There is another way, the Maharaja had said that day. In fact, it turned to be two kinds of ways; and none of them made any sense to Narendra.
First, Srivijaya would try to reconcile with Kutai, thus messenger was sent to the former Kedatuan in the next day. Narendra knew nothing of what Sumatrabhumi had to offer to his ex-wife. The hostility between Palembang and Kutai was as worse as it was with Singhasari. For all he knew, Dewi Tara of Kutai will prefer to attack Srivijaya itself rather than helping it fighting its enemies.
The second strategy—if it can to be called as such—was totally bizarre it was met with incredulous stares the moment it was proposed. But because it was coming out of the Maharaja’s mouth, no Kumaramatya was brave enough to protest (even Po Nagar kept her mouth). This second strategy obliged each men of Palembang to take part in the “war preparation”. Taking part in the war preparation meant that one should either joined the army or participated in the construction of Candi Balachandra. In Narendra’s point of view, the first option was wrong, and the second option was simply illogical. The common folks, that obviously lacked proper military training, will only become a burden in war. As for the involvement in the Candi’s construction, Narendra failed to see its correlation to the crisis Srivijaya was facing.
Yet Narendra realized how absolute a Maharaja’s words were as he was sitting on top of his horse on a hill looking down to the area where people working on the construction of the Candi. His mind was asking: What kind of man Sumatrabhumi has turned himself into?
On top of that, what kind of people Palembang’s common folks had turned themselves into, as he watched a dozen or so men transporting a big chunk of rock using wood sledge. To his astonishment, people’s participation to the Candi construction was high. There was no resistance when the palace assigned the work to Palembang’s men. Instead, they seemed enthusiastic. There were even people from Muaro Jambi who volunteered.
Narendra’s musing was interrupted when he heard someone called his name. He turned around and find a stout, extravagantly-dressed man on a horse—accompanied by a couple of hulubalang, one for each side—trotted toward him. Apart from the rider’s clothing, Narendra caught something else that was ludicrous: the visibly exhausted horse, who rightfully to be so after carrying that much of weight from the palace all the way to the hill.
“How was the war preparation? Is it going well?” asked Heng Piseth sarcastically while positioned his horse beside Narendra’s to have a look on the situation below.
“At least everyone seemed high-spirited,” replied the Senopati. Narendra never liked the Khmeri counselor but at that peculiar time there was no reason to keep that idea.
Heng Piseth asked for his drinking bottle to his men and drank it in a haste. “With a weather like this, I only want to fling myself into a cool bath tub and stay there for hours—” he stopped to wipe his forehead—“now these people are hauling rocks!”
“It’s not like they have a choice.”
Heng Piseth paused, then he asked: “Are you a man of God, Senopati?”