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On horse back beside each other,
Chandragupt was discussing with Nandini how they were going to set about doing the entire exercise. Since she was in it along with him, it was imperative that he fill her in with the inputs he had and what they were about to do.
Chandra: First, we will proceed five kos to the north before we will take a sudden detour to the south towards the forests of Bhavanagiri. We will be camping for the night in the open grassland of Chitrakut. Rajkumar Dhananand and his forces have currently relocated to the forests of Bhavanagiri from the forests of Vikramashila. That is the information we have from our scouts and spies. Our entire army including you and me will be disguised as a troop of wandering tribal gipsies. There will not be the slightest hint that will give away the fact that it is Maharaj Chandragupt and Maharani Nandini who are personally leading an expedition.
Nandini: Why take this route at all if we are to proceed to the forests of Bhavanagiri? We could have directly proceeded by that route from Patliputra itself. We would have saved a lot of time.
Chandra: Expeditions have been sent in this manner even before under several of our able generals to the locations where Dhananand and Amatya Rakshas were reported to be camping. The news of those expeditions almost invariably reached Dhananand who immediately changed locations on receiving this news. So all of them have failed because they did precisely the very thing you were suggesting. They proceeded directly and in haste towards their actual destination.
Nandini, pondering over the matter and trying to understand the war strategy in adopting this course of action, "So is essence, we are practicing the trick of disambiguation by giving the enemy a false notion about our actual plans while it is our real intention to proceed towards Bhavanagiri after all."
Chandra: Yes that is what we are going to do. And even while camping en route, we are going to give the impression that it is an apparently harmless and docile camp of wandering gipsies, and not an army expedition being led by the king and queen themselves. All our weapons and horses are going to be carefully camouflaged and hidden. Amatya Rakshas always keeps scouts stationed throughout the path leading to Rajkumar Dhananand to keep them informed about any impending attacks. In the meantime, a few suicidal squads would keep delaying their progress by engaging in sudden, lighting attacks and guerrilla warfare. Finally, by the time they reached their destination, half of our force ended up being depleted and to no actual purpose after all.
Nandini: Now I get it! We are essentially going to play for the element of surprise. Dhan Bhaiyya and Amatya Rakshas will not have information about this attack until the very last moment. (Thinking very carefully about the proposition) Dhan Bhaiyya might be taken in by this trick. But I doubt if Amatya Rakshas can actually be fooled by such strategies or tricks. He would instantly see through it.
Chandra: Yes, we are prepared for that eventuality as well. Amatya Rakshas is not going to be present along with Rajkumar Dhananand at this precise moment. I have received intelligence from our spies that he has left Rajkumar Dhananand just now. This is the time to execute.
For a moment, Nandini found it difficult to understand and keep pace with the absolute brilliance of this plan of her husband. He had chosen his time and the right one to execute his plans.
Nandini: That's really lucky for us! If only Amatya Rakshas had been with Dhan Bhaiyya, the entire story would have been different. But you are right. We have to absolutely capitalize on this development.
Chandra, with a slightly smug look and a wry smile on his face on witnessing Nandini's naivety, innocence and straightforwardness in such matters, "Capitalize this development, we most certainly will. But let me inform you that this development was neither fortunate, unforeseen nor surprising. Acharya actually played for it!
This time, Nandini was dumb stuck, "But how could Acharya even make Amatya do that? There is nothing that can bribe or lead a man like that astray. His loyalty and devotion towards Pithaji are absolute. He will not desert Dhan Bhaiyya like that! Impossible!"
Chandra: Nothing is impossible if one sets one's heart and intellect on it! Amatya has deserted Rajkumar Dhananand's cause. And that is the truth!
Nandini: I still find it difficult to believe that Amatya is on your side. However, if you say so, I must believe...
Even before Nandini could complete, Chandragupt quipped, "I said that Amatya has deserted Rajkumar Dhananand. However, I did not say that he is with us. He still stands strong and tall beside your father.
Nandini, highly confused by now, "If he is with father, then why will he leave Dhan Bhaiyya like this?"
Chandra: The answer to your question lies in your own words: YOUR FATHER!
Nandini: Ardhath? (Which means?)
Chandra: Tell me Nandini, between your father and brother whom would Amatya Rakshas choose?
Nandini: Of course! Pitha Maharaj!
Chandra: That is what we have done. Acharya has cleverly induced and lured your father into Magadh. With his infinite sagacity and wisdom, Amatya Rakshas would no doubt have seen through this ploy of Acharya Chanakya and rushed to your father to warn him about the impending danger and safeguard him from further harm. So, unfortunately, in such a situation of conflict of interests between your father and your brother, your Dhan Bhaiyya and his welfare will take a fall. And that is what happened.
Nandini: Even then, the forests of Bhavanagiri are very vast, dense and dangerous. I have been there once before in my life for a significant period when I was small. So I am well acquainted with the terrain. A search and comb operation of this sort would give ample time for Dhan Bhaiyya to escape. How are we going to spot their exact location?
Chandra, with a slight smile playing on his face on perceiving Nandini's boundless enthusiasm and firm determination to prove herself in this expedition, "We have a plan for that too. (Pausing for a moment at this point, before continuing) Really, you have a voracious interest in such things! Do you want to learn everything here itself on horseback or will you wait until we all set camp in Chitrakut and discuss all this in a careful, organized and meticulous fashion during the military conference of all the army generals and captains?"
Nandini with a pout on her lips, "Why do you always make fun of me? I am trying to learn everything and do my best. And you?
Chandra laughing pleasantly, "I know! I know! This is the first major expedition in which you are participating ...and that too against your own brother. I was the same during my first major battle. Left to myself, I wouldn't have taken you along because of the risks involved in this. Even now, I am taking you along with me only because Acharya Chanakya insisted upon it! Otherwise, I wouldn't have heeded to you. (After a pause) All the same, I appreciate this gesture. It is priceless for me!
Nandini (with a sly smile): I know that!
They proceeded quietly for some time without saying a word. They took a very short halt on the wayside for quenching their thirst for water. As Nandini held the water jug for Chandragupt to drink, she began hesitantly as though she was testing the troubled waters, "I am sorry about what happened to Chaaya. My Pitha Maharaj and Dhan Bhaiyya..."
Chandragupt, though deeply affected when this topic was started by Nandini, "Why should you be? Stop blaming yourself at every point for your father's and brother's crimes!"
Nandini: I try to do that but every time I see the people around me suffering as a consequence of their actions, I feel very frustrated and powerless. I get this feeling why can't I change this? When will things become better?
Chandra (in an encouraging tone): You are actually doing that, aren't you? If not, why are you coming along with me to this war expedition against your brother?
The seconds ticked by into minutes and neither spoke anything. The future was still unclear, shifty and in its womb. Both of them were suffering. Both of them were fighting their own personal demons. While he was fighting his enemies, she was going to fight her own in this battle.
Chandragupt instructed his soldiers and men, "We will resume in ten minutes!"
Saying this, he held out his hand for Nandini's hand. Her inquisitive eyes peered curiously at where he was taking her. He closed her eyes with his palms and gestured her to be patient. He gently led her to the very same precipice overlooking Patliputra which Acharya Chanakya had shown to him when he was just eight.
Chandragupt: Nandini, what do you see in front of you?
Nandini: Why of course my homeland, my Patliputra!
Chandragupt: Don't you want to know what I see there?
Nandini (with bated breath): What?
Chandragupt: My dream! That dream which was shown to me years ago when I was just a kid by Acharya Chanakya. At that time, he told me, 'THAT IS YOUR DESTINY. One day you will come to rule the whole of Magadh...and from Magadh, the whole of Bharath, under one single umbrella! You will be the body and I will be the intellect of this dream!' To safeguard and protect that very dream, we have set out on this quest once again. Today, I am showing you this same dream for the whole of Bharath standing on this very same precipice; A HOPE, a hope for better things to emerge out of this sea of blood and strife, a dream that we can give our people and our own dream children who still do not exist a better future to make their lives. If I am the body of this dream, will you be its soul?
Nandini moved her palms to close his mouth without breaking eye contact with him as though she was afraid the magical spell would vanish if she batted her eyelids, "Sh! Chandra...no more yours...or mine...This dream is ours!
Chandragupt: We cannot afford to fail in this because if we fall, an entire nation will fall!
Nandini: We won't!
Both of them did not say anything after this. They resumed their places amidst their soldiers and men. Both of them continued riding, flanked on all sides by soldiers and their personal guard at a safe and comfortable distance to ensure security and at the same time privacy to the royal couple.
The overall mood among the soldiers was upbeat. Their own loved King and Queen were in charge of this expedition. They were sure that they were going to win and the enemies were going to be utterly routed. Such was the popularity of both, that the soldiers would willingly lay down their lives for both of them.
Though Chandragupt had always been popular and a darling of the masses and his own men, all this euphoria was a bit new to Nandini. She was touched by whatever she witnessed gleaming in the eyes of their men for her and Chandragupt. During her father's reign, it was always fear which she saw in the eyes of the soldiers too. Whatever they did for the royal family, they did out of fear.
But here, whatever the men around them did, they did out of love, respect, esteem, and hero worship for their own King. It was true that she had once been Maharaj Padmanand's daughter. She had even witnessed the hatred of her own people because of that. But all that was a thing of the past. The people around her no longer saw her like that. They saw her, respected her and esteemed her as Maharani Nandini and Maharani Nandini alone. Her identity had united once and for all with Maharaj Chandragupt, her royal spouse.
At the fag end, two common infantry soldiers started speaking among themselves while walking,
Soldier 1: Both of them look very good together, don't they?
Soldier 2: Yes, I have never seen Maharaj look so happy!
Soldier 1: Me too! One would never imagine we are going to a serious field of war looking at both of them!
Soldier 2: Yes, that's right! Both of them can spread positivity and happiness all around them even in such dire circumstances with the depth of love and understanding they have for each other.
Soldier 1: One can see that in their eyes! Kisi ki nazar na lagen unke pyar par! Eshwar un donon ko hamesha aise hi sath rakhen aur khush rakhen! (May no one cast an evil eye on their love! May God keep both of them together and happy like this!)
Chapter 44 and Chapter 45: Page 89
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