Two Kings

by Neo B.

  3. The Witness

  Karkish had severed Ajatshatru’s head off his body, and was now carrying it in his hand. Karkish was six feet two inches tall, with a physique to match. He towered above the soldiers who were standing before him. Covered with the blood of his assailants, and with the head of their leader in his hand, he looked like an angel of death, or a demon.

  Karkish let out a huge cry of victory as he threw the head of the bodyguard down the stairs. The soldiers who had come to his aid took a step back.

  “Look carefully at what happens to those who dare to defy me. Even in my sleep I am better than them,” Karkish bellowed. He knew this show was necessary to strike fear in the heart of those who were against him, and to make an impression on those who believed in him.

  “Long Live the King!” the soldiers shouted in unison, and went down on one leg. The king acknowledged the salute and was about to say something when a soldier came running to the courtyard.

  “What’s the matter?” the king asked,

  “My lord, one of the bodyguards is lying just outside the palace. He is alive, but for how long it can’t be said,” the soldier replied.

  “What are you waiting for then? Get him inside and ask the best doctors to attend on him. He must not die,” said Karkish.

  “He is in one of the outer rooms of the palace, and the best doctors are already tending to him. They say that it will be hard to save him as he has lost a lot of blood and a sword seems to have passed right through him, though luckily it has missed all the vital organs,” the soldier replied.

  The eight assailants that had just attacked Karkish were a part of an elite circle of the King’s Guard. In all there were nine soldiers in the King’s Guard and after he had killed the attackers, Karkish had been wondering where the ninth soldier was, and why he had not been a part of the attackers. Now he knew, and he had a chance to know what had really happened.

  Karkish went out to see where the soldier had been taken to. From the amount of blood that he had left behind in his wake, Karkish had little hopes of his survival. He entered the room to watch one of his doctors trying to stop the bleeding. Karkish watched quietly from a corner not wanting to disturb the doctor. It was a while before the doctor had stitched the soldier up, and had attended to his wounds. Only then did he notice Karkish standing in a corner.

  “I am sorry, my lord, I did not see you standing there,” the doctor said.

  “I am glad that you didn’t. As a doctor your first duty is towards your patient. I am proud that my kingdom has doctors like you. What do you think are his chances of survival?”

  “As good as they are bad,” the doctor said, “he is gravely injured but there is nothing wrong with his vital organs, he may live to be a 100 if he survives the next few hours.”

  Karkish wanted desperately to talk to the guard, but he was not a heartless man and he did not want to spoil the chances of the man’s survival by making him talk too soon. So, he decided to let him be treated first. The kingdom of Pataliputra had some of the best doctors in the world, and he was sure they would be able to do something.

  4. The Inner Council

  The king had called a meeting of the inner council. There were five ministers in the inner council. Karkish was a progressive king, and unlike other kingdoms of the region, where the king himself looked after all the affairs of the kingdom as well as he could, Karkish had delegated the responsibility of managing different aspects of the kingdom to his ministers. Only when there was a conflict among the ministers, did he intervene. Karkish would call a meeting of the inner council once every month and there the ministers would brief him about the latest developments in the kingdom. It was a perfect arrangement where each minister was responsible for his work.

  Karkish was angry that none of his ministers had been able to forewarn him about the attack. He could not help feeling that one of these five ministers could be behind the attack. There was no one else in the kingdom who was powerful enough to even think of such an attack. As he neared the chamber of council, he could hear nothing.

  The ministers were sitting on the round table. The chamber of council was a recent addition to the palace. It had been specially designed in a manner that once the doors were closed, no one outside the room could hear a single word outside. When there was a meeting of the council, no one was allowed inside the room. It was a method where secrecy was assured. Here the walls had no ears.

  The chamber was a round room with a high ceiling. A round table was placed at the centre of the room with six chairs placed around it. One of the chairs was slightly raised for the king. The minister of defence was the most important minister, followed by the minister of science and medicine. They had places on each side of the king. The other ministers were in charge of agriculture, finance, and law.

  Karkish’s father, Dhumarketu, was a warrior who had spent most of his life in winning wars and expanding his kingdom. He had managed to win large portions of land and the kingdom of Pataliputra was one of the largest kingdoms in the world. There were five other kingdoms in the region, other than Pataliputra, and had Dhumarketu not fell off his horse when he did, he would have ensured that all the five kingdoms were merged into Pataliputra.

  When Karkish ascended the throne after the sudden death of his father he was twenty four years old. He had been a part of a few wars, but most of his time was spent in education and training in various arts. For Dhumarketu, ruling was easy. He was not a very educated man, and he had come to ascend the throne at the young age of sixteen. Whatever education he had, had come at the hands of life. He, therefore, ruled with an iron hand and did it as honestly as he could without worrying about what was fair and what was not. Karkish was burdened with his education that taught him about being just and fair. In his efforts to please as many as he could, he found it difficult to manage the large kingdom his father had built. There were always skirmishes and battles going on in the kingdom, and most of the king’s and the kingdom’s energy and finances were being drained in resolving these conflicts. Pataliputra was a large kingdom, but it was not the best one yet.

  Karkish had immense respect for his father as a king, but he had some ideas of his own that he tried to share with his father. Dhumarketu, however, like most fathers told him to implement his ideas when his time came. Karkish was sure that all the work done by his father in winning the huge victories would go to waste if he did not do something to consolidate the empire. Karkish knew that times were changing and with the spread of education it would be difficult to rule just by brute force. What the people would demand would be a fair king who looked after the interests of its people rather than only his own. Before his death, one day, Dhumarketu had called Karkish to his side and said, “I know you will be a great King.”

  “But… “

  “There is no room for but, my son, I know you have some weird ideas about how to rule, but I think those ideas will work. My blessing will always be with you, my son,” Dhumarketu had said.

  All his life, Karkish had a feeling that his father did not approve of him, and these words had left a deep impression on him. Whenever he was in doubt, he would think of these words of his father, and try even harder to fill the shoes that his father had left vacant.

  Today was a day for decisions. Karkish was not one to be angered easily, but today he was. The news of the morning had spread far and wide, and, as usually happens with such news, Karkish was beginning to become a legend of sorts already.

  Karkish took his seat at the head of the table. All ministers stood up, and Karkish motioned them to sit down with a wave of his hand. He was looking majestic with his crown, and his armour.

  “There was an attack in the king’s chamber this morning,” he began.

  The ministers were aware of the attack, but sat there listening, silently and patiently.

  “I have a feeling that one of you is behind the attack,” Karkish said bluntly. He wanted to shock the listeners and hope for a response that would give the tr
aitor away, if there was one. But, all the ministers listened to him quietly, and began to protest almost immediately when he blamed them. They started to tell him stories from the past where they had proven their loyalty beyond a shadow of doubt. Each of the ministers had a story where they had risked their own lives to protect the life of the king. Only the minister of law was sitting silent.

  “Why are you silent, Manu?” the king asked.

  “I believe, my lord, that you have every reason to distrust us,” Manu, the law minister replied, “but I don’t think that you should. All five of us are as loyal to you as we can be, and the news of the morning came as a shock to all of us. We had never expected an attack of that kind on the king.”

  “Whose fault is that? One of you should have known about the attack. An attack on the king is an attack on the entire kingdom. Where would you all have been if the attack of the morning had been successful?”

  The King was most suspicious of Agniputra, the minister of defence. Agniputra was known for his ambition and wild temper. He was a man of old school, who believed that the solution to every problem could be found on the blade of the sword. It was a well-known fact that he did not approve of the king’s idea of not expanding the territory, and only consolidating what they had already won. He had often said that it was the weak who thought like that. The strong never rested till they had the whole world at their command. It was rumoured that he had been secretly building his own army for years. The king had kept a keen eye on him and he had found nothing suspicious about him till today. Maybe he was smarter than he looked, the king thought.

  Agniputra stood up and drew out his sword, “I will cut the head of the traitor with my sword right now if he is among us.”

  “Sit down Agniputra, you know very well that it is not allowed to draw your sword in this chamber,” the king commanded. Agniputra immediately realised his mistake, and put the sword back in the sheath.

  “I am sorry, my Lord, but an attack on the king, my King, and under my charge, is unthinkable,” Agniputra said.

  “I have a feeling that you are behind this attack, Agniputra,” Karkish said.

  Agniputra’s face fell. All the other ministers seemed relieved.

  “I do not blame you, my lord. Those men who attacked you were under my command, and it was as good as if I attacked you. I am sorry.”

  “Are you accepting that you are the traitor?”

  “No, my lord,” Agniputra replied, shocked that the King would say that, “but I am accepting responsibility for what happened.” Agniputra was never good with words, and he did not realise that every time he was opening his mouth he was incriminating himself.

  “I don’t think it is Agniputra, my lord,” Vidur, the minister for education intervened, “he is simply the most likely suspect, and in most cases the most likely suspect is not usually the culprit.”

  “Who do you think it is then?” Karkish said.

  “I don’t think it is anyone in this room.”

  Karkish laughed a sinister laugh. “You really want me to believe that there are others in my kingdom more powerful than you who would harbour the thought of attacking me in my sleep. I have chosen wrong men as my ministers then. A minister harbouring the thought of becoming a king can be forgiven by some, but no one will forgive a minister who is incompetent.”

  “What makes you think, my King, that one of us is behind the attack. It could be someone from a neighbouring kingdom.”

  “Even someone from the neighbouring kingdom would not dare to attack me in my sleep, without help from the inside,” the king replied thoughtfully.

  Akshaya, the minister of agriculture, was a silent man by nature. He was responsible for ensuring that the best seeds were distributed among the farmers of the kingdom, and the produce was distributed among the land in equal measure. He usually did not indulge in politics, but this was a matter that required an opinion of all the members in the room.

  “I think the king is right in doubting one of us… but how do we determine who, if one of us, is the culprit. If it is none of us then we are wasting precious time, while the culprit is getting a chance to get away,” Akshaya said.

  Devavrata, minister of science and medicine, was the most respected minister of all. He was almost 85 years of age, but it was difficult to guess his age from his face. He was the only one supporting a beard, which was completely black in colour. This made him look younger than his 85 years. Being the head of science and medicine, he was in-charge of the latest developments in these fields, and was in knowledge of many tricks that no one else knew. It was the reason that he was considered the wisest man in the kingdom by many, and his opinion was valued even by the king.

  “I think this is a matter to be decided by the king,” Devavrata said, “If there is anything that the king wants to ask us, we can tell him, but the decision about whether he trusts us or not has to be taken by the king.”

  Karkish was totally confused. The events of the morning had caused him to doubt the most trusted of his aides, and he felt that he was making a mistake in doing that. It could not be one of his ministers for they could have attacked him at any time, and they were right. Each one of them had, at one time or another, put his life at risk for him without giving it a second thought.

  “I need time to think about it, and till I decide I want none of you to leave the city, and be at my call when I need you. Send out your spies and try to find out as much as possible about this unknown attacker and his motives.”

  None of the ministers blamed the king for his decision. He had just escaped a bid on his life. In his place they would have done the same, but they were glad that at least the king had now begun to believe that they were not responsible for the attack on the king. Each one of them was determined to find out who was behind the attacks.

  5. The Evil Rising

  A tall, dark man was in a dark chamber, talking to himself. In his anxiety he was pacing the floor of the small room he was in.

  “How stupid can they get? First they allow the guard to live, and then they go ahead and get themselves killed. Months of preparation have gone in vain. How this kingdom manages to run itself with such useless men is something I can’t understand,” the man was saying to himself.

  “But something must be done, or all this will have meant nothing. Years of patient waiting have to mean something. He has escaped this time but he can’t escape forever. I must destroy all the evidence and start again.”

  What the man was worried about most was how the kings of the five kingdoms would react to the news. He had assured them Karkish would be dead before the day was over. It was with a great show of his ability that he had managed to win their trust and had got them to believe in him. This would have destroyed all that, and he was not sure if he would be able to get them to support his endeavour again. He was however sure that he would achieve his aim and nothing could stop him. This was a mere hiccup and he would get over it.

  Dinul knew he needed someone on the inside to do the job for him. It would be impossible for him to get anywhere near the wounded soldier. Even if he tried, it would mean risking everything that he had worked so hard for. The only way was to try and influence one of the ministers to his side.

  He had studied all the five ministers, and he decided to pay one of them a visit. It was the only way to get rid of the soldier and any threat that he posed. The man smiled, left the room in darkness and went out.

  6. The Family Gets Together

  Karkish was sitting with Shakuntala in his bedroom. The horror of the morning was behind them for the moment. The window was open and the moonlight was streaming in. Little Kalman was fast asleep, oblivious to the events that were unfolding in the kingdom.

  “Where did you go from here?”

  “That’s my secret,” Shakuntala replied, knowing fully well that the king was worried about the loyalty of his ministers.

  “I have been thinking all day, and I still can’t understand what happened here. The ministe
rs all seem to be faithful to me, and they have no answer to what happened in the morning.”

  “Ajatshatru was one of the finest men I knew, and I trusted him with my life. Had I not seen him attack me in the morning, I would have never believed that he would attack me, but there he was in flesh and blood. The nine men of the guard were handpicked by me in consultation with him, and all of them except one turned against me, and the one who remained loyal had to pay the price of loyalty,” Karkish said

  “Is he still alive?” Shakuntala queried.

  “Barely so. I hope he will live, because he could be the answer to this riddle. He has lost a lot of blood though, but our best doctors are doing their best to save him.”

  The King had changed the guards in the palace. He had picked about hundred men at random, and out of those he had then chosen fifty men to guard the palace. There were ten entrance gates to the palace, and the king had ordered nine of them to be closed, and only one was being used to come in and out of the palace. The palace was now as safe as a fortress, and the king knew that he could defend it even against an army of thousands.

  “What I can’t understand is whether this was an internal threat, or an external one,” Karkish said, “I had a meeting with the ministers and they feel that it was an external threat.”

  Karkish liked talking to Shakuntala because he could voice out his thoughts loud, and Shakuntala would correct him or tell him when she thought he was off the mark. Her insights had helped Karkish greatly in the past, and he was hoping they would help him today as well.

  “I think it is an external threat too, but they could be using someone on the inside to get at you,” Shakuntala said.

  “But I doubt any of the five kings would be foolish enough to try and attack me. Killing me would not serve any purpose for them, because my death would mean that the king’s throne would be left vacant and there would be a fight for the throne. Killing me would help none of the kings,” Karkish muttered.