The Sudarshana

by Aiki Flinthart

“Phoenix, can you hear me?”

  There was a sense of startled recognition and a brief flicker of fear rapidly suppressed.

  “It’s ok,”she murmured.“Brynn and I are safe up on the mountain. We can see everything.”

  “Jade?” His mental voice sounded muted and distant, like she heard him from the end of a long, echoey tunnel.

  “Who else?”she said tartly.“I can’t keep this up for long so listen. Bhumaka’s men have taken the middle of the camp. Guatamiputra is fighting on the western side, so if you can both turn inward, you’ll have the Saka contingent trapped and you can win this.”

  There was a pause and she sensed Phoenix struggling to fight and keep up this mind-talk at the same time. She waited impatiently for him to focus on it again. When he did, it was brief and to the point.

  “Alright. You talk to Guatamiputra and tell him we’ll both move in threeminutes, no more.” Abruptly, the sense of his presence ended, as though he’d hung up on her. Shocked, she jerked back and sought him with her eyes. Relief flowed as she saw him still fighting hard with Marcus right beside him.

  Turning west, she found Guatamiputra and concentrated on him. It was more difficult because she didn’t know him well and found him a bit intimidating. How would he react to hearing her voice in his head? Maybe it was time to play the devi to the hilt.

  Gritting her teeth, she threw her thoughts at him as strongly as she could.

  “Raj, hear me. It is the Shining One. Obey my instructions and you can win this battle.”

  Far below, Guatamiputra’s sword arm faltered in mid strike. Frightened, she yelled at him.

  “Don’t stop fighting, you idiot, or you’ll be killed before you can even begin to unite your kingdom!”

  The Raj completed his swing and despatched the man he’d been duelling with. Jade sagged in the saddle, relieved. Swiftly, she relayed instructions about the Saka to the king, hoping he would believe her.

  Brynn tugged on her arm, pointing. Phoenix and Vasi were turning their men westward. If Guatamiputra didn’t do his part, Vasi’s men would be outnumbered and slaughtered.

  With a mental and real cry that all but scraped her throat raw, Jade shouted at the Raj.

  “Move you fool or Vasi, Phoenix and all their men die now. Move!”

  With that huge effort, the last of her temporary strength drained away and she lost the mental connection. Her fingers fell from the amulet. Vaguely, she felt Brynn’s small hands trying to hold her up as she slid forward and plunged from her mare’s neck to the cold, hard ground below.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The sound of hammering woke her. Muffled and regular, it drove into Jade’s sleepy dreamstate and dragged her back into what passed for reality. Sighing regretfully, she raised sticky eyelids and stared at a canvas ceiling. Her limbs seemed too heavy to bother moving, so she stayed still, wondering where she was – and who the heck was into major construction somewhere nearby.

  Turning her head, she could see familiar packs and gear strewn carelessly around the place. Four other sets of bedding seemed to indicate all her friends were alive and well and that this was not some sort of prison. So far, so good. Now for the real test. Was she alive and well, or just well-ish.

  Cautiously, she sat up. It was surprisingly easy, considering how awful she’d been feeling the last couple of days. Maybe she’d slept long enough to regain some strength after being drugged by Leela and losing two lives in two days.

  Memories of the battle rushed back and she patted the ground around her, looking for her life-dagger. It lay beside the wadded up pile of clothes that served as her pillow. Holding it gingerly, Jade counted the rubies in the hilt and groaned. There were only three left. Only three. That meant she’d lost yet another one by draining her strength on top of the mountain.

  Anger surged and she gripped the hilt until her knuckles turned white. It wasn’t fair. Just doing that simple little bit of magic shouldn’t have taken so much out of her. She wasn’t some sort of pathetic weakling girly-girl. She was stronger than that. What was wrong with her? It just wasn’t fair. With a cry of frustration, she flung the dagger impetuously away and fought the urge to burst into tears.

  “Hey! Watch out! You could kill someone with that thing,” Cadoc’s voice called in mock alarm from the doorway. He stepped all the way in and added, “At least you could if I gave you some lessons. Knife-throwing is obviously not your strong point. I’ve been teaching Phoenix, though, and he’s getting pretty good. How are you feeling?”

  Jade looked up, managing a small smile and a shrug. He came in, bearing a steaming mug and followed by Brynn, Phoenix and Marcus. They crowded around, all talking at once about winning the battle, Guatamiputra’s gratitude and something about onagers. Jade took the tea, warming her fingers on it and her heart on their friendship. Her smile broadened.

  “Thanks guys,” she said as their stories petered out and they looked expectantly at her. She raised her mug at Cadoc. “Thanks for the tea; and thanks for taking care of me, all of you. I’m sorry to be so useless at the moment. I don’t know why I’m so tired these days.” Turning her head she brushed a tear away with the back of her hand and sniffed defiantly.

  Phoenix laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “You aren’t useless. You won the battle for us. I just hope you’re feeling better now. You can’t afford to lose any more lives like that.”

  She smiled. “Last night was an exception. Hopefully I won’t have to do magic in such a weakened state again.”

  The others exchanged amused glances. “The camp was attacked two nights ago,” Phoenix broke it to her. “You’ve been asleep for a whole day, a night and most of today as well.”

  Jade stared at him then shook herself, trying to account for the lost time. “Well,” she finally said matter-of-factly, “no wonder I’m bursting to go to the bathroom. Get out, you lot, give a girl some privacy.” Waving a hand at them she shooed them away and clambered out of bed to get ready.

  If she’d been asleep that long then they only had one more day before the last night of the dying moon. Tomorrow night they had to complete their quest. Tomorrow night they had to find the statue of Vishnu and return the Sudarshana or they wouldn’t be able to get to Level Five.

  The sound of renewed hammering roused her from fruitless worry about how to accomplish their task. She finished dressing, tucked the Hyllion Bagia into her shirt, the knife into her belt, picked up her staff and stepped outside. Blinking in the bright afternoon light, she stared at the enormous shapes silhouetted against the blue sky.

  “They’re huge,” she said stupidly.

  Phoenix, who’d been waiting with the others, grinned at her. “Marcus’ idea come to life. After your stunt with the telepathy, Guatamiputra was more than willing to listen to Marcus’ plan.”

  “Marcus’ plan?” Jade repeated in disbelief.

  “I know; hard to believe, isn’t it? Even more bizarre is the fact that he talked non-stop for an hour, explaining how to use the onagers in battle. He’s a born general, although he’s quite irritated that the Indians don’t seem to grasp the idea of using cavalry properly and he doesn’t have enough time to teach them.” Phoenix sent a sideways grin at the Roman, who ignored him and continued his low-voiced conversation with Vasi.

  Phoenix leaned closer and murmured into Jade’s ear. “Between you and me, Marcus is appalled at the waste of human life. Although the Raj is willing to listen to new ideas, his generals’ idea of war is to throw a hundred thousand of the lower, shudra caste infantry at each other and count victory by how many are still standing at the end of the day. That’s part of the reason Marcus’ had so much trouble convincing the generals that the onager are a good idea – they just couldn’t imagine war without losing obscene numbers of men on both sides.”

  Jade opened her mouth to ask exactly what Marcus’ plan was but was interrupted when Vasi finished his conversation with Marcus and came up to her. He bowed, open admiration in his dark eyes. “If you ar
e recovered, my lady, my father requests an audience.”

  She raised surprised brows at Phoenix, who shrugged. This was a turnabout. Last time Guatamiputra had barely tolerated her speaking to him; now he was requesting an audience? Intrigued, she followed the prince. Phoenix and the others fell into step like an honour guard.

  Inside Guatamiputra’s tent, the Raj was arguing heatedly with one of his advisors. He broke off when Jade arrived.

  “Ah! You are recovered!” Nodding, the king gestured for them to sit. His huge, wooden table had, presumably, been burnt so they crowded around a small, rickety contraption made out of wooden boxes covered with a sari. Jade hid a smile. How the mighty had fallen.

  “What do you think of this idea; the way your Marcus wants to deploy this new machinery?” the Raj demanded loudly.

  “Oh,” she stalled. She had no clue what the whole plan was. “Well, why don’t you tell me how you see it playing out then I’ll tell you what I think of it.”

  Nothing loath, Guatamiputra explained Marcus’ plan in enthusiastic detail.

  His army had already retreated from their burnt-out campground and were now camped behind the very hill where Jade had fallen insensible. Bhumaka had, at first, waited to see what they would do. Now he was starting to bring men across the river to stake a claim on the abandoned site. Marcus had ordered a number of large onager to be built out of sight, just behind the crests of the three hills, with several more held in reserve on the flat land below. In addition, he had taught the men how to construct pitch-coated balls of wickerwork that could be hurled from the onager as an alternative to rocks. The previous night, Guatamiputra’s men had been busy digging shallow trenches all along the northern border of the old campsite and filling them with pitch and straw. Elephants had been put to work hauling large rocks and baskets of gravel and sand from a nearby riverbed.

  Now the Raj’s entire army was hidden behind the three hills, with scouts keeping a lookout for any indication that Bhumaka was going to attack. So far, Bhumaka had contented himself with simply sweeping aside the remains of Guatamiputra’s old encampment and setting up his own.

  Guatamiputra shrugged. “Let him exhaust his men in pointless gestures. Tomorrow, at dawn, we will attack – but with just half our army.”

  Jade raised her brows at him then glanced at Marcus, who nodded in solemn confirmation.

  “After the initial attack, we will turn and retreat toward these hills,” Guatamiputra pointed at a rough model that sat on the rickety table. She now realised that the upturned cups and bowls, and dozens of pebbles were not simply unwashed dishes and clutter but meant to represent hills and armies.

  “That will keep our men out of range of their poisoned arrows. With your mind-talk, it will be easy to co-ordinate an attack and a unified retreat,” Guatamiputra explained. “Bhumaka will think they have won and will chase after us. When his army is close enough, we will launch the onager. Some will throw rocks and fire directly into the army and others will set fire to the trenches we dug – cutting off his retreat. The rest of the army will then sweep in from either side, lead by the war-chariots, and enclose Bhumaka’s men, crushing them as though in a huge vice.” He closed his hand together in a pincer movement. “You, my dear, will then soar above wielding the Sudarshana and we will crush them in one, mighty battle. The Saka Kshatrap will be driven out of Satvahana land forever.” He smacked a fist into his palm. His generals nodded enthusiastically.

  With an effort, Jade suppressed a smile at his dramatic speech. Instead, she nodded. “Sounds like a good plan but there are two problems I can see straight away. One: I don’t have a thirty foot eagle to fly over the battlefield on and two: what about the Naga?”

  From their guilty, stunned expressions, she assumed that all of her companions had completely forgotten to mention the existence of the snake-people in Bhumaka’s army. Brynn groaned. Cadoc grimaced. Guatamiputra stared at them all with confusion and a hint of anger.

  “What are you talking about?” He demanded.

  “We forgot about them,” Phoenix admitted. “Bhumaka has made some sort of agreement with the Naga people. They will be fighting for him.”

  Guatamiputra sat down, suddenly seeming older. He passed a hand over his face. Behind him, Vasi frowned and took a half-step forward while Sopaniputra quickly smothered a fleeting expression of excitement.

  “How many?” Vasi asked.

  “We don’t know,” Phoenix shrugged. “Jade?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t hear. Can you send in scouts?”

  Vasi thought then shook his head, too. “Bhumaka’s camp is too well-guarded for any of my men to slip in.”

  “What about any of your boys,” Brynn piped up. All eyes turned to him. He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Just seemed to me that a small boy who can understand all their languages might be a useful spy….”

  Guatamiputra raised his head, stood up and eyed Phoenix. “He is your servant, what do you say?”

  Phoenix grinned down at Brynn and laid a hand on the boy’s thin shoulder. “Brynn is no-one’s servant, sir. He’s his own man and if he thinks he can do it, I believe in him. It’s his choice.”

  Jade made a wordless noise of protest but Phoenix and Brynn both ignored her.

  “Besides,” Brynn said out of the side of his mouth in the Svear language, “if I get caught and put in prison again, I’m one up on you.”

  Phoenix grinned wider and squeezed his shoulder. “Do me a favour and don’t.”

  “Jealous?”

  “Hardly,” Phoenix returned. “I just don’t want to go to the hassle of having to rescue you again. It’s getting to be such a drag.”

  Brynn elbowed him.

  The Raj crouched down in front of the young Breton. “Very well, boy. Go tonight and return with as much information on Bhumaka’s army as you can. It could mean the difference between success and failure tomorrow. You will be handsomely rewarded, I promise.”

  Brynn sent him a narrow look. “Exactly how handsome are we talking, your Raj-ness?”

  Several generals gasped and a serving girl carrying a tray of food into the tent squeaked in alarm. For a moment, the Raj glared at the boy then his face softened into a cynical smile. He stood and laid a heavy hand on Brynn’s shoulder.

  “You haggle like a true Indian, boy. Let us say, as many of my gold coins as you can hold in two hands.”

  “The coins and two new horses,” Brynn countered, “since we have lost two in helping you so far.”

  “The coins and one new horse,” the Raj replied, dropping his hand and giving the boy a severe look. “You lost the first by your own carelessness.”

  Seeing he’d pushed the issue as far as he could, Brynn quirked a lopsided grin and gave the Raj a mock-salute. “It’s a bargain, your highness. Back soon.” Without another word, he spun and was gone from the tent.

  Several hours later, even Marcus was starting to get edgy. Brynn had been away a very long time. It was well after dark. Guatamiputra had ordered the bulk of his army to bed in preparation for the next day. The night outside was broken only by the regular pacing of guards and the occasional trumpeting of an elephant or whickering of a horse.

  Inside the Raj’s tent, however, no one had left. The Raj, Vasi, Sopaniputra, the generals, Phoenix and his companions sat, fidgeted or paced as they awaited Brynn’s return. Phoenix borrowed Cadoc’s knives and went outside to practice his new knife-throwing skill for awhile. Marcus polished and sharpened all their weapons with single-minded focus. Jade curled up in a corner, succumbing again to sleep as her weary body tried to recover.

  Eventually, servants brought food, which was eaten in subdued silence then taken away again. Any new conversations quickly stumbled to a halt in the oppressive atmosphere. Marcus and Vasi continued to come up with variations on the war plan in an effort to pass the time. Cadoc hovered solicitously around Jade, bringing her food, drink and her cloak when the temperatures fell. Sopaniputra glared alternately at him and a
t his father, as though angry at both for some reason. Jade, at least, managed to stay calm. Since the Binding Spell attached the four companions in a way she could sense, she could at least tell that Brynn was not injured in any way. It was still taking far too long, though.

  Finally, just as she had decided she couldn’t stand waiting any longer, the tent flap burst open and Brynn staggered in, breathing hard.

  “Are you alright?” she rushed to his side, running her hands over his head and face to check he really was ok.

  He brushed her aside with a nod, “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

  “Give the boy some space,” Guatamiputra ordered. He pressed a glass of warm wine into Brynn’s hands and waited impatiently while he gulped it down. Someone handed the Breton boy a chapatti and he bit into it. Washing it down with more wine, he sighed and sat on a stool.

  “From what I can tell, those Saka troops you fought the other night weren’t Saka at all,” he began, his mouth still half-full. Waving away astonished interruptions, Brynn shouted to make himself heard. “It was all part of the trick. They dressed up a bunch of ordinary Indian infantry and sent them in to take the brunt of your defence. The idea was to make you believe you’d taken out the best of Bhumaka’s men so you’d over commit yourself in the main battle.”

  A babble of angry, confused conversation broke out amongst the generals as they argued over the honour of Bhumaka’s tactics. Sopaniputra loudly advised his father to give up and return east to defend his capital. Phoenix looked at Brynn, as though sensing there was more to come. Guatamiputra hushed his advisors and motioned for the boy to continue.

  “What about the Naga?” He asked.

  “Ah,” Brynn scrubbed his fingers through his hair, sending a shower of dust up into the air around him. “The Naga. I couldn’t get too close, you understand, because they would know my scent – from when we saw some in Bhumaka’s camp,” he added, obviously catching Jade’s warning look. The last thing they needed was for Guatamiputra to find out exactly who was responsible for the Naga taking sides in this war.