Prince Without Crown
Pratisara Betrayal

About half a full moon ago.

A group of soldiers from the kingdom of Galuh about two thousand and five hundred people led by a commander seemed to walk slowly leaving the teak valley area to immediately return to the city of the king of the kingdom of Galuh.

Arriving in the outer meadow, the troops paused for a moment to rest.

When some tents have been set up and when they are busy releasing tired, tired, from a distance, a group of horsemen dressed in warrior uniforms from the Duchy of Gedangan approached in the camp of these Galuh soldiers.

One of the horsemen seemed to ask about the commander-in-chief of the army which was directly indicated by the soldier who seemed to have a high position.

When the soldier from the Duchy of Gedangan entered the tent, now the look of the face of the commander changed.

"Somewhat Ireng. Are you that?" Ask the commander in chief with a stifled voice.

"Haha. We haven't seen each other in a long time, my friend Pratisara!"

"Yes. It's been a long time. Is there any wind coming at me? And also, how do you know I'm here?" Ask Panglima Pratisara while allowing his guest to sit down.

"It's not that hard. You know that Earth Nail warriors are everywhere."

"Look, Pratisara. Our teacher, the current Black Grandfather has merged into the Earth Nail kingdom. Teacher told me to meet you to deliver this?!" Said Crow Ireng while handing the folds of palm leaves to Panglima Pratisara.

"Hm. What does this Master want?" Pratisara asked as she unfolded the leaf lontar then found the writing there.

"Towards Pratisara. My most devoted student.

I have heard that you have become a high-ranking warrior in the kingdom of Galuh. I'm so happy with the news.

Pratisara.., know that I once told you that I had a mortal enemy who had withdrawn from the martial world. However, I wanted to force him to come back out of hiding and face me to settle an old grudge.

Right now, there was only one way to lure him out of his lair. That is, by making a mess.

Know, Pratisara! That at this time, I have joined myself in the kingdom of Sri Kemuning. Jaya Pradana, my maize student, can make my old enemy out of his lair. I will use this Jaya Pradana to attack all the kingdoms around it.

When the white pretenders learned of this, they would surely have flocked to leave their lair to defend the occupied kingdom on the grounds of upholding truth and justice.

Pratisara, I order you to defect. Help Jaya Pradana from the inside. The first thing you have to do is burn all these soldiers you lead. Then, go back to the side of Prabu Rakai Galuh. Wait for the Jaya Pradana troops to arrive to attack the Galuh kingdom. I suspect, the martial jungle who claim the white people will soon leave their nest.

So many of your teachers, Datuk Hitam!"

*********

There was a heavy breathing from Pratisara who finished reading the contents of the letter from his teacher.

"This teacher. What more destruction does he want?" Murmured Pratisara while folding sheet by sheet lontar leaves.

"Teacher and I actually don't think much about the wars involving Jaya Pradana and Rakai Galuh. For him, he wanted to attract the attention of the white pejilatan. Today, more than a thousand black warriors have formed a party to assist the forces of Jaya Pradana. They have now succeeded in destroying the kingdom of Setra Kencana which managed to attract the attention of the jungle. Actually, this is what our teacher wants," said Crow Ireng.

"Somewhat Ireng. As far as I know, our teacher has many enemies. Which enemy is the target this time?" Ask Pratisara.

"I'm also less sure about it. However, I strongly suspect that the target this time may be the God of swords, the Angel Finger or even Santalaya," said Crow Ireng.

"Hmmm. Alright. I will immediately make excuses so that I can deflect these soldiers from returning to the king's city. Except to the Duchy of Gedangan. Let's get out!" Bring Pratisara.

Before Pratisara came out, a body that languished eavesdropping on their conversation seemed to convolve and soon disappeared from sight.

"Bad if this is so. I can't possibly expose the treachery perpetrated by Commander Pratisara. No one will believe me. How'this?" The man who slipped thought hard.

He knew that the soldiers of Galuh kingdom, numbering about two thousand and five hundred, were in danger. However, if he were to tell the soldiers the truth, who would believe him? He was just an ordinary warrior who had a slightly higher rank. While Pratisara, he was a soldier with the rank of Commander.

"I can't stay here for long. I must escape immediately. I must watch the course of this betrayal committed by Pratisara," the man said as he walked towards his horse and pretended to lead it towards the river and slipped behind the bush to get rid of it.

Meanwhile, Panglima Pratisara seemed to be in a daze looking for the existence of a soldier named Larkin. This he did after telling the soldiers that currently the Duchy of Gedangan is being attacked and they desperately need help.

Without waiting for the lost Larkin as in the swallow of the earth, Pratisara immediately led the troops to the duchy of Gedangan. However, before they actually arrived at the Duchy of Gedangan, they had been first attacked on a forest road that resulted in all the soldiers being killed by arrows and attacks from the enemy.

Only about a hundred survivors including Pratisara who deliberately surrendered himself had to be injured in the internal power clash with the Crow Ireng without retaliating.

Finally, the charade of Pratisara was able to trick the prince of Indra and many more of the courtiers of the kingdom of Galuh.

After Larkin appeared, he then bestowed all the mistakes he had made on Larkin so that everyone suspected Larkin of making this honest soldier not have the slightest chance to dismantle Pratisara's guise.

Seriate...