Ephemera

"Won"

I shall only update the next chapter after 20 votes and 30 comments.

Please comment along as you read. It is very difficult to write without knowing your reaction.

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"Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it."

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"Of course, play the game of dice, You have the night to decide. If you shall not show up tomorrow in the court for dice, be assured you shall be greeted by a lump of flesh that once used to be body." Duryodhana said and whisked away.

The pandavas stood rooted as they comprehended the situation. Virtually, Duryodhana had given them two choices but in practice, they had none. They could not have their sister killed.

"We have no choice." Karna said softly breaking the ice but no one replied back. Except for the dull rhythm of the falling rain, the palace was eerily silent. It was going to be one long night.

They lay on the bed tossing and turning restlessly but figured they must get some sleep for the exhausting day awaiting them. Before they knew the sunk deep in sleep. To move hand or foot, or even so much as one finger, would have been an exertion beyond the powers of either volition or motion. They were so tired, so stunned, that they thought they never slept at all; their feverish thoughts passed and repassed the boundary between sleeping and waking, and kept their own miserable identity.

The next day dawned: a golden morning, with no sign that this was to be the most terrible day in the lives of Pandu's sons. The next morning an uneasy eerie silence hung in the air uncomfortably as they got ready to proceed to the court of doom. 

"We must not loose our unity." Bheem chanted to himself again and again as he fisted his hands angrily. Nakul put a trembling hand on bheem's shoulder reassuring his panicking brother while trying to calm himself down. 

They entered the sabha they had left yesterday as everyone sat at their place, a major sense of deja vu over came them. Dryodhana's voice resonated as he said "We shall continue where we left, Yudhishthira, you must wager indraprastha first." 

Yudhishthira hesitated as he nodded softly. With a spin of dice, Indraprastha was Duryodhana's!

"Just to show you I am kind, I shall wager both indraprasth. What shall you wager Devputra?" Duryodhana laughed.

"I wager mathura!" Yudhishthira said and yet again, duryodhana won.

"I wager my army and granary which are both bountiful and powerful." Yudhishthira said as he spun the dice. Shakuni won the army of Indraprastha for his nephew, who sat in unearthly quiet. Duryodhana could hardly believe his fortune; he felt his heart might burst for joy. But when Shakuni, whose fingers were subtle deceivers, won the Pandava army, Vidura came to Dhritarashtra and said, "My lord, you must stop this game before fate takes us farther down the path to doom than we can return from."

"Vidura! Do not forget your place in this illustrious sabha!" Dhritarasthra said harshly as his attention resumed to the game of doom taking place there.

Shakuni was mocking Yudhishtira. "You have nothing left to wager, Pandava."

An ashen-faced Yudhishtira sat frozen over the dice. Shakuni made an offer. "Just to show you I am generous, I will wager everything you have lost so far. But do you have anything left, which you can lay down against my stake? I think not, O Emperor."

"If you do not wager anything worthwhile I shall do what I told you so yesterday." Duryodhana said evilly as Yudhisthira's eyes widened with fear and his face paled so much that it resembled a corpse, a living breathing corpse.