‘Two taps? Is Yudhi taking the bad bet?’ asked Dhrita.
‘Yes, sire. He’s putting down forty... yes, forty-five. Both their lines stand at eighty-nine now, sire!’
This time, when Yudhi missed the kill with a 3, leaving his opponent on 58, Saha instantly placed some counters ready by the grid. As Saha whispered feverishly to Yudhi, Shakuni knocked his dice once and placed a stack of forty-three.
‘Now Shakuni’s got a line of a hundred and thirty-two, sire!’ cried Sanjaya. ‘He’s only got four left off the grid, and he’s not even going for the kill ―’
The moment Yudhi saw the black vertex of Shakuni’s next dice, he was ready, darting to protect his last stack at the end of the line. Since the dice row was now rather long, Shakuni did not seem to care for his chances of reaching there first:
