The Inseparable Princes

87. A Mother And Her Son

Kumbha and Nikumbha, upon receiving orders from their King, went outside the palace to check everything. The soldiers, the chariots, the horses, the arsenal, and anything else that could possibly be of any use for the next day's battle. Everything was ready, and so were they. They were ready to kill or to get killed. It was going to be a big day for them, for everything had been going downhill for their King. And if they, somehow, could help that and change the way the battle was going, they certainly would do it. There was a lot of expectation from them, that they needed to win.

On the other hand, the Vanaras had no baggage, no pressure, or any apprehensions as such. All they had, at the moment, was sheer confidence. Whatever it may be, they had just survived what would've been the largest massacre of all time. They had just risen from the battlefield, from actual death. It was a miracle, one could say, but all that mattered was that now, they had depleted most of the forces of the enemy, and were also in a much better frame of mind, with their confidence extremely high, and were in a position to win.

"Don't forget," Rama began, however. "Their two main forces are still living, alright? Ravan and Meghanad. Ignoring their presence will be foolishness. They can take this momentum away from us, so we must not take anybody lightly." Sugreeva nodded in agreement. "And by that, I don't mean to say that you all need to be afraid of your enemy. I love the audacity I've got to see from all of you, because against these people who think of themselves as undefeatable, who have an ego, an overconfidence that soars higher than anything else, and most importantly, are doing the wrong thing even after being told not to do so," He glanced at Vibhishana before turning back to face the army. "Being audacious, being dauntless is the way to go." He was right, and it had somewhat been proven.

★★★

Sita was perhaps the most dauntless, most audacious woman Ravana had seen. For Ravana, her audacity was on the lines of disrespectful and rude, but truly, was it so? What was wrong in her audacity? Her audacity was the reason somebody could finally make up their mind to eliminate Ravana. Her audacity was to take a step ahead and say that she wouldn't accept him even when she knew what that could mean.

It was a fearless move, one could say, but even the most fearless of people would have a doubt in mind while saying such a thing to a merciless Ravana; she didn't. What was it, then?

Foolishness, Ravana had laughed, when her husband and brother had been killed by Indrajit on the first day. But she knew in her mind that that was not it. The next day, they had come back to fight Ravana, and the latter had barked at Sita, while she had simply smiled at his retreating back. Dead? Her husband? That wasn't happening anytime soon, she knew.

But once again, she had been told by a very anxious Trijata that her husband and brother and the entire army had been killed, because Ravana's favourite son had used the Brahmastra on them all. This time, however, she did not even feel a slight pang of worry, like she truly had felt the previous time. She thought it was not the case, because she didn't even feel affected by what she had had to hear. "Putri!" Trijata had cried, shaking her out of a trance. "They're dead is what I've heard." she continued tensely. "No." Sita had said firmly. It wasn't that despondent, devastated 'No!' that one would say after being informed about hurtful news. It was just a clean, clear No. "They are not dead, Trijata, and I know it." That sentence of hers also had a "And that is final." tone to it. Trijata hadn't seen this boldness from any woman who had been informed that her husband had just been killed. She had narrowed her eyes inquisitively to stare at the splendorous woman. Who was she?

★★★

Hanuman and Sugreeva, for some reason, seemed to be really infuriated about everything that day, and were going very aggressive. They, together, had killed about thousand soldiers in an unrealistically short amount of time, in just about ten minutes. Kumbha and Nikumbha too, however, weren't going to keep quiet. They had killed a number of soldiers quickly (does that sound like, "Sure, quickly, but definitely not as quick as our Hanuman and Sugreeva!" Hope it does XD), but Kumbha, more impulsive than his brother (Kumbha and Nikumbha are brothers, by the way), decided that they needed to kill those who were killing their soldiers and not those who weren't even killing as many soldiers (kill overdose)