battle just a few hours ago. They were talking jovially with each other. Some were ribbing their
mates about how they had fallen for the red-herring at the beginning of the battle. In the
Kshatriya way, to laugh in the face of death was the ultimate mark of a man.
‘Because he is my Lord,’ answered Nandi simply.
‘But he is a foreigner. A caste unmarked foreigner,’ said the Arishtanemi. ‘He is a brave
warrior, no doubt. But there are so many brave warriors in Meluha. What makes him so
special? And why does he spend so much time with the royal family?’
‘I can’t answer that, my friend. You will get to find out when the time is right.’
The Arishtanemi looked at Nandi quizzically. Then shook his head and smiled. He was a
soldier. He bothered himself only with the here and now. Bigger questions did not dwell too long
in his mind. ‘In any case, I think the time is right to tell you that you are a brave man, my friend.
I saw you fight despite your injury. You don’t know the meaning of the word surrender. I would
be proud to have you as my bhraata!’
That was a big statement from the Arishtanemi. The bhraata system that was followed in
the Meluhan army meant that each soldier up to the rank of a captain was assigned a mate of
equal rank. The two bhraatas would be like brothers who would always fight together and look
out for each other. They would willingly fight the world for each other, would never love the
same woman and would always tell each other the truth, no matter how bitter.
The Arishtanemi were elite soldiers of the empire. An Arishtanemi offered to be a bhraata
only to his own kind. Nandi knew that he could never really be the Arishtanemi’s bhraata. He
had to stay with the Lord. But the honour of being offered the brotherhood of an Arishtanemi
was enough to bring tears to Nandi’s eyes.
‘Don’t get teary on me now,’ chorded the Arishtanemi, wrinkling his nose in amusement.
Nandi burst out in laughter as he slapped the Arishtanemi on his arm.
‘What is your name, my friend?’ asked Nandi.
‘Kaustav,’ replied the Arishtanemi. ‘Someday we shall batde the main Chandravanshi army
together, my friend. And by the grace of Lord Ram, we will kill all those bastards!’
‘By Lord Agni, we will!’
‘It was interesting how you got into the Naga’s mind,’ said Brahaspati as he watched Shiva
getting the gash on his torso cleaned and dressed.
Shiva had insisted that his injuries receive medical attention only after every other soldier ’s
wounds had been tended.
‘Well, I can’t really explain it,’ said Shiva. ‘How the Naga would think just seemed so obvious
to me.’
‘Well, I can explain it!’
‘Really? What?’
‘The explanation is that you are the omnipotent “N”, whose name cannot be spoken!’ said
Brahaspati, opening his eyes wide and conjuring his hands up like an ancient magician.
They burst out laughing, causing Shiva to rock back slightly. The military doctor gave Shiva a
stern look, at which he immediately quietened down and let him finish tending to the wound.
Having applied the Ayurvedic paste and covering it with the medicinal neem leaf, the doctor