Practise Arena, Manipur, on the eve of the battle

Kamakshi, the Queen of Manipur and Babruvahan's wife, knew better than to disturb the Queen Mother when she was busy in her daily practise.

In late summer afternoons when the mountain breeze would finally lower the sweltering temperature, the young princess from Trigarta would sit by the wildflower hedge at the eastern wall and watch her mother in law systematically trounce the best picked soldiers of their infamously undefeated army like swatting a couple of flies.

Sometimes, she would be joined by her husband.

"She is miraculous", Babru would turn to her and say, half awed and half like an internal monologue. She would smile in agreement.

For there was indeed, no doubt that Chaitravahini of the Manipuris, still had quite the stellar reputation amongst the north eastern kingdoms of Bharatvarsha.

Kamakshi had always been a little intimidated by her.

And she had good reason.

There was little that her mother in law hadn't already achieved in life.

Her valour in warfare was only superseded by her astuteness in politics and statesmanship which was outmatched by her violent mood swings and infamous temper. She had almost patented the stone cold look to such a finesse that the hapless receiving side of her glare could only squirm in trepidation.

There was however very less woman in the Queen Mother than is expected of a lady of her stature. Perhaps the duty of single handedly dragging her small Kingdom from the clutches of the Gandharvas and many more powerful surrounding Kings had forced her to denounce her feminine wiles.

But even that had done precious little to hide her strangely striking beauty which had made men go mad for a single glance.

Her uncommonly straight hair, always in a half bun, may have developed hidden streaks of silver lining the mahogany tresses, and her wheat gold skin may have a few elegant lines of wizened age around her full lips and the corner of her large honey hazel eyes, yet her athletic figure was just as taut and agile as that of a young warrior princess.

Scars rippled like proud ornaments over her wiry muscles and her feminine curves did little hide them. It made Kamakshi wonder often, about the number of wars the former may have fought.

There was nothing traditionally queenlike about her mother in law. Nothing of that dainty beauty the queens of Aryavarta flaunted like a personal achievement.

She was too tall, too lean, her hips weren't wide enough, her breasts not big enough, her features not smooth or rounded or soft enough.

Yet, the raw power and sharp intellect pulsating beneath Chitrangada had always attracted a fair amount of attention from men, women, gods and even the occasional asura.

Despite her abrasive attitude, Kamakshi had also been privileged enough to witness the innate kindness and gentleness of the former queen regent who had welcomed her with open arms. Given her the love of a mother that she had always craved since childhood, her own, too busy with her older sons to pay much attention to a plain looking filly like her.

Sometimes, Kamakshi wondered what had the handsome and powerful Babruvahana even seen in her that made him fall so much in love that he had threatened a war with her father, when the latter had refused his blessings on their union.

She had been immensely flattered at first with all the attention, only later had she realised that her infatuation with the beautiful King of Manipur may have transcended into a deep affection as well.

It has been, a rather happy marriage.

So much so that only once had Kamakshi gathered the courage to ask Chitrangada of her own.

Everyone in the Kingdom and the royal family had pleaded with her to not bring forth that one thing in question, but curiosity had always been her one fatal flaw.

The way her mother in law's striking face had blanched  had made her regret her query immediately. But she had not flown into a rage as expected. 

In fact it had been worse.

Much worse.

Chitrangada's hard amber eyes had softened, not like melting gold but like an anthill crumbling into nothingness. Grief, regret and bitterness had made her turn her face away for a moment.

"I wish he could've met you. I think, he would have liked you. No... he would have loved you. But then, he would have loved my son too if he had met him."

There had been such an intense longing radiating from her words, bitter as they were, that it had made the gentle hearted Kamakshi almost weep for the woman who had become her mother in such a short time.

And then it had made her furious.

Furious at at that stranger.

That enigmatic man who had managed to melt the ice set in the then Princess's heart. The man who came like a whirlwind in her life and left just as quickly and quietly like the monsoon showers before a dry and deadly winter set in.

How could anyone have left this gem of a woman and for what?

There were too many secrets and too deep wounds festering in the backdrop of the mystery surrounding the current King's sire, for her to make any sense of. And after a few years of a futile search, she had left it at that.

The past could remain in the past.

Sometimes, it was better to let sleeping dogs lie.

Kamakshi's trip down the memory lane was broken by Chitrangada's strong yet mellifluous voice barking at her trainees.

"Halt! Take five!"

The queen mother, removed her gloves and dropped the bow with a clatter on the stack of weapons kept at the edge of the arena and walked towards her, wiping the sweat beaded on her forehead with the edge of her copper angavastram.

"What brings the Queen to the practise arena?", she asked on reaching her. Her voice was teasing and Kamakshi grinned at her before handing her the deerskin satchel which had water.

"Here I was told that Rajamata Chitrangada's doors are always open for her children?", Kamakshi answered back chirpily.

"That it is, Akshi. What is the matter, my love?", her eyes twinkled in mischief and tempered with maternal warmth.

"I have heard that the Ashwamedha's horse reached our grounds this afternoon."

"You have heard right."

"Mother.. we can't possibly be thinking of fighting."

Chitrangada's expression was difficult to read but there was a slight nervousness in her movements which was rather uncharacteristic. 

"You are the queen. Diplomatic and military decisions are more within your forte than mine."

"You know how your son gets when he hears about the third Pandava! Nothing I would say will make any difference", Kamakshi crossed her fidgeting hands in desperation.

It was one thing which was beyond her understanding.

Why did Prince Arjun's name make both Chitrangada and her husband react so violently yet so differently?

The queen mother would go rigid as ice and Babru would explode like a simmering volcano.

"You know how upset he was after---", Chitrangada began but couldn't continue, her words choking in her dried throat as that fateful day swam in front of her vision.

Try as she might, she couldn't stop herself from remembering the exact expression that her son had when the message had been delivered.

"Yes, but we all know that that wasn't the Kuru prince's fault. War takes from both losers and victors, unbiasedly. Sometimes, destiny is inexplicably cruel."

"I know Kamakshi! You think, I don't know just how cruel destiny can be?"

"Mother I didn't mean---"

"I know. I am sorry. It's just..", Chitrangada turned and rubbed her temple, pensiveness and anticipation warring in her.

"Tell me what should Manipur do? Accept Dharmaraja's suzerainty without even fighting? What kind of precedent will it set for our descendants? That my son and your husband was a coward?"

Kamakshi shook her head and looked almost wild in her gaze.

Chitrangada knew what exactly would she have seen in her daughter in law's eyes then.

Fear. 

"But it is Arjun! He is Vijaya! Savyasachi! Undefeated in war, unconquered in combat."

"You have heard the bards right? You know what he did to the Kaurava forces during the Great war. My husband is valiant no doubt but how can we ever hope to stand in front of him when the  veteran legends of war - Bheeshma, Karna, Ashwatthama, Dronacharya, Kripacharya, Duryodhan, Dusashan.. none could!"

"No one!"

"Is it wise to lead our men to certain slaughter for fulfilling one's personal agenda?"

Kamakshi was getting increasingly frantic and before Chitrangada could say anything or ask her to calm down, a sudden presence materialising in front of them, made the latter snap in attention.

Her blade was drawn and against the ivory column of the shorter and much more voluptuous woman's throat, the moment she appeared.

"Uloopi!"

"What a welcome sister! I must startle you more often."

The Serpent Queen's amused words made her friend burst into delighted laughter and Chitrangada removed the sword and pulled her into a hug. 

Uloopi reciprocated cheerfully and grinned almost like a maniac, her little incisors sharpening into tiny fangs peeking from her dark pink lips. 

Kamakshi who had momentarily been shocked into inaction, loosened in relief. 

She had always liked the Queen of the Nagas, her mother in law's mysterious best friend who had apparently very randomly jumped into the Manipura Princess's life when Babruvahana was a mere toddler. 

Since then, they had been inseparable. 

Thick as thieves. The both of them. And just as equally deadly in their own way. 

At first, Kauravyanandini had scared the newly wedded Kamakshi quite some bit. 

She was intimidating despite her not too great height and easy going manner. She was a Naga, who are reputedly enemies to the Aryans and human beings in general and then she was one of the most powerful Queens of the Naga chiefdoms. 

It was rumoured that even Takshaka had to bow down to her suzerainty after his own fiefdom was burnt down by Agni with the help of the Pandava prince Arjun and the mysterious Vasudev Krishna of the Yadavas. 

Very strangely she later went on to marry Arjun himself and form an alliance to temper the enmity between the Nagas and the mortals. 

And then as rumoured most enthusiastically in Manipur, she had once burnt down one of the Gandharvas into ashes by her venom when the latter had tried kidnapping a very young Babruvahan, whom she considered a son. 

"Mother Uloopi! Only you can convince the King. He always did listen to you more than either of us", Kamakshi blurted out in excitement even before bending down to touch her feet. 

Uloopi looked bemused at Chitrangada who only shrugged her elegant shoulders gracefully. Something which probably only she could do and look poised still. 

"That is one thing even I will have to concede to and mind you, I am still not very fond of being reminded of."

"Ahh... sister come on. My Iravan used to listen to you more than he ever did me, so I would say that we are even.. yes?"

Chitrangada's face fell slightly and she had to clear her throat off the clogged emotions for a second as Uloopi blessed Kamakshi and raised her up by her shoulders. 

"What is the matter, my dears? What has set both of you so at edge?"

"The Ashwamedha's horse, Nagarani. My husband is hungering for battle. Against the Kuru prince Arjun, of all people. Please, you have to stop him. Make him see reason."

"Tsk my Queen. I had expected you to have more confidence in your husband's valour."

"I do mother! I do but I am not blind, neither foolish. You know fully well what your husband is capable of. It will never be an evenly matched battle."

Uloopi looked at her thoughtfully while Chitrangada had seemingly gone into a trance. 

The former queen regent had opened her armour by then and was staring into the distance.

Disembowelled memories and scratches of conversation came peppering to her mind and she felt her heart squeeze.

Emotions she had drowned and frozen underneath a block of ice seem to come unbidden like someone had snapped the barrier and crushed it under their feet like shattered glass. 

-----------------------------

"You were going to leave."

It wasn't even a question. She just uttered the words in the blandest tone possible and saw his handsome face scrunch in that heart rendering way which was both familiar and completely uncharacteristic. 

"You didn't even want to take us with you?"

The baby swaddled in the cradle kept at the corner of the chambers gurgled as if with the same accusation as her. 

The dark skinned man now visibly baffled, stood up from the corner of the bed where he had been seated priorly. 

"But that is what was agreed on, in the contract", he replied still a little shocked. 

"What contract?", she almost screamed, her own face twisted in bewilderment. 

"The one which said that I had to give away all rights of both you and him to..."

"You signed a fucking contract for the wedding?"

She definitely yelled now, fury swirling with such intense betrayal in her veins that her eyes stung in response. He paled as if in some un-worded realisation and took a step towards her, hand extended, prussian eyes almost wild in panic. 

"Chitra, you don't understand. I--"

She stepped away from his reach, his mere touch threatening to burn her skin for the very first time. Her heart ached a little at the hurt which splashed on his chiselled features at her ungainly gesture and he dropped his hand and moved away. 

Yet her wrath was ringing so potent in her own ears that no explanations could reach her at the moment. The pain erupting like a mesh of scooped up wounds on her chest burnt with a savage passion. 

"Oh I think I perfectly understand, my prince. It has been staring at me right on the face for so damn long, yet I had turned a wilful blind eye to it because of my own stupid emotions."

"Chitra--"

"I was the replacement, right?"

"What?"

"The bandaid for an old wound."

He looked aghast but she didn't care anymore, pacing in front of him like a frantic panther, hands in her own straight hair, messing up all the carefully adorned ornaments without any caution.

"But I couldn't even come close to her, could I? I couldn't become her!"

"Chitrangada! Stop!"

He had turned away from her now, trembling slightly as the moonlight fell into an almost tragic play of light and shadows over their silhouettes. The silence, only broken by their respective heaving and the still small gurgles and noises the baby made from the cradle, grated against her olive skin like hot rods of iron. 

It sounded like a dismissal. And an acceptance. 

Tears crawled up her throat as she forcefully wrapped the red cloth of wrath over her grief tightly. 

He turned to face her again and his eyes shone brightly in the darkness, calling out to her like a swansong. The same eyes which had captivated her from the first time she happened to catch them staring at her from the foliage of the forests bordering her kingdom. 

"Let me at least explain, my love. You are misunderstan--"

"I think you should leave."

He snapped his mouth shut at that. A shuttered expression overtaking his initial desperation and seemingly drowning him beneath it, in one single swoop. Her legs felt so weak that she was half sure she would topple and never get up again. 

"Don't contact us ever again. You have got what you wanted. Manipur will pay its due to Indraprastha if the Rajsuya is ever performed."

His features tightened for a split second and she feared he might lash out at her finally. But he swallowed it up for nothing flashed on those hawk eyes again. He nodded once sharply and turned towards the cradle. 

Her insides crumbled as the happy chirping of the infant broke through the air painfully. 

He had taken a step towards the cradle and her hands balled in righteous indignation. 

Not again. Not him. Not her baby. 

"He is not yours anymore. You have lost that right. Oh sorry... given it away."

His breath hitched and she swallowed back the rest of the taunt. She saw him change direction and walk out of the room and for all accounts, out of their lives. She didn't know if he had turned one last time to look at her, knees buckling and falling on the hardwood floor. 

"Good bye, Veera."

She had whispered amidst her choked sobs finally escaping the prison of her heart for the first and last time in her life. 

-----------------------------

".....re not going kill each other, right?"

Chitrangada whipped around towards Kamakshi, her face blanched off any colour. 

"No!", her panicked shout made both Uloopi and her daughter in law startle a little and the queen regent looked askance in embarrassment. 

"I mean, what are you even saying, Akshi. It is a fight for sovereignty not a duel to death. Either the Prince of the Kurus will emerge as the victor and Manipur will come under the Kuru flag or Babru will defeat him and we will remain a sovereign."

Uloopi looked a little too subdued, which was atypical of the usually effervescent serpent queen. Kamakshi seemed a little heartened by her mother in law's albeit suspiciously high strung words. 

"Be that as it may, we cannot know for sure, what happens at the heat of battle. And what if Babru enrages the General? Rage is a treacherous master, mother. It can't be trusted at all."

There was wisdom in the young maiden's words but Chitrangada couldn't even bear to think of such a horrifying situation. 

Yet, she couldn't reveal to them the even worse truth. 

Her co wife, on the other hand didn't seem like she would wilfully enter the conversation any time soon. The ivory skinned Naga was too busy trying to meld into the fast approaching shadows to be of any help. 

Her silence, concerning as it was suspicious. 

The daughter of Chitravahan narrowed her eyes slightly. Maybe she was being paranoid. 

"Uloopi, what do you suggest we do? Should we stop the battle?"

She asked finally. 

"Do you want to, stop it?"

Kauravi challenged her, raising an eyebrow, unconcerned about Kamakshi's confusion at the rather strange statement. 

Chaitravahini, they called her. 

She had ruled this kingdom for almost her entire life, then guided her son's rule ever since, and here comes the man she had vowed never to even encroach in her dreams, let alone her turf. 

Does she really want to stop the battle?

The sun was on a fast descent downwards and she could hear the guards call for the change in the shift from the outer moat of the palace. A single hawk was circling above head, seemingly hunting for its hapless prey.

But what if Kamakshi's concerns....No! 

He knows. 

He knows. 

He would never. 

'But if he does, then why does he still want to fight? Why isn't he here in front of you, demanding to be met with his only remaining son. The demand he deserves to make and you have no right to refuse. Why?'

"It is not exactly concern for sovereignty which drives him Nagarani, we all know that. It is revenge", Kamakshi retorted curtly, her own disapproval of her husband's sentiment, crystal clear in her tone. 

Uloopi to their surprise burst out into a fit of rather undignified chuckles. It may have also been a little hysterical. 

"Revenge my dear, is the strongest motivator. Petty and ignominious as it is. Maybe it is the fire of vengeance which might end up being that extra edge your husband needed at the right moment."

There was that familiar sorrow coiled low in her steady voice. Which had time and again peeped at them in random bursts, hidden mostly beneath the flamboyancy which the Naga queen has been so famously reputed with. 

"But do you want Arjun to even be defeated, mother. He is.. after all your husband", the young queen asked what had been irking her for some time now. 

Uloopi sighed and cupped Kamakshi's downtrodden face with a hand, jade orbs soft with maternal affection. 

"Parents always hope that their children triumph over them someday. And then, your husband is my son too. Don't you worry, my queen. Fate herself rides with our Babruvahan. He won't be defeated."

The consolation may have made her daughter in law feel a tad better but it didn't do anything for Chitrangada's nerves. 

This was the war, she had dreamt of with an unforeseen passion for the entirety of her life. 

The battle she had hoped for and dreaded with equanimity. 

A chance to prove that she was no one's slave. That she was just as good if not better. That she was no substitute to be used and thrown away at leisure. 

They saw Babruvahan walk towards them, his youthful expression aglow in excitement yet body language taut with coiled tension. They had all, rather surprisingly smoothed their respective faces clear of any lingering discontent from their ongoing conversation. 

It seemed that not burdening the King with their own misgivings was a unanimously unspoken decision taken by all three of the women. The queen decided to step away from them a little and let Uloopi take the lead as they walked to meet Babru in the middle. 

While he greeted the snake queen with his typical warmth and respect, Chitrangada found her thoughts returning back to the dank path they had taken priorly. 

Kamakshi was right. 

The war advancing on them on the morrow, was never meant to be between equals. 

It wouldn't even be fought between Kamakshi's husband, the King of Manipur and the Commander of the Kururashtra, the third Pandava prince. 

It would be fought between her and the man she still irrevocably loved.

Chitra and her Veera. 

Only time will say who will emerge the victor. 

------------------------------

Babruvahan stared at his mother then, urging her to meet his eyes, hardened into the same predatory gaze as that of his father, unknowingly. 

She inclined her head at him. 

"They sent the message. Accept Hastinapur's reign or fight."

"What did you say?"

The young king's eyes flashed once and Chitrangada's heart missed a beat in anticipation. 

"What do you think?"

To be continued