Clashed destinies

Jarasandha's death

"We need to keep three things in mind! There is no swayamvar! We dont have an army along with us and most importantly Magadh king hates us! Now as these things are cleared let's start this !" Duryodhan cried with excitement.
The others looked at him with a blank face. Karn and Yudhisthir wanted to hit him real bad and his brothers looked at him angrily. Only Nakul was supporting his dear brother. Afterall he was in the same pit.
"Who are the princesses getting married to ?" Karn asked .
"One is Shalya and the other one is Dushashan" Nakul cried.
"What!" All of them exclaimed together.
Nonetheless they reached Magadh. They were dressed as commoners not expecting anyone to recognize them but the Magadh king had a sharp eye.
"What is Maharaj Karn doing in my sabha along with his brothers?" The Magadh king said.
The pandavas were shocked. Nakul and Duryodhan knew they were dead. Their future father in law would eat them up.
"Pitashree..." Nakul mumbled.
"Not this time brother! Seriously you are calling Magadh Naresh pitasree at this instance!" Arjun shouted angrily.
"Actually Nakul is right Pitashree..." Duryodhan tried the same formula.
"My daughters has told me all about you all. You all are here to help my daughters elope. Right? I will make it easy for you! Why dont you all take my daughters willingly?" The Magadh king said as his daughters came out all decked up ready to get married.
Duryodhan and Nakul looked at their lovers. They were looking so beautiful.
But there were lines of tension in their faces. They seemed tensed.  They slowly walked towards the princes with their faces filled with fears. They reached Duryodhan and Nakul who were to busy observing their beauty.

They held hands and were going to leave when the king showed his true colour.
'You can surely leave but before that you need to answer their fiancees!" The king declared as Shalya and Dushashan made their grand entry in the sabha looking at Nakul amd Duryodhan in a threatening manner.
"Bhrata you have again proven that you are not one of us. You are a Panduputra! Not a Kaurava! You have proven that!" Dushshan shouted as their mamashree looked at Duryodhan anger reflecting in his eyes. Duryodhan returned the look and looked at his uncle his eyes filled with disgust.
"Fight them! And my daughters are all yours to have!" King of Magadh declared.
Karn and Arjun smiled looking at each other. Defeating this Dushashan and Shalya was easy business.
"However you all are seven and my son in laws are two in number! Thus it's not a very fair fight! Why dont I join  their side and you choose three of your warriors to fight!" King Jarasandh said.
Karn and Arjun were uneasy.  They knew Jarasandh was blessed and defeating him was impossible unless they know the right way amd the only one who knew the right way was their brother Krishna.  Bit Krishna had not accompanied them. Infact he was with his two best friends Draupadi and Meghna in the forest.
Nonetheless they agreed.
Duryodhan would fight against Dushashan and Nakul against Shalya amd Bheem offered to fight against Jarasandh. However Katn was sure about Duryodhan and Nakul's victory but he was fearing Jarasandh. There was a specific way to kill him amd unless Bheem knew the way it was impossible to kill him.
As the battle began Duryodhan easily emerged victorious within moments. Dushashan accepted his defeat after a shameful fight and Shalya too was overthrown by Nakul . It was the power of love , the two brothers cried.
As Bheem began his wrestle against the great king Jarasandh he realised how foolish he had been to have taken Jarasandh so lightly. Even though he killed Jarasand he would again get up. It seemed he was immortal  The match was fierce.  The daughters of Jarasandh were so scared. They know if their father won this match they would lose not only their freedom but also their loves. Their father would kill them with their bare hands.
As Bheem continued wrestling he felt a strong haze at him. He found a shepherd looking at him with a strong gaze. The man seemed really familiar. The man picked up a narrow stick of birch and broke it from the centre horizontally with a smile on his face. Bheem looked at the stick amd suddenly it occured to him . He picked up Jarasandh and dissected his body in two equal halves and threw them in the opposite directions and killed Jarasandh. The daughters cried at their father's funeral but they were relieved as they knew what would happen to them if their dear father was alive.
Thus Duryodhan was married to Bhanumati and Nakul to Karenumati.
Bheem searched for the shepherd man but couldnt not find him.

Meanwhile in the forest Meghna was still thinking about her decision. Today when she was visiting the market she heard some ladies discussing about the Hastinapur laws and Meghna was surprised how low Dushashan had stooped. He had broken every single law possible. He was using his power ruthlessly amd torturing the subjects. There was no justice. Women were I'll treated. People were executed without any reason. Meghna couldn't stop herself from reghing her decision when she saw Pitamah in the market. He was buying some stuff for warfare.
She approached pitamah as she saw he was alone.
"Pitamah!" Meghna said as Bhisma turned red around and finding his grand daughter in law before him he could feel themoistire in his eyes.
"Putri Meghna" he could barely speak amd that was when Meghna noticed how old pitamah was looking. The nervous lines in his face were all signs of a disturbed and unhealthy life.
"How are you allowing all this pitamah?" Meghna asked.
"The same way you are allowing your husband to stay quiet even though you can see how everything is getting destroyed. We are the same Putri. We are selfish. You are selfish about your happiness and peace and I am selfish about the oath I made to my father. We are the same putri" bhism cried as he broke down amd sat down on the ground. Meghna kneeled down and tended to pitamah.
"You have surprised me so many times. Why cant you surprise me again pitamah? Please pitamah let your oath go. Protect the subjects." Meghna begged as she slowly realizes the truthfulness in pitamah's words.
"You are the queen Putri. It's your responsibility too" bhism said as he got up and greeted Meghna for that time.
Before leaving he turned around and said , " I will surprise you Putri the day you surprise me. " Pitamah added and left .
As Meghna returned from the market she continued thinking about Piatamah's words. He was right. She was bring selfish. She had to take the difficult path as the right path is never the easy one. She couldnt see her people suffer like this. She had to do something.