“Of course.” I stepped out of the chariot, letting the cool grasses tickle my feet as I commanded their attention. “Which is why the general did not send anyone after me; he knew I was safe.”
The guards finally sheathed their weapons, but the one closest to me dismounted near my side.
“Thank you for bringing me so far,” I said. “I will accompany Avinash back to Ullal on one of your horses.”
The Banghervari guards had no chance to protest. I marched to the dismounted guard’s golden horse and stroked the star on its forehead.
“What’s her name?” I asked.
It took a moment for the guard to realize I’d asked her a question. “I think they call her Biju. This is my first time riding her.”
“Ah, well, you must be tired. And sore.” I turned to the rest of the guards. “All of you. You should take turns riding in the chariot on the way back.”
A few of them gasped at the idea.
Staying there any longer would just give them time to formulate their protests, so I mounted the horse?—cursing the absurdly ornate sari I’d been wrapped in?—and rode away, toward the trees on the other side of the clearing. I called over my shoulder, “If the raja has any questions, tell him I commanded it.”
Once we’d buried ourselves in the woods and were well out of view, I asked Avinash, “Why were you really there?”
Avinash checked behind him before saying, “It’s true that General Thevan sent me, but it wasn’t until?—”
He licked his lips and braced himself. “Until the Porcugi started their attack on our fort at dawn.”
“What?” I exploded, and Biju jumped ahead. I calmed her but kept her pace far faster than we were going before.
“I am to take you to safety,” Avinash said. “The rajkumari was evacuated, and I am to take you there.”
His voice faded as he finished and caught sight of my glare.
“We’re returning to the fort,” I said. “And the only question you should worry about is whether or not your horse can keep up with mine.”
Smoke clouded the air, drowning out the salty scent of the seas that I loved. Biju sprinted through the city’s gray, deserted market and to the fort’s front gates. She reared at the closed doors as I screamed for them to let me in. The guards scrambled upon seeing me, and Biju and I squeezed through the small gap they opened. Avinash soon followed, barely making it through before they closed the doors again and locked them. A trumpeter announced my arrival with three long blasts and two short, and the other trumpeters around the fort and along the beach took up the call as we trampled across the gardens where I’d been married.
“Find Thevan and report back about where I can meet him,” I commanded Avinash. “I need to change out of this ridiculous sari and get some arrows, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Parushi came sprinting across the front lawn, her face covered in soot, which made her maniacal white smile stand out even more.
“It’s about time. I have your bow, and your sword is with Sima.” She stopped and stared at my sari. “Let’s get you out of that, though.”
A kaashtha sari was procured, and I ducked into a nearby building that usually held targets for practice. I was changed in a blink as the hands of the two women who brought the sari worked in a blur. Parushi filled me in as they pleated, folded, and flipped the long fabric.
“We were half prepared for the attack. We already had a store of fire arrows ready, and we’d set up fire pits along the beach long ago,” Parushi said. “There aren’t enough turmeric arrows yet, though. The healers needed some of the roots for their paste, and we didn’t have much time to prepare after Thevan returned from the mountain.”
I nodded. “Have the Porcugi breached the walls?”
“We’ve kept them on the beach so far, thanks to the combination of the fire and the turmeric.” Sweat streaked down from Parushi’s hairline to her chin, leaving tracks in the ash that covered her face. “We hit them with a fire arrow and then shoot the turmeric where we’ve burnt the scales off. But it’s not easy.”
The women dressing me stepped back, and I thanked them before running to the stables with Parushi at my side. Sima stomped impatiently as I tied on my belt with my sword and dagger. He’d flourished since leaving Banghervari, relishing his runs on the beach and training with our soldiers.
Before I mounted my horse, Parushi tossed me my bow and gave me a quiver full of arrows. It was filled with the traditional white feathered arrows, but there were three that had an orange color. I pulled one out and saw that even the shaft was golden.
Parushi said, “We’ve soaked those in turmeric.”
I grabbed an extra quiver, hooked it onto my belt, and placed the orange feathered arrows in there. I needed to know what I was reaching for.
Avinash appeared at the stables just as I settled on Sima’s back. “I’ll take you to General Thevan.”
We burst through the stable doors with a clatter that would have brought the grounds to a halt on any other day, but today it was consumed by the battle’s deafening clamor. Sima followed Avinash from the training grounds and into the gardens, snorting at the horse in front of him to go faster.
