by Neo B.
But, he also knew that he could not fight direct battles with Govinda and his army. So, he decided to get out of the direct fighting and covered his wound with a piece of cloth. He did not want his soldiers to know that he had been injured. He kept running around the battlefield goading his men to keep fighting.
He had motivated them enough that they did not miss him when his voice could no longer be heard. The fight had gone all night and it was only in the morning, that they saw their leader propped against a tree, dead.
Seeing Daksha dead was a blow to the morale of his soldiers and boosted the morale of Govinda’s army. Daksha’s second in command tried his best to win the battle, but Govinda’s men had soon completed a comprehensive victory where the soldiers had chosen to die rather than be captured. This was a battle that had taken the lives of fifty thousand men and that would be remembered in legend for a long time to come.
Though the rest of the generals had dismissed it as the king and Agniputra being overcautious, Dhartiputra saw the message from Agniputra in a different light. He saw the message as a confirmation of his own feelings. Dhartiputra had been fighting with the forces of king Kanaka, but he also had this impression that the king and his forces had hardly put up a fight. They would engage with them for a little bit and then after a while fall back.
In the beginning he had felt that this was because the enemy was overwhelmed with the army that Dhartiputra had brought along, but when the same thing happened on two occasions, doubts began to creep in his mind. When he had received news of similar happenings from other generals as well, he was sure that the enemy was up to something.
Agniputra’s message had been the last straw. Dhartiputra was now sure that there was something wrong. He had sent messages to the other generals, but they had dismissed his reservations as paranoia and they had advised him to move in on the enemy as fast as he could, so that the war could end as soon as possible. The soldiers needed to get home, they had said.
Dhartiputra was not convinced. He had decided to listen to his inner voice and he had changed his strategy. Without letting the enemy know he had broken his army of 20,000 soldiers into two units. Each unit was about 10,000 strong. He had asked one unit to move along with lot of noise and show, as if nothing was wrong. The second unit was asked to lay low and let the other unit march on. They would then stealthily follow the first unit. They would not be too far behind, but their movement should be unnoticed and the first unit was told to keep an eye out for scouts and if they could see any enemy scouts, they were not to be killed but a show had to be put on where the enemy would feel that the king’s army was taking things lightly. The only warning the first unit was given was that they should be ready for a surprise attack and when such an attack came they should make a defensive formation so that there was little or no loss of life and the enemy was completely engaged.
Today, Dhartiputra’s strategy had paid off.
In the early hours of the morning, when it was still dark, the enemy had attacked.
Dhartiputra had expected an attack and he had instructed his army to sleep in shifts. One part of the army would be awake and alert at any given time. When Kanaka’s forces attacked the tents, they were the ones who were surprised because Dhartiputra’s men were not caught unawares. The soldiers were prepared for a surprise attack and Kanaka’s army was not able to make a great inroad. They had to fall back. The fight was fierce, as the enemy thought that the victory was near at hand.
King Kanaka had come to the fore, but as soon as he saw the enemy’s army, he knew something was wrong. They did not seem to be 20,000 men. But before he could issue a warning to his soldiers, the lands around him reverberated with the sounds of conches blowing and soldiers yelling. Dhartiputra along with the rest of the men had attacked them from behind.
Once the army trapped inside realised that help had arrived, they attacked Kanaka’s army with renewed vigour. Kanaka’s army which had thought they had set a trap for the enemy had themselves walked into a trap and were soon overpowered. Dhartiputra did not want to cause a lot of bloodshed either for his side or the enemy’s side. He looked for king Kanaka who was trying to escape from the middle of the war. Dhartiputra and his men quickly captured Kanaka and the rest of the army surrendered quickly after that.
Dhartiputra had asked his men to treat Kanaka with respect, and bring him to him. The soldiers that had surrendered were to be disarmed and kept under a tight watch, but they were not to be ill-treated in any way. They were after all only doing their job.
When Kanaka was brought to Dhartiputra’s tent, Kanaka was furious, but silent. Dhartiputra wanted to know what their plan was and he knew the best way to get to the plan was being nice to the king. There was not enough time to try any other means.
“Why don’t you just kill me and my men?” Kanaka asked.
“Because, we have not come here to do that. We have come here to defend our kingdom. If it was not for the attack on our king, we would never have ventured so far into your territory, noble king. I call it your territory because it is yours. We have not come to claim it as ours. We just want peace to prevail over all the lands,” Dhartiputra replied.
Kanaka laughed a sinister laugh.
“You can forget about peace as long as Dinul is alive.”
“Who is Dinul?”
Kanaka realised that he may have spoken too much, but what was there to lose now. He had already lost the battle and for him this was the end of the war. Even if their alliance emerged victorious, he would hardly be allowed to regain his kingdom.
“He is the one who was behind the attack on your king and he is the one who had planned this trap. You might have evaded this but I am sure your friends haven't and soon the other armies will have won Pataliputra for Dinul. You may have won this battle, but the war is over for you,” Kanaka said.
“Our king is safe in Pataliputra and as long as he is safe, we will ensure that peace prevails,” Dhartiputra replied.
“Safe? You don’t know anything. Pataliputra was attacked today and the king and his men should be dead by now. Dinul himself is attacking Pataliputra from the north,” Kanaka said.
Dhartiputra had a sinking feeling in his stomach. An attack from the north would be devastating as no one in Pataliputra had ever imagined an attack from the north. There was no defence against that, and the king would be caught unawares. He had to assume the worst, but because he and his army were alright, he had to take his chances and fight this war. He had a strong fighting force and even if the worse was true, he and his army could still salvage something out of this situation.
“We shall see about who wins this war,” Dhartiputra said and asked his soldiers to take the king back to his tent where he would be kept as a prisoner. If what Kanaka had said was right, things could turn ugly. He quickly sent pigeons to his generals warning them of the trap, but he knew in his heart that it was already too late. He decided to take some of his fastest men on horses and go to the aid of Angad who was the closest to him. He asked around two thousand of his men to stay back and guard the prisoners, while the rest of the army was asked to march back towards Pataliputra. They were to go quietly and not engage in battle until Dhartiputra said so. Only if they found Agniputra or Karkish alive were they to follow their orders.
40. Forces Reuniting
Angad’s army had been totally unprepared for the attack. They had been passing through a jungle when the attack had happened. It was devastating. Angad had totally ignored any signs that there were. He had confidently marched ahead and kept pushing forward. It did not strike him even a bit odd that the enemy had virtually put up no fight. Angad had been so confident that in his haste he had not even noticed the gradient of the land he was walking. The soldiers were reflecting their leader’s confidence. They had set up guard posts and the rest were taking aa good a night’s sleep as they could in the jungle.
The guards who were looking out had been quickly shot with arrows and the unaware soldiers were attacked m
ercilessly. Many lost their lives and the rest fled to wherever they could with whatever they had.
It was a rout and King Mahendra’s army had claimed victory in no time. Angad had managed to escape with some of his lieutenants. He had no choice but to take flight, since there was not even a semblance of an army in the ranks when the attack had happened. So, when the pigeon from Dhartiputra arrived warning him about the trap, he felt embarrassed and immediately sent a pigeon back informing him of the loss.
Angad had managed to find that Mahendra’s forces were headed towards Pataliputra. He quickly sent message to the others informing them of the same. By this time pigeons had arrived from the other three generals and they had all died fighting. The pigeons had been sent by the surviving forces, most of who had been captured.
Dhartiputra had sent a message to Angad to try and gather as many of his men as he could so that they could go to the aid of their king. They would now need every man they could. The mighty army of Pataliputra had been reduced to a small unit that was not even equal to the army of a smaller kingdom. Dhartiputra was with Angad in a day’s time.
Dhartiputra had come there with around 500 horsemen and the army of Angad which by now was engaged in guerrilla war with a unit of Mahendra’s army began to rally around these horsemen. Most of the soldiers had hidden in the jungle and it was difficult to gather anyone. Time was a major constraint and Dhartiputra realised that he could not waste a lot of time trying to gather the soldiers. His men were already on the way to Pataliputra and he had managed another 8,000 men that had scattered in the jungle when they had been attacked. Not wanting to leave many men behind without any resources, Dhartiputra left around a 1000 men who were told to gather as many of their men as they could and try to get to Pataliputra as soon as they could.
In the battle for Pataliputra every man would count. Dhartiputra told Angad what king Kanaka had told him. There had been no message from Pataliputra in the past couple of days and the two generals did not know what to make of the silence. They had sent many pigeons to Pataliputra, but none had returned. They feared the worst and yet they had to do something.
“I can’t believe we walked into a trap,” said Angad.
Dhartiputra was about to say that he had warned them, but he decided not to. Angad seemed already too sorry for his mistake and already three of their comrades had died. This was not the time for I told you so.
“We need to start back as soon as we can, you never know what might be happening at Pataliputra,” Dhartiputra said. It had been three days since the surprise attack on the armies.
Dhartiputra with around 6000 men was walking back to Pataliputra. He had sent several horsemen ahead to report on the progress of other armies and to find out what was happening in Pataliputra. There had been no news from the city.
41. An Army of Northerners
It was a chance incident that had introduced Dinul to the fierce and brave nature of the northerners. One day as he was sitting high on his favourite mountain, he observed with interest as a northerner was hunting a deer. He was as silent as a leopard and had only a wooden rod sharpened at the edge on a stone as a weapon.
He was opposite to the wind and the deer had no knowledge of his arrival. He was silently creeping towards the deer on all fours, without making a noise and as close to the ground as possible. When he was about five feet from the deer, he jumped in the air, and lunged at the animal.
Incidentally, at the very same instance, a fully grown tiger leapt at the deer. The deer was able to escape as the tiger and the northerner were distracted by each other at the very last minute. The hunters were suddenly facing each other and had to fight each other for survival now.
Each was angry at the other for making them miss what looked like a sumptuous meal a few moments ago. The animal and the man viewed each other with respect, but decided that one of them would have to pay the price for this digression with his life. No one wanted to take the other lightly.
Dinul was immensely interested with the fact that northerner did not seem to be afraid at all. He was ready for attacking the tiger as if it was just another deer. Dinul’s first instinct was to save the man, and if he wanted he could have easily saved him, because unlike the man, he was armed with a sword that could pierce the animal’s heart in a second. But, he wanted to see whether the northerner had the strength and the ability to match the courage he was displaying.
The tiger lunged at the northerner, who quickly swerved to his left and thrust his wooden spear into the animal’s side. The animal roared in pain and the northerner smiled. His spear was in the animal's side and the animal was wounded and angry.
It jumped towards him again. As the northerner tried to evade the tiger, he also tried to draw the wooden spear out. This was a mistake because it brought him in close proximity with the tiger and the tiger‘s paw hit him on his shoulder drawing blood, and exposing bone. It was the northerner's turn to scream. But the scream was more like a war cry, as the spear was back in his hand. This time before the animal could jump for the third time, the northerner lunged forward with his spear and gouged the animal’s eye. It was the fight between two masters of the jungle, there were no rules and the last man standing would live to see another day.
Both the northerner and the beast were injured now. Once again they were moving in a semicircle eyeing each other and looking for an opportunity to attack. The wounds had made both of them weak and the loss of blood was adding to the weakness. They both had energy for one last attempt at taking the other’s life.
The animal jumped and the northerner jumped and they landed in one mangled heap. The man had thrust the spear into the animal’s heart and was trying to hold the animal at bay and see if his thrust had found his mark.
A few minutes and a few loud roars later the animal was dead and the man was standing. Dinul was impressed. He had decided to use them in his plan. He was the first northerner that Dinul had approached and trained to be his companion. He had named him Kairav, as his northerner name was too hard to pronounce for Dinul.
It was difficult to make the northerners understand the advantages of being organized and not everyone joined in readily, but those who did became completely loyal to Dinul.
42. The Silence at Pataliputra
Three days had passed since the ceasefire and a silence had descended on Pataliputra. The pigeons had arrived with the bad news of the loss of their armies, and the pigeons that they had tried to send outside had been shot down by the enemy. Their high place on the palace enabled them to do so. The bow and arrow of the enemy had a longer range than they had ever seen and the marksmen placed on the high palace had made it difficult even for any man to leave the camp unseen.
“We are trapped here, Agniputra,“ Karkish said, “The armies of the five kingdom will be at our backs in no time, shouldn't we try something?”
Agniputra knew that Karkish was right. They should be doing something, but what they should be doing was something that he could not understand. They were trapped, their armies were trapped. It was important for them to fight. For all they knew, their armies had been routed in the war, or they might be facing a situation just as bad as they were facing.
Fighting seemed to be the only option, but for the last three days Dinul had shown no inclination to fight either.
“What are they waiting for?” Agniputra was thinking out loudly.
“They are waiting for reinforcements in the form of the five kings. If they arrive, then we are finished. It is almost impossible to hold the city walls against an army of tens of thousands, but even if that was a possibility, it can’t be done with Dinul and his men at our backs. One of the challenges has to go, before the other arrives,” replied Karkish.
“Tonight we must send in our men to attack them. They won’t be drawn out as they believe that help is near at hand.”
“Select some of our best men then to attack them tonight. I will lead them while you stay back, and wait for my signal,” Karkish said.
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br /> Agniputra was not ready to send the king in such a bold attack but Karkish was adamant.
“I have to lead the men so that they believe in the leadership,” Karkish said, sensing Agniputra’s reluctance.
Agniputra knew that he had to believe in the king and his leadership and if he did not believe in that, then how could the other soldiers believe in him.
“Send Vidyutputra outside to get some news of the battle. Maybe it is not as bad as we fear,” Karkish said with a hopeful smile.
Agniputra bowed in assent and went to carry out the orders of the King.
Dinul had received the good news of the victory of his army from four of the places. The kings had sent the message about their victory as soon as they had defeated Pataliputra’s army. The silence from the fifth king was disturbing and Dinul had to assume the worst. He was weighing whether to attack, or wait. In the end he had chosen to wait before attacking Karkish because he knew that his army was coming to attack Pataliputra and once they were here, they would be able to win an easy victory without losing any more of the men.
Dinul was enjoying the fact that he had managed to cut off any communication between Karkish and anyone who might be wanting to help them from outside. Though he knew that he could not stop a brave and a clever man from leaving the camp, but that would take time, yet it would be impossible for such a man to leave without being noticed. The pigeon messengers, for now, had been stopped. As long as he could keep the communication between the outside world and Karkish to the minimum, he knew he had the upper hand.