. He had expert martial arts skills so he often traveled as his brothers bodyguard.

 

Ride to the Monastery

Off they raced to the Monastery in the forest, which, unfortunately, was well known in the area. They realized it could not be even a temporary destination to hide at, but they would get help and counsel there about where they could safely escape to and spend some time.

The Near Monastery

They safely reached the Buddhist Monastery and were given food and supplies and counsel. In the morning the monks agreed there were two places that could be reached that were far from the Kings kingdom and not generally known of.

Where to go

It was decided that the King and Queen should go to a different Kingdom that would not be threatened by the traitor brothers army. It was a strong kingdom that would give them refuge in safety. They also decided to send the princess first, to another, very hidden and unknown monastery higher up the mountain. She would not be found there and would be safe until the King could retrieve his kingdom again. The prince and bodyguard and her body guard were to leave first thing, the the King and Queen would depart a few hours later.

 

Princess and Prince set off.

The princess and prince and their bodyguards set off into the forest, not realizing how close the traitors army was behind them.

Chased by traitors army. In a few hours the evil army found markings of their route and started to catch up to them. The prince made the princess hide in the forest so she would not be involved in the battle to come. There was a viciious fight and all were killed and killed each other, exept for the bodyguard (the brother of the prince). The princess caught up to them after the battle. She grieved for the fallen prince. The dying wish of the prince was that his brother look after the princess and take her to safety

Prince died in battle.

The Princess and Princes brother/bodyguard stood vigil over the prince. He buried the prince and hid all the traitors army dead bodies so they would not easily be found, should they be searched for. They hid traces of the battle and the aftermath.

Bodyguard takes her to safety

With heavy hearts the princess and prince's bodyguard/brother continue along the mountain forest trail towards the one hidden monastery some distance away where she would be safe. It was a two day journey and he took good care of her.

Reaching the remote monastery.

They were to spend many days together on the trail towards the secret and hidden monastery, which they reached at last. The head monk greated them and welcomed them and assured them refuge and safety.

Refuge with the monks

The princess related to the monk all that had happened and he assured them she/ they were welcome for as long as they wished to stay. It could be their refuge for many years should they need to stay.

Leaves her at the monastery

The princes' brother said he needed to go find the King and Queen and be sure they had made it safely to the other kingdom. He left the princess, which he now was quite fond of, and set off to find answers. He was sad to say goodbye but knew she was in safe hands and would be well taken care of at the monastery, until someone came to get her, whenever that might be.

Sets off to find King and Queen

The Prince now sets off to find the King and Queen and find out all that has happened

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story continues...

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This story is one I wrote many years ago and with the use of chatgpt AI I can illustrate it! .. elenagh@live.com thank you for reading.

 AVATAR IN INDIA