The Banishment of the King

by A. J. Chaudhury

  Mortugal sat down grumpily. A very happy Berdin put a cloth over the cage and lifted it up. The to and fro swaying motion lasted for quite some time. Xuhn, in his cramped position, felt like he was going to throw up. They heard many voices along the way, mostly of adults who occasionally asked Berdin where he was going or what was in the cage (Berdin thankfully never took off the cloth to show the little people and the giant lizard)

  Then Xuhn finally heard the chatter of the voices of children, and after some time Berdin removed the cloth covering the cage.

  The view of a large tree met Xuhn’s eyes. There were two boys sitting at the base of the tree and in the backdrop was the setting sun. The boys were of Berdin’s age, and they had grins pasted on their faces. One was of a dark green complexion, while the other was fairer and had short-cropped hair.

  “Beeerdin!” the darker shouted in a funny voice.

  “Look, I wasn’t lying,” Berdin said as he ran up to his friends, full of excitement.

  He placed the cage on the ground.

  “Wow, Berdin!” the fairer one said. “I thought you were being an idiot like before.”

  “I am not an idiot, Drad,” Berdin replied sternly.

  The darker friend squatted beside the cage. His mouth open wide in astonishment, revealing several black teeth.

  “Wow, there are small people in this cage!”

  “Like I said, Harle,” Berdin replied proudly.

  “And what is this animal?” Drad asked, poking Xuhn softly through the bars of the cage with a stick. An irritated Xuhn wanted to shoot flames at Drad.

  “It can talk,” Berdin said.

  “Really?” said Harle. “Then say, ‘Harle is the troll king’!”

  Xuhn contemplated if he should even open his mouth, but Berdin’s pleading eyes made him speak.

  “Hello,” Xuhn said, deciding not to parrot Harle. Berdin’s friends gasped anyway. A shiver caught them both, such was the intensity of their excitement.

  “Can I touch it?” Harle said, and began jumping up and down in an attempt to convince Berdin, who glanced between his friends and Xuhn’s group.

  “No,” Mortugal said in a voice loud enough for the troll children to hear, “you can’t. Now enough, Berdin, your friends are great. We were pleased to meet them. Your parents might be awake and searching for you now.”

  “Wow, the little man can talk so much!” Drad said, his eyes on the verge of popping out. “Please Berdin, can I have him. Please! Please!”

  “I, er—” but Berdin was never able to complete his sentence. Drad suddenly picked up the cage from the ground and ran away from him. Harle followed suit. It was utter chaos inside the cage, as everyone was thrashed against each other and the cage bars.

  Drad came to a stop and unlatched the cage door. He put a massive green hand inside and grabbed Mortugal.

  “Leave me, you devil!” Mortugal cried to no avail. In fact, Mortugal’s struggles heightened Drad’s excitement, and he pulled Mortugal out.

  Corpsia cried.

  “Do something, Xuhn,” she pleaded. For a moment Xuhn wondered if Corpsia would have ever pleaded him in such a way had she not lost her powers.

  “What can I—?”

  “Me, me!” Harle said, finally reaching Drad.

  “Choose you picking,” Drad told his friend, while he tapped a furious Mortugal on the head to get the former dragon to talk. Harle put his hand inside the cage and seized Xuhn’s long neck. Xuhn tried to break free, lashing his dragon tail this way and that. Harle caught his tail too with a very firm grip.

  A panting Berdin finally reached the site.

  “Return them to me,” he told his friends.

  “Look Berdin,” Drad said, “this is more than fair. You keep two, while we keep one each.”

  “No, return them to me! My father will kill me!”

  “It’s fair, Berdin!” Harle said, turning Xuhn this way and that in his hands, as though checking whether the giant lizard was really a living being. And then Drad and Harle together broke into a run. Berdin gave chase for some time, but Drad and Harle were too fast for him. Xuhn watched with a sinking heart as Berdin gave up and began crying.

  Drad and Harle kept running for some more time, until they reached a very desolate area with lots of trees. Then the two friends stopped and sat down to rest. They burst into boyish laughter that sang of victory.

  “Haha, the idiot Berdin!” Drad’s voice thundered.

  “But still, I wonder where he found the little people and this talking lizard,” Harle said.

  “Hey, hey, look,” Mortugal said. “Please let us go. Please return us to Berdin.”

  “Can’t do that,” Drad told Mortugal rather brightly, “you’ll make me famous.”

  “And you will make me famous,” Harle told Xuhn.

  “You stupid kids,” Mortugal said in a fit of anger, “you don’t know what a serious matter this is. We are not your play toys. Let us go. Or else…”

  “Or else?” Drad said, “you’ll strangle us with your little hands?”

  The boys giggled.

  Xuhn—who was having a hard time making sense of whether the sky was below him or the ground, for Harle kept turning him like the unique specimen he was—somehow had eye contact with Mortugal’s stern dragon eyes.

  “For the sake of the gods, Xuhn,” Mortugal barked, “you are a dragon, do something!”

  Why, Xuhn was in fact a dragon.

  He opened his mouth to shoot fire at Harle. But his heart gave out. Harle and Drad were children. Not the best children, but still. Xuhn didn’t want to harm them at all.

  “Look kid,” Xuhn said to Harle instead, “let us go, or I will have to use other methods.”

  “And what will the other methods be?” Harle asked, quite amused with Xuhn for speaking with his reptilian mouth.

  Enough.

  Xuhn inflated his chest, and let out a burst of flames towards Harle’s face.

  Harle yelped in fright and dropped Xuhn, who flapped his wings and got airborne.

  “He attacked me!” Harle said, touching his face with shaky hands. None of the flames had actually touched him though, Xuhn had made sure of that.

  “Let my friend go,” Xuhn told Drad in a stern tone. There was pure fear in Drad’s face and he seemed to be frozen to the spot.

  “F-fine,” Drad said, trembling. He placed Mortugal on the ground. Xuhn swopped and caught Mortugal with his claws. The two of them then made it to the skies as Drad and Harle watched them from below with open mouths.

  “I don’t like this,” Mortugal said weakly, as Xuhn scanned the landscape below for Berdin.

  “My head’s spinning,” Mortugal said, “can I climb onto your back?”

  “But aren’t you used to having the world below you?” Xuhn asked, surprised that the former dragon should be feeling dizzy.

  “I had wings then, boy,” Mortugal replied, his face quite pale. When Mortugal called Xuhn ‘boy’, Xuhn almost felt like Mortugal was pretending to be the age old dragon he currently wasn’t. Instead of looking hundreds of years old, Mortugal looked like someone just over their teen years.

  “You are the ‘boy’ now, Mortugal,” Xuhn said. He flung Mortugal up. Mortugal landed on Xuhn’s back.

  “Ouch,” Mortugal said in pain. “Don’t do that ever again.”

  “Advantages of being a dragon, my friend,” Xuhn said.

  “Find that troll kid, Berdin.”

  Hours went by. Xuhn and Mortugal flew about, searching for the tree to which Berdin had first brought them. The sun set and night fell, and Mortugal kept ordering Xuhn to go this way and that. But Mortugal’s directions only complicated the matter.

  To make matters worse, dark clouds appeared in the sky blocking the moon. Soon, the rumble of thunder could be heard, and there was the occasional flash of lightning too.

  “It’s going to rain,” Xuhn said.

  “Don’t worry, we can still reach Berdin… or at least the tree where he brought us.�
�� There was such desperation in Mortugal’s voice that Xuhn wondered if the former dragon was worried for Corpsia. “Keep flying for some time, we might come across it.”

  Xuhn ignored him and flew to the chimney of a house. He landed on it and folded his aching wings.

  “You don’t want to reach Zergo’s home?” Mortugal asked.

  “We can’t find it tonight, Mortugal. Maybe when it’s day.”

  “I wonder if Berdin took Corpsia and Vivek back to Zergo safely,” Mortugal said.

  The first drops of rain began to fall. Soon, it was raining such that it seemed the gods wanted to drown the earth.

  “I will get a fever like this,” Mortugal said. With his hands over his head, he stood on tip toe, while his eyes darted about searching for some place that could shelter them from the rain. Then Mortugal abruptly turned at the chimney itself.

  “Enter it,” Mortugal told Xuhn, pointing at the chimney.

  “Are you crazy?” Xuhn said, “we just might end up getting roasted.”

  “Can’t you see no smoke is coming out of it?” Mortugal said. “We are already quite wet, now hurry.” He climbed onto Xuhn’s back. Xuhn reluctantly entered the chimney, using his claws to maintain enough friction with the inside walls of the chimney as he made his way down.

  The fireplace wasn’t lit, but they heard voices upon reaching it. They saw a table at the centre of which a candle flickered. Two lady trolls were at the table, seemingly having a serious discussion. One lady sat with her hands supporting her head. Above a window, there was a portrait of what looked like a male troll.

  “… Trygve didn’t die for nothing, Olwyne,” the friend of the dejected lady was telling her. “You can’t give up that easily.”

  Olwyne dragged a big jug to her lips, and took a sip of whatever liquid was in the jug.

  “Kiya, they just appointed another guard with me,” Olwyne said, in a tone burdened with frustration, “the king plans to make himself immortal on his birthday using some magical artefact. I will have even less time to find out what the artefact is.”

  “Med will always be there,” Kiya said, “wasn’t he the one who gathered information about the king’s birthday plans?”

  “Med is a mere servant,” Olwyne said, taking sip after sip of what undoubtedly was liquor, for her eyelids began drooping and her voice became slurry, “by the time he finds out more about the magical object, the king will already have become mortal and all will be lost.”

  Kiya slammed a fist on the table. Xuhn's heart leapt at the sudden sound.

  “Think of your loss, Olwyne. Think of all the wrong the king is doing to the kingdom!”

  Olwyne placed the empty jug away, and leaned back in her chair. She grabbed her hair.

  “You are right, Kiya,” she sighed, “but what am I supposed to do?”

  “Don’t you want vengeance? Let your thirst for revenge help you find your way to the magical artefact!”

  Olwyne sighed. She looked up at the portrait on the wall.

  “Oh, Trygve,” she said, “if only you were there.”

  There was silence for a moment. Then Kiya spoke.

  “Well, it’s raining outside, but I need to go now.” Kiya stood up, “Don’t let weakness get into your bones, Olwyne.” Saying so she went to the door, and disappeared into the rainy night. Her hurried footsteps faded away.

  “If she’s a guard at the palace,” Mortugal said to Xuhn, referring to Olwyne, “she can be useful to us.”

  “How?” Xuhn asked.

  “She can take us to the palace,” Mortugal explained, “and if Zergo takes Corpsia and Vivek to the palace too, we can reunite there.”

  Xuhn pondered for a moment. Mortugal’s words did have some weight. There was no way they could find Zergo’s house again, so it would be wisest to go to the palace. But there was a problem—if Xuhn had heard the two troll women right, they seemed to be assassins seeking the death of the king.

  “They sounded like they want to kill the king,” Xuhn told Mortugal.

  “Doesn’t matter, boy,” Mortugal replied. “If she can get us to the king that would be enough.”

  Xuhn nodded. There was no problem with trying. If Olwyne agreed to help, it would be great. If she instead tried to kill them, they could always escape through the chimney.

  “Fine… Hey you!” Xuhn called Olwyne.

  Olwyne suddenly sat straight. She looked about in alarm.

  “Who was that?” she asked.

  Xuhn and Mortugal stepped out of the fireplace.

  “Us,” Xuhn said. For a moment Olwyne peered at them, and then she realised that in front of her was a talking lizard and a tiny man. She jumped to her feet.

  “Who are you!” Olwyne cried. She snatched a sword hanging on the wall.

  Xuhn gulped. This might not end well.

  “Hey, hey,” Mortugal said quickly, before Olwyne could chop their heads off.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” Olwyne asked, taking a very defensive pose.

  Xuhn hoped if Olwyne attacked, the liquor she had drunk would make her miss their body parts.

  “We mean no harm,” Mortugal said, raising both his hands, “we-we just overheard you. Can you, er, help us?”

  “Who are you?” Olwyne asked for the third time.

  “We are from a land far away,” Xuhn said. “We can, er, perhaps help you deal with the troll king.”

  Damn my mouth, Xuhn thought. His words had come off too oily.

  “So you were spying on us?” There were daggers in Olwyne’s eyes.

  She sprang to them. Xuhn caught Mortugal and took to the air. Olwyne sliced thin air over the place where they had been just a moment ago.

  “If you don’t want to help, that’s fine!” Xuhn flapped his wings hard and took rapid turns, hoping to avoid Olwyne’s constant sword. “We’ll just go.”

  Suddenly, Olwyne hurled the sword at Xuhn. It hit the tip of his tail, and pinned him to the wall. Intense pain shot up his tail.

  Olwyne grabbed Xuhn’s neck with one hand and with the other she removed the sword, causing him more pain.

  “Use your flames, boy,” Mortugal told Xuhn. But Olwyne already held his neck such that even if he shot flames, he would be shooting them at empty space.

  “I can’t!” Xuhn snapped at Mortugal. The pain was making his angry, and Mortugal’s orders irritated him.

  “What you are doing is wrong,” Mortugal told Olwyne. Olwyne instead took Xuhn and Mortugal to the table. She produced a rope and tied Xuhn’s limbs, rendering him incapable of movement.

  Olwyne sat down on her chair.

  “Now speak,” Olwyne said in a cold tone, her eyes narrow like slits.

  Mortugal repeated that they were from a distant land, and needed to go to the troll king as only he might be able to help them pass the purple screen again.

  Olwyne listened silently as he spoke. When he finished, she observed them for a minute.

  “Fine, I believe you,” she said finally. “But what were you doing in my fireplace if you are not spies of the king?”

  “It’s raining outside, so we entered through the chimney. And we overheard you and your friend.”

  Xuhn purposely let out a groan, to make his pain known.

  Olwyne grimaced. She untied the rope. The tip of Xuhn’s tail continued to bleed profusely.

  “How can this strange lizard talk?”

  “Um, magic,” Mortugal said.

  Olwyne raised a brow, not seeming to belief. She stood up.

  “Let me get him something. I injured him more than I intended to.”

  She went to another room.

  “You sure she believes us?” Xuhn asked.

  Mortugal shrugged.

  “Maybe.” Mortugal then shook his head, “Nah, she’s suspicious.”

  Olwyne returned with a bandage and an ointment that she applied on Xuhn’s tail, and tied the bandage around it.

  “So, you are a guard at the palace?” Xuhn asked, just to keep convers
ation going. He wanted Olwyne to really believe them.

  Olwyne glanced at him rather sternly before replying.

  “Yes, I am a guard.”

  “Look, do believe us, okay?” Xuhn said, “If you want us to do anything we’ll do.”

  “Yes,” Mortugal said, “the other trolls we met too said that the troll king was ruthless.”

  “The troll king is not just ruthless,” Olwyne said darkly, “he’s a devil.”

  Xuhn glanced at the portrait of the young troll, who he reckoned was Olwyne’s husband.

  “The troll king got him killed,” Olwyne said when she saw Xuhn was looking at the portrait.

  “I am sorry,” Xuhn said.

  “You are good with a sword,” Mortugal said chuckling half-heartedly, apparently meaning to lighten the mood.

  Olwyne nodded at the compliment.

  “My father was a blacksmith. He taught me sword fighting. My training began as a kid.”

  “No wonder,” Mortugal said. “Um, so the troll king is trying to become immortal?”

  “Yes,” Olwyne replied, “He is using the purple aura surrounding the continent. There is a magical object apparently with which he is collecting the aura. If only I knew what that magical object was, I would give my life just to destroy it.”

  “Immortality is not impossible,” Mortugal said, looking away as though thinking of his own life, “but it gets boring, I guess.”

  “If the troll king becomes immortal,” Olwyne said, “his atrocities will only increase.”

  “So,” Mortugal said, “the point is, you want him dead.”

  Olwyne nodded.

  “I have been positioned at the palace for long, but that has helped little,” she smiled in self mockery, “I don’t even know what lies behind the door that I guard!”

  “What if the magical object you are searching lies behind it?” Xuhn said, though he didn’t know how much that was possible.

  Olwyne suddenly became rigid. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She gasped.

  "Why, that is possible!”

  Xuhn and Mortugal exchanged looks.

  “Well,” said Mortugal, “if they haven’t told you what you are guarding, then there is every possibility of it.”

  “I will have to check tomorrow,” Olwyne said, while her eyes dashed this way and that, as swarms of possibilities invaded her mind. “But there is a new guard at the job too and he was appointed only recently. Oh, if only you came some days ago!”