“They cut you off one by one.” Avarak said. “Start at the ends of the body and move towards the center.” There was horror in his voice.
“All this has to stop.” I said, “I will make it stop.”
“We are hoping for that, Brother.” Avarak said.
They were moving through a very narrow alley now and about to emerge onto a main street.
“How much further?” I asked, but Avarak motioned me to keep quiet and stopped his horse.
I looked forward to where Avarak was pointing at and stopped my horse too. There were guards.
Three guards with their backs to us! Avarak had his sword in his hand and I had mine. We were now on foot and peeping outside from the alley walls. We had tied our horses in the alley to a metallic post.
“This is the house of Prime Minister Rakshasa,” Avarak whispered in my ears. I nodded, as I changed my stance to get a good look at the three guards. Then one of them turned. I recognized him. It was one of Captain Shesha’s men.
“I know who these guards are,” I whispered.
“Everyone in Patliputra knows who these guards are,” Avarak whispered. “These are Captain Shesha’s men. The question is what are they doing here?”
“Maybe I can answer that question.” I whispered.
We saw the three guards jump over the walls of Minister Rakshas’s house and disappear.
“When I was in the gardens,” I said, “I heard these men talking about teaching the prime minister a lesson.”
“Then we must do something,” Avarak said.
We moved out of the alley and to the walls.
“We can’t jump over the walls as well,” I said, “it’ll be too noisy.” “Yes.” Avarak agreed. “We must find another way.”
We moved along the walls of the prime minister’s house to the back. There we found a nullah that ran out from the house.
“We can go in from here,” Avarak said.
“No.” I said. “That leads straight to a water pool inside the house.”
“How do you know about that?” Avarak asked.
“I’ve been inside his house once.” I said.
“And you remember all that from just one visit?” Avarak said.
“As you have said before,” I said, “I am very observant.”
I peeped over the wall. “I remember a small gate by the east entrance.”
We moved to it as silently as we could. The small gate was indeed there and we crept through it. We could now hear the sounds of the guards.
“Captain Shesha gave the prime minister a real fright.” One of them said.
“I wonder how long he will take though.” Another guard said.
“Relax.” The first guard said. “He just went inside. And it’s not like you have to go anywhere.”
We saw the guards with their back to them, standing by the entrance of the house. Avarak pointed to them. “Go for their throats,” he whispered.
The guards never knew what hit them. Avarak was too swift. I was not as fast, but managed to get the other guard down before he could raise an alarm.
The two bodies of the guards fell on either side of the entrance with blood oozing out of them.
“Let’s go inside.” Avarak said. I nodded, and followed him.
“It surprises me to see you still awake at this hour of the night.” We heard captain Shesha saying.
“Prime minister that I am, my work is hardly ever finished.” Rakshas’s voice was unmistakable.
“Aren’t you surprised to see me?” Captain Shesha said.
“No.” We could hear Rakshasa laugh. “I was sure you would sneak in when I appointed your guards for duty outside my house.”
“You know why I have come then?”
“Worst case scenario, you’re here to kill me.” Rakshasa said. “But that scenario is very unbelievable.”
We could see the prime minister now, sitting cross-legged on the ground with a chouranga in front of him. Captain Shesha had his back to us, and his sword was in his hands.
“Sure, I won’t kill you.” Captain Shesha said. “I am just here to give you a warning. But now you speak so much about killing, and my sword itches to move.” He began moving his sword slowly in the air.
“I can’t just burst into the room.” Avarak whispered to me. I nodded. I slowly peeped inside the room.
My eyes met Prime Minister Rakshas’s. I moved a finger slowly to my lips and motioned the prime minister to keep quiet. Rakshasa gave a small nod.
“Maharaja Dhanananda wonders if you had any hand in the suicide of the Brahmin in the prisons.” Captain Shesha said.
“If the Maharaja has a doubt, he will speak to me himself,” Rakshasa said calmly.
“The prisoner drank kalkoot poison.” Captain Shesha said. “How was he to come upon a vial of the poison in the prison unless somebody gave it to him?”
“The whole air of the prison is poisonous with men like you moving about.” Prime Minister Rakshasa said.
“My men vouched that they saw you talking with the Brahmin when he was being taken to the prisons.” Captain Shesha said. “If you have any hand in this matter, Prime Minister, you better come clean.”
“Maybe I did.” Rakshasa said.
This was the moment. Shesha’s attention was totally fixed on the prime minister. I nodded as Avarak entered the room. “Don’t kill him,” I whispered, “leave some for me too.”
“How?” Captain Shesha yelled as he lay flat upon the floor. Avarak and I were standing above him.
“Maybe ghosts have come to haunt you.” I said.
“Guards!” He yelled.
“They’re dead.” Avarak said.
I removed my hood. “Maybe you recognize me.”
Captain Shesha’s eyes became wide with horror. “You are dead. I saw it with my own eyes.”
I laughed. He looked at Prime Minister Rakshasa. “Would you mind if we used your water pool?” I said.
“What will you do with the bodies?” Prime Minister Rakshasa asked, as he stood in his courtyard, covering himself with a shawl.
“I’ll dump them in the nullah,” Avarak said “This one actually died by drowning.” He said, pointing at Captain Shesha.
“I must thank you.” Rakshasa said. “He wouldn’t have killed me, but who knows what else he could have done.”
“You can repay us by being a little generous to the Order.” Avarak said.
“And there is no need to repay me.” I said. “This was revenge for me.” I let the wet body of captain Shesha fall back into the water pool.
“I think we must part ways now, Brother.” Avarak said. “You must ride out of the city with speed. It’s almost sunrise.”
“Use the western gate,” Rakshasa said. “Shesha was supposed to guard it today, and as he is here, I am sure it must be left unguarded.”
I nodded. Then I turned to Avarak.
“Well it is farewell now, friend.” I said “I really can’t thank you enough. You saved my life.”
“That was nothing,” Avarak said. “You are a Brother of the Order now.”
“I will repay my debt to you, brother.’ I said. “And I will also repay my debt to Maharaja Dhanananda.”
Avarak smiled. To my side, I could see Minister Rakshasa smiling too. “You are an interesting man, Arya.” He said.
I bowed, “I daresay we shall meet again, Minister.”
“And I hope it will be under better circumstances,” Rakshasa said.
I rose back up. Then I turned and walked out of the house without looking back. As I was walking out, a smile crept across my face.
“One down,” I said, “three to go.”
I reached my horse in the alley and got up on it. I heeled it and the horse sped through the city. Soon I reached the western gates. Rakshasa was right. There was no one guarding them.
I rode out through them. My horse galloped forward and climbed along the high path that led out of the city. Soon I was on the top of a hill. I pulled
the reins, and the horse stopped.
I looked back. The early morning rays of the sun had just started peeping out from the horizon. The walls of Patliputra looked black against it. The sky had a brilliant pinkish hue.
I stared at the largest city in the whole of Bharathvarsha for a long time. The lines of the fortifications were blurred in the light and the city looked like one single black mass. Then when the sun rose and I could no longer keep my eyes open, I finally turned and heeled the horse again.
Radhagupta
Patliputra, 271 BC
Radhagupta walked along the inner palace corridors. He wasn’t used to these places because he had only been there once or twice before.
This was the area where Samrat Bindusar resided. There were guards everywhere. After watching the same guard’s face twice, he realized that he was lost.
“What is the way to the Samrat’s chambers?” he asked the guard, and the guard directed him.
Samrat Bindusar was lying on a big bed with maids fanning him. Containers of various medicines lay all over the place and the air was filled with the putrid smell often present at the abode of an ill man.
“Come, my Steward,” Bindusar said weakly. “Sit.”
Radhagupta sat as close he could to the Samrat. He held his hand and kissed it.
“A letter came from the south this morning,” Bindusar said, amid deep breaths.
“What does it say?” Radhagupta asked.
Bindusar pointed to his bedside table. The letter was lying folded on it. Radhagupta picked up the roll of fabric and unrolled it. He read it slowly, taking in each and every word.
“So Avanti has fallen.” He finally said.
“Without bloodshed.” Bindusar sighed. “Such a pity. It would have been good to butcher those rebels.”
“You can still butcher them, Samrat,” Radhagupta said. “Your word is the law, after all.”
“I will make sure that the new Governor sees to it that the rebels are punished.” Bindusar said. “That Avarak and his whole dynasty are hung by the rope.”
Radhagupta looked back at the letter. “Before that,” he said, “you will have to appoint a new governor for Ujjain. The letter is signed Prince Asoka.”
“Prince Asoka!” Bindusar got up on his elbows with much struggle and spit. Even that much exertion was too much for the Samrat and he fell back down onto the bed. “Give a man an army, and see how arrogant he becomes, so fast.”
Radhagupta kept mum.
“I only gave him that army because Sushem insisted that I do.” The Samrat said.
“My Samrat,” Radhagupta said, “if a new governor is to be appointed, then it is at the discretion of yourself and the prime minister. I don’t understand why you have called me here. I am merely the steward, the coin keeper.”
“You are perfectly right,” Bindusar said, “and that’s why I called the prime minister here first. But do you know what he dared to suggest? That old fool suggested that I make Asoka himself the governor of Avanti. What a foolish idea! That too when I am so ill. That too when Asoka and Sushem have a history of rivalry.
But the old man kept telling me that I should put Asoka on the Governor’s post at all costs. Tell me, Radhagupta, What do you think?”
“You are perfectly right, My Samrat,” Radhagupta said. “This post should not be given to someone who is not in control of prince Sushem. In fact I suggest Prince Vittasoka for this post. He has been living at Taxila since he was a baby under guardianship of Prince Sushem.”
“That is exactly what I told the Prime Minister.” Bindusar coughed. “But he did not agree. He kept insisting on Asoka. Finally I said that he was conspiring to put Asoka on my throne. I dismissed him from his job.”
“You’re going to need a new prime minister then,” Radhagupta said.
“No, my dear boy,” Bindusar said. “I am going to need a new steward. For I am making you my prime minister.”
Radhagupta walked into Kautilya’s brothel to find him sitting on his chair near the staircase.
“It is done.” He said. “I am Prime Minister.”
“It is not done.” Chanakya said. “It is merely beginning.”
“The Samrat has asked me to go to Taxila,” Radhagupta said.
“Ah, Taxila!” Chanakya said. “My old home! The great city of the northwest! The place where it all started and now will start again.”
“Do you miss it?” Radhagupta asked.
“Why should I?” Chanakya laughed. “I am living in the biggest city in the Bharathvarsha. Believe me Prime Minister, after living in Patliputra, I am afraid that you shall find Taxila quite dull.”
“The Samrat wants me to deliver a letter for him,” Radhagupta said.
“A letter or letters?” Chanakya asked slyly. Radhagupta smiled.
“This thing we are about to do, Arya,” he said, “it has begun. There is no turning back now.”
“When there is only one way left to go,” Chanakya quoted a Sanskrit subhashita, “a man should run.”
Then he turned his chair and wheeled it away without looking back.
The Wedding
Taxila, 50 years earlier
The sounds of the trumpets gave him a headache, and Alexander, Shahanshah of Persia, Leader of the Greek city states, Basileus of Anatolia and Conqueror of Bharat, couldn’t do anything about it.
He watched as the elephants bellowed and the bride put a garland of flowers over Raja Puru’s neck. He couldn’t even press his fingers against his earlobes, because then people would say that the conqueror was afraid of elephants.
To one side of the bride, he could see her father, Raja Ambhi, standing with his arms folded, as a Pujari kept chanting continuously with his group of students.
These Indian weddings are such noisy affairs.
Alexander thought as he moved about on the throne he was sitting. Behind the erected platform for the ceremony, he could see the walls of the city of Taxila.
“Basileus!” General Coenus was at his side.
“What is it, General?” Alexander asked. He almost had to shout to rise above all the ambient noise
“I wanted a word,” Coenus said.
“Do you think we shall even be able to hear each other in this noise?” Alexander said. He got down from his throne. “Let us walk.”
They walked away from the noise, away from the pandal into the open. Alexander felt a little relieved as the noise lowered.
“I wanted to ask you what we do next,” Coenus said.
“After this, Raja Puru tells me there shall be seven more days of celebration.” Alexander said. “I can understand your curiosity for the ending, because I am bored too.”
“I was not talking about the wedding, Basileus,” Coenus said.
“Then what are you talking about?” Alexander asked.
“I am asking what happens after it, Basileus?”
“After the wedding, we march east,” Alexander said, sitting down on a wooden fence, his legs dangling. Coenus stood opposite him.
“That is what I wanted to talk about,” Coenus said.
“What’s there to talk?” Alexander said, “One or two battles more and we shall be on the banks of the Ganges River, a river as holy to these Aryas as the Styx is to us.”
“We will have to defeat the kingdom of the Nandas before that happens,” Coenus said.
“And that we will!” Alexander said.
“May I speak frankly, sire?” Coenus asked.
“Yes you may,” Alexander said, knowing full well what was going to come next.
“After the battle of Hydpses,” Coenus said, “you have not been out on the field much, while I have been, well, I have been fighting the mountain tribes in the Himalayas.”
“Those mountain tribes were a small problem, Coenus.” Alexander said. “Divided groups from various tribes who loved to fight amongst each other than fight with us. Nothing that needed me.”
“And yet it took so much time to have them subdued.” Coenu
s’s voice was firm. “These Aryas are so persistent that they kept attacking us even though their numbers were much smaller, their weapons inferior and their armies unorganized. However what they lacked in efficiency, they almost made up with morale.”
“Why are you blabbering about these mountain tribes?” Alexander said angrily. He had come out of the ceremony to lessen his headache, and here was the foolish Coenus increasing it. “I already have the surrender of all Rajas between here and the Hyphases River.”
“And yet these mountain tribes did not lay down their weapons,” Coenus said.
“Come to the point, Coenus.” Alexander said loudly. “I really have no interest in the riddles of my generals.”
“The point is that, Basileus, our army is afraid of the Aryas,” Coenus said.
“Hogwash.” Alexander said. “The army is always afraid! They were afraid of the Persians before Guagemala, They were afraid of Porus before Hydpses, and yet here we are.”
“But the men are far stretched now.” Coenus said. “This winter has been much harder on them.”
“Alright!” Alexander said, “What do they want? More money? More booty? Right to rape captured woman? What it is exactly that you are negotiating?”
“They want to go back home, Basileus.” Coenus said, weighing each and every word carefully. It took a moment to seep in. Then Alexander’s eyes became red with rage.
“You are all women.” He yelled. “Go home, you say? We are adventurers, Coenus. An adventurer makes his home wherever he goes. And these adventures are going to bring us more riches and prestige.”
“What good are more riches and prestige if one is not alive to enjoy them?” Coenus said. “I lost more men in subduing these mountain tribes than I lost in the battle of Hydpses. And you know that the casualties of that battle were the highest until now.”
“You had all sworn to obey me.” Alexander said. “Sworn to obey my each command by the oath of the Greek Gods.”
“Frankly, Basileus,” Coenus said, “we are too far away from Greece now. They worship different Gods here.”
The Prince of Patliputra Page 20