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

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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.

Yudhishtira did not speak for an age. Then, suddenly, as if he was inspired and had found his way out of staggering misfortune, he cried, "I wager my brother Nakula, who is dark and handsome and as strong as ten of your best men!"

The court gasped. Yudhishtira's brothers sat motionless and, to his everlasting credit, Nakula showed no flicker of any emotion, let alone protest. Shakuni looked at Duryodhana; his face lit with a fiend's smile, the Kaurava nodded.

The dice rolled and Shakuni cried, "I've won your little brother for our slave, Yudhishtira. What will you wager to win him back?" His restless eyes swept across to Sahadeva.

"I wager Sahadeva. There is no man as intelligent as him."

The dice rolled and Shakuni murmured, "Today isn't your lucky day."

A dreadful cold gripped Yudhishtira. How swiftly ruin had come to him, in a few rolls of the ivory dice. He hardly knew what he did anymore; someone else, who was determined to destroy him, ruled his head and heart and spoke from his lips. Yudhishtira, son of Pandu, son of Dharma Deva, would never wager his brothers at a game of dice. But he had done just that.

It was not over yet. Shakuni was saying in his sly lisp, "And now what will you wager, O Emperor? You still have two brothers left, but you do not put them up. Perhaps you don't think your own brothers are as precious as Madri's sons. Or, maybe, they are less dispensable?"

"Well done, O the righteous King Yudhisthira! That's a rather smart way to get rid of your stepbrothers. Good of you!" He did not know who said that but it was clear mocking.

"I do not discriminate between the sons of Mother Kunti and MotherMadri. Are you trying to drive a wedge between us?" Yudhishthira had reduced himselfto such a pathetic state that his impartiality and love for his stepbrothershad to be proclaimed clearly before an assembly!

 Shakuni was not onlyplaying games on the board; he was also playing with Yudhishthira's thoughts and evencontrolling his reactions. He was clearly winning both. 

"I wager Arjuna, who has no equal on earth," Yudhishtira choked, "and does not deserve this."

His hands shook as he flung the dice down. It was a perfect score and Shakuni sat staring at it for a moment. Then he twirled his own dice and matched the Pandava's throw. Yudhishtira threw again and now his score was low.  Shakuni asked, "Perhaps you think I will not beat that?"

Then he did and arjuna was lost.

Shakuni said, "And will you wager Bheema next?"

Duryodhana's eyes shone more than ever. This was the finest day of his life. Fate was compensating him for all the torment he had endured, since Pandu's sons first came out of the wilderness. 

Duryodhana stared at his cousin, savoring the moment; and today, for the first time, Bheema looked away.

Yudhishtira said dully, "Bheema is the Senapati of my army and stronger than all of you put together. I wager him."

Again the dice rolled. Duryodhana gave a roar of delight and Bheema sat with his head bowed. Shakuni said, "All your brothers are lost, Yudhishtira. Now who will you wager to retrieve your losses? You must wager karna!"

"I cannot wager karna! He is my elder!" Yudhishthira said gasping at the blasphemy. 

"Don't you being the ex-samrat have right on the ex-mahamahim?" Shakuni asked as he turned to karna.

"Do you accept this?" 

Karna looked at yudhishthira with heartbreak and then at his 4 youngest brothers sitting like servants, everyone yudhishthira lost for dhriti. He nodded seeing the imploration on yudhishthira's face.

"I wager Bhaiya." Yudhishthira said with a tear leaking out of his eyes. and then again karna was lost.

Yudhishtira replied, "I wager myself."

"For this rarest wager, of the emperor of all Bharatavarsha, I will reverse the order of play so your luck might change. I will throw first and you beat my throw."

But he threw a perfect score, which could not be beaten only matched; and Yudhishtira could not match it. Now Pandu's eldest son had nothing left to lose. Silence ruled that sabha, but only briefly. 

"Hey you, Yudhisthira the slave! How dare you wear a crown in front ofyour master?" thundered Duryodhana. With an arrogant twirl of his righthand, he instructed Yudhishthira to remove his crown and place it at his feet. Yudhishthira tookoff his magnificent headgear immediately, which sat heavily on his alreadylowered head and placed it gently at Duryodhana's feet.  Bheema was gnashinghis teeth. 

Then, Shakuni's reptilian voice was saying, "You think you have lost everything, Yudhishtira? But no, there is still one possession you have which we will accept as a final stake."

"I have nothing left, not even myself."

"Draupadi!" Shakuni smirked as Bheema seized his mace and would have smashed Shakuni's head had Arjuna not stopped him. Yudhishtira trembled. But still in the grip of the demon that whispered there was still hope, he said, "I wager Drupada's daughter, our queen."

Yudhishthira respond to the impish suggestion of shakuni so quickly that bheem, nakul, sahadev and arjun's head turned to look at him extremely fast, astounded and betrayed. Karna glared furiously at duryodhana.

Had yudhishthira been waiting for it? Did he just stake his kingdom because it reminded him of dhriti? Did he stake Karna's kingdom indraprasth just to show his authority as the samrat? Did I subconsciously try to stamp his undisputed authority on their possessions simply by squandering them away? Did he gamble away everything for Dhriti? His own brothers and his wife!

Yudhishtira cast the dice for the last time, as if he now played with his very life. He raised a fair score and, for the first time, turned his gentle eyes to Shakuni's slitted ones. There was such imploration on the Pandava's face, that even the cold Shakuni turned his gaze away.  Shakuni's dice hit the board with a thud and rolled slowly, too slowly—as if playing with Draupadi's fate—before stopping finally, delivering theverdict. 

"Have we won her? Have we really won her?" Dhritarashtra became half-raised from his royal seat in excitement. His heinous and lustful question raised angered looks from the pandavas as they glared at him but they could do little.

Duryodhana's yell echoed in the stunned sabha. "Won!" he roared, hugging his uncle. "Draupadi is ours!"

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Will draupadi be humiliated or saved?

What will happen next?

What was the best part?

What was the worst part?

Pleaase Vote and comment.