The Silent Gods of Srivijaya (5)

“The wind is great. The Gods are on our side,” said one of Narendra’s crew confidently.

“Yes,” he replied, staring at the blue horizon. Then the Gods can’t wait to watch bloodshed, he thought grimly as his sambau, Samudra Raksa, swiftly sailed the open sea.

Three days have passed since they departed Palembang. One hundred and fifty sambaus have been launched by Maharaja Sumatrabhumi to retake Champa and Khmer from the Mongols. The mission was to land as many armies in Indrapura—capital city of Champa—then marched west to retake Khmer.

The fleet was at its finest, though. The morale of his men was high since the victory over Raden Wijaya’s rebellion. He has regained his health and felt as strong as a bull. But something has been bothering his mind since he arrived at Palembang. By the order of the Maharaja, every Buddhist soldier has been demanded to participate in a religious ritual that spent a whole week: praying in Candis, bathing in Musi river bank, fasting, and whatnot.

Narendra has never been religious in his entire life. Grown as a fighter, he never found comfort in being spiritual. He believed that war is a practical thing: you win if you are stronger and cleverer. One can’t get stronger or cleverer by worshipping statues, he often argued. But he never objected if his men being religious, as long as they carry out their duties properly.

But of the recent rituals, he liked it not one bit. He thought Sokei-An, the leader of the rituals, were trying to convince that through spiritual advancement, there will be some deities who will backed the armies up, promising a certain triumph. He worried that the overconfidence will cloud their men’s judgment in the battle field. Since the priest was invited to the council, he has grown very influential. Every Maharaja’s word may be the exact word whispered by the priest, he thought.

At the tenth day, the fleet reached the coast of Indrapura. According to the plan, Narendra’s and Anathapindika’s host land at south bank of the city, while Kandra Kayet and Vimala land north. They will avoid open road to prevent encounter with Mongol riders—who gain advantage in open spaces—thus they chose to march through the woods.

Indrapura—the great port city of Champa—has been an important trading city, connecting traders from Arab, India, and China, made it one of busiest city in Srivijaya kingdom. But Indrapura that was witnessed by Narendra that day was a whole different city. As planned, the vanguard stormed the city to lure the enemy. But the vanguard returned with nothing more than confusion. Thus Narendra decided to enter the city.

Not a single sign of life to be seen as they entered the city; let alone the enemy. As they marched into the palace at the center of the city, they encountered Kandra Kayet’s host which was seemed to arrive not long before them and shared the same confusion. Meanwhile, Vimala and his men were reported heading to the port, searching for any resident.

Narendra had a very bad feeling of the circumstance. As he commanded his men to be extra careful, a loud bang interrupted his words. Out of the blue sky, some things fell and hit the roofs of the palace. Instinctively, every man around him put their sword at hand, eyes stared at every direction.

The sky then filled with more objects, few seconds flied and then crashed all around them. Some hit the buildings, some even hit his men. Catapults, Narendra thought. The Mongols were notorious in using catapults to siege enemy’s castle. But the projectile was not big enough to damage a building, though.

Several screams heard from hulubalangs that were crashed by the flying things. Narendra then realized that damaging building was not the aim of the catapult attacks. In a split second, he felt like he did not want to believe of what was happening. As miasma of anger, disgust and fear filled his gut, Narendra muttered an inaudible curse to any God who let such thing happened.

The Mongols were throwing severed heads to the city.

(Continued to Chapter VI)

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