The Inseparable Princes

90. The Thunder Recedes

It was all just a blur. Nobody exactly knew what Lakshmana and Indrajit were doing. They were too quick for anybody to see, and slow motion cameras are the way to go (I'm going to use them to explain to you all the battle that I witnessed. I'm overdoing this now *looks around nervously*). This battle was just different. Frankly, the demons were all too flabbergasted to be doing anything but watching their prince get attacked so confidently by a human who had come from afar.

Confidence. On the other hand, the monkeys were nothing but confident. They trusted their skill and that of their Lakshmana too. Clearly, Lakshmana himself trusted his skill, rather than having any doubts about whether or not he would be good enough for the demon. Rather, he knew that he, with the blessing of his brother, would certainly kill him. And confidence, people say, is very important for those who wish to be successful, as is determination, both of which were there in the army of Rama. But the demons were on a different league, their attitude filled with overconfidence (they had crossed that thin line between confidence and overconfidence long long ago), and it wasn't gritty determination or anything like that that they had. All they really had was overconfidence, that they would win and that they didn't even have to be determined for it. And that, perhaps, would cost them.

Lakshmana shot arrows continuously, and at an unbelievable pace. And even with all the speed and agility, his elegance in doing what he was doing was unparalleled, or maybe just second to his older brother. He would place an arrow on his bow, the arrowhead glimmering even as the rest of the place looked dark under the flying trees and arrows and mountains, before he would pull the bowstring back, making his colossal bow arch, before he would let go of the string and send the arrow flying into the air, reaching its target in less than a second.

And just like that, he would shoot hundreds of thousands of arrows and somehow, not one of them would go wrong. Not even one would. Indrajit, however, wasn't a weak opponent to fight either. He shot just as many arrows towards Lakshmana too, who would have to take some to himself, before they would just fall to the ground, leaving him bleeding. Indrajit, however much of a coward he was, wasn't as easy to beat as the previous ones. He was the second best in his army, the best of all being his own father. Indrajit wanted to go offensive and aggressive, attacking his enemy's chest and neck area, looking to kill him with a single, good arrow, rather than just injuring him aimlessly and wasting everybody's time (and also because they had survived the two times he had just wanted to injure them, thinking they'd die of just that).

But offensive against Lakshmana? That wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Lakshmana was known for his unbelievably aggressive and attacking method of fighting by now, and he was doing exactly that while fighting Indrajit too. The latter looked slightly on the back foot, thanks to him trying to be more aggressive than his opponent. His technique had failed, and he needed to go defensive, for that seemed like the only way out at the moment.

Lakshmana noticed that, and quickly, he knew what he needed to do. He needed to take advantage of the situation, and he did. He grabbed four arrows, ones with arrowheads that were narrow at the ends and wide in the middle, almost like fish, and placed them in his bow at the same time and shot them to targets that were slightly away from each other; the four horses of Indrajit.

The arrows broke any protective gear they still had on and went through, killing all of them, and they fell, leaving the charioteer extremely tensed and daunted about the reaction his Prince would give. But before any of that could happen, Lakshmana had shot an arrow into the charioteer's chest too, killing him that very moment.

Indrajit was clueless. He had been stumped. He didn't even know what to do now, because he hadn't even had any of his horses killed earlier. He thought he was dreaming or something, and so he looked at the horses like (I don't know) longingly or something, like he wanted to see them get up and continue doing what they always did so well for him.