A Slave who became Emperor Chapter 66

The war elephants were the first ones to engage with the enemy troops . . Zaffar's foot soldiers got trampled unceremoniously . . each person who got trampled by the elephants experienced an excruciating pain as their lungs and heart collapsed and they vomited blood . . Zaffar and his cavalry retreated to the elephant free zone . . half of his foot soldiers fell . . half of them retreated and stood behind the cavalry . . the mahouts drove the elephants away to a safe distance and waited . .

Pinaka shouted . . 'now . . release . . ' a dozen lances bearing gun powder canisters were launched . . . there was complete chaos . . Zaffar's cavalry was running helter skelter . . Zaffar shouted, 'Stand and fight! ' everyone stopped running . . then they slowly advanced towards Pinaka's army . . as they were approaching, Pinaka cried, 'halt! ' and there was drum beat resounding . . then he cried, 'forward!' with each drum beat the army marched forward . .

The army was coming towards them in a sequence . . Zaffar's men were unable to read the strategy . . there was no particular formation . . it was very random . . yet the way in which they were approaching made them shiver with unease . . it was as if great tides of sea were coming to engulf them completely . .

When the enemy loses confidence, half the war is won . . Zaffar said something to Shadab, he nodded and went towards the catapults . . he made the people adjust the angle and distance of the catapults and said, 'lose! ' Pinaka heard it and cried, 'halt! ' however, the canisters were moving in a different direction . . as Pinaka saw the angle he understood . . he shouted, 'elephants . . retreat! ' the mahouts tried to divert the elephants and move them . . however they couldn't do so on time . . four elephants died along with their mahouts . . the remaining elephants ran in fear . . the mahouts regained control swiftly and drove them towards their tent . .

Zaffar said, 'well done!, now keep aiming . . start from the last rows of their army . . as they are approaching . . 'the catapults were re-loaded . . before they could be launched, there were swooshing sounds in the air, as Zaffar raised his head, he saw another round of lances approaching . . this time there was no escaping . . one lance pierced Shadab right through his heart . . it was thrown by Samyukta . . as it pierced through him, the cannister went off blasting his body into million pieces . . Zaffar closed his eyes for few seconds and opened them . . his eyes became blood shot and were burning with fury . . meanwhile the remaining Lances successfully damaged all the catapults . . there was no way to re- use them . .

Pinaka cried, 'forward! ' and the army marched on to drum beat . . Zaffar's men felt that their death was approaching . . even his generals lost confidence . . as they reached a certain distance from Zaffar's army . . Pinaka cried, 'halt! ' the entire army stopped . . the drum beat ceased . . everyone came to a stand still and waited . .

Zaffar didn't understand . . neither he nor his men felt confident to move forward . . Pinaka cried, 'Zaffar! I am giving you one last chance . . accept your defeat and lay your weapons down . . I will spare you and your men . . we will let you go . . ' Zaffar's blood was boiling . . this kid . . he thinks that he can make him retreat . . how dare he . . he thought . . Zaffar said, 'me and my men marched through the rough terrains of Hindukush mountains, crossed the Sindhu River, and stood before your army to make your country kneel . . not to retreat . . each one of my men is equal to ten men of your army . . we will not retreat . . we will come forward and fight . . ' then he said to his men . . 'this is the time to prove yourself . . there is no need to target his soldiers . . go and kill him, his wife and his generals . . army without leaders will crumble apart easily . . let's make them pay the price for killing our men . . ! ' Pinaka knew that Zaffar wouldn't submit, but giving a chance to retreat was Kshatriya Dharma (law of Kings) . .

He knew that Zaffar would think this way . . but to Zaffar and his mens' disappointment . . Pinaka, Samyukta, his generals were all at the center . . they need to slaughter many soldiers to create a path to reach them . . slowly the drum beat started resounding again . . Zaffar cried, 'death! ' his men repeated, 'death! ' and charged towards Pinaka's army . .

Chapter end