War Of Lanka (Ram Chandra Series Book 4) by Tripathi Amish

Author:Tripathi, Amish
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Published: 2022-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

As luck would have it, Indrajit and Mareech had been awake when Lakshman and his troops emerged from the secret tunnel. They had woken up an hour earlier and had gone down to the guards’ room next to the east-wing gate. They were with the guards, making small talk, when Lakshman had ordered his soldiers to charge.

Indrajit, Mareech and the fifteen Lankan soldiers in the guards’ cabin were completely out of sight for Lakshman and his Ayodhyans.

Kshiraj and his Ayodhyan soldiers had not seen the Lankans emerge from behind as they had raced to the gates. Many Ayodhyans were killed before they had even turned around to face the enemy.

Mareech had bellowed an order as his guards had rushed towards Kshiraj. ‘Don’t kill him! Drag him out! I want him alive!’

Indrajit had wanted to move farther into the courtyard and attack the Ayodhyans as they charged into Dhumraksha and his men close to the fort temple. But Mareech had pulled his nephew back. ‘This is not the time to be a hero. This is the time to be a leader!’ Mareech had implored Indrajit.

Sometimes the hero and the leader can fuse in the same individual. But often this does not happen. A hero does not need followers, a leader cannot be imagined without those he leads. A hero sacrifices himself, while a leader may not succumb to this magnificent impulse. A hero must be courageous, a leader does what must be done, even risk being perceived as cowardly sometimes. A hero inspires the storytellers, a leader lives on in the hearts of his followers. A hero is concerned with what the gods will think of him, a leader is concerned with protecting and nurturing his people and his land. A hero will not leave the moral high ground, even if it hurts his people, while a leader will step down from the moral high ground if need be, and even sacrifice his own soul for the good of the people he leads.

A hero will fight the enemy against insurmountable odds and embrace death with a flourish.

A leader will respond calmly and deny the enemy a key strategic advantage in a battle.

Indrajit had listened to Mareech, and behaved like a leader.

They had retreated from the gate to the central dam area along with fifteen soldiers. The fighting continued to rage at the other end of the courtyard of the east-wing. They had found some hammers in the guards’ cabin, to be used for repairs. Now they would be used for destruction.

Kshiraj had tried to warn his fellow Ayodhyans who were battling Dhumraksha and his men at the other end of the courtyard. But a soldier from Indrajit’s tight band had knocked him on the head and carried the unconscious Ayodhyan out. The gate had been quickly barred from the outside and barricaded.

They had then set to work.

The levers of the sluice gates were destroyed. The loss of even a few major sluice gate controls would have hampered Ayodhya’s ability to manage water-outflow.

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