The
Kaurava warriors could not believe what they were watching. Till now,
the gleaming chariot with the two dark men was nothing more that
blur, in the battlefield. No matter what or who appeared before them,
either Arjuna mercilessly destroyed them or Krishna weaved through
them with his chariot. The galloping of the horses was accompanied by
a steady twang of the arrows making an impossibly beautiful rhythm.
But then unexpectedly it stopped. More from the sudden absence of the
sound than anything else, the Kaurava soldiers looked up towards the
direction of the twanging of the arrows....Without the accompanying
galloping of the horses, the twanging of the arrows seemed....almost
incomplete.
That
was when the Kauravas had the second shock....
Right
there in the middle of the battlefield, Krishna had unyoked the
horses and as Kaurava soldiers watched, Arjuna got down from the
chariot. The Kauravas glanced at the sun warily hoping...really
hoping that the sun had set, because otherwise there seemed no other
reason for the actions of the Dark Lord. But the day was not yet over
of surprises.
Krishna
was tending to the horses as he was running his hands through the
wounds of the horses, presumably treating them! Right there, in the
middle of the battlefield...
That
was when one of the Kaurava soldier
realized the inevitable truth as he shouted out aloud. 'ARJUNA IS NOT
IN THE CHARIOT!' He shouted. He looked at his fellow warriors, quiet
frankly not able to believe what he himself was saying. 'Arjuna is
not in his chariot!' the others repeated. The
word got around the Kaurava army in surprisingly short time.
There
were many warriors who believed that Arjuna was a great warrior only
because he had the Dark Lord as his charioteer. While it was true
that Krishna and Arjuna together were invincible, but Arjuna by
himself was a formidable warrior and that time he proved it....
The
Kauravas warriors probably thinking that Arjuna without the Dark Lord
was weak, attacked him, as he was standing right there in the middle
of field, his bow and arrow ready in his hands.....
*****
Krishna
murmured as he lovingly tended to the animals.
Looking
at him, it definitely looked like Krishna did not have a care in the
world. The fact that the sun was now setting, the fact that they were
in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by completely
hostile enemies, did not seem to matter to him at all. Right now, his
job was to attend to the injured animals and get them refreshed and
that was all he cared about.....
Krishna
smiled as he saw his lone warrior standing before him, firing arrows
rapidly one after the other, at the warriors who was attacking him.
The two of them were supposed to be surrounded by enemies, but then
not one arrow reached Krishna...not one, actually...Arjuna had made sure
of that. It almost seemed like there was an invisible barrier between
Krishna and the Kaurava warriors, one that they they could not breach, no
matter how hard they tried.
Krishna
saw that the horses were now almost well, as he looked at Arjuna.
'Partha! The horses need water!' he called out above the twang of the
arrows.
Probably
it was not correct to disturb a warrior when he was fighting off
almost an entire army standing right in the middle of it. But
Krishna did not seem to think it wrong.
There
was a rapid change in twang of weapons as Krishna heard a whizzing
sound almost next to him. The Kaurava warriors who were facing Arjuna
definitely did not know anything different, as the stream of arrows
coming towards them seemed as relentless as before...
But none of the Kaurava warriors could explain it, when right there in the middle of the battlefield,
where until a minute back was nothing but hard ground, was a beautiful
lake...
'Let
the horses have their fill, Krishna!' Arjuna said putting the Varunastra back. Arjuna permitted himself
a small smile, as he saw the impossible expression which came on the
faces of the warriors who were facing him....
**********
Duryodhana
was furious. In fact Duryodhana was beyond that. This was the second
time in two days, when what he had thought was a simple job was
getting steadily out of hand. Yesterday, it had that boy...Abhimanyu,
whom Duryodhana had dismissed nothing more than a young
kid....Abhimanyu proved to be so disastrous that even
his death could not make up for the loss that Abhimanyu had inflicted
on the Kaurava army.
And
today...All the Kaurava army had to do was to keep Arjuna away from
Jayadratha and considering the sheer size of his army, that could not
be an impossible task...or so Duryodhana thought. But Duryodhana had not counted on
Arjuna's expertise, or the Dark Lord's capability of handling the
chariot. The two men together were probably destroying more people
today than most of his warriors had done overall till now...As if
adding insult to injury, Arjuna was now taking time off coming out of
his chariot and letting his horses rest...
Duryodhana
was so furious that he drove his horses directly towards the man whom
he thought was responsible for all this.
'You
were our teacher!' he said as he found himself face to face with his
teacher. 'You were invincible! You said no one could penetrate this
Vyugha!' Duryodhana said as his words slurred in anger, as he looked
dangerously close to the brink. 'And
those two men defied you! Just like that!'
Dronacharya looked at
Duryodhana with hurt eyes as Duryodhana continued viciously. 'I think
you are also like Bheeshma! You merely say that you will fight on my
behalf and all you do is TALK!' Duryodhana shouted loudly.
Dronacharya
closed his eyes as his took deep breaths to control himself. He
opened his eyes and looked at Duryodhana. Dronacharya probably
realized that no matter what he did, Duryodhana would probably never
trust him. Dronacharya also realized that talking with the prince was also
a waste of time. The prince would not believe anything he said
anyway.
Dronacharya
shook his head as he removed his armour.
Duryodhana
looked shocked as Dronacharya got down from his chariot with his
armour in his hand. 'This is one of the most powerful armours, which
was given to me! The armours have also been made strong by the
mantras of ancient times! Wear it, my prince! Nothing can penetrate
this armour!'
Duryodhana
looked shocked as he looked at Dronacharya, probably a little
ashamed, that he had doubted his teacher. 'I am sorry! I....'
Duryodhana said fumbling with apology as he saw his teacher helping
him on with the armour.
'You
are like Ashwattaman to me! I would forgive him too, if he spoke that
way to me!' Dronacharya said quietly. Dronacharya took a deep breath
and continued with a small smile. 'And go and fight, my prince! Go
and fight the Pandava warriors and remember that nothing can hurt
you...GO NOW!'
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