A burning flag flew down from the sky, briefly illuminating the rage that contorted his face in forbidding lines. She gasped. One half of his face was covered in soot and the other painted garishly in fresh blood, like burning crimson.
“Why do you think, Princess, they call me the scourge of the north?” he asked softly. “It’s because I don’t tolerate anyone hurting what I consider mine.”
His eyes were empty pits. There was no pity, no remorse there, only relentless cruelty. Her own heart twisted painfully, seeing the lack of emotions in his eyes. Although if asked, she wouldn’t have been able to say why.
Tremors rocked the assailant’s body, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Chandra walked up to him and slashed his neck in a clean and neat stroke, killing him instantly, ending his suffering.
Veer made a noise of disapproval and heaved the dead body over the parapet wall into the fight below.
Chapter 31: Help Granted Is Not Always Help Wanted
“I should’ve known you weren’t who you said you were when you bypassed me and went to Agrani to get the job you wanted,” said Aradatta, who stood with the head priest and Agrani flanking him. A couple of temple guards stood with them. The rest of the people were busy, taking care of the injured and clearing the large debris from the fight.
Aradatta didn’t take his hand off the pommel of his sword; distrust plainly written on his face. Girish, Billadev, and Shota were beside Veer, along with the thieves they had hired. They all had managed to survive the fight with only minor injuries.
“I know some of these people,” said Aradatta, looking at Veer’s men, his gaze narrowing when it landed on Maruthi. “They are bandits from the Borderlands, who are wanted in three kingdoms.”
“What I don’t know isyouridentity,” he continued, peering at Veer. “So, I’ll ask you one more time. Who are you, and what kind of business did you have here?”
“Wait. Please wait.” Chandra pushed forward to the front. “We mean you no harm. You were right. We did have a purpose in coming here but hear us out…”
Chandra glanced at Veer, who gave her a short nod, not taking his eyes off the captain.
“I’m a princess of Amaravathi, Chandrasena. And this is my husband, Prince Veer of Rajgarh.”
There was a lull and then the head priest burst out laughing. Even Aradatta seemed like he had difficulty believing her claim.
“Even if what you say is true,” said the head priest, struggling to contain his mirth, “everyone knows that the princess and her husband are bitter enemies. The chances of finding them traveling together are like finding water in the desert.” Aradatta appeared skeptical, but didn’t join in the priest’s joke.
“Shut up, fool,” said Agrani, her gravelly voice cutting through the muffled guffaws from the priest. “You better stop talking before you alienate our guests any further. They speak the truth.”
The priest stopped, eyes wide, his face frozen comically in mid-laugh, jaw slack.
“How do you know this, Agrani?” asked Aradatta.
Agrani pointed a forefinger at Chandra. “Look at her. Her forehead. The symbol. I didn’t think I’d see it adorn a living person’s forehead in my lifetime. The mark of King Amarendra.”
* * *
The fire went up with awhooshas more broken wood was added. The people sitting around the fire stretched their hands to it. Days here were boiling hot, the heat broken only by the monsoons, but the hour before sunrise was still the chilliest partof the day, when mist started to settle on the vegetation and crops.
“Why would anyone attack our peaceful city?” asked Aradatta. He and the prince sat outside on woven cots, facing each other. “We’ve no outstanding wealth; we’re only moderately successful. Whatever income we earn in the festival gatherings is invested back into the community. We’ve enjoyed relative peace under the protection of the three surrounding kingdoms. But I find it hard to disbelieve what my own eyes have seen.” He turned the arrow in his hands. He recognized it as belonging to Thianvelli’s archers, the distinct dark green shaft tied with dark hawk feathers.
“Our physician tells me that our men who have been struck with this type of arrow are poisoned,” he continued, trying to hide his anguish. He had trained some of these fallen men personally. To see them brought down by the coward’s weapon—a poison—made him seethe with helpless rage.
The woman who had introduced herself as Princess Chandrasena sat a little farther from the fire. She had painstakingly gathered her arrows; some of them were stained with blood. She was cleaning every one of them, washing them intulasi-infused water and laying them out to dry on mats spread in front of the fire.
“Thianvelli’s arrows are always poisoned,” she remarked, glancing up from her task. “Typically snake venom. It’s their signature move. They even vary the kind of venom they use. The antidote to it is a deeply guarded secret. I’m sorry, even I, as one of Thianvelli’s kin, am not privy to such secrets. The best treatment I can think of is a poultice that can leach out the poison if enough hasn’t entered the bloodstream yet.”
Aradatta nodded heavily. The princess had already been gracious enough to share the recipe of her poultice with theirphysicians. Agrani was in the sick tents, supervising the making of a big batch.
At a distance, the dead bodies of Thianvelli soldiers lay piled up, waiting for burial. They were the ones who forced their way into the temple, who were shot dead by the princess’s arrows.
More bodies lay in the city and a couple near thedhvajastamba. It didn’t escape Aradatta’s notice, the grim look on the prince’s face when they realized these soldiers had tried to climb the pillar. There was something going on afoot that Aradatta knew nothing about, and he didn’t mind admitting it filled him with dreadful foreboding.
All summer he had felt this unease, but the knowledge that his instincts were correct didn’t bring him any satisfaction. Were it not for the presence of the prince and his men, their city would’ve been burning now.
“But this means that many of my men are incapacitated for the time being,” he said. As he spoke, his eyes went to the man seated opposite him, who was staring into the flames.
