The blazing sun hung above the desert plain, covered only by small, thorny bushes. Small trees were scattered among the sands, like ships in the ocean. Nasr ud-Din Ali Shah Karlani ibn Farroukshiyyar, known by his regal name Alamgir - he who conquers the world - surveyed the open plain which was about to witness a massive slaughter. Vultures, already sensing an plentiful meal, already circles the skies in droves; and howling of the jackals sounded from the bushes.
The Padishah-Emperor was a man about twenty five springs. He had a tall, oval face, large eyes, wide nose and short, black beard. His skin was paler than most of the Karlani - courtesy of his mother being a foreign princess. Large white turban rested upon his head like snow on mountain's peak, and from underneath emerged chain mail protecting him from enemy blows. He wore a blue silken robe decorated with images of lions upon his chain mail armour, with his elbow and knee pads resembling heads of lions - symbol of the Karlani tribe.
An older man dressed in long yellow robe approached the Emperor. The man, to the contrary, wore a smaller, green turban; had longer white beard with massive moustache; and small green eyes. Wisdom and experience painted themselves on the man's face.
"So, here is the limit of my experience." Mahmoud Ferdowsi, court poet and tutor of Alamgir on all matters that did not involve spilling blood spoke "Now it is time for your majesty's art to shine."
"Indeed." sighed the Emperor "I pity that I can't pay more attention to your lessons, but my entire life has been one war after another. Due to that I had little time for fine arts; and people mock me as crude and uncultured now. "
"Perhaps when Khoda gives your majesty peace your majesty will have time. Your majesty is still young, and not as bad as some. Besides Farroukshiyar was a great warrior, and poet too. He left us his hymns after all."
Upon mentioning Khoda, the Emperor's face suddenly became more nervous. His mentor noticed it, thus he decided to intervene.
"Let's see what the kafr dogs are up to, shall we?" the poet suggested that they take a look at the enemy army assembled at the opposite side of the plain.
They ascended up the hill, where Alamgir's headquarters was. Alamgir gazed like a falcon on the battlefield. There across the field, stood Akal Singh, heading a coalition of four Chela misils. Bearded men stood in ranks, massive turbans on their heads and armour on their chests. Some had their chakrams on their turbans ready to throw at the enemy. Their faces were displaying anger, eyes - lust for blood. Forty five thousand chelas stood on the plain, wanting to avenge their sixth guru, whom Alamgir's grandfathered ordered boiled alive.
The Emperor shifted his gaze to the left. The enemy stood divided in three divisions, with their left wing and centre made purely of cavalry. On the right, partially within a small village stood a unit of cavalry, and in front of it an elite force of eight thousand musketeers. This is also where the enemy entrenched his biggest guns.
Alamgir then shifted the eyesight to his own massive army of fifty four thousand. His ahids stood in the reserve, but smaller contingents of ahids were moved to the further corners of both wings to prevent the forces there gathered from escaping, as the Emperor could not fully trust his vassals. His centre stretched between two small villages, and was put under the command of the Marzban e Dukhani. There the Emperor directed the forces of the Karlani cavalry, coupled together with a massive battery of artillery, among them over three thousand camel guns. Right wing, under command of the Vizier, held a large contingent of sepoys and remainder of kohadist cavalry. Left wing was composed of forced of allied Rajputs and conscripted pagan sepoys, under command of a vassal raja.
"I just hope that those uncircumcised, pig-eating infidels won't betray me like Karna did. " sighed Alamgir in a bitter memory of his former friend.
"If your majesty is so worried about them why bring them along?"
"Because I needed soldiers. And no matter how much I hate this fact, Kafrs are part of my Empire too. Until Khoda himself chooses to destroy them, I have to bear them. " came a stern reply.
The Emperor averted his gaze from the ranks of his foes, and sat on a chair, deep in thought.
"Why so worried, your majesty?" asked concerned poet "By Khoda's power you will break those kafrs, and then I will describe the victory in beautiful verse for your descendants to remember."
"You say that Khoda will give me victory..." replied the Emperor with concerned tone "Yet few weeks ago, Karna broke Yusuf Adil Shah, who was a good Khodaist. Khoda promised us that ten of ours will fight hundred of theirs, yet we do not see any more great victories like those in days of the Prophet-Khans."
"Khoda's will is mysterious." countered Ferdowsi "Man can not grasp it. Yet, at the end we can trust who he is. He always keeps his word. We may suffer in between, but our ending is guaranteed."
"I guess so..." the Emperor was visibly cheered. He rose up, and went to the headquarters, instructing his signals officer.
"Sound the horn, it is time."
The massive ram horn was sounded. Battle of Chajapur was about to begin.
The battle begun with the exchange of artillery. At once, hundreds of rounds were flung into the air. Mighty cannons on both sides roared like lions, yet cannoneers on chela side had sun in their faces and as the result, could not aim correctly. They missed time after time, while Karlani guns fell into chela ranks, smashing through men and horse alike and ricocheting behind the ranks of the pagans.
The Emperor's eye caught movement on the enemy right. The musketeers, until now stationary, begun to move, sprinting swiftly towards his soldiers. Even here, he heard the monotonous chant coming from the throats of the chelas, calling their goddess to assist in the coming battle and promising tantric sacrifice of captives in exchange.
Empowered by their faith, the chelas rushed towards his ranks, then stopped. The quickly reformed ranks, discipline whipped into them. Then, the first rank fired and clouds of death rose over the ranks. Sepoys from the Karlani right responded with fire of their own, but they lacked discipline of their foes. The Emperor with shame admitted that the chela infantrymen were superior in training and discipline. While his own men shot, without order and then took time to reload, the chelas worked like one of clockwork machines he had seen in Khusrubad. Rank after rank, they fired their muskets then ran away to reload, the next rank firing. Repeat. Then men in his own ranks dropped like flies under hailstorm of lead.
No. He could not let such a force contest his own.
"Messenger!" he shouted "Rush to Marzban of the artillery! Tell him that i want his rockets on those kafr musketeers!"
"But your majesty, what about the centre?" shouted one of the nobles watching the battle inside the headquarters. Behind him the battle was watched by a myriad of men and women that either followed the camp or were families of the soldiers. After all - when the Emperor moved, he took his entire court with him.
"If we don't destroy that formation they can rout our right. Then we will be flanked!" shouted the Emperor "Execute!"
The messenger ran. The emperor turned his eyes back to the firing exchange. The thunder of guns now resembled a raging storm, and so much smoke covered the area that he had trouble picking up the events.
Then, like a fiery dragon ascending the skies, first rocked was launched. It flew on a wide arc and missed the formation completely, crashing hundreds of meters behind. But others soon followed, and this time were accurate. Commander of the pagan right, wanting to avoid causalities, decided to withdraw and the musketeers rushed backwards to get out of reach of this demonic weapon.
In their place came hordes of chela cavalry. Wild riders came, chanting the name of their goddess; their unholy books hanging on their chests as talismans, curved sabres ready to strike.
"Forward in the name of Khoda!" shouted the Vizier, accepting the challenge, flag with lion of Karlani floating on the wind behind him. Rows of cavalry followed him. Like two majestic waves, two cavalry forces clashed into each other. Men were cut, horses screamed. A khodaist soldier smashed his mace into a turban of a chela warrior, breaking his neck and sending him flying from his mount. Warlike screams of "Khoda!" "Alamgir!" could be heard.
Heavier armor of the Karlani finally prevailed. The chelas broke and fled with wild abandon, chased by Karalni on their tails. But then, the cavalry wheeled to the side, to reveal reformed rank of musketeers ready to fire. Hailstorm of lead fell on the khodaist cavalry. The vizier too ordered a retreat to avoid further damage to his forces.
So far, the outcome remained contested.
Alamgir analysed the situation. Both his forces and forces of the enemy sustained considerable losses on their right wings. Which meant that deciding the outcome on the right wing was utterly out of question - for now at least. This left the other areas.
"I don't trust the kafrs on my left!" he thought "Which means that the center is the only area where I could decide the battle. Akal SIngh is also here, likely. But what if I commit to the centre, and the chelas rout the kafrs at that time? My ahids are my only reserve, and I doubt the kafrs are motivated to fight for me."
He paused in the thought.
"Unless... I could distract their left wing somehow...." he pondered, and idea arriving to his head "That will work."
Uttering a short prayer to Khoda, Alamgir called two messengers - young soldiers on their first assignment, overwhelmed by the fact that they had to be so close to the Emperor.
"The one on the right, rush to Marzban - Dukhani. Tell him to bring full force of his rockets on the enemy left. I want it suppressed. Meanwhile focus all the canons at the enemy centre and keep the camel guns loaded with grapeshot. When I launch a flare - fire them all at once. " he turned to the other one "Order the Rajah in charge of the right wing to dismount his cavalry and slowly advance forward. Every time the rockets stop flying, erect a small wall of sand and take cover behind it. When the rockets stop flying take cover and emerge once they fly again! "
Both messengers rushed to their destinations, and the Emperor ordered his horse to be prepared. He mounted it, drew his bow and joined the ranks of his ahids. The battle was coming to the cumulative point.
Soon, the Karlani left begun a crawl at snail pace, making makeshift fortifications along the way and in such a manner preventing the chela left from coming to aid the centre. Meanwhile repeated salvos of Karlani guns finally goaded the enemy in the centre to charge. A screaming wave of chela horsemen was now coming directly at him, sky becoming filled with arrows flung by both sides.
The Emperor smiled, and ordered the flare to be launched.
The ranks of Karlani quickly parted, uncovering thousands of zaburaks behind them. The camel guns all fired with grapeshot at once, just as energy of the charge carried the chelas forward. Leaden hailstorm fell on them and a massive wave of men and horses was turned into isolated groups, manically trying to realise what happened. Wounded horses screamed; some ran away, others crashed into other raiders. The enemy lost momentum. When they reached the Karalni lines - no power was left in them.
Yet despite the losses they pressed on, too high on drugs to notice their losses. Their effort was in vain, as the Karlani had better armour. Despite that bitter struggle erupted everywhere, and soon the chaos destroyed all sense of order. Yet, in spite of all the losses - the chelas held, even if by a thread.
First sign of the fact that this was about to change was a flock of birds, that flew out of the village. Some chelas turned to see the banners with lion of the Karlani on their sides, and realised that they were being flanked. There rode ahids, his majesty Alamgir himself leading them in the first ranks. Behind him followed massive, armoured war elephants, with spikes on their tusks and turrets full of soldiers.
The force of ahids wheeled about, launching a volley of arrows on the enemy's back, and felling many. Then the elephants fell on the pagans, throwing men and horses like a child toys. Ahids followed behind them, grabbing their spears, sabres, maces and axes. Pressed from three sides, the chelas started giving ground. Among them, Akal Singh fought like a cornered tiger, killing one foe after another. He wore a turban so large it made him look comical; one filled with various weapons. He had dark skin and long, black beard; his green eyes portrayed madness so massive it had to be supernatural.
"Akal Singh!" Alamgir roared, addressing the enemy commander "You have blasphemed Khoda long enough! Today I bring divine judgement on your head!"
"So I take my vengeance today for Guru Keerat Singh!" shouted the Chela leader "I will cut off your head and put it before the First Scripture! Only then can our many armed goddess be satisfied!"
"Your goddess can't save you, for Khoda is deva of devas!" Shouted Alamgir, and rode forward. The two clashed, exchanging blows of their swords; Alamgir blocked with his round, wooden shield and aimed at the exposed face of his enemy. But then a strong blow made him fall from his horse.
"My lord!" one of Ahids attempted to rush to their monarch's rescue, but was swiftly cut down by Akal Singh.
"Where is your Khoda now?" Akal rushed forward, raising his sabre to strike...
But Alamgir, using a technique taught to him by Viratacharya, side-stepped the blow and cut the horse's neck. The animal fell forward, and Akal Singh flew off it's back, falling flat on his chest.
"EXACTLY HERE!" roared Alamgir. Akal rose from the ground, now furious beyond all measure.
he rushed forward, rising his shamshir to strike. Alamgir blocked the cut with his own, and returned the blow. Akal rose his shield to block - last mistake of his life, as Alamgir came and smashed his shield into the shield of the enemy. Akal lost his balance, his shield trapped under shield of the Karlani ruler - and then Alamgir stabbed the tip of his shamshir into chela leader's face. Red blood flew, as largest threat to the Empire aside from Brahmaji Rao has been killed.
With one motion, the Emperor severed the head of his enemy, and rose it into the air.
"KHODA!" he shouted.
"KHODA! KHODA!" repeated the Ahids, and leashed upon their foes like wolves on a pack of sheep. Seeing their leader dead, panic broke across the Chela center. They ran in terror, some staining their armour and robes with human waste, Ahids behind them in hot pursuit. Seeing this, the Chela left fled too; and the right was encircled and slaughtered as soon as the last remnants of the center ran off the field.
Karlani soldiers now fell on the enemy camp like locusts on a field. Fate of chela property and families now was in the Karlani Emperor's hands.
By the evening, corpses covered the ground in thousands, as far as eye could see. Jackals and vultures had greatest feast in heir life.