Two Kings

by Neo B.

  Dinul’s anger at the world was understandable and if someone had offered him a kind shoulder, he could have been something else, maybe something that good. But all his life he felt he was a victim, and sooner or later, he would exact his revenge on the world and when he did that, it would be best, that everyone kept out of his way. The anger within him had become a cancer and it had now taken over his entire being. Dinul had become an angry young man with a cause and it is hard to stop such a man.

  28. Love strikes

  When Dinul was in the university infirmary he had a dream. In his dream, a beautiful girl had come to visit him and placed her hand on his forehead, and caressed it. He had woken up feeling blessed, and with a strong desire for the girl to be real.

  What he did not know at the time was that the girl was not an angel of his dreams, but a real girl. She was the daughter of the head master and she used to drop by the infirmary to visit the sick students. She had a kind nature and it gave her great pleasure to help those in need. The headmaster had instructed her not to visit the infirmary, but she did, every now and then, and the doctors at the infirmary turned a blind eye to it because they did not see any harm in it, as long as she did not do it too often.

  Since girls were not allowed to study at the university, the headmaster had undertaken the task of teaching her himself. It was almost after a year at the university, when Dinul saw her again. It was one morning when Dinul was quietly practicing his swordsmanship in a quiet corner of the university. It was his favourite part of the university as he knew it was well shielded from the rest of the university by a grove of trees, and he had never seen anyone coming there.

  But this morning, he suddenly heard quiet footsteps coming his way. As he hid behind the trees, he saw a young man, almost a boy, wearing a turban, and his face covered with the end of the turban coming his way. He was surprised to see someone up and about at this early hour. The sun had not yet risen and the visibility was poor.

  The boy quickly walked past Dinul and carried on walking further. It seemed that the boy wanted to reach the boundary wall, which was not far from that corner of the university. At the boundary wall the boy took out something from a bag he was carrying, and Dinul realised that it was a small cage of some sorts. Dinul could not see what was in the cage, but it must have been some animal. The boy kept the cage on the ground and released the animal. As he bent down to pick up the cage, the cloth that was hiding his face fell off his face, and Dinul was surprised to see that it was not a he at all.

  In a moment the cloth had been put back in its place, but the moment was enough for Dinul to see the face of the angel he had seen in his dream. He could not move from his place as the girl walked past him, and back to where she had come from.

  At that moment Dinul knew love. He had never felt the way he was feeling now. He knew anger and hate, and he even knew the love he had for his parents. But what the girls face had done to him, he did not know. For the first time in years, he left practice mid-way and walked back to his room as if in daze. He had never been known to smile, but that day the teachers were surprised to see him smile. That day he felt good. For a couple of days, he had forgotten about his mission and his anger. For the first time, he felt that the world was not such a bad place after all.

  It was not to last long. After the first couple of days, Dinul directed his efforts at finding out who the girl was. He did not know whom to ask. For a few weeks he would go to the same place every day, but the girl did not come back again.

  His chance to find out about the girl came when he heard about the daughter of the headmaster being engaged to the prince of Pataliputra. It was announced that a ceremony would be held at the university where all students, teachers and their families would be invited. It was also said that the prince of Pataliputra would also be there for the event. There was a lot of activity in the university and everyone was readying themselves for the event.

  In the past, Dinul had shown no interest in such activities, but this time he was excited about it. He was sure that the girl would come there and he wanted to talk to her, or just be there where she was. He shyly asked the headmaster whether he could come to the event.

  The headmaster was more than happy to say yes. He had felt that his plan to include Dinul in the university as an employee was not turning out so well. Dinul hardly ever talked to anyone and he was such a silent man that most students and teachers did not like him. The headmaster was afraid that he might have to let him go. But he was glad now that Dinul had finally begun to take interest in social events.

  Dinul could not wait for the day. It had been a week since he had practiced his swordsmanship, or studied anything with his heart in it. He simply could not wait for the evening to arrive. On the day of the event, Dinul took extreme care to look his best. He even went to the extent of asking one of the students, he had begun to know, for some scented oil for his hair.

  When he was ready, Dinul was looking handsome. No one could have said that he was not a prince or someone from royalty. He was looking handsomer than most of the other students. He had dressed himself in the gypsy style which made him look different, and better, than the others in the university.

  The celebrations were to be held in the sprawling university campus. Tents had been erected at different locations in the grounds, and at one end, there was a raised platform with two huge chairs on them for the prince and his would be princess. There were different kinds of foods and drinks, and some of the drinks were rumoured to be intoxicating. Though anything with alcohol in it was not allowed in the University, but an exception had been made for the Prince.

  It was difficult for Dinul to contain his excitement. Though he tried hard to leave the room as late as possible, he was one of the first to arrive at the grounds. His heart was pounding like a giant drum and he was afraid that others may be able to listen to his heartbeat. His eyes would become alive with excitement as soon as someone entered the grounds, but his love was nowhere to be seen.

  As the celebrations began and almost everyone who was going to come seemed to have come in, Dinul’s hope began to change into despair. His love was not going to be there after all. He felt sadness come over him as he sat down.

  Suddenly, it was announced loudly that the prince was going to arrive and the daughter of the headmaster would follow him. Dinul focused his attention to the stage, his anger for the prince and Pataliputra returning to the fore.

  For a moment he had forgotten all about the girl of his dreams and remembered only his anger against Karkish and Pataliputra. As he saw the Prince walk up to the stage, he was shocked to see the similarity between himself and the prince. It was impossible not to notice it and if people did not notice it, it was only because no one paid any attention to a servant boy, and even if someone saw the similarity they dismissed it as a figment of their imagination.

  It was impossible for Dinul to miss the similarity. The face on the stage was the face that he looked at every morning in the mirror. He made a mental note to dress and behave in a way that no one else noticed this similarity. He also decided to use this bit of coincidence in his favour, if it ever came to that.

  Following the prince was a beautiful girl, whose face was radiating light even in the darkness of the night. She was a beauty like no other and almost everyone was looking at her without blinking. Dinul suddenly felt his heart explode in his chest. The girl on the stage, due to marry the prince in a few days, was the very girl he had fallen in love with almost two weeks ago.

  Dinul did not know how to react. He felt his world collapsing around him. The happiness that he had been feeling for the past few days had been snatched from him in a second. He felt a huge surge of anger at Karkish. Why was Karkish, the king and Dinul, the poor man? It was not the hand of fate that had caused his desolation, but the hand of an old woman. And, now, why had fate decided to take from him the girl that could have been the love and the purpose of his life.

  “This is a couple made for each other,
” someone close to Dinul said. As Dinul looked around, he saw that people were looking at the couple with adoring eyes. Dinul’s heart burnt with uncontrolled rage. He would have looked just as good on the stage as Karkish, and his heart felt like a piece of burning coal in his chest.

  Dinul could not bear it any longer. He got up and quietly moved out of the grounds and into his room. Once inside his room, he yelled at the top of his voice. His scream was drowned in the din of the celebrations. No one had time to pay attention to the young man screaming his heart out. He tore off the clothes he was wearing, and put on his normal servant clothes. He decided the next time he would change them for better clothes would be when he changed them for the king’s dress. He picked up his sword and started to practice his art. He had put all thoughts of the girl into the background and the only thought that he would allow to occupy his heart and soul would be revenge. The thought that the chance of a better future with the girl of his dreams had slipped him by made his resolve even stronger.

  29. The Art of War

  It was not easy for Dinul to forget Shakuntala. He would sometimes see her at odd hours, at odd places and he would be reminded of the love that he had to forget. Love is the hardest wound to heal and Dinul was experiencing that now. But, soon he had learnt to focus on things other than love. He had decided that he would never allow himself to fall in love again. The scar of the wound remained in his heart but he had forgotten about it. He had focused his attention back to his mission.

  He was at the university to learn all there was to learn from the books and the teachers, and he had come close to his aim. Dinul’s day began early in the morning when he would wake up and practice martial arts that he had seen the students learning the previous day. Then before the sun was up he would ensure that the fire had been lit in the oven that warmed the water for teachers to take a bath.

  After that his job was to clean the classrooms. He would do all the work entrusted to him with utmost care and dedication. He did not want to give the teachers any reason to find a fault with him. During the day he was at the beck and call of any of the teachers who needed him to run errands for them. Over the period of time, Dinul had realised that he was most interested in history, strategy and science. He tried to hang around these classes as much as he could and he also managed to get close to the teachers who taught these subjects.

  Another subject he was most intrigued and attracted by was warfare chemistry. It was a subject that was not taught at the university, but the masters at the university were carrying out research on the subject for the king and the kingdom. One of the masters at the university had specialised knowledge of the subject. When Dinul was alone in his rounds of the halls, he had developed a habit of reading the teacher’s books. He found the notes of one teacher particularly interesting. He was working on an explosive that could be as compact as a ball and could be thrown from a canon at the enemy and it would ensure complete destruction. The teacher’s name was Gerard.

  But, it was difficult to understand his notes as he was using a code to write down the formula. Dinul knew he was going to have a hard time breaking the code, so he decided to ask the teacher himself. One day Dinul got his chance to ask Gerard about it, as he was working late in his room. Surprise would be his ally, Dinul thought.

  Gerard looked up from his table and saw Dinul.

  “I am going to be working late tonight, so you can go ahead and leave without cleaning my room,” said Gerard and continued with his work.

  Dinul instead of leaving came into the room and sat down in front of the desk that Gerard was sitting on.

  “I said you could leave,” Gerard said angrily.

  “I heard you the first time, but I have not come here to leave. I know what you are working on and I want to know more about it,” Dinul replied.

  Gerard thought that Dinul was trying to press him to teach him something and he was not in the mood for it. He had almost found a breakthrough in his research and he wanted to focus on it.

  “This is not the time, should you not be helping someone?” Gerard asked, irritated

  “I am helping someone. I am helping myself.” Dinul’s voice had taken a tone that Gerard had never heard before. It was a bit unsettling. Gerard decided that it would be best if he played along.

  “How do you know what I am working on?” asked Gerard. He thought that Dinul was just saying that to grab his attention. That he would actually know what he was working on was something that Gerard could not even imagine.

  “I know what every teacher is working on. I am not wasting my time cleaning the halls of the University,” replied Dinul. He was serious and the first seeds of doubt began to enter into Gerard’s mind.

  “Have you learnt everything that is taught here?” Gerard asked mockingly.

  He was not expecting the reply that he got.

  “Yes! Your best students are no match for me in any field,” replied Dinul, “academic or otherwise.”

  Though it was hard to believe, yet something told Gerard that Dinul was speaking the truth. He sat upright and tried to close the work that he was doing.

  “Now, I want to learn something that is not taught at this school,” continued Dinul.

  “There is a lot to learn in this world that is not taught at this school. If it is something that is not taught at this school, how can you learn it here?” asked Gerard.

  “It is not taught here, but there are many things that the teachers are doing here for the king?”

  This was not a secret as everyone knew that one of the responsibilities of the teachers at the university was to carry out research that could help the king and his kingdom.

  “For example you are working on the art of chemical warfare and explosives, aren’t you?”

  Gerard was shocked. He had done his best to keep his work a secret and here was Dinul talking about it as if it was no big deal and everyone knew about it.

  “How… What do you know about what I am doing?”

  “I think it is interesting what you are doing. If someone is able to produce your canon and the chemicals on a large scale, it could be a great asset for the army. Any army with such an arsenal could hardly lose a war, especially against an army which does not have something like this,” said Dinul.

  “Why do you want to know about it, you are neither a soldier, nor a king,” Gerard asked.

  “I might not be one today, but who is to say what I am going to be tomorrow,” replied Dinul, and laughed a sinister laugh.

  “I can’t share with you what I have learnt till now,” Gerard said in a voice that was final.

  “Are you sure that is your final answer,” Dinul asked, “because one day I will be the ruler of Pataliputra and I could use someone like you by my side.”

  “You are a fool to harbour such dreams!”

  “Well, I won't be giving you any of this then,” Dinul said as he drew a small vial of glass out of his pocket.

  “What is it?”

  “It is the antidote to the poison that I have mixed in your water. Thanks to your notes I was able to prepare the poison in the chemistry lab. I will have your notes and I will decipher them sooner or later. It is a pity that you did not help me with them,” said Dinul.

  Gerard suddenly began to feel breathless as he realised that Dinul was speaking the truth. As he grasped for air, Dinul got up and took his notebook from him. Gerard tried to take it back, but he was too weak. He had no time to think about what he was to do as he began to lose consciousness. Dinul walked out of the room quietly and went to his room satisfied. It would have been better if Gerard had decided to help him, he thought, but it did not matter. He would find someone else.

  The next morning there was a mourning holiday in the university in honour of Gerard, who had suddenly died the previous night of a heart attack.

  30. The King in Exile

  After spending three years at the University, Dinul had not only learnt whatever there was to learn, but he had become better than any of
the other teachers in the University. He decided to leave the University and start his own preparation for the future. But it was a freak incident that made him take the decision sooner than he thought.

  One day, as he was getting ready to clean the hallways, one of the senior students mocked him. He had been there when Dinul had been accepted at the University.

  “How’s the learning going on?” he jeered.

  Dinul had developed a thick skin and did not pay attention to such things and kept on doing what he was doing. But finding no one around and confident of his abilities and the helplessness of Dinul, the senior student approached him and pushed him.

  No one had done that to Dinul so far. Dinul had got used to the verbal violence, but he was never subjected to physical violence and he was not ready to bear it without saying something.

  Dinul dropped what he was doing and held the senior student by his neck. The senior student was surprised by the power in Dinul’s arms and his confidence vanished.

  “I will tell the master that you manhandled me,” the student was almost screaming.

  “You will tell the master only if you will be alive to tell him,” Dinul grimaced. He really did not mean to kill the student, but he wanted to scare him. The student, however, got frightened and tried to reach for a dagger he had kept hidden under his garments.

  That turned out to be a mistake as Dinul conveniently snatched the dagger from him and instinctively thrust it into the student’s heart. The student collapsed at his feet without a sound. Without intending to, Dinul had killed someone for the first time.

  He knew that he could not stay at the University anymore. No one would believe his story and he could be put in prison for all he knew. He decided that it was time to leave the University, but he wanted to put some time between his chasers and him. So, he cleaned the blood from the floor and hid the body where no one would be able to find it easily. By the time they did find the body, Dinul would be long gone.