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 40

Draupadi POV

I was sitting alone in the balcony, looking at the night sky. Today was the dark night of new moon. The stars are shining in the sky; still the darkness prevailed over the little light they could provide to us. I was lost in my thoughts, when suddenly a strong breeze of wind passed and it took the lives of the lamps in my room, except for the smallest one, engulfing the room into semi-darkness.

My gaze fell on the small lamp. When the bigger ones were burning, no one would pass a single gaze towards it. But now, this little one was burning with all its glory, fighting with the darkness trying to engulf the whole room. I heaved a deep sigh. Today, the whole palace was engulfed in darkness. In my mind, I saw the face of Devapriya, my devrani. That beautiful, kind, soft girl was now fighting with Yama Raja today. Aryaputra Nakul and Sahdeva were fighting alongside her, using all of their medical knowledge and powers to save her. But what she lost...nothing could be compared with that.

I felt the warm tears slowly flowing over my cheeks. I closed my eyes, thinking about the today morning. I was angry, bitter, and to tell the truth, jealous after I heard that Aryaputra Arjun married Subhadra, Govind's younger sister. Yesterday night, Aryaputra Yudhisthir was with me. In morning, I saw a beautiful white pigeon flew into our room and sat down on his lap. The bird was majestic in its own glory. Aryaputra Yudhisthir smiled at it affectionately then his gaze fell on the letter tied in its leg. He untied the letter from its leg and read it quickly. His facial expressions changed while he was reading. At first, it was joyful then it became thoughtful.

"Panchali, Vasudev sent me this letter. He ordered me to come to the riverbank with a handful of chariots and meet him there."

"The chariots are probably needed for a grand entry. After all, Aryaputra Arjun is coming back with a newlywed wife. Govind won't let his Sakha enter Hastinapur without a grand welcoming ceremony, isn't it obvious?"

Aryaputra Yudhisthir heaved a sigh.

"Panchali, I know you are angry. You have been burning inside yourself from the day you have heard the news of this union."

"Then you will surely know what the reason of my anger is." I stood up from the bed, walked in front of him, "I know that royal men need multiple wives, the reasons are both physical and political. But I have this amount of dignity inside me to be informed about when one husband of mine will get remarried from him. No, Govind sent me a messenger and told me that Aryaputra Arjun is taking with him the new queen of Hastinapur." I walked outside of the room, though I didn't miss a familiar sadness in his eternal calm face. I also didn't miss the deep sigh he heaved. The meaning was too familiar to me. He was blaming himself for all the misery that happened with me. Sometimes, despite his depth in thoughts, he acted like a naive child.

But he was right today for one thing. Today, I was burning with anger from inside. Devarji told me that day that I was born from fire and I will burn everything. But today, it felt like the fire inside me would consume myself. But deep inside my soul, I knew that it was not only anger that was burning me.

No, it was more jealousy than anger.

Now, while I was looking at the sky and thinking about the day with a much calm and clear mind, I was ashamed to myself. Today morning, burning with anger and jealousy, I did something foolish and for which, now my mind was heavy with regret.

Flashback

"There they are! Look at the gate. Rajkumar Yudhisthir is coming back, along with Mahamahim Bhishma and Angraaj Karna. Vasudev Krishna was there too. There is the chariot with Rajkumar Arjun and with him it must be his newlywed wife. She is so beautiful!"

While walking through the corridor, my sharp ears didn't miss the excited chatting of two palace maids. They were standing in a balcony, facing the main gate. I looked at the gate, and saw a line of chariots approaching it. I saw the peacock feather shining on the crown of Govind, and then...I concentrated all my Yogic power, and a huge barrier of fire blocked their way. The palace maids, who were excitedly looking at the gate, jumped with fright and gave a loud shriek. Then slowly they turned around and their gaze fell on me. My angry eyes scanned them for a moment, and then I walked away from them, to confront my husband and my Sakha.

As soon as I walked in front of the gate, the calm, gentle voice of my Sakha entered into my ear. But, I was not the one who was the recipient of that voice.

"Rajkumar, I know that you can pass through this wall of fire, but, I request you not to do it. It is the raw Yogic power of a pious woman and no one has the right to taint it, no one!"

There was a moment of pause, but my eyes didn't miss the clenched fist of a right hand withdrawn from the wall. Then I heard the voice of the owner of the hand, the voice was hard as iron.

"Well then, let me direct my physical power towards somewhere else, Sri Krishna. If anything happens to my wife, then no one, I repeat, no one can stop me from annihilating the Srinjaya Dynasty, and I will make sure to give the most painful death to them who has even a drop of Srinjaya blood running in their veins."

I was shocked. No, his words were not the reason, but the sheer nonchalant way in which he said those words shocked me. His voice was devoid of any emotions...which was uncanny. But he said something about his wife...that baffled me a bit. What happened to her?

"Sakhi, I know you are angry, and you are angry for the right reasons. But please, all of us are in distress right now. There was an attack on them in their way. Devi Devapriya was injured the most. She lost her unborn child, and now her life was hanging on a thread. We need to take her to Nakul and Sahdeva as soon as possible. Help us, Panchali, please."

The sheer amount of pain in Govind's voice was enough to break the heart of a mountain, but when he said that Devapriya had a miscarriage, my legs lost all the strength in them. I fell down on my knees, and the wall of fire ceased to exist. I slowly look at them, only to see a chariot hurried past me, with an unconscious body tied with bandages and wooden sticks lying on it. The last thing I remembered was the two soft, but firm hands, which I knew belonged to Govind. Then everything turned black as I passed out from exhaustion.

End of flashback

I stood up, my mind was made up. I would go to Devarji and apologise for my behaviour. After all, it was pressing my conscience with a heavy weight. I walked towards his quarters, and there I saw Devarji Dussasan standing there, talking with his brother Vikarna.

"Bhabishri!" It was Vikarna who noticed me first. Both of them looked at me and bowed to me. But I didn't miss the shock in their faces, and in case of Dussasan, I saw fear in his eyes. Now what was that?

I quickly inquired them about their eldest brother and Vikarna informed me that he saw him sitting alone in the western garden. I thanked them and walked towards the dark path. While I was getting closer to the garden, I heard sounds.

It was the sound of fighting.

I stopped for a moment but my curiosity won over. I slowly entered the ground and looked at the direction of the sound. There was a small burning torch tied in a tree, and with the faint light, I saw an incredible sight.

Devarji Duryodhana was fighting barehanded with someone. Both of them were using their hands and feet with so much power and skill, that it made a perfect duel to watch. But his adversary, I watched him curiously. He wore a cloth garment in his lower body which covered his legs separately. In his upper body, there was another cloth garment, which had some round things in middle...it seemed to me that they were holding the garment, with clothes covered half of his hands. I had never seen any men wearing that type of garments.

The two fighters were fighting with all their might, but then Devarji let out an inhuman growl and his right leg turned like a round wheel and landed a vicious kick in his opponent's chin. The kick was so powerful, that it had managed to make the man fell on the ground like a log. But then he jumped up again on his two legs, and his eyes met mine.

"It seems that we have a visitor. Our sparring season will be continued in some another time. See you later, Jayant Roy."

His face felt familiar to me. The man was clean shaven, and his hair was cut short. The man smiled at me, a cruel and heartless smile. Then, with my great shock, his body turned into pink smoke and then with a blow of wind, the smoke vanished. The very next moment I understood that why was he looked familiar to me.

His face was the mirror image of Devarji Duryodhana; the only difference was the long hair and thin moustache sported by him.

Who...no, what was he? He called Devarji by some other name, I remembered it. What was the mystery behind him? He was something unknown and something way dangerous. The heavenly sound mentioned it very clearly.

I needed to find out more.

So this is chapter 40.

Today is the sacred day of Maha Shivaratri. May the blessings of Mahadev showers on all of us.

Please read, vote and comment.