by Andrea Ring
There’s a pause.
“Did Manoj just make a joke?” Faaris asks.
Kai chuckles softly. “I do believe he did.”
“I have a highly developed sense of humor,” Manoj says. “I simply find, most often, that it’s wasted on the two of you.”
Kai and Faaris crack up.
“Can we please focus?” Manoj says. “I vote we leave in the morning.”
“You’re already packed,” Faaris says. “Let’s leave now. I don’t want Saphala’s father to catch wind that she’s here.”
“We leave in the morning,” Kai says. “It’s difficult enough traveling in the dark, and I don’t want to attempt it with two women. I mean, two women who have physical difficulties. I’m sure Saphala could use another night of rest.”
I smile to myself. Kai knows I’m awake and listening.
“Let’s all turn in,” he says. He sits on the edge of the bed and rubs a hand down my arm. “Nili?”
“Hmm?” I say.
“Would you like to spend the night with Saphala? I’m sure you’d be a comfort to her.”
I have no wish to leave Kai’s warm bed, but I nod. “Thank you for thinking of her. I think she hasn’t really processed the whole thing. She wouldn’t speak to me about it.”
“Different people handle trauma differently,” he says. “You, you used it as an opportunity to become a greater version of yourself, but I think most people have trouble facing it. When soldiers return from war, for instance, they often refuse to speak about it.”
“Have you been to war?” I ask.
“No. We’ve been lucky that since I’ve come of age, full-scale war hasn’t touched Jatani. There’ve been skirmishes with pirates and such, but my father never let me actively participate.”
“And yet you are Commander of the Royal Navy,” I say.
“Ironic, isn’t it?”
“Do you want to go to war?” I ask.
“Well, I don’t want war. But I would like to test myself, if that makes sense.”
I don’t comment. We’re both thinking it — soon enough, Kai may get his wish.
***
Manoj escorts me the five steps to Saphala’s room, and I find her sitting by the window, staring out into the blackness.
“May I sleep with you?” I ask her. “I think it’s best I don’t spend the night with three men.”
Saphala stands, laughing. “I don’t know about that. But of course, my princess, you may join me.”
We get settled under the blankets and face each other.
“What were you looking at, out the window?” I ask her.
“Just the village,” she says. “It looks the same, smaller perhaps, but I’m sure that’s just my perspective. Nothing has changed, and yet everything has changed.”
“Why don’t you want to go back home?” I ask her. “You must miss your family.”
Saphala sighs and rolls to her back. “My father’s not a good man, Nili,” she says. “He’s hiding things. He let me go away. In fact, he was the one who insisted I go away. I won’t go back to him. Ever.”
I gasp. “But…what? He is the one? Oh, Saphala, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“It’s okay as long as I don’t have to live with him,” she says. “Have you heard any word of Lili?”
I swallow. Lili is Saphala’s sister, two years younger, and her complete opposite. Where Saphala was haughty and foreword, Lili was humble and shy. Where Saphala wished for riches and jewels, Lili wished for love.
Lili ended up with both. She’s been Shiva’s mistress for several cycles, and Shiva rewards her family well. They are still untouchables, but the Parsa home looks like it belongs to a merchant.
I don’t know how much of this I should reveal to Saphala. Her jealousy would only be roused, and I’m not sure there’s a point.
“Lili is well,” I say.
“Is she married?”
“No, she still lives at home with your father, though right now she’s at the barracks. Have you heard about the barracks?”
“Yes. The one good thing I can say about my exile is that I did not lack for information,” Saphala says bitterly. “When will the girls return home? Has your engagement been announced?”
“No,” I say. “We’re waiting to return to Indrapur. I’m sure the girls will all be disappointed. Especially when they hear it’s me marrying the prince.”
“Well, half the girls from Dabani are untouchables just like us,” she says. “I think you’ll give them hope, hope that they can become more than a fisherman’s daughter or a corpse-washer’s wife.”
“Do you think so?” I ask her.
She flips back to me. “Of course. I know you’ve given me that hope.”
Saphala’s hands find mine under the covers. We fall asleep, our hands clasped tightly between us.
***
Faaris insists on riding with Saphala, and in the interest of safety, since Kai is the better swordsman, Kai determines I should ride with Manoj.
I don’t mind. I’d like to get to know the man Kai calls his best friend better.
“Tell me about your life at the palace,” I say to him. “What are your duties?”
“I’m Kai’s Chief Advisor, so any matter he has a question on, we consult. It keeps me quite busy. Kai is full of questions.”
I smile. “And you’ve known each other since childhood?”
“Practically from birth,” he says. “My parents are nobles, contemporaries of the king. My father serves as head of the treasury.”
“What were you like as children?”
“Kai was curious and adventuresome. Always climbing a tree, or stealing a bun from the kitchens. I mostly ran after him and told him to stop acting like a fool.”
I laugh. “You shaped him, Manoj. It’s like he has a little voice playing in his head, helping him to make the right decisions. I’m sure that voice is yours.”
He twists in the saddle to look at me. “That’s a nice thing for you to say.”
“It’s true. There’s no one’s opinion he values more. I know I’ve only known him a short time, but I can see that clearly.”
I didn’t say those things just to win Manoj to my side, but that’s the effect they have. Manoj is in a fine, chatty mood as we ride through the last of the outer fields of Dabani.
“Why are you not married?” I ask him. “Aren’t all of you a bit old to be single?”
He shrugs. “Kai couldn’t marry until this cycle, and I think Faaris and I just took our cues from him. Neither of us wanted to be married and raising kids while the others were free to play about.”
“So you’ve done a lot of playing, have you?”
Manoj clears his throat. “That’s not what I meant. I mean—”
I laugh. “It’s okay, Manoj. I get it.”
He blows out a breath. “Kai is actually quite different from most men in our culture,” he says. “Yes, he’s had his share of fun, but he’s never considered having a mistress. He believes it’s disrespectful to the marriage vows.”
“Perhaps that has to do with his mother,” I suggest.
Manoj nods. “Ask him about it when you get a chance. There are a few important stories there.”
I wait for him to say more, but Manoj stays silent. Amazing. A person who actually doesn’t gossip?
“Maja taught you to do magic, yes?” he asks suddenly.
“He helped me tap into my talents, if that’s what you mean.”
He nods. “Would you teach me? If we’re going to be fighting magic, I should be prepared.”
“I’m not really a teacher, and I’ve only had a few days of lessons,” I say.
“Please, my princess,” he says.
That’s the second my princess I’ve received. Saphala said it sarcastically, but Manoj is serious.
I grip his waist tighter and lean forward, resting my chin on his shoulder so he can hear me properly.
“Think about what you’re good at,” I say. “T
hink about a time you did something, anything, and it was completely natural, easy.”
“Numbers,” he says. “I’ve always been good at numbers.”
“Can you add large sums in your head?”
“To a point.”
“I’m going to give you two numbers to add,” I say. “Close your eyes. Don’t think. Try to let the answer come to you naturally. Ready? 3,789 and 6,937.”
“10,726,” he says immediately. We both take a few seconds to calculate the sum properly.
“I think that’s right,” I say, looking slyly at my fingers.
“Oh, it’s right,” he says. “That was amazing. Thank you.”
“But it won’t really help you when the assassin shows up,” I say. “We need something more physical. You were pretty good on the rope when we crossed the Swifty.”
“There’s a creek in Indrapur,” he says. “We played there as children, but as we grew, I’d visit it alone. Sometimes I needed to get away and think. The palace is very crowded…anyway, you can cross the creek without getting wet, but you have to hop on about twenty very slippery rocks. I’ve had a lot of practice.”
“What about weapons?” I ask him. “Faaris is skilled with a sword. Is there some weapon you’re partial to?”
“I do the butchery when we hunt,” he says. “I’ve never actually killed anything with a knife, but I’m fast in breaking down a carcass.”
“We can try a knife when we camp for the night,” I say. “What about fire? Ever tried to light one?”
He chuckles. “Not with my finger, no. But I do have an affinity for other elements. I’m thinking of earth in particular. I’m a tracker, one of the best in the kingdom. I always ride point in a hunt and pick up the trail. Could that be magic?”
“I bet it is,” I say. “I have a bit of magic for listening and hearing. Let me try to hear something, and you can try to see it.”
We go quiet. I can hear the horses’ hooves clip-clopping in the dirt. I can hear Saphala laughing with Faaris. I block those out.
A bird chirps to our left and skims the leaves of a tree. It chitters to its mate, and the mate answers back.
I hear a small rodent scuffling in a bush about twenty yards ahead.
“A mouse. Up ahead to the right,” I whisper.
Manoj scans the area. “I see a mole,” he says. “How do I see it? It’s hidden from the road. It’s—”
“Digging,” I say.
He laughs. “Your hearing is good. Wait.”
I wait patiently, listening to the sounds of nature as the trees around us begin to grow more dense and we enter the woods separating Dabani from Indrapur.
It’s a cacophony of sound, really. Thousands of birds, the hum and buzz of insects, the gentle breath of the wind rustling the leaves of trees, the chatter of squirrels, the—
I freeze.
“Human,” I whisper, my body going rigid. “Five hundred paces. Just left of the road.”
Manoj slows the horse and raises his hand in the air. I turn in my seat, and I see Kai and Faaris freeze their mounts at his signal.
“Slip off, take Saphala, and find a place to hide. Do not move from your hiding place. We will return for you.”
I give him one squeeze for good luck and slip off the side of his horse. Faaris lowers Saphala to the ground, and I run to her, grab her hand, and hustle us into the trees.
“What is it?’ Saphala whispers.
“Human. Probably just a traveler, but we’re not taking any chances. Quiet.”
The trees are rather sparse at this point in the wood, so I choose a cluster of bushes to hide behind. We scare a rabbit out of its den, and Saphala and I huddle down amongst the thorny branches.
I hear swords ring as they are loosened from their scabbards.
“Everything okay?” a voice whispers in my ear, and we both jump, choking on screams.
“Shiva!” I whisper furiously. “What are you doing here? Are the men safe?”
“Bandits,” he says calmly. “Faaris and Kai will dispatch them. But two are headed this way to take the horses. And there’s one more floating around out here. He’s powerful. He can hide himself from me.”
Saphala starts to shake.
I listen hard. I can hear Faaris and Kai shouting menacingly, but that’s it.
“Can I make it to the horses first?” I ask him.
“You may get on but they’ll see you. And they’ll track you.”
“Can I reach the packs and make it back here?”
“If you go now.”
I don’t think about it. I jump up and do my limping version of a sprint back to the horses.
I reach Manoj’s horse and unbuckle his pack. As I take a step to run back, a scruffy man in tattered clothes and a foot-long beard appears in front of me.
“Whoa there, girly,” he says, his grimy fingers playing along the edge of the knife in his hands. “Give me the pack.”
“Take the horses and go,” I say. “I don’t want any trouble.”
He chuckles at that. “But trouble you found. Throw me the pack, get on the horse, and we’ll be on our way.”
“No.” I twist my fingers into the pack, trying to appear agitated.
His face darkens. “I ain’t gonna ask twice. Throw me the pack!”
I’ve always had good aim.
I toss the pack at him as hard as I can. He catches it, stepping back with a grunt.
Then I grip the knife I removed from the pack, hilt in my sweaty palm, and throw it overhand at him.
It whistles through the air, tumbling tip over hilt, and buries itself in his throat. I run over and yank it out, blood fountaining in the air and spraying my veil. I run the blade over his throat in a wide slit, grab the pack, and stand, listening hard.
Footsteps. On the other side of the horse, the side where I need to be.
I wipe the blade quickly on the dead man’s trousers and crouch over him.
Running footsteps.
“Heavens, Dinesh, what happened?” this new man says, rounding Manoj’s horse. He freezes as he surveys the scene.
I focus and react. The blade flies again, landing in his upper thigh with a sickening thud. The man crumples to the ground like a sad sack of grain. Blood is already darkening the dirt around him.
The man tries to speak but gasps in pain instead. I take the pack, heavy with coin and Manoj’s exacting provisions standards, and smash it into the man’s face. I extract the knife and slice open his throat for good measure.
Then I take the pack and run.
XLIV. PRINCE KAI
Faaris takes out the second man easily, and we stand around, panting.
Manoj wanders further down the road.
“There are more,” he says, crouching in the dust. “Three more.” He stands and scans the surrounding wood. “I don’t see them.”
“Nili,” I say, and I take off running, Faaris and Manoj hot on my heels.
We reach the horses, and there’s a blood bath. My stomach heaves, not from the blood but from the panic, and I fight not to vomit.
A woman screams.
We dive into the woods and run.
***
“Don’t hurt her,” Nili says. “There’s no need to hurt her.”
“Why are you covered in blood?” a man screams. “Where are my friends?”
“It’s my blood,” she says. “They hurt me and stole our horses. They’re gone.”
“They wouldn’t leave me!” he shouts. “They didn’t.”
“Let her go and you can follow them,” she says. “No harm will come to you.”
“Drop the knife! Drop it now.”
Nili hesitates, and the man presses the tip of his blade into the tender skin of Saphala’s throat. Blood runs down her neck. Her eyes flutter.
Saphala’s knees give out. The man cannot hold her up with one arm, and for a moment, he’s exposed. I nod to Faaris, who is creeping up behind him.
But Nili reacts first. She cocks back her arm and
throws her blade. It lands squarely in his eyeball with a stomach-turning squelch.
Faaris pulls the man away and cuts his throat while Nili rushes to Saphala.
“It’s okay,” she says softly, caressing Saphala’s cheek. “You’re safe. He’s dead.”
Saphala bursts into tears.
Manoj runs over and assists, cleaning Saphala’s wound while Nili comforts her and Faaris holds her head.
I should probably assist, too.
But I can’t. I can’t move. I just saw…I can’t believe what I just saw. Nili, my Nili, just killed three strong men. My Nili just saved the life of her friend.
My Nili is a hero.
I lean on a tree for support.
“Where are you hurt?” Manoj asks her. “Take off this infernal veil so I can see!”
Nili laughs. “It’s okay, Manoj. I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”
“But all this blood—”
“Is from those men,” she says. “I was thinking of you. I got a little carried away with your knife.”
I frown at that. She was thinking of him?
“Magic?” he asks.
“Definitely. I just focused. And my emotions were fueling it, I mean, I was scared out of my mind, but I just let the magic take over. It guided my actions. I didn’t even need to think about it.”
“I want that trick,” he says, winking at her. Winking! “You’ll show me, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Excuse me,” I say. “We can fawn over Nili and her magic later. For now, we need to get on the road and get cleaned up.”
Manoj stands, brushing the dirt from his knees. “There’s a stream a couple of leagues ahead.”
Faaris lifts Saphala to her feet. She manages to stand, even though she’s shaky.
“Let’s go,” I say, stalking off ahead of them.
***
Nilaruna catches up to me and tries to keep pace, but I’m walking faster than a horse trots, and she’s limping heavily.
“Kai, please wait.”
I don’t, and Nilaruna quickens her steps.
“Kai, please. What’s wrong?”
I say nothing.
“Kai!” She grabs my tunic sleeve and yanks me to a stop. “Tell me what’s wrong. Please.”
“I can’t look at you while you’re covered in blood,” I say.
“You have blood on your tunic, and I’m looking at you,” she says.
