by Payal Doshi
The dwarves ran to pull out the plant, but a flash of red flew past them and incinerated the sanitation pot to ashes. A plume of smoke rose from where it once stood.
The Queen stared, aghast, and Rea nearly fell off balance. The ray of magic had shot out of Rohan’s finger. Rea blinked, giddy with joy and disbelief. He had awoken his nectar and he could shoot energy from his hands! For the first time, she was proud of something he had that was way cooler than hers. Together, with their nectral powers, they could easily take down the Queen!
“You keep this vermin of a boy alive! You hear me?” The Queen grabbed the dwarves, bringing them to an inch of her face. Spittle formed in the corners of her mouth. “I want to crush the life out of him with my bare hands. I don’t care if you have to drag him out unconscious. Keep him breathing. Or else you won’t be.”
She flung them aside like garbage and rattled Rohan like a child’s toy. “You said I was in your hands, begging you to do my bidding. Well, how is this for begging: If you die before you sacrifice your blood on the flower, I will kill your precious little sister.”
“My sister?” Rohan’s voice laced with fear.
Rea wished she could break away from her cell and chains. Suddenly, she remembered Oleandra’s potion around her neck. But when she looked down, there was only a locket with a sketch of an unfamiliar man.
“The poor dear came all this way looking for you and find you she did. Even ran a dangerous little errand for me in exchange for your freedom.”
Rea watched the Queen’s words hack into Rohan’s heart.
“Rea... she came to find me?” His voice was filled with shock and tender surprise.
“Aye, she did. She almost died for you and now she rots in a cell like this.” The Queen cackled and her laugh disgusted Rea. It reeked of hatred and revenge. “I was going to set her free after the Ceremony, but your disobedience will come at a price, nephew. And she will pay for it... like your father did when he tried to save you all.”
Her voice was smoother than poison.
A brutal pain enveloped Rea. The same kind that hit her when Xeranther and Leela and spoke about someone called Baba. Rohan pushed aside the Queen and ran to the door of his cell.
“REA? REA? WHERE ARE YOU?” he screamed, desperately looking for her in the grimness of the Cellars. “If you can hear me, if you’re really here, RUN! ESCAPE! GO BACK HOME! Send Amma here and you stay with Bajai, protect her, keep her safe.”
Rea burst into tears. She was right there, a few meters away, but he couldn’t see her. And neither could she bring Amma or Bajai to save them. Oh, what a mess she had made, shunning and blaming her family for everything in her life.
Rohan lowered himself to the floor, his shackled hands gripping the cell bars.
“And... Rea...” he said, tears falling from his eyes. “You were right to keep asking about Baba. I shouldn’t have stopped caring. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
He spoke to the darkness between them.
“Every moment that I was stuck here, I worried you were kidnapped too. I begged and prayed for you to be safe, for Amma and Bajai to be safe. The only thing that kept me going was to fight and escape this prison so I could save all of you. And here you came to save me. Now, you’re locked somewhere in this horrible place.” Rohan shook with sobs. “But I’m going to find you, even if I just have a few hours left,” he wiped his tears and stood up, the chains clanging like church bells. “I’m not giving up before finding you. If you can hear me, please don’t give up either...”
Rohan broke down again. What cruel games the Queen had played, thought Rea, her heart numb with sadness. No wonder Amma and Bajai kept the truth hidden from her and Rohan. They had never wanted them to come here.
The Queen cast a disgusted look at Rohan and then flicked a gaze at Rea. Their eyes met for a second before she glided past them in disdain. The dwarves scurried behind her. The taste of the sour berries filled Rea’s mouth. She could feel the beating of Rohan’s heart slowing down.
Chapter 29
The Night of Nilaya
Rea couldn’t believe what Rohan had done. She called out to him several times, ignoring the threats of the spriggan guard. But her voice was only hers to hear. She slouched against the wall. It was over. Rohan was going to die. She probably was, too. And they definitely were not going to see Amma and Bajai again.
Rea’s tears fell freely. Her magic was useless. All she could do was say ‘Hi!’ to a plant. Wow, amazing.
You have MAGIC. If you don’t want it, give it to me! She heard Leela’s voice in her head. Rea smiled, knowing it was something she might have said. She prayed Leela and Xeranther had safely escaped and that Leela had used the blood-soaked shirt to portal back to Earth.
There was nothing left to do in Astranthia.
Rea peered through the metal bars to see what Rohan was doing, but he had retreated into the shadows of his cell. She stared at her chains, wishing she could go back in time. If she could, she wouldn’t hold as much of a grudge against Amma and Bajai. Considering where she had ended up, they had good reason to hide the truth. She would’ve befriended Leela a lot sooner and been nicer to Rohan. She wouldn’t have let him walk home alone that night, or any night. And she would’ve stopped pestering him about... um... wasn’t there somebody or something she was mad at him for not caring about? Rea wracked her brain. There was. There definitely was. But what?
A scathing emptiness assailed her, and she curled onto the floor, her cheek pressing against a welter of tally marks and dates scratched in the ground by prisoners of the past who never escaped the cell.
This was it. Everything was over. Razya had won.
No.
Rea pulled herself up. She wasn’t going to let her and Rohan become a scratch on the floor. There was still time left. There had to be a way out. Rohan had told her not to give up. She couldn’t see him, but she was certain he was thinking of ways to escape his cell and come to her. Rea crawled the length and breadth of her cell, looking for a stone, a stick, a hidden panel—anything. The gaping pain in her heart had waned to an ache, but she found nothing she could use. All her cell had was a cot, a sink, a sanitation pot, and a window barred with rods. Rea pushed her cot under the window and stood on it.
A labyrinth of hedges covered in blossoms of the most entrancing indigoes and turquoise spanned before her. She was close enough to see that each leaf was bordered in vermillion as if it bled rich, luscious blood, and far enough to take in the entire maze. A breeze blew, and a wave of red-rimmed leaves danced. Freckles of water resting on the flowers caught the light, splintering into a million fragments. Rea had never witnessed a sight so alluring, so mystical.
Hoots and cackles rumbled through the corridor, and she turned, her heart pounding. Some poor soul must be getting imprisoned, she thought, and returned to the view. The labyrinth had turned into a desolate land. A red sun burned. The sky was colorless. Giant birds circled, howling cries of hunger.
Rea longed to be there. Anywhere but the Cellars.
Help me, Thubian.
Turn away from the illusion, brave one. It is there to tempt you, to remind you of what lies outside while you’re trapped inside. It can m-make the prisoners go m-mad.
Their connection crackled.
You have to get Rohan and me out of here.
I am t-trying. I came because I sensed your distress, but the Q-Queen has fortified the walls with S-Shadow Magic. There are too many l-layers. It is h-hard to p-penetrate t-them.
Thubian? Can you hear me?
He was gone.
“Psst!” a voice whispered in a panic.
Rea almost screamed with glee seeing Leela and Xeranther outside her cell, and she jumped off the cot.
“We are... um... junior recruits for the—er—Order of the Salient Keepers. We are in training... and we’ve been o-ordered by Her Extreme Greatness to check on the prisoner before she is taken for the Ceremony,” Xeranther fumbled, lying to the spriggan. “We have b
een asked to see if she is—er—fit for the task she is to perform for the—er—Her Extreme Great—”
The spriggan leaned low, rancid breath misting his face. Xeranther swallowed a gag.
“Hurry, take this and say Leafless Forest.” Leela stealthily handed Rea a vial of wortel-motus through the cell bars. “Oleandra gave us some more.”
Rea was amazed and grateful to Oleandra... until she remembered her bloodoath.
One problem at a time, she reminded herself.
“We have to give some to Rohan too,” whispered Rea. “He’s in that cell.” She pointed and Leela stole a quick look.
“The cell’s empty.”
“What?”
“Rea, we don’t have time. The ceremony begins soon. They must have taken him already.”
There wasn’t time to argue. The spriggan scratched his head and twisted his mouth angrily, snorting out a red-hot puff of fire. It was clear he was starting to see through Xeranther’s rambling monologue.
“NOW,” shouted Xeranther, and with a swig of the potion, whoosh! they melted into the prison floor.
A grand moon, glowing an ocean-blue, dominated the sky.
It was the Night of Nilaya. The night of the full blue moon.
Soldiers of the Imperial Guard banged their batons, ushering crowds of Astranthians into the Leafless Forest. True to its name, the forest bore not a leaf nor blossom. The trees were charred to the bone and the wind carried with it the smell of ash. Rea remembered the words in one of Mishti Daadi’s prophecies, ‘Past the forest widowed of leaves...’
Spying a scrap of open space, Rea, Xeranther, and Leela charged ahead and squeezed through the throng until they had a clear view of where the ceremony was to take place. There was a podium with seven chairs on it. It overlooked an empty spot around which twelve rows of iridescent flowergrass swayed. From magical beasts to ordinary people and animals, every living creature had gathered to witness the arrival of the flower. Music blared, conches blew. Torches atop wooden poles blazed, casting yellow flares and sinister shadows.
A grimness hung in the air. Seated on the ground, Rea searched for Rohan. Nausea swept over her. She tried to settle it, but her energy was draining rapidly. Rohan was dying.
“You found her!” exclaimed Flula, sprinkling Rea with her glow. “And your brother?”
Rea’s chin trembled. Just then, Thubian’s voice rumbled through her mind.
Have courage, fearless one. The Q-Queen has cast a circle of Shadow Magic around the Leafless Forest. Its fortifications are strong, b-but I am trying to come to you. Be strong.
Rea swallowed her tears. Knowing that Thubian was coming gave her strength.
“Have you seen Mar, Poppy, and Berber?” asked Xeranther.
“No... but I’ll look. Oh, sap! Elder Pari is here. I have to go.”
Rea looked up. Male and female paries of every color began congregating on the branches of trees. Those dressed in gold and silver kept watch over the sacred spot, their glittering hues giving light to the enveloping darkness. Atop a branch bathed in leaves, Rea caught a flash of yellow. Then a glimmering purple.
“Oleandra is here,” she said and Oleandra, high on her perch, acknowledged them with a nod.
“Oh no, the bloodoath,” cried Leela. “I’d forgotten about it.”
Rea hadn’t.
“What am I going to do?” she asked, sweat dripping down her back. Without the petal, she had no leverage against the Queen, let alone any means of destroying her. Not to mention, she was going to be singlehandedly responsible for each of their deaths if she didn’t fulfil the bloodoath.
“Focus on your brother for now and we will focus on the villagers. Let’s worry about the bloodoath later,” said Xeranther. “You’re not alone, remember... we’re in this together.”
Rea’s eyes welled.
THRUM. THRUM. THRUM.
The drums beat and one by one ministers in flamboyant garbs and faces puffed with anticipation took their seats on the podium. The seventh chair sat vacant.
A guard dressed in full regalia stepped forth.
“Presenting Her Extreme Greatness, Queen Razya of the House of Flur, Ruler of the great and bountiful realm of Astranthia!” he announced into a conch shell, sending echoes of his words across the forest.
A moment of silence followed, and then the air exploded with swirls of fire and raindrops. Floating above the forest floor, fire and water danced with the dazzle of diamonds and coalesced into the figure of the Queen. The flames cooled into a gown of crimson while the rising smoke settled into ruffles of black. Her crown, fanned by a headdress of ivory and thorn, glistened like a well-oiled weapon.
The audience and the Imperial Guard, enthralled, fell to their knees. A man, pale as bone, sheathed in robes of metallic silk with tribal tattoos on his knuckles and neck appeared behind the Queen. A chain in his hands clinked. Bound like an animal, Rohan appeared behind him, his head lolling to the side. The poison was taking effect, Rea thought in despair. Urdaag and the dwarves loomed beside him.
“We’re going to get him out,” Xeranther said, his eyes turning into slits. “I have an idea.”
A minister dressed in a coat of cerulean orchids and a turban of ferns stood up.
“It is time,” he said, looking down at a device through a monocle. His wrinkly lips twitched as he halted beside the Queen and waited awkwardly until she stepped aside and nodded for him to begin.
The minister chanted words in an ancient language. As he sprinkled water into the center of the flowergrass, a shower of stars descended from the sky and the people joined in prayer. Flowers, tiny as fireflies, bloomed from each twinkling star and twirled in the golden-blue light. Every other head in the forest was bent in reverence, but Rea couldn’t take her eyes off Rohan. If the minister wasn’t holding him up, he would be sprawled on the ground, barely alive.
When their prayer ended, a shaft of moonbeam aligned over the flowergrass, shimmering like a spotlight. The minister closed his eyes and raised his hands to the moon. Not a whiff of breath or flit of a pari’s wing broke the silence.
Rea moved to get on her feet.
“Not yet,” whispered Xeranther.
Under the moonshine, a prickly stem grew. Leaves popped from its sides and the plant rose higher. From its tip, unfurling like ribbons, opened two perfectly shaped hibiscus petals, glittering like jewels.
The front-rowers leaned forward to see the Som, and the murmurs spread. Astranthians accustomed to the loss of two petals gasped at the sight of a third missing petal.
“SILENCE,” commanded the Queen. She opened her palm and the missing petal floated above. “Here is the third petal! I had to scour the realm to find it.”
“LIAR!” Rea screamed, leaping out of Xeranther’s grip. “It was me, Princess Raelia of the House of Flur, sister of Prince Raohan, the heir to the throne and granddaughter of the true reigning Queen Yuthika, who found it. Hand me my brother, or I will tell everyone why the flower lost its petal!”
The audience cried out and a breath of air slipped from the Queen’s lips. She shot the guard a look so blistering, he could’ve exploded into smithereens.
“Seize her,” she ordered, and the guard grabbed Rea, pinning her hands behind her back. Rea shook from side to side as the Queen’s chameleon eyes fell on her angered subjects and on the open-mouthed faces of her court. She stiffened.
“It is true I employed the aid of my niece to bring me the petal. However, were it not for my powers of foresight, neither would I have known about the missing petal nor have it in my possession tonight.”
The crowd hesitantly settled into silence.
“DON’T BELIEVE HER,” shouted Rea. “It was because of her, because she stole the throne from my grandmother and mother, that the sacred flower sacrificed its petal!”
A current of magic shot from the Queen’s hand and Rea crumpled in the guard’s grip.
“It would behoove you to know,” the Queen turned to her subjects, “that b
ecause of me, your lives are not in danger anymore. As for what I did twelve years ago, do I not have the very petal which chose to hurt us?”
“Your Extreme Greatness,” intervened the minister holding Rohan. “You owe us no explanation.” He stepped forward, jangling the chain to draw attention to Rohan who staggered ahead, delirious.
“As for the heir,” the minister addressed the crowd, “he has poisoned himself with the deadly poison of five Moonfire berries, wanting to end his life before rejuvenating our sacred Som. Had our Queen not intervened, his selfish actions would have cost us the loss of one more petal and our lives would be eternally at risk.”
“Minister Welt speaks the truth,” exclaimed a minister, hairier than a mountain goat. “The Queen is our savior! Without her wisdom and swift action, the missing third petal would never have been found, while the boy would be dead before sacrificing his blood, causing a fourth petal to perish.” The minister’s face went rife with terror. “Who knows, how many moons our children would live to see with merely one petal on our beloved Som? Our plight would be abysmal. Our bellies would starve, our lands would burn, and our beautiful Astranthia would begin to rot.”
“Aye!” said a third minister, and the Queen smiled as if she were a saint who had rescued them all.
Rea’s mind reeled at how the ministers were twisting Rohan’s actions. She was focusing her strength into freeing herself when a BOOM erupted, and beams of fiery-yellow light sprang through the air. She cowered in reflex as the crowd exploded in applause.
Rea peeked from the crook of her elbow. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
It was Amma and Bajai!
Chapter 30
The People Have Spoken
Amma marched through the crowd, shooting rays of golden light, while Bajai followed close. The villagers kissed the ground they walked on and the wealthier Astranthians, confused by the commotion, leaned out of their seats for a better look. Recognizing their former Queen and her daughter, expressions of smug delight appeared on their faces, if only for a fleeting second.
