by Payal Doshi
The Queen cocked her head and Rea thought about wanting to upstage Rohan at the cricket match, to uncover Amma’s secrets, to selfishly use Leela. And these she had plotted only in the last few days. Her breath quivered. She lowered her hand. Razya stepped forward, reaching for Rea.
“Don’t be ashamed. It’s because of these traits that you made it to Astranthia and found your brother. You did it with courage and with no help from your Amma or Bajai. See how far you have come. You discovered the banyan portal, you battled the serpent-lilies, you located the missing petal, you escaped the Cellars of Doom—you did things that no other human in the history of Astranthia has accomplished individually, never mind altogether. Your mind and grit are things worthy of praise…”
The Queen reached to touch Rea’s face. The tips of her fingers grazed Rea’s skin and Rea flushed pink, standing stock-still.
“You are destined for greater things, dear one. Don’t play second fiddle to your brother or your family.”
Rea remembered the times when Amma favored Rohan over her. It was subtle; a larger portion of food, a cleaner plate, a few more clothes, more money on books. It was the little things, the unconscious things Amma did for him that upset Rea because her mother didn’t realize she was doing them. Loving Rohan and caring for his needs came more naturally to Amma than doing the same for her daughter.
“I don’t intend to be a wedge between you and your family, contrary to what others might think,” the Queen’s voice softened, and she took Rea’s hands in hers. “But I do want to prepare you for what will become of your future. Your Amma and Bajai will see to it that your brother will marry and sire children before you do. They will do this to solidify his claim to the throne—they did the same to me, favoring your Amma over me—for they always pick the children they believe they can control the most in the name of level-headedness.”
She looked at Rea matter-of-factly and led her across the singed forest floor. Except for Leela, no one had told Rea she was good at anything and even though it was coming from the Queen, a part of her wanted to hear it. In her heart of hearts, she knew she had a potential she was just beginning to tap into. It surprised her that her aunt could see through her heart and into her soul more than Amma ever had.
“I have ruled for twelve years and I know what it takes,” the Queen said, facing Rea. Despite the dirt and the blood, a radiance emanated from her. “Join me, Raelia. Be my heir. I will train, groom, and nurture you. You have a thirst and a purpose within you that is required for this role, much more than your brother does. I’m not asking you to leave your family or to choose me over them. I’m asking you to imagine what kind of future you envision for yourself...”
Rea thought about their house in Darjeeling and their small, simple life, and then she thought of Astranthia and how quickly she had become part of it. There was a connection here, she could feel it. To rule this beautiful land, as a princess and maybe one day as a queen... Rea’s hopes grew wings and soared high into the midnight sky.
“Your Extreme Greatness!” The minister who had conducted the ceremony ran into view, his turban falling askew. “There’s been—OH!—” His gaze fell on Rea and he scurried towards her, unsheathing his sword. His opulent robes billowed in the wind.
Rea raised her arms to defend herself when the Queen hissed, “GET OUT OF HERE, LOOTIN.”
The minister screeched to a halt in confusion. His gaze volleyed between Rea and the Queen. In that moment, the spell of Razya’s words was broken. Rea shook her head, emptying out the deceitful temptation.
“I won’t betray my family the way you did,” she said, pinning her eyes on the Queen. “Your words made me feel important and for a minute I was tempted by them, but Amma is right. I’m nothing like you and even if I am treated the way you say I will be, I won’t turn on my family. I will always choose them over you. Even over myself.”
In the distance, came the beating of drums.
“ASTRANTHIANS!” boomed Xeranther’s voice and Rea could picture him shouting into the conch he had stolen. “THIS IS YOUR MOMENT OF REVOLUTION. JOIN ME IN AVENGING THOSE WE HAVE LOST AT THE HANDS OF A MISBEGOTTEN QUEEN. THE TIME HAS COME TO FIGHT! LET US RISE TOGETHER AND BRING BACK JUSTICE!”
His words reverberated throughout the forest. The minister hesitated for a moment and then ran towards the eruption of battle cries. The Queen turned venomous.
“I SHOULD HAVE DONE AWAY WITH ALL OF YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE,” she screeched, sending fireballs hurtling towards Rea.
Rea leaped, ducked, and rolled to the side. She was thankful for the minister’s intrusion. It had snapped her out of the Queen’s spell. She was ready now to fulfil her bloodoath.
In a stunning display, dark and light nectar clashed against each other, setting alight the night. The Queen sprang through the air, leaping ten feet high, firing bolts after bolts and Rea fought back, sustaining cuts, shocks, and throbbing lacerations. She dipped and bowed in reflex, trying to aim her attacks at the Queen’s heart, but her nectar was depleting her energy and she had little time to do whatever she could to defeat the Queen.
Quickly, she snuck behind a tree and waited to gather her strength. The Queen’s footsteps came closer, crackling the dry brushwood. Rea’s muscles tightened. She’s going to burn me to toast! With her heart thrashing against her lungs, she hurled a beam. The Queen barely flinched. Rea threw another. The Queen side-stepped it as if it were a puddle. Rea tried again but her magic sputtered.
A ray of scarlet nectar zipped past her head. Then, another. Then two, three, five, seven. The Queen was doling them out like candy at a birthday party, giving Rea no time to defend or attack. Cuts bled from her cheeks, arms, and legs, and just when she found a free second to shoot a beam, the tree she’d been hiding behind was sliced in half.
Shivering and exposed, Rea faced the Queen. The blue moon shone, and the air thrummed with the music of mutiny.
It was now or never. They raised their arms at the same time and beams shot to and fro. The Queen’s power was stronger, and every time Rea shot out a beam, the Queen released two beams or a flaming fireball. She laughed heinously as Rea’s arms struggled to stay aloft. Rea fought to keep going when in the glare of clashing magic, the Queen’s lips trembled, and her eyes closed.
The Queen’s powers are failing!
Rea’s spirits soared and instinctively, she threw out every ounce of nectar she had towards the flora around her. Suddenly, roots, branches, tree-trunks, and the shrubbery rattled awake to her calls. Multiplying, they grew long and wide, twisting into a cage of bark, branch, root, and thorn. Rea controlled the cage with her nectar, and when she was ready, she let it drop. The Queen’s eyes shot open. Thorns cut into her, roots suffocated her, and an especially gnarly branch wound around her neck. Rea dropped her hands in exhaustion as the spell-bound trees continued to do her bidding. It was time to fulfil her bloodoath.
“You were never going to win,” the Queen croaked, as a ray of light enveloped in fumes spun from her finger.
It hit Rea squarely in the chest and she stumbled to the ground, spitting up blood when a second beam slammed into her. Rea screamed in pain. The cage broke apart and the Queen rose, her eyes white like Mishti Daadi’s. Her lips moved and shadows from the cage of root, thorn, and branch peeled away. They stretched and swarmed over Rea, pinning her arms to her chest forcing her under their crushing weight. The Queen towered before her.
“You made the wrong choice, dear niece.”
Rea gagged for breath. A memory of her and Rohan rushing towards their dinner table where Amma and Bajai were sitting with a plate of sugar-dusted chocolate biscuits and a pot of tea—its steaming aroma curling into the room—floated before her eyes. She remembered how hungry she had been and the excitement of those rare yummy treats. Rea smiled, comforted by the warmth of that memory, and then the shadows filled her mouth.
“Baccara sintera verafara,” said the Queen.
The swirls of shadows smothered Rea as the last v
estiges of breath strangled her chest. She lay on the cold forest floor. The moon swam. The stars dimmed. And everything dissolved to black.
Chapter 32
Destiny Awaits
The morning light was bright. Rea brought her hand to cover her eyes. The pain was excruciating.
“Good morning.” A pair of hazel eyes greeted her.
“ROHAN?”
“Oy, you’re not supposed to make any sudden movements. Complete bed rest has been advised,” he said, kneeling beside her.
Rea grabbed his arms and legs to make sure he was real and caring not for the pain she was in, dove her head straight into his chest.
“Ow! I didn’t die before, but you’ll crush me to death now,” he laughed, returning her hug. The frothing saliva, the dead look in his eyes, the gauntness in his face had gone.
“You saved us,” he said. “You saved me.”
So, they had won!
Relief cascaded through Rea. With Rohan’s help, she propped herself up. A large bandage covered his wrist and she could smell the odors of ointment and herbal pastes slathered over her. Like a mummy, her arms, legs, and stomach were wrapped in cloth.
She looked around. Mounds of fire blazed across the forest and people scurried in and out of tents, carrying medicines, poultices and long, white sheets to cover the bodies.
Rea remembered the shadows. The Shadow Magic.
“How did we win? Where is the Queen?”
Rohan hesitated. “She—”
“She’s awake!” A stampede of footsteps followed and Amma and Bajai threw their arms around Rea.
“How are you feeling?” Amma kissed her hands. Rea winced in pain, but she didn’t complain.
“Like the Queen almost killed me,” she replied with a dry smile.
Amma rocked her like a baby, the curve of her neck redolent of tea leaves. Despite the lies and hidden truths, Rea hugged her, breathing her in. It was an embrace she had longed for.
The sun cracked through the sky and the faces of Leela, Xeranther, and Flula beamed at her. Leela suffered a few scratches but Xeranther’s body was streaked in cuts. His hair was matted with blood and a bandage around his calf splotched red.
“Don’t worry, I’ll live,” he grinned. “What about you?”
Rea shrugged. “Me too.”
She looked at everyone. “Did I k-kill her?... Is she dead?”
“After I regained consciousness, Amma left to find you,” Rohan said, turning to where a mass of trees lay felled, burnt and in flames.
“It wasn’t difficult to see where you and Razya had battled. There was charred carnage everywhere,” said Amma. “The flora led me to where Razya was hiding. I gathered that’s where you must be too. But by the time I reached the place, you weren’t there, and I glimpsed a cloaked figure helping Razya—I couldn’t make out who. Then in a puff, they both disappeared, fleeing the scene.” The agony in Amma’s eyes spoke of the unfinished business she still had with her sister.
“Wait, the Queen fled?” said Rea. After all she had done!
“Far away from here, I hope,” said Bajai, bringing a leaf-chalice of water to Rea’s lips. “If my nectar was not as old as I, I would have been of... better use.”
“Bajai, you and Amma were amazing. How... how did you know how to get here?”
“You were gone three days, Reeli. We were beside ourselves with worry. We thought Razya had taken you too...” Amma quivered.
“Then I remembered the diary I had given you,” said Bajai. “It was in the telephone drawer. We read everything—your nightmares, the riddles, the owls, the banyan in Sanobar...”
Of course!
Rea was relieved she had done at least one thing right by taking Bajai’s advice and writing her analyses and conclusions in the diary.
“When we found the banyan, we saw your bicycles there and realized you had portaled through the tree. After we landed here, we followed the crowds making their way to... the forest.” Amma looked apologetically at Flula.
“It wasn’t your fault, Your Greatness,” Flula replied.
“The Leafless Forest used to be home to the pari-folk,” explained Xeranther.
“Pareevan, or the forest of paries, was alive once, entangled in vines and cables of the most fragrant luleblooms and covered in leaves so grandiose, we’d have to light our wings to get around. Now, the soil is burnt through and not a spot of moss can grow out of it,” said Flula. “But life goes on and we love our new home of Pariland.”
Amma smiled tenderly at Flula’s optimism and Rea took a sip of water. If the Queen was out there, she’d be coming for her...
“You are not alone, Reeli,” Amma said, sensing her fears. She held her and Rohan’s hands. “There’ll be no secrets between us anymore.”
“Promise?” said Rea.
“I do.”
Xeranther and Berber got a fire going and Bajai, Amma, Rohan, Leela, Poppy, and Flula gathered around it. Xeranther’s mother along with others bustled between teams of medics tying tourniquets and comforting the injured. The moon shone a verdant blue, though paler in the wintry morning.
“I should help,” said Rea. “My blood healed Xee and the villagers.”
“Bajai and I donated our blood and nectar,” said Amma. “There’s enough to heal the ones who can be saved.”
She stroked Rea’s hair and Rea turned to Rohan. “You shouldn’t have poisoned yourself.”
“I couldn’t let her have the one thing she needed from me. Not after what she did to our family... our Baba. She wanted to kill us, but he bore the brunt of her spell and... gave his life to save ours.”
Bajai nodded somberly and Amma’s eyes filled with tears. An unaccountable aching seared through Rea. Rohan spoke of this ‘Baba’ like she should know him, but she didn’t. She wanted to know more about this man, but instead a quiet sadness bloomed in her heart.
“So, how did it all end?” she asked.
Amma drew a breath and rubbed her hands over the fire. “After I carried Rohan to safety, Leela rushed to help me. Rohan was trembling with chills. His body was hot, then cold. He was delirious, slipping in and out of consciousness. My nectar wasn’t helping...” She stared into the flames.
“That’s when Xee began rallying the crowd,” said Leela. “You should have seen him.”
Rea took another sip.
“I remember hearing the drums and then your voice. The Queen’s face was a sight to see. The minister who did the ceremony, he was there, too. When he heard your voice, he ran. I’ve never seen anyone look so afraid.”
Xeranther lowered his gaze. “I felt my Par beside me, and the words came pouring out. Before I knew it, the villagers had risen together like an angry beast and we charged at the soldiers, fighting with everything we had.”
“Your Par will be proud, lad.” Poppy wiped a tear from his eye. “You did us all proud.”
Rohan turned to Poppy. “And I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for you, sir.”
“Why, I’d give my right hand and left leg for my Prince!”
“I can never thank you enough.”
“My grandson is right. We are forever in your debt,” said Bajai.
Leela caught Rea’s confusion.
“When Floo found us, she took one look at Rohan and immediately called Poppy.”
“I know a thing or two about deadly bites and poison. When I was told by the dwarves that the Prince had consumed five Moonfire berries, I put them straight to work. Floo brought me suckleseeds from across the prairie, Leela scourged for whittle leaves, your Mar fetched me some forest herbs, and your butterfly friend brought me the most elusive drops of dewgold. I mixed it up and forced it down the Prince’s throat. He was up and about in no time!”
“The dwarves helped?” asked Rea. “And Oleandra too?”
Her heart stopped. The battle had ended, and she had forgotten one extremely important part. She had failed to fulfil the bloodoath and now Oleandra was going to kill them.
Oleandra’s butterfly face flickered through the branches and she swooped down. Rea was prepared to beg when Oleandra spoke.
“You tried your hardest, Princess, and for that I cannot punish you. You have more power in you than I imagined. A power that matches Razya’s. But a power that needs training. I shall extend you more time and I’m willing to offer my services to harness and hone your nectar. When your nectral powers are ready, your time to fulfil the oath will come. We fear there are greater forces at play eviler than Razya. Your destiny awaits you, little bud, and our pact holds.” She turned to Xeranther. “Mr. Thistlewort, you’ve been a true ally. From now on forth, you are all my friends. I wish you well. Call upon me as you desire, and I shall appear. Until we meet again, farewell.” With a nod, she took a sip of her potion and seeped into the ground.
“What pact is she talking about?” asked Amma.
Xeranther turned the other way and Flula turned white.
“Er—It’s nothing,” said Rea. “Oleandra told me where to find the petal and in return, she wanted me to... um... defeat the Queen. Anyway, I don’t understand how we won or why the Queen had to run away?”
“That part’s a little fuzzy,” said Rohan.
“Some villagers said they saw a Ceffyldwer tear out of the sky and bring you out of the burning forest.” Leela smiled.
“And I didn’t see him, again,” groaned Xeranther as if it was the worst thing that had happened to him today.
Thubian, you came.
Of course, brave one. I wouldn’t have given up on you until my last breath.
How can I thank you? said Rea. I hope you are all right.
I am and I’m pleased you are too. You fought valiantly.
When I’m feeling better, we will celebrate. Xee can’t wait to meet you.
Thubian neighed in laughter.
Where is the Queen? asked Rea.
She fled into the nether regions of the realm. It will be a time before we hear from her, if we do at all. Rest well, brave one.
Rea smirked, thinking of the ‘nether regions of the realm’, a place she was certain was as far away as it sounded.
