A Slave who became Emperor Chapter 61

Pinaka said, 'are you the one who set fire to the tent of elephants? ' Suradutta said maliciously, 'yes, it's me . . . I did . . but my main aim was to hurt you . . I was unable to . . come brother . . give me a hug . . I missed to see how you killed my father . . I suppose you were quick . . I would have loved to wrestle with you . . but of course I understand that if you killed my father . . it wouldn't be tough to kill me . . ' Pinaka didn't respond . . . Surya Gupta said, 'fine, since he agreed to have committed the crime, let's get him executed . . ' Pinaka nodded, he said, 'he tried to kill the war elephants . . it's only justice that we get him trampled under them . . ' Suradutta was stunned, he said, 'what? trampling . . please . . brother . . forgive me . . please . . ' there was fear in his tone, he thought if he gets Caught, his death would be painless . . either beheading or hanging . . Pinaka was so decisive . . . everyone was shaken by Pinaka's verdict . . he looked at everyone and said, 'this is the only way . . only then traitors will be scared to commit crime . . a painful death . . death by trampling . . ' Samyukta looked at him and nodded slightly . . she too was in agreement with Pinaka's verdict . .

It was the best judgement . . only in this manner can one be fearful to commit heinous crimes . . Suradutta kept begging . . no one paid heed to him . . he cursed himself . . if only he would have kept quiet . . he chose to seek revenge . . what did he gain out of it . . a painful and fearful death . .

The news of execution was given to all the soldiers . . they felt their hearts stirring . . how ruthless . . but it was justified . . in the face of enemy if such action wouldn't be taken . . it would not be appropriate . . a good leader should not only guide people but also protect his subjects . . one should understand how to treat the criminal . . and safeguard his empire . .

Suradutta was bound tightly in chains and he was lead to an open field . . . the area chosen was visible to the enemy lines too . . Pinaka wanted to set an example and show Zaffar that he was no weakling . . . . he would be kind to his friends and cold hearted to his enemies . . a good leader should incur fear in the hearts of enemies . .

Suradutta was a heavily built man, he was the size of a bison, but in the face of death he was as tiny and insignificant as an ant . . this was the ultimate truth . . everyone was equal before death . .

The elephants were let lose, they came trumpeting loudly . . the mahouts were leading them towards Suradutta . . there were four elephants . . one elephant ran fiercely . . it came near Suradutta . . he was trembling like a dry leaf . . the elephant tubmled Suradutta down with its trunk and stamped over his chest once . . Suradutta vomited blood . . he was groaning . . there came another elephant . . it crushed Suradutta's legs to pulp . . he was crying . . he was shouting for help . . his site incurred pity . . but Pinaka was firm . . another elephant came and crushed his face and skull . . he died . .

Zaffar saw all this through a small uni ocular lens instrument (singlular of binocular used in olden days to look at far sited objects) and said, 'our friend is dead . . Prince Pinaka is a man now . . I am very excited to meet him on the war field now . . '

Chapter end