the bow formation.
The Chandravanshis facing Mayashrenik, however, were made of sterner stuff. Despite
taking severe casualties, they fought grimly, refusing to retreat. Mayashrenik and his men
fought fiercely, holding their enemy. Suddenly, the hail of arrows stopped. The archers had
been ordered to stand down. Now that their mission was accomplished without their
intervention, the Chandravanshi brigadier ordered a retreat of his cavalry. Mayashrenik, in turn,
withdrew his troops quickly to his earlier position to prepare for the main charge, which he
knew was just a few moments away.
‘General, shall we?’ asked Shiva, nodding towards the left flank.
‘Yes, my Lord,’ replied Parvateshwar.
As Parvateshwar turned to mount his horse, Shiva called out, ‘Parvateshwar?’
‘Yes, my Lord.’
‘Race you to the last line of the Chandravanshis!’
Parvateshwar raised his eyebrows in surprise, smiling broadly. ‘I will win, my Lord.’
‘We’ll see,’ grinned Shiva, his eyes narrowed in a playful challenge.
Parvateshwar rapidly mounted his horse and rode to his command on the left. Shiva,
followed by Vraka, Nandi and Veerbhadra rode to the right. Prasanjit geared his tortoise corps
in the centre for the attack.
‘Meluhans!’ roared Shiva, dismounting smoothly. ‘They lie in front of you! Waiting to be
slaughtered! It ends today! Evil ends today!’
‘Har Har Mahadev!’ bellowed the soldiers as the Meluhan conch shell, announcing the
Suryavanshi attack, was blown.
With an ear-shattering yell, the infantry charged towards the Chandravanshis. The tortoise
corps moved in their slow, yet unyielding pace towards the Chandravanshi centre. The sides of
the bow formation moved quicker than the centre. The cavalry cantered along the flanks,
protecting the infantry from an enemy charge. Courageous remnants of the third and fourth
legions of the Chandravanshis meanwhile were rapidly reforming their lines to face the
Suryavanshi onslaught. But the mass of dead bodies of their fallen comrades did not allow them
the space needed to form their traditional Chaturanga formation, which could have allowed
some lateral movement. They were huddled together in a tight but thin line before the
Suryavanshis were upon them.
The battle was going almost exactly as per plan for the Suryavanshis. By the time they
reached the Chandravanshi line, they were in a tight, faintly curved line of trained and vicious
soldiers, with their flanking line of light infantry being slightly behind the level of the slower
moving tortoise corps at the centre. The unstoppable tortoise corps tore ruthlessly into the
Chandravanshi centre. The shields provided protection for the corps against the best
Chandravanshi swordsmen, while their trishuls ripped through the Swadweepans. The
Chandravanshis had but two choices. Either fall to the trishul, or be pushed towards the sides
where the Suryavanshis were now bearing down hard on them. As the centre of the
Chandravanshi army broke under the unrelenting assault, the Suryavanshi flanks tore through
their sides.
Shiva was leading his flank ferociously into the Chandravanshis, decimating all in front of
him. To his surprise, he found the enemy lines thinning. Letting his fellow soldiers charge ahead
of him, he rose to his full height to observe the movements. He was shocked to see the
Chandravanshi line opposing him, moving towards the centre. They were attacking the only
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