The Gurus of Hastinapur - Part 39

Satyaki and Alamvusha were having a spirited face off in the battlefield. But today Satyaki was unbeatable. All the duals that he had faced had only two outcomes – either the person who faced him was killed mercilessly or they retreated from battle. The battle with Alamvusha was no different either. Satyaki killed the four horses of Alamvusha and angrily pushed passed Alamvusha, and that was when Satyaki met Dusshasana. And Dusshasana was not alone. Dusshasana’s entire division tried to attack Satyaki in the hopes of containing the man.

They might have as well tried containing a hurricane for all the effect it had.....

Satyaki ploughed through Dusshasana’s division like it was nothing and killed four of Dusshasana’s horses and drove from there....towards Arjuna and Krishna.

As Satyaki was approaching the two Krishnas, he was intercepted by Bhurisravas. Arjuna saw this when Krishna spoke. ‘Partha!’ It was the Dark Lord. ‘Satyaki is here!’ was all Krishna told Arjuna.

But then both Arjuna and Krishna knew what that meant and that was not good at all....

‘How could Yudhishtara do this?’ Arjuna asked grimly. ‘How could Satyaki do this? I have Satyaki and Bhima here with me inside the Vyugha!’

Krishna said nothing as Arjuna was getting more and more angry. ‘Yudhishtara is all alone! Bhurisravas is going to attack Satyaki and I have not yet reached Jayadratha!’ Arjuna watched the sun furiously. ‘And I have precious few hours of the day remaining!’ Arjuna looked at Krishna. ‘What should I do, Krishna!’

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The way the battle between Karna and Bhima was going, it seemed almost certain that Kunti could have only five sons alive by the time the battle was over.

But Bhima had already run out of his weapons. So he did the next best thing – He almost challenged Karna to a fist fight. But there was a huge problem with that – Bhima was so strong that Karna could never survive a fist fight with Bhima. And Bhima remembering that Arjuan had vowed to kill this man, refrained from challenging Karna to a dual.

And so Karna had set his arrow on the practically unarmed Bhima and let his arrow go....

The arrow shot through and pierced Bhima and Bhima nearly fell unconscious.

Furiously, Karna remembered the promise that he had made to Kunti and angrily decided not to kill Bhima.

Instead of letting his arrow fly, Karna came close to Bhima and hit Bhima on the head with the horn of his bow. But that apparently was the wrong thing to do....Because Bhima was so angry with Karna that Bhima snatched Karna’s bow and hit Karna on the head with Karna’s own bow.

Karna was shocked and shouted angrily at Bhima. ‘Glutton fool! You have no weapons and nothing to me fight with! You have lived in the forest and that is your place. A battlefield is not a place for a person like you. You have no skills to fight in battle!’ Karna sneered angrily. Karna again pushed Bhima back with his bow. ‘You should fight others! Not with someone like me!’ Karna told Bhima angrily. ‘Go and the two Krishnas would protect you!’

Bhima actually had the audacity to laugh at Karna. There was not a shred of fear in Bhima’s eyes as he watched Karna. ‘How many times have you been defeated by me now, Karna?’ Bhima asked Karna softly. ‘And if you are really so desperate, why don’t you just fight with me with your bare hands!’ Bhima said his eyes nearly glowing with hatred. ‘Do you know Keechaka?’ Bhima finished. ‘After him...’ Bhima watched Karna almost with smiling insane eyes. ‘.....You.....I will just rip you apart as all these people watch!’ Bhima finished.

And that was when the two Krishnas came.

And it looked like Arjuna had really heard what Karna had been taunting Bhima with. Arjuna gave no respite to Karna and relentlessly fired into Karna.

Karna fell back and fell back hard.....

In fact Arjuna was so impossibly ferocious that Karna really did not have a choice and fled from the scene leaving Bhima.

Bhima nodded his thanks to his brother and he got on inside the craft of Satyaki who had also reached the place.

But Arjuna was not done with Karna. Not by a long way. Arjuna pulled his bow and fired at Karna, however, the arrow was again cut off by Ashwattama.

Snarling with anger, Arjuna saw Karna move away from the place and turned his attention to Ashwattama.

Having got the attention of Arjuna, Ashwattama now entered the division of the Kaurava army with plenty of elephants and chariots....As if that was going to stop the charging Arjuna....