Vikramaditya Veergatha Book 1 The Guardians of Halahala Free Chapters by Nath Shatrujeet

Author:Nath, Shatrujeet [Nath, Shatrujeet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Vikramaditya Trilogy: Book 1
ISBN: 9789390166770
Amazon: B08R8VVLN5
Goodreads: 56398094
Publisher: Jaico Publishing House
Published: 2020-12-24T08:00:00+00:00

Siege

W

hat do you think they are doing, raj-guru?”

The question came from a senior captain of the City Watch, a short man with a neatly trimmed gray beard and a broken nose. The captain was in the company of Vetala Bhatta and Dhanavantri, who were standing on the walkway behind the battlements, looking out into the eastern plain. Light was failing rapidly over Ujjayini, and a fine powdery spray fell from above, gradually dampening their clothes and hair, adding to the discomfort.

“They don’t seem to be doing anything,” perplexed, Vetala Bhatta shook his head, peering at the Ashvins gathered in the plain.

Three-quarters of an hour had passed since the verbal faceoff between the councilors and the Ashvin commanders. On returning to the safety of Ujjayini’s walls, the Acharya and Dhanavantri had busied themselves with overseeing the defense of the eastern gate, while Kshapanaka had ridden off to secure the southern and western gates. Shanku had been tasked with strengthening the northern gate, besides leading an evacuation of the houses that spilled beyond the periphery of Ujjayini’s northern wall – a natural expansion of a populous and prosperous city that was sprouting new urban localities.

The raj-guru and Dhanavantri had debated the prospect of leading a preemptive charge against the Ashvins, but had discarded the idea on seeing the night falling quickly around them. It was better to wait for the devas behind the security of the walls than risk losing lives in the darkness of the open plain, they concluded.

Strangely enough, in all the time that Ujjayini was being fortified against attack, the Ashvins themselves had displayed little inclination or enthusiasm for battle – Nasatya’s dire warning notwithstanding. The deva force had just stood around as the day drew to a close around them, and from what the Acharya could make out, it looked as if the horsemen were waiting for something.

“It doesn’t seem as if they are in any hurry to mount an attack,” said Dhanavantri, wiping the spray that had accumulated on his broad forehead. Turning to the raj-guru, he raised one eyebrow. “Do you think they are having second thoughts about attacking us? Maybe they’ve realized that they underestimated our strength...”

“No,” Vetala Bhatta shook his head with certainty. “They are waiting for someone or something. That much I’m sure of.”

Just then, a soldier clambered out of a narrow staircase that led up to the battlements from the streets and alleyways below. Stepping on to the walkway, the soldier approached the raj-guru and bowed. “We have the reports from the scouts, your honor,” he gasped, catching his breath.

The moment he had ascertained that the Ashvin cavalry was no greater than five hundred in number, Vetala Bhatta had ordered scouts to fan out in all eight directions to search for reinforcements. He was certain that even the devas weren’t foolhardy enough to come to battle in such small numbers; he sensed that the Ashvins had split into smaller groups to escape detection and surround Ujjayini from all four sides. That the horsemen in the plain hadn’t launched their attack so far only strengthened his belief.

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