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As soon as he thinks an auspicious moment in the battle has been reached, Intorachit fires his father's arrow Sooragan at the enemy. Immediately, like leaves scattered before the wind, like stalks under the reaper's sickle, more monkeys fall than can be counted. Seeing this, Phra Lak, the leader of the army of Ayutaya, fires his Promat arrow. It flies straight to Intorachit's chariot, bursting it asunder and throwing the demon to the ground. Giant and demon soldiers innumerable fall stricken to the earth, while the monkey casualties recover their senses and rise up ready to fight on. Seeing that the tide of the battle is flowing against him, Intorachit savagely hews his way to Phra Lak's chariot and challenges the human prince to single combat. Hand to hand, using their great bows as staves, the two fight closely. Circling, striking mightily with their bows, each seeks an opening to land a telling blow. Backwards and forwards they range, the demons and monkeys calling a truce to watch this combat and ringing the princes in a wide circle. The sun himself swings higher, as if to seek a vantage point from which to view this unique trial of strength. Still they fight on, each with heaving chest and rasping throat, until, at the moment when it seems the combat will go on till nightfall, a blow from Phra Lak slips past Intorachit's guard and strikes the demon to his knees. In a flash, even as Phra Lak is aiming another blow at him, Intorachit mutters a magic spell that turns the stave aside as it falls. He then hurls his discus into the air, meaning to cut down the monkey army and his opponent, but Lak destroys it with his Promat arrow. Now Intorachit is weaponless, and, surrounded by foes, sees defeat and death in every eye. With a final summoning of his powers, he calls up a violent storm, and springing up from the field of carnage, seeks refuge in the clouds. |
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