previous, and on and on it goes. Sometimes I am tempted to place a chimpanzee on my throne and take off from here, so that I can become a bum and live happily ever after.’
‘Bums…’ Sachi wrapped her lips around each syllable with the full force of her dislike for such spurious statements, ‘do not get to have a happily ever after. As befitting those who are named after an appendage that ejects bodily wastes, do nothing worthwhile and shamelessly live off their betters, they are treated with contempt. Even if they were to drop dead, none would mourn the loss of one. It ill befits the king of the gods to aspire towards such a despicable station. So let us not talk about becoming bums and discuss this new threat, which has unmanned you so.’
Thinking fondly of his mother and bestirring himself from the defeatist attitude that was making his wife question his masculinity, Indra spoke again, ‘It is that damnable Twastha. As you know, that bugger went and married Recana, an asura bitch, despite my express orders. If that were not enough, the two of them are the proud parents of a son who has grown up to be increasingly powerful and the trio are probably plotting, as we speak, to wrest power for themselves. He did all this justto give me grief over a bit of friendly advice in the distant past.’
‘The son is called Trishiras, isn’t he?’ Sachi murmured. ‘Some know him as Vishwarupa. I believe he is one of those annoyingly virtuous individuals who are pious to a fault, with a nauseatingly charitable disposition. My sources tell me he has three heads and it is the prevailing belief that he is thrice as good as the most accomplished of the gods on account of it.’
‘That is a stupid lie!’ Indra protested. ‘Why would anybody want three empty heads? My spies tell me that he imbibes soma with one head, studies and recites the Vedas with another and the third is employed in meditation at all times. It is a cheat sheet for being intoxicated, erudite and enlightened all at the same time. I think it is all nonsense that Twastha made up to hide the obvious fact that his brat is a deformed freak, who provides three times the room lice need to deposit their eggs on.’
‘You mentioned meditation,’ Sachi replied, not bothering to muster up a smile for his paltry attempt at humour. ‘If he has been as involved in study and prayer as you suggested, my guess is that he has become an ascetic to be reckoned with. And given the extent of your agitation, I assume you have already sent your apsara whores to distract him from his penances, but not only did they fail, they were entirely counterproductive and managed to send his merit levels soaring. Personally, I am not interested in these holier-than-thou types who want to waste their time under the influence while pretending to chase after universal secrets that nobody cares about anyway. However, I am sensing that he has somehow gotten under your skin. Why is that?’
That was the thing about Sachi. There was none more cold-blooded than her and yet, nobody was more finely attuned toevery nuance of his volatile character than she was. Touched despite himself, Indra opened his heart to her. ‘There are two types of enemies—the first make no bones about wanting to triumph over me in battle and park their undeserving backsides on the throne that is meant solely for me. It is a relatively simple thing for me to take them down. They are dangerous, but I cut my teeth on this kind of villain!
‘The second type of enemy is more dangerous because he is subtle. You could gather all the intelligence you want, but wind up with nothing more than a warrior’s honed instinct setting off alarms in your head, which you ignore at your peril. It sounds paranoid or laughably fanciful when put like that, but I could not be more certain that my destiny is linked to Trishiras in some terrible way. That pestilential creature was conceived in pure hatred of me, and he is the living
‘Bums…’ Sachi wrapped her lips around each syllable with the full force of her dislike for such spurious statements, ‘do not get to have a happily ever after. As befitting those who are named after an appendage that ejects bodily wastes, do nothing worthwhile and shamelessly live off their betters, they are treated with contempt. Even if they were to drop dead, none would mourn the loss of one. It ill befits the king of the gods to aspire towards such a despicable station. So let us not talk about becoming bums and discuss this new threat, which has unmanned you so.’
Thinking fondly of his mother and bestirring himself from the defeatist attitude that was making his wife question his masculinity, Indra spoke again, ‘It is that damnable Twastha. As you know, that bugger went and married Recana, an asura bitch, despite my express orders. If that were not enough, the two of them are the proud parents of a son who has grown up to be increasingly powerful and the trio are probably plotting, as we speak, to wrest power for themselves. He did all this justto give me grief over a bit of friendly advice in the distant past.’
‘The son is called Trishiras, isn’t he?’ Sachi murmured. ‘Some know him as Vishwarupa. I believe he is one of those annoyingly virtuous individuals who are pious to a fault, with a nauseatingly charitable disposition. My sources tell me he has three heads and it is the prevailing belief that he is thrice as good as the most accomplished of the gods on account of it.’
‘That is a stupid lie!’ Indra protested. ‘Why would anybody want three empty heads? My spies tell me that he imbibes soma with one head, studies and recites the Vedas with another and the third is employed in meditation at all times. It is a cheat sheet for being intoxicated, erudite and enlightened all at the same time. I think it is all nonsense that Twastha made up to hide the obvious fact that his brat is a deformed freak, who provides three times the room lice need to deposit their eggs on.’
‘You mentioned meditation,’ Sachi replied, not bothering to muster up a smile for his paltry attempt at humour. ‘If he has been as involved in study and prayer as you suggested, my guess is that he has become an ascetic to be reckoned with. And given the extent of your agitation, I assume you have already sent your apsara whores to distract him from his penances, but not only did they fail, they were entirely counterproductive and managed to send his merit levels soaring. Personally, I am not interested in these holier-than-thou types who want to waste their time under the influence while pretending to chase after universal secrets that nobody cares about anyway. However, I am sensing that he has somehow gotten under your skin. Why is that?’
That was the thing about Sachi. There was none more cold-blooded than her and yet, nobody was more finely attuned toevery nuance of his volatile character than she was. Touched despite himself, Indra opened his heart to her. ‘There are two types of enemies—the first make no bones about wanting to triumph over me in battle and park their undeserving backsides on the throne that is meant solely for me. It is a relatively simple thing for me to take them down. They are dangerous, but I cut my teeth on this kind of villain!
‘The second type of enemy is more dangerous because he is subtle. You could gather all the intelligence you want, but wind up with nothing more than a warrior’s honed instinct setting off alarms in your head, which you ignore at your peril. It sounds paranoid or laughably fanciful when put like that, but I could not be more certain that my destiny is linked to Trishiras in some terrible way. That pestilential creature was conceived in pure hatred of me, and he is the living
Similar Books
