The Tiger Prince

by Iris Johansen

  The herd of elephants was already running through the encampment, the vanguard led by Li Sung on Danor. The soldiers, caught completely off guard, were fleeing before the elephants thundering toward them, over them.

  Chaos broke out everywhere—soldiers running, shouting, guns exploding.

  “Out of the way!” Dilam leaned down from the female elephant she was riding and grabbed one of the standing torches bordering the shore. She fired Abdar’s tent and then turned the elephant and followed Li Sung, lighting tents and shrubbery along the way.

  “So much for keeping you safe inside,” Kartauk murmured as he grabbed Jane’s arm and drew her away from the burning tent.

  “Where’s Ruel?” Her gaze frantically searched the melee of elephants and soldiers. “I don’t see him.”

  “That’s not surprising.” He pulled her toward the trees lining the banks. “With all this smoke and confusion, it would be odd if you did.”

  She shook off his grip. “Let me alone. I’m not going anywhere without Ruel.” The entire encampment was now ablaze, and she could barely discern figures in the thick smoke. She could hear Abdar screaming, shouting orders, and moved toward the sound. She knew Ruel would be wherever Abdar could be found. Her eyes stung from the smoke, and her lungs felt scorched. She dodged to the side as an elephant thundered out of the thick black haze.

  She could no longer hear Abdar for the screaming of the soldiers and the trumpeting of the elephants. “Ruel!”

  “Harlot!” Pachtal emerged from the haze, his face twisted with rage. He lifted his hand and she saw a glimpse of steel gleaming—a dagger!

  “Down!” Kartauk knocked her to her knees as Pachtal’s knife tore toward her breast.

  Pachtal lunged forward, off balance. Kartauk stepped behind him, his massive arm encircling Pachtal’s throat.

  Pachtal was cursing, his eyes popping from a face no longer beautiful. Kartauk’s arm jerked backward and Jane heard a sickening crack as Pachtal’s neck broke.

  He looked so surprised, Jane thought dazedly. Not pained, just … surprised.

  Kartauk released him and Pachtal slumped to the ground.

  “And good riddance,” Kartauk said as he bent down and retrieved Pachtal’s dagger. “I could only wish it were Abdar, but Ruel will be attending to him.”

  “How do you know?” Jane asked frantically. “He can’t even see in this smoke. Abdar could slip up behind him.”

  “There he is.” Kartauk was looking at something beyond her shoulder.

  She whirled to see Ruel only a few yards away.

  Abdar lay on the ground, his leg bent at an awkward angle, his lip cut and bleeding. Ruel stood over him, his hair, loosened from its queue by the struggle, falling wild and full about his face.

  Dear God, his expression …

  Tiger burn bright.

  Ian’s words came back to her. Ruel was burning now with a terrible beauty, flaming with hatred and vengeance.

  Abdar screeched something inaudible at him as he tried to scramble to his knees. “Ruel!” Kartauk called.

  When Ruel looked up, Kartauk tossed him the knife he had taken from Pachtal.

  Ruel let the knife fall to the ground. “No. Too quick.” He picked Abdar up and carried him thrashing and struggling deeper into the smoke near the blazing tent. “You and Jane get over into the trees.”

  “Kali will punish you,” Abdar sobbed. “You will see. Kali will strike you down.”

  “You can talk it over with her soon,” Ruel said as he carried Abdar past the tent and dropped him on the riverbank. “Li Sung!”

  “Here!” Li Sung called out of the veil of smoke across the clearing.

  Ruel walked over to the protection of the trees, where Jane and Kartauk now stood. “The elephants have done their part,” he shouted. “Take them back across the river!”

  “Gladly,” Li Sung said. “They have no liking for all this fire and smoke.”

  “No!” Abdar screamed as he realized what the order meant.

  Too quick, Ruel had said about the dagger. This might also be quick, but Abdar would die in an agony of terror, the death he feared the most.

  “No, do not—” Abdar broke off as he saw the elephants thundering toward him out of the smoke. “This is not Kali’s will! This is not—”

  Jane doubted if the elephants even saw Abdar on the bank in their eagerness to get away from the fire and smoke surrounding them.

  This was justice. She would not have lifted a hand to save him, but she could not watch it. She closed her eyes but could not shut out Abdar’s screams as the elephants crushed him beneath their feet.

  She opened her eyes when the screams stopped but avoided looking at Abdar.

  Ruel had not closed his eyes. He was staring at Abdar’s broken remains with savage satisfaction.

  Tiger burn bright.

  “You go ahead.” Kartauk told Jane and Ruel as they got into the canoe to return to the encampment. “I have something to do here.” “What?” Ruel asked.

  “The masks.” Kartauk looked back toward the ragged, blackened ruins of Abdar’s tent. “The tent was only partially destroyed. They’re still there.”

  Jane shivered. “Then let them stay there. You can’t possibly want them.”

  “I cannot leave them,” Kartauk said simply. “Gold is forever. Throw those masks into the river and in a thousand years from now the river will be gone but those masks will still exist. Do you like the thought of that?”

  “No.” Jane knew the memory of those hideous masks would haunt her for the rest of her life. “How can you destroy them?”

  “I cannot destroy them. I told you, gold is immortal.” He smiled faintly. “But I can change them. I can melt down the gold and make something beautiful from that ugliness.”

  “Ian’s too?”

  “I’m not sure.” His brow wrinkled thoughtfully. “There was something odd about the way Pachtal behaved when it was mentioned.” He stepped back away from the canoe. “I will come back to the encampment as soon as I find all the masks.”

  hen Jane and Ruel arrived, the encampment had the air of a circus fairground with Cinnadans milling around, laughing and gesturing, reliving their victory.

  Jane’s spirits could not help but be lifted in response. Her gaze searched the throng. “I don’t see Li Sung.”

  Ruel nodded across the clearing. “There he is.”

  Li Sung was coming toward them but was forced to stop every few steps to speak to one of the jubilant warriors. His face reflected the same euphoria when he finally reached them. “Were we not magnificent?”

  “Magnificent. What’s the damage?” Ruel asked.

  “No deaths. Seven wounded.” He nodded at a hastily erected lean-to across the encampment. “Margaret and Tamar are tending them.”

  “And the elephants?”

  “One was shot. Dilam is cleansing the wound now. She believes it is not bad.”

  “Good,” Jane said, relieved. “I was afraid it would be worse. There was so much shooting.”

  “The soldiers were so frightened, they couldn’t even hit a target as big as an elephant. They will probably not stop running until they get back to their ship.” Li Sung grinned. “It was truly an exhilarating experience.”

  A smile tugged at Jane’s lips. “Even crossing that river underwater?”

  Li Sung made a face. “You can be sure I made certain those reeds you and Ruel crafted had no blockages. Water will never be my favorite element.”

  “But you did well with it,” Ruel said. “You couldn’t have done better, Li Sung.”

  “You are correct,” Li Sung agreed. “I was splendid. Even Dilam grants I was adequate.” He turned. “I will see you later. I must go help Dilam with the wounded elephant.”

  Jane stared after him as he limped away through the throng. He was still dressed in the loincloth he had worn to cross the river, his limbs bare.

  “What’s wrong?” Ruel asked as he saw her startled expression.

&n
bsp; “His bad leg … he’s always kept it covered, even from me.”

  “It doesn’t seem to bother him now. Perhaps he’s decided he has nothing to hide,” Ruel said. “We all seem to have let ourselves come out in the open.”

  She looked at him with amused surprise. He actually thought what he said was true. She doubted if Ruel would ever be completely open even with her. He would always be the mysterious mandarin who had dominated her thoughts and emotions these last three years. Yet he would also be the man who had torn his flesh to shreds dragging Caleb through the jungle and the brittle, tortured man she had held in her arms two nights ago. “Well, what do we do now?”

  “Tomorrow we go back to the palace to assess the damage and start repairs.” His face clouded. “And there are arrangements to be made.”

  Ian.

  She nodded and took a step closer to him. “Hadn’t we better go find Margaret and tell her about Abdar?”

  He took her hand. “Aye, it will be good to give her some good news for a change.”

  Kartauk did not return to the encampment for another four hours. Margaret was waiting when his canoe finally approached the shore.

  “Well, did you manage to stir up enough trouble to suit you?” she asked as he stepped out of the canoe. “Jane and Ruel came back immediately, but you had to stay and rake among the ashes like a ghoul in a cemetery.”

  “Such tender sentiment.” He pulled the canoe up the bank. “Did you wait here to call me a ghoul or only out of curiosity?”

  “Curiosity?”

  He nodded at the sack in the bottom of the canoe. “They told you about the masks, didn’t they?”

  “You’re making it sound as if you believe I’d stay to see that horror. I should have known you’d lack the delicacy of feeling to understand.”

  “Then why wait on this damp riverbank for my unworthy self?”

  “You know why I’m here.”

  “But this time you must put it into words.”

  She stared at him belligerently and then reluctantly said, “I regret what I said before you left. My words were hasty. I did not mean … I have no desire to see you die.”

  “I’m greatly relieved.”

  “You are no such thing,” she said sharply. “You know me too well not to read my true feelings, and it is most unkind of you to make me explain myself.”

  “Most unkind,” he agreed. “Now build a fire while I go to Medford’s tent and fetch Ian’s mask.”

  She flinched, her gaze going to the sack. “Jane told me you were going to melt down the masks.”

  “We are going to melt them down, apprentice.”

  “I don’t think I can—”

  “It needs doing,” he interrupted. “And you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Tonight.” He strode away from her. “Make the fire here on the bank. It will take most of the night, and we don’t want to disturb the others.”

  The fire was blazing briskly when he returned carrying the wooden box she recognized as the object Tamar had brought to Medford’s camp. She avoided looking at it as she stirred the logs beneath a huge black kettle. “I’ve already put the other masks in the kettle. I tried not to look at them, but I couldn’t help it. You’re right, Abdar was a monster.”

  “You could have waited,” he said gently. “I would have spared you that.”

  She repeated his words. “It needed doing.” She smiled shakily. “But I believe I’ll let you add Ian’s to that perverse collection.”

  “No.”

  She felt as if he had struck her. “You would spare me these other monstrosities, but not the deepest cut? It’s just like your heathen whimsy.”

  He held out the box. “Open it.”

  “No!” She sat down by the fire and drew up her knees. “I will not look at it.”

  He opened the box himself. “Do I have to take it out and hold it up before your face?”

  “Why are you doing this?” She kept her gaze fixed on the fire. “I do not deserve this from you.”

  “You do not deserve to scourge yourself with memory for the rest of your life either.” His voice softened. “Have I lost your trust entirely? This is not another betrayal, Margaret.”

  She looked at him in bewilderment. “What are you talking about? I never thought you betrayed me.”

  “Not even in your heart?” He held out the box. “Prove it. Show me you trust me.”

  She swallowed. “Do not make—” She stopped as she met his gaze. She whispered, “No mercy, Kartauk?”

  He smiled. “No mercy, madam.”

  Her glance slowly, reluctantly, lowered to the mask in the box.

  She inhaled sharply as shock rippled through her. “Dear God in heaven.” She reached out and tentatively touched the golden lips of the mask. “He looks …”

  “Joy,” Kartauk said softly. “He didn’t let Pachtal and Abdar win. He beat them.”

  “But you said the poison was excruciating.”

  “I’m sure it was. But I don’t think he felt it. He looks as though he had just beheld a miracle.”

  “The light …” She felt the hard core of grief begin to melt within her. “I forgot about the light.”

  “Never forget it again.” He paused. “Even if you have to keep this mask to remind you.”

  She stared at the mask, and then slowly shook her head. “I don’t need anything Abdar sanctioned to remind me of Ian.” She got to her feet and dropped the mask into the kettle with the others. Her eyes were shimmering with tears as she turned to him with a tremulous smile. “Make something beautiful, Kartauk. Make something so beautiful it will shake the heavens and light the heart of everyone who sees it.”

  “A great challenge.” He smiled back at her. “It’s fortunate you’ve chosen an artist great enough to meet it.” He picked up the lid and placed it over the mouth of the kettle. “We’ll have to keep the fire burning hotly all night to maintain a melting temperature.” He sat back down. “Naturally, as a lowly apprentice it will be your duty to fetch sufficient wood for the task.”

  “While you sit on your backside and supervise?”

  “But of course.”

  She sat back down beside him. “It does not surprise me. Heathen laziness.” “Exacdy.”

  They tended the fire all night, most of the time sitting in comfortable silence. It was near dawn when she said haltingly, “I have something to say.”

  “I thought you would.”

  “Even though Ian is dead, I can never—” She stopped and then said, “I cannot feel for you as I did.” “I know.”

  “Everything is different. Changed.”

  “Everything always changes. Seasons pass, children are born, men die.” He nodded to the kettle. “Those masks are no more. Another change.”

  “I mean I cannot—”

  “Hush.” He met her gaze. “I know what you are trying to say. I always know.” He reached down and stirred the fire. “I believe we need more wood, apprentice.”

  “That big crate goes down to the ship, Tamar,” Jane said as she briskly walked down the palace corridor. She pointed to a large alabaster vase in the corner of the foyer by the front door. “And pack that too. It’s always been a particular favorite of—”

  “You are going somewhere?” Li Sung stood in the doorway, his gaze wandering over the three servants trailing behind Jane, carrying boxes and articles of furniture.

  “Of course not,” Jane said. “Margaret is taking Ian back to Glenclaren for burial. She’s sailing two days from now and I thought she’d like to have a few pieces of furniture to brighten up that huge barn of a castle.”

  “They will not be suitable,” Li Sung said. “Glenclaren is not Cinnidar.”

  “Beauty is always suitable.” She gestured toward the servants to go ahead and led Li Sung out to the terrace. “How is the work on the docks coming?”

  “Not too bad. There was much damage to the warehouses and Medford is going to have
to replace five miles of his track. We were lucky that Abdar was in too big a hurry to get to Ruel to do equal damage to the canyon tracks.”

  “Very lucky,” she agreed. “I judge once we’ve finished with the repairs here it should take us only another month to complete the line.”

  He shook his head. “Two months.”

  She frowned. “Why? I don’t perceive any problems.”

  “You have a very great problem. You’re going to lack my remarkable self at the helm as second in command.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going away. Ruel can wait for his railroad.”

  “Away? Where are you going?”

  “Dilam says this is a splendid time for me to visit the High Council.”

  “Why would you want to do that?”

  He grinned. “I believe it’s time this matriarchal society was forced to admit a few male leaders.”

  “Can’t it wait?”

  He shook his head. “The battle against Abdar gave me much respect. I must strike while the iron is hot.” He added, “Besides, I must meet Dilam’s children. It is time.”

  She smiled faintly. “Nesling?”

  “Much more than nesling,” he said softly.

  “She’s a fine woman. Good fortune, Li Sung.” The happiness she felt for him was free of the wistfulness she had known before. How foolish she had been not to realize that though they were going different ways, the bond between them would always be there, too strong to break. “So you came to tell me I must complete the railroad without you?”

  His smile disappeared. “No, I came to see Ruel.”

  “Why?”

  “To tell him he is a fool.”

  She stiffened warily. “A fool?”

  “A blind fool. He believes you ordered the rails that caused the wreck at Lanpur Gorge, doesn’t he?”

  She stared at him in bewildered horror. After all this time, how could he have learned—

  Medford. She should have realized this would happen with Li Sung and Medford working so closely together during these last weeks. “Medford told you?”

  “You should have been the one to tell me. Are we not friends?”

  “I didn’t want—”

  “I know why you did not tell me.” He met her gaze. “But why did you not tell Ruel? Why did you not tell the rest of the world?”