Krishna! - Part 2

Chapter 28 - Regaining control over senses

Daruka began driving the chariot in such a speed that there was complete dust all around. 

As soon as they recovered from the shock, Jarasandha, Rukmi and Shishupal looked at each other. 

'Guards!!! Capture those two! Krishna has kidnapped Rukmini!', yelled Rukmi.

All the guards stood rooted in their positions, still unable to comprehend what just happened. It was too beautiful to explain.

'Guards!!!', Rukmi yelled again, bringing them all back to their senses and all of them began running behind the chariot. 

Rukmi looked so flustered and he and Jarasandha along with Shishupal, climbed their respective chariots and lead the armies to run behind Krishna. The trio failed to notice the gleaming faces of the rest of the family members. In fact, nobody did.

The guards kept running in all the directions, but the did not find any chariot anywhere. All they saw was dust all around, that kept going into their eyes. There was a huge chaos all around, as the guards screamed in pain and from nowhere, an arrow came, piercing the dust, hitting the point where all guards were standing. It simply created a barricade, preventing the guards from moving forward and it also created a bubble of protective layer of all the guards only. Rukmi, Jarasandha and Shishupal who followed the guards, tried to look throught the dust, rubbing their eyes, trying to look at what stopped the guards. Through the dust, they saw two figures emerge. Both on Horses, two handsome men stared at them, smirking and trying to control their laughter. Jarasandha struggled to see who the two were. And the minute he spotted one clearly and his eyes were filled with rage!

'Balaram!!!', boomed his voice. 

Rukmi and Shishupal looked at him in horror and then turned to face the two images. As they saw, Balaram's strength, which both of them were very fearful about came face-to-face to them, in full form. He sat on the horse majestically, wearing his usual Royal Neelambara, which perfectly matched his complexion. He no longer looked like that young sweet little boy that Jarasandha was used to seeing. He had seen Krishna multiple times but how Balaram looked that day, it sent shivers down Jarasandha's spine. He his beard made him look extremely fierce and he had taken efforts to style the same, his moustache looking more crisp than ever. His atheletic frame looked stronger than before. His head wore a heavy crown now, studded with gold and gems, just like the other gold jewellery he wore.. His entire frame gleamed in the hot Sun. Rather, he looked like a blazing Sun himself. He was constantly smirking at Jarasandha as he sat on the horse, with his left hand on the reigns of the horse and the other holding a plough, over his right shoulder.  One look at Balaram and all the guards under the protective shield fainted. Jarasandha was horrified. This was not the child he expected. Here was a man of almost his size. Jarasandha stood their meekly, while Rukmi and Shishupal looked back into the dust. Just beside Balaram, stood the same man who had been serving them a few days ago as a woman. He too was dressed in a similar attire as Balaram, with the only difference in the size of his crown and the colour of his clothes, white. He kept constantly looking at them and at Balaram and bursting into laughter and then controlling himself. 

'Sohini Devi?', asked Rukmi flabbergasted.

'Forgive me, Rajakumar! I'd prefer being called Madhyama Pandava!', he said in his gruff manly voice.

'Arjun? My aunt Kunti's son?', said Shishupal shocked, while Jarasandha and Rukmi clenched their fists.

'How are you doing, dear cousin Shishupal?', chuckled Arjun. 

'You have made a grave mistake by letting Krishna kidnap Rukmini. I won't spare you!', roared Jarasandha.

'Matamaha! Have you forgotten what happened at Mathura? Seventeen times!', smirked Balaram.

Jarasandha's face lost it's colour and he kept quiet. Balaram's smirk turned into a grave expression as he looked towards Shishupal. And Shishupal gulped. 

'Samrat, let it be! Let Krishna take away Rukmini! I don't want to face Balaram.', he murmered. Jarasandha nodded his head in agreement and turned to Rukmi, only to find that he had already began speeding towards a more dust filled area with chariot marks on the ground which he had recognized as those of Krishna's chariot. Arjun noticed that and almost lunged forward to stop him, when Balaram stopped him, shaking his head.

'Rukmi needs to know who Krishna is. Let him go', he said, to which Arjun stopped and both he and Balaram stood there, just to stop the army from going ahead.