“It’s by the torches! Get to the torches!” The six-ringed Porcugi hissed as they fought.
What were they looking for? No matter what Parushi and Thevan thought, I was certain they weren’t coming for me. None of the Porcugi had said anything about me. They must have come for something else. Something important enough for a Porcugi of high rank to come after it himself.
A Porcugi of high rank.
A general.
A general who would come for the body of his fallen child. A father who wouldn’t leave his son on dry shores.
“He’s coming for his son!” I screamed, but nobody heard me in the din of the battle.
There was a roar in front of us. Bodies flew through the air like dolls being tossed aside, and the six-ringed Porcugi?—their general?—cut straight toward us.
I looked for the nearest fire pit and urged Sima toward it as Parushi went to meet the Porcugi head on. She nocked an arrow and loosed it as she rode, striking the Porcugi?—by some miracle?—in one of his eyes. Parushi punched the air in victory as the Porcugi reared back and screamed, but her joy was cut short when he grabbed the arrow with one of its scaley hands and pulled it out.
“No!” Parushi nocked another arrow, but the Porcugi flicked her with his tail as he passed, knocking her off her horse and launching her into the air. Her shadow disappeared into the smoke.
Without Parushi, I had nobody left to defend me. Except myself. I grabbed a coconut torch and lit it as the Porcugi cut toward me. My heart pounded against my ribs, and I prepared to launch the torch, but the monster stopped short of me. It bent over the body of a Porcugi that lay between us. The gold rings in their hoods caught the flame’s warm light, creating flickering reflections. The Porcugi general completely ignored me?—had he even seen me??—as he bent down and heaved with all his strength to roll over the fallen Porcugi and look at its face.
Upon seeing it, the Porcugi general arched his back and screamed into the skies?—the kind of scream that steals your voice but refuses to steal your soul, leaving you with no choice but to remain on this earth even though a piece of you is gone forever.
I knew that scream too well.
The heat from the fire arrow’s flame bit my fingertips. Now was not the time to hesitate. This was their general. Their leader. I needed to strike him down, even if he was mourning the death of his son.
I took a deep breath, took aim, and slung the fire arrow at the general, striking him squarely in the chest. He collapsed on himself, clutching his burning scales as his scream morphed into one of rage.
He turned his face to look at me with his one good eye and hissed, “I will make you pay for that, worm!”
He kept his head near his son but lashed out at me with his tail. Sima tripped and fell, rolling to his back, and I was barely able to jump off him in time. I somersaulted in the sand and scrambled to stand close to the fire again. The heat from the flames made waves in the air as I stared at the Porcugi.
“Having a hood makes you no less a worm,” I snapped back.
“You can understand me.” The Porcugi’s eyes were wide. He looked at me more intently. “I know your face. I’ve seen your portrait. You’re the little rani that is causing my raja so much trouble.”
I reached for my sword, but my scabbard was empty. I grabbed my bow instead and tried to get an arrow from the quill on my back, but no feathers met my fingertips.
The general laughed. “Poor little worm. Before you die, I want you to know this: I will never forgive your people for killing my son. I will not stop until your nation is flooded with their blood. We are stronger than you, and there are more of us than you can ever imagine. We will send more and more until there is nobody left here to scream. We will run you into the ground, and all that will be left of you will be the memory of the last cries of your people, cursing your name as they beg me for mercy.”
I locked my knees as they threatened to buckle beneath me. The beach was unrecognizable. It was littered with abandoned flames and bodies from their side and ours. Ash coated my tongue, making it taste like death. So much death.
But for what?
For what?
For Ullal.For our freedom. For the right to see the sun without a shadow looming over our heads.
I straightened my back and faced the Porcugi, imagining that I was tall, even though the monster had to crane its body down to see me.
“Send your soldiers.” I gestured to the sands sculpted by corpses and painted in streams of blood. “Keep sending them. We will fight you with every breath, until your bodies litter our shore. Our beaches may be filled with mourners tomorrow, but I will burn the sea with our pyres before I bow to you!”
“Fool,” the Porcugi whispered. He opened his jaws wide, and his fangs unhinged.
I reached for my dagger, desperate for anything, and a feather brushed against my fingertips. The quiver at my waist.
A turmeric arrow.
The Porcugi swayed, and the light of the fires shone on the Porcugi’s other eye, where Parushi had shot him. It had turned into a crusty, dark hollow, filled with collapsed and clumped tissue. Parushi hadn’t hit him with just any arrow?—she’d used a turmeric arrow. No wonder the general was so slow to move. There might have been enough poison in that arrow alone to kill him with enough time.
