Until the surrounding trees began to quiver and shake. From the branches, dozens of vanaras dressed in tattered uniforms, or just rags, leaped toward the agora, whooping and shrieking as they clambered to their stone chairs.
“Deceptive! Terrible!”
“—banishing us!”
“No right to return here—”
“SILENCE!” shouted the bigger vanara guard. “Humans have dared to trespass on our ancestral lands, and for the first time in thousands of years, they must finally answer for the crimes committed against us!”
The vanaras screeched and hooted. Some of them threw fruit, spattering the ground with pulp. The vanara soldier’s lips pulled back into a grin, revealing shiny red gums and long yellow teeth. He tapped Aru’s head, and the net’s enchantment released her—and only her—forcing her to stumble forward. The moment Aru was free, the second vanara guard clamped a pair of enchanted ropes around her wrists. Aru nudged at Vajra in her pocket, but the ball only buzzed weakly.
“BEHOLD ITS GRUESOME VISAGE!” shouted a vanara in the audience.
Aru bristled, trying to shake out her hair.It isn’tthatbad, is it?Aru craned her neck to look back at her trapped friends. In her head, she’d imagined everyone wearing matching expressions ofLET’S GET ’EM.
Alas, it was not to be.
Aiden’s face had gotten squashed between Brynne’s and Mini’s shoulders, so he looked like an angry chipmunk. Mini’s glasses had gone sideways and poked her in the eye, so she was tearing up. Kara’s face had gotten stuck against her own arm. And Brynne had gotten so twisted, she was facing the other way.
When they took you out, a sharp rock bounced inside. I think I can open the net with it, said Brynne through their mind link.
YES, thought Aru.
Just keep them distracted.
By now, Aru had reached the podium. On one side of it was a rickety wooden chair, and on the other, a tall object concealed by tattered silk. She was forced into the chair, which faced a large throne where a vanara sat wearing a white wig and red robe. The creature glared at her.
“SILENCE!” it yelled, bashing a banana against the armrest of its throne. “ORDER! ORDER IN THE COURT!”
“Wait a minute…” Aru said.
“Where’s the defendant’s counsel?” asked the judge.
The younger vanara guard placed a rotten tomato beside Aru’s foot and then stepped back, announcing, “Present, Your Honor.”
“Hold on, you’re giving me arotten tomatofor a lawyer?” demanded Aru. “It can’t even speak! Don’t I have a right to, I dunno, better counsel or something?”
She wasn’t actually sure what she was saying, but she’d heard something like that in a movie, so it seemed close enough. Another vanara hopped down from the seats. He was dressed in an elaborate suit of banana leaves and wore a pair of sunglasses with one of the lenses punched out. He whispered to the judge, “Can she do that?”
The vanara judge shrugged and said, “Proceed with your questioning.”
The prosecuting attorney puffed up his banana suit, then pointed a furry finger at Aru. “State your name for the court.”
“Aru…Shah?”
“And what king do you fight for?”
“King?”repeated Aru. “None?”
“Nonsense! Which king enthralls your land?”
Aru considered this. “Uh…probablyTiger King, but I don’t think—”
“YOU SEE, MY SISTERS AND BRETHREN?” said the vanara lawyer, rotating in a circle to address the crowd. “Once more, these kings and queens and gods and men drag us into their foolish wars. And who ends up paying for them?Us!Why do you seek to destroy us, oh Aru Shah, subject of the Tiger King?”
Okay, Aru was not going to be able to explain this one. It was time to be honest. She took a deep breath.
“So, I think there’s been some kind of confusion?” tried Aru slowly. “You see, we’re not trying to destroy anybody…. We’re just trying to get to Lanka.”
