The foot soldiers marched through the clearing, entering the Naga road with wonder in their eyes. The last thing they had expected was a comfortable and secure road through the forest. The procession was flanked by mounted riders, bearing torches, lighting the way.

Riding a black horse, Vishwadyumna was at the head accompanied by Parvateshwar, Bhagirath and Anandmayi. The Neelkanth’s family travelled in the centre, along with Kali, Ayurvati, Krittika and Nandi. Ganesh was at the clearing with Veerbhadra and Parshuram. He would wait till every soldier had passed through. He had a task to do.

‘Do we really need a rear guard, Ganesh?’ asked Veerbhadra. ‘It is almost impossible to find the floating Sundari grove.’

‘We are Nagas. Everyone hates us. We can never be too careful.’

‘That is the last of the soldiers. What now?’

‘Please guard me,’ said Ganesh.

Ganesh walked into the clearing bearing a bag of seeds. Veerbhadra and Parshuram walked alongside, their weapons drawn, protecting his right and left flank.

They had been in the clearing for a few moments when a wild boar sauntered in. It was the largest boar Veerbhadra had ever seen. The animal stopped at a distance, staring at the humans, shuffling its front hoof, snorting softly. Parshuram turned to Ganesh. The animal was obviously gearing up to charge. The Naga continued to perform the task of scattering seeds on the ground as he nodded softly. Parshuram lunged and swung hard with his axe, cutting the boar’s head off in one clean sweep.

Veerbhadra was edging forward to help Parshuram, when Ganesh stopped him sharply. ‘You keep your eyes focussed on the other side, Veerbhadra. Parshuram is capable of handling this.’

Parshuram, meanwhile, continued to hack the beast’s body. He then pulled the fragmented parts of the boar’s corpse onto the road.

As Parshuram walked back, he explained to Veerbhadra. ‘That carcass will only attract other carnivores.’

Ganesh, meanwhile, had finished scattering all the seeds. He turned and walked back to the road, followed by Parshuram and Veerbhadra.

As soon as they entered the road, Veerbhadra spoke up. ‘That was one massive boar.’

‘Actually, that one was pretty small since it was young,’ said Ganesh. ‘Others in its pack would be much larger. You don’t want it to be close by when we are defending the road. A sounder of boars in this region can be vicious.’

Veerbhadra turned and looked at the hundred Branga soldiers waiting for them, holding their horses steady. He turned to Ganesh. ‘What now?’

‘Now we wait,’ said Ganesh, drawing his sword, his voice calm. ‘We have to protect this gateway till tomorrow morning. Kill everything that tries to enter.’

‘Only till tomorrow? Those bushes will not be full grown by then.’

‘Oh yes, they will.’

Veerbhadra was woken up by the loud snarls of a tiger. Some animal, perhaps a deer, had fallen victim to the mighty cat. He looked around. The jungle was waking up. The sun had just risen. Fifty soldiers were sleeping in front of him. Beyond them was the Naga road on which Shiva’s entourage had left the previous day.

Veerbhadra pulled his angvastram close around himself, breathing hard onto his hands. It was cold. He saw Parshuram next to him, sleeping soundly, snoring, his mouth slightly open.

Veerbhadra raised himself on his elbows and turned around. The other fifty soldiers were standing guard, their swords drawn. They had taken over from their fellow soldiers at midnight.

‘Ganesh?’

‘Out here, Veerbhadra,’ said Ganesh.

Veerbhadra walked forward as the guards parted to reveal the Lord of the People. Veerbhadra was stunned.

‘By the holy lake,’ said Veerbhadra. ‘The bushes have grown back completely. It’s almost as if they had never been cut.’

‘The road is protected completely now. We can ride out. Half a day’s hard riding and we will catch up with the rest.’

‘Then what are we waiting for?’

‘You should ask him,’ said Veerbhadra to Krittika.

It had been a month of uneventful marching through the Sundarban. Despite the mammoth size of the convoy, they were making good progress. Krittika had slipped back from the centre of the convoy to ride with her husband at the rear. She was enjoying her conversations with Ganesh and had grown increasingly fond of the elder son of her mistress.

Ganesh, whose horse was keeping pace with Veerbhadra’s and Krittika’s, turned. ‘Ask me what?’

‘Well,’ said Krittika. ‘Veerbhadra tells me that you weren’t too surprised to hear that Emperor Daksha may have killed Lord Chandandhwaj.’

Parshuram pulled his horse up to fall in line with the others. Curious.

‘Did you know?’ asked Krittika.

‘Yes.’

Krittika stared hard at Ganesh’s face, trying to glean some traces of hate and anger. There were none. ‘Do you not feel the need for vengeance? A sense of injustice?’

‘I feel no need for vengeance or justice, Krittika,’ said Ganesh. ‘Justice exists for the good of the universe. To maintain balance. It does not exist to ignite hatred among humans. Furthermore, I do not have the power to administer justice to the Emperor of Meluha. The universe does. It will deliver justice when it is appropriate. In this life or in the next.’

Parshuram interjected. ‘But wouldn’t vengeance make you feel better?’

‘You got your vengeance, didn’t you?’ asked Ganesh to Parshuram. ‘Did you really feel better?’

Parshuram took a deep breath. He didn’t.

‘So you don’t want anything to be done to Daksha?’ asked Veerbhadra.

Ganesh narrowed his eyes. ‘I simply don’t care.’

Veerbhadra smiled. Parshuram frowned at Veerbhadra’s reaction.

‘What?’ asked Parshuram.

‘Nothing much,’ said Veerbhadra. ‘Just that I have finally understood something Shiva had told me once. That the opposite of love is not hate. Hate is just love gone bad. The actual opposite of love is apathy. When you don’t care a damn as to what happens to the other person.’

‘The food is delicious,’ said Shiva, smiling.

It had been two months since Shiva’s men had marched out of the floating Sundari grove. They had just entered the dreaded Dandak forests. The road had ended in a giant clearing, capable of accommodating many more than Shiva’s band of travelling men. As was the Naga custom, groups of people were eating their dinner together on giant plates.

Kali smiled. ‘The forest has everything that we need.’

Sati patted Ganesh on the back. He rode separately from the rest of the family, so Sati enjoyed the common dinners where she got to talk to her elder son. ‘Is the food all right?’

‘Perfect, Maa,’ smiled Ganesh.

Ganesh turned to Kartik and slipped a mango to his younger brother. Kartik, who rarely smiled these days, looked at his elder brother with affection. ‘Thank you, dada.’

Bhagirath looked up at Kali. He couldn’t contain himself any longer. ‘Your Highness, why are there five roads leading out of this clearing?’

‘I was wondering how you had kept yourself from asking that question up until now!’

Everyone turned to Kali.

‘Simple. Four of those paths lead you deeper and deeper into the Dandak. To your doom.’