CHAPTER 17

The Battle of Koonj

‘Where are they?’ asked Parvateshwar.
‘They are in my village, my Lord,’ said the scared village headman. ‘It’s a short distance
from here. Some five hundred Chandravanshi soldiers, led by five Nagas. They gave us thirty
minutes to leave. But the Brahmins at the temple were detained.’
Parvateshwar clenched his fists to regain his control despite his fury.
‘Our Panditji is a good man, my Lord,’ said the village headman. Tears spilled out of his
eyes. Vraka put a comforting hand on the headman’s shoulder. But the gesture only made the
headman more miserable. Not knowing the fate of the village priest added to his guilt.
‘We wanted to stay and fight alongside our Pandit and the other Brahmins,’ sobbed the
headman. ‘They are men of god. They don’t even know how to raise a weapon. How can they
fight against this horde?’
Vraka let go off the headman as anger got the better of him.
‘But Panditji ordered us to leave. He told us to flee with our women and children. He said he
would face whatever Lord Brahma has written in his fate. But if anyone can be saved, they
should be.’
Parvateshwar ’s nails dug into his skin. He was livid at the cowardly Chandravanshis for yet
again attacking defenceless Brahmins and not Kshatriyas who could retaliate. He was incensed
at his fate for having put him in a position where he could not take action. A part of him wanted
to ignore his orders. But he was bound not to break the law.
‘THIS NONSENSE HAS TO STOP!’
Parvateshwar looked up to see which voice had echoed his thoughts. The expression on
Shiva’s face almost threw him back for a moment. The intense fury visible in the Neelkanth
would have brought even a Deva to a standstill.
‘We are good people,’ raged Shiva. ‘We are not scared chicken who should turn and flee!
Those terrorists should be on the run. They should be the ones feeling the wrath of the
Suryavanshis!’
A villager standing behind the headman said, ‘But they are terrorists! We cannot defeat
them. The Panditji knew that. That is why he ordered us to run.’
‘But we have a thousand five hundred soldiers,’ said Shiva, irritated at the display of such
cowardice. ‘And another five hundred of you. We outnumber them four to one. We can crush
them. Teach them a lesson they will remember.’
The headman argued. ‘But they have Nagas! They are supernatural, blood-thirsty killers!
What chance do we have against such evil?’
Shiva had the presence of mind to realise that superstition can only be countered by another
stronger belief. He climbed the carriage pedestal to stand tall. The villagers stared at him. He