The Broken Bond

Final Breakdown

A loud scream shot through the air like the roar of a battle trumpet, Karna turned his head sharply. Arjuna ran along the shore to him, no, flew, as if on wings, raising dust and sand.

- Do not eat!

Vimala softly squeaked beside her, the basket fell out of her hands, the burfi scattered on the ground.

- Do not eat! Arjuna repeated as he ran and snatched the food from Karna's hands and then turned to Vimala.

-“You were talking about that, weren’t you?”

His chest was shaking, his hair and beard stood on end from the wind and the dust that had accumulated in them. Vimala remained silent, turning pale to a painful green, her lips trembling slightly. Karna saw that Nakula and Bhima were hurrying after Arjuna, and Yudhishthira and Sahadeva seemed to be following them,

- What's happening?

–We're not sure, but...

-“Give it,” Nakula, who came to the rescue, took the burfi from Arjun’s hands and thrust it under his nose, Bhima, who angrily waved it off:

- What do you think, I'm a wild fox, to identify any poison by smell ?!

- Poison?
Karna repeated in confusion.

Vimala let out a thin hysterical groan in her throat and twitched to the side, but Arjuna grabbed her by the elbow, preventing her from escaping. Then she fell to her knees, sobbing loudly. Karna watched as she trembled all over, hiding her face in her hands, then looked at the crumbling treat, and again at Vimala.

- But why?

- "We'll find out now. I only ask you not to get too angry until everything is cleared up,” said Yudhishthira, who, in fact, was hurrying after the brothers along with Sahadeva. Then, pausing for a few moments to catch his breath, Yudhishthira stood before Vimala and touched her bowed head. -"You came for this, didn't you? For us to stop you?"

She burst into tears, smearing tears mixed with antimony on her cheeks.

Jaswinder was right, Karna thought after about an hour. Jasvinder was right, and although the execution of Jyotish and later his father Dinesh did not leave the army hungry and did not lead to a rebellion, they almost cost him his own life. The widow of Dinesh, Sumantra, who suddenly lost her husband, son and almost all the property taken into the royal treasury, inflamed with hatred towards Karna. What was the last straw for her - the future marriage of the king or something else, was unknown, and it didn’t matter, one way or another, she ordered her youngest daughter, the only unmarried one, to catch Karna on the banks of the Ganges.

Rumors about Abhilash speaking freely with him here circulated around the city, as well as about the fact that Ashoka sent his daughter to her relatives, and apparently Sumantra decided that it would be easy to take advantage of the opportunity.

“Go away," Karna said to Vimala when Yudhishthira finished asking questions and she fell silent,

- Leave and don't come back. You and your mother should leave the city.

Probably, as a king, he should have acted more severely, because the king is obliged to punish criminals so that everyone knows that even if a crime is committed, justice will be restored. And it does not matter who crossed the law - a woman or a man, an adult or a child. But Karna did not want to judge either the mother from whom he took her son or the woman he bestowed widowhood, and even more so her daughter, who was only fulfilling someone else's will.

Vimala got up, with streaks of antimony on her face, pitifully, like a crumpled and abandoned flower bud, backed away. It seemed that she wanted to say something, but did not dare, and walked away, shuddering and looking around, as if she was waiting for Karna to change her mind and still order to send her to execution. Karna turned his back on her and watched the sun rise towards the zenith, feeling empty and broken.