The Thirteenth Day by Aditya Iyengar Read Free Book Online

pirouetting, cutting through enemy ranks while avoiding their long spears and arrows. If Arjuna was the best archer on wheels it was because Krishna held the reins that gave them life.
    Dhristadyumna began the meeting, ‘As you all know by now, we’ve, er…we’ve made our first real breakthrough of the war today.’
    Drupada piped in, ‘Yes, well done, son; absolutely inspired leadership, putting young Shikhandi in front of Arjuna. Excellent planning.’ He looked around hoping to see similar acclaim issue forth from other members in the tent, most of whom smiled indulgently. Dhristadyumna winced and followed it up by blushing a deep crimson. Drupada played the proud parent much to his son’s deep, if often unexpressed, annoyance.
    The plan had been Krishna’s, who sat admiring his feet, not taking credit and letting Drupada roll on with the bombast. I don’t think he actually cared. He just wanted the war over. He had noticed Bhishma’s reluctance to confront Shikhandi over the past ten days and had suggested the plan of using Shikhandi as a barrier behind whom Arjuna could fire safely at Bhishma.
    My father-in-law hadn’t believed in it then. It was hard to argue with it now. Dhristadyumna, desperate for a plan, had actioned it.
    He continued in his soft, cultured monotone, ‘With Bhishma out, they will probably hand over command to either Guru Drona or Bhagadatta. If our sources are to be believed, Radheya may also make his first appearance on the field.’
    It wasn’t good news but the council seemed relaxed. For the past ten days we had fought in clenched expectation of his arrival. Now he was here, and the Kauravas had no cards left to play.
    I looked at Arjuna and found everyone doing the same. Arjuna looked away uncomfortably. It was an unspoken agreement that Radheya, or Karna as he was more popularly known, would be his personal feud. Just as Suyodhana would be Bhima’s. Radheya’s ability with the bow had initially been compared to Grandsire’s and Guru Drona’s. The comparisons were now being made with Arjuna himself. A matter that Arjuna wanted to test, though he would never admit it.
    Bhima scratched at his chin, ‘We can finally kill them all. Day’s turned out better than I thought. I’ll tell Draupadi.’
    Draupadi…dear, darling Draupadi…the reason why this war was being fought in the first place, at least in the words of the bards these days. Beautiful, long-suffering Draupadi marrying the five of us, on the insistence of my mother Kunti and her father Drupada to strengthen our alliance; sad, indomitable Draupadi, shamed in a throne room at Hastinapura with the beast Sushasana pawing at her sari; angry, confused Draupadi staring at me across the sabha hall. And then not looking into my eyes again.
    The memory of it makes me cringe. Not long after setting up our kingdom in Indraprastha, we, and our cousin Krishna, had been invited to Hastinapura by the Kauravas. The day had begun without incident, until the gambling began. Maybe it was the wine but I found myself betting away everything I owned, from iron mines to elephant brigades and finally even Indraprastha. No one believes me but I honestly thought that the game and the stakes were not to be taken seriously. I thought it was a cruel exercise disguised, as so many of these are, as a harmless tease that we had to endure as guests of the Kauravas. If I refused to play, it would look as if the ‘old stick in the mud’ was throwing a tantrum again, so I had to keep piling my bets higher to show my enthusiasm.
    After I had ‘lost’ my kingdom, we started betting for people. Again, I believed it was completely harmless. Arjuna tells me I should have drawn the line there. But I tell him that it would have looked as if I was taking the game seriously. No, I had to keep up the charade as long as they did.
    Shakuni, my opponent, beat me every time. I gambled away my brothers and finally even Draupadi. At this point I expected the game to