The Inseparable Princes

77. The False Victory

When everybody had thought that all the chieftains for the day had been sent back to Lanka, they felt arrows pouring at them from nowhere. Rama looked up to the sky, squinting, and caught an arrow that came at his face.

"Illusions." he hissed. "They have come back with their illusions." Vibhishana looked around and then looked back at Rama. He knew that this wasn't something that everybody could do. It was his brother's favourite son doing it.

"Indrajit is the one behind it, Prabhu. It can't be anybody else. Bhrata Ravan would've suggested this. Or Indrajit might have just come up with it. But it is him. Since Yuvaraj Angad defeated him, I think he now finds it most appropriate to resort to treachery." said Vibhishana, eyes narrowed.

"He's killing our soldiers. So many in such a small period of time. Something needs to be done. Maharaj Vibhishan, what do you think can be done about this?" asked Rama.

"We just need to keep on fighting. We have to cause as much harm to the enemy as he has caused to us. That is the only thing we can do at this point." said Vibhishana, looking around at all the soldiers in the monkey army falling every second, and some others trying to take the injured ones back to the camp.

Rama nodded and Lakshmana drew a few more arrows out of his quiver and shot them at the demons. Rama stepped back and shot arrows like lightning bolts into the enemy's soldiers, who died in an instant. And in mere minutes, the brothers had cleared off sections of soldiers and the son of Ravana, now invisible, was completely enraged.

His ego, his overconfidence was being shattered evey second by the so called mere humans who were fighting against the greatest demons. He looked around, gritting his teeth and breathing heavily. He grabbed a few more arrows and tried to shoot it at the brothers. But just as the brothers saw them approaching, they stopped them with just one arrow. Indrajit felt humiliated. In the back of his mind, he could feel like he knew that the brothers were the best, completely unrivalled warriors.

He knew, vaguely, that he was going to fall weak at some point or another. But he just wouldn't listen to the rational part of his mind, and would continue fighting with those who were of greater might. Not only were they stronger, they were also fighting for the right cause which was exactly what Indrajit wasn't doing. Rama liked to have one rule. He did not like to include emotions in battle. He did not like to let his emotions overpower his rationality. And that was exactly what the demons never seemed to understand.

Going by his temperament, Indrajit pulled out a few arrows violently and placed it on the bow, before uttering a few mantras. And then, again, he took his stance, legs wide apart, and his elbow bent slightly, as he pulled the bowstring back to his ear (now I laugh at this every time XD). His bow, adorned with gold and gems, carved intricately, arched dangerously and the bowstring seemed ready to snap, if not released right away. The wrathful Meghanada moved backward and took aim to kill the two princes, whose radiance increased the longer he looked at them. And just like that, he unleashed the arrows that, now, on their way to the princes, seemed to look like serpents.

Even before the brothers could realise, Rama had been struck by the arrows all over his vital organs, and a few moments later, Lakshmana had been struck too. Everybody stopped where they were. Rama and Lakshmana still stood on the ground, but their shoulders were slumped and their eyes were drooping. The armies stared at them, their mouths agape, and the monkeys turned paler and paler by the second, while the demons seemed ready to rejoice.

"I, in my my invisible form, cannot even be defeated by Indra! You both, mere humans, don't think you can do so, do you? Stop dreaming, you all, stop dreaming!" yelled Indrajit, still too scared to return to his manifest form. Nobody really cared about him. Lakshmana sent a glare up in the sky, and even though he wasn't exactly looking at Indrajit, the glare did instill a little bit of fear in the demon prince.