THE CURSE OF BRAHMA (42 page)

Airawat watched as the man with the broken wrist also bowed to the masked man. The other four aggressors struggled to get up from the ground and approached the man who had single-handedly defeated six of the best warriors chosen by the commander-in-chief of Bateshwar. They didn’t know the identity of the white robed man wearing the mask; but they were kshatriya warriors, and they respected only one thing—a man who could defeat them in fair battle.

Sini Yadav moved his mount in the direction of the masked man. When he came close, he jumped off the horse and stood face to face with the mystery figure. ‘Maybe you should fight those bloody asura assassins, all by yourself,’ he joked, smiling at the masked man.

Airawat watched closely as the masked man patted the shoulders of the commander-in-chief. A muffled voice spoke from behind the mask covering his face. ‘I wouldn’t mind fighting them alone, but I don’t see the point of you training these men if you are not going to use them,’ he laughed.

Airawat recognized the voice of Vasudev even before the prince of Bateshwar had taken off the veil covering his face.

‘What news have you brought from Madhuvan, my friend?’ Vasudev said smiling at Airawat. He gripped the Madhuvan cavalry commander by his shoulders in the standard greeting favoured by warriors. While he waited for Airawat to reply, he doused his head in a large pan filled with cold water to wash away the grime and sweat accumulated during the duel. The blend of rose petals and lime slices mixed in the water rejuvenated him and whatever little fatigue he may have felt as a result of the recent sparring left his body.

‘I’m afraid the news is not so good,’ Airawat said in an uncharacteristically pessimistic tone. ‘Kansa has refused to return to Madhuvan.’

Vasudev couldn’t believe his ears. ‘Does he place his differences with his father above the safety of his motherland?’ he asked incredulously.

Airawat was quiet. He did not feel the need to respond to the outburst and he knew that Vasudev didn’t expect an answer either. He had just expressed the same sentiment that Airawat himself had felt when Ugrasena had told him about Kansa’s refusal to return.

Vasudev shook his head sadly. ‘This is not the Kansa we know. This is a different man…’ He let his words hang in the air. Airawat and Sini Yadav waited for him to speak but Vasudev seemed lost in thought.

The training behind them continued unabated as Sini’s task force practised various fighting techniques amongst themselves. Loud cheers erupted every time a warrior would defeat a sparring partner in a particularly spectacular fashion. Vasudev remained oblivious to all the cheering and shouting around him. Finally, he appeared to come out of his self-imposed reverie, and when he spoke, his voice was firm. ‘Sini, you will lead the Bateshwar task force against the asura assassins. Give them no quarter. Let them feel the heat of our metal so that no one dares to attack our motherland again.’

Turning towards Airawat, he spoke softly, but the resolve in his voice was unmistakable. ‘I will return to Madhuvan with you. You will lead the team under my command. Together we will dig out the asuras from wherever they are holed up.’ Airawat bowed to Vasudev, acknowledging his instructions. This time, there was no hesitation in his mind as he kneeled to Vasudev, accepting the prince of Bateshwar as his new commander-in-chief.

Jarasandha handed Kansa the scroll containing the letter from Ugrasena. He watched as Kansa excitedly opened the lid of the scroll to extract the letter. In his excitement to read the letter, Kansa did not even notice that the seal on the lid had already been broken once. He had not expected a reply from Ugrasena so soon.
Father must have been really happy to read my letter
, he thought to himself as he unfurled the letter, spreading it out in front of him.
I’m glad I wrote to him
, he smiled, his brown eyes twinkling with genuine happiness after a long time.

Kansa started reading the letter. It was very brief. Jarasandha, who stood close by him, felt that he read the letter several times. Kansa’s body stiffened perceptibly as he continued to stare at the letter he held in his hands. Tears poured down his face as he stood, unmoving, and all of a sudden, his huge shoulders slumped as if they no longer had the courage or the strength to carry his weight. Even as Jarasandha looked on, Kansa staggered, his legs buckling under him as he crashed on his knees to the ground. He held his face in his hands, willing to tear the eyes that had made him read the words he would never forget…or forgive. And from within the depths of his soul, a scream erupted that reverberated throughout the palace walls and raised the hair on Jarasandha’s neck. It was a primal shriek that carried all of Kansa’s pain and rage closeted within his heart. Jarasandha moved tentatively towards his friend, fearing that Kansa might hurt himself, but more fearful for his own safety. The man who sat screaming on the floor was not the Kansa he knew. That man had changed in a way that was difficult to comprehend.

Jarasandha held Kansa by his shoulders, in a vain attempt to help his friend get up. Kansa, still in the throes of a powerful emotion, pushed him away and the mighty Jarasandha found himself hurled through the air as he landed on his back a few feet away. It took him a few moments to gather his senses and get up, still shocked at the inhuman strength with which Kansa had thrown him. He stared with trepidation at his friend’s back, but this time, did not venture near him. Gradually, Kansa’s body seemed to slacken and without turning around, he held out the letter in his hands, towards Jarasandha.

Jarasandha had already read the letter, and he knew Ugrasena had written this as a reaction to the letter he had sent on behalf of Kansa. But he had to make a pretence of reading it again, as if he were seeing it for the first time.

Kansa
,

I have read your letter. You do not need to return now, or ever again to Madhuvan. If Devki wants you to attend her marriage, I will need to bear the fact of your presence here, but I will do so for her sake
.

When I die, one of my ‘true sons’ will take over as king of Madhuvan. And if none of my blood sons is deemed capable of handling the throne, I am going to decree Vasudev as the future ruler
.

I have considered at length before writing this letter to you. But in the end I am compelled to believe that you have more of your birth father’s instincts in you than you have of your mother
.

I too wish you the best in what you need to do
.

Ugrasena

Jarasandha looked up from the letter and stared at Kansa, who had his back towards him. ‘This…this is disgraceful,’ he said, in an attempt to add fuel to the fire. ‘On the one hand he calls you a demon’s son and then he tries to use that as a reason to disinherit you and have some wimp sit on the throne that belongs rightfully to you!’

‘What do you think I should do?’ Kansa said in a whisper, his voice eerily soft.

Jarasandha thought quickly. The letter from Ugrasena had already turned Kansa irrevocably against his father and also planted the seeds of distrust against his closest friend Vasudev. If he could somehow turn that distrust into a deep-seated hatred for Vasudev, it would be an invaluable step forward for his own plans.
And if somehow Devki could also be alienated…that will be like having your cake and eating it too
, he thought. And then it struck him exactly how he could turn Kansa against both, Devki and Vasudev.

‘The throne belongs to you after Ugrasena’s death, Kansa,’ Jarasandha said carefully. ‘But there is time for that. I think you should talk to Devki and see how she feels about all of this.’

Kansa nodded slowly, his back still towards Jarasandha. ‘Yes, I will talk to Devki. She is perhaps the only person who really cares for me. But I will not go to Madhuvan to meet her Jarasandha…not right now…not after this letter.’

Jarasandha struggled to conceal his smile. He had been apprehensive that Kansa might go to Madhuvan and the truth of the forged letters might come out if he met Ugrasena. He now addressed Kansa in the gentlest tone he could muster, ‘I will send Asti and Prapti back to Madhuvan with a message for Devki. Don’t worry, you will not need to go to Madhuvan right now. Devki will come to meet you here.’

‘Thank you, my friend’ Kansa said, turning around for the first time since he had read the letter, to face Jarasandha.

Jarasandha gasped. Kansa’s eyes glittered bright green and his face shone with an energy that was not mortal in nature. The fire of Aghasamarthan burned in his eyes.
He has already turned over to the dark side
, Jarasandha muttered to himself. He handed the letter he was holding back to Kansa and hastened to leave the room. He wanted to ensure his sisters left immediately for Madhuvan. And after that, he was keen to know what his spies had found out about Rabhu, the messenger from Madhuvan who no longer wanted payment for betraying Ugrasena.

Rabhu heaved a sigh of relief as he saw the two spies trailing him pass within inches of where he was hiding. He had realized he was being followed when he had seen the same pair of men behind him even as he kept changing direction. And any doubts he may have had about being trailed were dispelled as he saw them increase their pace whenever it appeared that he was moving too far away from them.

Rabhu had decided to share with Kansa his fear that the first letter Ugrasena had sent for him might not have been given to him, and that Jarasandha had probably forged the letter that he had carried back to Ugrasena. Rabhu still wasn’t certain why the Magadha king had done what he had, but he was sure that it didn’t augur well for Kansa or his father. Having left Jarasandha with Ugrasena’s second letter, Rabhu had gone to the aaram kaksh (waiting room) meant for the messengers, just as he had told Jarasandha he would. But he did not linger there. Instead, he had slipped away in search for Kansa, hoping he could meet him before Jarasandha became aware of his absence. It had been the end of the dvitiya prahaar when he had left the waiting room. It was now well into the tritiya prahaar and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jarasandha would have figured he was up to something. The presence of the spies tailing him confirmed any doubts he may have had in this matter.

Rabhu had seen Kansa ride out on his horse a few minutes after Jarasandha had left with the letter in his hand. The prince had seemed like a changed man as he rode his horse savagely out of the palace gates. Rabhu had tried to follow him on his own horse but Kansa had been too fast for him to keep pace with.

Finally, Rabhu had left his horse in a corral outside a crowded tavern, where he knew his horse would be inconspicuous among the scores of others tied there by the visitors to the pub. He preferred to be on foot while he waited for Kansa to return to the palace. It was on the way back that he had noticed the spies tailing him and he had been forced to move in an opposite direction in order to lose them.

Now it was getting late, and Rabhu knew there was no way he could go back to the aaram kaksh and explain his absence to Jarasandha. He would somehow need to meet Kansa and then leave for Madhuvan surreptitiously. There was no doubt in his mind what Jarasandha would do to him once he found him. He looked around him to make sure he had eluded his pursuers. Then he started walking back in the direction of the palace.