And then, after what felt like hours, the soldier resurfaced. Utter fear was written on his face. But his thirst for air was so great that he couldn’t speak for a while and was only able to gobble air, like a starving man gobbles stale food.
“M…” the soldier finally began to speak, and it seemed like his tongue was barely able to form words so great was his fear and excitement. “Mo… Monster!”
Monster?
A rope was thrown down, for the man was crying “Pull me up! Pull me up!” He grabbed the rope for dear life, and the other soldiers pulled him up to the deck. Somebody brought him a towel to soak off the water, even as the man shivered like a reed in the wind.
“What happened?” Ritika inquired the man. “Did you see a monster?”
“There is a great beast underwater,” the man said, terror pouring from his face. “I only saw the shadow, but it was coming towards the surface at a great speed. It had giant wing like appendages, with which it swam, and a very long tail. It almost looked like a water dragon, if one exists!”
“A water dragon?” Breda said.
Just then a man led out a cry of elation.
“It’s the king! He’s survived!”
Everybody rushed to the side of the ship once again.
Ritika looked down. Why, it was Xuhn! How he had survived so long under water? But there he was, looking quite wet, his hair sticky and flat on his scalp. Xuhn had brought something to the surface. A skull—one with dagger-like teeth.
Without a doubt it was a dragon skull. Why, those teeth could have been Mortugal’s!
“Throw me some ropes!” Xuhn shouted.
The men did so. Xuhn secured the dragon skull with four ropes and asked the men to heave it on board. Then Xuhn too was pulled up.
Xuhn dried himself as everyone marvelled at the dragon skull. It had sea weed sticking to it and Xuhn ordered the soldiers to bathe and clean it. Ritika could see certain lines and arrowheads engraved onto the forehead of the skull. Making up some guts, she approached Xuhn. Her heart was drenched in fear at the striking resemblance of the dragon skull with Mortugal’s head.
“Why did you risk your life for it, Xuhn?” she asked.
“It’s important,” Xuhn said. He was quite dry now and had put on his royal clothes. “It’s important,” Xuhn repeated.
He approached the dragon skull, and picked it up with some effort. Everybody watched as Xuhn carried the dragon skull to his cabin, refusing any help from the men.
Xuhn shut the door after whispering something to a soldier’s ear.
“The king has asked that he should not be disturbed for any reason, however trivial or serious it may be,” the soldier announced.
The men dispersed. Some took their positions, while others went to their rooms under the deck.
Ritika, Ruponi and Breda gathered at the far edge of the deck, holding onto the railings as the ship moved gently in the water. They made sure they were out of anybody’s earshot.
“I am telling you,” Breda said, “no human, vampire or werewolf can survive so long underwater!”
“Leave that aside,” Ruponi said, “I am afraid that skull is Mortugal’s!”
A tremor occurred in Ritika’s heart. She imagined a headless Mortugal lying on the ocean floor. Was the real Xuhn too lying at the bottom of the ocean, while sea creatures nibbled at his corpse? A chill climbed up her spine, and she shook her head to relieve herself of the ghastly imagination.
“Have hope, mother,” Ritika found herself saying, gazing at the far horizon where the sea met the sky, “have hope.”
***
Chapter 36
The cab came to a halt.
Xuhn knew this because the basket had stopped swaying. A chill climbed up his spine.
He would have been more optimistic had Olwyne been in a better mood. Ever since returning from the forest last night, her face was pale, her shoulders drooped, and her eyes unfocused.
The basket began to sway again as Olwyne climbed down the carriage. After a handful of moments, which involved a lot more swaying— Mortugal looked nauseous—Olwyne removed the cloth from the basket.
They were in a small room full with all sorts of furniture-making tools. A half-completed chair sat in the centre of the room, and the floor was covered with saw dust. Cool air gushed in from a single window.
Olwyne wasn’t alone. A middle-aged man was with her and they were sitting on a bed. Xuhn recalled seeing the man at the meeting yesterday night. The man wore half-moon spectacles and had a very blunt nose, and his face was dotted with pimples. He smiled at Xuhn and Mortugal.
“Glad to see you two,” the man said.
“Now don’t get too excited, Trak,” Olwyne told the man, who nodded, though none of the excitement left him.
“We’ll never be enough thankful for what you are doing,” Trak said, and he really seemed to mean it.
“You brought the rope, right?” Mortugal asked Olwyne, for the third time since leaving home.
“Yes, Mortugal. It’s in my pocket,” Olwyne replied with much reassurance.
“Good,” Mortugal said.
“You seem afraid,” Xuhn teased the dragon. Xuhn couldn’t see the point behind Mortugal’s nervousness. Mortugal had acted so bravely in countless situations before. Suddenly, the realisation hit Xuhn hard—Mortugal had been a dragon then. Now he was just a human with no powers.
“You should be afraid,” Mortugal replied darkly, “they see you flying over the palace, they’ll shoot you down.”
“Yes, be careful, Xuhn,” Olwyne added. Xuhn jumped out of the basket. He flapped his wings and flew to the window. The palace was clearly viewable from the spot. It wasn’t a wonder why Trak had set up shop in the Royal Land despite the large taxes.
Olwyne moved to the window too.
“You see the side of the castle with those big red windows?”
Xuhn peered hard and spotted them.
“Yes.”
“Fly over the roof there. You should be able to see a certain roof that is very low and has a hole. Be careful, nobody should see you, otherwise all will be lost.”
“I understand,” Xuhn said.
"Mortugal and I leave now,” Olwyne said. She returned to the bed and helped Mortugal climb into one of her pockets.
Mortugal waved at Xuhn one final time. Xuhn winked back.
“Wait for about half-an-hour, and then fly,” Olwyne said. And she left.
“I’ll be at the shop outside,” Trak said to Xuhn. And Trak too went out of the room. A clock hung on a wall, and Xuhn patiently waited, staring at it as the minutes passed.
When half-an-hour had gone by, Xuhn said a quick prayer to the gods to help him succeed. Then he flapped his wings and flew to the skies through the window.
Xuhn flew high and circled the palace. He spotted a dark spot in a very low roof. He guessed this to be the hole Olwyne had mentioned, and flew towards it fast. The hole was located such that through the windows on the higher parts of the palace, one could easily keep an eye on the hole.
Xuhn warily landed beside it and looked inside. The very air was turning purple the moment it entered the room through the hole. Down below there was the chest, and in it was a dragon egg. It was gigantic, even for a dragon, and Xuhn could only fathom how female dragons managed to lay such big eggs. But the chest in which it was kept was so big, that the egg looked tiny. Xuhn reckoned the egg was actually smaller than the eggs of birds found in the new continent.
Xuhn peered into the darkness of the room. A small figure was climbing up the side of the chest.
“Pssst,” Xuhn called Mortugal.
The latter looked up and smiled. Mortugal was also carrying a long rope.
Mortugal finally reached the top of the side of the chest, and then he jumped onto the cushion on which the egg was placed. Mortugal seemed very wary of touching the egg.
Xuhn looked around. He saw the shadow of a troll on a window above.
“Quick!” Xuhn said.
>
Mortugal looked about himself and tied one end of the rope on a hook-like portion of the chest. Then very carefully, he touched the other end of the rope with the egg. Instantly that part of the rope began to levitate. Xuhn watched in pure astonishment as the rope climbed higher and higher in the air. In a few moments the rope had come out of the hole in the ceiling. Xuhn grabbed the rope with his jaws.
Next, Mortugal gingerly moved his hands over the egg as he prepared to grab it. Mortugal licked his lips, and in the blink of an eyelid he had grabbed and lifted the dragon egg that was easily one fourth the size of his own tiny body.
As Mortugal began to levitate, he seized the end of the rope that was tied to the chest. But he seemed to lose control over his legs, as they began to levitate above his head and he was in an upside down position. Somehow, Mortugal forced his legs down and he climbed up the rope, carrying the egg.
Xuhn glanced up. A window had opened and a troll wearing an official suite was looking out of it. Thankfully the troll was only observing birds in the sky. But it wouldn’t take long for him to glance down and see Xuhn waiting beside the hole.
“Quick!” Xuhn said to Mortugal. “There is a troll above!”
Mortugal nodded and climbed faster.
Once out of the hole Mortugal still clung to the rope with one hand, while holding the egg with the other like it were a baby.
“Get on my back,” Xuhn said.
“Wait a moment,” Mortugal said, glancing up. His eyes widened. Xuhn looked up. The troll was peering hard at them, apparently wondering what creatures they exactly were.
The troll’s jaw fell open, once he spotted the egg.
The troll flung out his arm, a firm finger locked in their direction.
“Get on my back, Mortugal,” Xuhn said, not understanding why Mortugal was waiting. The troll shouted something like “Wait!” in a very harsh voice, and disappeared into the room.
“He’s going to get others,” Xuhn said.
“I can’t climb onto your back now,” Mortugal said. “If I sit on you then I’ll begin to levitate and you’ll go one way and I’ll go another. Touching the dragon egg in presence of the purple essence makes you levitate, and the effect ceases only after a while.”
“But we can’t wait like this!” Xuhn protested. “They’ll shoot us with arrows, or throw nets at us!” Xuhn's heart drummed, but Mortugal had suddenly acquired a very calm look. A grin split Mortugal’s face.
“You afraid?”
“I don’t want to die, Mortugal!” Xuhn shouted. The heat of the moment summoned an idea to his mind. He bit the rope off just below where Mortugal was holding it.
Mortugal began to hover instantly. Xuhn had been already holding one end of the rope with his jaw, and he now flapped his wings.
“Hold on tight!” Xuhn said through gritted teeth. And he took to the air, pulling Mortugal along.
“You are going to kill me, and crack this egg!” Mortugal said, somehow hauling himself up Xuhn’s back. Xuhn looked towards the window. The troll had returned and this time there were two archers with him.
The archers released their arrows. One arrow flew past Xuhn. Xuhn shuddered, remembering Mortugal being hit a Bnome arrow in the village of the Vampires. Such an incident now would be disastrous.
Xuhn tried to fly as high as possible, hoping the arrows wouldn’t be able to reach him. Just then, his eyes fell on a certain window of the palace.
One of the panes shattered. And behind the shattered pane was a very small figure.
Xuhn changed his direction immediately and flew towards it.
“Noww wwhat?” Mortugal said, against the roar of the wind.
But Xuhn’s eyes were locked on the figure behind the pane. It was Vivek. He seemed to be waving at Xuhn. Many other windows too opened now, and countless archers began to shoot arrows at Xuhn. But somehow, even as arrows whizzed by missing him by inches, Xuhn made it to his old friend.
“Vivek!” Xuhn cried in utter joy. There were tears in Vivek’s eyes.
“Where’s Corpsia?” Mortugal asked urgently.
The same question popped in Xuhn’s mind. Where was Corpsia, for the room inside looked quite empty?
“The darned king has her imprisoned somewhere!” Vivek said, and his tears no longer seemed joyful.
“What do you mean?” Mortugal barked.
“I think the king wants to marry her,” Vivek said. Time seemed to freeze at these words. The troll king was at least a thousand times the size of Corpsia. Why on earth would he want to marry her?
Just then, nothing short of an explosion occurred as an arrow became embedded on the wall near the window.
“So, you mean she’s not here at the moment?” Xuhn asked.
“I don’t know where she is, they took her somewhere—”
“Okay, okay, tell us later,” Xuhn said, “now hop on or we’ll all be killed.” The arrows of the trolls were fat, easily the girth of Vivek’s torso. These were not Bnome arrows, Xuhn told himself. Just one was enough to kill him.
“But Corpsia—” Mortugal protested.
“No time, Mortugal,” Xuhn said, “I am sorry. Vivek, hop on!”
And Vivek climbed onto him. Just then, an arrow sunk into the place, where Vivek had been bare moments earlier.
Evading countless more arrows, Xuhn flew to the sky. It was exhausting, but his fear made him flap his wings hard.
“So where are we supposed to go now?” Xuhn asked, once in the safety of the heights. His question had been aimed at Mortugal, but the former dragon didn’t answer, angry that they hadn’t been able to rescue Corpsia.
“Let’s go to Zergo’s house,” Vivek suggested instead.
“Not doing that again,” Xuhn said. “The next time I see little Berdin, I’ll freak out.”
“You shouldn’t say so,” Vivek admonished. “You should have seen Berdin after he took us back to his father. His father slapped him, and tears streamed from his eyes for the rest of the day.”
“So Zergo brought you to the king?” Xuhn asked.
“Yes, the day following our separation,” Vivek answered. They had reached a great height, and Xuhn allowed himself some relaxation. He did not flap his wings much, and glided lazily in the direction where he thought Olwyne’s house was. But Xuhn didn’t have any intention of going to her house.
He might confuse the way and get lost. That would be a big problem. Instead, after sometime of hiding in the clouds, he would descend to Trak’s shop. That would be best.
“Zergo brought us to the palace. The king thanked Zergo, and sent him away. The king was actually nice to us for a couple of days. But we should have known there was something malicious behind his oily smile. One night he just grabbed me and put me into this big glass box. And he took away Corpsia from me saying that he would make her big and marry her.”
“So you were able to break out of the box today?” Xuhn said, while the image of a gigantic Corpsia flashed in his mind.
“All thanks to the king’s cat,” Vivek said. “It pushed me off the table where the box was. The glass box shattered to pieces, and by some luck I was also able to escape any injury. I climbed to the window. Then, seeing you, I broke the glass pane. Thankfully you spotted me. I have never been as lucky as today, Xuhn. Not in my entire stupid life.”
“A cat helped Mortugal too,” Xuhn said, just to get the former dragon out of his sad state.
“I guess it was the same one that helped Vivek today,” Mortugal finally said. “Good cat, though it almost ate me at first. I wonder what enabled me to charm the cat, perhaps it was touching the dragon egg, I don’t know.”
“Tell me what happened to you two, after you were separated from us,” Vivek said.
Xuhn did a quick recollection of the events to Vivek.
“So they are planning to overthrow the king, and you are helping them?” Vivek asked.
“Yes,” Xuhn replied, “though I don’t really know how that will benefit us.”
“We
already have this dragon egg,” Mortugal said, cradling the egg in his arms.
“I wonder if it’ll hatch,” said Xuhn. He was feeling exhausted now. It was not clear from up above as to what the situation down below was. But without a doubt, Xuhn knew that all the soldiers were gazing up at the sky, in an effort to spot the strange bird that had stolen the dragon egg.
Xuhn spotted some birds in the distance. They were large black birds, circling the sky. Xuhn had a sudden desire to fly with them.
“I am not sure about what you have in mind, Xuhn,” Mortugal said darkly, “but it’s best you don’t go near those birds.”
“Come one, they are just birds,” Xuhn replied.
“Those are gigantic birds,” Vivek said in a warning tone. But Xuhn ignored. He approached the birds and began to fly in circles like them. He had always wished to fly with birds. So this lifted his spirits.
The birds had webbed feet that told of a coastal life. They looked herbivores at best. They were calm and let Xuhn fly with them.
And then Xuhn made the mistake.
A worry hit his heart and he took a sudden turn to see if the palace was still in sight. In the process he collided with a bird, a younger chick. Things went out of hand.
The entire group of birds attacked him. They hit him with their long beaks. It was quite a beating.
“Use your fire!” Mortugal yelled.
“Okay!”
Xuhn spewed flames in every direction he could turn his head. Thankfully, this made the birds flee.
Xuhn took the direction of the castle, his heart galloping from the incident.
“That was close,” Vivek said. “They almost hit my head once!”
“Didn’t I warn you?” Mortugal said, furious.
“You were right,” Xuhn said in a low voice. He felt guilty. Trying to fulfil a random wish, he had put the lives of his friends in danger. But the incident had made some time pass, and Xuhn flew down towards Trak’s shop. He entered through the window in the back room and landed on the bed.
Mortugal and Vivek climbed down.
“You still feel light?” Xuhn asked Mortugal, who seemed to go abnormally far for every step he took.
“I should be less light in a few moments,” Mortugal replied, carefully placing the dragon egg on the soft mattress.
The Banishment of the King Page 27
