The Celestials

by Richard Wood

  Day Eight dawned. The welding torch was still brighter than the sun, which was just starting to show over the far hills, as Breen finished welding the last patch on the Landers outer hull. Inside Adeetoo was finishing rewiring the automatic oxygen system and cabin pressurization, both systems were inter-linked and required the presence of the other to function correctly, so Adeetoo had repaired both systems.

  The cockpit still reeked of burnt wiring, which was why Breen had opted to go outside and weld patches on the Lander hull, as he finished welding the last patch, he thought how lucky they had been as the wiring for the nuclear reactor feed rods had been so very close to catching fire and burning out. That would have left them unable to alter power output to the drives controlling the anti-gravity units, leaving them wallowing at the mercy of the enemy, unless they could pull up the cockpit floor and alter the nuclear power rods by hand. In the midst of a battle that would be highly unlikely. Ancore, Rogan and Glaina were walking down to the Lander to check the progress of repairs before they collected Breen and went for breakfast, leaving Adeetoo to finish off and stand radio watch until they returned.

  “Morning my love,” called Glaina as they caught sight of Breen clearing away the welding equipment before going to breakfast, the false hand that Adeetoo had made him had been very useful, as although it was plain metal it could grip things with surprising precision.

  “Hello dear heart I was just finishing up, before coming to wake you for breakfast, Adeetoo is finishing off the rewire inside he shouldn't be very long now. I opted for the welding to get me out in the fresh air. It really stinks of burnt wiring in the cockpit,” he replied.

  Ancore poked her head inside the cockpit, “how long before you finish Adeetoo,” she called.

  “Ten minutes more captain,” he replied.

  “Great please keep radio watch with Adeeone, when you have finished the repair,” she called as she quickly pulled her head out wrinkling her nose. The stench was awful.

  “We need to do something about that smell,” she told the others, “it’s overpowering in there.”

  “I'll get some bunches of wild herbs to hang in the Lander after breakfast,” volunteered Glaina.

  “An onion cut in half is supposed to suck up bad smells I have been told,” suggested Rogan.

  They arrived at the mess tent and ordered chai and honeyed chapatti with fresh fruit, then began talking about the plans for the day.

  “Once the smell in the cockpit has been neutralised, we can think about bombing that cave we found full of pulse jets yesterday. They must have a large base there if the number of pulse jets we have destroyed so far is anything to go by,” pronounced Ancore.

  “How do we bomb the cave without getting a whole flock of missiles fired at our rear end? We'll be so busy dodging them, we won't get near the cave,” replied Rogan.

  “My idea was to use the nuclear warhead that Nassel brought back from the red planet, dropping it on them from a great height, hoping to bring the mountain down on top of them,” answered Ancore.

  “They might have three guided missiles with nuclear warheads that they could use against us. We know they took three from the red planet, but we don't know where they have hidden them, if they are in the mountain cave, we could wipe out their nuclear capability in one bombing raid,” enthused Glaina.

  “They took five warheads and three missiles from the red planet according to Nassel. They have used two that we know of against Mohenjo-Daru and Harappa, so they could also have three warheads stashed in the cave, and three nuclear-tipped missiles. I do not think we can pass up the chance of depriving the Zedds of a base full of pulsejets and possibly their entire nuclear arsenal. However, difficult it is for us to carry out this mission,” Breen told the rest of the crew who were thoughtfully nodding in agreement.

  “The question then remains, how are we to bomb them? The warhead will have to have some sort of timer set to go off after it reaches the cave, do we bomb from a great height and possibly miss the target or do we bomb from low level, if from low level how,” asked Ancore?

  “At a high level we could miss the cave entirely, so I think it would be better to bomb low level. We could use a throwing motion, lobbing the bomb into the cave entrance, but I think we would need to practice the manoeuvre with a mock up bomb before we tried it for real,” suggested Rogan.

  “Have we got enough time to manufacture a dummy bomb and find somewhere similar to the cave so that we can practice lobbing this mock bomb?” asked Breen.

  “You are right; even if we can't practice we must bomb the cave today before they can remove everything they have hidden in there.” Stated Ancore.

  “Has anyone any idea how we are going to fix the bomb under the Lander so that we can lob it and set the fuse at the same time,” asked Rogan.

  “I can weld a crude bomb release mechanism under the Lander, which will start the fused timer when it is released. We just need to work out some figures for the bomb timer after it is released that would allow us to get clear before the bomb detonated, I'm thinking about a 40-second delay,” said Breen.

  “Wonderful Breen and the timing sounds about right at maximum speed that should put us roughly seven miles away when it explodes,” said Ancore happily, “can you get started right away Breen.”

  “Yes Adeetoo and I will start now; it will probably take a few hours before we are ready. We will have to take the Lander to Indraprastha to get a bomb so that we know the dimensions to build the bomb release to, if that is all right captain we should leave as soon as possible.”

  “I will get a bunch of herbs, for the cabin smell,” said Glaina.

  They broke up the meeting heading for the Lander. Glaina heading for the women on cooking duty to scrounge up an onion and a few bunches of herbs, before making for the Lander. The smell inside had been alleviated slightly by Ancore running the Blowers until Glaina arrived with a huge bunch of herbs and two onions that had been sliced in half, these were strewn around the cabin and did help somewhat although the acrid smell of charred wiring was still very strong.

  They took off climbing over the battlefield, which at this time of morning looked peaceful and very colourful with all the different flags and banners fluttering among the different coloured tents in the light breeze.

  They landed at Indraprastha and went straight to the armoury taking out a nuclear warhead. It was spherical and weighed almost fifty kilogram's, Breen had to fit a lanyard between the bomb and the bomb rack so that when the bomb was released the lanyard started the timing mechanism to ignite the bomb, and it needed a wire leading into the cockpit that released the bomb itself. He and Adeetoo checked the release mechanisms ten times each, making sure that there would not be a hitch, catching the bomb in a large padded basket under the Lander.

  “Well the bomb release has been tested statically, captain and it works fine, but it might not work the same under operational conditions, we will have to trust that it's going to work all right because if it doesn't we will have only forty seconds to say a prayer before we are vaporised.”

  “Well aren't you the cheerful one darling,” smiled Glaina with her teeth gritted.

  “Does anyone not want to come on this mission,” asked Ancore, “Breen you have been up all night would you like to stay here and go to bed until we return for you.”

  “No captain I wouldn't sleep worrying about you all, I'll come with you,” he grinned tiredly at her.

  They rechecked the timer was set for forty seconds and the lanyard properly connected before boarding the Lander, strapping in and heading for the Himalayan foothills and the Zedd cave. They were all very apprehensive about the outcome of the mission. They would not use this terrible weapon normally. However, this was an exceptional circumstance and they were at war.

  It was now almost noon, Ancore thought if the Zedds were using the pulsejets to attack the Pandavan army, they would be there by now, and if they had decided to clear out from the cave, by th
is time it might be almost empty. However, they could not have fitted the bomb rack any sooner or arrived any earlier, the Lander repairs had been very important to complete. Just then, the radio burbled and Adeeone reported five pulsejets attacking the Pandavan army.

  “We can't worry about that now Adeeone we are nearing our target and have our hands full,” Glaina told him.

  They were now coming up rapidly on the mountain and cave system, Ancore took the Lander down to fifty feet above the valley floor as they barrelled in at full speed leaving a trail of dust spinning in their wake as she lined the Lander up on its target, everything seemed ominously quiet.

  A mile from the cave she pulled the Lander up into a forty-five degree climb and pulled the bomb release. They had no indication that it had released successfully and were all praying silently as Ancore steepened the climb thus arcing the Lander over onto its back and heading back the way they had come then rolling the Lander upright again.

  Rogan was counting as Ancore put the throttles through the gate into combat speed, now they could only wait. Rogan had reached thirty nine when the flash, heat and radiation hit them, it seemed like an age before the shock wave, and the sound hit them lifting the Lander and pushing it beyond Mach one. Ancore eased back on the throttles and turned the Lander in a huge arc surveying the scene behind them, just as the returning shock wave hit them and again lifted and pushed the Lander.

  They could see nothing of the cave system because of the huge pall of smoke and dust with a column rising into the upper atmosphere and fanning out sideways like a giant multi layered parasol, rent through with red fires deep in its ungodly heart. As they hovered at twelve miles putting the screen to the highest magnification, they could slowly discern that the shape of the mountain had altered as millions of tons of rock had slid down burying the cave from their sight. Glaina whooped with relief as Breen, Rogan and Ancore all started talking at once, the tension slowly draining out of them.

  “Breen you’re a genius the bomb release worked perfectly,” Called Ancore excitedly.

  “I admit I wasn't totally sure it would work,” he replied tiredly now that it was successfully over he could hardly keep his eyes open.

  Rogan called to Ancore, “the pulse jets attacking the armies are likely to be returning after a successful mission, should we track them and see where they are headed for.”

  “Good idea Rogan,” she called lifting the nose of the Lander into a climb toward the Pandava front lines. Suddenly, five heat signatures showed on screen heading toward them. Ancore took the Lander above thirty thousand feet and started tracking them; they were heading back toward the cave when they must have seen the unmistakable mushroom cloud on the horizon ahead. Suddenly, they turned away and took up a new heading toward Hastinapura. “I think they have realised the cave has been bombed. I hope they will run out of fuel before they reach Hastinapura. As a precaution I think we should follow them, if they do or don't make it, we will blow them up as they try to land,” she called to Rogan who was manning the rail gun controls.

  They followed the pulsejets back to Hastinapura, but as they neared the palace grounds twenty miles away, they came under radar scrutiny and the Zedd black ship lifted into sight and formed up on the approaching pulse jets then led them around to face the Lander.

  “It looks as though the Zedds are spoiling for a fight, I don't think we are up to a confrontation at the moment,” said Ancore as she swung the Lander around and accelerated away back toward the Pandava lines, “are they following Glaina,” she asked.

  “No it looks as though the pulse jets are landing and the Zedd ship is guarding them,” she called back.

  “Well we don't appear to have destroyed as much of the Zedd war machine as we thought we might have,” remarked Breen sleepily.

  “They must have lost a lot of equipment stored in the cave, they couldn't have got it all out in time surely,” commented Ancore.

  “As the pulse jets were going to return to the cave, I think that we must have destroyed them all except that five, plus all the fuel and spares they probably had stored in there, we know the Zedd ship wasn't there but the big question is did we destroy their nuclear arsenal,” asked Rogan.

  “We will have to wait and see I think,” replied Ancore.

  They reached the Pandava lines and saw the destruction the pulsejets had caused bombing the Pandavan army with impunity. Fires were raging along the whole front. When they landed and entered Yudhishthira's tent, they found most of the army commanders there discussing tactics, they quickly explained what had occurred that day and that they still did not know if they had destroyed the Zedds nuclear capability, but at least five pulse jets and the Zedd ship had escaped.

  Yudhishthira told them not to worry about it, they had done their best, “now we will have to wait and see what they throw against us, meantime hoping our spies can come up with some answers,” he told them.

  “We have been hearing very disturbing reports from our spies that they are about to launch Kapila's Glance on us,” Arjuna told them.

  “What is Kapila's Glance?” asked Ancore completely mystified.

  “That's the problem we don't know, all our spies can tell us is that it can burn fifty thousand warriors to ash in seconds. We hoped you might have some idea of what we might be up against,” replied Arjuna.

  Bhima spoke, “our troops have heard the news, and it has swept through the armies like wildfire. Our troops are terrified, they are saying, as if it is not enough to be attacked daily by horrific weapons dropped on us from celestial flying machines, we now face being burnt to ash by Kapila’s Glance. We have all our most loyal troops tied up guarding the others to stop them from deserting,” he told them. “What we need is a victory of some sort to show the army that the enemy is not invincible,” explained Yudhishthira.

  “We don't like to attack helpless troops with our flying machine, but the enemy has done just that, so tomorrow we will attack them with the rail gun this will inflict terrible casualties among the enemy troops. Maybe that will hearten the troops under your command Yudhishthira and stop the desertions, meantime we will have to think what Kapila's Glance might be and try to stop them using it,” pronounced Ancore.

  That was the end of day eight of the war.

  Day Nine was sunny again; all the troops had been called together for a pep talk from their various commanders, who had agreed to tell their armies the same basic message. Yudhishthira addressed his warriors. “My brave Kshatriya, brothers in arms, I know you have been worried by the attacks from celestial craft using celestial weapons on us. Our celestial allies the Coorg have been busy destroying those enemy craft and have killed thirteen of them so far. They have also buried their base in the Himalayan Mountains under a whole mountainside. The enemy mother ship and five of the celestial craft that have been attacking us managed to escape. Our celestial allies have also attacked the compounds at Hastinapura and destroyed them. So far, brothers we have fought a reasonably just war, but the Kaurava enemy has attacked us from the skies. Now it is our turn, today you will witness what destruction our celestial allies the Coorg can inflict on the Kaurava troops and their allies. We have so far held our hand, but this day you shall see destruction on the enemy tenfold, for any hurt he has inflicted on us. Today, my brother warriors we shall sit back and watch the fearsome destruction our allies can inflict on our enemy.” The cheers rang up and down the front lines, the enemy troops looking startled by the huge sound of cheering from millions of throats, and slightly apprehensive about it.

  Ancore took off and climbed to five thousand feet then starting at Yudhishthira's end of the battle lines, they leisurely flew along the Kaurava front line. Rogan firing the miniature hydrogen bomb discs at enemy command posts, troop concentrations, rocket supply wagons, the destruction was horrific far worse than anything the Zedds had been able to inflict on the Pandava army.

  They only flew along the Kaurava line once but expended a hundred dis
cs before they returned and landed at Yudhishthira's headquarters the Pandava army was watching in stunned silence. They had never thought that just one celestial Lander could create such appalling destruction on the enemy army, and were secretly glad the Coorg were on their side in this war. Huge fires were roaring through the enemy lines it was complete pandemonium at least five hundred thousand men, thousands of horses, hundreds of elephants, and countless rocket wagons. Sacks of everlasting fire, and other supplies had just been annihilated in less than thirty minutes, even Yudhishthira and his generals could not comprehend the awesome amount of destruction in such a short time. They were so stunned by what they had witnessed that they just sat and watched with their troops, nobody even thought of attacking the enemy troops, which were in complete disarray, and profound shock.

  The crew disembarked from the Lander leaving Adeetoo on radio watch. Glaina barely reached the ground before she was clutching onto one of the Lander legs and noisily brought up her breakfast with tears streaming from her eyes. Ancore herself was having trouble holding down her own breakfast and seeing where she was going for tears that were falling unbidden from her eyes, and was vowing to herself that her crew would never again cause such carnage on the unfortunate inhabitants of this planet, enemy troops or not. They were helpless against attack from the air. It was sheer murder, and it did not sit well with her or her crew.

  Breen climbed out and clumsily tried to console Glaina, who had finished upchucking and was leaning on the landing leg trying to compose herself.

  Rogan climbed out ashen faced, “Don't ever ask me to do that again captain. It was nothing but cold-blooded murder," he said as he limped away to be on his own, trying to live with the horror he had just inflicted on the helpless Kaurava army.

  That afternoon at a meeting of all the commanders, Ancore told Yudhishthira and the other commanders. “We will not under any circumstances repeat the attack on the Kaurava army that we carried out this day. It is not warfare but murder, and I cannot in all conscience ask my crew to do anything so distressing and criminal ever again.”

  Yudhishthira replied for them all when he said, “you are right Ancore. I do not believe anyone in this company realised just how devastating your celestial weapons could be against an army. It has opened our eyes Ancore, to the awesome power that you and your crew wield on our behalf. You have my word as grand commander of the army that we will never ask you to repeat what you have accomplished this day. However, please be assured that it was necessary, to bolster the morale of our troops and stop them deserting en-masse, especially after the rumour about Kapila's Glance swept through the army yesterday, by the way, have you any idea what sort of a weapon it may be?”

  “We have no clue at the moment, but it is possible that whatever it was has been destroyed when the Himalayan cave system was obliterated,” she replied.

  Nothing else of any note happened the rest of that day. The Pandavan army watched the Kaurava army as its commanders struggled to regain command of their panicky troops, and then set them to work to clean up the carnage wrought by the Landers rail gun.

  Thus ended day Nine of the war.

  Day Ten started utterly calm, not even the hint of a breeze to stir the many flags hanging lifeless from chariots, tents and troop muster points. It would be very hot today, and the troops were making sure their water bottles were full to the brim before they corked them. Ancore and the rest of the crew, finished breakfast then waited for the first attacks by the Pandava army to begin. When the attacks were well under way, the crew boarded the Lander. Ancore took off and drifted over the front lines. The Kaurava troops were in panic thinking they were to be attacked from the air like yesterday and tried to retreat, but the Pandavan army pushed forward instead cutting them down until their commanders managed to rally them and get them to hold their ground. Meanwhile, the Lander drifted along causing terror along the whole of the Kaurava army front lines.

  “Well that ploy seemed to work,” remarked Breen, “Bhima was right our very presence has terrified them, and let the Pandavas advance along a broad front.”

  “It hasn't lasted too long. They are already managing to slow down the advance, soon it will come to a halt,” replied Rogan.

  “At least the Zedds haven't appeared yet,” chipped in Glaina.

  “We should really be attacking them with all we have, instead of sitting here waiting for them to attack us,” Ancore told them.

  “We did promise Yudhishthira we would hang around and protect his troops today,” Rogan responded.

  “Then while there isn't a lot happening maybe we could devise a plan to knock out the Zedd ship. It is such a huge threat to us still, and could affect the outcome of the whole war eventually,” suggested Ancore.

  For the next hour no one spoke, as they wrestled with the thorny problem of destroying the Zedds without putting themselves or the Lander at risk, no one came up with a foolproof plan.

  Around lunchtime, the Kaurava rallied and three separate Kaurava armies are thrown into battle against the Kirati troops at one end of the front line. This was even more than the brave Kirati could cope with, and they were slowly being pushed backwards into their own rear lines.

  A galloper was sent for urgent assistance before they were forced to fight among their own wounded. At the last moment, help arrived, Arjuna had sent them twenty rocket carts loaded with explosive and fire rockets.

  The bombardier teams lined up the wagons and opened fire into the massed ranks of the Kaurava warriors the destruction among them was awful to behold. Still the rockets exploded among them and drenched them in fire as they started to fall back rapidly so the Kirati rallied even the wounded getting into the action and attacking the survivors of the bombardment as they tried to retreat. From being about to be overrun by superior numbers of Kaurava, the Kirati had managed to turn the tables with the arrival of the rocket carts, and the Kaurava forces were now in full flight. The Kaurava suffered large losses almost an entire army wiped out this day.

  Along the rest of the front, the Kaurava troops had rallied and were easily holding their own against the hit-and-run tactics of the Pandavas.

  Thus ended day Ten of the war.

  Day Eleven was going to be another windless and very hot day. The crew sat around with the Pandava brothers, drinking chai and eating honeyed chapatti and fruit, while discussing today's strategy over breakfast.

  “We haven't tried advancing in force on one part of the enemy front line hiding in our midst wagon loads of fire rockets to be used when we need to make more progress. It will get the rockets much closer giving them a far greater range, maybe far enough to get at their reserve troop concentrations,” opined Arjuna taking a banana from the fruit bowl.

  “Yes it sounds like a viable strategy, but if the enemy fire flaming weapons at you, and any of the rocket wagons catch alight you could be in worse trouble from your own rockets than the enemies,” replied Bhima.

  “It is well worth the risk if we can get right in among them and hit their reserves hard we might very well force a complete breach in their lines, and then roll them up on both sides,” enthused Arjuna. Yudhishthira sat weighing the merits of Arjuna proposal, “I like the plan Arjuna, but would counsel that we use our own army for this venture. If possible, I would like to give the Kirati under their new Senapati a bit of a rest today they fought a magnificent battle with three armies under the command of Duryodhana himself, and managed with the help of the rocket reinforcements you sent them Arjuna, to proceed to wipe out a whole army. That must have left Duryodhana sick at heart. If we use our own troops, we can call on King Muktananda's Lankan army for reinforcements if we manage to force a breach, the Kamboja cavalry could be used to great effect once their armies were on the run.”

  Arjuna was all smiles. “I'm glad you agree brother. I think this plan has an excellent chance of success. I will send gallopers back when we need reinforcements.”

  “What are your plans for
today Ancore,” asked Yudhishthira.

  “We shall be checking out the Zedds at Hastinapura this morning, also we hope to stop them attacking your army from the air with their pulse jets,” she replied.

  “Good we cannot really afford to absorb more attacks from the air at the moment.”

  The crew took off climbing rapidly to thirty thousand feet. They flew over Hastinapura checking what the Zedds might be up to, all was quiet. The pulsejets were lined up on ramps all five of them, and a new covered compound had been erected.

  Before they could observe further, the Zedd ship rose and started climbing towards them. Ancore flew away back to the Pandava lines, as Adeeone radioed that the Zedd ship had again flown toward the Himalayas leaving the pulsejets guarded by rings of missile batteries. Ancore thanked Adeeone, and they flew high above the front lines watching the battles ebb and flow beneath them.

  Arjuna leading the Pandava army was attacking the Kauravas with great vigour and gradually forcing them back on a five thousand-metre front gradually his troops were funnelling through the middle of the Kaurava army, toward the mass of reserves at the rear. Just as the Kaurava has started to commit their reserves to the battle, the Pandava troops threw the covers off the wagons in their midst, revealing batteries of explosive and fire rockets.

  These were aimed at the Kaurava reserve troops, and suddenly they opened fire, long ripples of rockets flaming their way into the enemy reserve troops exploding among them and raining fire down on top of them. The units that had been about to charge forward to support their hard-pressed troops, were being slaughtered by the thousands. They faltered and broke rushing rearward away from the death raining on them from the sky. A huge cheer went up from the Pandava lines as they pressed forward even harder forcing the front line back into its own rear lines. As the enemy finally broke and Arjuna found himself with a whole army, split from its main force. He sent out gallopers and drew in the Lankan reserves then holding the main northern flank with his reserves, he turned his army on the southern flank to mop up the isolated Kaurava army on that side eventually wiping out those that refused to surrender.

  This had taken most of the afternoon to accomplish. Meantime the rest of the Kaurava army had rallied under Drona and were forming into a huge force threatening to overrun Arjuna's army. Arjuna ordered an orderly retreat into their own lines, which they accomplished successfully with the help of the Lankan reserves.

  Arjuna was jubilant that evening his ploy had not completely succeeded, but it had destroyed one and a half of the Kaurava armies this must amount to almost a half million men who had been killed, wounded or surrendered this day.

  That ended day eleven of the war.

  Day Twelve saw Arjuna sent to the far end of the Pandavan lines to sort out the havoc that had been caused during the night by Kaurava warriors. They had raided all night in large numbers and managed to kill the Harrapan Senapati and most of his officers while they had been sleeping. Arjuna now had the task of sorting out the mess and appointing a new commander and officers, while ensuring that the armies mount a secure guard against any repetition of the night attacks.

  While Arjuna is engaged at the far end of the Pandava lines. At the other end of the lines, Drona had formed the Kaurava army into the iron disc of war and were advancing into the Pandava lines; Arjuna is the only one who knows how to break apart the disc. However, by the time a galloper has located Arjuna, and he has ridden back to take charge it may well be too late. While Yudhishthira ponders the problem, Arjuna's son Abhimanyu tells Yudhishthira.

  “Uncle I know the secret of the iron disc. I learnt it from my father, if you give me command of ten Vyuha. I will open a breach in the disc for you that will enable you to enter with reinforcements and destroy the disc from within.”

  “Very well young Abhimanyu, we haven't time to fetch your father, and we need to act now. I shall instruct my ten best Vyuha to follow your lead. Bhima and I will be waiting for the breach then we will attack and destroy them from within,” Yudhishthira led the lad outside and instructed ten of his best Vyuha to follow the lad's orders, as though he had given them the order himself.

  Yudhishthira gave the orders that readied his warriors, and then Bhima and he waited for Abhimanyu to breach the iron disc of war. They watched with eager interest as the Vyuha under young Abhimanyu circled to one side of the disc when they came to a point on the disc that had four chariots on the outer edge, immediately two war elephants were sent charging into the chariots. The horse teams were terrified and tried bolting. The charioteers had their hands full trying to control the plunging panic-stricken animals. One chariot overturned then the elephants were among them crushing chariots and tossing aside men and horses. Abhimanyu had been waiting for that moment. His Vyuha charged into the pandemonium cutting a swathe through the disc and rampaging onward toward the centre.

  Yudhishthira and Bhima led their men forward charging toward the breach that had now opened in the iron disc formation. On the Kaurava side, Drona was quick to see what was happening, he sent Jayadratha with half the reserves to close the breach in the disc. Jayadratha, and the reserves reached the breach moments before Yudhishthira and Bhima with their warriors could get there. When they arrived only seconds later, the breach had been closed and Abhimanyu with his Vyuha was trapped inside, where the other half of Drona's reserve attacked them, after a brief but bloody battle the brave Abhimanyu and his men were killed.

  Try as they might Yudhishthira and Bhima could not break into the disc to save the lad. Eventually, they had to retreat and bring in reinforcements to hold back the advance of the iron disc of war.

  “There must be a way to stop this disc,” Yudhishthira said as he and Bhima reached the command post.

  “We haven't tried a charge of massed elephants. Abhimanyu started opening a breach with only two beasts, what if we use a hundred against the disc, aiming them all at the same spot on the disc. Wouldn't that open them up for slaughter,” Bhima suggested. “Yes we will try it, can you organise that while I send a galloper to Arjuna with the terrible news about his son,” Yudhishthira replied distractedly.

  Bhima ordered one hundred war elephants assembled each covered in thick leather armour with metal head armour that sported ferocious looking spikes. They were a fearsome sight indeed and when charging at the enemy they would cause even the bravest of warriors to cringe and recoil.

  They lined up twenty wide and five deep facing the iron disc of war that was slowly pushing back the Pandava front lines, meanwhile Bhima was organising the reserve troops to press forward when the war elephants opened a breach in the disc. Each valiant beast was given a skin of wine to drink before the charge took place, and their handlers were having a hard job controlling them.

  Yudhishthira returning and seeing the preparations complete gave the order for the charge. Elephants were squealing in rage, as they charged the iron disc. Following them were the spearmen and behind them the cavalry, covering them all were the archer's firing volley after volley of arrows ahead of the mass of charging enraged elephants.

  The Kaurava had brought forward their archers firing the three-metre long arrows. Twelve elephants in the front rank were brought down crying in agony and spraying blood, or killed outright, but before they could really make an impact on the charging elephants the rest were on top of them. Spearmen and archers were crushed under tons of maddened squealing war elephants, which careered into the iron disc killing anything that was before them.

  A large breach opened before Drona could reorganise his forces, and into it poured the fresh Pandava reserve troops killing anything that the elephants had missed right into the heart of the disc that was now in disarray. Drona realising that he could not maintain the integrity of the disc called in reinforcements and ordered an orderly withdrawal. Before the elephants were all finally, destroyed, terrible destruction among the Kaurava had resulted, and the Pandava forces were now gaining the upper hand. Eventually, t
he Pandava forces were held, by the Kaurava reserves, and both sides fell back in an orderly manner, as it was gone four o'clock in the afternoon and time to let the medical corps, onto the field to help the wounded, and the cleanup crews to stack and retrieve bodies and weapons and generally clean up the battlefield.

  Abhimanyu's slain body was retrieved and brought with due ceremony to Arjuna's tent where he was cleaned, and anointed with sweet smelling unguents, and dressed in his finest clothes. Then the lad was laid in state, guarded by a brave warrior with lowered head at each corner, arms resting lightly on their unsheathed sword pommels, his body still and silent forever, awaiting the return of his father.

  That evening Arjuna arrived back in camp, his face grim and terrible to behold. His brothers solemnly greeted his return. Yudhishthira put his arms on Arjuna's shoulders addressing his brother while looking deep into his eyes, tears running down his cheeks. “Drona was attacking us; he had formed his warriors into the iron disc of war and was pushing us back. We needed to break the disc but did not know how. All our attempts had ended in failure. It was then Abhimanyu came to me, he told me he knew the secret of the disc, and if I gave him ten Vyuha, he would open a breach into it that would let me destroy it from within. We were sorely pressed for time otherwise brother you would have been fetched. I gave Abhimanyu my best warriors and off, he went, flags flying bravely as he circled the iron disc. About a quarter of the way around the outside he spied what he was looking for four chariots together on the outer rim, immediately he sent in two war elephants who smashed the chariots, then Abhimanyu and his men charged after them, cutting a huge swathe into the iron disc penetrating its very interior. Immediately, our forces charged toward the breach, but their reserves under Jayadratha beat us to the breach, and sealed it behind Abhimanyu. Try as we might we could not force an entry to save your son, who was fighting valiantly with his warriors against overwhelming odds. He refused to surrender and in a short time, he and his Vyuha were slain. Still, we were being driven back until Bhima suggested that if two elephants at a specific point could force a breach, if we sent in one hundred against one point, we should be able to force entry into the disc. This was what happened. The disc was forced and Drona beaten back with considerable losses. We recovered brave Abhimanyu and have washed him with all due ceremony, anointed him and dressed him in his finest clothes. He lays waiting for you in yonder tent Brother.”

  “That snake Jayadratha you say, sealed the breach.”

  “Yes brother,” replied Yudhishthira sadly dropping his arms.

  Arjuna spun on his heels and left the tent, he went straight to the tent containing his son's body, and there he stood one hand on Abhimanyu's shoulder, looking down into that peaceful face.

  “Ahh son,” he lamented. “I had such hopes and dreams for you, to see you enthroned as a king in your own right, ruling with justice and compassion, now that will never be because of that vile serpent Jayadratha.”

  His voice grew louder in unbidden rage, penetrating to the tent of Yudhishthira, as he gazed heavenward, and swore a terrible oath. “I vow by all the gods that tomorrow I shall kill Jayadratha before nightfall, if I fail, I shall throw myself into the cooking fire.”

  When Yudhishthira and the rest of Arjuna's brothers heard the terrible oath, they blanched, the thought of losing not only a brother but also the most valiant warrior amongst them if he failed to kill Jayadratha tomorrow made them feel sick inside.

  Thus ended day Twelve of the war.