Vedic Warriors Page 8

  In reciprocation, Jairudh also withdrew his sword and prepared himself for a duel, “You bark a lot! You crazy dog! Its high time I put an end to your duel lies.”

  This time the duel champion did not retaliate with his words, he lifted the heaviest sword in the world and attacked Jairudh, who immediately raised his sword to block it and as the swords collided, Oniata was surprised, he didn’t imagine Jairudh to be this strong. The undefeatable felt as if he had struck an iron pillar.

  Jairudh did not wait, he was furious and retaliated by swinging his sword in quick succession at Oniata. The famous duel master was drunk and got confused with sudden quick strikes and lost the grip of his sword, he stood defenceless and humiliated as Jairudh pointed his sword at Oniata’s neck.

  Just then, Agastya came running and immediately intervened. Instead of rebuking the two for misbehaving on board, he accused Jairudh of causing troubles, defended Oniata and challenged Jairudh himself for a duel, “It is easy to defeat a great warrior when he is in an inebriated state and think that you are better, why don’t you fight me, I am not drunk, Archer, why don’t you show your calibre to me, it’s time to teach you a lesson.”

  “Your friend just said the same thing. You people don’t give up even after losing again and again. Let’s see who is the better warrior; may the best man win,” countered Jairudh.

  The two warriors were all set for another clash, both of them took out their weapons; Agastya took out his two axes while Jairudh lifted his sword.

  The fight was about to begin but was halted by a strict intervention by Jivraj, the captain of the ship who arrived at the opportune moment, “This is my ship, and there will be no fights here, go back to your cabins. You can showcase your talent elsewhere, not here, not on my ship and not under my watch.”

  “Dare not speak to me like this and command, remember your place here. YOU MERCENARY! You have been hired because you know the sea waters and are familiar with the ways but don’t forget the ships belong to Mahaverna, to me. You may speak with authority with others but never do that with Agastya,” The great axe man argued back looking and staring directly into the eyes of the captain.

  Agastya looked furious and was breathing heavily trying to control his aggression but it appeared futile, “I don’t like you Jivraj, you are just a pretentious fool trying to show authority.” Agastya then pointed one of his axes at Jivraj and demanded an apology, “Apologize and go back to your room.”

  “I do not report to you and therefore will not apologize,” replied Jivraj calmly.

  “I said Apologize!” screamed Agastya.

  “So much of attitude! I think you all should thank Shresthaha. He is the only one with some sense in Mahaverna. You all should be grateful to Shreshtaha for running the affairs of the empire. Brainless and high on attitude people like you do not deserve anything. I am surprised that you are a senator in Mahaverna,” replied Jivraj nodding his head in sarcasm.

  These words were too much for Agastya to digest; he lost his temper, “How dare you talk to me like this? Bring your weapon! I’ll teach you a lesson now.” Jivraj knew that Agastya would not stop now and that a duel was imminent. He ordered his subordinate to pass a spear to him. The moment Jivraj held his spear, Agastya again started taunting, “Don’t worry, I’ll not kill you but I’ll make an example out of you.”

  “Fool! You should have been controlling and binding the team, I guess you have earned your position, not because of your merit but because of flattery. I have heard that your hands are really fast and that you have the ability to slaughter a whole regiment by yourself. I would like to see that,” Jivraj replied while taking his stance.

  Jairudh tried to intervene, “Jivraj, let it be, it’s not worth it”.

  But now the commander of the ship was in no mood for compromise, “No, the young man needs a lesson in life and I will teach him one today,” declared Jivraj.

  The fight started with verbal outbursts and counters from both the sides, followed with clash of the metals. Agastya lived up to his reputation and moved his hands like a shredder, in quick succession. Jivraj merely escaped from several strikes by Agastya. However, after some time an adaptable and veteran warrior like Jivraj started to understand and predict the movement of Agastya’s hands, he waited for an opportunity and immediately capitalized on one. As the axe-man tried to strike Jivraj with his right axe, Jivraj blocked it with his spear, entangled it and twisted his spear in such a manner that Agastya’s wrist twisted along with it resulting in a muscle rupture. A second later, the left hand met the same faith. Agastya was unable to hold on to the axes and stood defenceless writhing in pain. Jivraj then placed his spear at the neck of his opponent and explained the rules of the sea once again to Agastya.

  “This is my ship and I want all of you to behave on board. Shreshtaha promised me that you would all listen to me while at sea. Better stick to it.”

  Agastya stood defeated, beaten and ashamed. Jivraj could see that and as an experienced leader thought of pacifying him now that an example had been set, “No need to feel ashamed Agastya, you took me as an ordinary seafarer but ask my crew and my people about me. I am a legend just like you. I have faced numerous adversaries from different realms but never ever have I seen such a fast pair of hands. You are a much better warrior than me but you lost because of your excessive confidence and false ego. I respect your position and your strength Agastya but it is your head priest and your King who have made me the leader of the expedition. I am responsible for taking you all to the island safe & sound. If you want me to accomplish this then please maintain peace and obey me till we reach the island.” Saying this, Jivraj left the deck.

  It had been an entertaining evening for the spectators. Jairudh and Jivraj had made a great impact on everyone. Their respect increased manifold overnight and people started acknowledging their skills in combat. After dinner everyone retired to their rooms, it was only Jairudh who stayed back gazing at the sky. The sky had no clouds that night and the moon lit the earth and the sky. A gentle breeze was blowing, making the sail flutter slightly. Jairudh had a fair idea about constellations and was trying to locate a few, when he was interrupted by a feminine voice.

  “Trying to understand astronomy?”

  Jairudh turned and looked back, it was Vinashki. The female warrior was attired in her usual black dress. The moonlight lit up her face and made her look extremely beautiful. Vinashki walked closer to Jairudh and then gazed at the stars pointing her hand at a constellation, “That is the hunter.”

  “You seem to understand stars well,” replied Jairudh.

  “I had a great teacher. He taught me almost everything known in this world; weaponry, astronomy and spirituality,” responded Vinashki.

  “What was the name of your teacher?” questioned Jairudh.

  “Acharya Randev,” responded Vinashki

  “Never heard of him, where is he from?” asked Jairudh.

  “He doesn’t teach many students. I was an exception.”

  After a long pause, Jairudh asked, “So, what brings you here? Stars?”

  “I saw you and thought of stopping by. I feel bad about the way you are being dragged into this mission. We all have selfish reasons but you are being pushed quite unwillingly.” Vinashki took a deep breath, then looked into the eyes of Jairudh and continued, “I know that a great wrong is being done to you, I would just like to tell you that I am with you, whatever happens, I will support you.”

  “Thanks a lot for the concern, it’s good to find a friend among these savages, it’s getting late now, I think you should leave,” said Jairudh.

  “Are you sure you want me to go,” asked Vinashki.

  “I think you should,” Jairudh responded.

  Vinashki stepped closer to Jairudh and whispered, “Are you sure?”

  The two stood close to each other, a flash of desire reflected in their eyes. Jairudh could not help himself, he pulled Vinashki closer and kissed her, Vinashki reciprocated and the two kissed
passionately. Jairudh then stood up, lifted Vinashki and carried her to her room. As the couple proceeded, Agastya surreptitiously watched the two new lovers adoring each other. The great axe-man was consumed with jealousy, not because he loved Vinashki, but because he was attracted by her exquisiteness and coveted her. As the duo disappeared from his sight, the young senator shook his head and sat down wearily.

  Agastya then spent some time alone thinking about his future, the child in Ruahmah’s womb was no secret to him. He was mildly concerned but not worried; he kept ruminating, juggling his axes in the air as he pondered over the ambiguous life that lay ahead of him. After mulling for hours, he proceeded towards his room with a changed demeanour and a new outlook; he swore to embrace and to portray more seriousness and maturity.

  The journey continued for days and the army began getting impatiently irate with the passage of time; long sea journeys were rare for them. But they had no other option but to maintain composure and wait for this seemingly endless voyage to end. The sea looked the same and they felt as though time and place had stood still. They were getting fidgety and lethargic.

  But their equanimity was jolted on the thirteenth day, a day that was going to be remembered, forever etched into the memory of the crew.

  It was a misty morning and most of the crew was asleep, but the sound slumber was broken by a scout who raised an alarm. The ‘Manuastra’ and the others stepped on board in panic but the sight that met them was a delight for all the men on board. It was an island, a big luscious island. Jivraj quickly opened his map. It was not their destination but they were on track as the island was marked on the map. Jivraj had already planned to stay on the island for two days before continuing the journey forward. He ordered his crew to steer the ships towards the island. As the ships sailed en route for the island cutting through the mist, hundreds of birds could be seen flying and gliding near the ridge of a hill. The birds looked huge, they could be seen diving from the hill, hovering for a while, and then flying back to the ridge. They were not able to remain airborne for long and henceforth circled around the ridge.

  As the ships moved closer to the island, one of the birds started to fly towards the ships and as it came closer, the sight that met the eyes of the crew mesmerized them. For it was not a bird, but a man with wings and arms; a mutated specie of man, and it was armed with a bow and arrow. The bird man seemed to face some difficulty flying for long because of his huge weight. These birds were inhabitants of a mountain range called ‘Jwala’. They could fly fast but could cover extremely short distances lasting less than two minutes. These birds stayed at the cliff range of the island and fed on fish and other birds. They were good at diving and catching fish and always stayed close to land because of their inability to fly for long.

  The bird which flew close to the ship looked fierce, it aimed at the scout and fired the arrow but it missed the target, the bird then immediately turned so as to fly back to the ridge in order to avoid losing his altitude and falling, but Agastya was quick to react. He immediately took out two of his daggers and threw them at the bird, the aim was spot on and the bird collapsed and fell in to the sea making weird bird sounds. This created a huge uproar on the island; all the birds started imitating the strange noises, the echo of which surrounded the atmosphere, it was like a siren for an all-out war and within minutes, thousands of bird men gathered and took positions at the ridges of the mountains, all set to launch an offensive.

  Agastya on the other hand also raised the alarm; Jivraj observing the situation immediately blew his siren and asked his helmsmen to steer the ships away from the island. The helmsmen were quick to react, the directions were changed but by now the ships had come very close to the ridge. An encounter was unavoidable.

  In no time the ‘Manuastra’ (The Chosen Warriors) and the army equipped themselves with projectiles and shields. On the other hand, birdmen could be seen dipping arrows in fire pits, igniting it so as to sink the ships.

  Jivraj, Veer, Samundra & Agastya immediately ordered their men to keep buckets of water ready and designated few men with the responsibility of extinguishing the fire. The sails from the ships were removed as they could catch fire easily. The slave rowers were whipped and were forced to row the oars as fast as possible.

  All the men in the five ships were ready for the fight and then it began, the birdmen stood in a line formation, two hundred per row. The first row stood at the edge and dived for the ships followed by the next two hundred and so on. They hovered over the ships and started firing flaming arrows, stones and other projectiles at the army of Mahaverna. But the soldiers and the crew protected themselves well with their shields and projectiles, though there were few fatalities but overall the humans did well.

  Jairudh – The charismatic man fought with his old bow and his arrows. He protected himself from the incoming arrows by cutting the arrows in between with his projectiles. His aim was accurate and his divinely powered arrows were doing wonders. He even fired arrows at many birdmen standing on the edge of the mountain. His divinely powered arrows were so powerful that they caused terrible explosions killing many. He single handedly caused so much damage that most of the birds started attacking him exclusively, as a result of which an arrow brushed his arm and bruised him.

  Nismibh – The mighty man threw spears at the enemy. He was surprisingly accurate but was unable to cause much damage as compared to the others, but he was too big a legend to stay quiet. He started grabbing the birdmen hovering close to the ship, lifted them up, whirled them around and started throwing them on others of their kind.

  Tung Zapotec – The fastest man on board was simply fantastic; he used his weapon, the thin and sleek sword and kept on slicing the incoming arrows with his sword. But since the opponents were flying, Tung Zapotec like Nismibh was unable to cause enough fatalities, therefore the young man thought of doing the impossible. The moment he saw a bird close to the ship he jumped at it and flew with the bird up to the island. The bird escorted the fastest combatant on to the ridge and the moment he touched the crest, he immediately slashed the throat of his transporter. Tung stood alone on the ridge, he was outnumbered but he had been in similar situations before. The combatant was confident, he knew he was fast and capitalized this very power. He wasted no time and started killing the birds on the ridge. The warrior was too quick for the heavy birds and caused huge damages to his opponents, executing many. Tung then looked back at the ships and realized that the ships were moving away, therefore he immediately hopped on to another bird flying towards the ship and as it came closer, he jumped off the bird and dived into the water. He then swam back to the ship and regained his initial position.

  Vinashki – The warrior held a shield in her left hand to defend herself while she used her other hand to generate high energy balls to hurl at the enemy. Vinashki showed some high- flying acrobatics along with her mystical powers to inflict heavy damages upon the opponents.

  Jivraj – The captain was not seen clashing. He was busy moving from one end of the ship to the other, inspiring and motivating his crew. Though time and again he did fire projectiles and killed a few.

  Agastya and Oniata used their bows and arrows and showed great accuracy. They were trained in archery, though they fought best with axes and swords respectively. They also caused lot of casualties as expected. Agastya also had the armed forces inspired and was constantly seen screaming and shouting and preparing strategies. He executed his duties perfectly as a general and a warrior.

  The combat continued for half an hour and would have continued for longer but the ships slowly sailed away from the cliff and the bird army could not fly the distance. The ships were damaged but were repairable. There were huge casualties in the rank of the birds. The humans suffered fewer losses, only a handful of men lost their lives, but hundreds of them were injured.

  But as the island disappeared from sight, the unthinkable happened; the injured men started collapsing. Few lost consciousness and few passed away. It turne
d out that the arrow heads of arrows were smeared with poison by the birdmen. Suddenly, the causalities increased massively but the biggest blow was when Jairudh joined the ranks of the unconscious men. The arrow that bruised his arm was poisoned.

  Jairudh was critical for this mission to succeed, and Agastya knew this. He immediately asked the royal physicians to attend to him. Vinashki appeared devastated. The great archer was taken to a room and the physicians applied various ointments on his wound and performed a few minor surgeries which involved cutting and bandaging. Vinashki stood by her love for the whole time and held his hand tightly. Once the physicians were through with their operation, they informed Agastya.

  “Jairudh is in deep slumber, most of the contaminated blood has been removed from his veins, but we have no idea when he will recover.”

  This news was a cause of worry for Agastya. He knew the importance of the armour. He offered prayers to his country and Taraksh, asked for their blessings and hoped for his quick recovery.

  The expedition carried on, fabric sails were reinstalled on the rigs, the coordinates were realigned and the ships continued sailing towards their destination. Five days passed by, there was still no sign of recovery. Jairudh was still unconscious and was injected with medicines and water to keep him hydrated. The men on board were now exhausted and wanted to see and feel land. Agastya and Jivraj stood together on deck and were seen interacting. It was a rare sight indeed as both disliked each other but Agastya had changed, he acted differently, more sensibly.

  Agastya was listening intently to Jivraj and learning seafaring skills from him. The duo was joined by Vinashki. Agastya looked at her and admired her contours as she walked towards them. He then glanced at her face and inquired about Jairudh, “How is he recovering?”

  “Still the same, the physicians are confident though. I just hope he recovers fast,” replied Vinashki.