Rukn is knocked to the ground during the fight. A barbarian starts to swing his mighty hammer down on the prince's head when at the last second Nasir comes to his half-brother's rescue. Rukn now has no choice but to join Nasir's band of gladiators. As the battle continues, I continue to wish this show had better choreographed action sequences. Suddenly Rukn sees his chance to break away from the group and go grab the royal sword.
About two hundred feet away from the stand (seriously, that's how it looks), Rukn makes a bionic slo-mo leap. He grabs the blade of the sword (ow) just as Nasir grabs the weapon from the other side. Since the outcome of the battle is technically a tie, Emperor Iltutmish decides the brothers must now face off one on one, which I thought was the originally plan in the first place.
(I also have to laugh at how one shot will have Rukn with messy, sweaty hair. The next shot he is nicely coiffed. The shot after that he's back to bed head. At least Nasir remains steadfastly sweaty.)
Rukn goes to mount his horse, thinking he'll have the advantage since his mother sabotaged Nasir's saddle. But then Nasir successfully needles his half-brother into fighting on their own feet. Once more a poorly performed sword fight is accentuated with yelling and kicking. Rukn is knocked to the ground. Nasir starts to swing his sword in a killing blow when he suddenly remembers the inscription on the pommel. He checks himself and instead drives the sword into the ground.
Rukn isn't finished yet. Now we get a poorly executed fist fight with odd sound effects. Nasir picks up a discarded shield and bitch slaps his brother around. Rukn runs over and mounts his horse which means of course Nasir must jump on his own steed. The two men race towards each other. Just as Nasir makes a mighty swing, the already cut strap on his saddle breaks and he is thrown to the ground.
Rukn picks up a war hammer and starts pummeling Nasir. Everyone gets a reaction shot. Rukn is about to burst Nasir's head open like a watermelon when Turkan cries out to her son not to do it. It would be bad publicity. Nasir is carried off the field and Rukn awaits the proclamation of his victory - but wait, what's this? A new contender rides onto the scene. It's Razia's perfume stalker from last episode. He introduces himself as the prince of Shahgadh and demands his chance to fight in the arena.
(It's not really a fair fight if you think about it. Rukn for all his smarmy ways has already been in two fights whereas this guy is fresh and rested. I also can't help notice his love handles.)
Anyway, the emperor agrees to one more fight. Rukn thinks to use the same tactic that worked before: throwing sawdust into his opponent's eyes. The perfume stalker easily dodges the projectiles and even has time to be distracted by Razia's beauty. Whoa, the stranger nearly circumcises Rukn with a sword. That was a close one, Prince Smarmy. Rukn faints and frankly I don't blame him. He's been through a lot today.
Back at the palace where Nasir's injuries are being treated, everyone is talking about this mysterious Prince of Shahgadh. Who is he? Where did he come from? Why did he fight today? Emperor Iltutmish is prepared to name the stranger the new governor of Dehli, but the perfume stalker has apparently left the building. Some of the women in the harem suspect foul play was used to help defeat Nasir. The emperor poo-poo's the idea. They're going to throw a party tonight and the emperor hopes the mysterious prince will show up to receive his reward.
He's not, as the so-called prince is in actuality a commoner called Altunia, who must slip back into camp before his creepy looking master notices he's gone.
Meanwhile, Shah Turkan's top notch spies have already discovered Altunia's slave identity. Turkan schemes on how best to use this information.
