The Sudarshana

by Aiki Flinthart

  “Yes, yes,” the Raj made ‘hurry up’ motions with his hands.

  “There would have to be at least ten thousand Naga warriors in Bhumaka’s army,” Brynn finished in a rush.

  Guatamiputra sat down heavily. His generals exchanged anxious looks. Sopaniputra muttered again something about retreating. Vasi and Marcus both frowned, glancing at the table with its rough-and-ready model of the two armies. Clearly they were re-thinking their battle strategy.

  “Umm,” Brynn added with apparent reluctance. “There’s something else you might not like.”

  The Raj sighed. “Go on, boy. You may as well tell us. It can’t get much worse.”

  “I’m not so sure about that,” the boy warned. “Their goddess, Manasa, is with them and she sounds really, really angry.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Phoenix looked over quickly at Jade. She paled, clutching her chair with white fingers.

  “How?” her voice was low and strained.

  If Guatamiputra thought it was an odd question, he didn’t say so. He simply nodded slowly and stood up.

  “Rumours had reached us that Manasa devi had been killed in a fight with a treasure-hunter,” he mused. “Clearly she either wasn’t killed or she has simply taken a new avatar. Either way, she is a force to be reckoned with and one we must factor into our plans. Luckily, we have our own devi.” He bowed toward Jade, who stared back with wide, horror-filled eyes.

  “Come gentlemen,” the Raj continued more confidently, “we have plans and preparations to make. This is a setback but nothing we can’t handle.”

  Phoenix, however, was watching Jade. She put her hand to her head and stood up, holding onto the back of a chair as though afraid she would fall over if she let go. Cadoc was quickly by her side, one hand under her elbow. She smiled up at him.

  “I don’t feel so well,” she apologised. “I think I’ll go to bed.”

  Phoenix nodded and caught Brynn’s eye. The boy lifted his chin in silent understanding.

  “Me too,” he yawned. “I’ll come with you.”

  Together, the two left the tent.

  Marcus moved over to Phoenix’s side and murmured into his ear. “She doesn’t look any better, does she?”

  Phoenix shook his head. “I don’t know if it’s just the thought of dealing with that snake-goddess again, or whether it’s the after-effects of so many deaths but I’m worried about her. This weakness is not normal. We need her in full strength tomorrow if we’re going to utilise her telepathy to keep the army co-ordinated. Then there’s this whole eagle-and-sudarshana thing. Where and when does that factor in? There’s still too much we don’t know.” He ran stiff fingers through his hair and growled low in his throat.

  “If it’s any consolation, fire should work just as well on the Naga as it does on human soldiers,” Marcus said calmly. “If we aim well, we should also be able to cause their elephants to stampede into their own ranks.”

  Phoenix gripped his friend’s arm, trying to convey his gratitude. “You’ve done an amazing job with this, Marcus. Thanks. I wouldn’t have known where to start in managing a whole army.”

  The Roman boy bowed, his face flushed. He clearly wasn’t used to receiving compliments; just as Phoenix wasn’t used to giving them. Overcoming the awkward moment, Marcus turned his back on the rest of the tent-group and switched to the Svear language.

  “Don’t forget, too, that tomorrow night is the last night we’ll see the moon. Whatever else happens, we have to return the Sudarshana to the statue of Vishnu in Punya-Vishaya by then. If we haven’t won the war, the town will still be in Bhumaka’s hands.”

  “I know!” Phoenix groaned. “I just don’t know what to do. Damn, why did Jade have to pick now to get sick?”

  “I’m pretty sure she didn’t plan it,” Marcus said levelly.

  Phoenix smiled. “More sarcasm? Be careful or I’ll start to think you have a sense of humour.”

  “Never,” the Roman boy returned. One of the generals claimed his attention and Phoenix was left to ponder his own thoughts.

  He had come to depend on Jade over the last couple of weeks. It had been unwilling in the beginning but their adventures had led him to realise that she was someone he could rely on. Sure, she was a know-it-all who was too soft-hearted for her own good but she was smart and quick-thinking. Between the two of them, they covered each others’ weaknesses. His fighting skills were complemented by her magic; her tendency to worry tempered his impulsive confidence. The realisation dawned on him that, in fact, they balanced each other quite nicely.

  Phoenix slapped his own forehead and plonked down on a chair. “Of course we do. How stupid am I?” He murmured to himself. “This has been about balance all along. Each quest restores balance to the place we’re in and there are two of us as Players because we are the yin and yang.” Reaching into his shirt, he fingered the half-amulet hanging around his neck. A muted surge of something that felt like strength and pride flowed into him via his fingertips. Startled, he dropped the pendant and squinted down at it. It had never done that before. Cautiously, he touched it again but this time it was just slightly warm: as normal.

  With a shrug, he dismissed it and went to join in the planning meeting

  *****

  It was still dark when Jade awoke to the sound of someone calling her name softly. Blinking bleary eyes, she saw Marcus crouched nearby, holding a small oil lamp.

  “What?” she croaked.

  “It’s time to get up,” he said. He smiled at her and brushed a loose lock of hair from her face with gentle fingers.

  “Why?” she asked, feeling thick-headed.

  His expression slid into grim intent. “We go to war today.”

  That woke her up. A quick glance showed Phoenix and Cadoc already gone, along with their weapons and riding gear. Brynn still slept, curled up in a small ball of twitching legs and arms.

  “You should have woken me earlier,” she grouched, scrambling to her feet. She’d gone to bed already-dressed, so it was just a matter of pulling on boots and grabbing her backpack. Marcus roused a sleepy, protesting Brynn.

  “You needed the sleep,” Marcus replied, shoving Brynn’s things at him. “Let’s go. We need to get to the top of the hill well before the dawn attack is launched. Guatamiputra will need your mind-speech as soon as it’s light enough to see the battle.”

  Hurriedly, Jade grabbed her herb-bag and stuffed it, along with the Hyllion Bagia, into her shirt-front. She was going to need it. Her legs were shaky and her hands felt cold. There was a frightening core of weakness underlying the layer of strength that extra sleep had returned. Something was very wrong and she began to feel the first real twinges of fear: fear that she might collapse again, lose another life and lose the war, the level and the very game they were playing. Fear that she might never get home. Snatching up her staff, she leaned on it a little to disguise the trembling of her knees. Gritting her teeth, she nodded.

  “Let’s go then.”

  Marcus sent her a warm look, tinged with worry. “Don’t lose any more lives doing this for the Raj,” he ordered. “You are worth far more than him.”

  Jade slipped a hand through his arm and leaned her cheek on his strong shoulder. “Thanks, Marcus. Sometimes I have trouble believing that.”

  “I know,” he replied, laying his hand over hers.

  She smiled up at him. He frowned at her for a moment then leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

  “Be safe.” Releasing her, he strode to his horse, leaving Jade to blink after him in surprise at his gruff tone.

  A short while later, their sturdy horses carried them to the bare top of the same hill on which she and Brynn had sought refuge three nights before. Leaving Jade with the Raj, Brynn and one of the generals, Marcus hurried off to supervise the loading and aiming of the onagers.

  Although it was too dark to see them yet, she knew there were twenty of these huge, wheeled contraptions lining the ridge and another twenty on each of
the two mountains to the east and west of theirs. At the moment, they were hidden from the enemy but soon they would be pushed forward and loaded with enormous fireballs and rocks. Then death would rain down on Bhumaka’s unsuspecting army.

  Jade shivered at the thought. She could almost hear the screams.

  The Raj gestured her closer. “You are well?” His sharp gaze bored into her. Dark circles under his eyes paid testimony to another sleepless night.

  Unable to speak, Jade simply nodded. The knowledge that the responsibility of his war-communications rested on her shoulders weighed on her. What if she couldn’t handle it? What if she failed? What if she wore herself out again at a crucial moment and the whole war went against Guatamiputra because he’d relied on her and she’d let him down? She struggled to control her spiralling fears.

  Brynn sidled over, slipping his cold little hand into hers he looked up at her. “You’ll be ok,” he whispered, squeezing hard. Grateful, she squeezed back.

  “Where are Phoenix and Cadoc?” she asked, trying to think of something else.

  “They’re with Vasi, leading the dawn attack,” Brynn’s answer was subdued. “They wouldn’t let me go with them.”

  Jade squeezed his hand again. “I’m so glad they didn’t, Brynn. I don’t think I can do this without you.”

  The boy smiled up at her, his usual cheekiness swept away by the enormity of what they were taking part in.

  “You can do anything,” he said simply.

  “I hope so,” she said, under her breath.

  The first faint hints of grey smudged the eastern horizon and Guatamiputra called her to his side. Together, she and Brynn crept to the southern edge of the mountain ridge and gazed down. Light blushed across the dark sky and spilled toward them over the vast Deccan Plateau below. One by one, the stars dimmed and were washed away by the dawn of a new day.

  Bhumaka’s camp could be seen faintly through the half-light and Jade was stunned at the extent of it. Tens of thousands of tents and smoking fires dotted the vast plains below. Thousands of elephants and horses shifted and stirred in safely corralled herds. She could also just make out the forces of the Raj’s army being lead by her friends. They lay and crouched in every scrap of cover; every gully; every shred of grass between the base of the hill and the encampment. They waited: waited for her signal to go to their deaths.

  Guatamiputra nodded at her. She shivered and reluctantly sat crosslegged on a pile of cushions provided by someone thoughtful and closed her eyes. Yesterday, while they were waiting for Brynn to return, she had discovered a limitation to her telepathy: she could only mind-speak people she’d met. Guatamiputra had ordered every one of his captains and commanders to attend him. Thousands of men had turned up.

  Deeply embarrassed by the Raj’s glowing introduction of her as a goddess, Jade brushed her thoughts delicately against theirs so she would know them and be able to find them again. It had been a trying, bizarre experience for everyone involved and now the whole army buzzed with rumours about her. While the spell lasted, Jade could hear the faint mind-whispers of all the men like a background hum in her head. It was distracting and, sometimes, distressing. It seemed the entire army was in awe of both her beauty and her power. Wild rumours of her abilities got wilder by the minute.

  Now, almost unwillingly, she whispered the mind-talk spell and sought first for Phoenix. His mind was full of a muted battle-song. Blódbál’s hymn, she guessed, only now realising how difficult he must find it to concentrate on anything else. In the back of her own mind, she could once more hear the low-key hum of Indian officers’ thoughts. She blocked them out and focussed on Phoenix. Blódbál’s battle-chant got louder.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “As we’ll ever be,” Phoenix thought back.

  En masse, she asked the same question of the commanders and of Marcus. They all replied affirmative, although in many she could sense awe and fear of her, mixed with fear of what lay ahead and worry for the men they commanded and their families. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and nodded to Guatamiputra. He glanced at the sky. It was now just light enough him to see clearly. His army crept as close as they could to the enemy camp and were in position. It was now or never.

  His fists clenched against the knowledge that many of his people were about to die and Jade respected him for that. In the last day or so, she had learnt a great deal about his family and it was clear they would be fine rulers. His family were of the Brahmin caste – priests and scholars, not warriors. Their rule had been just and fair for many years. Guatamiputra himself didn’t want to go to war. He did it to regain lost Satavahana lands and to protect his people from the harsh governance of the Saka Kshatraps.

  “Tell them to charge,” the Raj commanded.

  Helping Guatamiputra was the right thing to do. Keeping this firmly in mind, Jade reached out to all the officers at once and gave the order to go to war.

  The feedback surge of excitement, fear, determination and adrenalin was so strong that she had to physically brace herself against it. She dampened the intensity of the connection to cope with the onslaught of emotion. Her heart raced and she had to take several deep breaths to focus again on her task: giving Guatamiputra a running commentary.

  Far below, wild war-cries of sixty-thousand men rent the peaceful, grey dawn.

  *****

  Phoenix crouched in a shallow gully with his contingent of five hundred men and waited. A hundred metres away to the east, lying low in a similar wadi, Cadoc lay in wait with Sopaniputra and his men. Marcus had given them both a crash course on leading and co-ordinating a group this size but Phoenix’s palms were sweating at the thought of it. To make matters worse, Blódbál seemed to sense the imminent slaughter and was doing its best to encourage him to run screaming into battle right now. He spoke firmly to the weapon. The song in his head paused in surprise. When it resumed it was fainter and carried a resentful overtone – like a child that continues rebelliously humming under its breath even after being asked to stop. Ah well; it was better, so he didn’t push the point. At least he could hear Jade when she contacted him.

  It was still a shock when her voice sounded inside his head. Would he ever get used to that? Could she hear any of his thoughts, or just the ones he spoke to her? It was an uncomfortable feeling and he knew her well. He wondered how the Indians were reacting to having her in their heads. From the startled, uneasy looks on some of his captains’ faces, he guessed they weren’t all that happy about it.

  Dawn melted the darkness into a soft pink-grey and his group pressed themselves flat to the ground. They were hidden within a few dozen metres of the nearest Saka guard. This could all go pear-shaped if they were discovered early. With only a half-strength force, and without the elephants or war-chariots, the Raj’s men would have to fight well and carefully to survive long enough to retreat at the right time.

  Daylight crept across the plains, stealing night away and rousing sleepy birds. Behind him, Phoenix could feel his men getting restless. Looking back, he glared at his officers, who, in turn, glared at their subordinates until the troops all settled again. So still were they, that a small brown bird came and sat on a branch only two feet from Phoenix’s head and trilled its morning song, oblivious to the danger. He smiled. If that didn’t convince Bhumaka’s scouts that everything was fine, nothing would.

  Tension built, doubled and redoubled as they waited for the call to battle. What seemed like an hour could only have been a few minutes, really. Phoenix willed himself to relax and let his fingers unclench from their cramped grip on Blódbál’s hilt. He reviewed the battle plan again: sixty thousand of Guatamiputra’s infantry would charge at Bhumaka’s unwary camp as soon as it was light enough for the Raj to see everything. They would fight just long enough for the whole of Bhumaka’s army to get into battle readiness then they would retreat as though being forced back. They would give ground until they were within range of the onager.

  Then, on a prearranged signal, the Raj
’s troops would turn as one and bolt, leaving the bulk of Bhumaka’s army within range of the catapults. Marcus would rain fire on to the enemy who would, hopefully, mill about in confusion for awhile and give time for Gautamputra’s army to form up in full strength.

  Finally, when fire and rocks had done their worst, the Raj would signal his whole army to descend on the demoralised enemy and finish the thing. Sixty thousand men would swarm out from behind the plains toward the centre, while two groups of thirty thousand swept around from the east and west in an attempt to outflank what remained of Bhumaka’s force.

  At least…. That was the plan. Whether it worked or not would depend almost entirely on Jade’s ability to keep communication lines open – and that depended on so many variables that it made Phoenix sick to even think of how many could go wrong.

  His stomach churned as he was swept by the feeling that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. What the heck was he doing here? Cadoc was right – it was stupid to fight someone else’s war. He was going to die – again – and it was going to be a completely wasted life. How dumb was he? He didn’t know how to lead this many men. He couldn’t handle this.

  Drawing a deep breath to steady his racing heart, he recalled Marcus’ words in the Naga tunnels: Only a fool ignores fear. Of course I get scared. I just don’t let it paralyse me. It was true: it was ok to be afraid; he just couldn’t let it take over.

  Then, as if aware of his thoughts, Blódbál’s song burst forth in his head, wiping out all apprehension with battle-lust and images of glory. Phoenix pushed aside fear and grinned savagely. He could do it. Not so long ago, he’d been a kid afraid of his stepfather. Now he had fought battles on three continents and survived. The only difference here was the scale of things. With Blódbál in his hand and Jade backing him, he could do this.

  Precisely at that moment, Jade’s hollow voice sounded in his, and every other officers’, head. The order was given. Phoenix waved his men forward. All around him, wild war-cries of sixty-thousand men rent the peaceful, grey dawn. The battle began.