The Wrath of Gammon

Chapter 40

The Wrath of Gammon

Disclaimer: This story is my humble attempt to write a fanfiction of the epic Mahabharata. My intention is not to hurt anyone's sentiment.

Aum Namah Shivay!!

Major Jayant Roy, SM is a fictitious character. Any similarity with any living person is merely a coincidence.

Chapter 40

Draupadi POV

I was sitting alone in the balcony, looking at the night sky. Today was the dark night of new moon. The stars are shining in the sky; still the darkness prevailed over the little light they could provide to us. I was lost in my thoughts, when suddenly a strong breeze of wind passed and it took the lives of the lamps in my room, except for the smallest one, engulfing the room into semi-darkness.

My gaze fell on the small lamp. When the bigger ones were burning, no one would pass a single gaze towards it. But now, this little one was burning with all its glory, fighting with the darkness trying to engulf the whole room. I heaved a deep sigh. Today, the whole palace was engulfed in darkness. In my mind, I saw the face of Devapriya, my devrani. That beautiful, kind, soft girl was now fighting with Yama Raja today. Aryaputra Nakul and Sahdeva were fighting alongside her, using all of their medical knowledge and powers to save her. But what she lost...nothing could be compared with that.

I felt the warm tears slowly flowing over my cheeks. I closed my eyes, thinking about the today morning. I was angry, bitter, and to tell the truth, jealous after I heard that Aryaputra Arjun married Subhadra, Govind's younger sister. Yesterday night, Aryaputra Yudhisthir was with me. In morning, I saw a beautiful white pigeon flew into our room and sat down on his lap. The bird was majestic in its own glory. Aryaputra Yudhisthir smiled at it affectionately then his gaze fell on the letter tied in its leg. He untied the letter from its leg and read it quickly. His facial expressions changed while he was reading. At first, it was joyful then it became thoughtful.

"Panchali, Vasudev sent me this letter. He ordered me to come to the riverbank with a handful of chariots and meet him there."

"The chariots are probably needed for a grand entry. After all, Aryaputra Arjun is coming back with a newlywed wife. Govind won't let his Sakha enter Hastinapur without a grand welcoming ceremony, isn't it obvious?"

Aryaputra Yudhisthir heaved a sigh.

"Panchali, I know you are angry. You have been burning inside yourself from the day you have heard the news of this union."

"Then you will surely know what the reason of my anger is." I stood up from the bed, walked in front of him, "I know that royal men need multiple wives, the reasons are both physical and political. But I have this amount of dignity inside me to be informed about when one husband of mine will get remarried from him. No, Govind sent me a messenger and told me that Aryaputra Arjun is taking with him the new queen of Hastinapur." I walked outside of the room, though I didn't miss a familiar sadness in his eternal calm face. I also didn't miss the deep sigh he heaved. The meaning was too familiar to me. He was blaming himself for all the misery that happened with me. Sometimes, despite his depth in thoughts, he acted like a naive child.

But he was right today for one thing. Today, I was burning with anger from inside. Devarji told me that day that I was born from fire and I will burn everything. But today, it felt like the fire inside me would consume myself. But deep inside my soul, I knew that it was not only anger that was burning me.

No, it was more jealousy than anger.

Now, while I was looking at the sky and thinking about the day with a much calm and clear mind, I was ashamed to myself. Today morning, burning with anger and jealousy, I did something foolish and for which, now my mind was heavy with regret.