As they walk they keep an eye out for any area good for a break and a meal. Soon Yudhishthira, the wisest of the brothers, spots a flat area covered in fallen leaves. The leaves are thick on the ground and would make a comfortable sitting area. Yudhishthira and the twins set up a cooking fire near the area while Bhima and Arjuna, the best marksman of the brothers, continue on with two buckets each.
Arjuna and Bhima find the densely packed trees spotted earlier and looking pass them, can see a lake with the sun shining off the surface. They set down the buckets and take a step forward and cup water into their hands to take a sip. However just as the brothers are bringing their hands to their mouths they step back. The surface of the water is swelling up and then a water demon jumps out of the lake. Then the water swells again and there is another demon and then again and again and again. Finally it stops and there are roughly twenty fierce and hostile demons on the shore of the lake.
One demon steps forward and raises a clenched fist at the brothers. "You should not be here, humans. This is our lake and you will regret disturbing our waters."
At the obvious threat, Bhima readies his club and Arjuna slings his bow from his back. Ready to fight, the brothers grin and Bhima exclaims, "Try us foul demons. You will regret ever showing yourselves to us."
Bhima rushes forward directly in the middle of the attacking group. He swings his club to the left and right as he advances. Arjuna stays back and pierces the demons with his freshly sharpened hunting arrows. Arjuna is focusing his deadly aim on those cowardly enemies who attempt to sneak up behind Bhima. Bhima swings his club around while spinning to force back a group trying to surround him. When he stops, he is facing Arjuna and what he sees stops his heart. There is a water demon behind Arjuna with a raised sword ready to strike down his brother. Bhima grabs the closest item on hand, a fist sized rock off the forest floor, and throws it with all his strength. The rock smashes into the sneaky demon and tears a hole right through its head. Then, Bhima feels a brush of air graze his ear and he turns to see another demon, with an arrow straight through an eye, falling to the ground. Both their hearts are racing and their foreheads sweating after the two close calls. Bhima forces his way to Arjuna and they stand back to back and continue fighting.
Many immeasurable minutes pass before some of the demons turn tail and flee. More and more are running away from the two brothers who refuse to slow down their attacks. Half the demons lay on the forest floor in pools of their own blood and the other half have fled. Bhima and Arjuna put away their weapons and then grab the buckets and fill them with water. Then they walk back towards their resting area.
On the way they meet Yudhishthira heading towards them. "I was coming to check on you two. What took you so long?"
Bhima and Arjuna look at each other with smirks on their lips and glee in their eyes. Then Arjuna replies, "Oh just a bit of fun."
The forest lake (image source)
Author's Note: For this story I ended up combining two events from the Mahabharata. In one, the Pandavas are looking for water and find a lake but they are addressed by a voice. Each brother dies when they drink until Yudhishthira, who comes last, shows up. Yudhishthira then answers the voice and plays a game of riddles until the voice is revealed to be a god in disguise. Yudhishthira ends up asking for his brothers to be brought back. In the other even, Arjuna fights against an entire city of sea demons and monsters using a divine bow. I took the lake scenario and changed the voice to water demons instead because to me that is so much more interesting to read (and I also wanted to write a fight scene).
Bibliography: Mahabharata by Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.
