The Guardians of the Halahala (21 page)

An army of
several thousand
horsemen, arrayed to the north and south of the gate.

As the blazing arrows showered down upon Ujjayini, the raj-guru huddled behind the parapet, wondering how the Ashvin cavalry had multiplied from a mere five hundred to many thousands in less than an hour.

***

Shanku watched the houses and hutments clustered outside Ujjayini's northern wall going up in a blaze, her eyes smarting with tears of outrage, sorrow and frustration.

The Ashvins had smartly picked the defenseless quarter as their target, and despite the abundant dampness everywhere, the fire from their arrows had spread rapidly through the dense jumble of buildings. A patch of twenty-odd houses had already succumbed to the ravenous flames, while long tongues of fire licked appreciatively at the structures that stood intact around the fringes of the conflagration. Thick, black smoke belched and billowed from the burning debris, rolling through the township's cramped bylanes like a formless, vengeful entity.

The only consolation in all this was that the fire hadn't claimed any lives so far – every single resident of the quarter had been successfully evacuated and lodged behind the safety of the city's walls. But Shanku knew that most of the householders were in serious risk of losing all their possessions and would have to rebuild their lives from scratch.

If
Ujjayini was able to weather the Ashvin onslaught, she told herself.

Cursing the injustice of it all, Shanku turned her gaze to the right and peered into the overwhelming darkness that lay to the east, from where the horsemen had launched their flaming missiles. Waving off the pungent smoke eddying around her, she addressed the bulky soldier standing beside her on the watchtower that overlooked the northern gate.

“How far away are they?” she asked. “Are they within our archers' range?”

“It's hard to say in this darkness,” the soldier replied with a shrug. “I need to get a better sighting before I can be sure.”

At precisely that moment, as if on cue, the Ashvin cavalry shot a fresh round of arrows into the air. This attack, unlike the one that had preceded it, was aimed at Ujjayini's wall, forcing the defenders on the walkway to scurry for cover.

“I don't think they are within range of our bows and arrows,” the soldier said as he and Shanku ducked behind a parapet. “We will only end up wasting arrows if we try shooting back. We must wait for them to draw closer.”

Shanku nodded, but didn't reply. She waited for the arrows to stop falling before rising and stepping off the watchtower. She climbed down the narrow metal ladder, and on reaching ground level, she walked briskly to the northern gate, where a couple of officers of the City Watch stood conferring.

“I'm going out into the plain,” she announced without preamble. “I need ten of the best horse archers you can muster to ride with me.”

The officers stared at Shanku, shaking their heads in incomprehension. Some of the soldiers standing nearby had overheard her and exchanged bewildered glances. Finally, one of the officers spoke.

“But your honor, the raj-guru has sent an order forbidding us from opening the gates or venturing into the plain,” he said. His fellow officers nodded vigorously in mounting alarm.

“I know that. But we can't just sit back and watch those arrows reduce Ujjayini to ashes.” Shanku began tightening the harness of her horse as she spoke. “We need to engage the enemy in battle and start inflicting some losses on them.”

“And you intend doing that by riding out there with just ten horse archers?” The officer's voice strained with incredulity.

“Yes, I have a plan. But first get me the men I want. And ask the archers on the wall to be on full alert.”

***

There was nothing remarkable about the two long swords that lay on the table, side by side. Their sheaths were made of some ancient animal hide, shiny brown in some places, dark and scuffed in others. The blades themselves were concealed from view, but the heavy iron hilts, though free of oxidation, were plain and lacking in adornment.

The swords simply didn't look as if they were worthy of belonging to a king.

Yet, when Vikramaditya strode into the anteroom next to his bedchamber, he made straight for the table and picked up one of the weapons. Taking a firm grip on the hilt, he drew the sword a little way out of its scabbard to inspect it. The burnished blade, gleaming dull yellow in the light of the lamps, caught the reflection of the king's eyes, seething with cold rage.

But a moment later, the metal turned deep orange in color, and then fiery red, burning with incandescence as small blue-green flames erupted and danced, ghostlike, on its surface.

You are the one I have sought for so many years, good king. You are the one destined to wield the Hellfires. Accept them, for they are rightfully yours.

Vikramaditya thrust the weapon back into its sheath, snuffing out the flames and killing the glow of the blade. The swords hadn't been used in years, yet, to his relief, they still retained their powers. Not that he had cause to doubt what the demon Laayushi had told him of the Hellfires...

Without wasting more time, the samrat buckled the swords to his belt, one on each side of his waist, harnessed in a manner that allowed for an easy cross-handed draw. Then, pulling on his metal armguards, he walked out of the room. He was halfway down one of the inner galleries when Angamitra, the young
samsaptaka
captain, accosted him. The captain was in the company of an old man with a fine white beard and gray eyes – Sadguna, the chief of the Palace Guards.

“Samrat, please don't go out there alone,” the captain pleaded, falling in step a little behind the king. “I have four hundred of my men waiting to ride with you. Please take them along.”

“Yes, samrat,” enjoined Sadguna, who was trailing Angamitra's heels. “It isn't wise going out there alone. Let the
samsaptakas
fight by your side.”

Vikramaditya shook his head firmly, without breaking his stride or glancing back at the captain and the chief of the Palace Guards.

“Samrat, please,” Angamitra desperately tried reasoning. “Councilor Kalidasa would never forgive me if he learned that I allowed you to ride out alone. The men I have picked are the very best, your honor. You have my word that they will fight until their last breath...”

“I have never doubted a
samsaptaka'
s willingness and ability to fight, captain,” the king cut in, slowing his pace by a fraction. “And I am certain the men you have put at my disposal will make Avanti proud. But if they accompany me right now, they will be less of a help and more of a handicap for me.”

Crestfallen, Angamitra fell silent. Sensing the captain's disappointment, Vikramaditya stopped and turned to face him and Sadguna.

“There's a reason I want to ride out of Ujjayini's gates alone,” the king explained, pointing in a southerly direction. “On dark nights like this, it's hard to tell the difference between friend and foe, and one could easily end up maiming one's own people in battle. When I'm out there in the darkness of the plain, I want to be sure that I have only Avanti's enemies around me. Only then will I be free to use my swords without fear, to bring pain and punishment on the Ashvins.”

***

The walkway along Ujjayini's western wall was slippery and uneven from years of peacetime neglect. Loose stones sloped treacherously in places, while in others, pools of green slime and moss deposits flourished. Not the safest of places in broad daylight, the walkway was a virtual deathtrap at night, yet Kshapanaka sprinted over it unmindful of the dangers, shouting out instructions and shooting volleys of arrows over the battlements as she ran.

“Keep the enemy away from the gate. Don't let them breach it.”

Below her, outside the city's western gate, the steps leading up from the Kshipra were full of Ashvins trying to batter their way into Ujjayini.

The coordinated assaults in the north, east and south were spectacular in effect, but the main thrust of the Ashvin attack had occurred to the west, under cover of darkness. A large force of Ashvins had floated down the river, and as the diversionary arrows descended elsewhere over Ujjayini, they had launched a sudden onslaught on the western gate.

Thud.

Yet another wave of heavy metal shields collided against the wooden gate, sending tremors along the framework of the old wall. Kshapanaka cursed under her breath. The City Watch had been caught flatfooted, and if the Ashvins got past the gates, she knew there weren't enough swordsmen and lancers inside to withstand a rush.

“Have you sent word asking for reinforcements?” she demanded of the captain who was tasked with manning that section of the wall. “And have they started evacuating the houses?”

“Yes,” the captain answered, but the vagueness of his reply did nothing to reassure Kshapanaka. However, looking over her shoulder, she was relieved to see a few soldiers herding a flock of scared citizens down the road, away from the gate.

Thud... Thud
...

The echoes of the shields crashing on wood reverberated along the walkway, escalating in pitch, insistence and hostility with every subsequent attempt. Kshapanaka snapped an order at the captain.

“I'm running out of arrows – fetch me some. And get someone to supply fresh arrows to all the archers.”

The captain scurried away to do as bidden. Wishing that the steps to the river were better lit, Kshapanaka fitted another arrow into her bowstring and shot at the dark shapes writhing and shifting below.

Thud...

Not for the first time, she also wondered at the sheer number of Ashvins who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

***

The moment she sighted the bronze armors of the Ashvin cavalry, reflected dully in the light of Ujjayini's burning hutments, Shanku raised her hand to signal the horse archers accompanying her. The archers dispersed, stretching themselves over the plain in a thin ragged line, yet staying close enough to be within earshot of one another. Riding softly, their bows drawn, the group approached the Ashvins from the rear, their ears trying to pick out the faintest of sounds in the dark.

When Shanku was certain that she was within range of the devas, she extracted four daggers from her belt and rose on her stirrups. Balancing herself with consummate ease, she flung the daggers at the Ashvins in rapid succession, each dagger finding its mark with deadly precision. At the sound of the daggers hitting their targets, the horse archers swiftly unleashed three volleys of arrows at the Ashvins, before scattering in the dark.

The stealth and suddenness of the attack caught the devas off guard, and for a few moments, there was an upheaval in their ranks as they tried to take stock of the situation. Using the confusion to her advantage, Shanku hurled four more knives at the surging mass of horsemen, bringing three of them down to the ground. Then, wheeling her horse around, she let out a shrill whoop and began galloping back toward the northern gate of Ujjayini.

In a matter of seconds, the Ashvin horsemen espied the fleeing figure and gave chase.

Shanku rode hard, but the closer she drew to Ujjayini, the more sharply she was defined by light of the fire, presenting a clear target to her pursuers. Fire arrows rained down around her, hissing and exploding, a couple of them missing her by a whisker as she dodged and weaved out of harm's way.

Keep coming after me, keep coming after me,
she chanted in her mind as she watched the blank face of Ujjayini's northern wall loom out of the darkness.

As the devas bore down on Shanku, the city's northern gate began opening from the inside, a bestial, gluttonous mouth in the dancing firelight. Seeing Shanku head straight for the gate and realizing they were too far behind, the Ashvins began reining in their horses – when suddenly Shanku's horse seemed to flag, slowing down in speed.

Don't stop, you pigs,
Shanku grimaced as she threw a desperate glance over her shoulder, trying to gauge distances.
Come and get me. Don't give up.
She looked up at the ramparts, wondering if the Ashvins were within range of Avanti's archers, but seeing no movement up on the wall, she realized they probably weren't.

Aware that she was taking a huge risk, Shanku dropped speed even further. She just had to keep baiting the Ashvins...

Observing Shanku slow down and droop across the neck of her horse, the Ashvins sensed opportunity and spurred their horses forward. If they were quick enough, they knew they could get to the gate before their quarry slipped inside and the defenders had a chance to seal the city shut again.

Shanku heard the growing beat of hooves behind her and sneaked another backward glance. What she was attempting demanded skillful timing – if she acted too soon, the devas would lose heart and cease their pursuit; if she was too slow, there would be no way of getting out of this alive. From somewhere near the gate, she heard someone yell out to her; perhaps one of the officers of the City Watch urging her to hasten. She didn't respond, but she fervently hoped those inside didn't shut the gate prematurely in a fit of panic.

From the corner of her eye, Shanku saw the Ashvins approaching out of the ring of darkness. Someone again hollered at her from the gate, but the words were muffled by the pounding of hooves. Then, from somewhere high above, she thought she heard the twang of a bow.

A second later, a series of twangs were transmitted along the length of the wall, as the archers of the City Watch finally had the Ashvins within their range.

“Close the gate, close the gate.” Shanku pushed her charge forward, screaming at the top of her voice as the choked cries of the devas rose into the air behind her.

A flurry of the Ashvins' arrows followed Shanku, narrowly missing her as she ducked and scrambled to get behind the gates that were being drawn shut. But two of Avanti's soldiers positioned just inside weren't as fortunate, arrows nailing them to the ground and setting them on fire before the gates slammed on the cavalry from Devaloka.