Ganesh leaned forward. ‘But I can see that there is more.’

Bhagirath could hardly contain himself. ‘I know the identity of the one who leads our enemies.’

‘Maharishi Bhrigu?’ suggested Kartik.

Bhagirath was amazed. ‘How did you know?’

‘Baba’s friends, the Vasudevs, told us,’ answered Ganesh.

Bhagirath had heard stories about the legendary Vasudevs. ‘Do the Vasudevs really exist?’

‘Yes they do, brave Prince,’ said Kartik.

Bhagirath smiled. ‘With friends like them, Lord Shiva doesn’t need followers like me!’

Ganesh laughed. ‘He could not have known when he agreed to your suggestion, that the Vasudevs would reveal the identity of the main conspirator.’

‘Of course,’ said Bhagirath. ‘But at least we now know about their back-up plan of marching through the impenetrable forests to the north-west of Ayodhya.’

‘Yes, that is useful information, Bhagirath,’ said Ganesh.

Kartik suddenly sat up. ‘Prince Bhagirath, did you meet Maharishi Bhrigu personally?’

‘Yes.’

Kartik looked at Ganesh with concern.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Bhagirath.

‘Did he look into your eyes while speaking with you, Bhagirath?’ asked Ganesh.

‘Where else would he be looking if he was talking to me?’

Kartik looked up at the ceiling. ‘Lord Ram, be merciful.’

‘What happened?’ asked a confused Bhagirath.

‘We’ve been told that Lord Bhrigu can read your mind by looking into your eyes,’ said Kartik.

‘What? That’s impossible!’

‘He’s a Saptrishi Uttradhikari, Bhagirath,’ said Ganesh. ‘Very few things are impossible for him. If he was distinctly looking into your eyes, chances are he has read your conscious thoughts. So he may have some very sensitive information about our plans.’

‘Good Lord!’ whispered Bhagirath.

‘I want you to carefully recall what you were thinking about while speaking with Lord Bhrigu,’ said Ganesh.

‘I spoke about...’

Kartik interrupted Bhagirath. ‘It doesn’t matter what you spoke. What matters is what you thought.’

Bhagirath closed his eyes and tried to remember. ‘I thought that my imbecile father could not have been the true leader of the conspiracy.’

‘That’s no secret,’ said Ganesh. ‘What else did you think about?’

‘I remember a feeling of dread when I realised that Lord Bhrigu is the true leader.’

‘I would have ideally not let him know your fears,’ said Kartik. ‘But this too cannot harm us.’

‘I recall thinking that Lord Shiva had sent me to Ayodhya to discover the identity of the true leader.’

‘Again,’ said Ganesh, ‘this is not very harmful information for an enemy to have.’

Bhagirath continued. ‘I thought about being attacked by the joint Meluha-Ayodhya ships at Panchavati and how we repelled the attack.’

Ganesh cursed under his breath.

Bhagirath looked at Ganesh apologetically. ‘So Maharishi Bhrigu knows about the Panchavati defences... I’m so sorry, Ganesh.’

Kartik patted Bhagirath reassuringly on his arm. ‘You did not intend this to happen, Prince Bhagirath. Was there anything else?’

‘Oh, Lord Rudra!’ whispered Bhagirath.

Ganesh’s eyes narrowed. ‘What?’

‘I thought about Parvateshwar wanting to defect to Meluha,’ said Bhagirath.