'Bhim knows his stuff,' Bradan said.
The Chola commander proved he also had some military skill when he ordered his archers to scatter Bhim's spearmen, then sent his cavalry to destroy the fugitives. The Chola cavalry covered the withdrawal of their elephants as the remaining Thiruzha spearmen scurried back to their own side of the pass. Following his small advantage, the Chola commander ordered his spearmen to advance, with shields over their heads as protection against the arrows.
'They look like human tortoises.' Kosala was watching the battle closely.
'It's like a game of chess,' Bradan said, 'with human lives as pawns.' For one betraying moment, he was with Dhraji, smiling over the chess pieces as she displayed her splendid body. Why do I still think of that creature?
Bradan did not see from where the rock came. He only saw it land in the middle of the human tortoise. Another rock followed, and then another, scattering the men under the shields. Presented with this easy target, the Rajgana archers fired again, joined by others in hidden locations on the flanks of the hill.
'The Thiruzha have catapults, too,' Bradan said, as he saw the scores of Chola casualties left by the abortive attack.
Now they had started, the Rajgana defenders followed up with volleys of rocks that clattered and crashed onto the Chola army, forcing them to retreat out of range and leaving an elephant wounded and squealing on the road.
'First day to the Thiruzha,' Kosala said. 'Time is drawing on. The Chola won't wish to fight in the night.'
However, Kosala underestimated the determination of the Chola commander, who tried another advance under cover of darkness. Bradan heard hoarse shouts first and then the screams and yells of the wounded. The defenders dropped kegs of burning oil from the battlements onto the pass, where some exploded into pools of flame and others rolled and bounced toward the advancing Chola army. As the flames flickered upward, Bhim sent his cavalry forward to harass the Cholas, chopping at the infantry and clashing with the Chola horsemen.
'The Thiruzha are too outnumbered to chance losing men in pointless skirmishes like that,' Kosala said.
After a few moments, a horn sounded three urgent blasts, and the Thiruzha cavalry broke off the action and hurried back to the western side of the pass, with two squadrons of the Chola horse in hot pursuit.
'They're running!' Kosala said. 'The Thiruzha are on the run!'
'It's a trap,' Bradan told him. 'Bhim used similar tactics with his fleet.'
The Thiruzha cavalry streamed through the pass as if in panic, the sound of their hooves echoing from the high walls as they passed underneath the stone bridge. When the Chola horsemen followed, laughing as they thought they had broken the Thiruzha attack, Bhim sprang his ambush. As one phalanx of spearmen ran from the side of the fort to block the pass behind the Chola horsemen, two other companies formed in the Cholas' path, forcing them to rein-up or face hundreds of eighteen-foot-long spears.
The Chola horses screamed, pawing the air as the riders hauled on the reins, unsure which threat to face. Other riders were too slow and ran onto the spears, and then Bhim ordered his archers to fire. Flight after flight of arrows hissed into the trapped Chola cavalrymen, killing, maiming, and adding to their confusion. Within ten minutes, there was not a single Chola horseman left mounted. The ground was a mess of dead and wounded men and horses, lit by the oil barrels' flickering flames.
'Look!' Chaturi pointed. 'There's the rakshasa now.'
Bradan heard the Singhalese shuffling further away, as if fearing Dhraji could see them through the dark at half a mile's distance.
Despite himself, Bradan watched Dhraji as she walked among the dead and wounded, dipping her finger in the blood. In the oil-barrel's dying light, Dhraji looked even more sinister.
'She's a monster,' Chaturi said.
'She gets inside your head.' Bradan noted the well-remembered curve of breast and flank, hip and thigh. Oh, dear God, why am I thinking like this? He could not look away until the black-and-white miasma drifted across his line of sight.
What is that thing?
Bradan realised that Kosala had unsheathed his sword and had crept beside him. 'It's all right, Kosala, I have no intention of letting Dhraji know we are here.'
Perhaps it was a coincidence that just then, Dhraji, still licking the blood from her fingers, turned to face their direction. For one moment, the flickering firelight reflected from her face, and Bradan could swear he recognised the lust in her eyes. Even at that distance, he felt the menace that emanated from her.
'She is the most evil woman I have ever met.'
'She is the personification of evil,' Chaturi agreed. 'No mortal blade can kill her, no arrow can pierce her skin, no spear, axe or mace can hurt her. Only something immortal can destroy her, and until the balance of the world is restored, no force for good can come to our aid.'
Bradan looked up to where Machaendranathar hung in his iron cage hundreds of feet above the pass. Unless the Chola army succeeded in forcing a passage, there seemed no hope of rescuing the Siddhar. Melcorka would remain physically weak, with the mind of a child and no memory of the woman she once had been.
'May my God and your Shiva aid the Chola army,' Bradan said.
'The Cholas are attacking again,' Kosala had replaced his sword in its scabbard. 'All of them.'
Aware of this new threat, the garrison of Rajgana suspended oil lanterns from the walls, making the pass nearly as clear as daylight. No longer playing Bhim's game, the Chola general had sent forward his entire army. They advanced at speed, with the remaining cavalry in front and the elephants and infantry in the rear. Massed archers fired volley after volley ahead of the cavalry to clear a path.
'They mean business this time,' Chaturi said. 'The Chola general doesn't seem to be worried about taking casualties as long as he forces the pass.'
Bradan agreed, as he watched the
