Wiro Sableng - Volume 2 - Chapter 7

Wiro Sableng Book 2 Chapter 7

The Kingdom of Pajajaran… At that time the Pajajaran Kingdom’s influence was not as far reaching in West Java. They even still had a fairly good relation with the Banten Sultanate, and the conflicts had not brewed yet (a glimpse of history on http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/indonesia/history-sunda.htm). Under the governance of Prabu Kamandaka, the Kingdom of Pajajaran was peaceful and prosperous. The people were living in good condition. But in this world, there would always be people with a rotten heart, those that were envious, and spiteful, people that were unhappy with others’ happiness, unhappy with others’ fortune, power and wished take down the power and usurp the throne for themselves!

(TL Note: Prabu is a nobility honorific, used to address the king, so Prabu Kamandaka means King Kamandaka)

At that moment in time, the only man in the whole Pajajaran Kingdom that hated Prabu Kamandaka the most would be Werku Alit. In the dynasty tree of the Kings of Pajajaran, Prabu Purnawijaya was the only King of Pajajaran that was not blessed with any offspring from his queen. This might have been fated by the Gods in Heaven, and this was also the root of the problem that brought the blood bath in Pajajaran Kingdom.

When Prabu Purnawijaya passed away, the high level figures in the palace, the religious leaders and the kingdom elders all agreed to crown Kamandaka, the blood brother of Prabu Purnawijaya, to be the King of Pajajaran. Kamandaka was indeed a wise ruler, smart and blessed with high talent of martial arts, respected and honored. He indeed had shown his talent to be a great leader. Furthermore, at that time there was no one else in Pajajaran that had the right and was appropriate to be crowned to replace the late Prabu Purnawijaya. From one of his concubines, Prabu Purnawijaya had a son named Werku Alit. Werku Alit was a few months old difference from Kamandaka. When they were still baby, both of them were even nursed and fed by the same wet nurse, thus it could be said that between Werku Alit and Kamandaka there had already been a brother-like relationship!

But when Kamandaka was crowned as the Lord of Pajajaran, envy grew in Werku Alit’s heart. Wasn’t Kamandaka only a brother of Prabu Purnawijaya, not his official blood child? And wasn’t he, as the son of Prabu Purnawijaya, was more rightful to hold the crown of the kingdom? Werku Alit in his envy, especially after being fanned by people from certain cliques that dislike Kamandaka, forgot that he himself was only a child born from Prabu Purnawijaya’s concubine, one that has no right whatsoever to be the King of Pajajaran. Thus, Werku Alit silently left the Palace, roaming the martial arts world in search of might and reaching out to some people. He decided that when he returned to the palace, then at that time he would already have a solid, big plan, taking over the throne of the Kingdom with violence, with battle! With war! In his adventure, Werku Alit encountered Suranyali, or otherwise known as Mahesa Birawa, an incredibly high-skilled formidable person, thus Werku Alit took him as his right hand-man, with the deal that if his plan succeeded and the kingdom was overturned, then Mahesa Birawa will be the Prime Minister! By becoming the right hand-man in assisting Werku Alit’s evil plan, Mahesa Birawa had his own ulterior plan, a covered plan! If the kingdom fell and Werku Alit triumphed, then Mahesa and his lackeys will overturn Werku Alit and usurp the throne of Pajajaran as its king himself!

* * *

In the jungle around the foot of Halimun Mountain, hundreds of camps scattered in the area. This is the main camp of the rebel army that planned to coup and snatched the throne of Pajajaran Kingdom under the leadership of Werku Alit. While Werku Alit was returning to Pajajaran, the leadership of the army was held directly under his right-hand man, Mahesa Birawa. Around a thousand soldiers were gathered here, mostly from the troops gained by Werku Alit and Mahesa Birawa from the small Duchies under Pajajaran Kingdom that were influenced and instigated by those two ringleaders. At that moment, Mahesa Birawa was even still waiting for a few more dukes that he had contacted prior to this. When these Dukes arrived and handed over a few hundred more troops, then they could start arranging the time when the assault against Pajajaran will be launched

While waiting, all of these troops were undergoing combat training. The company leaders were trained with some formidable martial arts and martial skills by Mahesa Birawa, while the Dukes that had thrown their lots with Mahesa Birawa also passed down their own skills as well. Mahesa felt immense regret when he heard that his three subordinates that dwelled in Jatiwalu had met their death due to the clash with the disciples of the Sanggreng Cave School, while Kalingundil was vanished like a ghost. If only those four men were here, he surely wouldn’t bother to train these company leaders and Dukes himself! But it couldn’t be helped… he felt that he would reap the fruits later on anyway!

In the big main tent, located in the middle of the encampment on the foot of the Halimun Mountain, four men sat, circling an oval table. The first one was of course Mahesa Birawa, with his mustache and a rather round body. The second one was the Duke of Karangtretes, Jakaluwing with his long, thick sideburns. The third person, sitting on the left of Mahesa Birawa was a tall, lean man with a smooth face named Surablabak. He was the Duke of Manganreja. The last man was a short, fat man with a balding head. The oil lamp in the tent made his head looked flashing. This man was named Lanabelong, the Duke of Kendil. On the table in front of the quartet a pure and fragrant wine was served. These three Dukes had been instigated by Mahesa Birawa and Werku Alit to rebel against the Pajajaran and they had been promised the ministerial position when the rebellion achieved success later on

“Please enjoy the wine, my Duke brothers” said Mahesa Birawa after a brief silence in the tent. They each then drank the delicious wine. In that cold of a night, drinking wine would be an excellent way to warm one’s body indeed.

Jakaluwing rubbed his sideburns and asked, “When is it that we will be assaulting Pajajaran, honored brother Mahesa Birawa?”

“About the attack, brother Jakaluwing… actually even now we already have enough manpower to do it. We have enough soldiers, the leaders are also fairly experienced and reliable. It’s just that it doesn’t feel right if we leave behind Brother Warok Gluduk and Brother Tapak Ireng. Those two dukes had promised to join us with several hundreds of their soldiers. It will be better if we wait for their arrival, afterwards we can contact Raden Werku Alit to set the best time for the attack…” Duke Jakaluwing nodded when he heard this.

“That is good indeed…” said Lanabelong, the balding Duke while drinking his wine.

“Furthermore, considering that Pajajaran surely has several protectors with formidable martial arts. We shouldn’t waste the aid promised by the Sage Sitaraga dwelling on top of this Halimun Mountain!”

“Ah… it will be great if the famous Sage could join our sid!” said Surablabak while banging the table.

“Actually,” added Mahesa Birawa, “Sage Sitaraga has a mortal vengeance that hasn’t been settled yet against one of Pajajaran’s elder figure, Kamandaka’s grandfather…”

“If this Sage is in the same generation as Kamandaka’s grandfather, he would surely be around a hundred years old by now then…” exclaimed Lanabelong

“It is like that indeed,” said Mahesa Birawa. Afterwards the man shouted to call for the attendant to add for more wine in the glasses of the four. After the attendant left, Mahesa Birawa continued, “Tomorrow I will send two messengers to meet Raden Werku Alit. I will ask them to spread more spies, especially in the inner palace to find out for the latest developments, specifically regarding rumors whether our movements had been found out or not…”

“And don’t forget to also scout on Pajajaran’s defense to find some weak points,” replied Lanabelong.

Mahesa Birawa nodded, “Duke Brothers, it’s good to end here tonight. I’ll see you in the morning.” The four men bowed and one by one left the main tent designated for meetings, heading to their own tents.