‘Hence the decision to move the ships into the Assi, which as you know, flows into the Ganga,’ said Sati. ‘The channel at the mouth of the river is narrow, thus not more than one enemy ship can come through at a time. Our ships therefore can be easily defended. Also, the Assi flows through the city of Kashi. Most Chandravanshis would not want to venture within, believing that the spirit of Lord Rudra would curse them for harming Kashi, even by mistake.’

Kali raised her eyebrows. ‘Using an enemy’s own superstition against him? I like it!’

‘Sometimes good tactics can work better than a sword edge,’ said Shiva, grinning.

‘Aah,’ said Kali, smiling. ‘You’re only saying that because you haven’t encountered my sword!’

Shiva and Sati laughed convivially.

Shiva and his core group were in the main hall of the grand Kashi Vishwanath temple. Athithigva had stepped into the inner sanctum, along with the main pandit of the temple, to offer prasad to the idols of Lord Rudra and Lady Mohini. He returned thereafter with the ritual offerings made to the gods.

‘May Lord Rudra and Lady Mohini bless our enterprise,’ said Athithigva, offering the prasad to Shiva.

Shiva took the prasad with both hands, swallowed it whole and ran his right hand over his head, thus offering his thanks to the Lord and Lady for their blessings. Meanwhile, the temple pandit distributed the prasad to everybody else. The ceremonies over, Athithigva sat down with the group to discuss the strategy for the war ahead. The pandit was led out of the temple by Kashi policemen and the entrance sealed. No one was to be allowed into the premises for the duration of the meeting.

‘My Lord, my people are forbidden any acts of violence except if it is in self-defence,’ said Athithigva. ‘So we cannot join the campaign actively with you. But all the resources of my kingdom are at your command.’

Shiva smiled. The peace-loving Kashi people would, in any case, not really make good soldiers. He had no intention of leading them into battles. ‘I know, King Athithigva. I would not ask anything of your people that they would be honour-bound to refuse. But you must be able to defend Kashi if attacked, for we intend to house many of our war resources here.’

‘We will defend it to our last breath, My Lord,’ said Athithigva.

Shiva nodded. He did not really expect the Chandravanshis to attack Kashi. He turned towards Gopal. ‘Panditji, there are many things that we need to discuss. To begin with, how do we keep the Chandravanshis out of the war theatre in Meluha? Secondly, what strategy should we adopt with Meluha?’

‘I think what Lord Ganesh and Kartik suggested is an excellent idea,’ said Gopal. ‘Let us hope we can rope in Magadh to our side.’