53 The war begins

"Are we going to die tomorrow?"

In a dark room, a young man asked his father in a hushed voice. His face was pale because of hunger as he heard the soldiers outside talking about killing 100 people per hour.

"Don't worry, keep your faith in Lord Shiva, He will never let anything happen to us." The father consoled his child. He was worried about their future too but he had not lost hope and believed that something good will happen.

Soon enough, the first ray of sun landed on the fort of chittod.

"Bang…" The door of that dark room was kicked open by a Khilji soldier as he walked toward the people inside.

"Count 100 of them and take them out for execution…"

The soldier said as he started dragging the men outside of the dark room. The young man looked at the scene before him in horror. But he panicked after the soldier caught him and started dragging him out of the room.

"Father…"

The young man looked back at his father who was struggling frantically but was kicked away by another soldier while saying, "Your turn will come…"

The father's eyes turned bloodshot as he looked at his son taken away from him.

"Father…" These were the last word he heard before he saw his son dragged away in a distance.

On the other hand, the young man looked listless. A few days ago his mother was taken away from him by these soldiers and now they were taking him away from his father too. He lost all hope as he did not resist the soldiers.

Soon he was lined up among other people ready to be executed. He could hear the soldiers in the distance saying, "What do you think? Will the Rajputs come down the fort to save these peasants…?"

"If it would be me, I would not even think of saving these slaves and kept myself inside the fort…" The other soldier replied while laughing. But, his laughter stopped midway as the sound of hooves came from behind them. The soldiers immediately bowed down and said in unison,

"Sultan…"

Alauddin Khilji looked at the soldiers and then at the 100 people who were kneeling on the ground and said, "Start the executions…"

As soon as the order came out of Alauddin's mouth, 100 Khilji soldiers came forward and drew their swords.

The young man looked at the fort of Chittod one last time as he closed his eyes with helplessness. From the soldier's earlier conversation, he knew that it was extremely hard for them to be saved.

Just as the soldiers swung their swords, A loud voice came from the fort of Chittod…

"Puuuuuuu~~"

This was the sound of Shankha, the battle sound of Rajput warriors. Soon the four doors of the fort of Chittod opened as an army of 45,000 soldiers came out of the gates.

"Cheh~..."

When Alauddin saw the Army, he got on his horse and left the scene along with his personal guards. The 100 soldiers also quickly followed behind him.

"Neigh…"

The young man who had resigned to fate opened his eyes when he heard the sounds of horses neighing. In front of him was a massive BHAGWA fluttering in the air along with Rajput cavalry.

Their horses neighed as they went sound the 100 people and marched toward the Khilji forces who were retreating. They stopped chasing after they made sure that the Khilji soldiers would not turn around and then walked towards the 100 people who were still kneeling on the ground.

Some of the soldiers went down from their horses to help the 100 people.

Once they untied them the soldiers told them to run away from this place as quickly as possible as they mounted their horses and marched toward the Rajput army ranks.

The young man looked at the soldiers and said in his mind,

"I want to be like them…" For a 13-year-old young man, they were like heroes who helped people like him. He vowed to become like them to protect the people around him as he slowly ran away from the battlefield.

----

On the other hand, when Rajput cavalry reached back to their army rank, Aarv quickly ordered the Rajput soldiers to form the "Makara Vyuha".

"Puuu~~~ Puuu~~"

The Shanka started sounding in rhythm as all the soldiers started aligning themselves according to their previous positions.

From a distance, when the Khilji army reached the periphery of Chittod, they saw the Rajput army aligning themselves in a formation. When the enemy commander, Malik Kafur looked at the formation he felt quite shocked as he had never seen such a formation in his entire life.

"Hujur, What formation is this…?"

He asked Alauddin who was right beside him and was also looking at the formation.

"Any formation is useless against the power of Khilji cavalry…" There was strange confidence in Alauddin's eyes.

"Have the soldiers form ranks… we will annihilate Rajput forces today…" Alauddin Khilji gave the order to surrounding commanders.

"Ji Hujur…" Malik Kafur quickly bowed in front of Alauddin Khilji and left to arrange the soldiers.

"Bong Bong Bong Bong…"

Soon the sounds of drums came from the Khilji army ranks as they lined themselves in a row.

All the Rajput soldiers looked at the Khilji army with deep hatred. They knew that because of these soldiers, their kingdom was on the verge of destruction. They knew that these were the same soldiers who killed the Rajputana people in surrounding villages that might include their families too. They felt hatred towards such an army as they looked at the upcoming soldiers.

"Attack…" It was Alauddin Khilji who gave the order to attack and soon enough over 100,000 strong cavalries started marching toward the Rajput army.

Aarv too looked at the Khilji army that was coming nearer and nearer as he said to himself, "Come have a little taste of Rajputana talwars…!"

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Author thoughts:

Shankha is a type of Crouch which is used during holy rituals in India. It was also used as the main battle cry for Indian armies in ancient times.

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