by Kevin Missal
“You defeated Kali. You are special,” she had said to Arjan.
But now as Arjan stood in her office, she looked worried. Her tutor was telling her everything about how the city had to be handled. Arjan stood there and watched in silence. She was asking her tutor about grains, transportations, trade with other cities, infrastructure designs, temple reorganizations, and donations by the nobles.
Beside him was Rudra who was now wearing decent, long robes with a tight waist belt. He looked extremely handsome and happy.
Urvashi’s tutor scampered when she yelled at him for irritating her with all the problems. He left closing the door. She looked sheepishly at Arjan and Rudra.
“Don’t tell me there’s another revolt by the public.”
“We are preventing them as much as possible.” Arjan had noticed that Urvashi had a tempestuous nature. I must remain calm when dealing with her.
“But uh . . .” Rudra began, glancing at Arjan for permission. Arjan nodded. “The prisoners, they want freedom. They feel tied to you. They have grown afraid of you.”
“I freed most of them!” She slammed her fist on the table, her eyes bulging out of her sockets. “The ones who stayed behind are getting their dues.”
“I know and I’m trying to convince them. But they still want to leave.”
“I cannot handle their drama, Rudra. Deal with them yourself and make sure you are successful.” It sounded like a threat.
“My lady, since you are the queen—”
“Not for long!” She stood up as she showed the letter to Arjan. It was from the council who wanted a public hearing. “They want me to be elected just like any other ruler, prove my worth and let the public decide. They think it’s the best way to end the processions that keep happening in the streets.”
It does make sense.
“This might be a ploy from Ramras who wants to use this opportunity to take the throne. But I don’t believe it’s a bad idea at all.”
“If you have the correct agendas in place with the appropriate planning, you can show them that you are prepared and they won’t take your age into account,” Rudra said.
Arjan mulled over it. He had a few ideas he wanted to give. “What about taking help from Lord Kuvera?”
“The Yakshas?” She frowned. “My father hated them.”
“But you need them, don’t you? They bring in the money and that could facilitate the infrastructure, the trade. It could fund the reformation of the city.”
Urvashi was silent for a moment, lost in thought.
“See, Ramras has control over the nobles and the nobles have the power of voting twice. Since right now you are the active ruler of the city, try to mend the problems so the public sees you in a better light and then at the day of the hearing, you would have good deeds backing your statements.”
Urvashi nodded. “You are right.”
“In return, you can ask what he wants. Once we have the helm, we push him back to his own kingdom.”
“Sounds quite easy,” Rudra added.
Arjan didn’t like the comment laced with sarcasm, but then that was how Rudra was—he acted a lot like Kalki sometimes.
“Fine. Set up a meeting. We should go talk to him. I just hope he’s not a Kali loyalist.” She paused. “I just want Ramras to back off, so I can continue to do what my father wanted to do—build more temples around the city, especially rebuild the ones that have been demolished by Kali.”
Arjan nodded. Ramras, a quiet, young noble had surprised them when he had spoken against Urvashi. They had later found out that the reason he didn’t want Urvashi on the throne was because of her sex, not her age. It was all right for a cruel creature like Kali to be the ruler, but not a woman. Arjan didn’t know how capable Urvashi was, but she had managed to dethrone Kali. Arjan had helped significantly by breaking Kali’s bones, but it had been Urvashi who had driven away his loyalists.
Speaking of breaking bones, Arjan had never felt so good in his life. His body was brimming with energy and his mind was moving at a fast pace. He felt great and he felt he could jump leagues away. It was amazing how the Soma could give him this kind of a power.
“Should we be worried that Kali might return?” Arjan asked.
“He has nowhere to go. If he comes, he’ll come alone and we might just get the correct opportunity to kill him.” She grinned at the thought.
“Let’s hope we do this right,” Urvashi said. “And let’s hope we right the wrongs that Kali has committed in this city.”
“Do not forget Raktapa. He’s at Suryagarh as of now with his army. If he learns that Kali is not ruling Indragarh, he might make a move,” Arjan said. He had been reading Kali’s journals that mentioned all he had done for the kingdom till now. He had also learnt that a portion of his army had been sent to a certain individual called Taar for some reason. “There are a few Rakshas here, but I think most of them are now in hiding or have scampered off to Suryagarh to their leader. Martanja, their previous leader is dead, and then Pradm perished in a fight with your father. The Rakshas had no one to lead them. Kali’s gone too, so they left. The ones who couldn’t leave died at the prisoners’ hands during the coup.”
Urvashi ran her fingers in her hair. “What should I do about Raktapa?”
“Topple him as well,” Rudra said.
“If you do that,” Arjan eyed Rudra, dismissing his answer completely, “you might lose soldiers and right now you scarcely have them.” He pulled out the journal of Kali and showed her the distribution of the army. “If you can appease the villagers telling them you are Vedanta’s daughter, they might stop the revolts and you can bring that army from the village to the city where they can be of use. Also, I would suggest you start building relationships with the rulers of Varungarh and Agnigarh. These cities are quite prosperous in different areas and the harvest in Indragarh is quite low.”
Urvashi sighed. “Yes, teach me everything about it.”
“I would suggest—”
“You are suggesting a lot,” Rudra snapped in between.
Arjan frowned. “Because she told me to.”
“I don’t want any tension between you two. Both of you are the most stable people right now in my camp. So please, don’t fight.”
Arjan rolled his eyes and so did Rudra, but Arjan could see that Rudra was enjoying his moment.
“I would suggest that we give one of these cities to Lord Kuvera in return for funding Indragarh.” Arjan went over to one side of the office where he opened the chart of Illavarti. “Agnigarh,” he pointed in the middle, “has iron mills and manufactures most of the weapons for Udaiyas. We get it from here. Varungarh is popular for water tanks and conservation, especially rain harvesting. Agnigarh is more of a military city and you need someone capable to rule it. I would suggest you give Varungarh to Lord Kuvera, since it’s not of any importance to us.”
“Who’s ruling Varungarh right now?”
“Some lieutenant of Kali. He can be dismissed. Also, when we get the funds, we can use them for soldier enlistments since our army has depleted majorly in comparison to Dakshini’s army, and we clearly don’t want Lord Vibhisana to see this as an opportunity to hit back at us,” Arjan explained, pointing at Bhanmati where Lord Vibhisana lived.
Urvashi scratched her head, lost. “I’m so confused.”
“It’s all right.” Arjan stifled a laugh.
“I feel like you have more knowledge about all of this. Why don’t you just be the king?” she chuckled, glancing at Rudra.
“I’m a humble villager from Shambala.” Arjan kept the chart back, rolling it up.
Urvashi nodded. “I know, I understand. Fine. I’ll do whatever you just told me. And also, send out messengers to all the villages in Keekatpur to announce that Vedanta’s heir will be handling the administration now. I should prepare a speech as well for the hearing.”
Arjan could see that she was doubting herself. She had managed to take back the throne, but she had no experience, unlike Kal
i. He had waged a war and won the kingdom. But there was no questioning the fact that she was the legitimate ruler. All cards had been stacked against her. Her sex and her age bothered the council.
“There are people who want to meet you,” Rudra said. “Some people have chosen to believe in their rightful queen.”
“Don’t they know I might just get deposed in the hearing?”
“They don’t know about the hearing. It hasn’t been announced officially,” Rudra added. “Should I welcome them?”
Urvashi nodded. “I would love to see some supporters. It might change the heavy atmosphere.”
Arjan and Rudra stood in the corner while they saw soldiers, labourers, villagers, and miners come and meet Urvashi. They kissed her hand, pledged their allegiance, and talked about their problems. Arjan noted most of the problems, so they could rectify them later. It was difficult being a ruler of a city. It was easy to depose one. But Arjan was glad everything was in order and he had convinced her to take help from Lord Kuvera. Otherwise they would have been left with no choice but to steal the money from Lord Kuvera’s palace in Alakpur.
It always benefits to be nice.
One of the soldiers from Kali’s regiment came to pledge his allegiance to her.
“Which post did you have?” she asked.
“I worked as his charioteer.”
“Ah, not an issue. I understand. You can be the guardsman in this fort. I believe and trust you.” She smiled at the man. Arjan had told her that it was important for her to treat her subjects kindly. He had heard from Rudra about Urvashi’s black magic and had wasted no time in requesting her to refrain from doing any magic for the time being.
“I wanted you to know, my lady, I have news that might be beneficial for you.”
She narrowed her gaze. “What is it?”
“I know who killed your father, the late great King Vedanta.”
“I know it was Kali.”
He shook his head. “Kali was the executioner, my lady. It was Lord Kuvera who had organized it.”
At that moment, Arjan’s blood froze. Urvashi took a sharp intake of her breath and shifted her gaze from the soldier to Arjan. Darkness glimmered behind her beady eyes.
Now, we are in an even bigger mess.
Manasa was fast asleep in the donkey cart when a heavy thud woke her up. She was huddled in the midst of strangers. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her legs. After a lot of swimming in the river, she had found a trader’s market and decided to barter her precious earrings to reach Bhanmati. It was close by.
Now, she was in the trader’s vehicle moving uphill to Bhanmati. And she had dozed off out of exhaustion. She had never felt so tired in her life. Manasa recalled her royal chariot. She would plop on the fluffy cushions while feasting on the fruits that were kept inside specially for her. Now look at me. A royal lady like her, travelling in a rickety cart full of commoners. This was the worst. And the creeping thought of Nanda being executed just made her stomach cringe and her heartbeat fast.
He can’t die. I don’t want to be alone again.
She touched the conical Shard of her locket. The travellers sitting opposite her in the cart ogled at her. She ignored them, frowning with distaste as she left the locket and opened the flap of her cart tent to see the road ladened with rocks and pebbles. She could see huge temples filled with people wearing bright-coloured clothes.
That’s what she liked about Dakshini—everything was bright and beautiful here. People here were elegant while the Udaiyas people were more rugged. It was a turbulent city while Bhanmati wasn’t. Maybe because Bhanmati had a just ruler—the the citizens were happy. With ample sunlight and occasional rains, the crops growed and food was in abundance. Vibhisana was also a big advocate of humanism and liberal arts—the kingdom was rich in literature and paintings, with stunning architecture. Bhanmati initially was on the ground but later the main city had been shifted up on a slope, towering over every other city. It also had a military advantage. Guards stood on a watchtower to prevent any impending attacks.
Manasa looked out of the donkey cart and saw the rocky path divided into frames—on one side, the crops were being cultivated, cows were grazing on the fields and on the other side, the weeds and the flowers were growing in full bloom. The farmers were well dressed. As the cart moved upwards, the road down seemed to go on forever, with the hills and the little towns hiding deep down.
The cart stopped for a while so that the animals could rest. They had reached the city. Two guards came from the entrance gate and peered inside the cart. They glared at Manasa and then at the other travellers who were sitting inside. “Why is a Naga inside your tent?” one of the guards asked.
The trader and the guards discussed and the trader gave them some coins. They were allowed to pass.
Manasa got off from the donkey cart and left the trader to move towards the city centre while noticing the beauty around her. There were large conical towers made of sandstones and bricks, yellow grilled windows with trees at every corner, well organized roads, soldiers in green coloured pads and armour, and flag bearers were strutting around.
She had no idea how she would approach Vibhisana. But she did know that Nanda had sent him a letter that he hadn’t responded to. And she wanted his help, and she would try to gain his trust and eventually his forces in helping her fight Kadru, by hook or by crook. For now, she just basked in the pleasant environment of a city she had never seen before. She would not mind eventually settling down here.
As she crossed the pathways and the roads, the street vendors, the astrologers, and the singers, she saw a small building in the corner—it was deep green in colour, with a little bit of teal splashed over. The smell of food and songs in the background with the brisk steps of the civilians gave a certain flavour to the place. The building, nonetheless, belonged to Lord Vibhisana. The people lived in simple homes here. Kings in Udaiyas believed in having castles and forts with well-guarded battlements but the Dakshini king was different. He had a cozy place, with soldiers walking around casually. Small buildings housing the ministers surrounded Lord Vibhishana’s home.
She reached the guards and told them her name. “I am Lady Manasa, brother of late Lord Vasuki, from Naagpuri.”
But before the guards could go inside and inform their king, someone from the window shouted, “Oi!”
Manasa looked up to see a burly old man. He was bald, had a freckled face, big beady eyes and a small mouth. He had a broad smile on his face. This man was Lord Vibhisana. He was wearing his usual green-coloured robes.
“Manasa? My dear!” he shouted. He was grinning and his cheeks turned red with excitement.
After a lot of hugs, Manasa was made to sit down. The comfortable royal chairs made her want to doze off again. But she shrugged the feeling off and concentrated on the man who was her childhood friend, her advisor.
He was the only Manav in Dakshini. Initially the Manavs had ruled over most of the regions and the tribes had been just nomadic settlements, taking a small region for themselves. But when the tribes grew demanding citizenship, a place in the politics, the Manavs refused. This led to a fight. The only Manav who had sided with the tribes was none other than Vibhisana. Avoiding a war, he made sure that the land was equally divided between the Northerners and the Southerners.
Vibhisana ruled well, but the tribals didn’t like a Manav ruling over them. They elected their own leaders, abandoning Vibhisana. Some tribals even attacked him. Vibhisana simply retreated, saying, “I won’t harm you. Leave me with my duties and you can freely attend to your affairs.” And since then, he hadn’t interfered in the tribal matters until his hand was forced. He was now a king in name only. Though Manasa knew that he was innately afraid. He had always been afraid, just like his father. His older brother however had been different from him. Lord Dushasan, the head of Eelam, had converted himself into a Rakshas.
Lord Vibhishana had chosen not to join Kali’s campaign against the tribals. He didn’t want to a
ssociate himself with such a violent man. His age had caught up with him. Wrinkles lined his face, but his body was still plump.
“I’m so glad you are here.”
Manasa sighed. Her body ached and she felt she would collapse at any moment, but she mustered up her spirit. “I think Nanda told you what has happened.”
“I know! I know!” He got up from his chair. “It’s absolutely absurd what is going on. Good heavens!” He took a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead. “What do you plan to do now?”
“The question is, what do you plan to do?”
“Nothing, my dear! I’m a humble ruler of this small place. You know, I do not interfere—”
“Well, you should. My husband is in danger. He’s in Naagpuri and might be executed any moment. Kadru, the so-called cousin of mine is trying to steal Amrit from the Suparns.”
“That is impossible. Have you seen that place? It’s like a fortress. Lord Tarakshya has done some fine—”
“Tarakshya invited them.”
“By heavens, why?” He gasped.
“He is being tricked. It’s a long story.” She wiped the sweat from her head. She was feeling a little down already. “What will you do?”
“A letter!” He stood up, his belly jiggling up and own. “I will send a letter, directed to Lady Kadru, asking her to leave Lord Tarakshya alone.”
“She will come for you next if you do that.”
“Then I shall tell Lord Tarakshya about what is happening around him.”
“What makes you think he will trust you?”
He sat back in the chair, mulling it over.
“My dear,” Manasa grabbed Vibhisana’s hand. “We need to warn Lord Tarakshya of what is going to happen, but we should first save Nanda.”
“Okay,” he mumbled. Manasa could sense his reluctance. “But how did you escape?”
“I swam till I arrived at a market near Bhanmati. This locket proved instrumental in my escape.” She showed it to Vibhisana.