Read Online The Thirteenth Day by Aditya Iyengar - Free Book Online

pigeon came early in the morning. A wing was damaged and a leg sheared off. Lucky to be alive, this one. Evidently, Kaurava snipers were up last night. I unrolled the grubby piece of parchment while Vishaka tended to the wounded pigeon. A set of intricate symbols were scrawled on it, barely legible. It was a dangerous thing in these times. Handwriting can cost you wars. I sat at my desk and worked out the code Dhristadyumna had so meticulously created with Krishna.
    This couldn’t be right. I uncoded the symbols again. And again. I was almost tempted to ask Vishaka, peering from the corner of his eye, to try his hand at it.
    ‘Jade Love Cloud.’ The words were right. But it made no sense. ‘Love’ was the code word for me. Every evening after the war council in the Kaurava camp, Dhristadyumna had arranged for someone to inform us about the next day’s plan. He never revealed his source, and we never asked him; the information had proved most reliable. At least until now.
    I walked over to Dhristadyumna’s tent. Krishna was there, cradled in a chair, playing with a peacock feather.
    I showed them the parchment: ‘I got today’s message.’
    Dhristadyumna nodded. The pigeons were supposed to be homed to him or me or Krishna. But only a few had come my way till now.
    ‘What news?’
    ‘Bizarre. actually. It says, “Jade Love Cloud”.’ I showed him the parchment, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. ‘I think they may have cracked our code. It must be a ploy to make us arrange our forces in a way that suits them. What do the other agents say?’
    The code had been created from an obscure text on gemstones and Dhristadyumna’s childish imagination for intrigue. Each page of the book had been dedicated to a single stone, and we used this to refer to each day of the war. ‘Jade’ was page 11, which meant that the following actions would be perpetrated today. ‘Love’ was my name—for what reason, I will never know. And the final part of the message, ‘Cloud’ meant capture, as opposed to ‘Rain’ that meant kill and was seen more frequently.
    This time, Krishna spoke, ‘Believe it or not, brother, for once, all the spies are saying the same thing. The Kauravas want you as their guest—“Atithi Devo Bhava—the guest is God”.’ He smiled wickedly.
    Dhristadyumna spoke softly, ‘There are many messages flying around. Not all of them could be cracked overnight. But you have a point. Some of our codes may be compromised. I’ll, er…look into it tonight. Let’s plan to keep you on our side till then, right, brother? Come, the council is meeting now.’
    We walked into the council tent and found everyone waiting for us. Drupada gave me a look that could have either meant ‘I’m sorry for you’ or ‘I can’t believe they want to capture you’ or maybe both. He turned around and said matter-of-factly to Dhristadyumna, ‘Shikhandi is not well. She won’t join us in the council. We’ll see her directly on the field.’
    Bhima came to the point, ‘Right, so everyone’s here. The men need their orders. What’s the plan?’
    Dhristadyumna spoke, ‘We have news from the other side that the main Kaurava thrust today will be directed towards Yudhishthira to…uh, capture him.’
    Virata nodded his head. Krishna, still playing with his peacock feather paid no attention. Nakula and Sahadeva looked at each other as they always did when they didn’t know how to react. Arjuna pursed his lips and shrugged. Bhima clucked his tongue and scratched himself.
    Drupada, characteristically, spoke up, ‘Yudhishthira? …Are you sure, putra? Maybe it’s a decoy.’
    My father-in-law obviously had little regard for my ability to pose a threat to the Kaurava cause.
    ‘There is no reason to assume that. It has also been confirmed that Drona is leading the troops and Radheya is entering the field today,’ replied Dhristadyumna calmly.
    The conversation teetered dangerously off the topic of my safety onto less