Free KRISHNA CORIOLIS#1: Slayer of Kamsa by Ashok K. Banker Page A

asked.
    ‘What does it look like? I’m getting us out of here sothatwecangobackandwarntheCouncil.Wehave to prepare for war.’
    Vasudeva stopped him. ‘Akrur, I still mean to speak with Prince Kamsa.’
    Akrur stared at him, white faced with shock. Vasudeva recalled that Akrur had family in the hilly tribes on the far side of the ranges, only a few dozen yojanas from here. They would be the first Vrishnis Kamsa’s army would encounter if it indeed meant to invade. If, Vasudeva reminded himself, is a very big word.
    ‘But, Bhaiya, see for yourself. What good will talking do? These rakshasas mean to attack us!’
    Vasudeva held his gaze firmly. ‘If they do, and mind you, that’s still a big if, all the more reason why I should be attempting to talk.’
    Akrur stared at Vasudeva as if he were insane.
    Vasudeva turned his face towards the camp again, saying calmly: ‘Ride on into the camp. Let’s do what we came here to do.’
    Akrur started to say something again, but Vasudeva refused to look at him and showed him only his profile, which was hard and determined. After a moment of silence during which Vasudeva thought he heard the faint tones of several curse words spoken under Akrur’s breath, mostly directed at himself for having thrown in his lot with a pacifist, the uksan were turned straight ahead once more and they resumed their trundling progress.
    As they reached the main camp and rolled past men at work, sharpening weapons, eating, drinking, chopping wood, and doing various other chores, Vasudeva noted with surprise that nobody seemed to give a damn about them. They may as well have not existed!
    The same thought occurred to Akrur as well. The younger man said in a strangled tone that failed to disguise his anger: ‘The devils don’t even know that two of the enemy are right in their midst. We could run amok here before they realize it.’
    Vasudeva replied quietly:‘Oh, they know all right. They just don’t care. Even if we run amok, what would we achieve except get ourselves killed in a hurry? The lion doesn’t tremble when a rabbit enters its den.’
    ‘Speaking of which, how are we supposed to find this lion? Do you want me to ask somebody where their commander is billeted?’
    ‘Not just yet.’ Vasudeva thought that while his mission was most certainly one of peace, there was no harm in learning as much as they could about the Andhaka camp.
    As the cart rolled on, Vasudeva’s heart sank. Any doubt he might have had about the camp’s purpose was made abundantly clear as they took in more and more of the sights. There were people putting up solid wooden cabins and raising thatched mud huts. There were cooks and cleaning people and all manner of craftsmen, all hard at work. This was no temporary camp or even a token ‘border’ brigade. This was indeed an army being mobilized. He heard the sounds of elephants lowing not far away and realized that there were soldiers in the woods as well, probably clearing more areas to either side of the main clearing. He realized that it was impossible to tell the full extent of this operation; but one thing was certain – this
    was a cantonment for thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of soldiers.
    They had barely reached halfway across the length of the field when the rumbling thunder of hooves announced the arrival of more cavalry and Vasudeva saw a sizeable contingent come down the new road that had been cleared through the south end. Cheers and whistles went up all over the camp as a band of some two hundred riders rolled in with obvious jubilation.
    ‘I think our lion has just returned home,’ Akrur said with a telltale flash in his eyes.
    Vasudeva was glad that he had insisted they bring no weapons along, to demonstrate how serious they were about peace.
    ‘His jaws still red with the blood of our people.’ Akrur’s tone was steely.
    He was right. At the head of the riders came a familiar, arrogant, straight-backed man in full armour.
    Kamsa was