CHAPTER 34: The King in Danger

The King agreed very reluctantly and tried his best not to look down at the deep well should that make him feel dizzy! 

Aryaman flew out of the well and looked up at the sky.  He could see some object zooming past the sky from afar and knew that it was the arrow. 

There was some precious little time left before it reached the well, which Aryaman could use to his advantage. He quickly lifted himself a few inches from the ground and invoked his bow and arrow.  He then shot it at the ground below. 

The arrow pierced the ground and stood upright.  Then he shot another arrow that stood above it just like the marvelous feat he had accomplished at the river. 

In that fashion, Aryaman speedily formed a small chain of arrows.  He then pulled the top arrow, which did not break the chain but managed to pluck out the first arrow from the ground where it had pierced.  He took the chain of arrows and rapidly laid it on one side of the parapet wall of the well.  The chain extended right until the other end of the wall in a straight line.  Thereby, he made another chain of arrows and kept it just beside the former leaving a very little gap in between them.  Likewise, he made more chains in super speed and covered the open surface of the well with them! 

Ravichandran looked at what was being done mystified.  He could make out that Aryaman was covering the open portion of the well with his chain of arrows.  However, would that be enough to stop the approaching weapon, he wondered with his heart pounding with anxiety!

No sooner had Aryaman finished his work that the divine astra of Chandrashekar came near the well and tried to penetrate its way through the chain of arrows. 

Try as it might, the astra could not pass through it!  Aryaman heaved a sigh of relief.   “You are safe atleast for now, Maharaj!” 

Ravichandran was grateful to Aryaman for his efforts but he still rued the fact that things would not have come to such a pass had he not allowed Chandrashekar to shoot this arrow.  He had a gut feeling that this astra could be the boon of Sage Ananya to the King of Sumegha. 

However, more than this the more pressing questions that troubled the King for the moment were as to what would happen if the astra finally managed to break Aryaman’s chain of arrows?  Also, even if that did not happen, how long would he continue to sit inside this dark well with the dagger of death hovering around his head all the time? 

Aryaman thought about his next course of action.  He could not think of anything else except to go and meet King Chandrashekar who may throw some light into the mystery of this arrow. 

King Ravichandran was feeling miserable thinking about this moment of uncertainty.  He wanted to divert his attention and he felt this to be the best time to question Aryaman about his inexplicable actions towards the end of the war. 

The King also wanted to know as to why the King of asuras had referred him as ‘Mrutyunjay’.  He questioned Aryaman in these terms and just as the latter was about to answer, a voice could be heard from the sky, ‘Mrutyunjay!’  Aryaman looked up and found Rajaveera coming towards him. 

The Asura King landed and witnessed yet another act of marvel performed by Aryaman.  He peeped inside the well and found Ravichandran sitting, appearing quite nervous and tense. 

Rajaveera thrust his hands on Aryaman’s shoulders and spoke with an emotion-laded voice, “Mrutyunjay!  My son! I never knew that you were such a great archer!  Were you so powerful even then?”

Aryaman looked down at Ravichandran who appeared baffled by what he heard.  He knew that it was time that he put everything about himself in the proper perspective.