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  “It’s good you have answered us. You will live. Keep him alive,” ordered Agastya as he walked out of the tent along with Nismibh. Once out of the yurt, he turned his head towards the strongman and assured him his revenge, “Don’t worry you can crush him once he is of no use to us.”

  The ‘Manuastra’ were again called inside Agastya’s tent to discuss the next course of action.

  Tung had a plan and started the dialogue, “I would like Agastya to give me the honour of setting and laying out the battle plan, I have studied battles and I am aware of two thousand different battle arrangements. I have a plan; I have seen lot of rocky ridges and narrow passes near the southern gate of the fort. I can set up a battle ground there and lure the hostile army towards this area, once there; we can squeeze their army and create chaos, hammer them with hoplites, arrows and ballista.”

  “Shresthaha did mention your acumen in battle strategies, we would love to have you lead and prepare the battle formation, provided we think of going for the offensive,” assured Agastya.

  “But what do you think? Should we go on the offensive? Do you think we would be able to subdue the flying beasts?” Nismibh raised his concerns but before anyone could reply, he answered himself, “Or maybe we should wait for Jairudh to regain consciousness as he is the only one among us to possess divinely powered arrows. He was sensational in dealing with the birdmen.”

  “I understand your point, but what if he remains unconscious for several days? What if he dies? Will we stop? No! Now since we are here we will take the armour back to Mahaverna with him or without him,” declared Agastya.

  “He will be fine, the physician said that he should be regaining consciousness any time now,” replied Nismibh.

  “We cannot wait for an indefinite period of time, I agree with Agastya. We must attack. My sword and Agastya’s axes are no less than any divinely powered weapons,” supported Oniata.

  “Even I can thrash the beasts with a single blow of my ‘Gada’ (Mace), but we need to reach to them so as to cause a significant damage, they will be flying and therefore Jairudh will be our safest bet,” Nismibh argued.

  Agastya listened to the concerns of Nismibh but was not willing to wait. He desired to go to battle, “I think the best option will be to assemble the army like Tung suggested. We should then send the envoy back to the Prahast with a message to submit the armour. If he agrees, it will be an easy way out, else the war is imminent. Moreover, we don’t even know whether the beasts actually exist or not, it might be an exaggeration and even if they do exist we will figure out a way. We are not safe in these tents also with flying beasts around. We must attack and face the consequences.”

  “That’s fine, but the plan suggested by Tung is based on a scenario which is possible only if the hostile army comes out of their fortification and attacks. What if they don’t open their gates, their walls look tough and seem difficult to breach,” questioned Vinashki.

  “They will come out. I have a plan,” replied Tung, “There is a fresh water river which goes inside the fort. It has a low current and is quite shallow, we will block the river using rock boulders; Nismibh can easily lift and push boulders. Once the river, the source of water is blocked, the city will panic. Now remember, their army is huge, they have the beasts and this is their turf. They will think of coming out and crushing down the threat once and for all but in the narrow passes of the blocked river, we will squeeze them, trap them and slaughter them,” replied Tung.

  “The plan appears workable; Tung and Oniata will lead and manage the battle placements,” confirmed Agastya. He then keenly scanned the chosen warriors present inside and asked them to take rest for few hours, post which they would march for the fort.

  As the chosen warriors went to their yurts, Agastya walked inside the pavilion of Jairudh. He met Aason and instructed him to do something remarkable and bring back him back to his senses before the battle. Agastya wanted to win and acquire the armour and he well understood the importance of the young archer’s presence in the mission.

  Chapter VI

  Battle of Rabocin

  It was 1:00 at night and under the silver light of the moon, the ‘Manuastra’ and their army started with their preparation for the Epic battle. The first task was to block the river and Nismibh was making it very easy for the army. He was lifting big boulders and placing it on to the river as if they were tiny pebbles. Nismibh was indeed very strong. Though, he was assisted by others, it was he who did the major work and slowly, after two hours of hard work, the river was blocked. Nismibh’s strength was specifically shown to the messenger, so that he could feel and convey that the alien army was no ordinary army, and he was surprised and awed indeed. Once the river was blocked, the army hurried on with the placements.

  Tung chose the narrow river passage for the battle placements, the site contained leftover shallow waters. The area was chosen for a purpose; the river passage was extremely narrow and was surrounded by hilly rocks. Secondly the river defended their back as well, in case the enemy thought of coming all the way from behind. It was to be a fight till the last breath. Tung placed around two thousand soldiers near the exit point of the blocked river passage in a 20*100 formation, twenty men deep and hundred men wide. They stood with just shields and small swords on display while long pikes were kept on the ground in shallow waters, concealing them from the view of the enemy. This front unit was commanded by Oniata. Tung then placed around two thousand soldiers with pikes, hundred meters inside the passage at a turn, surrounded by mountains, thus keeping the unit hidden from the frontal view; they again stood on shallow waters. He hid another five hundred on the mountains surrounding the river; the soldiers climbed up through ropes and positioned themselves with rocks, spears, arrows and ballista at strategic places. The ‘Manuastra’, leaving Agastya also hid themselves behind rocks. It was Nismibh who carried an enormous responsibility as he could throw huge boulders thus killing many. The last four hundred were the cavaliers, who stood at a distance, commanded by Agastya to hammer the enemy from behind once blocked by Oniata’s troops.

  Next day, as the sun rose, there was panic inside the city. The blocked passage was quite far from the palace but could be viewed from the city wall. The scouts started moving in and out, reporting the blockage of the river by a handful of two thousand soldiers. Soon, the news engulfed the city. Though there were just two thousand men, they looked dangerous and powerful with their brass shields and brass swords shining in the morning light.

  After a few hours, a messenger came inside the fort with the news that Nector had returned and that he carried an important message along with him. Nector was escorted to the council; he could barely walk and was helped by a few guards. He was given a place to sit and was offered water. Once in his senses, he was asked by the King to speak. Nector finally replied, “My King, I will first like to apologize that I failed to poison the alien army, but these men are clever and somehow they got to know that the food and wine was contaminated with poison. They tortured me but I did not reveal a thing,” fabricated Nector, “Though, I did tell them about the might of our kingdom and forewarned them to leave else face consequences but they insisted on attacking us as they wish to possess the ‘Armour of Surya’.

  These people are no ordinary men and are extremely strong; they come from a distant land. They have tamed beasts and ride upon them. Their armour and swords are tougher than ours.

  They have sent me back to negotiate a peaceful resolution. They will not fight; provided we hand over the sacred armour to them. They require it for their King whose army is hundred times bigger than the one they have brought to this island. Their King’s name is Taraksh, and he is a son of a god, the most powerful one, the mighty Indra, the God of Thunder.”

  The council consisted of King Prahast, his General ‘Samveer’, his Chief Counsellor ‘Samundram’, and his two sons ‘Suryajeet’ and ‘Akashjeet’. The king was furious with the message, “They wish to possess the Armour of Surya! We will ne
ver give the sacred armour to these filthy aliens. They may be strong and mythical but they haven’t seen the might of my sons and the strength of my army. What do you recommend Samveer?”

  “Your army is ready my lord, they are just a handful of men, we may not even require ‘Suryajeet’ and ‘Akashjeet’ for this tiny task, let me go and finish them. I will put their heads on stakes all the way from our gates to the blocked passage, in your honour.”

  The King listened to the general and then looked at his chief council and asked for his suggestions.

  “Samveer’s enthusiasm is appreciable, but why waste men when we have Suryaejeet and Akashjeet, though they are handful in number, they seem to be well trained and dangerous, why waste our men. The two princes can crush them in minutes, lets finish the threat once and for all,” suggested Samundram.

  “I guess you are right. What do you say sons?” asked the King.

  “It will be a matter of minutes,” replied the sons.

  After four hours, the gates opened and an army of thirty thousand marched outside and took their positions. The army was divided into four clusters, the first line and the central unit consisted of ten thousand men, the left and right contained seven thousand men each. Samveer stood behind with a reserve of six thousand men. The centre, right and the left flanks were commanded by lieutenants of Samveer. Each wing communicated via drums beaten in a special manner by soldiers.

  On the other hand, Oniata’s two thousand men took their swords out at the sight of the enemy and held their shield up in front in a defensive posture, while those hidden prepared themselves for the entrapment.

  The army of Prahast looked lethal; their army was huge as compared to Agastya’s army, six times bigger. But to everyone’s surprise they didn’t charge, hours passed and they did not move as if they were waiting for something…..then suddenly there was a roar and cheer in Rabocin’s army as if they had already won the battle and then ‘the reason’ appeared from a distance, as from the horizon, two huge creatures, two huge Dragons with their wings covering an area of hundred feet each rose towards the sky. These Dragons were not alone, as they were the rides of the two princes, who rode on them and looked fierce holding bows and arrows.

  The Manuastra army was shocked and surprised at the sight, but the war veterans were trained not to panic. They had their shields up. Tung kept on screaming, “Stick to the plan, do not reveal your positions.”

  In no time the Dragons charged and were hovering over the army, two hundred feet above. The two princes saw Agastya’s army as easy pickings and after circling over them for few minutes started firing divinely powered arrows at the enemy. One arrow multiplied into five, some arrows were so fast that they were able to pass through shields. On the other hand, Manuastra’s retaliation was proving to be futile, they did fire at the dragons with arrows but the arrows were unable to penetrate the hard body of the dragons. The princes could see everything from their vantage point, even the hidden soldiers inside the river passage.

  It appeared that their attacking plan was failing, when the unthinkable happened. An arrow, at the speed of lightening, piercing the air, struck one of the two dragons, the impact was phenomenal. The projectile was a divinely powered arrow and passed high voltage current into the body of the dragon which in turn passed through the body of the prince. The arrow immediately electrocuted the dragon and its master, the blessed prince Suryajeet.

  This arrow came from a direction to the east of the alien army. The arrow belonged to the mightiest of the ‘Manuastra’, the most awaited one, Jairudh. The great archer rode a stallion as he charged forward wearing a light silver armour and his typical silver head gear. He looked divine and majestic in his silver attire as he rode with the sun shining behind.

  The wounded Dragon tried to fly a little, but then it crashed to the ground. Jairudh then took another arrow and fired it towards the other Dragon, but Akashjeet was prepared and he blocked the arrow in between. Jairudh then fired another arrow and then another and then another but every time the incoming arrows were blocked by the Prince.

  Akashjeet continuously altered the flight path and direction of his dragon. Swaying from side to side he kept confusing Jairudh and displayed great acumen. But Jairudh was an unstoppable machine; after all he was the world’s greatest archer. He mediated and a long lethal looking arrow teleported in to his palm. The name of the arrow was ‘Lakshati’. This was a special divine arrow which travelled at the speed of light; it could penetrate the strongest of armours’ and was considered unstoppable.

  Jairudh loaded the divine arrow on his bow and fired it at the prince. The prince counter attacked but could do nothing, ‘Lakshati’ sliced the arrow fired by the Prince into two, lacerated his bow, pierced his armour and then made its way through his heart, exiting from the back towards the sky. The Prince lay motionless on the dragon. This was followed by another electrically charged arrow; the last one in his arsenal. The arrow flew and penetrated the belly of the dragon, electrocuting the beast immediately.

  In a matter of minutes, Jairudh finished the legend of the Princes and their flying beasts. The army of Mahaverna cheered in delight and excitement. The chanting of Jairudh’s name reverberated while the home army stood frozen in awe.

  Now in no time, all by himself, the legend charged at the home army, firing divinely powered arrows at them. The projectiles had special powers; few caused minor explosions on contact, others divinely converted into five, thus killing many in one instant.

  Jairudh fired at an extremely fast pace, an arrow in less than a second, thus creating panic in the Rabocin army. He continued for some minutes but was soon out of stock. Though he could teleport more arrows, he didn’t want to waste more divinely powered arrows on ordinary soldiers. He turned and rode back towards his faction; the soldiers gave him way in a synchronized manner and the legend entered inside, once inside he too climbed up the rocks and hid near the second faction placement.

  Samveer was confused, he could sense panic among his soldiers, and was petrified himself at the onslaught by one man of the alien army. Reluctantly, he ordered his first wave of remaining ninety-eight hundred men to charge and crush the enemy.

  Now, it was up to the two thousand men of Mahaverna. The war veterans lead by Oniata waited for the central unit of the enemy to come closer and when the enemy was close enough, they picked up their hidden spears from the shallows and created a wall of spears just inside the narrow passage. The first and the second layer pointed their pikes towards the enemy while the rest supported the ones in front via their shields. The organization of the unit was nicely structured.

  The wall they created was strong and looked impossible to breach. The first wave couldn’t do much and were unable to push the two thousand and remained blocked. Mahaverna army was far superior and they were able to fight in water while the home army began getting confused.

  In order to make some gains, Samveer ordered his left flank to go and make the push. The moment the second flank joined, Oniata ordered his men to start moving backwards keeping their positions intact. The synchronization was perfect and it was executed perfectly. At every command, the soldiers kept moving backward in a two-step movement.

  Samveer thought his plan was working; he could see Oniata’s men moving back and assumed that his extra reinforcement had made the push possible. In order to be quick in his victory, he ordered his right flank to charge as well and finish off the enemy once and for all.

  But this is what Tung wanted, it was part of his plan, two thousand strong soldiers of Mahaverna continued with their tactical retreat, they kept moving backwards and the home army kept pouring into the narrow passage.

  Once the enemy was sufficiently inside, Oniata’s front line was joined by the two thousand hidden soldiers. The moment the two units merged, Oniata signalled all to go on the offensive and then the real onslaught began. Five hundred men who stood hidden at the ridges started blasting the home army with arrows, spears, rocks and ballista. Jair
udh and Nismibh were simply outstanding and wreaked havoc. Jairudh showered arrows on them while Nismibh threw giant rocks.

  Vinashki too was impressive and buried the enemy with her energy balls. The others also did a phenomenal job but the most remarkable among them all was Oniata who held the position of his men intact and nicely lead the strategy of contraction and aggression. His men kept on poking their long spears at the enemy thus killing them in huge numbers. Now it was Agastya’s turn to charge and hammer the enemy and the moment he received Tung’s signal, he ordered his cavalry to charge. The horsemen rode like haulers of death and entered the passage in no time.

  Samveer could have intervened and halted the charge of Agastya’s cavalry but he did nothing. He just stood there and gazed upon Agastya as he went inside for the kill; he was too scared to block Agastya and his beasts. The cavalry entered and with their spears out, destroyed the trapped soldiers. It was a massacre, none survived except for a few injured soldiers who were allowed to run away, only to create panic at the fort.

  Samveer was terrified and so was the King who had witnessed everything from within the walls. His monstrous army had got wiped out in no time, his legendary sons had died before his eyes and all that remained with him were his twenty thousand soldiers inside the citadel and few remaining outside. They had no good archers who could defend the walls; they had no need for them in this part of the world. They had men who could throw spears but again the alien army looked fierce.

  The survivors were in a heightened state of panic and started retreating towards the gates, Samveer who himself looked terrified started shouting at the retreating soldiers, calling them cowards. But he had no mettle to charge himself. He turned and looked at the King who stood at the walls. Samveer desperately wanted a retreat and hoped for some kind of acknowledgment from the King but before he could get any, an arrow, with a … Zzzuppp….sound pierced his neck. The general wriggled like a fish and collapsed in pain. The arrow belonged to the great archer, Jairudh, who stood like an angle of fury, ahead of the rest of the army, with his hair fluttering in breeze, his posture so perfect, bow in one hand and arrow in another, he looked menacing and the purveyor of destruction. The home army had no courage left but the King instructed his men to keep the gate closed. Few banged desperately at the doors and others chose to run away along the wall, in a direction opposite to that of the Army of Manuastra.