Amarisa giggled and nodded.
"Indeed, this is the best circus we have in the kingdom," she said. "King Father favors them so much that he ordered the artisans to carve images of the circus so that they would always be remembered."
"Wonderful!" I exclaimed again. My eyes still gazed at their bizarre skills. Amarisa giggled at my childish excitement.
A magician performed his art of illusions while the other displayed his courage of walking through burning embers.
"I'm glad that the start of our date has already brought you joy."
"Oh Amarisa, if the start is already this gleeful, then I wish the night will never end!" I said, making Amarisa giggle.
We stopped at one of the pavilions, which had a roofed porch. It faced the direction of the bonfire and the view where we could see the circus performed.
The procession finally came to a halt. The elephant laid its enormous body onto the ground by the mahout's order. I swiftly got off first and held my hands out to Amarisa. Although several maids had come to her aid, she waved them away.
I helped Amarisa get down with my hands around her small waist. She leaned into me and I held her before swinging her around. Amarisa let out a joyous laugh.
"You're quite stronger than I expected," she commented. "Are you sure you're not a boy?"
I laughed.
"My father said I was supposed to be a boy, and I would be less of a pain in the butt," I said. "Besides all the laborious training with the avatars did that to me."
Amarisa stroked my face as if to show her sympathy. She pulled me gently by the hand then we walked towards the pavilion. Malis already jumped ahead over the wooden stairs. With her natural cat-like reflex, she took only one leap.
Up in the resting place, I found the prepared seats on the portico's floor with comfortable cushions. There were sheer curtains hanging around as if to provide us some privacy.
It felt like a theater of some sort once we all settled down.
The palace maidens quickly readied their necessary items to serve the princess's needs. Malis had found her relaxing spot in front of our tea table. Fruit and drinks were brought to us instantly.
"You had planned all these?" I asked, gesturing to the whole enclosed field.
Amarisa waved her hand at the palace maids, who then exited the pavilion.
"After I visited you, I had told the palace officers to set up a private place for me here," she said and held a golden goblet up to me. "You might like to try this Sura. It helps ease the internal pain and injuries."
I smiled and took a gulp of the drink she offered, but the taste of the strong liquor burned my throat. I spewed half of the drink out of my mouth.
"Oh holy mother, what in Hindu god's name is that?" I cried and coughed.
Amarisa brought her handkerchief to wipe my lips. She rubbed my back with her tender hand apologetically.
After my coughing fit died down, Amarisa handed me a cup of tea to sooth my burned throat.
But then she let out a giggle as she stared at my face, which was now burning hot.
"Your face is so red! You look redder than a blooming lotus!" she said.
"Are you laughing at my misery, Amarisa?" I said then started to tickle her. Amarisa half-laughed and half-screamed, twisting herself in my arms and trying to cover her exposed belly.
"Nikita, stop!" the princess cried in a giggly voice. I stopped and held her still.
"Say you love me," I commanded.
"Such words so precious shall never be spoken so easily," Amarisa said and pressed her lips together.
"Hmmm, is that right?" I said and leaned my face to her throat. My nose touched the sensitive spot of her neck.
Amarisa squirmed and wriggled herself away. I wrapped my arms around her body like an octopus catching its prey and gathered her back onto my lap.
"How about a kiss then?" I whispered against her goose bumped skin. My breath must have tickled her that she let out a little yelp. Her voice alerted Malis. The tiger sprinted forward and wedged her head between us, parting our bodies from each other.
"Hey!" I said, frowning at the beast. Amarisa laughed some more and scooted back to her seat again with an amused look.
"Good girl, Malis," she said to her pet. The wildcat rolled onto her stomach and took a nap right between us. Her enormous head rested on our tea table casually.
Malis’s large striped yellow body almost reached the height of my shoulder. I looked over at Amarisa for help, but she only gave me a mischievous beam.
"Well played," I muttered, glaring at the sleeping tiger. Amarisa snickered into her hand.
Then we saw a group of men moving around by the bonfire. They began setting up a stage with two wooden posts. The bonfire blazed behind the set. Then they unrolled a white square cloth and tied each end to the posts.
"What are they doing?" I asked Amarisa. She was stroking the ears of her tiger lovingly. I felt a little jealous with the animal and reached out to grab her hand in mine.
"They are setting up a theater," she told me with a smile.
"A theater?"
"Yes, they're going to play the shadow puppet soon," she said brightly. "It's one of our sacred performance left by our ancestors."
A wide grin stitched across my delightful face.
"Oh, I see," I said. "And what will they show us tonight?"
"The epic tale of Lord Rama and Sita," Amarisa said with a hint of excitement herself. It made me eager to see the ancient love story even more.
The theater crews brought out puppets made from a single piece of thick harden leather. Each piece was carved into a character figure. Amarisa told me the performances only took place at night in the open air and only when the royals attended. It was to honor the gods as well.
The large cloth backdrop acted as a white screen in front of a burning fire. The puppet's silhouette would cast shadows onto the canvas, bringing the character to life.
Then the show started. The puppeteers brought the characters on stage with precise and specific dance steps.
They produced a range of movements with the shadows. The singers narrated the story in beautiful verses accompanied by an orchestra. They sang a song that conjured up a story of a young prince. He was banished from his palace and into the forest by his stepmother, a jealous queen.
The shadows danced on the lit background. People gathered before the stage to watch the exciting scenes.
"This is a wonderful art, Amarisa," I said in admiration. "I have never seen anything like this in my world."
Amarisa smiled in response. We followed the story as the singers sang of a princess whose sight was so pleasing that even the birds gossiped about it.
A puppeteer raised a feminine shadow figure.
"That is Sita, right?" I asked.
"Yes, that is she, the princess Rama fell in love with at first sight." Amarisa nodded. She told me that words of her beauty reached the gloomy realm of Lanka, where a dark demon king Ravana lived. He heard about her peerless beauty from his envious sister and plotted to abduct her.
"Really? How cruel!" I said.
Then we saw a very large shadow of the fierce ogre-king emerge. The roaring drums intensified the puppet's manners. The singer's voice turned mean and full of angry notes, speaking in the voice of a giant.
I watched as Ravana abducted Sita from the earthen dwelling of her beloved husband.
They narrated how Rama was grieving over his lost love, and my heart was gripped by the same flowing despair.
Then I heard Amarisa sniffing softly by my side and knew right away that she felt the same.
The thought of losing someone you hold dear is a terrible tearing grief. If anything like that ever happened to me, I would have done the exact same thing. I would do whatever it takes even if it meant to slay a great demon-king a thousand times over.
I reached over to touch Amarisa's cheek. She smiled back and took my hand in hers, bringing my palm to her lips lovingly.
"
Nikita, my fair beloved Nikita," she said with a sigh. "Please do me one favor. Please do stay here and let me adore you forever and ever."
She need not asking for where else would I be while she was here? Besides I couldn't go back to my old world anymore, and there must be a special connection that bound me here.
"Yes," I whispered. "I promise you with my heart and soul that I shall remain with you and keep you ever by my side, forever and always."
Then I moved across Malis and took her chin in my hand and brought her soft lips to mine. The soothing kiss was all it needed to seal my oath.
~*~
Once the tale of Ramayana had ended, a loud applause erupted from the audience. The fire dimmed and the orchestra changed to soft melodies. Everyone else carried on their activities in the enclosed field. Others lingered around the circus and fair market.
A maid came and dropped the blind made of bamboo plaits before exiting the hall again. It must be on Amarisa's unspoken request or that they knew we might need some private atmosphere.
I turned to Amarisa again and smiled. How lovely her face was to me. Her eyes still twinkled with a deep dark glow, still wracked with emotions. Her cheeks as fair and brows as arched, but those lips — I had seen nothing to equal that.
Everything about her was distracting and maddening to my love-infested heart. I had never before encountered a maiden who could send such lure upon my mind.
Amarisa then became conscious of my stare. She turned to me with eyes that no longer glared at me in disdain.
"Amarisa, you're so very beautiful," I said in a whisper.
The princess let her impossibly long lashes shadow her eyes. The rosiness of her cheeks deepened. The temptation that had enveloped me like a chill of the night sky did not die.
"I could say the very same thing to you," she murmured.
Soon, all my resolve fell back like a defeated battalion. I quietly hopped over the enormous snoring tiger and went after the desire of my heart. I kneeled down behind the fair princess and clasped her in my arms.
Amarisa was taken completely by surprise, but she yielded to my sheer passion. She turned her face to me. When her too tempting mouth was so close and those pink plump lips began to part, I captured them in mine. Amarisa sank into me. An ecstatic moan echoed deep in her throat.
Part of me just wanted to cuddle her and chit chat like a pair of lovers, but another part of me wanted to make her moan until her lungs give out. I wanted her so badly, my entire body trembled.
The throbbing sensation below my belt became more pronounced. My hands wandered down her perfect torso, feeling around her flat exposed stomach. I heard Amarisa gasped sharply. Her fine skin underneath my wandering hand was driving me mad.
"Nikita..." Amarisa tried to warn softly.
"I'm sorry. Please forgive me," I whispered as we pulled apart again. "I should have asked, but I have too weak a mind that so often betrays my conscience. I didn't mean to be needy, but I'm too deeply in love with you, dearest princess, in all sincerity."
Amarisa stared into my eyes with the same stirring passion. Her cheeks radiated heat against mine as our foreheads touched.
"I understand your struggles, Nikita, for I, too, feel the ache within me," Amarisa said softly. "I had never felt this way before, and it terrifies me. Surely, we love each other like Rama and Sita, and it needs not be said. But this shall go no further, lest people would see and gossips would grow."
I nodded and loosened my hold around the radiant maiden. I sat beside her as she curled herself up into me.
"Never have I been so passionately enamored with anyone until you," she said again. Her arms wrapped around my waist as she leaned her head against my chest with a sigh. "I believe it wasn't the mere poison of the god of love. It was you alone who stirred my passion."
"If I were wise and mighty as the other avatars, would that make you happier?" I asked.
Amarisa shook her head back.
"Whoever you may be, I am your willing lover and contented with my fortune. The earth may break asunder, yet I will never desert you for anyone."
I smiled and kissed her forehead as a gesture of gratitude.
"You may say so, but the others would judge you as foolish to have a love for me. Your parents, the Warrior King and Scholar Queen, wouldn't be equally pleased, would they?"
"Oh, why? Nikita, why bring this subject to distress us both?" Amarisa looked up at me with saddened eyes. "Confident as you are, why did your eager ravenous tongue choose to speak of others?"
"But it's true, isn't it? If I won the Holy Game and brought new fame, I would be regarded for more than just a simple stranger."
"You are always more and above all in my heart," Amarisa said but I shook my head.
"But would it be enough?" I said, "I won't let the princess of this land be shamed because of me."
"What demon has possessed you into this foolish thinking?—of fighting and proving your worth against the sons and daughters of the deathless gods — those, who are both mightier of power and beloved of heaven? If you won the Game, they would choose you to fight the war with them. I would and could not bear this thought in my mind!"
"But I'm here to fulfill the prophecy,” I said. “If I couldn’t save your empire, then what use would I be in this world? There must be a way to prove myself to all. The gods had brought me here, Amarisa, that means I have a role to play!"
"Have you forgotten, my love, about your promise already? You said you would never leave me! The Prophesied Child must meet an unforgiving fate!" Amarisa cried with tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at me. "Queen Mother Jayara has taken an unbreakable oath of chastity. She prayed for a savior. She did so, for seven days and seven nights. And here you are, a strange girl fallen from the sky. But dear Nikita, if only you knew, the ostensible aim of it all."
"What is it, Amarisa?"
"I can't say! I can't say!" Amarisa spoke in a distraught voice and shook her head. "But surely, I don't want to lose you to that cruel war. Promise me again, Nikita, that you won't be selfless to risk your life. Please, promise me, too, if you love me true, that you don't bring yourself near the Cursed Blade for it shall bring you to a horrible end."
"You meant the Moonsword?" I stared at her troubled face in confusion.
Amarisa squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped her arms around me again.
"Just promise me this, too, and you would have anything you ask of me," she pleaded. "Please say you do."
I didn't know what had gotten into my beloved princess. Why did she make me promise a lot of things as if she somehow knew half of the things I didn't. Amarisa was begging me and gripping me for a response. I had no choice but to nod and say, "Yes, I promise you." Yet the glaring doubts and unsettling questions still encircled my mind.
CHAPTER 32
As I sat there comforting my beloved princess, the sky was suddenly lit with a dance of colors and sparks. Bright bursts of light, shooting across the night.
"Amarisa, look!" I said and pointed to the firework some distance away. The various radiant shades illuminated freely like coral flowers blossoming in the bed of the sea. It was as if the colors of a rainbow had struck the surface of the dark sky. The crowd gasped and cheered at the crackling noises of the flashing sparks, which lanced across the enclosed field like a gentle rain.
I took Amarisa's hand in mine and we stood. I led her to the front of the portico and rolled up the blind then we gazed at the beautiful firework together.
"You have given me the most precious night, Amarisa," I said and turned to look at her again. When I smiled, she returned it almost immediately. The royal maiden came and stroked my cheeks with her hands.
"I'm sorry for causing such a spoiled mood earlier," she said.
"No need to be sorry," I said. "Let us not talk about it. Now give me one more kiss to put my heart at ease."
I pulled her into me again. Our faces were lit by joyous lights.
Yet as our lips were locked in a
kiss, I heard a sound below us and opened my eyes. I caught a glimpse of someone hiding behind a wooden pillar. Malis woke from her snoring peace and growled with her animal instinct.
Even with a brief glimpse, I could tell the shadow was a woman. She covered her head with a scarf. The maiden must have known she'd been caught spying and turned to flee. I pulled away from Amarisa, causing her to look at my alarmed face in confusion.
"What's the matter?" she asked and followed my gaze down the portico.
"I saw someone spying on us," I said with a deep frown.
"But Nikita, love, my guards would do their duties if a stranger is near," she said.
"I'm afraid the person is not a stranger," I said as an inkling flowed in my gut. "Just a quick look, Amarisa."
I turned to Malis and said, "Take care of your mistress, will you?"
The tiger gave a low growl. With that said, I wended down the stairs. Surely the maids and guards were still present, but none happened to see the woman. Some of the guards came along with me. I figured they were ordered by Amarisa to keep me safe.
Going through the thick mass of people along the stone path, I caught another sight of the veiled maiden.
"Hey you!" I yelled and began to run.
She turned back involuntarily and saw me hurling towards her. The maiden then rushed towards the crowd. I turned to the guards.
"We must split path," I said and they nodded. I went after the running spy while the guards went in separate directions. Swiftly, the maiden weaved through a mass of people, heading to the circus where she could mingle and disappear.
"Stop running!" I yelled above the boisterous dancing and singing folks. People stared at me as I stumbled through them. Wild to escape, the woman cut through the sea of crowds and sprinted heedlessly. I followed almost instantly, causing quite a stir among the performers.
The palace guards showed up on the other side of the circus square. She was trapped. Then the woman saw me panting after her and broke through the crowd again. Unaware of where she was going, the damsel in distress tripped and fell. She let out a pained cry. My eyes widened but before I could rush over to her, the woman staggered back to her feet and ran again. I followed suit.
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