Rohan scoffed. "So Nihar's joke wasn't too far-fetched, after all," he whispered.
"What?"
"He wanted to introduce me as Prince Hemal's secret son."
"Oh."
This time he turned to look at her. "Have you met him?"
"Yes. I still love him, never stopped loving him. And he's a widower now. He finally wants me, so we shall marry soon."
Rohan averted his eyes with a scoff. "Poor Nihar. When are you going to talk to him?"
"In due time. Rohan, I will get married finally after nineteen years, I will have a husband and a palace, and you'll have a father..."
"I will lose them immediately as I'm getting married too. I don't need to meet him now. He didn't care for eighteen years, why should I care now?"
"Rohan! He didn't even know you existed!"
He glanced at her, wounded. "Thank you, Mother."
Deepika fell silent. She wasn't expecting this... coldness on his part. What was wrong with Rohan? The physical bruises might be gone, but what about his feelings?
She hugged him gulping down her tears. "Rohan, please..."
He freed himself from her arms and stared at her like a stranger. "I'm eighteen, Mother. It's right we each go our own way. I'm not a child anymore, remember? I'm about to create my own family. You'd lose me anyway."
"At least don't refuse to meet your father," she pleaded.
He averted his eyes with a sigh. "I don't see why, but if it makes you happy..."
***
"Hello, Nihar, hello, Rohan." Hemal greeted the two young men who were sitting on the river's edge, watching barges go by. Both answered, one smiling, the other serious. "I would like to invite Rohan for lunch."
"What do you want from Rohan?" Nihar demanded, straightening his back to protect his friend.
"You know who I am, but he doesn't, I guess. Rohan, I'm Prince Hemal, will you have lunch with me?"
Nihar noticed his friend's sudden frown. "What's going on? And how did you know this was Rohan?"
"They say you two are always together." Hemal grinned. "Rohan, your mother won't have anything ready for you, why don't you come over and let Nihar go home?"
"I don't want to go home," Nihar grumbled. But Rohan hung his head and got up on his feet.
Nihar followed his friend with his eyes, wondering what was going on.
***
"You hate me?" Hemal asked at the end of a silent meal during which Rohan had given monosyllabic answers and avoided his eyes as much as he could.
"No," Rohan answered. "I don't care. You've been a man with no face and no name for way too long. A ghost that maybe I had imagined differently. I don't know. And I don't have much to tell you."
"Don't you want to get to know me?" Hemal felt relieved the boy had started to speak. Rohan didn't sound hostile, but not curious either. "It's not too late, you know? You are the same age I was when I discovered who my real father was. Except he had already died, and I was never able to actually talk to him. And the man who had given me his name disowned me on my eighteenth birthday."
Rohan looked at him with mild curiosity. "You're not Prince Mohan's brother?"
Hemal chuckled. "No. We consider each other blood brothers, but he's the only rightful heir of the last king of Akkora. Except he shares everything with me because he grew up thinking I was the legitimate heir. And I'm giving my daughter Laxmi to his son Jaiden now that Bismillah is going to marry you. It's not incest, as we have no real blood ties."
"And what do they have to say about that?" Rohan asked. "Or are two youngsters' opinions not worth listening to in certain circles?"
"Laxmi has had a crush on Jaiden since she was a child. But he was too busy bullying her to notice. Hopefully things will change now."
"So I have a half-sister."
"I am a widower. She's fifteen, and lost her mother too soon. That's why I'm happy to have Deepika in my life now. And I never had a son."
Rohan stared at him, serious.
Hemal couldn't sustain the boy's eyes and turned away his head with a sigh. This was going to be harder than he had expected.
Then a hand gently touched his arm and he met Rohan's serious gaze.
"Tell me your story," the boy said.
***
Jaiden accepted Laxmi instead of Bismillah and Rohan accepted Hemal as a father. Then Deepika had to talk to Nihar and break their relationship.
Nihar hadn't followed any of those stories, busy as he was with his own family. He wanted to run away but at the same time was terrified to lose his parents. And now they were fighting and wanting to split, and Nihar didn't know what to do. He wanted to keep his family united at least until he decided to get married – and he had discovered he loved his parents after all and didn't want to lose either of them.
Deepika had left Madam Jaya's with Rohan to move into Hemal's part of the royal palace before she paid a visit to Nihar. She arrived in the middle of a fight between spouses, interrupted only by her presence. The lady stormed out one way, the lord in the opposite direction, leaving Nihar upset with Deepika.
She noticed he looked unhappy and exhausted, but couldn't postpone her little speech. What if he looked for her at Madam Jaya's? Besides, her wedding was in four days and she didn't want him to discover it from a stranger.
Nihar looked at her and tried to smile. He went to hug her with passion and desperation. "Thank you for coming here, Deepika. I need you so much."
She stiffened in his arms. "I came to tell you that I'm getting married in four days."
He pulled away, stunned.
"I'm marrying Prince Hemal, Nihar," she continued averting her eyes. "He's Rohan's father."
"I understand." He lowered his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Nihar, things have gone so fast lately, I couldn't keep track of everything. Now that I've seen your parents, I feel I'm hurting you even more than expected, but..."
His tone was louder and sharper, his eyes still low. "I said I understand." He grabbed her shoulders. "They want to split," he whispered, upset. "I don't want them to, I love them, I love you, I..." His own tears choked him and he hugged her again with desperation. "Please, stay with me."
"All right, Nihar, but this is our last time together."
"No, stay forever!"
"I can't, Nihar, I'm getting married."
"And you still love that man almost twenty years later?" he exploded, letting her go and backing away from her. "You love him after he abandoned you? And you marry him like this?" He snapped his fingers. "Do you know what people will say? Do you know what the nobles of this town will do to you?"
"Yes, Nihar, I'm aware of everything. The town hasn't forgotten that he doesn't actually have any royal blood either, so it seems fitting he marries a courtesan this time. At least he won't waste another noblewoman's life. Besides, he didn't even know Rohan existed until I told him."
Nihar panted. "Get out! Get out, I don't want to see you ever again!" he screamed.
Deepika stepped towards him, stretching her hand, but he backed away as if she were a snake.
"Out!" he yelled hysterically. "I hate you! I hate you all!" He hid his face in his hands, turning his back on her.
"Stop shouting, Nihar," came his father's voice.
"Nihar..." She managed to touch his shoulder, but he jerked her away and stormed out, sobbing.
***
"Hello." Rohan sat next to Nihar in the low tavern where the noble young man was drinking himself asleep. "It's time I take you home."
"I'm not done yet," Nihar replied somberly without looking at him.
"Yes you are." Rohan picked up the half empty jug and brought it back to the counter.
"Hey!" Nihar got up and swayed. "Bring that back!"
Rohan paid for what Nihar had drank and went back to his friend. "I'm taking you home."
"Mind your own business, you son of a bitch!"
Rohan ignored the insult, knowing Nihar was out of his mind. He slipped one arm around Nihar'
s waist and led his unsteady friend towards the door.
"Your parents are worried," Rohan said as they stumbled in the street under the tavern's oil lamps. Night had fallen on Agharek and it was way past dinner time.
"Fuck you, Rohan, I'm not going back!" Nihar straightened himself and roughly pushed Rowan away.
"They love you, Nihar," Rohan insisted. "Your mother is crying and your father is trying to soothe her. They're not fighting anymore. They won't split. They love you too much. Let me take you home. The hangover won't last long."
"No!" Nihar swung his fist and hit Rohan's face.
Rohan heard a loud crack as his nose broke – again. Then Nihar collapsed, unconscious.
***
Nihar woke up in his own bed. He saw Rohan sitting by his side with a swollen nose. His head threatened to explode and his stomach was upside down, so he winced.
"Are you all right?" he asked staring at his friend's face.
"Yes, don't worry, you weren't the one who broke my nose first," Rohan smiled.
"Did I do it? Aw, my head... I'm sorry, I don't know what possessed me."
"Pain. Heartbreak. That's what possessed you. That's why you insulted me and hit me."
"Gods, what a bastard I've been. I'm sorry, brother."
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Will you see your parents now?"
"I'd rather see Deepika first. I want to apologize for hitting her son."
"There's no need for that, Nihar. She has forgiven you."
"Then tell her also I will not bother her anymore."
"Really?" Rohan smiled. "I didn't think you'd give up so quickly."
"I'm not giving up, I mean, I still love her, but I will stay out of her life."
"And mine?"
Nihar glared at him. "No, you're not going to get rid of me that easily. But I won't go to your mother's wedding, that's for sure."
Rohan chuckled. "You're excused..."
***
"Hello, Rohan."
Rohan stared in wonder at Nihar's bright smile. Deepika and Hemal had married in the privacy of a small temple and Lord Charan had decided to postpone Bismillah's wedding until after the delivery. It was the first time Nihar showed up unexpected at the royal palace, where Rohan now had a private room, one month after the split with Deepika.
"Welcome," Rohan said brightening. "Glad you visited at last. You're beaming... what's new?"
"I'm in heaven, Rohan!" Nihar slumped on the carpet next to his best friend, looking happily dreamy. "My parents are reconciled and at Jaiden and Laxmi's betrothal party I met a wonderful girl!"
"Really?" Rohan beamed. "Where is she from? Tell me!"
"She's from Lakresha." Nihar chuckled. "Laxmi's childhood friend. She was invited for the betrothal and will stay until the wedding. Her name is Deena, and it was love at first sight."
"For you or for both?"
"For both! There was a strange current between us... I seem to remember that's exactly how it happened between you and Bismillah."
Rohan laughed, patting Nihar's shoulder. "Well done, Nihar! Any rival to defeat?"
"No, she's not betrothed yet. So I asked my father to write to hers so we could set up the wedding."
"A wedding already? You just met her!" Rohan teased.
"I'm considering a triple ceremony," Nihar winked. "You and Bismillah, your half-sister and Jaiden and her best friend and me... what do you think?"
"Sounds great if our fathers all agree!"
"I'm sure they will."
"Then when do I get to meet your betrothed?"
"Soon. Real soon."
***
Rohan met Deena through Laxmi as she was a guest of his half-sister. Before Nihar could introduce them, Laxmi did, but then Jaiden showed up, and Rohan and Deena were left alone.
Before Rohan could mention his best friend, Deena spoke. "Aren't you Nihar's best friend?"
"Yes, I was about to ask you about him."
"Well, you should be the one telling me all his dirty secrets," she said with a mischievous smile.
He laughed out loud. "He doesn't have any! It's all out there in the open. He's a rebel, a bad boy, but he's loyal to his friends and loved ones, so love him or hate him, there's no middle way."
"I noticed all of that," she smiled. "He's very fond of you. As for hating him..." She sighed theatrically, shaking her head. "Is it true he broke your nose, though?" she asked, curious.
"Yes, well, he was drunk and out of his mind," he shrugged. "He had had a rough day. So you like him in spite of everything?"
"I think he's very sweet. And needs lots of love."
"Indeed. And are you willing to give it to him?"
She nodded slowly as her lips curved into another mischievous smile. "Yes, I will love him for the rest of my life."
***
Bismillah and Rohan's child was born nine months after their night together at Madam Jaya's. It was a girl, and they called her Deepika.
Then it was time for the triple ceremony wished for by Nihar. Bismillah and Rohan, Laxmi and Jaiden, Deena and Nihar climbed on wedding howdahs and reached Agharek's main temple on elephant back. The wedding banquet was held at the royal palace with open doors – anyone could participate and it spread out to the streets.
Madam Jaya sent her best dancers and entertainers for her "Little Rohan" and Deepika danced too while Rohan sang his latest composition. Then Nihar's in-laws went back to Lakresha and a new life began for everybody.
"Are you tired, beloved?" Rohan asked going to bed with his wife for the first time. "Can I make love to you?"
"Yes, Rohan," she answered again and forever.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
The Last King of Akkora
The story behind the story. This was originally written in 1985 in what I used to call "invented time and place". People washed their laundry in rivers and moved around on horseback, but had guns and helicopters. And the lovers ran away to a forest where lions lived, and joined a pride led by a male. Yeah, the "invented" part was really huge, including the use of animals without studying their actual behavior.
I considered leaving the lions in, but a study of lions and mostly the Asiatic lion behavior made me change my mind. I considered using tigers, but they don't have prides and are even less tamable than lions.
I also had the bad guy burning down the forest to find the runaways, but as I decided to set the story in the Southern Kingdoms barely after the destruction of Arquon depicted in Books of the Immortals – Air, I thought that was enough of burning trees. The future Desert of the South is already made anyway.
I kept most of the original, adapting it to a fantasy setting, and more specifically to the Southern Kingdoms. This novella starts right after the novel Air and ends twenty-five years later with interactions only with a secondary character of the novel, Kumar's childhood friend Jayanta, who can be found also in The Orphans and Yash.
As for Kunal's brothers, Yash's fate is told in the namesake story mentioned above, Karan's fate is in Air and his only sister Lalita is killed in Tarun, another Tale of the Southern Kingdoms.
And the dog collar chained to the wall of a room at Agharek's palace will be used again in two hundred years' time by another crazy young man for his unfortunate victim. But the Kingdom of Akkora will be no more, then, and Agharek is only head of the most southern province of the Varian Empire. It's the story told in Books of the Immortals – Water.
The Prince Heir
This was written in the same period as the above, in what was supposed to be science-fiction. With no aliens, on a single planet. That's why it was easy to turn it into a story of the Southern Kingdoms, again substituting guns with scimitars.
Apart from changing names and the setting, I stuck mostly to the original story. And then I had to modify The Dancer that mentioned Prince Anjaan as still alive five years after Air... Now you know how he ended, and his story starts in the novel.
The courtesan's son
Originally titled, quite literally,
"Son of a Bitch", this was one of my Outsiders-like stories of 1984, when I was heavily influenced by Francis Ford Coppola's movies and Matt Dillon. So of course it was set in a so-called present with rich kids and poor kids and whatnot. I had to take out the going to school and other modern stuff, but the plot is basically the same.
The only things I changed were Rohan's father – in the original he was Jaiden's father as well and Deepika wasn't a whore before having her baby and needing to feed him, and the ugly accident involving Nihar and Rohan at the end, when Nihar is drunk. That's because it involved cars, and I couldn't figure out an equivalent of a car accident – besides the consequences for Nihar were way too dramatic – he became impotent, and I didn't know how to have that happen in a less technological setting.
It was fun to tie the story to The Last King of Akkora and resetting it to the ex-kingdom of Akkora. The courtesan Deepika is now inspired by Chandramuki of Devdas and Umrao Jaan of the Aishwarya Rai movie.
The Dancer and The Lords of War are original stories that I wrote for these characters. The Dancer was originally the epilogue of Air, but beta-readers said it spoiled the ending of the novel, so I took it out. Still, you can guess who was my favorite character in the novel and how I couldn’t let him live happily ever after!
I wrote The Lords of War after watching one too many Bollywood movies and discovering Hritik Roshan’s dancing skills. He looked like the perfect son of Bella and Kumar, so there you have it. he collar wasn’t mentioned in the Sect stories because I made it up for this story, but then – I never really went into details about Kumar’s training because I felt it would be too sadistic on my part. And after all I’ve put him through, I felt he deserved a peaceful death!
So, there you have it. Farewell, Southern Kingdoms. I might explore you again in a graphic novel, but it will take some years... so I bow out now and will start working on the Chronicles of the Varian Empire.
About the Author
Barbara G.Tarn had an intense life in the Middle Ages that stuck to her through the centuries. She prefers swords to guns, long gowns to mini-skirts, and even though she buried the warrior woman, she deplores the death of knights in shining chainmail. She likes to think her condo apartment is a medieval castle, unfortunately lacking a dungeon to throw noisy neighbors and naughty colleagues in. Also known as the Lady with the Unicorns, these days she prefers to add a touch of fantasy to all her stories, past and present – when she’s not wandering on her fantasy world of Silvery Earth or in her science fantasy Star Minds Universe. She dabbles into historical fantasy with her Vampires Through the Centuries series and has started post-apocalyptic/steampunk series called Future Earth Chronicles. She’s a writer, sometimes artist, mostly a world-creator and story-teller. Two of her stories received an Honorable Mention at the Writers of the Future contest and one was published in Pulphouse Magazine #5 (March 2019). She writes, draws, ignores her day job and blogs at: http://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com.
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