90 Assault on the Camp Part - 2
Mughal camp, chandanpur village.
The cold night air was thick with tension as the disciplined lines of musketeers advanced with precision from three sides of the forests surrounding the village, their movements almost mechanical in their efficiency. The Mughals, already on edge from the earlier chaos and bombardment, now faced a new and terrifying threat.
The musketeers halted abruptly, their muskets raised in unison. A tense silence filled the air for a moment, broken only by the muffled cries of the wounded Mughals and the crackle of fires in the tents. Then, with a thunderous roar, the first volley of musket fire erupted, the sound echoing like the wrath of an angry god.
Mughal soldiers screamed and fell as the bullets tore through their ranks. Panic spread quickly, fear overtaking reason as the soldiers scrambled for cover.
"Hold the line!" Faiz Khan shouted, but his voice was nearly drowned out by the chaos of disoriented soldiers.
Desperation drove them towards the wooden barricades they had built to fortify the village, now ironically becoming their prison.
"Break the barricades! Get inside the village!" one of the soldiers yelled, his voice trembling with fear.
The Mughals, in their frantic state, began hacking at the wooden barriers with their swords and axes, splinters flying as they desperately tried to create an opening. Another volley fired from the musketeers, more Mughal soldiers falling lifelessly on the barricade itself.
"The barricades won't hold! We need to get inside anyhow!" Saif ud-Din urged, pushing through the chaos to help his comrades.
As the musketeers advanced closer, their relentless volleys continued to cut down the Mughal soldiers. The survivors, seeing no other option, started to climb over the broken barricades, jumping into the village in a bid to escape the deadly fire.
"Inside! Get inside the village!" Faiz Khan bellowed, trying to maintain some semblance of order, but the panic was too great.
Rumors spread quickly through the ranks, whispered first in fear and then shouted in desperate hope. "The eastern side is clear! The eastern side isn't under siege!"
The words were like a spark in dry tinder. Mughal soldiers, already fleeing into the village, began to stampede towards the eastern entrance, believing it to be their only hope of escape. The narrow streets of the village became clogged with bodies as men pushed and shoved, the will to survive turning comrades into obstacles.
"The eastern side! Head east!" soldiers cried out, the rumor spreading like wildfire.
Faiz Khan, trying to keep his head amidst the chaos, realized the danger. "Wait! Don't all go that way! It might be a trap!" But his voice was lost in the noise of fear.
Panic reached the next level among the masses. The surviving soldiers, driven by an instinctive desire to escape the carnage, tried to flee the haunted village. Their faces were etched with terror, eyes wide with the primal fear of impending death. But as they turned to run, a new horror awaited them.
With the clearing of smoke, the ground began to tremble with the thunderous approach of horse hooves. The Rajput cavalry emerged from the horizon which looked like ghosts riding in the dark, charging towards the fleeing Mughals. By the time the camp's fire revealed their formidable presence, the distance was too close to prepare for any kind of defensive formation.
Caught between the bayonet charge of musketeers behind and the charging Rajputs with no less than their number, the Mughal soldiers instinctively chose to fend them off, not to win but to make their way off to escape. Within the available moments, they poised with their shields, swords, and spears.
The Rajputs, their war cries echoing across the battlefield, crashed into the fleeing soldiers with brutal efficiency. Swords slashed, spears thrust, and the Mughal ranks, already decimated, were torn apart.
Jafar Khan, struggling to maintain order amidst the disoriented Mughal soldiers, attempted to rally them into formation.
"Soldiers! Gather around me!"
But the confusion was overwhelming, and their defense formation remained weak and scattered, allowing Rajputs to penetrate their ranks easily. Amidst the chaos, a spear from a Rajput cavalry pierced through Jafar Khan's eyes with brutal force, shattering bone and penetrating his skull.
The impact caused his head to splatter brain matter, a horrifying sight that sent shockwaves of terror rippling through the surrounding soldiers. Panic seized their hearts, driving them to fight their way out of the encroaching enemy onslaught.
In the end, only a handful of Mughal soldiers managed to escape the carnage, their minds scarred by the horrors they had witnessed. They fled into the darkness, haunted by the images of their fallen comrades and the relentless onslaught that had decimated their ranks.
Faiz Khan, among the survivors, looked back at the battlefield one last time, his eyes burning with a vow of vengeance.
"This is not over," he whispered as he turned to make his way, but only to get caught by a few musketeers patrolling in the shadows. He dropped his sword and yelled, "I surrender, please spare me."
The musketeers exchanged glances, which brought a fleeting smile to Faiz Khan's face, thinking his desperate plea had worked and he was planning his next step to escape.
'BANG!'
But then, suddenly, a gunshot echoed through the night, followed by a hole appearing in Faiz Khan's skull. He fell to the ground, lifeless.
Prince Aditya emerged from the shadows, a musket still smoking in his hand. He looked down at Faiz Khan's body with a stern expression.
"Mercy is for the innocent," he declared, turning to face the rest of his units. "We take no Prisoners!."
"Kill them all!"