Karna & Arjun - The Union of Brothers

10. The Lost and Found

Arjun almost immediately realized that it was Eklavya's hand. Eklavya pulled him up but Arjun wasn't prepared to look into his eyes. The Nishaad prince had grown taller in the last five years but his face was as contented as it was while making the great sacrifice as guru dakshina.

"I am .. I am .. I," Arjun was struggling to weave the words together.

"We don't have a lot of time. What's your experience with these warriors?" Eklavya stuck to the point as they were still trying to dodge the arrows being fired from both the sides.

"They are virtually invincible. They are already dead, so you can't kill them," Arjun responded.

"What if we burn every single bone in their body?" Eklavya asked.

"That should work but we don't have a bow," Arjun said as he looked at the shattered pieces of a bow on the stack surface.

"Yes, this one broke while I was fighting him," Eklavya said as he towards the sea surface, where the dead warrior was trying to reassemble his floating body parts. The magic of mantras wasn't letting him sink.

"We need an astra to invoke Agneyastra," Arjun said in disappointment.

"Guru Dron considers you as his best pupil. Do you really need a bow?" Eklavya said with a smirk while he tightened his red head-band.

Arjun nodded slowly and moved a step back while he silently chanted some mantras. He swiftly touched an arrow that he had just dodged and the arrow caught fire as soon as it passed him. Arjun's slight push with the finger had directed the arrow to penetrate the chest of the one of the warriors at the other end. Arjun had successfully invoked Agneyastra and the dead warrior was reduced to ashes.

Eklavya wasn't surprised with what he what he saw at that moment. He was well aware of Arjun's caliber. Watching and learning wasn't new to him. Nothing was impossible for the warrior who could gain knowledge from a statue made of stone. He touched another passing arrow and Arjun was enthralled by Eklavya's improvisation. The arrow not only got ignited, it also multiplied into three arrows that knocked out three more warriors, leaving only one warrior on that side. Arjun replicated the same move for the two arrows coming in from both the sides and the dead warriors on both sides achieved salvation.

"We need a bow to help others," Arjun said as he looked at the vimaan.

Eklavya nodded, sat on on knee and signalled Arjun to leverage his hands a spring. Arjun took a small run up, placed his foot on Eklavya's palm, and jumped off to another stack while Eklavya provided him the necessary push. He then lifted the bow and the quiver and fired astras that could multiply the arrows, in three directions. That resulting in creation of three bridges of arrows connecting Arjun's stack to Eklavya's stack, the door of vimaan, and the beach. A tired Karna followed by Suyodhan and Sahdev carrying an unconscious Ashwathama, and the rest of warriors emerged from the vimaan.