A Slave who became Emperor Chapter 62

Suradutta's corpse was burnt with rituals . . Pinaka couldn't eat or sleep during the night . . . so were many soldiers . . the scene they witnessed was one that could not be forgotten . . Badshah Khan went to meet Pinaka, he said, 'your majesty, the decision you took was absolutely right . . punishment for betrayal should be harsh . . you need to set an example . . but don't punish yourself by depriving yourself of food and sleep . . since you have not eaten, the Princess too didn't eat, many soldiers too refused to eat . . ' Pinaka stood up, he said, 'what? soldiers didn't eat? the war continues tomorrow . . they can't starve . . come with me Khan . . let's meet them . . '

Pinaka went to the barracks . . all soldiers gathered around him . . he said, 'brothers . . it's important to punish traitors . . he not only betrayed us . . he betrayed our mother land in the face of enemy . . no one understands the value of life more than me . . only to avoid heavy casualties ,with great efforts I brought in the war elephants . . . they were the game changer for us . . enemy tried to eradicate that threat through Suradutta . . it's only fitting that he died . . if we don't eat and rest well tonight . . the war tomorrow will turn in Zaffar's favour . . everything I did and everything you did during the first day of war will be wasted . . . come . . let's all eat together tonight . . '

Samyukta and all the Royal family members sat together with the soldiers and ate as equals . . . Pinaka said, 'from today, all of us will sit and eat together . . no more discrimination . . everyone is equal . . ' soldiers cheered . .

Bashah Khan was very pleased . . no future emperor would speak in such a way . . one who treated his subordinates with love and respect would become a great leader . . Pinaka was shaping out into one great leader . .

Post dinner . . everyone was in a good mood . . they lit a huge bonfire and started telling war stories . . Badshah Khan was very good at that . . . he brought with him lot of tales from middle East . . all the soldiers heard to his stories with rapt attention . . he had good skills . .

Pinaka and Samyukta retired to their tent . . Samyukta asked, 'so what is the strategy for tomorrow? ' he looked at her and explained his plan . . her big eyes became bigger . . she was in awe . . he said, 'let's go and discuss it with the generals . . '

The generals took some time before understanding it completely . . Samyukta and Pinaka explained everything patiently . . they were sure that tomorrow would be a tough day for Zaffar and his men . .

Dawn came, with it came the war . . Zaffar trained his troops hard . . even Shah's forces started understanding how Zaffar's men fought . . together they were confident to face the unified army . .

Pinaka blew the conch announcing the beginning of the war . . Zaffar came forward along with his men . . The unified army was ready . . there were archers mounted on horses . . Zaffar cried . . 'shields up . . ' his men followed . . Pinaka cried, ' aim . . and lose . . ' clang . . clang . . clang . . the shields were pierced through like a hot knife cutting through butter . . they didn't shoot arrows . . they threw specially designed spears . . the spears had huge pointy tips made of a special alloy that was able to cut through the shields of Zaffar's men . . they felt exposed . . then came the round of arrows . . all the arrow heads were wrapped in bits of cloth dipped in oil and they were lit with fire before shooting . . many of Zaffar's men caught fire on the spot . . their horses threw down the ryders in fear of fire and ran helter Skelter . . some of the men died in the stampede . . Zaffar was angered . . he roared and shouted . . 'don't fall back . . he wants us to retreat . . but I want you to fight . . he is a coward . . he knows that his men cannot fight you on equal standing . . that is why he keeps designing these clever strategies . . each one of you is equal to ten of his men . . come on . . imagine that its just another village . . let's go and loot them . . let's plunder them . . death to Hindustan . . ! ' he cried, his men repeated, 'death to Hindustan' and charged forward . .

Chapter end