The Epic of Kautilya : Born To Be King

by Deepak Thomas

  What would it feel like if he lost Druma or Saira? Or even Nina or Yama? They were the only family he knew.

  “Now tell me about you,” Kautilya asked. “How come you are half rakshasa and half demigod?”

  Ādi began. “That’s a long...” Suddenly he smelled horses and humans.

  “Princess,” Ādi said, “I think what we were looking for has found us.” He led Kautilya through the undergrowth to a path. From the cover of the bushes, they spied a battalion of horsemen and foot soldiers.

  At their head was a commander wearing a helmet shaped like the head of a seahawk.

  Ādi heard Kautilya’s heartbeat quicken when she saw the commander.

  “Let’s follow them,” she said, “and see where they lead us.”

  They followed the battalion as it marched into an ape village. The inhabitants were just waking up and did not expect the sudden influx of troops.

  The village chief, a long-haired female ape, walked up to the commander.

  “We need to get closer...” Kautilya began but was cut short by Ādi.

  “I can hear them. The chief is welcoming the troops. She’s saying that the rebels have caused them a lot of trouble... Now the commander has cut the chief short. He’s ordering her to assemble every ape in the village on the open grounds.”

  Ādi listened to the chief shout orders to the other apes. The apes ran across the village and began assembling their people in the open grounds of the village.

  “What are they up to?” Ādi asked.

  He watched Kautilya’s eyebrows crinkle as they usually did when she was deep in thought. It was like she got great pleasure from thinking, the way he did from fighting.

  The apes had now lined up in front of the commander.

  “What’s the commander saying?” Kautilya asked.

  “He’s asking if any of the apes know the location of the rebels,” Ādi said.

  “Do you think they know?” Kautilya asked.

  “No,” Ādi said, “the only apes who know are the ones already in Rishyamukh. These apes don’t have a clue.”

  Suddenly the commander pulled out a long sword. He turned to his soldiers.

  Kautilya put a hand on his shoulder. “Ādi, I think we should leave.”

  “Why?” Ādi asked.

  “I don’t think they’re here for answers,” Kautilya said.

  Suddenly a loud scream pierced the forest’s silence. The village chief was wailing.

  Ādi turned to see a decapitated ape collapse in front of Varun.

  “Let’s leave, Ādi,” Kautilya said. “We need to tell the Lord Chief.”

  “No,” Ādi said, “we can’t let this continue.”

  “Please,” Kautilya said, “we can’t fight them on our own.”

  “But I can take on...” Ādi stopped when he saw Kautilya’s pleading eyes. They somehow seemed to hypnotise him.

  “Let’s go,” Ādi said and led her away from the village.

  Painful cries and the smell of ape blood followed them. A massacre had begun.

  CHAPTER 34

  Vengeance

  “Where have you been?” Nina yelled as soon as the squad made it to the cave. “Saira and I were worried sick.”

  “Long story,” Ādi said. “We need to meet Yama. There’s some urgent news.”

  “What is it?” Nina asked.

  Ādi explained what they’d seen at the ape village.

  Nina shook her head. “Those human scum have reached their lowest point yet. Come, we need to find Yama immediately.”

  The squad headed off.

  “Human, you stay back,” Nina said.

  Kautilya hesitated but Ādi was adamant. “She needs to come along, Nina. She knows a lot about the soldiers.”

  Nina stared at Kautilya for some time. “Then come.”

  The three of them were soon in Yama’s tent along with the Lord Chief and her deputies, and Druma. They were being briefed by ape squads on the number and position of the human troops.

  “So there are around a hundred cavalry...” an ape was explaining.

  “We need to talk, Yama,” Ādi interrupted.

  “You can’t just storm in here, you insolent boy,” an ape said.

  “Is ‘insolent’ the only word you know?” Ādi asked.

  “Let him speak,” the Lord Chief said, exasperated. “What is the important news?”

  Ādi gestured to Kautilya. He began, “We were out scouting and came across a regiment of human soldiers...”

  “How many?” Yama asked.

  “A hundred horsemen and a couple of hundred foot soldiers.”

  “Go on,” Yama said.

  “Their commander wore a helmet shaped like a seahawk’s head,” Ādi continued. “Kautilya says he’s the human king’s brother. His name is Varun.”

  “The Seahawk?” the Lord Chief asked Kautilya.

  “Yes,” Kautilya said. “He was training up a regiment of soldiers specialising in spreading terror among the populace. Their mode of operation is mass murder by brutal means.”

  “Did you see anyone being murdered?” the Lord Chief asked.

  Kautilya nodded. “The soldiers marched into a village. They rounded up the villagers and...” her voice shuddered. “They began cutting off their limbs off one by one. I couldn’t bear to watch any more but on our way back we saw smoke coming from the village. They probably razed it to the ground.”

  The whole tent was stunned. For some time nobody spoke.

  Finally the Lord Chief stood up. “We need to meet this threat right now. The humans have stooped too low this time. They will see the apes’ vengeance.”

  The apes assembled in the tent began hooting and screaming.

  Lord Chief continued. “Angad, assemble our forces. I want the Seahawk killed or imprisoned.”

  As the apes left the room to assemble their companies, Yama summoned Druma.

  “Druma,” Yama said, “we need to get ready.”

  “This is hasty action,” Druma said. “We don’t have any strategy against the human forces. We’re not even certain how many of them there are.”

  “Do you want to argue with Indira about this?” Yama asked.

  Druma sighed and went away. Yama then turned to Kautilya and took her aside to talk to her. “Are you sure it was your brother?”

  Kautilya nodded.

  Yama sighed. “Why do they do this?”

  “They’re baiting the rebels,” Kautilya said.

  Yama stared at Kautilya intently. “What do you mean?”

  “They want to rile up the apes and get them to charge unprepared into battle,” Kautilya said. “Dhanush used to tell me the apes are emotional and not rational. That’s how the humans have always exploited them.”

  Yama shook his head. “And there’s no way to get any sense into them. Well, go back to your quarters. Stay away from battle and keep a low profile. These apes will be murderous once they hear what happened. I don’t want them to get their hands on you. Nina and Ādi, I want you and Saira protecting her.”

  “But...” Nina began.

  “You have your orders,” Druma said.

  Nina, Ādi and Kautilya returned to their hut. When they arrived, Saira came running. “What’s happening? All the squads are being rallied. They’re going into battle.”

  “Yeah,” Nina said, “the Lord Chief has just ordered an attack on the humans.”

  “Isn’t it a bit hasty?” Saira asked.

  “Tell the Lord Chief,” Nina said. She plonked onto her mat. She lay there with her hands behind her head.

  “What are you doing?” Saira asked Nina.

  “Protecting the princess,” Nina said. “We can’t go into battle while guarding her.”

  Saira turned to look at Kautilya, who glanced a
way in embarrassment.

  “You are joking, right?” Saira said to Ādi. “They need us.”

  “Tell that to Yama, our honourable warlord,” Nina said.

  Ādi fumed. “This is stupid.” He sat down.

  Saira sat down next to him. Barong, who had just arrived, stared blankly at the whole squad.

  Kautilya could not take it. “If you three want to go to the battle, then I can come along. Just like the scouting mission.”

  Saira looked up expectantly. Nina lifted her head and looked at Kautilya with one eye open. “Are you kidding? This isn’t a scouting mission you do from hiding. Yama will punish me and the monkeys might start attacking us thinking we are the enemy.”

  “I can wear a mask,” Kautilya offered.

  Nina, Ādi and Saira looked at each other.

  “I have a mask you could use,” Ādi said.

  ***

  “Stay out of sight of Yama and Druma,” Nina told the squad. “Best to stay right in the middle of the formation.”

  The squad nodded.

  “All right,” Ādi said, “let’s move out. Princess stays close to me.”

  Kautilya had got used to the mask, though it was too big for her. When Ādi had given it to her she had recognised it as the diplomacy mask worn by the rakshasas.

  The rakshasas never showed their faces to those outside their race, instead wearing one of two kinds of masks when interacting with others. One was the diplomacy mask. It was plain white with no design, save for two eyeholes and two stripes down the middle. The other was the war mask, which had a ferocious face painted on it to instil fear in enemies.

  “Please keep it safe,” Ādi had told Kautilya when he gave it to her. The tone of his voice betrayed the fact that the mask had a lot of personal significance for him.

  CHAPTER 35

  Battleground

  Kautilya was surrounded on all sides by excited, shivering apes. She knew her mask made her look out of place but the oncoming battle had washed away onlookers’ curiosity.

  The rebel troops had marched from the base to the gates of Rishyamukh that morning. It was dusk by the time they arrived at the gates.

  It was usual for leaders to meet and negotiate terms of surrender before a battle. However, the humans did not meet with apes. They were going to fight to the death.

  Kautilya looked around at the scantily equipped apes. Most of them held a wooden staff or a stone mace. There were no horses either, which was a huge disadvantage.

  The troop formations and signalling were also haphazard. The apes were assembled in mobs rather than proper troop formations. No strategy had been offered them before leaving other than “Fight the humans.”

  The murmur of the troops was silenced by a loud howl. Everyone turned to see where it had come from, and an ape announced, “All hail, Lord Chief Indira of the Greyhairs, leader of the tribes of Dandaka.”

  The assembled troops roared as the Lord Chief walked to the front of the troops. She raised her hand for silence.

  “For long,” she said, “for long the humans have cruelly oppressed our civilisation. Our temples have been destroyed, our idols smashed and our people enslaved. They treat us worse than their horses and punish us horrifically for the smallest slights.

  “But now they have reached new lows: indiscriminate murder, massacring whole villages and razing them to the ground. They think they can do what they please and no one will stand up to them. But they are wrong.

  “As long as the Lord Chief breathes, as long as the tribes of Dandaka exist, we will not let cruelty go unpunished. We will rain vengeance on those filthy murderers. If they raze our villages, we will raze their palaces. If they murder our children then we will hang their noblemen.

  “Fight today, my free folk. Fight so hard that the next time they think of harming a hair on an ape’s body they will quiver in fear of the consequences. Fight like the army that defeated the Rakshasa king of Lanka. Fight like the Wind God has given you the power of flight and the God of Death has put bloodlust in your heart.

  “Fight like apes!”

  The whole army began cheering. Some beat their spears against their shields, others thumped their chests.

  The Lord Chief raised her fist. “Minds without fear...”

  “Heads held high,” the whole army chanted back.

  “Minds without fear...” the Lord Chief shouted again.

  “Heads held high!”

  “MINDS WITHOUT FEAR...”

  “HEADS HELD HIGH!”

  Suddenly bugles sounded from the city and the gates were flung open. Thousands of human horsemen raced out of the city.

  Guards pulled the Lord Chief to safety as the humans unexpectedly fell upon the apes. Kautilya sensed panic spreading through the ranks.

  The humans flanked out into a pincer formation: half the horsemen charged to the right of the assembled apes and the other half to the left. On each side, they started cutting down their unprepared foes.

  The squad was nestled in the middle of the formation. Ādi screamed in frustration as he saw the apes being swiftly slaughtered.

  Kautilya watched as the horsemen got closer to the middle of the formation. The apes were no match for the mobility and precision of the humans.

  Now there was only one line of apes between the squad and the oncoming human horsemen.

  “Hold your ground,” Nina said.

  The squad made two lines facing both directions the horsemen were coming from.

  Kautilya was not convinced that the tactic would work. The horsemen would encircle them soon and the formation left them susceptible to attack.

  “A circle,” Kautilya said.

  “What?” Nina asked.

  “A circle,” Kautilya said. “We need a ring formation. Otherwise they’ll attack us from the unprotected sides.”

  “A circle!” Saira screamed. “Make a ring around Kautilya.”

  Nina looked at Saira incredulously for a moment before realising the idea made sense. The squad formed a ring.

  Kautilya saw that they needed someone who could take down a horseman on either side. Nina had a staff.

  “Ādi,” Kautilya said. “Ādi, take Nina’s staff.”

  Ādi hesitated but Nina thrust the staff into his hands.

  “Ādi and Saira, push the riders off their horses. Nina and Barong, incapacitate the horsemen once they’re on the ground,” Kautilya instructed as the horsemen continued to mow down the apes on either side of the squad.

  She could hear her heart beat faster. It felt like her chest would explode.

  “Hold your ground, squad,” Kautilya said.

  The last line of troops between the squad and the cavalry was thinning out. The first horsemen charged onwards.

  “Hold your ground!” Kautilya screamed.

  “Kill these bastards!” Ādi screamed as he leapt and took down two horsemen. Nina smashed their heads in with a mace.

  On the other side, Saira speared horsemen off their mounts. Barong ripped into them once they had fallen.

  The riders lost their momentum and the unmanned horses added to their confusion.

  Kautilya took the bow from her back and started shooting down horsemen.

  She heard Ādi groan and turned to see that he’d lost his staff. Two horses leapt onto him and he put one hand under each horse, pushing them. The horses fell over backwards, crushing their riders.

  Kautilya looked around. Incapacitated human soldiers were piling up on all sides of the squad ring. The horsemen could not work out how to break the formation and began riding around the fallen soldiers in confusion. Yet the squad had also trapped themselves.

  Every horseman was now focused on their squad. It was only a matter of time before Ādi and Saira would tire and the formation would break.

  Suddenly Kautilya he
ard a roar from the forests that lined the sides of the battlefield.

  Kautilya looked over the shoulders of the squad and her heart leapt. Druma had arrived with reinforcements. Using his giant axe, he cleaved through a group of horsemen.

  Kautilya looked around on all sides. The apes had the humans surrounded.

  Bugles sounded. A horseman screamed, “Retreat!”

  The humans began to ride away from the rebel onslaught. The squad unfurled into a straight line facing the retreating horsemen.

  Druma leapt over them and began to chase and take down retreating horsemen.

  “I won’t let you take down more humans than me, old man!” Ādi screamed and began to chase down the retreating soldiers too. The squad followed him.

  The distance between the humans on horseback and the rebels on foot kept increasing. Druma stopped and raised his axe. The advancing rebels came to a halt.

  Kautilya looked around. They were quite a distance from the forests.

  “Did we win?” she asked.

  “We showed those cowards!” Ādi screamed and all the apes cheered.

  Kautilya was uneasy. It was unusual for humans to retreat so quickly. And she had not seen Varun. Usually, he would be right at the head of the army.

  She kneeled and placed her ear on the ground.

  “What are you doing?” Saira asked.

  “Listening for hoofbeats,” Kautilya said.

  Saira kneeled down and placed her ear on the ground as well.

  “Do you hear it?” Kautilya asked.

  Saira said, “I hear hooves moving away.”

  “So do I. They are retreating, then,” Kautilya said as she sat up straight again, relieved.

  “Wait,” Saira said. Her eyes went wide with horror. “More hooves are coming from that direction.” She pointed behind Kautilya’s back.

  Kautilya turned and she saw two masses of horsemen closing in from both sides. She screamed, “Druma! From behind!”

  Druma turned and saw the horsemen. Behind Kautilya the retreating humans had started to rally and were on their way back. This time Varun was at their head.

  A glowing arrow flew in the direction of the squad.

  “Down,” she said and pushed Saira to the ground. The arrow exploded, sending several apes flying in different directions.