Talwar and Khanda--Assassins in Love

by Barbara G. Tarn

  The golden powder vanished and the blonde opened her eyes.

  "He will be all right," she said with a soft voice.

  "Sorry, I control fire, not air," Maya muttered, averting her eyes.

  "Help us take him inside," the blonde said. "I'm Goldenstar, welcome to Godwalkar."

  Khanda nodded and gulped, too stunned to speak. Maya snorted, but came forward. She took Talwar bride-like and carried him inside the palace. If she hadn't just seen her turn from dragon to woman, Khanda might have wondered about her strength. But it made sense if she was actually a dragon.

  The palace had a grand staircase that led to the upper floors. Goldenstar lead the way to a small bedroom where Maya dropped Talwar.

  "I better go before the sun rises," she said grumpily. "Good luck, Khanda."

  She quickly walked away while Goldenstar looked at Khanda.

  "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself..."

  "You don't need to." Goldenstar smiled. "Maya Starblazer just told me your name. I don't need to know anything else until he awakes. I know that Humans prefer letting the men speak. Do you want me to heal his scars?"

  "You could do that?" she marveled. "No, wait," she added quickly. "He's probably not too fond of them, but you should ask him."

  The blonde smiled.

  "I understand. Men are similar in all races – so fond of stupid nothings that leave us baffled..."

  Khanda chuckled. "Indeed! My husband is called Talwar and he is as sharp as a sword when he needs to be!"

  "And sweet as pie when necessary, I take it?" Goldenstar looked amused. "Please, rest. When the sun rises, I'll take you to my brother."

  "Is he the king? No, wait, there is no king left, right?"

  "Exactly. Naveen was killed in a barbarian way, such as I'd expect from the northerners. Such heartless cruelty doesn't belong in the southern lands."

  After an explanation of the situation and the layout of the palace, Goldenstar told her the white magic light would fade out as soon as she lay down next to her husband. Khanda was now certain she was dealing with a Genn, and thanked her profusely.

  "You are welcome," Goldenstar said. "Now I need rest after the healing. I will see you again in the morning."

  Khanda bowed and as soon as Goldenstar had left, she went to lie down next to Talwar. He was much warmer now.

  "Sweet dreams, dilbar," she whispered, nestling against him.

  14.

  The bed was very comfortable. The most comfortable he'd ever slept in. The room smelled of damp earth and faint flowers. He felt a cool breeze coming from his right side – along with what must be sunlight. There must be a window that way, so he turned his head the other way with a sigh.

  He slowly opened his eyes to a white room with a carved wooden ceiling. The bed had no curtains and the sheets were of soft white cotton. A beautiful tapestry hung on the wall, representing blond beings with pointed ears singing and dancing. A small fireplace, currently empty and clean, occupied one corner across the window.

  But what gave him immediate relief was seeing Khanda's face by his side and her slow smile made his heart swell with love and pride.

  "I was afraid you'd die," she whispered, caressing his hair. "You had such a strong fever... but the Genn are really magic. Goldenstar healed you in moments. And then you slept and slept..."

  "How long?" he asked, his mouth still a little dry and cottony.

  He felt good – rested, in control. He opened and closed his hands and moved his legs. Everything worked fine.

  "Hours, not days." Khanda grinned. "But I was afraid. I think I slept a little too."

  "And you didn't get cold?" He grabbed her arms, pulling her forward to climb onto the bed and lie next to him.

  "Your body protected me," she answered, nestling against him. "You took the brunt of the wind."

  Her warmth felt good against him. He started covering her with butterfly kisses. He had survived a flight on a dragon's back. He had his beloved wife by his side. He thanked Zindagi for letting him reach Godwalkar safe and sound.

  Khanda giggled under his kisses. "Aren't you hungry?" she asked, pushing him away. "I'm starving and I look forward to introducing you to the Genn healer who saved you..."

  "And then we can come back here and continue?" he asked, feigning disappointment. He was hungry too, and curious.

  "Of course." She blew him a kiss before getting up.

  Talwar got out of bed slowly, checking himself. Yes, his body worked. All of it.

  He looked around the room – another tapestry hung over the head of the bed. There was a window on the left side, a door at the foot of the double bed and a wooden chest that could be used as a bench.

  He glanced out of the window and saw they were on the first floor, and that the ground looked wet, as if it had rained. The colors of the trees outside were of a strange orange and red, and of shapes he hadn't seen before. They were losing leaves, and the musty smell seemed to come from those dead leaves lying on the ground.

  "She asked me if she should remove the scars on your body," Khanda said, taking his arm to lead him out of the room. "But I told her she should ask you. I don't know how fond you are of the scarification ceremony."

  "I still hate the thought of it," Talwar muttered as she opened the wooden door. "But I'd keep the seal of Zindagi forever, to remind myself what we went through."

  He glanced at his marked palm, then closed his hand into a fist, hiding the red symbol burned on his skin.

  They stepped into a corridor with marble floors and half columns at regular intervals. Other doors opened onto it and it ended in a wider, stately corridor that had a balustrade on one side opening onto a very large entrance.

  He looked around, surprised that a wooden door opened inside a building. Down south only latrines and main entrances to buildings had wooden doors. Inside it was mostly curtains, especially for small rooms like the one he'd been given.

  "The lower floor has a great hall, a ballroom and other stately rooms for the king to meet his subjects and courtiers," Khanda said, leading him towards the left.

  The balustrade was interrupted by two marble staircases that led down. Other corridors opened perpendicularly to the one they were on, probably leading to other guest apartments. The palace was strangely quiet and nobody was around.

  "They are still mourning the late king, or pretending to," Khanda continued. "Goldenstar told me he was killed, and it was a sloppy job, so definitely not a professional. But apparently he had managed to anger his family and the whole court, and she thinks it was his mother who ordered him killed."

  "And we thought we'd left that behind..." Talwar muttered. "Are there any claimants?"

  "He didn't have brothers, but he had sisters and male cousins, so Goldenstar thinks there will be some kind of succession struggle. Unless they step in and take charge."

  "They meaning the Genn? Would they do that?" He stared curiously at her as she steered him down the staircase.

  "For the well-being of the city, of course. They're... very similar to us but they have a wisdom and... did you know they saved King Naveen from being poisoned three or four times? That's why he was attacked and taken down with swords, to make sure he was dead before Goldenstar or any other healer could lay her hands on him... fascinating process, by the way."

  "Really?"

  She didn't have time to reply as an eerie woman with an ankle-length gown came to meet them from a door under the balustrade. She had very long golden hair kept away from her oval face by tucking it behind pointed ears and her eyes were as blue as sapphires. She looked ageless, with smooth pale skin and small breasts that made her look like a walking stick next to Khanda's voluptuous body.

  "Good morning," she greeted with a dazzling smile. "I assume you're both hungry?"

  "Yes," Khanda answered. "Talwar, this is Goldenstar, the healer."

  "Come to the kitchens," Goldenstar said, signaling to follow her.

  Talwar observed the way she moved, but
she couldn't compare to Khanda. Yes, the Genn had some kind of charm, but Khanda was something else.

  They reached the back of the palace that must be huge – or at least much bigger than the palaces Talwar had seen so far – and entered the kitchens.

  "In this kingdom they use tables and benches, but if you'd rather eat sitting on the ground with a tray-table, just let me know," Goldenstar said as the smell of food filled Talwar's nostrils and made his stomach rumble. "We do have tray-tables for the elderly and the bedridden."

  "We better get used to the local ways," he said. "Please show us."

  Goldenstar smiled and pointed at a table with two benches that could sit eight. Talwar and Khanda sat side by side while the Genn went to the cook and came back with a tray of warm food, followed by a Human maid with a jug of water and two goblets.

  "I'm afraid the food is less spicy than what you're used to, what would you like to add?" Goldenstar asked.

  "What is it?" Talwar asked, eyeing the pot.

  "Roasted mutton with potatoes and I'm not sure what's in the sauce."

  Talwar decided to taste it before asking for anything. Then he requested ginger and coriander to add to the sauce. The maid hurried to a shelf to get the requested spices.

  Talwar filled his belly before he could ask more questions of their host. He stared curiously at the mix of Humans and Genn in the palace kitchens and enjoyed every bit of the meal. Goldenstar watched them eat but didn't eat herself, saying it was past meal time for her.

  "Did I oversleep?" Talwar asked.

  "You needed it." Goldenstar smiled. "It's not quite time for the midday meal yet for me, so don't worry, eat your fill and don't mind me."

  "But you do eat, don't you?"

  "Of course. And I eat the same kind of food that you eat, unlike the Sila who eat mostly Clouds Nectar that gives Humans belly pain and stomachache..."

  "Maya said I have Sila blood," Khanda said. "Would I be able to eat it?"

  "Probably, but you'd find it totally tasteless..."

  Talwar thought he could get used to eating at a table, sitting on a bench. He wondered why Gajendra had such a custom, and asked their host.

  "Because winters are cold here and sitting on the ground, albeit with carpets, isn't very comfortable," the Genn answered amused. "It rains much more than in the south as well, so sometimes carpets are damp... hence the benches and stools and higher tables."

  Talwar nodded, thoughtful. It made sense. He probably wouldn't miss the low tables and plush cushions of the south. And the different weather also explained wooden doors instead of curtains, to keep the heat in during winter and out during summer. He assumed there were fireplaces in every room as well.

  That was confirmed as Goldenstar took them through the palace, showing them some of the public rooms, until they reached an apartment close to what used to be the royal chambers. She knocked on the wooden door and another Genn came to the door.

  "This is my brother, Nightsun," Goldenstar said as the other Genn let them into the antechamber where there was a couch near an empty fireplace and a low table with a chessboard in front of it. "He was one of Naveen's brothers-in-law and a close friend – that's why we live at the palace. We tried to protect him from his wicked family to no avail." Goldenstar averted her eyes.

  "Please sit," Nightsun added, serious, pointing at the couch. Goldenstar sat in an armchair that looked very comfortable as Talwar and Khanda sat side by side on the unusual furniture. It was unexpectedly soft. Nightsun brought a chair like the one they'd seen in the kitchen and sat with them.

  Nightsun looked like the twin of Goldenstar, an androgynous beauty with no facial hair. He had shorter hair – halfway down his back while Goldenstar's mane reached below her waist – and wore a shirt made of colorful printed fabric tucked inside tight-fitting pants. Humans in the palace dressed more or less like Talwar and Khanda, especially men who had puffy pants and long tunics, but the Genn had their own fashion.

  "Welcome to Godwalkar," Nightsun said. "Starblazer wasn't very talkative when it came to explaining who you are and what you're looking for. She was in a hurry to leave, since she can't fly over the city in plain daylight for obvious reasons."

  "Maya is gone?" Talwar looked puzzled at Khanda who nodded, serious.

  "She told Goldenstar to heal you and take care of us, and then turned back into a dragon and flew off," she said.

  "Yes, Fajrulo tend to get along only with Humans," Nightsun said, amused. "She's of Fire's people," he added noticing Talwar's look. "And she's also responsible for that desert down south, by the way, but she'll never admit it."

  "The blue dragon of the legend?" Talwar asked, incredulous. "Or the purple one?"

  "The blue one. The bigger one. The mother. Silverflame is her son. He was still dependent on her at the time, so he helped her. They have already been scolded for bringing such major climate change in southern Varia, and it wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been evicted from Mount Flora almost a century and a half ago..."

  "What? Where?" Talwar stared goggle-eyed at the Genn.

  "I think you call it the Mountain of the Desert, or the Lone Mountain," Nightsun said, thoughtful. "We had an underground city in there, but we had to leave because a Pond of Dark Magic emerged. Some of us stayed in what was then Rajendra, some of us reached Gajendra, where we already had ties."

  "There are more of us under the Central Massif, and we had already mingled with Humans here, especially after Prince Dilip requested the Genn's help to heal his son," Goldenstar continued. "Our relatives living in the Central Massif understood it was safe to come out in the open again on this side of the mountains."

  "I'm sorry, but I'm totally ignorant of Genn history," Talwar apologized. "We have never seen you in Agharek."

  "I know, we hadn't reached that far south..." Nightsun smiled. "We had kingdoms up north, but the barbarians up there chased us underground, with the dwarves. We built cities under the Central Massif and some of us reached Mount Flora – the Lone Mountain – and built another there. But then, like I said, a Pond of Dark Magic emerged and chased us, so most of my family came back north. I was born in Godwalkar, but my grandmother Goldenlocks was born at Mount Flora."

  "And that Pond of Dark Magic... what does it do?"

  "It hurts the Magical Races, except Fajrulo, and lures Humans into evil deeds," Goldenstar explained. "They had created a sect, worshiping a bloodthirsty goddess, in our abandoned town, and their High Priestess had managed to imprison Starblazer for sixteen years. When she was finally free, she made the mess that you witnessed..."

  "And the desertification is getting worse with every passing year..." Talwar mused.

  "Yes... There isn't much we can do," Nightsun said. "Not even the Sila can gather enough clouds to give a new life to the southern desert. Anyway, Gajendra is the last southern kingdom because we were here, counseling the king and helping him in his decisions. Did you know the royal family of Gajendra was blond? They had Genn blood."

  "So King Naveen had golden hair?" Khanda asked, amazed.

  "Yes, and green eyes." Nightsun nodded, amused. "He fell in love with a widow who refused to commit the ritual suicide because she had two young daughters, and of course that was frowned upon by the whole court, but especially his mother. Thus he swore he'd never get married..." Nightsun sighed. "So eventually they got rid of him."

  "So what happens now?" Talwar asked, worried.

  Nightsun shrugged. "I can see a succession struggle coming... but there isn't much I can do. I failed to protect my friend, my brother-in-law, I think I'm going to step back and see what happens. I have a daughter, and she's not in the line of succession, since you Humans can't bear the thought of a reigning queen... unless you come from the Amazons Country, that is."

  "The... Queendom Maya spoke of?" Khanda asked.

  "Yes, where women rule and men don't get in the line of succession. They're the exception in this world. But what are your plans? Why did you come here and what's your s
tory?"

  Talwar told the Genn siblings everything – from his education with the Fighting Monks, to the initiation ceremony and first missions, and how both him and Khanda hated to kill but had kept their weapons' names because they were aware of the struggle ahead. He mentioned the fight with their families and the Guild and the rules established in Agharek.

  Nightsun listened without comment and then nodded, thoughtful.

  "Godwalkar is still divided into distinct classes of people," he said. "I assume you come from wealthy families, but couldn't bring anything from your homes, since you ran away."

  "No, but we're young and we're ready to work for a living, as long as we don't have to kill for it. Zindagi taught me the value of life – every life – and I do not wish to follow in my family's footsteps," Talwar said.

  "And you won't have to. Give me a few days to figure out what's best – introducing you as noblemen from Agharek or something. I should still have some friends among Humans..."

  Talwar nodded as Goldenstar rose. The visit was over and Nightsun saw them to the door.

  "Would you like me to heal your scars?" Goldenstar asked Talwar as she took them back to the bedroom they'd been given. "The one on your left arm looks awful."

  "It was done on purpose," Talwar said bitterly. "And if you really can make it vanish..."

  "I can, or I wouldn't have asked," she answered, amused.

  Puzzled, he nodded. She entered with them and made him sit on the bed and take off his tunic. He watched, amazed, as she closed her eyes and put her hands over his scars without touching him. He saw a golden powder come out of her palms and enter his skin. It barely tickled and when it was all absorbed, the skin looked like new.

  Khanda looked as impressed as he was. No wonder she must have found Goldenstar's healing process fascinating. Maybe the Genn had sent that golden powder inside him to chase the fever and the cold.

  "Thank you," he said when Goldenstar opened her eyes and pulled away, his right hand in a tight fist.

  "I assume you want to keep that one?" she asked with a smile, glancing at his closed hand. "It's... different."