by Payal Doshi
“Mine’s a couple of sizes too big,” said Leela, pinching her outfit at the waist. The fabric ballooned around her.
“At least we won’t stand out as much when we get to the castle,” Rea said, wearing a dull rose-colored tunic made of lotus petals over her pajama top.
Leela looked down at her oversized husk-shaped dress. It seemed well-worn and had the hue of a dusty leaf. She snapped off two stem-shoots from a plant beside her and tied one around her waist and the other around Rea’s. “See, all we need is a stem-belt!”
Rea distractedly agreed and stepped out of the shrubbery.
“I hoped my Mar’s old clothes would fit,” Xeranther grinned. “Now you can pass for Astranthians.”
“These are great!” Leela said, flouncing in her dress.
“Yes, thanks,” Rea added, less enthusiastically. “So, are the arrangements made?”
Xeranther’s expression turned serious. “Hardly anyone was willing to offer their boat to cross the serpent waters. There’s a good chance their boat would not return and by ‘good chance’ I mean, they are practically assured they would never lay sight on their boat again.”
“Are you saying you couldn’t arrange for one?” asked Rea.
“No, no, I have. One boatman finally agreed after I begged him. And... the best part is...” A look of mischief darted across his face. “It’s a stolen boat used to transport crossbows, longswords, lances and spears to the castle. After our talk yesterday, I inquired around and discovered folks had been committing small acts of revolt against the Queen. The man who offered the boat needed it to be destroyed. He and his men had seized it before it got to the castle where the weapons were to be forged with magic...”
“And they wanted to do away with the boat so it can’t be traced to them,” exclaimed Leela.
“Exactly.”
“Let’s get to the boat then!” Rea said excitedly, dodging a kid licking a blue moon popsicle with stars of sugar revolving around it. The blood in her veins was pumping faster than an express train. She didn’t want to waste another minute.
Xeranther grabbed hold of her arm to stop her. “I don’t have the boat yet. The men are unloading and hiding the weaponry as we speak. They’ve agreed to transfer the boat into my possession only under the shade of night—”
“But it’s noon. The hour of your sun,” fumed Rea, twisting away from his grasp. “I can’t believe we’ve portaled for nothing!”
“Well, it wasn’t as if I could send a message to you,” Xeranther said, looking chastened. “Anyway, I think it’s best you meet someone before you leave for the castle.”
“Who?” Rea asked angrily.
“My grandpar.”
A gust of wind blew, creating eddies of dust and leaves. Xeranther raised his hand to shade his eyes. They were on a different path than yesterday, this one flanked by small fields, arid and barren, baking under the sun.
“You need to understand what a grave endeavor you are taking on,” he said. “Having a boat to cross the serpent lake is one part, perhaps the smallest of parts. People have died crossing the waters even with the strongest boats. What you are attempting to do is far riskier than you believe; death is nearly guaranteed.”
“Well,” Rea said with a confident nod of her head, “I’ve been advised by an informed source to call on the Ceffyldwer. It will assure my crossing without dying.”
“Call on the Ceffyldwer?” repeated Xeranther.
Rea and Leela nodded, and Xeranther laughed so hard, he held onto a tree to stop him from buckling over. Rea stared at him in quiet fury, and he tried his best to control himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said, biting back his smile. “Ceffyldwers are elusive creatures. They do their own bidding and obey no commands. No one I know has ever seen one. And you can’t just summon it. It has to choose you.”
“Didn’t Flula mention someone spotting one yesterday?” Leela asked.
Xeranther rolled his eyes. “Paries do love a good sap of gossip. They relish being the bearers of news even if it is utter codswallop.” Unable to hold it in, he snorted in laughter again. “Call on the Ceffyldwer! That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. You best come up with another plan.”
“That is the best plan to cross the sea,” said Rea.
“It’s a lake,” he corrected. “An extremely large one and the castle is in its center like an island surrounded by a gigantic moat.”
“Are you saying no one visits the Queen?” Rea asked impatiently.
“People do visit—”
“How do they get there? If this Ceffyldwer plan isn’t going to work, let’s do what the others do to get to the castle.”
“Maybe we could sneak into one of their boats,” Leela suggested.
“You don’t understand. Nobody can simply trot into the castle. I’ve told you before, only guests who are invited by the Queen are allowed entry. For them, a boat with two Salient Keepers is sent. If the meeting goes well, they return to shore safely. If it doesn’t, they get no ride back. They’re thrown to the lilies... and trust me, you don’t want to be lily-food.”
“There has to be another way,” said Rea.
Xeranther let out a long sigh.
“That’s why you need to meet Poppy. He’s the only person I know who has tried to cross the lake, failed, and lived to tell the tale.”
Xeranther’s budhood swarmed with bustle. The buds stood so close together that one could see right into the neighbor’s windows. Their exteriors were splotchy and mottled, some covered entirely in moss or creepers, others blackened by chimney-soot or a recent fire. Folks milled about in worn and unwashed clothes while dogs (Rea was greatly amazed to find regular looking animals) ambled about, sniffing the dirty streets for food. Unlike the pristine buds they had passed on their way there, these buds had no gardens or pretty fences. The ground was squishy from puddles and the smell of garbage lingered.
As they made their way through the budhood, strings of vines stretched across the tops of buds. A few had clothes hanging on them, but most were draped with coils of flowers. Xeranther said the vines’ velvety leaves glowed in the dark, lighting up the budhood after sundown in preparation for the Night of Nilaya. Rea was reminded of the fairy lights strung around lamp posts and trees during Diwali. Unsurprisingly, she felt more at ease in this budhood than she had anywhere else in Astranthia so far.
Xeranther banged the door of a bud, brown as nutmeg. “It’s me!” he shouted. The door swung open, revealing a woman with eyes that looked just like his.
“My, my, with all this banging, you’ll bring the bud down around our ears,” she said. She looked at Rea and Leela and pointed at Xeranther with her thumb. “Always in a hurry, this one. Didn’t stay inside his Mar’s belly for the full term either. Out he wanted to come and out he—”
“MAR!” Xeranther said, pink to his ears and she covered her mouth to hold back her chortles.
“And who are these lovely lassies?” She waved a kitchen cloth in the air. Her cherry colored hair stirred in the breeze.
“They’re my friends. They want to speak to Poppy.”
Xeranther’s mother stepped aside and let them into the house. “Xee, these younglings be wearing the same kinds of clothes I used to have on in my younger years. Didn’t I tell you, your Mar was quite the lass in her days?” She seemed to have no clue the clothes were hers.
Rea instantly took to Xeranther’s mother. She reminded Rea of her schoolmates’ Ammas back home—always kind, laughing and happy to welcome new people into their home.
As Rea entered Xeranther’s house, the air tasted of pickle and guavas and as they got closer to the fireplace, it warmed to coziness.
“Poppy has been driving me up the trees today,” Xeranther’s mother was saying. “You three are just what he needs. I’ve put on a pot of blossoms to boil. Where’s Floo?”
“Busy with foliage duty,” Xeranther said, and turning to the girls, whispered, “She’ll join us later.”
&nb
sp; Sitting on a rocking chair beside a fire was a man as old as time. He held a book over a thick blanket and his head lolled in sleep.
“Poppy can doze off anywhere at any moment. It’s one of his many talents,” winked Xeranther.
“Hey Poppy!” he said loudly. “I want you to meet my friends. They have some questions for you.”
The old man was deep in sleep. Xeranther plucked a leaf from a potted plant and tickled his grandfather in the ear. Poppy awoke with a start.
“Terrible boy! Trying to send me off to an early grave, eh?”
“You’re not going anywhere! Poppy, this is Rea and Leela.”
Poppy squinted as he hunched lower to better hear their names. Then in a gesture Rea had recently seen Bajai use when she couldn’t hear clearly, he dismissed their unclear names with a wave of his hand, and kept the conversation going.
“What do you younglings seek an old man’s company for?” The skin crinkled over his bones.
“They want to know how you tried to cross the serpent sea,” Xeranther said, bringing out wooden chairs with seats in the shape of clovers.
“Inquiring minds, I see. So few these days... Might I ask why such a dark subject interests you?”
Xeranther gave Rea a look that told her not to tell the truth.
“Er... we like solving puzzles,” she replied. “The lake is deadly and rumored impossible to cross but we believe there has to be a way to get to the other side.”
“Without dying, that is,” added Leela. “Our parents don’t encourage us to know too much about it.”
Poppy frowned. “They be right. What you’re asking to know is not for the fainthearted. The realms, these days, be a hard place to live. But knowledge is all we need to survive. Isn’t that right, boy?”
“Yes, Poppy. Knowledge can be your truest friend if you choose to befriend it,” Xeranther said and from the corner of his lips, added, “That’s Poppy’s favorite saying, which obviously, he has made up himself.”
“And seek it we must,” bellowed Poppy, the book almost slipping off his lap. “Now, let’s begin with what you already know.”
Riveted, Leela moved closer.
“Every born Astranthian knows the rules of our latest ruler, Queen Razya. One never goes to her unbidden. Either you find a way to be invited or you cross the serpent sea and risk death.” Poppy leaned forward and widened his eyes for effect.
“Got Poppy off to telling you one of his stories, eh?” Xeranther’s mother said, carrying a teapot and cups. A creature, a foot and a half tall with large pointy ears, a tail, and furry hands and legs stood beside her, holding a tray with bowls of water. His bulbous nose, thick with nose hairs, bobbled above his lips and a rush of cotton-like hair stuck out from under his hat. Seeming extremely shy, he nudged the water bowl towards Leela.
“Drink up, lassie. He isn’t going to bite,” laughed Xeranther’s mother.
Leela took a sip and the creature, barefoot and dressed in a drab tunic, beamed, showing off his pitted teeth. In spite of his whiskers, he looked more human than mouse-like.
“Berber, what are you gandering at! Fetch me those snaries and biscuits,” Poppy said, and the creature hurried over, his hairy feet thumping across the floor.
“If Poppy be telling you a story, you lassies better warn your Mar you’ll be stuck here a periwhittle’s while,” Xeranther’s mother said with a twinkle in her eye.
Poppy grunted, and Rea smiled unsurely as she helped herself to the cup of blossoms—flower petals floating in a cup of perfumed, rose-tinted water.
“A periwhittle flower blooms for a whole year before it begins to wilt,” Xeranther whispered. “She means you might be here for a long time.”
“Ooh,” said Rea and Leela said in unison.
“Mind yourself with the biscuits, Par. Too much jelly isn’t going to do you good. Lassies, you’re in luck. These are my special raspjelly biscuits which this rowdy lad and his Poppy love to gobble up in one crooningbird flit. Now, don’t be shy. We need to fatten those skinny bellies!”
“Bah, woman, you and your biscuits. What these girls are hungry for is knowledge! I dare say, that’s the most delicious biscuit in all the realms. Am I not right, younglings?”
“Don’t let Poppy be bullying you as he does me. He’s a silly old goat who loves his stories.”
“You spoil me good and put a fat of laziness on these old bones. A bit of story brings to life this foggy mind and puts a jig or two in my step. Now when has a jig hurt anyone, eh?”
“Mar, we don’t have time for chatting,” cried Xeranther.
“All right, all right,” his mother said.
“Here now, lend me your hand, will you? Younglings, I be needing to tinkle,” Poppy said (as Xeranther dropped his head in embarrassment).
Rea and Leela swallowed their smiles.
“Do you need help?” asked Leela
“You’re a sweet lass,” said Xeranther’s mother. “But I’ll help him. Poppy may be old, but his bones be strong.”
Poppy chucked and pushed aside the blanket over his lap, revealing his legs. Rea tried not to stare. Poppy’s left leg was amputated below the knee. He had a peg of wood where his leg should be. With a laborious grunt, he lifted himself off the chair, his bony arms quivering under his weight.
“These be battle scars. Looks worse than it feels,” he whispered in a tight voice. He held his leg as if it ached, and Rea could tell it hurt him badly.
“There, there,” Xeranther’s mother said, carefully leading him out of the room. The creature followed her shy as a kitten.
“Don’t tell me you don’t have them on Earth, either?” said Xeranther.
“What is he?” asked Rea.
“Berber is a bud-bozan. Bozans serve a house and its inhabitants. They’re fiercely loyal creatures. Close relations of brownies and more distantly related to boggarts who folk from other lands often confuse them with.”
Rea glanced at Leela who looked like she had understood the difference as easily as if Xeranther was talking about cats and dogs. In the past, it might have annoyed her that Leela understood things more easily than she did. But now, she knew Leela would happily explain it to her if she asked.
Then, out of the blue, Rea remembered the boy in the market advertising etiquette training for bozans. Rea thought of Amma cooking and cleaning in other peoples’ homes.
“Do they want to do this? Or are they forced into it?” she asked.
“It’s what they were born to do. They live to serve human families and hate it when we go away. If a bozan isn’t tied to a home or a family, it perishes. Which is why, most times, generations of bozans live with generations of one family. Just like our Berber. He’s ninth generation.”
Leela looked longingly into the kitchen.
“You want to adopt him, don’t you?” asked Rea. Leela’s eyes lit up and Xeranther started laughing.
“Don’t mind my daughter,” Poppy said, returning from the bathroom. He wobbled back to his chair. “Stories are gateways that open your mind to think differently and question what people have stopped questioning. My Felza was once as bright and curious as you lassies. Then her big old heart went and fell in love, and now all her world revolves around this wildling.” He ruffled Xeranther’s hair.
“Not the hair, Pops!”
Rea felt a twinge of envy watching Xeranther with his grandfather. She glanced at Leela, wondering if she too longed for that kind of relationship with her family... but Leela seemed more interested in the biscuits on the plate. Of course.
Chapter 16
Fear Never Stopped A Fool
“Now, where were we?” Poppy picked the gnarled branch he used as a walking stick and limped towards the window. “Aye, the serpent sea. One must start at the beginning to understand a subject’s full worth.”
The three of them nodded attentively like students in a classroom.
“Not long ago, when Astranthia was ruled by King Zulgar, there be no serpent sea. Peasants and
noblemen visited daily to tell the king of their troubles. King Zulgar, like any man, could not solve every problem, but he never closed his doors to common folk. The castle in my time was called the People’s Castle. Nowadays, not so much.”
“What happened to him?” asked Rea.
“The inevitable—heartache and death. It be his daughter who rules. Queen Razya, wielder of Shadow Magic. You dare not meddle with her or you can get cursed or imprisoned or killed. That be her way. We be knowing it well.”
A sadness came over him and Rea could tell he was thinking about Xeranther’s father. Her gaze slid over to Xeranther to see if he was all right. But Xeranther’s gaze remained pinned on Poppy, not a flutter of emotion to be seen.
“Early in the Queen’s reign, before this wildling was born,” continued Poppy, “the constant stream of commoners and their flood of troubles vexed her good. So, the Queen darkened the waters to create the serpent sea. Folk could no longer enter the castle when it suited them, unless she wanted them to visit her.”
“But the sea is a lake, isn’t it?” said Leela.
“Quite right, youngling. But the Sea of Serpent Lilies has a more sinister ring to it, doesn’t it?” Poppy shrugged. “Aye, so it stuck.”
“What’s so dangerous about these lilies?” inquired Rea.
“The lilies be venomous snakes.”
“SNAKES?” gasped Leela. “I thought that was just a name. You mean there are actual serpents?”
“Aye.” Poppy winced, squeezing the leg that absorbed his weight. “The Queen is no ordinary Astranthian ruler. She loves to watch her subjects squirm, especially those who defy her. With Shadow Magic, she created four types of lilies. One’s venom renders the bitten unconscious for months, sometimes years, the other’s causes an irrational fear of water due to which one inevitably falls into it only to be chomped to pieces, and the third’s coagulates the bitten’s blood, causing death within hours. The last type of lily, of course, is a simple water lily. One that causes no pain, unconsciousness, or death. It’s the one that entices many a fool like myself to cross the sea with the hope they can outwit the Queen and reach the castle without dying. For us men, once sea-faring folk, it be a challenge to see which of us could do it. Fools, we be! But fear never stopped a fool, now did it?”
