The grayvanaralaughed. “Ah, desire. Such a poisonous thing.”
Vikram frowned. Where had he heard that? But the thought faded as they were once more dragged through the Otherworld. For all its beauty, there was something unfinished about the Otherworld. Many stalls were in the middle of construction. An orchard with silver saplings lay enclosed by a pearl fence. Even the sky looked sewn together; pieces of the night sky wore strange white scars that were neither clouds nor stars, but thread. Vikram recognized the looks of the place. The city bore the aftermath of war, as if it had grown harder and more wary.
“Who won the war?” asked Gauri. “You said there was a war here.”
“Oh yesses,” said thevanara.“The Dread Queen and her Cold Consort soothed Chaos to sleep, muddled the stars, broke the thread, ate the dark and spits it up!”
Vikram rolled his eyes. Their captors were insane. Which didn’t bode well for whatever would happen next. He steadied his nerves. He had knowledge about a weakness, and that was the greatest weapon he could demand. He’d talked his way from tight spots before and if he had to sell his soul to get them free and take them to the Tournament, he would.
At the bottom of a sloping valley lay a glowing number of pools. The land looked like the earth after thunderstorms, divots of silver puddles lighting up the world. The grayvanaraexpertly picked his way through the pools. Vikram peered into the pools, and what he saw stole his breath. He saw a forest of glass birds. A hundred suns. A thousand moons. As the reins tugged him forward, he caught a glimpse of the grayvanara.His hands were gripping something glittering. A shining ruby. For a panicked second, Vikram thought thevanarahad stolen from him. But then he felt his own ruby grazing his chest from the concealed pocket in his jacket. What was avanaradoing with a ticket to Alaka? His thoughts went no further. Thevanarasjumped into a pool. His feet skidded over the edge. A rush of hollow terror filled his stomach and he shut his eyes, bracing for the fall.
7
A BITE OF VENGEANCE
GAURI
I was dying.
I had to be. Hunger like this was impossible. Hunger started threading through my body when we were in the Night Bazaar. It was as if the applewantedme to bite it. Only thevanaras’ threats kept me from sinking my teeth into the rind. When we jumped through the mirror portal, the hunger became impossible to ignore. Hunger smeared my vision. I hardly saw the ghost city we were led through. Low fires burned in faraway embankments but the streets were empty. Vaguely, I could just make out tattered pennants hanging from lopsided turrets. In the distance, the crooked teeth of a mountain ridge grinned and widened, as if preparing to snap the world in half.
“Home,” sang the yellowvanara.Even through the haze of hunger, I could hear the hurt in his voice. “One day, Queen Tara will return. One day, her penance will be enough.”
I couldn’t remember being shuffled from one place to the next. It was only when I heard dungeon doors clanging shut behind me that I realized we’d been locked inside.
“The trial will be held at first light,” called the grayvanarathrough the door.
A dank, fetid smell wafted through the room. I bit back the urge to retch. Slabs of wet, gray stone formed the walls. In one corner, an iron tree sprang up to brush the ceiling. It was too thick to break apart the pieces and try to lever the stone slabs apart. Besides, I could hardly stand. Something hung from the iron branches, a bulky cloak probably left behind by some former doomed inmate.
Now that the chains had been removed, I rubbed my neck with one hand, wincing at the swollen and bruised skin. Vikram leaned against a wall, murmuring to himself.
“I think if we can fool them into thinking that we have some ties to the Queen, we can sneak out. You can still fight, can’t you?”
My face must have given away my answer, because he groaned.
“Show me that apple.”
I was too tired to fight, so I held out my hand. The apple’s golden rind had begun to wrinkle like day-old fruit. It looked molten in the stingy light.
“Strange,” he said.
“Is there no end to your wisdom?”
He ignored me. “How do you feel?”
“Like I will die if I don’t eat this apple.”
He considered this. “Then why don’t you bite it? See what happens.”
“Are you mad?”
“I prefer curious.”
“It could kill me!”
“I don’t think so,” he said. “Thevanaraskept a tight leash on your throat. You couldn’t have possibly eaten anything with it on.… What if it was to prevent you from eating it?”
“No.”
