The Princes of Ayodhya-The Ramayan Through Short Stories

Y is for YEETED

The death of Dhumraksh "the undefeated", filled the vanar army with previously restrained joy. Neel practically pulled Hanuman to the planning table, and when the bashful giant refused to speak, turning red, he himself told the tale (though anyone who was there to witness the slaying could say with a hand on their heart that Neel had been five miles away, jumping on a rakshas like a springy bed.

However, there or not, everyone could imagine how Hanuman killed Dhumraksh, and everyone could imagine how terribly angry Ravan would be when he heard of it. "Like it or not," Angad grumbled, shaking his head solemnly. "-the day isn't quite over yet. Which means the battle, which even though it seems as if Hanuman already won, has not been won." Smiles disappeared, and dropped maces were picked back up, and Ram smiled, picking up his own bow as Lakshman disappeared out of the tent sneakily as well.

-----O-----

Ravan was, as they all had predicted, not very happy. Lately, the rakshas king had been chewing copious amounts of betel, and Devantak had winced, much preferring his tobacco. So when Ravan stood up and bared his teeth, they looked blood stained and red, and even Indrajit grimaced for a second. "What is this news? How could those uncivilized apes just kill off Dhumraksh like that?!" he exclaimed, dropping his goblet of wine.

The messenger seemed, however, to take this quite literally. "Um, well, Dhumraksh attacked the fortress looking quite undefeatable. The thousand rakshasas whom he had chosen to attack all arrived, and immediately began eliminating the vanaras. And then Dhumraksh himself knocked on Hanuman's door. The giant vanar came out, and immediately, they began to brawl. Then, for some reason, both dropped their maces, and they began to wrestle. Well, Dhumraksh fell on the ground, and-"

"ENOUGH!" Ravan roared, putting up a fist, his eyes almost comically wide at this point, and if his teeth weren't red, and if he didn't look murderous at that point, and if he wasn't Ravan, King of Lanka, then they would have all laughed. "Enough!" Ravan's voice was shuddery, almost trembling, but he quickly made it steady and studious again. "Enough." Then Ravan did something terrible. He smiled, and his long smile stretched from ear to ear as he stood up straight and turned towards another rakshas. "Vajradamshtra of course."

He cleared his throat. "Oh Vajradamshtra, mightiest of all rakshas warriors, go and destroy these barbaric monkeys." He paused, and the entire court went silent as he collapsed in his golden throne once more, taking up the strict pose of a king once more. "Go, Vajradamshtra. Go and kill the vanar sena, and come back victorious. Then, you shall become the hero of Lanka as no one else has been."

Vajradamshtra bowed low, but as his face turned towards the ground, a smile of sharp, scathing evil covered it. "As you wish my king." he laughed in his oily, cheap voice that would make anyone shudder with discomfort, and the slippery rakshas stepped away, his head still slightly bowed, before completely exiting the throne room. As the rest of his most valuable courtiers turned back towards him, Ravan took a long sip of his wine.

------O------

Vajradamshtra might have seemed like a clever, sharp demon (as Indrajit was), but he was actually greedy, foolish, and arrogant. And as Ram often said "Arrogance shall be thy end." Nonetheless, Vajradamshtra had more of a chance than Dhumraksh ever had. For one, he carefully selected his army, rather than just choosing the bulkiest or the brawniest, Vajradamshtra chose those who worked well together.

Everyone knew of Vajradamshtra's luck, and his good omens. Everyone knew that he was less thick skulled than Dhumraksh, and everyone knew that he could, and would win. So it was an optimistic demon army, led by a smirking Vajradamshtra that marched out of the South Gates of Lanka that day, and it was an optimistic demon army that paraded through the battle between the vanar sena and slew hundreds of monkeys.