书城传记聆听史诗丛书-格萨尔王传:英文
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第57章 Ling Brings an Army...(4)

Trigyi Lunnar Pachan charged to the advanced position silently and threw an iron ball suddenly. This ball, bigger than a bison, squashed dozens of Ling troops to a pulp. Then he fired many arrows at the Ling troops and large number of them were shot down.

Several Ling officers dashed out at Lunnar Pachan with spears and swords but prior to their reaching him, Lunnar Pachan shot several arrows at them and they were shot down one by one. Lunnar Pachan whipped his horse and barged through the field of the Ling troops so fast that a dozen generals failed to ward him off. At the sight of Lunnar Pachan’s furiousness, Cholor Tarmo Kegyi, husband of Dainma’s granddaughter, struck his spear at him. But Lunnar Pachan quickly wielded his sword and chopped Cholor down off his horse to death.

At the sight of Cholor’s death, Dainma uttered a cry and charged forward. Other generals also charged forward and surrounded Lunnar Pachan completely. But Lunnar Pachan showed no fear at all. He wielded his snake whip so quickly that neither wind or rain could get close to him, let alone the heroes of the State of Ling. While he was swinging around him, clouds of gas were emitted from him and some of the Ling heroes fell off their horses.

When Lunnar Pachan rushed at Gesar’s tent, Chatsa Shigar unexpectedly flew to the front of Lunnar Pachan’s horse with his sword and shouted:

“I am Chatsa Shigar and have come to subdue you now. You’d better dismount from your horse and surrender or you will be beheaded.”

Regardless of Chatsa’s words, Lunnar Pachan charged at Chatsa. Chatsa hurried to meet him with his sword. Then the two began to fight but produced no winner. Lunnar Pachan had never met a rival like Chatsa before that day when he fought with the Ling general for half a day but still could not win. Chatsa, the incarnation of the rainbow, thought he was ever-victorious before that day when he met with that demon. He felt strange that this time so far from killing him, he was at risk of being defeated.

When Lunnar Pachan chopped at Chatsa, it was like chopping the wind. So he put away his sword and swung his snake whip heavily at Chatsa but it was cut into nine pieces by Chatsa’s sword. At the sight of the damage to his whip, Lunnar Pachan rushed at Chatsa and pulled him down off his horse. The two were rolling together and harrying each other. When Lunnar Pachan bit Chatsa, no matter how many efforts he made, he could only bite air. On the contrary, Chatsa could and did bite off his nose and ears. After a while, his face was covered with blood and so he was full of anger. Then he made a sudden strong push and pressed Chatsa down under his body.

The heroes of Ling surrounded the two. Zhalha, Tsinpa, Tarma and Dorchin held the limbs of Lunnar Pachan and worked hard to tear him into pieces. Taking his chance, Chatsa struggled to stand up.

Seeing Chatsa escaping but himself being held by many generals, Lunnar Pachan ground his teeth in anger and prayed for the help of the spirits silently. A minute later, Lunnar Pachan exerted his utmost efforts and succeeded in beating and kicking the surrounding generals viciously away from him. Then he quickly set himself up and fired several poisoned arrows and Tarma Dorchin was shot down.

While many warriors went to save Tarma Dorchin, Lunnar Pachan caught Chatsa again and held him high above his head intending to drop him to his death. Again he failed because Chatsa seized his armour so tightly that he couldn’t dislodge him. His war horse neighed and trotted towards him. Then he mounted his horse and rushed to break through the ring of Ling troops surrounding him with Chatsa on his shoulders. The Ling troops were shocked by his reaction and didn’t know what to do.

Chatsa felt annoyed being caught in this way by Lunnar Pachan. He was also angry and anxious, so he did his best to disentangle himself, but failed.

Lunnar Pachan was chased by Zhalha and Tsinpa then intercepted by Dainma, Razha and Sengta, and caught by a dozen lassos.

After being caught by the lassos, he became a little afraid because he wanted to get away and kill Chatsa as soon as possible. So he strained hard to raise Chatsa up and exerted his utmost strength to throw him at a rock by the side of the road. Then he cut the lassos around his neck with his sword and galloped away.

Chatsa finally escaped from Lunnar Pachan.

The next day, when the sun was just above the horizon, Chatsa lost no time in launching an attack against the Chayo army. Flying out of the Ling camp and followed by Dainma, Yulha, Sting and the other generals, he stormed into the Chayo camp. Trigyi Lunnar Pachan and Hari Mepa suddenly appeared and stopped them. The sight of Lunnar Pachan made Chatsa feel nervous.

Dainma and Lunnar looked at each other for a while and then Dainma drew his bow to shoot the divine arrow bestowed on him by Gesar, saying:

“God of War, please guide the divine arrow! Lion King, please help me win!”

With these words, he let it go. The divine arrow went clean through the stomach of Lunnar Pachan before killing the soldiers that were behind him. Clenching his teeth and glaring in madness, Lunnar Pachan raised his sabre and hewed at Dainma. A dozen pieces of his armour were cut away. Dainma let go another arrow immediately. It struck Lunnar Pachan right in the forehead and he was unhorsed and died.

Hari Mepa fired three sharp arrows just when he and Chatsa started fighting. Chatsa turned round and pointed his finger at the Chayo troops. The three arrows suddenly turned around and flew towards the Chayo soldiers. A dozen soldiers were hit and fell dead. Hari Mepa became furious at the sight and raised his sabre to fight Chatsa. Since arrows could not hurt Chatsa, the sabre was also unable to wound him. Not until then did Hari Mepa realize that Chatsa was blessed with a rainbow body. He immediately stopping fighting and fled back to his camp.

The Chayo troops became so frightened and demoralised after such a sound beating that they decided not to fight any more that day and returned to their camp.

Hari Mepa went back and reported what had happened to the king. Hearing the bad news, King Tolha Zhadui became very anxious and did not know what to do next.