“You’ll get used to it, after sometime,” Corpsia told them both. Mortugal hadn’t spoken to her after regaining conscious, although Xuhn had seen him staring at Corpsia more than once.
“Hey, we’ll be able to transform back to our own bodies right?” Xuhn asked. He shivered at the thought of living his entire life as a dragon. Sure, there were many advantages. He knew he would eventually master the art of flying, and be able to soar high up to the clouds on his own without the help of Mortugal or flying carpets. But there were other disadvantages. He was never going to marry a female dragon for one thing. Human girls were much better. Even Vampires would do, he thought as Ritika flashed in his mind’s eye. He hoped she was well.
“I guess you would be able to,” Corpsia said, “but you won’t want to do that as long as the Black Dragon is around.”
“Then we must find a way to kill that dragon,” said Vivek.
“That we must,” said Mortugal.
Xuhn looked at the trees in the new continent. They were gigantic. Even the bushes and shrubs were at least ten times the size and height of the ones back in Sura or the old continent.
“Wonder who or what lives here,” he said.
“I hope nobody does,” said Corpsia, “this was an experiment of my father that went wrong. Welcoming beings are unlikely to be living here.”
Xuhn wondered what if Malthur’s experiment had gone right. Would the as-yet-unseen beings be more welcoming to them then? He didn’t think so.
The Bnomes—Malthur’s followers, were all around them at the moment. Some were doing nothing, while others were stitching the great carpet that had torn in a few places. Xuhn thought that they all looked somewhat angry. Corpsia had previously tried to speak to one, but the Bnome hadn’t paid any heed to her words.
“If we must kill the Black Dragon,” Xuhn said, “we must first go to the old continent, before some creature from this island finds and eats us.”
Corpsia ordered some Bnomes to bring the great carpet. The carpet, wet after falling into the sea, had been mostly repaired and the Bnomes carried it to them. Xuhn couldn’t help but notice the reluctance dripping from their faces.
Everyone got atop the carpet. The pilot Bnome uttered some magic words and the carpet rose in air. Corpsia stood at the very front of the carpet and extended her arms wide. She spoke words in a strange tongue.
The carpet accelerated. Xuhn fought not to hold too tight to the carpet for he feared his new claws might tear it. The purple screen came nearer and nearer. They hit it.
It was like hitting a brick wall.
Even though in a daze, Xuhn flapped his wings hard as the carpet fell. Vivek was the only one Xuhn could catch, while the rest fell into the sea.
Flying very unsteadily, Xuhn flung an unconscious Vivek onto his back and hoped the latter wouldn’t fall off. Then he skimmed the water surface, searching for Mortugal and Corpsia. Some of the Bnomes had already drowned while a few swam towards the shore. Xuhn spotted Mortugal struggling to remain afloat.
Xuhn picked him up quickly, and then looked this way and that for Corpsia. He spotted her white dress at the base of the big purple screen and picked her up. Her clothes had soaked a lot of water and she was rather heavy.
He took the three unconscious people to the shore and laid them down on the sand.
The Bnomes.
Xuhn wanted to rest after the exertion. Flying was no easy thing, and felt exhausted, but feeling sad for the Bnomes he flew back towards the purple screen. He picked up as many Bnomes as he could see and carried them to the shore. He did two more trips to the sea in search of more Bnomes, and only when he could see none he returned to land and threw his great body on the sand.
His wings felt like they were on fire. Xuhn took in furious breaths like he had been deprived of air for aeons. And once, when exhaling, fire suddenly escaped his mouth and he gasped, surprised that he had an ability Mortugal had lacked.
“You can spew flames?” Mortugal said, with the smallest hint of jealousy in his voice. He had regained consciousness a while back. Vivek and Corpsia were stirring too.
“As you saw,” Xuhn replied.
“I-I don’t know what happened,” said Corpsia, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position.
“The matter stands that we aren’t going to get off this continent,” said Mortugal. He seemed rather relaxed about the matter.
“We are never returning?” Vivek said sadly.
Never returning meant that they wouldn’t be able to kill the Black Dragon. Never returning meant that Xuhn might have to be a dragon forever.
But was it necessary? Mortugal had already recovered, so Xuhn reckoned if Corpsia transformed them into their original forms then everything would be fine.
“Can you turn me back into a human?” Xuhn asked Corpsia, who was mumbling worriedly to herself.
“My powers,” she said, “the moment we landed on this continent my powers have been leaving me. I didn’t realise that until now. That’s the reason we weren’t able to pass through the screen. My spell didn’t work!”
Xuhn shivered thinking of all the things that implied Corpsia losing her powers.
The Bnomes that had saved from drowning seemed to have overheard Corpsia’s words. They began stealing angry looks at Corpsia, as though they thought Corpsia was to blame for losing her powers.
And then suddenly, one Bnome stood up and came furiously towards Corpsia, barking at her in the Bnome tongue.
Corpsia didn’t say anything, but sobbed.
“Be gone!” Mortugal thundered at the Bnome. The Bnome let out a yell and lunged at Mortugal.
Xuhn lashed out his tail and caught the little man with it. He watched as the Bnome struggled. Xuhn suddenly felt so powerful. He could just squeeze harder and break the Bnome’s spine.
Vivek nudged Xuhn, and Xuhn turned his head to see that many of the Bnomes had stood up. They were glaring hard at Xuhn. Xuhn released his hold of the Bnome, feeling guilty for his earlier thoughts.
“I understand you are angry,” Xuhn said to the Bnomes. “I am sorry for all the pains you have happily suffered from your birth due to ignorance. But killing us won’t be the end of your troubles. Go away if you want to; maybe find a way to return Corpsia’s powers so that we can go back to the old continent. Cool down your heads.”
None of the Bnomes moved.
Enough of peaceful talk.
Xuhn spewed flames into the air overhead, making the flames as large as his lungs allowed. He wanted to show the Bnomes that he could roast them if he wished. Reluctantly the Bnomes went away into the woods.
Xuhn turned to Mortugal, fighting hard to suppress a grin. The way Mortugal had behaved when the Bnome had talked rudely to Corpsia had been admirable. Xuhn reckoned the love that had first sprouted over a thousand years ago was still in the air.
“I wish I could have said a goodbye to my mother,” said Vivek. A picture of the plump lady that aunt Anita was came to Xuhn’s mind. She was probably heart broken that her son had gone missing.
“Don’t worry, Vivek,” Xuhn said, wishing to console although his voice lacked any hope. “You’ll see your mother again.”
Vivek took a handful of sand, and stared as he let it fall through the gaps between his fingers. Xuhn heard a sound and turned to see that it was Mortugal, trying to get onto his feet. Apparently Mortugal had misbalanced and fallen.
“What’s wrong with you?” Xuhn said. “It should be easier for you without all the weight!”
Mortugal scowled.
“As if—”
Mortugal suddenly looked in fright towards the trees. A bunch of Bnomes came running from the trees, sheer terror written on their faces.
Vivek and Corpsia too stood up. What they saw next immediately explained everything. A giant green man appeared from the woods, waving a thick club.
“Get onto my back!” Mortugal yelled.
“Not your, you idiot, my back!” Xuhn said. Mortugal grimaced at Xuhn, but hobb
led up to him and quickly got up after Corpsia and Vivek. Xuhn flapped his wings hard as the giant man waved the great club at him.
“Hold tight!” Xuhn said, taking random turns in the air, “I am a total novice!”
“Let the air be your friend,” Mortugal advised from his back. “Use it to your advantage. It’s like dancing with a woman—”
Mortugal stopped advising abruptly.
Corpsia.
Suddenly another green giant emerged from the trees. But this one looked more like a child-giant, and was much shorter than the first one. Xuhn fled towards the sea, hoping that the giants won’t come to the water.
Wrong move.
A sudden force in his tail, and Xuhn knew that the first giant had caught him. The sea was shallow for the giant. Xuhn tried to break free, but failed. The giant pulled Xuhn towards himself, and forced Xuhn into a giant cage he had been carrying.
“Am I in a dream?” Vivek said, utter disbelief pasted on his face.
No, Vivek, Xuhn thought while his heart sank. You aren’t.
“Father, father!” the child giant said, a jubilant expression lighting his big cute face. “You caught them!”
“Like I told you,” the father giant replied, his voice nothing less than thunder.
Corpsia managed to stand up on her feet, even as the cage swayed this way and that, as the giants made their way towards the trees.
“Hey you,” she said to the father giant. “Why have you caught us?”
Both the father and the son stopped abruptly in confusion.
“Did you hear that son?” the father said.
“I am speaking,” Corpsia said at the top of her voice.
The son pointed a fat finger at the cage.
“The animals are speaking, father!”
The father giant brought up the cage to his eye level. His large eye scanned the occupants of the cage.
“Why, these are tiny people! I thought I only caught a flying lizard!”
“We are people of course!” Xuhn said, though he then remembered he had become a dragon.
“What do you plan to do with us?” Corpsia asked.
“Why are you so small?” the giant said instead.
“Why are you so big?” Vivek said sarcastically in a low voice.
“Please let us go,” said Corpsia.
“Let me take a look at them, father,” the child giant said impatiently. The father placed the cage on the ground. Then father and son knelt beside it and gazed at it in wonder. Their large eyes made Xuhn feel very insecure.
“Please let us go,” Corpsia said.
“I am sorry,” the father giant said. “Ignoring your colour, you look so much like us. But you are so small. What creatures are you? You sure are way too small to be trolls.”
Trolls? Xuhn thought. He reckoned it was the name of the race the giants belonged to.
“We are from a land far away,” Mortugal spoke up. “We come in peace. Can you let us out of this cage?” The four of them were crammed tight inside the cage with Xuhn taking most of the space.
“Oh, sorry,” the father troll said. He unlatched the cage door so they could come out of it.
The son troll jumped up and down in excitement, making the ground shudder like a small earthquake.
“You all are so cute!”
“Are you from the north?” the father troll asked, scratching his head, as if unsure what to ask to creatures so smaller than himself.
“We are from across the sea,” Mortugal explained.
“There is a land across the sea?” the father troll asked, his eyes wide with surprise.
“Aye, there is,” Mortugal answered.
“But it’s impossible to go past the purple screen,” the son said, eager to prove his knowledge. “Isn't that what everybody says, father?”
“I tried to swim past the purple screen once, a long time ago when I was as little as you,” the father troll said, “but I couldn’t go past it. The purple screen is like a solid brick wall.”
“I know magic,” said Corpsia, “and I was able to get us through the purple screen. But after coming here I have lost all my powers. I cannot make us pass through the screen again.”
“That’s a pity then,” the father troll said, “you might never be able to return home now.”
The son troll tapped Xuhn on the head. Xuhn didn’t like it at all.
“Did you come here riding this lizard?” the son troll asked. He caressed Xuhn attempting to be tender. Instead Xuhn felt like the son was trying to squeeze him to death.
“Hey,” Xuhn said, trying not to sound offended, “please don’t do that.”
“It speaks!” the son troll exclaimed and fell backwards in fright.
“He means no harm,” Mortugal told the trolls.
“How many times have I told you not to touch animals?” the father troll admonished his son. He turned to Xuhn’s group. “I think there might be a way for you to return home.”
“Is there one?” Mortugal asked. But Xuhn’s understood from the shadow on the troll’s green face that it wasn’t an easy one.
“You might have to talk with our… king,” the troll said.
“You sound like your king might not help us,” Xuhn said, unable to contain his thoughts.
The troll’s eyes focused sharply on Xuhn, who wondered if he shouldn’t have said that. But the troll looked more like he was surprised that an animal—Xuhn, could reason like a human.
“No, no, he will,” the troll reassured, though the shadow over his face remained.
“Anyway,” the father troll then said, “I am Zergo.”
“And I am Berdin,” the son troll said with a wide smile. Xuhn and the others introduced themselves too.
“So would you take us to your king, Zergo?” Mortugal asked.
Zergo nodded.
“I will of course. But let me catch some fish first. We were hoping to eat you—”
“Shit,” Vivek whispered to Xuhn.
“—But since you are creatures that can speak and reason, I can’t do that.”
So it happened that Zergo fished in the sea for some time. He caught two fish, both almost the size of Xuhn, and that too with his bare hands. Xuhn stared at the woods, all the frightened Bnomes had disappeared into them.
“So, how do I take you people to my village?” Zergo asked them, “I mean, if I take you there on my shoulders then the other villagers might see you, and I’m not sure how they would react.”
“The cage can do,” Mortugal said.
“And I’ll wrap my shirt around it so nobody sees you!” little Berdin said.
And so all of them entered the cage again, and Berdin tied his shirt around it. The odour of Berdin’s armpits hit Xuhn hard and he felt nauseous. But he told himself that it couldn’t be helped, and he decided to bear it.
They heard a lot of sounds along the way, mostly of Zergo speaking to other trolls. Some inquired what was in the cage, but Zergo was clever to change the topic quickly. He did not let anyone see the cage’s occupants. Finally the cage was placed on a solid surface, and then Zergo removed Berdin’s shirt.
Xuhn saw that they were inside a massive house, and the cage had been placed on a great table. Zergo’s house was of a poor man’s, though it had the scent of a house well kept with much pride and love.
Zergo unlatched the cage door, letting them out.
“Berdin, call your mother,” he told his son. Berdin went and quickly returned dragging his mother from the outside.
“Honey, what is Berdin saying?” his wife said, while Berdin eagerly pointed at the table, “Elendra’s son is sick and I was cooking for her—”
She let out a gasp when her eyes fell on Xuhn’s group.
“What are those!”
“They are from outside the purple screen! Can you believe that, honey?” said Zergo.
“Really?” She peered at Xuhn’s group.
“Hello,” Xuhn said. Being stared at always made him feel odd.
/> Zergo’s wife let out a shriek.
It was sometime before Zergo could calm down his wife—Marida, her names was— and explain her that Xuhn and the others were not harmful. But she still didn’t seem convinced and she asked Zergo to take them to the king as quickly as possible. Zergo pulled Marida to another room.
“Why are they being so secretive about the king?” Xuhn asked Mortugal in a small voice while Berdin kept staring at them with the same awe and curiosity as before.
“Almost feels like they are afraid of their king,” Mortugal said.
“I would be afraid if I went to meet the king of Sura,” Vivek chimed in, “I mean, they are only ordinary people, perhaps they have never gone to the palace before.”
Vivek had a point. But Xuhn couldn’t shake off the fear gnawing inside him.
***
Chapter 30
It had been week since Angus won the race at the festival. Yet he failed to make up the guts and speak to Alheya, the daughter of a royal Elder.
Angus lay on his bed, staring at the trees outside through the window. He recalled the moment when he had won the race. His body had been on fire. Twenty kilometres was no joke. Only the face of Alheya had pushed him on.
And then when Angus had reached the winning point and the whole crowd had cheered, his eyes had thirsted for the face of Alheya in the stands, only to find her missing, although she had been there when the race had first started.
Angus had actually met her two weeks before the race. She had been on her way to her teacher’s house in her carriage and the wheel had come off. Angus, who had been out practicing for the race, had helped the driver repair the wheel. After the wheel was repaired, Alheya had put her face out through the window to say thanks to him.
And then he totally messed up.
His foot itched, and he looked down to see a caterpillar moving up his foot. He lost his cool immediately, and jerked his leg in fright.
Only now Angus regretted that he had missed a great opportunity to say a romantic line to her.
If only he was less afraid of worms and caterpillars. They totally drove him nuts. Angus could take on any great beast, and he excelled at every form of combat there was. If only he could overcome his one fault.
The Banishment of the King Page 20