"Idiot"
"WHAT do you call ME?!’’ Bheem roared, as usual–an angry, stupid bull who didn’t understand anything.
Duryodhana smiled in his heart.
It’s good, dumb head! Make him your enemy!... but they knew him beforehand?!
’’Mamashri, what was happening? Were they friends or enemies? Pandavas know him?’’ Duryodhana asked in a low voice, standing far behind the Pandavas– Next to his Mama Shakuni.
’’ Bhanje, the way Bheem is roaring at him, they didn’t look like friends from any direction. ’’
Mama Sakuni confermend what he really wanted to hear from him.
Looking at the young man who stood facing the Pandavas, he appeared to be about the same age as him, if not younger.
His appearance was nothing like that of a warrior; his face was soft, and even Nakula and Sahadava, who were the youngest, looked more refined and experienced than he was.
However, his golden armor told a different story; Duryodhana could tell he was more gifted than anyone here; the proof was how effortlessly he caught Arjuna’s arrow. Mind Arjuna, every arrow possessed the speed and strength of Indra’s thunder.
’’That’s good. Mamashri, what do you think about him?’’ Durdonana asked.
’’There were only two possibilities, bhanje. One that this young man was too stupid and ignorant to defend Asura in front of Mahamahim Bhishma, or he was so confident in his capabilities that no one here could challenge him. You know what that means, bhanje?’’ Mama Shakuni looked at him with a wide grin.
"What does that mean, Mamashri?’’ Duruddnan asked.
’’That means he isn’t even afraid of Mahamahim Bhishma. Bhanje, you must bring him to your side.’’
"I understand, Mamashri, but how?’’
***
"Control your anger, Bheem,’’ Yudhishthira, the Righteous prince, said.
Karna rolled his eyes.
’’ Guys, if you want to get beaten up? Then please hurry." Karna said, thinking about why they were wasting time on stupid talk.
’’ Gurudev, I will make his arrogance disappear,’’ Arjuna said, stepping forward; the public started cheering his name louder again.
’’Someone give him a weapon. A true warrior doesn’t attack unarmed, ’’ Arjuna added.
" Arjuna! Arjuna! Arjuna!."
As the name of his student echoed, Drona raised his nose proudly and walked forward.
" Young man, could you use a bow?" Drona asked.
Instead of answering him, Karna looked at Arjuna.
’’ Bro, you already did it, and you attacked a lady. What coward are you? ’’
’’ She was an Asura!’’ Arjuna shouted, loudly.
The whole crowd heard him. The public topic shifted; now instead of chanting his name, they were whispering about what Arjuna had just said.
Karna shook his head and chuckled at the same time. Using Hidimbi’s power, he created a golden bow for himself. It was identical to Arjuna’s bow.
"Asuri Maya!" Drona grasped. "Are you an Asura too?!"
" No, I’m not", Karna said.
"It doesn’t matter, Gurudev, if he was an Asura or not. He would regret holding a bow in front of Arjuna." Arjuna raised his bow toward him.
"Enough! "
The loud single word echoed, and everything fell into silence. The crowd, princes, everyone gazed toward that direction.
Karna looked up to the royal gallery. The tall figure wearing silver armor stood up from his pure white, silver throne.
His sharp brown eyes looked directly at him.
"Young warrior, what is your purpose here?" Bhishma, the protector of Hastinapura, asked him.
"Purpose? Well, I just came to watch the show, " Karna said.
He thought this old warrior was now going to fight him.
Sigh!
In truth, he wanted to avoid that because defeating Bhishma was going to take days, if not months.
Bhishma just looked at him for a moment.
You can leave, Hastinapura. You can’t live here with Asura ’’ Bhishma said.
Karna’s eyes lit up.
"Well, okay. Give me a month. I’ll leave your kingdom, I promise; I never broke my promise. I have some friends here. I want to meet them before leaving ’’ Karna said.
"Alright!" Bhimsa said,
Wow, really! It was so easy. Did he find my real identity or what? Well Whatever. Karan shrugged and looked at Hidimbi.
She was always in a hurry to leave this place. Karna got an idea: maybe she didn’t like crowded places, not just worrying about getting discovered as an Asura.
’’ let’s leave’’ He said.
Hidimbii nodded and closed her eyes, starting to move her lips.
***
Some time later, after both young individuals disappeared. The Rangbhoomi event had ended.
Vidura, after reaching the castle, found Pitamah Bhishma alone in his private quarters.
’’Pitamah, what did Sage Narada say to you?’’ Vidura looked from behind. Pitamah Bhishma stood at widow, looking out at the vastness of the Kuru kingdom.
Before leaving for Rangbhoomi, Vidura noticed Sage Narada appearing and informed Pitamah Bhishma about something.
Vidura connected the dots. He thought Pitamah let go of those two unknown individuals without doing anything, not even a proper investigation. He thought Sage Narada’s visit must be related to them.
The presence of an Asura at a royal event wasn’t a small matter.
It could be dangerous. If any citizen faced an incident, the name of Kuru could have faced great humiliation. People would have questioned their security.
Normally, it was no worry; Asura didn’t dare to step into Hastinapura— As just the name of Pitamah Bhishma was enough, and if someone was still arrogant and stupid enough to step here with bad intentions, it wouldn’t take more than his one arrow to send him to the afterlife.
’’You guessed right, Vidura. Sage Narada came here to inform me about that child with divine armor and earrings. Sage Narada said that, recently in our kingdom, someone received a boon from Lord Asher, and it was that young man. ’’ Pitamah Bhishma said without turning.
" What was the boon? " Vidura asked out of curiosity. It wasn’t a small matter. It made that young man very dangerous.
" I don’t know, Vidura; you know Sage Narada always leaves people curious. Anyway, you go inform the princes that it was good to have a good relationship with that young man."
"Pitamah about bad relationship between Pandavas and Kauravas..."