The Wrath of Gammon

Disclaimer: This story is my humble attempt to write a fanfiction of the epic Mahabharata. My intention is not to hurt anyone's sentiment.

Aum Namah Shivay!!

Major Jayant Roy, SM is a fictitious character. Any similarity with any living person is merely a coincidence.

Chapter 23

Hastinapur, Dwapar Yuga

Jayant/ Duryodhana POV (continues)

I walked out of that small palace...no, it was the prison of Jarasandha and Shishupal. Inside of my mind, there was turmoil of thoughts running around.

Jarasandha had recognized the knife!

Flashback:

"This knife...where did you get this knife?"

I looked at the former emperor of Magadha. He was looking at the knife with popped eyes.

"Can you recognize it?"

"Yes, I can easily recognise it. They are made especially by my order after all. Can I have that for a moment?"

I handed him the knife, "Be careful. The blade may still contain traces of poison. This knife was used in the attack on my wife. One assailant threw it towards her, but her Sakhi, Devi Supriya came in front of it."

Jarasandha looked at my face then he looked at the knife again.

"This black gemstone was a rarest type. My third mother, the Rakshashi Jara, had presented me with five of them. I had made five identical knives; each one had a gemstone attached in them."

"Do you have the five of them with you?"

"No. I have only two now."

My mind started calculating the possibilities.

"I have given one knife to Kansa, after his marriage with my daughters. I have given one to Hiranya, who passed it to his son Eklavya. After that cowherd made my daughters widow, Asti and Prapti put that knife to her husband's funeral pyre. The fire consumed everything. Eklavya still had his knife, well; he still had it with him at the time of the war."

"Who has the third one?" I asked him. My voice probably had a little impatient tone. While telling his story, I understood that Jarasandha was drowning in his memories. After all, he once had enjoyed unlimited power and authority in this land. Now fate had made him a prisoner. A golden cage is still a cage after all.

"I gave the third one to the king of Salwa kingdom. He proposed and agreed to act as my emissary to Kalyavana, so, I gave him one as a small token of gratitude. But to tell you the truth, Kaurava, that I was a little bit sad too, because, before that, all the kings of Aryavart came to me to solve the problems among themselves. Now, a cowherd created a situation that made me, Jarasandha, ask for help from another one. Though Mahadev bless his soul, Kalyavana never behaved that he was doing me a favour. He always gave me the proper respect that I deserve. Even you gave me that respect, Kaurava. Krishna killed Kalyavana, who had a boon that he would be invincible in a battle, by sheer trickery."

I heaved a sigh, and remembered an event from a book. When Shri Krishna got the news that Kalyavana was coming to attack him, he send him a venomous snake in a pot, to threaten him. But Kalyavana was not someone who would become scared with it. He put a huge number of flesh eating ants in the pot with the snake, and then sent the pot again to Sri Krishna.

"Look at the handle of the knife. There were some rubbing marks on it. It seemed that someone had rubbed off some design or marks from it. Can you shed some lights on it?"

Jarasandha curiously looked at the knife in his hand.

"Hmmm...You have a point. In the handle of the knife, there were two engravings. One side had the emblem of Magadha, and the other side had the emblem of the one whom I gave it. Someone had rubbed off the emblems from the handle." He gave me back the knife. I took it and stood up.

"You gave me a lot of things to think about. I have to go now. I need to think about these things."

End of flashback.

I sat on the green grass on the garden. My mind was busy analysing the information.

"Hmm...One knife went to a funeral pyre. Now Jarasandha is saying that it was destroyed in the fire. I don't think he will lie to me, but there is a possibility that he didn't know the truth and someone took the knife from there. Eklavya has another....wait a minute, doesn't he attacked me with a knife in the war? But did he attack me with one of these? The third knife was with the king of Salwa. Now, the relation between Salwa and Hastinapur was a bit strained, because of the situation between Devi Amba and Pitamah. Though, I think that the current king of Salwa kingdom, Shalva is a descendant of the lover of that Rajkumari."

I stood up, my mind started feeling a little bit heavy.

"Now, I need a drink. It's time for a large pomegranate juice which could calm my mind."

I stood up and then saw a flock of birds flying on the sky. I looked at the birds and suddenly, something struck in my mind.

"A hundred attackers have charged on us. Now, if I assume for a moment that Drupad is innocent then the question is that how did a hundred men, armed to the teeth, enter into southern Panchal? How did they learn about our exact position? That meant all of them or at least some of them had followed us. Now there are two possibilities. The first is that they had followed us by land, and our soldiers missed them completely. The second is that, they had watched us from the sky. Yes, in Treta Yuga, Ravan had a flying machine, the 'Pushpak Vimana'. In Dwapar Yuga, there was also another flying machine, the 'Saubha Vimana'. Mayasura himself had made this machine for the king Shalva. Now, if my memory serves me correctly, then after the killing of Shishupal in the Rajasuya Yagnya of Yudhisthir, King Shalva launched an airstrike on Dwarka with the help of Saubha Vimana. Sri Krishna himself cut the king and his flying machine with his chakra. Now, if Shalva made this plan, and played a bluff by shouting the name of Drupad loudly, so that people in our camp can hear it, then the final question is what the motive is?"

I walked towards the kitchen and ordered the cook to make me a large pomegranate juice. A few minutes later, he handed me the juice. I sat there and took a sip, trying to organise my thoughts. Then I heard footsteps, followed by laughter of two people. I knew the voices very well. Bheem and Draupadi were entering in the kitchen. Bheem's loud laughter was booming in the kitchen.

"Come with me, Panchali. Today, I will make you my special laddoo. I know that you will enjoy it very much."

"I know Aryaputra. I know it very well." Draupadi's melodious voice entered into my ear. I couldn't help myself but thinking that if they were obeying the one year rule or not. I slowly turned my head towards them, careful not to look at the dark, inhumanly beautiful woman. Fate was kind on me, so I saw her sitting with her back towards me. Both of them were cooking and laughing, enjoying a small but beautiful moment among them. I slowly turned around and took another sip.

Bheem and Draupadi, yes it should be the second Pandava to become her husband, because it was him who did the most for her. He killed the hundred Kauravas, he drank the blood of Dussasan, he killed Kichaka with his bare hands, and he broke my thighs...

My eyes automatically went on my thighs. No, they were still very much intact, and I hoped to keep them intact. I slowly rubbed my hands on my thighs for a moment then again tried to focus.

"It is a known fact that after the defeat of Jarasandha, there is a political vacuum in Aryavart now. Now, if Shalva is trying to become the next emperor then he has to eliminate us. But he is not trying to directly engage us. He is probably trying to take advantage of the enmity between Kuru and Panchal. If they had managed to kill..." I shuddered to the thought itself.

"If they had managed to kill Priya, I knew that I would totally lose my head and charged towards Kampilya. I didn't know what happened then. Either I would annihilate Panchal totally or threw the Kuru kingdom into the fire of destruction. Yes, now everything makes complete sense. Magadha and Chedi were already out of the equation. If Kuru and Panchal became weaker then it would be a golden chance of him, and probably for the other former allies of Magadha, to snatch total control of Aryavart. But Shalva is probably not alone in this conspiracy. Someone is probably behind him, who is either pulling the strings or working with him. Hmmm...The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are now in their places, except the one question mark. Who is the co-conspirator? There is also another possibility that multiple people are engaged in it. I must find out the truth at any cost."

I stood up, inside my mind, the future agendas were lined up.

"Let the elders do their diplomacy. Shalva will surely keep his eyes and ears here. Let's checkmate him in his own game. I need my eyes and ears to Salwa kingdom right now and only one man can do it for me. Now, where is that gambler Mamashri of mine?"

I walked outside of the kitchen.

"If Shalva is behind the attack then he put his hand in the beehive. Now I need proof and you pray that I never get that proof. Because if I get the proof then before Sri Krishna, I will cut you in two pieces."

I stood up and walked straight to his quarters. Mamashri was sitting there, playing a game of dice with himself.

"Mamashri, Jarasandha had recognised this knife. Now there are total five knives like it. Eklavya has one, Kansa had one. The third one was with the king of Salwa kingdom. Now, one knife went to the funeral pyre of Kansa. I will check on Eklavya and the new king of Magadha. Now I want you to...."

"I will immediately send my best men to Salwa. We need all the information that we can get.", Mamashri closed his left eye, while pulling his pointy beard. I stood up and took my leave. I had a lot of things to do now.

So, this is chapter 23. Please read, vote and coment.