‘Yes, Your Highness,’ said Gopal. ‘Our ships have been specially designed to handle this additional load since we knew that we would not be able to use the ships we’re currently on.’

‘Judging by the maps we’ve seen,’ said Sati, ‘we should reach Lothal in three months, right Panditji?’

‘Yes, Satiji,’ said Gopal. ‘If the winds favour us, we may even make it earlier.’

‘Have you received word from the Lothal governor, Kali?’ asked Shiva.

‘My ambassador will be waiting with the information at the Narmada,’ answered Kali. ‘Trust me, we will gain easy entry into Lothal. But don’t expect a huge addition of troops into our army. Lothal doesn’t have more than two or three thousand soldiers.’

‘We don’t really need their soldiers,’ said Shiva. ‘We have enough troops of our own. Along with the Vasudev army that waits for us at the Narmada, your own Naga army and this Branga force, we have more than a hundred thousand men. That’s equal to the strength of the Meluhan army.’

‘We can easily defeat them,’ said Kali.

‘I do not intend to attack,’ said Shiva.

‘I think you should.’

‘All we need to do is destroy the Somras manufacturing facility, Kali.’

‘But you have the Nagas with you. You shouldn’t be afraid of a direct confrontation.’

‘I’m not afraid. I just don’t see the sense in it. It will distract us from our main purpose – the destruction of the Somras. We do not want to destroy Meluha. Don’t forget that.’

‘I’ll count on you to remind me of that every time I forget,’ said Kali.

Shiva smiled and shook his head.

The voyage up the Sarayu had been surprisingly uneventful. The Magadhans did not attack Ganesh’s ships. The massive convoy was so long that the guards on the Magadhan towers spent an entire day watching ships go by.

A little over a week later, Ganesh ordered his ships to weigh anchor. Kartik, Bhagirath, Chandraketu and Ganesh got into a small boat and rowed ashore. The forest had been cleared up to a fair distance. Divodas, the leader of the Branga immigrants in Kashi, waited there along with twenty men.

Ganesh jumped off as soon as the boat beached, and waded through the shallow water to the river bank. The others followed. He touched his head to the ground as he reached the shore. He looked deep into the forest, remembering a time long ago when he had hidden behind the trees and observed his mother. ‘Kartik, this is the Bal-Atibal Kund. This is where Saptrishi Vishwamitra taught Lord Ram his legendary skills.’

Kartik’s eyes were wide open in awe. He bent down and touched the ground with his hand and whispered, ‘Jai Shri Ram.’

The others around him repeated it. ‘Jai Shri Ram.’