Shaivyaa : Sword Of Justice ✓

Way of Escape

Varanavata

"Not anymore!" Cried Bhima, "They have crossed the limits! Some heads now really deserve to be smashed!" He gnashed his teeth, rubbing his hands.

"Bhima! Softly!" Yudhishthira warned, "Purochana might have kept eavesdroppers around us! He should not come to know that we understood everything of this conspiracy!"

"Jyeshtha please! I can't take it anymore!" Bhima impatiently groaned, "On your order, I kept quiet when they tried to kill me alone. But I cannot stay mute when my family is targeted!"

"I do know your love for us, dear!" Yudhishthira calmly said, patting the cheeks of his emotional angry brother, "I know you are not wrong in wanting to punish the wrongdoers. But this is not a right time to get angry, my brother! Anger cannot take a fair decision. Keep your brain calm and help us in planning something to overcome this danger!"

His calm words and gentle caress calmed Bhima down a little.

"Tell us then what your plan is." He asked.

"Not mine. It's Kaka Vidura's plan to save us!" Yudhishthira said, looking at everyone.

"Kaka Vidura!!" The four Pandavas exclaimed together. Their mouths were wide open in surprise.

"He knows this?" Arjuna wondered aloud.

"He does." Yudhishthira nodded, "not only that, he also gave me a way of escape this house of lac."

"But when did all these happen?" Nakula asked, "we could not even hear a word!"

"You could not have understood it even if you heard our conversation. He talked in Mlechcha language that only I know. He didn't want to take any risk since spies of Duryodhana were everywhere."

Arjuna thoughtfully nodded, "that's true. So what did he tell you?"

"A tunnel!"

"Tunnel?"

"Yes. He said that an animal can save itself from fire of forest by living in a hole. Definitely this hints to a tunnel way. If we can live inside that, fire won't be able to harm us!"

"But hiding like this, does it suit warriors like us?" Arjuna's eyebrows curved, "isn't it cowardice, Jyeshtha?"

"We don't have another option, Arjuna!" Yudhishthira was grave, "Think practically. Have you seen that there is no door at the backward? And Purochana lives near the main entrance? How will we survive if he sets fire at some midnight?"

No one could answer.

Yudhishthira looked at their faces one by one to gauge their reaction, and then continued, "don't worry, you don't have to live inside the tunnel for entire day! At daytime you can roam around the city and go hunting. But at night we need to be inside the tunnel for our own safety! Hope you will understand!"

"Jyeshtha, why even are we discussing all these?" Bhima was reluctant, "let's simply kill Purochana and escape!"

"That cannot save us, Bhima!" Yudhishthira sighed, "it won't take them long to send another Purochana! This chain of rivalry, how long it will continue? How many lives will it claim?"

Bhima closed his eyes and looked away in frustration.

"Brothers, I know your warrior selves cannot agree with this!" The Yuvaraj continued, "But remember that, this rivalry can be completely stopped only when they will believe that we have died! Otherwise we will never live in peace! They will never let us be in peace!"

"So what do you want us to do?" Arjuna calmly asked.

"My plan is thus, we only will set fire in this house and will escape through the tunnel. This way no one will understand that we are alive!" Yudhishthira said.

Everyone was lost in thoughts. Despite the anger and an urge to punish the wrongdoers immediately, the four brothers did realize that whatever Yudhishthira said was their only way to survive.

"You are right, Putra." Kunti finally said, "but where will we get a trustworthy miner to dig the tunnel which can be our way of escape?"

"Worry not, Maa!" Yudhishthira smiled, "I know Kaka will definitely do something very soon to save us! Maybe a miner sent by him is already on the way!"

"How can you be so sure?" Arjuna asked.

"Because I trust Kaka!" Yudhishthira beamed, "Pita used to say he is incarnation of Lord Dharma himself! My faith on him is as strong as it is on Dharma!"

***

Shivi

Devika climbed quickly at the top of north-western tower, her heart beating faster every moment. Time was too short to save herself. She searched everywhere for the emergency pathway, the only way of her escape and survival at this moment.

"What are you doing, Rajkumari? Escaping from this high tower is way too dangarous for a woman!" Jayadratha's apparantly sweet voice reached her ears like poison-coated knife. She immediately turned to face the Sindhu Prince, placing her sword between them.

"Stay away!" She declared firmly, and pushed the sharp blade a bit more towards him. Jayadratha had to step back but he did not lose hope. This warrior look had gracefully added to Devika's divine beauty which made him even more mad to have her, at any cost.

"Beautiful Princess, do not dare to take this step!" He said again in the same tone, "your soft limbs will bleed unnecessarily! Worse, you might lose balance and fall down in River Shatadru! Rather..."

"Thanks for your concern, Yuvaraj!" She calmly said, cutting him off, "but going with you is far more dangarous for me!"

"Foolish Princess!" Jayadratha laughed an insulting laughter, "you are too immature to see where your real benefit is! Why not choosing to be Yuvarani of Sindhu over this passage of death?"

"You are forgetting that every Princess of Aaryavarta has the right to choose her own fate, Yuvaraj!" Devika fearlessly said, "and sorry, you are not my choice!"

"Hmm. Beauty with such a flame of courage! You are raising my desire, my Love!" He stepped ahead to hold her hand. Her sword flashed in a while to save her dignity.

The sharp weapon did not disappoint her. Jayadratha's face got badly injured. But that quick impact made Devika lose her balance. Her feet slipped off the tower.

Below waited the unkind current of Shatadru, and ferocious crocodiles.

Death!

While falling towards the river, only a pair of brown eyes blurred her entire memory. She wanted to see the son of death, for the last time!