Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Chapter 73: Battle of Mahishapura [1]

The morning sun rose from the horizon. The light of the sun strengthened as the shadow of the night faded. The air was cool, and the fragrance of the morning dew and blooming flowers permeated the surroundings. An army marched through the open fields, breaking the silence of the morning.

The army led by Keshav Pillai was making its way to battle against the approaching army of Govinda Rao in Mahishapura (Mysore). The tension in the air was visible, as if lightning were about to strike the battlefield.

The neat columns of the soldiers marched in unison in neat formations onto the battlefield. The commanders of the army were riding a horse and clad in ornate armor, clearly showing them apart from the rest of the troops.

The exchange of messengers was happening before the battle took place if the leader of the armies wanted to surrender and avoid the bloodbath. After a brief exchange of the messengers, with a long shrilling noise of the Shankha (conch shell, sort of like a warhorn),.

The vanes of banners rippled on the wind, the bold colors of different badges streaming above the gray steel of the host. The soldiers took up the war cry, shouting out the names of their gods, their kings, their lords, and their homes.

"FOR HONOR! FOR COCHIN!" screamed Keshav Pillai on his war horse, pointing his sword at the enemy.

The battle had begun.

Keshav's army took on the offensive as the battle began. Horse and man alike charged into the battlefield. They came crashing into contact with the mix of flesh and steel, echoing into a sickening thud. The ground trembled under the thunderous hooves of the cavalry charges.

Archers behind the infantry shot their arrows as the arrows soared above the enemy, akin to a rain of steel, piercing tens of soldiers in formation.

"INFANTRY HOLD FORMATION," screamed the commander.

The infantry of Keshav's army panicked a bit at the start of the battle but was quickly stabilized into a formation by the experienced commanders that Keshav had employed for the battle.

The second rain of arrows was launched at Govinda's army. The infantry raised the shield in formation to shield themselves as they battled the frontline. Many fell to the relentless barrage of arrows despite the shields, as they found gaps and pierced through.

"CAVALRY CHARGE" The cavalry captain's scream echoed through the battlefield.

The cavalry charged, brandishing their spears as they crashed into the enemy formation. The enemy locked in their shields and spears, bracing for the impact of the charge. But the charge was unstoppable as their lances shattered and pierced through with sheer momentum and speed.

The side of the infantry was smashed aside by the sheer force of the charge. The cries of the dying and wounded mingling with the thundering stampede of the charge were devastating.

After another barrage of arrows, the strength of Keshav's army was evident; their coordinated cavalry charges along with the solid infantry frontline gave them an edge.

As the battle raged on, the infantry of Keshav gave way to massive war elephants charging towards the enemy formation. The arrows of the enemy were prompt blocked by the shield wield by the mahouts atop the elephant.

The pikes and shields of the infantry did very little as the elephants broke through the formation of the enemy, smashing through the frontline enemy infantry equipped with armor like a paper wall.

The army of the enemy was backing against the might of the war elephants of Keshav's army. But this was met with a stampede on the other side as the enemy war elephants broke through the side of Keshav's tight-knit formation.

"INFANTRY FALL BACK TO FORMATION AND REGROUP," yelled Keshav, slicing an enemy soldier's neck while sitting on the horse.

The soldiers managed to get back in formations, and the elephants of Keshav were diverted to the other side to battle the enemy war elephants.

"Infantry, MAKE way."

The infantry gave way to the archers to change positions to target the mahouts of the enemy war elephants. The Mahouts were riders of the elephants; if he falls, the elephant's cannot be controlled properly, causing it to stampede.

"FIRE"

The rain of steel was showered on the charging war elephants, piercing through the shields of some mahouts, rendering some of the war elephants useless for battle.

"ARCHERS FALL BACK; INFANTRY PROTECT THE ARCHERS!"

Keshav's experienced commandering of the situation was perfectly working in their favor as the archers retreated back to position and fired at the enemy infantry clashing at the front. The cavalry occasionally chipped off the frontline of the enemy.

The enemy was also relentless, as their cavalry had broken through a flank, but this was quickly taken care of by Keshav by rotating his foot soldiers into position to protect the backline and archers.

"You are dead today, Govinda." He smirked

Keshav watched the dreadful scene as battle raged on, soldiers grappling and slicing each other in brutal hand-to-hand combat. The air was filled with clashes of steel and cries of the dying as the blood soaked the grass, giving it a scarlet hue.

Keshav, amidst this sliced-off enemy after enemy by picking off on the wounded and looking out for the potential changes in the battlefield to address. His commanders took enough care not to make any bad mistakes.

Keshav was on top of the world as his cavalry broke through the flank of the enemy. The damage done by the war elephants also damaged their frontline enough to back up slowly. The slow chipping off of their soldiers was starting to hurt the enemy as they couldn't fend off the breakthrough charge of the cavalry.

Govinda's infantry formation finally broke under the pressure of the army of Keshav. He had no choice but to retreat in such a situation. The army panicked after the breaking of the formation, and the soldiers, in a panic, began retreating to the strip of forest.

Keshav let out a final battle cry to rout the army of Govinda Rao, slowly backing under the pressure of the war elephants and cavalry charge.

"CHARGE, MY SOLDIERS. WE SHALL WIN."