Reminiscence Of Amore - A Mahabharata Story

THE WAR OF DESTINY-24

I AM SOO SORRY FOR TAKING THIS LONG!!
I HAD MY NEET EXAM, WHICH I TANKED BTW...
ENJOY THE CHAPTER.

~Yudhishthir pov~

"What are we doing here Duryodhan??"
Arjun asked, both irritated and confused.

They were hiding in the east of Panchal Kingdom, in the forest Naimisha. With the rising of the sun 107 of us and Ashwathama were ready for the war.

To my surprise there was no sign of Karna and Tara. In Karna's case, I would understand, Guru Dron had forbidden him because of his caste, but why is Tara not here?? Is it because of me??
And why is Duryodhan hiding like this, my cousin is definitely not a coward.

"Arjun, I wonder where that suta is??...
Oh, I remember he is not allowed here right. Some people are just meant to drive chariots not doing archery"
Bheem taunted.

Duryodhan and Ashwathama flared up,
Yudhishthir sensing the storm coming quickly came in between them.

"BHEEM, karna is a king, you have to give him respect. Duryodhan, please forgive my brother, he has no control over his tongue"

"Teach him to control his tongue Bratha Yudhishthir, or else he won't have one to talk" Duryodhan threatened Bheem and gave a nod to Yudhishthir.

"All that aside, drop the suspense. Why are we hiding here Duryodhan??"
Yudhishthir enquired.

"Don't worry Dharma raj Yudhishthir, we will face them"

The princes had reached the yudhbhoomi, to their left side was the Kampilya city gate (capital of Panchal), through which they were expected to come.

"Look over there" Duryodhan pointed to the entrance.
108 pairs of eyes keenly looked towards the gate. The trees near the entrance were swarmed with soldiers in camaflouge, their hands filled with some kind of suspicious looking balls and arrows.

"They are poison arrows and smoke bombs, the soldiers were stationed here to prevent us from entering" Duryodhan explained.

"I didn't expect this from king Drupad"
Yudhishthir appalled.

"Of course, you wouldn't, you're too naive for this world, kid" Ashwathama scoffed.

Yudhishthir stayed silent.

"Since we know about this now, can we just attack" Bheem asked impatiently.

"Sure" Duryodhan answered.

Without any further ado the five Pandavas went out into the battlefield, yudhishthir going last, his face clearly not with the idea.

"Jyesth, why did you do that?? Why let them go first??" Dushasan asked.

"Let them go first, they think they are a wise lot, don't they"
He replied with a sly smile.

Meanwhile Ashwathama was looking for Tara and Karna.
Where are these idiots?? We are supposed to attack in minutes.. Hope they didn't get into a fight on the way.

*************************************

Yudhishthir was trying hard to control his brothers from taking hasty decisions.

Initially the situation was in their favour, Bheem was tossing away the panchal soldiers like mere toys with his brawn strength.
Nakul diverted the horses of the soldiers which caused them to run berserk, in the process in which they attacked their own.
Sahdev using his expertise in sword sparring beheaded the soldiers one by one.
Arjun went in search of the panchal king Drupad who was protected by the feared general Shikhandini.