The Prince of Patliputra – The Asoka Trilogy Book 1 – Who will be the next Samrat of the holy land of the Aryas?
THE NIGHT WAS BLACK and chilly but the two horsemen riding swiftly through the gloom were unmindful of both the darkness and the cold. The dusty pass through the forest was lonely, beset with unknown terrors, yet they rode on without fear. Occasionally a wolf howled somewhere in the distance, breaking the constant chirping of crickets.
The riders galloped on, their long cloaks floating behind them like banners of war. Arriving at a fork in the road, they pulled up, their frothing horses whimpering uneasily.
“We seem to be lost, brother!” one of the duo observed, gazing at the diverging paths before them.
“Not so!” the other remarked, pointing to the sky. “The Master told us to keep the North Star in front of us, and we are doing exactly that.”
The first rider gazed up at the starry sky. “They all look the same to me,” he complained.
“But they are not,” the other replied with conviction.
“The stars change, brother,” the first rider insisted.
“But the North Star does not!” He pointed to the path on their left and kicked his mount into a trot. “Remember, we are looking for a banyan tree,” he said over his shoulder to his companion.
The way was little more than a bridle path and shrubs rubbed against their legs, reluctant to let them pass. The going was necessarily slow. Suddenly a massive banyan tree loomed ahead of them, its aerial roots dangling in the air beside its enormous trunk. In the eerie light it looked like some primodial creature, horrific and disfigured, standing against the dark starry sky.
“What now?” the first rider asked, bringing his horse to a halt.
“Now we wait.”
“Wait by a banyan tree?” his companion gasped. “Have you not heard stories about them?”
“What stories?” the other laughed. “We are no longer children, brother, to be frightened by our nurses’ tales.”
“But Rakshasas live in them,” the first man whispered. “Bramharakshasas!”
“Then you must be most afraid!” a sharp voice observed from behind them.
Both men turned. A man stood by the massive tree, covered from head to toe in a black cloak.
“Master!” The two young men bowed low over their horses’ necks.
The Master blessed them with upraised palms. “Do not dismount, this has to be quick,” he said.
“We are here to do your bidding, Master,” said the first rider.
“You do this is for the Ancient Bramhinical Order,” the Master announced, touching his hand to his forehead.
“For the Order!” the riders repeated.
“You must not fail!” the Master warned.
“Trust us, we will not!”
“You must brutally kill your target – Asoka, Prince of Pataliputra.”
The Master’s voice was a sharp whisper. None but the three of them heard his dark words.
Fifty years earlier
Two men rode through a dark forest one night, coming to a stop under a Banyan tree.
A cloaked man approached them. “What you do is for the Ancient Bramhinical Order,” he said.
“For the Order!” the riders repeated.
“You must brutally kill your target –Chandragupta, Raja of Taxila,” the man whispered,
Only the three of them heard his dark words…
Who are the cloaked men and why do they want to kill Chandragupta and Asoka? To find out more, read ‘Prince of Patliputra’
