Tales of the Southern Kingdoms (One Volume Edition)

by Barbara G. Tarn

"And what do we know of King Kumar?" he challenged.

  "He wasn't born noble, but has become a good king," she said, unbothered. "Good husband, loving father, blah blah blah."

  "That's what people say," he kept staring beyond her. "I think the truth is something else."

  She turned around to look at the king, curious. He was on the other side of the great hall, and their eyes met for a moment.

  He averted his first, and she allowed herself a quick look at the clean-shaven face under the bejeweled turban.

  "He's kind of handsome," she said, going back to her light meal.

  "Oh my!" Matteo rolled his eyes. "We really should go back north, Bella."

  "What for? You know how they consider me back home."

  "They wouldn't if you had a husband."

  "I won't marry you, Mat."

  "But why? Don't you think it's time you start your own family?"

  "No. I'm going to dance my life away. You can go back, if you want. I will not."

  Matteo sighed and she smiled fondly at him. He was the only one who had stayed by her side all these years. She was aware of his love, but couldn't consider him anything more than a childhood friend. Her heart had been stolen by someone else, and broken, and she wasn't quite ready to give it away anytime soon.

  She glanced at the king talking to his affectionate little boy and felt a pang of longing for a moment. She stared at the beautiful queen and her daughter, and the pretty family picture the royal family made, and felt annoyed again.

  Then a famous local music piece started, and she had to get up and dance with the local dancers. She had learned the southern dance-steps, and even if she wasn't as good at them as she was with her native figures, she could move to any rhythm. Sometimes she mixed both styles, which left even Matteo gaping – but she didn't notice. When music captured her, all she could do was follow its pulse.

  ***

  Kumar went to the pavilion where the dancer was staying because he wanted to tell her to leave. He really meant to tell her that – until he saw her standing in front of him, so close that he could smell her in spite of the floral perfumes coming from the garden outside.

  "I..." he stammered. "What's your name?"

  "My name is Isabella, but they call me Bella," she answered slowly, as if searching for words.

  "I want you to leave, Bella..." he started, but his hands grabbed her face, and he pulled her close to kiss her hungrily. His heart pounded against his chest and for a brief moment he forgot who he was.

  She gently freed herself of his hands and lips, and pulled back. "My lord, I am a dancer, not a courtesan," she said gravely.

  He pulled her close again and held her tight, trying to catch his breath and find the words.

  "I know," he said at last. "But I want you to stay with me forever."

  "You all do," she scoffed. "And then you go back to your royal consort when you have taken your pleasure."

  He let her go, puzzled. She averted her eyes with a melancholic smile. Of course, he probably wasn't the first to talk to her like that. He had sounded rather silly indeed. He was married, and was allowed only concubines or mistresses, but it wasn't what he wanted for her.

  She looked at him again. "I will dance for you tonight and will leave tomorrow," she said with her strong accent.

  He nodded, but inside he screamed, "No, I can't let you go!"

  He tried to tear himself away from the pavilion, but his body refused to follow through. He embraced her again and showered her with kisses.

  "Don't leave," he whispered in her ear. "I want to be with you for the rest of my life,"

  He started undressing her, exploring with hands and lips, tasting her skin, smelling her hair and breathing in her mouth. He had never felt such passion before, not even for Indira who still loved him like the first day.

  She didn't resist, but didn't return the passion either. She closed her eyes and let him do what he wanted, and he hoped the act would cancel the sudden obsession, allowing him to let her go.

  ***

  Bella thought that seen up close King Kumar had an aura of danger. What had looked like charisma suddenly seemed suffused with melancholy and threat. There was more to him than a king who wasn't born noble.

  She knew he had come to the pavilion for the same reason of others, but he had none of the other king's haughtiness. His voice was so soft that she couldn't catch the words when he whispered, in spite of being by now quite proficient in the southern kingdoms' language. Even his passion was gentler than others' – which made him more dangerous. She could start liking him. And as she had told him, she was a dancer, not a courtesan.

  She thought he'd never come back after taking what he wanted, but again he surprised her. He kept coming. This didn't honor the queen much, and Bella didn't know what to do. She didn't want to be his mistress. She still wanted her freedom. She was well fed and paid for her performances in the great hall, but the king's visits were becoming a disturbance. Mostly because she wasn't sure of her feelings anymore.

  Matteo had noticed the visitor, of course.

  "Don't you think the queen knows?" he asked, worried.

  "I don't think so," she shrugged. "But I bet she will soon."

  "I say we leave tomorrow," he said.

  But 'tomorrow' was postponed until Queen Indira summoned Bella in her private rooms. Servants and ladies-in-waiting were shooed out as the queen stared at Bella with a frown.

  "My husband comes to you, doesn't he?" she asked as soon as they were alone.

  "Yes," Bella answered without hesitation. "I don't invite him, but he comes nevertheless."

  Queen Indira averted her eyes with a snort. "I want you to leave the palace now," she said, her voice shaky with anger and pain. "And don't come back."

  "I won't," Bella promised with a bow.

  She felt relieved to have been ordered to leave. She had no more excuses to wait for 'tomorrow'. She went back to the pavilion and told Matteo of the interview with the queen. He looked relieved too, and immediately packed his lute and their few belongings.

  Bella was happy to be on the road again.

  ***

  Kumar found the pavilion empty and quickly figured out the dancer and the musician were gone. Panicking, he rushed to the palace gates only to be told the foreigners had left that morning.

  His first impulse was to grab a horse to pursue them – they were on foot, they couldn't have gone too far. Then he remembered he was now king, and wasn't that proficient in riding horses (Maya the elephant was still his favorite mount), and that he had a royal guard, so he went to the barracks. His former traveling companions (and friends?) now worked for him: Takeshi was part of the royal guard along with Junko, who had an on-off relationship with Captain Naveen. Sarita shared Takeshi's small apartment with their two sons, and Junko had her own room, as there weren't other female guards.

  The siblings were both in the guards' main room when Kumar entered it, as they had finished their shift and were drinking a cup of tea before going back to relax at their own places. Kumar went to them without hesitation.

  "The dancer left this morning," he said. "I want you to bring her back."

  "I think your wife told her to leave," Junko said, serious.

  "I don't care, I want her back," he said. "Take two horses, you'll be back before nightfall."

  "Why are you doing this, Kumar?" Takeshi asked. "Why do you want to ruin everything again?"

  "Don't question me, Takeshi." Kumar frowned. "Go now or I'll kick you both out of the palace."

  The almond-eyed siblings exchanged a glance and bowed. Kumar watched them go still shaking with fury. He had been a quiet and gentle king for five years, following King Arjun's wise footsteps without effort. What was happening to him that made him burn with such passion again? Why were his senses suddenly so awake?

  Maybe the five peaceful years had allowed him to recover from the fight with his own darkness, and now his repressed feelings were ready to explode again...
Not knowing what to do with himself, he stormed back to the pavilion and decided to wait there for the dancer's return.

  ***

  Bella heard the horses before actually seeing them as the unpaved road was following the river through hills and meadows towards the Rajendra coast.

  She stopped and turned around – and sighed when she recognized the royal guard uniforms.

  "Damn," Matteo grunted. "He really wants you, this one!"

  "He has a beautiful wife and family, why does he bother?" she wondered.

  Then the two guards reached them. She recognized the two other foreigners of the Rajendra court, who were usually smiling, but not now.

  "We need to take you back," the young man with almond eyes said.

  "Why?" she repeated her question. The young woman shrugged.

  "He is obsessed," she said. "I guess he doesn't know the balance. It's always an excess, one way or the other."

  "Please come with us," her brother added. "I have a family, and he threatened to kick us out."

  "You give us no choice," Matteo grumbled.

  "I think you can go," the female guard smiled. "Kumar only wants her back."

  "I won't leave her in his hands," Matteo said.

  "You can't protect her," the brother said. He offered his hand.

  Bella climbed behind the woman, Matteo behind the man. The day was almost over, but with a steady gallop they'd be back before nightfall.

  ***

  Kumar rose when Bella entered the pavilion. He took her face in his hands and kissed her, then took her hand. No more pavilions for courtesans, he wanted her in his bedroom.

  Indira was waiting for him, naked, on the bed they weren't sharing every night since the children had been born. She usually slept closer to them, and he visited whenever he felt like.

  He hadn't visited her since Bella's arrival, and she was obviously sick of waiting for him. But when she saw he had company, she blushed and then paled, and seemed ready to throw a tantrum.

  Kumar turned on his heels and headed back to the pavilion, but Bella stopped him in the garden.

  "You cannot do this to your wife," she said serious.

  "But I want you," he said.

  "Still you cannot ignore her like that."

  She held his stare, she meant it.

  He went back to his room, threw Bella on the bed and made love to her with more rage than passion under Indira's mortified eyes.

  The queen didn't say a word and he never looked at her. Bella's eyes seemed to scold him, so he closed them with his lips.

  At some point in the night he felt Indira's weight leave the bed. He hoped she had had enough and wouldn't show up again uninvited.

  "You are cruel, my lord," Bella said.

  "No, you are cruel," he said. "But I love you anyway."

  ***

  Tarun stopped behind the curtain closing his father's bedroom. Mother was there, and she sounded upset. He decided to wait until she was gone, thinking he wasn't actually eavesdropping. Or was he?

  They were talking about the foreign dancer again.

  "I want her out!" Indira screamed, furious. "I hate her! Why did you bring her back?"

  "Because I want her here," was Kumar's quiet reply. He never ever raised his voice.

  "For what? Don't you dare disrespect me again, do you hear me?"

  "Do you want me to leave?"

  "No! I thought we were beyond that!"

  "And I love Tarun and the girls, just don't make my life impossible."

  "You make mine impossible! I hate you!"

  "Then I should leave..."

  "Don't you dare!" She started sobbing. He whispered something.

  Tarun didn't know what to think. Was he the cause of the fight? Was the dancer? What was going on? He rushed back outside, wondering if his friends also heard their parents fight.

  ***

  "You know this can't go on, don't you?" Matteo said, serious. Bella nodded, uneasy. She couldn't figure out her feelings for King Kumar, he seemed to have a double personality, very sweet and tender with her, and cold and heartless with others. He seemed torn as much as she was between his family and her.

  "We go back north," Matteo decided. "You don't have to marry me, but I have had enough of this crazily hot country."

  Bella had to admit the southern climate wasn't her favorite. The wasteland a little further south was quickly becoming a desert, and the jungle was being cut down to give space to farmland. The weather was changing, the monsoon wasn't coming regularly anymore, and the summer heat in the past couple of years was really taking her down.

  "He won't let me go," she sighed. "You saw what happened when I tried to leave."

  "Maybe I should challenge him. He has no right to keep you here." He pulled her closer. "I think you don't want to leave, or you'd already be gone."

  "I don't know, Mat, I really don't," she admitted, averting her eyes. "For the first time in my life I'm so confused that I can't make up my mind."

  King Kumar entered the pavilion and saw them. He couldn't understand their words, as they were speaking in their mother tongue, but Bella saw fury mounting in his eyes as he frowned.

  "Take your hands off her," he ordered.

  Matteo took up the challenge. "She is my responsibility," he said slowly, mostly because he wasn't as fluent as Bella in the southern dialect. "I will take her home now."

  "No, you're not."

  The king and the musician stared at each other with hatred, then decided words were useless. Hands and fists started flying, and they rolled on the carpeted floor of the pavilion trying to tear each other's eyes out.

  "Stop! Wait!" Bella screamed. She knew she wouldn't be able to divide the fighters, so she rushed out looking for help. She found the captain of the royal guard and the almond-eyed siblings, and begged them to come.

  She watched the two male guards divide the fighters with her tears very close to bursting out.

  "We leave now!" Matteo said, held by the almond-eyed young man.

  "No!" King Kumar tried to attack him again, blocked by the young captain and the female guard.

  Bella couldn't take it anymore. She had enough of men fighting for her. Her vision blurred by tears, she ran away from the royal palace, diving into the city streets and hiding her sorrow in the commoners' crowd.

  She managed to calm down in one of the main squares, and looked around for some kind of shelter. She knew they'd be after her fast enough. She saw a sculpted temple and walked there, breathless from the run and the heat.

  The inside was dark and cool. She collapsed by the door and sobbed with anger and anguish at her predicament. It was a quick vent, then she sat by the cool stone wall, sniffling.

  The temple was big, but empty at the moment, except for a woman who was walking towards her. She crouched in front of her and observed her intently before asking: "Who made you cry?"

  Bella wiped away her tears and gulped down her anguish before replying. "Men," she said. "I left my hometown because two men who were best of friends almost killed each other to get me."

  "Where are you from?"

  "Havenstock. It's..."

  "I know where it is." The woman switched to the northern language with no apparent effort or accent. She had brown hair and blue eyes like Bella, but could have been from anywhere. She was dressed in the southern fashion, but so was Bella now.

  "I'm a dancer," she said a little puzzled. "I've been traveling these kingdoms for almost ten years. And it's happening again."

  "Two men fighting over you?" the woman shook her head with a scoff. "I hope it's not two southern kings, the new generation is quite hot-headed!"

  "No," Bella said. "Well, one yes, the other is my musician and childhood friend. He says he wants to take care of me, but going against King Kumar won't really help."

  "Kumar!" the woman was alert now. She slowly smiled. "I'll take care of you, dear. What's your name?"

  "B-bella..." she stammered, uncertain. "And you?" she asked
shyly.

  "You can call me Maya." The woman rose. "I think your suitor is coming. Don't move, I'll handle him."

  Puzzled, Bella hugged her knees and followed the strange woman with her eyes. She saw Maya stop at the temple door, waiting, then she heard King Kumar's voice.

  "Starblazer!" he said. "I thought you had had enough of the Southern Kingdoms!"

  "This world is small, besides, I hadn't properly visited Rajendra and Lakeshi before," Maya answered. "What do you want from a temple, you godless wanderer?"

  "You have nothing to do in a Human temple either," his voice was as sarcastic as hers. "I've been told a woman sought shelter here. Let me in."

  "This temple is cool and big enough to shelter me, thus I claimed it as my territory. I'm the official priestess since the old one's death, and I don't bow to the king."

  "Starblazer, I want that woman."

  "My my, aren't we a little obsessed, Kumar? She's not here. I sent her to a safe, unreachable place with a spell."

  Bella couldn't believe her ears. What was that being in woman form? She must be very powerful to be able to stop King Kumar! Such a frail form couldn't really hold him, unless he knew she was a witch or a sorceress or... what?

  She glimpsed outside, saw the almond-eyed siblings, the king, and probably Matteo and the captain of the guard. The siblings noticed her, so she pulled back, but they didn't say a word. They were probably on her side anyway.

  "Will you let in Takeshi and Junko?" King Kumar said at last. "They will check Bella is not here."

  "No weapons allowed," Maya shrugged.

  Bella heard metal on stone and sprinted through the shadows away from the door. The siblings came in, one went left, the other went right. The male, Takeshi, saw her, and pointed at the god's statue, which had room behind it. She quickly slipped between the wall and the statue pedestal and curled up there, waiting while the two guards fussed around.

  "There's nothing, Kumar!" Takeshi called, standing by the altar in front of the statue.

  "She's gone," Junko added from a little further.

  From her dark hiding spot, Bella peeked out. Maya stood on one side of the temple door and King Kumar's figure stood next to her. Bella saw him fall to his knees and start sobbing like a baby.

  She pulled back, panting. A grown-up man, a king, was crying desperately over her loss. She couldn't take anymore of that madness. She fainted.