The king’s gaze shot to the Haizzem. The young man writhed in agony.
“Healers!” screamed the trembling, red-faced king. He placed a powerful hand on his son’s shoulder. “What happened?”
The Haizzem spoke with his eyes closed, clenching his teeth in pain. “He defeated me. He stabbed me. I should be dead. I don’t know how I came to be here.”
The king put his other hand on Caio’s forehead. “Lucia was in your chair. She said a Pawelon woman interfered with your combat. Was it this pig?”
Caio opened his eyes and fixed them on Narayani. “This girl, she told me to kill her if I was going to kill the prince.” Caio spoke slowly, breathing painfully. “I couldn’t do it. Father, where is Lucia?”
“She took your place. I saw her hair. She took Ilario’s spear in her chest.” The King nearly choked as he uttered the words, “She is dead.” He pointed at Narayani, flinging his arm toward her like a whip. All of his exposed skin seemed flexed and hard, from his fingers to his neck and forehead. “She’ll be the first one to pay the price.”
“How could it be?” Caio cried out as bald men in flowing cream robes rushed onto the platform to minister to him. Narayani tried to focus on the mantras Aayu taught her, but terror and nausea paralyzed her.
Focus!
“She sacrificed herself for me,” Caio said softly. His eyes seemed to be searching for an answer, then focused on his father again. “Lucia interfered, too.”
The king roared, “By dying for you?”
“My King,” a high-ranking soldier in a crisp red uniform interrupted the conversation from the opposite end of the platform, “soon after the Pawelon stabbed down, he removed his spear. Then we all saw him disappear. Her Grace disappeared soon after that.”
“Then where is she?” the king asked.
“We have not seen her since, nor the prince.”
“Gods damn all of this.” The king lunged forward and grabbed the back of Narayani’s dress.
Narayani fought him, trying to stay down. The king yanked her up onto her knees, then onto her feet. Her wobbly legs would have collapsed again without the king forcing her upright. Thousands of eyes feasted upon her like starving wolves to prey.
“Warriors! The royal daughter of Rezzia has been taken from us. Just now, in the center of the valley, she was stabbed in the chest by the Prince of Pawelon.” His voice then wavered as he said, “My daughter may be dying this very moment, or she may already be dead.”
The king raised his open left hand and turned as he spoke, facing different sections of his army. “Your Haizzem is weak and wounded.” The king’s rough hands pressed against Narayani’s back as he turned her to face each section of the crowd. “This Pawelon pig went into the valley, violating the rules of the engagement, and distracted your Haizzem just as he was going to kill the prince. She caused him to lose his combat!”
Wails of hatred and woe arose from the army. Narayani’s heart burned like a funeral pyre.
“Let every one of us get in her!” a soldier yelled from the crowd, quickly joined by a chorus of cheers.
Focus, damn it! Focus!
“Make the pretty pig squeal!” another voice shouted from the throng. Narayani heard ugly voices throughout the mob imitating crying pigs. Terror gripped her so much she couldn’t feel her body.
She twisted her head to focus on the Haizzem as he tried to stand. He collapsed into his seat, but the bald men around him helped him to his feet and held him upright. The army quieted and waited for his words.
“Father, what if Lucia still lives? Perhaps we could still exchange her for this girl.”
The king held Narayani up as she tried to fall again, pulling on her dress with one hand. “You are right, my son, but she will pay for her crime. Now sit and rest.” The king called to some men beside the platform, “Guards, we have a prisoner. Take her away from here and guard her life with your own. One way or another, she has value to me.”
Narayani fell onto her hands and knees as the king released her. Her leather medicine bag lay nearby. Her brain stammered one desperate thought after another, trying to concoct a scheme for survival.
“Now we will have our battle!” The king said in Caio’s direction. Caio sat with the aid of the bald men; he closed his eyes again and lowered his head into his hands. “Yes,” the king nodded as he hissed the sound.
He looked to the west and walked to the edge of the scaffold, shaking the floor. “Now we will have our battle!” he announced with a muscular arm and clenched fist shaking above his head. “Now we will have our battle!”
The crowd raised countless swords and yelled with fury.
Helmeted soldiers with dark beards and hairy arms grabbed Narayani, lifting her off the floor. She squirmed in their grasp. She looked to Caio, but his face remained buried in his hands.
“My bag!” she managed to say in Rezzian. She understood their spoken language better than she could speak it. “I am healer. I can help Haizzem. I need my bag.”
The king turned around. “You lying bitch!”
“Father!” Caio came to life and stood. “She speaks the truth. She is desperate and scared, but she believes she can heal me.”
Narayani nodded repeatedly.
The king seemed to bite his tongue and shook his head. “She will not lay a finger on you with any of her dark magic.”
“You will need me,” Narayani stumbled over the words. “Caio injury from Rezzian magic. Not Pawelon. Your medicine not heal him. Mine will.”
The king clenched his jaw and flared his nostrils.
“She tells the truth as she sees it,” Caio said. The bald men supported Caio to keep him from falling. “And she is definitely a healer.”
“What on Gallea is she talking about?”
“Their prince turned Mya’s divine power against me.”
The king walked back to his seat and picked up a golden helm off the floor. He held it under his right armpit and said to his guards, “Take her bag. Under no conditions will you allow her to get anything out of it. Is this understood?”
The men nodded. A heavy soldier picked up Narayani’s leather bag.
“Make sure she does not come near Caio.” The king looked to the Haizzem. “Go and rest and let our warpriests heal you. Do not fall under her enchantments. She brings only death.”
The king stepped closer to his son. “While you heal, I will command the army. We will fight them and if Lucia is alive, we will find her. Do I have your permission to do so, my Dux Spiritus?” The king leaned his head forward in a bow.
“Yes.” Caio looked down, then winced in pain and rubbed his face again.
“I pray for your swift recovery, Caio. So that you will be able to join the fighting again.”
Narayani tried again to visualize the mantras. Her terror made the effort useless. For now.
Caio collapsed into the arms of the warpriests.
“Lay him down!” one of the warpriests commanded.
The Rezzian healers laid their hands on the Haizzem and uttered strange words Narayani did not understand. Caio’s body only twitched. He began to moan. The king looked again to Narayani and sharpened his glare.
“Your magic not heal him,” Narayani said.
The king knelt beside his son. “We do not practice magic! Say that again and I will cut out your tongue.”
Without this Caio, I am surely dead. “I can heal him. I can heal Rezzian”—not magic, what else—“divine power.”
The king gave her no answer. He told the warpriests, “As soon as you can move him, carry my son to safety.”
The bald men bowed in agreement as the king prayed over his son.
Rezzia’s king placed his golden helm over his head and stood again. He began issuing commands to older, higher-ranking men on horseback, below the platform.
The king turned once more to the warpriests and pointed at one of them. “You! Pray to Lord Danato for this: I want the pig unconscious but alive, so she cannot use her foul
magic.”
Narayani saw one of the warpriests step forward and bow to the king. The warpriest faced her and she noticed an orange tear tattooed on one of his cheeks. He began muttering in a strange tongue …
Chapter 62: For the One or the Many
AAYU COULDN’T BELIEVE what he was seeing, but he saw the saffron sage’s uniform. Rao stood up from the canyon floor, lifted the spear, and thrust it down. After that, something about the Haizzem’s body changed. Then Rao disappeared along with the body beneath him.
Aayu closed his eyes and visualized the letters of his primary sadhana on the black canvas of his mind, against his forehead. He heard the sacred syllables. His body transmuted and felt light. When he opened his eyes, the world appeared as it did before, but in less focus and with duller colors.
He ran into the wide-open valley after Rao. Aayu soon slowed to recover and pace himself. He drew a deep breath and hoped for a peaceful outcome to the day. As he came closer, he was surprised that he was able to see Rao, who was also using his sadhana to conceal himself, kneeling beside the body.
“Rao!” he yelled, still a great distance away.
Rao turned his head. “Aayu! Come here!” Rao’s barking showed his anger, an emotion Aayu wasn’t used to from his bhai.
Aayu felt too out of breath to continue running, but he walked at a quick pace the rest of the way. He soon saw the deep red hair of the heavily armored royal daughter. She lay flat against the ground, unconscious.
“You taught Narayani your sadhana?” Rao’s eyes were furious.
Oh no.
“Why, Aayu? Why?” Rao’s angry voice turned to sadness.
“Where is she?”
“She’s gone. She was here. She tried to help me.”
“What do you mean she’s gone?”
“Just before I stabbed the Haizzem, Narayani was here. They both disappeared.”
“Damn! Damn!”
“The spear went into her instead.” Rao pointed at Rezzia’s royal daughter.
“Damn!” Aayu stomped around the desert. “Rao, I’m so sorry. She made me—ah! I let her convince me. She promised me she wouldn’t come this close to you. I never should’ve trusted her. Damn it, Rao, I made a huge mistake.”
“I don’t think she’s nearby anymore.” Rao stood. “I can’t feel her presence in any way. The only thing I can think of is that the royal daughter changed places with her brother and somehow Narayani went wherever the Haizzem went.”
Aayu’s blood burned as he thought about what they might do to her. He looked at the fallen Rezzian. “Is this one alive?”
“She is. I used your sadhana on her to slow her injuries. I don’t know how long it will last. I don’t have much ojas.”
Aayu closed his eyes and beheld the shunyata mantra in his mind. He directed its power into the Rezzian, her sword, and her shield. She would remain concealed. “I’ve taken care of it.”
“Good.”
“Rao, if Narayani is with them, they won’t do anything to her if they want to see the king’s daughter again.”
“Right. I agree. That means we need to get her out of here. We’ll carry her.”
Aayu rushed to grab the woman’s feet and lifted her while Rao grabbed her under her shoulders. She bore bruises on one side of her face and on her nose, where Aayu struck her three nights ago.
You forced me to do it, woman.
“I am sorry,” Aayu said.
Rao lowered his eyes.
Aayu continued, “She told me she was going to kill herself if I didn’t help her. I thought it could help. Maybe she could use my sadhana if she needs to hide or get away from anyone.”
“I really hope you’re right.”
The woman’s body felt considerably lighter than it would have if they were in their physical bodies.
“Except for one thing,” Rao said. “The Haizzem could see her.”
“He could?” Aayu spoke the words so quickly all his breath went with them.
“He talked to her just before he was going to kill me. She argued with him. That gave me enough time to stop him.”
“Then she saved your life?”
“I would’ve rather died than see her taken.”
“Maybe she’ll return. She can use my sadhana and come right back to us.”
Rao nodded. “Aayu, it’s hard to explain what happened, but I talked to his god. Then just before I was going to be killed, I saw his goddess and she healed me.”
“That’s—”
“I know. Maybe I imagined it. But why would I imagine that? And something definitely healed me. He destroyed me, bhai. It was horrible. My entire body was crushed.”
“Let’s sort all of that out later.”
“I’m telling you, the only reason I won is because his goddess saved me. She saved me so I could stab him?”
“Yet another reason to stay far away from their foul religion. It curses them.”
By the time they reached the army, the soldiers were stirring. Soon they stood at attention, ready to march. Aayu looked to the east and three breaths later, the Rezzian army began to charge across the valley.
“What do we do?” he asked.
Rao looked around, clearly thinking through his options.
“We need to help our army,” Aayu said.
“And we need to get this woman to our citadel. One of us can take her. Please take her.”
“What if she wakes up? She’s deadly.”
Rao gritted his teeth and shook his head. “She’d be a lot heavier for one person, too. You’re right. We need to stay together. We may need her to get Narayani back, or we may need her so we can negotiate with Rezzia from a position of power.”
In front of the Rezzian army, the desert floor rumbled as if the ground were on the verge of a collapse.
This isn’t good, bhai.
An enormous golden creature shot up from the earth, scattering dirt and rocks all around. The male lion stood up on all fours, appearing taller than twenty men. It raised its black mouth to the sky and unleashed a deep, guttural roar.
“Rao?” Aayu said.
A similar beast arose beside it, this one a lioness, followed by eight more of the divine monsters.
“We have to trust our army,” Rao said. “Trust Indrajit and Briraji. They have faced this enemy before.”
“Not like this, bhai.”
“What will happen to this woman if we leave her here? What if we die and she escapes? What if she returns to her physical form and dies? We’ve got to take her to the citadel. She’s too valuable. The Haizzem will be too weak to fight and we have the royal daughter. We’ll leave this to Briraji.”
The Pawelon army held its formation. The archers readied their arrows. Aayu and Rao carried the royal daughter toward their citadel as the lions of Lord Galleazzo took careful steps toward Pawelon’s army.
Chapter 63: The Loyalty of Lions
DEVAK JUMPED OUT OF HIS CHAIR when the lions emerged. Undisciplined voices from around the Pawelon army murmured. In the middle of it all, the sun burned down its cruelty on their heads.
Here comes hell, Devak decided.
“Briraji!” Indrajit commanded.
“I will deal with the beasts, General,” the sage answered.
“Briraji,” Devak interrupted, “Can you send the king a message?
Briraji’s dark face frowned and nodded. “I can find a way.”
“Tell him we have his daughter. Tell him I will beat her until she is at the brink of death, and punish her every sick way that I can. Tell him I’ll do her ten times, unless he calls off his army and his lions. Then tell him his entire army must retreat from the valley. I’ll keep his daughter safe if he does. Otherwise, I make her my battered concubine.”
“The king’s lions, Indrajit,” Devak changed the subject. “Have they ever appeared at this size?”
“Not since the beginning of the war, My Rajah. The king may have regained some of his power.”
“No honor. None,”
Devak said with disgust. “Though I didn’t expect any. Do we go forward or back?”
Indrajit walked to the forward edge of the hill and peered eastward. He spoke in his calm, assured voice. “We dig in, drink water, and wait. If the dogs want this battle, they will have to exhaust themselves first.”
Indrajit looked back to Devak. “If they come, we’ll finish them right here.”
King Vieri leaned forward on his horse, his rear slamming against the saddle with each galloping lunge. The hot gusts blew dust into his eyes. He swung his father’s falchion above his head and issued commands from deep within his chest. “Fall in behind the lions!” he commanded his leading cavalry. Two warpriests flanked him on horseback. “Their bodies will protect you!” As his horse-riding officers reorganized and fell in behind each of Lord Galleazzo’s towering beasts, the early waves of troops followed too, trailing the ten divine creatures.
The air filled with the ominous whispers of arrows, filling the sky like a swarm of black birds gliding off a peak. The arrows fell like rain, but were mostly absorbed by the pelts of Galleazzo’s great lions.
Vieri heard a deep howl deep inside his skull and noticed his steed slowing. A gust of wind swirled around him, circling him with dancing leaves. Other cavalry outpaced his own horse. He shook his head, feeling mentally slowed. Soon, charging soldiers passed his horse as well.
What is happening, Lord?
The resounding moan increased its noise between his ears, like a ghostly owl screaming over his shoulder. A powerful gust descended on him, forcing him to halt his steed and close his eyes, forcing him to listen to the persistent and ethereal tone deep inside him.
Protect me from this foul spirit, Lord!
Vieri opened his eyes to a windy, darkening haze. Smoky strands of grey, black, and purple swirled around him. A smell like rotten eggs crawled up his nostrils. The outline of a face appeared before him, twisting and shifting in the thick smoke.
“Aren’t you the king of Rezzia?” The creaking voice rose and fell, the syllables flowing like an uneven stream of gravel.
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