Tricks! Tricks, she says. It must have been Kalyavan’s idea. Hyperactive hyena meets roused rat! There was nothing worse than hot-blooded youngsters meeting in a tavern. Nothing good ever came of such ill-fated mingling. There ought to be a law against that sort of thing.

‘Let’s hope Dantavakra is a slow learner,’ he said morosely. As if a drunk Dantavakra was not problem enough, Shishupal had learned that the winner his brother had stormed off to challenge, was a Valka, a member of the fiercest forest tribe this side of the Ganga. Valkas were known for many things, hospitality towards city folk however, was not one of them. His own guards had searched Dantavakra’s usual haunts but had not found him. Since the Valkas were encamped in the Weeds, that was the only place left to search.

Lady Rasha had been kind to give him a lift so late at night. Shishupal frantically peered through the carriage windows for any sign of a tall fool walking arm in arm with an olive-skinned Mlecchá. Surely, they would stand out in any crowd? But Shishupal saw no one he recognised. Though it was late and wet, the streets of Rajgrih were raucous and teeming with people. Lanes of chaos wound down to more lanes, cobbled steps, and muddy passageways. Much like any other city, save for the naked corpses that hung from the trees, wooden boards pinned to their chest, with Infidel! written in blood. Unni Ehtral.

‘Jhestal seems to have rattled you,’ Lady Rasha quietly observed. ‘I saw your face at the Contest today.’

‘Uhm….’

‘Speak freely. I’m a keeper of secrets.’

If Lady Rasha was indeed a witch, she would have read his mind. There was no point in resistance. ‘Well, My Lady, it’s just that…I’m not into crucifying children. There is no…justice in it.’

‘Tch, tch. Justice. A child’s notion. There is not going to be justice anywhere, not for a while. Justice can have the leftovers after the Emperor is done.’

‘Yes…but this….’

‘Is this why you left the War?’

‘Uhm, I don’t understand your meaning, My Lady.’

‘I have heard winners of the Contest ask grand boons of the Emperor – a position in the Kingsguard, a garrison to command, a nobleman’s daughter to marry… But you…you asked to be allowed out of the War; a War Magadh has been slowly but steadily winning.’

‘With respect, my Lady, there is nothing peculiar about that. Folks get tired of war all the time. Injury, trauma, battle fatigue…’

‘Indeed.’ Lady Rasha turned her blue eye towards him. ‘Yes, I can certainly see that happening to others, but you have, shall we say personal motivation, to bring Krishna to heel, don’t you?’

‘I guess there is no one left who does not know of my humiliation.’

‘Well, they might have forgotten the tale by now. After all, brides get abducted all the time in the countryside. But you, dear lad, sat at the altar for a full hour, crying rather than galloping after Krishna. Some even thought you had lost your mind.’