KARNA : THE WARRIOR

CHAPTER 39

In Yudhishthir's chamber,

Yudhishthir came to his own chamber and saw his brothers and mother were already there along with friend/ maid of kunti Priyamada. He knew they are not happy by just looking at their facial expressions but like before he wasn't going to budge now, he knew his silence was also the reason for things to go wrong.

Yudhishthir: You all here, is there something you need to discuss?

Bheem: Yes Jyeshta, we want to discuss something.

Yudhishthir nodded and indicate to proceed,

Bheem: Jyeshta what happened to you? In the last two days you have changed so much. You are supporting Duryodhana, he conspired to kill us.

Yudhishthir: No he didn't.

Bheem: What??

Yudhishthir: Yes, I have heard from both Pitamah and uncle Vidhur that lakshagrah was done and planned by Gandhar Raj only.

Nakul: Jyeshtha, we all know how close mamashree and Kauravas are, may be Pitamah and kakshree didn't know the whole truth.

Yudhishthir: Are you doubting Pitamah and Kakashree, their love for us?

His voice was stern and enough to silence him. Anyone could feel his displeasure from his tone. Kunti was mentally berating them for ruining her plans.

Arjun: Jyeshtha, we can understand about Bharata Duryodhana after all they are our cousins but what about that Suta?

Yudhishthir: Arjun!!!!

For the first time they saw him losing his calm ever and it scared them.

Yudhishthir: Arjun have you not heard what I said in the sabha or do you think I will be partial towards you just because you are my brother. Angraj is king of an independent state and a guest of Hastinapur.

Arjun: Jyeshtha but I didn't say anything that is not true.

Yudhishthir: True or false doesn't matter here, Arjun. Angraj is elder to us so how is disrespecting someone elder than us Dharma. Moreover you need to remember now Anga is an independent state and we need the alliance not the other way around.

Arjun: We don't need any alliance Jyeshta, If you want I can win Anga for you.

Yudhishthir: Anuj, like mercury corrodes gold arrogance too corrodes valor. When warriors fight, through their weapons they gauge each other so don't tell me you don't know that he was holding back when he fought you or do you think we didn't notice. You are no doubt a great warrior but don't forget he is a student of our teacher's teacher. In Kalinga he defeated several kings with their army alone and it included Maharathi like Rukmi, our uncle shalya and even Immortal jarasandh. He has surpassed Maharathi and considered ati Rathi like Pitamah, Do you really think you could defeat him? No you can't.

The hard voice along with ability to never lie, son of Dharamraj spoke what he truly thinks and believes. His voice has a gentle undertone as he understands the plight of his Anuj if not for circumstances he would have spoken the truth.

Other Pandavas were surprised they didn't know anything about this, Yudhishthir himself became aware talking to Duryodhana. Arjun bristles with anger through the words of his Jyeshtha. Bheem was too astonished to snort, the other two had their eyes wide. Kunti herself was unaware of this. She was seeing her children drifting away from each other so she intervened,

Kunti: Calm down children, Arjun i believe you are no less than Angraj. But we have to think carefully, yudhishthir is right we need alliance with Anga because of its thriving economy and prosperity.

Priyamada: Yuvraj, please calm down. Can't you see the unity between you brothers is at jeopardy because of an outsider.

Yudhishthir was even more enraged by words of his mother who still was thinking like a politician, seeing how easy it is for her to call her eldest as Angraj and with no shame she was thinking about exploiting him did nothing but fuel his anger. Words of Priyamada brought his entire attention to her, he remembered this lady was also aware of truth and her words, she was disturbed by the fact his eldest survived despite abandonment and even called his jyeshtha illegitimate and sin. His eyes turned red, he was helpless for his own mother but not her. His eyes did scare Priyamada very much,

Yudhishthir: You seem to forget your place, maid. It seems time spent with my mother made you think you are superior to everyone. You dare to talk in between our family matters. For your loyal service to our mother I will not sentence you to death but as of this moment you are banished from the palace and if I ever knew you came in contact with any royal, I will order you to be beheaded. Leave now.

Priyamada was scared to her core, her luxury came because she was close to Kunti. If she was suddenly released then her life would be full of thorns. She was very greedy and spent like royals so for her status she always stick close to Kunti,

Priyamada: Yuv… yuvraj, please forgive me.

Kunti: Putra, you need not to do this. Priyamada was speaking for our family only.

Yudhishthir: Mata, Are you saying an outsider cares more for my family than me.

Kunti: No…Putra.

Yudhishthir: Mata, I know she is your friend but we need to take care of snakes around us. If she talks to me like that then how she behaved to others is a matter of concern. I told you all partiality will have no place in front of me. Soldiers….

Two soldiers came and after listening to Yudhishthir they dragged Priyamada from there and along with that he asked them to investigate her matters thoroughly. The reports came soon enough and it enraged yudhishthir even more who ordered to throw her out of Hastinapur after taking her acquisitions which she had snatched or obtained through unfair means. From the report he got to know how badly she behaved and went as far as to deny and snactch the salary of others. Pandavas who were against their jyeshtha taking extreme measures against their kaki were shocked by the report so they couldn't speak against it.

Yudhishthir: I need to thoroughly investigate all the maids and servants to see which among them are so daring to do this under our nose.

He left the chamber. Kunti was scared she had to do something, otherwise if Priyamada spoke anything then it would not be good. She immediately left the chamber and called one of her men. Pandavas were scared to see their Jyeshta like this.

Next few days were revolutionary in the palace of Hastinapur, many investigation reports came and after maids it was the turn of ministers. Lets just say change has begun and it weeded out ones who were slowly hollowing the court of Hastinapur. They were dealt swiftly and efficiently. The treasury went up by a huge margin. The pleasant  days of entitled people was over and with the announcement of betterment of subjects Yudhishthir quickly gained the acceptance as Yuvraj.

Karna has decided to go back to his won kingdom, he has informed Draupadi who was more than glad because these days she wasn't able to spend time with him alone. They came to Duryodhana, Ashwathama, Bhanumati to inform them.

Karna: Mitra, I am going back to Anga.

Duryodhana: So soon.

Parting is never easy, especially among closed ones.

Draupadi: Why don't you and bhabhi come with us? It will be like a vacation.

Bhanumati: I don't know….

Duryodhana: We should go.

Bhanumati was going to decline but Duryodhana spoke so she can not say anything now. Truly she wants to go somewhere away from Hastinapur. The changes these days were good but it's too much hassle according to her.

Like an excited Child Duryodhana went and told everyone about his vacation but before that he met his brothers and told them to cooperate with Yudhishthir and Yudhishthir only. Karna and Draupadi were waiting for them and they came after a while but Dushala was there too. They were surprised but Duryodhana told she was adamant to join and he can't deny her. Henceforth their journey began, Ashwathama too decided to accompany them till the border of his kingdom.