Govinda (The Aryavarta Chronicles) by Krishna Udayasankar Read Free Book Online Page B

Emperor were spared, but they remained little more than prisoners and slaves.’
    Samva frowned. ‘But is the rumour true?’
    ‘Not too long ago Firewrights filled the prisons of every kingdom in Aryavarta. Few men could’ve resisted the temptation to
     exploit their skill, Jarasandha included.’
    ‘So that’s how he became so powerful! I knew it. And today, he rules over Aryavarta with an army of butchers and mercenaries.
     His men are bound neither by loyalty, nor by a code of honour. His army is …’
    ‘A force to be reckoned with,’ Yuyudhana finished. ‘Sleep now. Enough storytelling. It’s been a long day.’
    With silent nods, the two youths complied. Yuyudhana sat staring at the fire a while longer. Then, with a tired sigh, stretchedhimself out. Like his younger companions, he too was asleep within moments.
    Govinda opened his eyes and turned to lie on his side, looking at the fire. He mulled over the conversation for a while and
     slowly let his thoughts wander to the past. He had been about Samva’s age when he had first met Ghora Angirasa. The Firewright
     had led him into the deepest, darkest hell there could have been – a perpetual state of nightmarish mindlessness, before Govinda
     had found his way back to the light. His life had never been the same again.
    All that, all of his life before Dwaraka, was like a dream whose memory had faded but the feelings that had been aroused remained,
     fragile like a mirage, sometimes insubstantial, sometimes so real that he could mistake them for being the here and now. Govinda
     shut his eyes and let the swirling sense of being half-awake take over him. Often it was the closest he got to sleep.
    The four men woke, as a matter of habit, just before dawn, and plunged into the cold, refreshing waters of the river. What
     should have been a quick, purposive bath turned into a water fight, with Govinda and Yuyudhana acting every bit as childish
     as their younger kin. The sun had already cleared the first of the trees by the time the four, still caught in the throes
     of laughter, broke camp. Their horses saddled and ready, Govinda turned to Pradymna and Samva, ready to order them back to
     Dwaraka. The two youths, however, had already anticipated it and were ready to return.
    ‘You’ll have to manage without us. We’ve decided to go back. Our own decision, mind you!’ Pradymna said, with every bit of
     his famed cheekiness.
    Samva added, ‘We ought not give two old men competition. The ladies would hardly notice you if we were around …’
    Yuyudhana rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. ‘Might I suggest we all shut up and be on our way. Words don’t fill an empty
     stomach, nor do they hasten a horse’s strides …’ He turned to Govinda, inviting affirmation, only to find that Govinda had
     already set off down the road. Shaking his head, Yuyudhana followed.

6
    A GUST OF WIND HOWLED ITS WAY THROUGH THE FOOTHILLS AND disappeared with a shriek into the snow-capped mountain peaks. Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa took in deep of the cold air and
     released the snow pigeon from his tender grasp, watching it fly to its cote on the hillside. The place he called home, his
     hermitage, lay at the foot of the Great White Mountains, the Himalayas. He took in the white-crested mountains in the distance
     and the crisp green-blue foliage that dotted the nearby cliffs with a content heart. His wanderlust had earned Dwaipayana
     many a nickname since his youth, but few had understood his desire to travel far and wide. To him, it was not the going away
     but the coming home that mattered. Now, even home was no longer the same, he dully reflected. The one sanctuary in all of
     Aryavarta, the holiest of places, had been defiled by violence and blood. Ghora Angirasa’s blood.
    Dwaipayana found it disconcerting on many levels.
Why would a man who has lived in hiding, who has been an exile for so many years, return all of a sudden, courting death?
    It was not a question with