‘My Lord, I have been researching the Somras. Lord Gopal has explained many things to me. And an idea has struck me...’

‘What?’

‘The Somras cannot be made without this,’ said Parshuram, pointing to the Saraswati.

‘Brahaspati tried that, Parshuram... He tried to find some way to make the Saraswati waters unusable. But that didn’t work, remember?’

‘That’s not what I meant, My Lord. What if the Saraswati didn’t exist? Neither would the Somras, would it?’

Shiva observed Parshuram closely with inscrutable eyes.

‘My Lord, there was a time when the Saraswati, as we know it today, had ceased to exist. The Yamuna had started flowing east towards the Ganga. Saraswati cannot exist without the meeting of the Yamuna and the Sutlej.’

‘We cannot kill the Saraswati,’ said Shiva, almost to himself.

‘My Lord, for all you know, maybe that’s what Nature was trying to do more than a hundred years ago, when an earthquake caused the Yamuna to change its course and flow into the Ganga. If Lord Brahmanayak, the father of the present emperor, had not changed the Yamuna’s course to flow back into the Sutlej and restore the Saraswati, history would have been very different. Maybe Nature was trying to stop the Somras.’

Shiva listened silently.

‘We don’t have to think the Saraswati would be dead. Its soul would still be flowing in the form of the Yamuna and the Sutlej. Only its body would disappear.’

Shiva stared at the Saraswati waters, perceiving her depths. Parshuram had a point but Shiva didn’t want to admit it. Not even to himself. Not yet, anyway.

Chapter 29: Every Army Has a Traitor

Chapter 29

Every Army Has a Traitor

‘Any news, Ganesh?’ asked Bhagirath.

Bhagirath and Chandraketu had just joined Ganesh and Kartik on the lead ship. The massive navy was sailing up the Ganga en route to Meluha from the north. Farther ahead, they were to take the Ganga-Yamuna road. They had slowed down only for a few hours to allow a boat to rendezvous with them. The boatman carried a message from a Vasudev pandit.

‘I’ve just received word that my father’s army has conquered Mrittikavati,’ said Ganesh.

Chandraketu was thrilled. ‘That is great news!’

‘It is indeed,’ answered Ganesh. ‘And it gets even better; the citizens of Mrittikavati have been won over to my father’s side. They have imprisoned what was left of the Meluhan army in the city.’

‘And, have they discovered the location of the Somras factory?’ asked Bhagirath.

‘Yes,’ said Kartik. ‘It’s Devagiri.’

‘Devagiri? What are you saying? That is so stupid. It’s their capital. One would think that the factory would be built in a secure, secret location.’

‘But they could have built this factory only within cities with large populations, right? And if so, which city would be better than Devagiri? They must have assumed that they could certainly keep their capital safe.’

‘So what are our orders now?’ asked Chandraketu.