KRISHNA CORIOLIS#1: Slayer of Kamsa Read Online Free PDF Page B

to a choked cough, then into a bout of violent chest-racking bursts that benthim over double and turned his face red. Alarmed, she patted him on the back and poured him water from the decanter beside his throne. Why had he sent away even his serving boys and girls? When the coughing fit finally ceased, it left him looking stricken, like the time he had taken to his bed with the purging sickness. It pained her to see him so weakened.
    Then he did something that alarmed her even more. He bent over, pressed his palms to his face, and wept. ‘Father,’ she said urgently, concerned,‘why do youweep so? You are lord of the Andhakas. The world lies awaiting your command. Nothing can resist y our power.’
    His greying head shook with the force of his weeping. She felt her heart sink, all her bonhomie and optimism waning like water dripping out of a leaking pot. She felt the fear that had clutched her mind that morning return, strengthened by the ugly rumours and gossip that was circulating around the palace like a fetid odour carried in the wind.
    When he raised his head at last, she was dismayed to see his eyes red-veined and rheumy, streaming tears. ‘I fear ...’ he said in a choked voice, faltered, then continued,‘I fear that your brother may go out of hand this time.’
    A chill swept down her back.‘Control him, Father. He respects you greatly. He will abide by your commands.’
    He shook his head, still coughing into his fist. His beard was flecked with saliva and shiny with caught tears. She was frightened and made nervous by his seeming collapse of nerve.‘He has no respect for me or anyone else,’ he said gruffly, almost scornfully – though the scorn was not directed at her but at the subject of their discussion. ‘Not even his own mother! Nay. He only fears me ...’ He paused, musing sadly.‘Feared me. Now, even that may not be enough to keep him in check.’
    She clasped his hands. ‘You underestimate your powers, Father. I am sure you can control him even now. He is nothing more than a spoilt child running amok. Too long has he lived as he pleased, done as he willed, without care for dharma or karma. It is time he was checked. And you alone can do it.’
    His eyes, gazing out with a lost expression into the dark flickering shadows of the sabha hall, turned back down towards her, finding her face. They softened and a semblance of a smile twitched his careworn features.‘My child. My jewel. You would believe your father capable of crossing swords with almighty Indra himself! And perhaps once, yes, I would have dared to attempt even such a feat. But not now. Not in my current state and age. More importantly ...’ and here his face darkened by degrees, as if the mashaals had begun to snuff out one by one,‘you do not know your brother’s present strength. He has the shakti of a danav, a daitya, a rakshasa, and every other breed of asura all rolled into one now. He is far, far more than just a spoilt boy run amok. He is a force of destruction.’ His head dipped in evident shame.‘Perhaps once he could still have been tamed and checked, put on a leash or trained and commandeered. But now ... now it is past sunset in the deep recesses of his soul. Now he has descended into the pit of madness. And he is well on his way to destroying us all.’
    Devaki’s heart was chilled by her father’s lack of hope. What had made him so pessimistic? Where was the proud, bombastic Raja Ugrasena she had grown up watching round-eyed from behind pillars as he held entire sabhas and congregations in the spell of his oratory? How had this ageing, ailing, white-bearded, weak-kneed old man taken his place?
    ‘Do not speak so, Father. We have signed a historic treaty. The kingdom is finally at peace. The Sura nations are once again neighbours and equal sharers of the land and the water. You are a great and powerful ruler. I am about to be married to the wise, wonderful and widely loved leader of the Yadavas. Our union will