THE UNSUNG WARRIORS OF INDIA

Dawn After the Storm – Ullal Port

The sky was iron.The waves churned black.And floating in the surf were the shattered remnants of Portuguese pride—burnt armor, empty muskets, torn sails tangled in fishing nets.

Rani Abbakka walked barefoot across the docks, past the wreckage, her sword tip trailing sparks against the stone. Every step she took was a statement. No words needed.

Behind her, a boy ran to keep up.

"Maharani… they say Goa is assembling twenty ships. They're coming again."

She stopped.

Then smiled like a wolf.

"Let them. But this time, the sea will feast on them."

Scene: The Enemy's Fury – Fort Aguada, Goa

Captain-General Dom Jorge Cabral paced his private chamber like a caged jaguar. Before him stood a trembling informant—an Indian merchant, beaten and bribed into betrayal.

"She doesn't fear us," the man stammered. "She fights like a phantom."

Cabral poured wine slowly into a goblet and set it down untouched.

"Fear can be manufactured," he muttered. "Even phantoms bleed."

He turned to his war council.

"We sail in two weeks. Double the gunpowder. We burn Ullal off the map."

Another officer leaned forward.

"But Captain-General… what of the rumors? Pirate alliances. Black powder boats. Eastern magic."

Cabral chuckled.

"Then we'll bring western hell."

Scene: The Secret Dockyards – Ullal's Cursed Ship

At midnight, Abbakka entered a cavern hidden beneath the cliffs—a forgotten outpost from her grandfather's time. There, shipbuilders worked in eerie silence by torchlight.

In the center stood a monstrous vessel. Not a warship. A ghost.

Painted black. Trimmed with bones. Fitted with oil-casks and fire-channels carved into its ribs.

A suicide ship.

The builder, a half-mad artisan named Parameswaran, approached.

"We call her the Kaala Jwala, Rani. The Black Flame. She sails once. And takes hell with her."

Abbakka nodded once.

"Then we fill her with vengeance."

Scene: Alliance in the Shadows – The Pirate Queen

From the eastern islands came sails without flags.

Rani Abbakka stood alone at the cliffside pier when the ship docked. Out stepped a woman clad in sharkskin and gold—Champa the Red, pirate queen of the Sundarbans.

They stared at each other. Neither bowed.

"I heard you burn invaders," Champa said.

"I heard you burn friends," Abbakka replied.

They both smiled.

A deal was struck.

Champa's fleet would join the coming ambush in exchange for captured Portuguese steel and half the enemy's opium stores.

They sealed it not with ink—but with cut palms pressed together.

Flashback: The Language of Fire

As a girl, Abbakka had watched her mother teach slaves to hide whispers in ritual dance.

"Spies listen to words," her mother said. "But flames… flames tell no lies."

Now, those same dance movements were embedded in the training of her sea warriors—coded choreography that signaled attack, retreat, ambush.

And soon, that ancient dance would choreograph the death of a fleet.

Scene: The Betrayer's Echo

Inside a stone cell beneath the palace, Asha interrogated a captured Portuguese informant—once a merchant's apprentice, now broken.

"They plan to land from the north," he sobbed. "Not by the beach. Through the marshes."

"Why?" Asha asked.

He looked up, pale.

"Because there's someone inside your court helping them. A new one. Not the dead minister. Someone closer."

Asha's eyes narrowed.

Closer? That meant… inside the war room.

She didn't say a word. Just rose and left.

Outside, the temple bells rang.

War was coming.

Scene: The March to Sea

Drums pounded through Ullal like thunder in a cage.

Abbakka's warriors assembled—archers with dipped arrows, swordsmen with poisoned steel, scouts with bells sewn into their belts.

She stood before them, not on a throne—but atop a sea-stained crate of salt.

"They come with iron and fire," she shouted."But they don't know—our salt is older than their kings. Our gods—fiercer. Our women—deadlier."

The people roared.

Even the priests wept.

Scene: The Invasion

From the horizon, the Portuguese armada arrived like a plague.

Twenty ships. Double-decked. Forty cannons. Mercenaries. Jesuits. Even elephants aboard the flagships.

Cabral stood on his deck, wearing a crimson cape, iron gauntlets, and a grin carved by arrogance.

"Today, we erase her," he whispered.

Then the sky darkened.

Not with clouds.

With sails.

From the east came Champa's fleet—ten pirate ships trailing smoke. Behind them: the cursed vessel, Kaala Jwala, black as nightmare.

Cabral laughed.

"Fools! That ship's on fire!"

Then his first mate screamed.

Because the Kaala Jwala was on fire.

Scene: The Sea Ignites

The suicide ship sailed straight for the flagship.

Abandoned, steered by burning ropes, barrels of oil and saltpetre chained to its hull.

As it drew near, the drums on shore stopped.

Everyone watched.

Then Abbakka raised her sword.

"Light it."

Onboard, a chained torch dropped into the heart of the ship's core.

It exploded mid-sea—sending shockwaves that flipped nearby boats, engulfed three Portuguese ships, and rained molten wood into the sky like burning hail.

The ocean screamed.

Scene: Blood in the Marsh

Simultaneously, Portuguese troops crept through the marshes.

But Abbakka had predicted the betrayal.

Asha led an ambush—men rising from the mud, faces painted in ash, armed with bone-daggers.

No war cries.Just death.

One Portuguese commander begged, "Where are your cannons?!"

Asha slit his throat.

"Our gods prefer knives."

Scene: Inside the Fort – The Real Traitor

In the chaos, Abbakka returned to the palace war room—and found General Venkat Rao sending smoke signals toward the sea.

She didn't hesitate.

"Why?" she demanded, blade at his neck.

He smiled, bleeding from the lip.

"Because the Portuguese promised I'd rule what was left of Ullal. They said you were just… a flame."

She leaned in.

"Then let's see how you burn."

Scene: Collapse of the Fleet

By nightfall, eleven Portuguese ships were sunk. Three captured. Four fled.

Dom Jorge Cabral was pulled from the water by his last remaining bodyguard, half his face burned, fingers gone.

He watched as Abbakka's standard—red with a golden lion—rose above the cliffs.

His dream of empire… turned to salt.

Final Scene: The Dead are Counted

Ullal lost fifty men.The Portuguese lost seven hundred.

In the temple, Abbakka removed her armor. Her back bled. Her hands shook.

She lit a lamp at Durga's feet.

Outside, children danced with ash-smeared faces.

Victory songs echoed across the coast.

And in the dark, whisperers spread her name like legend:

"The Queen who sank an empire.""The Flame the Cross could not burn.""Rani Abbakka, the Sea's Vengeance."

✨ End of Chapter Three