Kartik snapped orders to Divodas even as he rose. ‘Ride down south. Inform our forces to expect a Magadhan charge soon. You will be leading them. I’m going to ride out with two thousand cavalrymen in a giant arc from the west. I intend to attack Surapadman’s forces from behind. Between my horses and your troops, we will crush them.’

Divodas smiled. ‘That we will!’

‘You bet!’ said Kartik. ‘Har Har Mahadev!’

‘Har Har Mahadev!’ said Divodas.

Divodas ran to his horse, swung onto the saddle and rode away.

Kartik appeared to be running over the instructions in his mind, not wanting to miss out a single detail.

‘I have fought many battles, Kartik,’ said Bhagirath with an amused look. ‘Go fight yours. Let me take care of mine.’

Kartik smiled. ‘We’ll gift my father a famous victory.’

‘That we shall,’ said Bhagirath.

Kartik walked up to his horse, stretched up to put his left foot into the stirrup, for he was still quite short, and swung his right leg over to the other side, mounting his horse. Bhagirath, who had followed Kartik, saw the same steely look in the boy’s eyes that he had seen many times during the animal hunts. A familiar sense of fear and fascination entered Bhagirath’s heart. He smiled nervously and whispered, ‘God have mercy on Surapadman...’

Kartik heard the remark and chuckled softly. ‘He will have to be the one, for I won’t.’

The son of the Neelkanth turned his horse and galloped away into the dark.

The slender moon was now cloaked in clouds, its faint light hidden in the mist. Bhagirath could barely make out the lines of men in the wood beside him. He sensed them now by the sound of their breath rasping in the darkness. The metallic smell of sweat hung heavy in the air. Bhagirath could feel the perspiration beading on his upper lip, trickling into the corner of his mouth. Whispers came floating back to his ears from up and down the line – ‘Har Har Mahadev... Har Har Mahadev...’ – like a prayer as the men braced to face Surapadman’s army.

Suddenly the moon burst through the clouds and Bhagirath could see men running up and down the length of the enemy ships carrying fire torches. They were lighting the arrows for the archers.

‘Shields up!’ screamed Bhagirath.

Bhagirath’s soldiers, primarily Brangas, immediately prepared for the volley of arrows that would soon descend upon them. The sky lit up as the archers shot their fire arrows. They flew out in a great arc before descending into the jungle. Bhagirath had kept his men strictly within the forest line, so the trees worked as their first line of defence. The few that got through were easily blocked by the raised shields.