The Chariot at Dusk

by Swati Teerdhala

  “That—You were my first choice.” Esha’s voice sputtered and sparked, even as she tried to figure out the truth in her words.

  He flinched. “I was?”

  “You are—” Esha hesitated. He was, wasn’t he? A flash of amber eyes, of bronze against a night sky made her heart clench.

  “It’s okay.” He gave her a wry smile. “You deserve to have a chance with him, like you said before. I deserve . . . something.”

  “Everything,” Esha whispered.

  Was this really it? She wanted to scream, yell, cry, shake him back to the time when they had a chance. But Harun was standing up for what he wanted.

  Even now, Esha believed she could fix this.

  She could find the right words, slip back into his arms and discover that old passion together. But the funny thing was, she did love him. And so she would never do that to him.

  “I wanted everything with you,” Esha said.

  “You don’t need to explain,” he said, his voice suddenly harsh. Harun straightened and gave her his brightest smile. It was marred by the shadows in his eyes. “I’m just telling you, as your friend—that chapter isn’t over.”

  “And if it is?”

  “Close the book and come back to me,” he whispered, something in him finally breaking. Esha moved toward him, but Harun stepped back, shaking his head. “But I’m not sure I’m willing to wait to find out the answer.”

  Esha wrapped her arms around herself. Finally, she nodded.

  “I understand,” she said softly. She cleared her throat. “Does this mean you don’t want to see me again? Should I find someone to take my place?”

  Harun turned sharply and gathered her up in his arms. “No. Never. I mean, do I want to see the soldier around for the rest of my life? Not particularly. But you? Of course.”

  “Really?”

  “I might need some time. But I made a promise to you when you found me in the caravan after the Night of Tears. Do you remember it?”

  “You said I would never have to worry again. That I had been found,” she whispered.

  “Mathur is your home. The palace is your home. It will always be open to you.”

  Esha noticed that he had evaded her question. Ever the prince, ever the courtier.

  Even now, she wasn’t sure if Harun was right. She didn’t know if she believed there was another chapter for her and Kunal. They were friends, that was all.

  But hadn’t she said that about her and Harun?

  Harun stepped away from her, a poor attempt at a smile on his face. She gave him her own, hardly any better. A facade.

  The years of dreams and hopes she had tucked away threatened to tumble out at her feet. They whispered of cool nights in the palace under the twinkling stars of Mathur, dual thrones shadowed by blue marble, kisses caught between missions, dreams to save the world. Harun’s retreating back was the only thing that gave the whispers pause.

  Esha let him go.

  Chapter 26

  Esha came back to their emergency meeting with a headache of epic proportions.

  The last few days had been a trial, from her conversation with Harun to new unanticipated complications with the Jansan army, and finally, to their desperate need for recruits.

  While it had seemed like a good idea at first to invite everyone to their meetings, given how vitally they needed help, she hadn’t anticipated how much fighting there would be. She wasn’t innocent—she fought as hard, if not harder, than some of the others. Harun’s newfound desire for more conversation and conflicting opinions had seemed smart at the start, but Esha was doubtful now.

  It would be much easier to have everyone listen to her without any argument.

  As it stood now, they had decided to keep an eye on Vardaan’s troops rather than to take any immediate action. Esha had recommended going on the offensive, as had Lord Mayank, despite not having enough troops right now. A strong front was needed. But Harun and Kunal had fought for more caution. Reha had remained silent.

  So, of course, they had decided to take a break and reconvene. Esha took a sip of her chai tea and sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose in thought.

  Now they had to contend with Vardaan and the mystery of the broken bond. Esha had put teams of Blades and Scales to discover what they could. She had also worked with Reha on setting up a hidden council of town leaders and elders to gather reports on what was happening around the country, for more grassroots information.

  Most people were joyful, excited about the return of the river. But most of them also attributed it to the bond being renewed. Esha was working with Laksh and Reha to carefully seed out the information that the bond might have been broken entirely, just to see how the reaction would be. So far, it was middling.

  People were terrified by the idea that there was no bond anymore, but some were hopeful and many others didn’t care. The land was everything to them. The fear didn’t worry her—Esha was confident that the people would come around. The random cases of magic did trouble her.

  She had only felt it once, that unworldly presence of magic. She had gone off path during her daily walk and edged into a nearby garden. The difference had been staggering. It was as if the ground itself was alive, pulsating, teeming with an unbridled energy that she realized now was magic.

  No wonder Harun had been so worried. Even Esha could tell there had been no balance to that energy. One tip the wrong way and it could engulf them all whole, which was a sobering thought.

  She finished the last dregs of her tea as Lord Mayank came back in. He took a mango cookie from the tray on her table and nibbled on it.

  “Yes, please. Have a cookie,” she said with a frown.

  Lord Mayank smiled and took another bite. “How do you think it’s going?” He inclined his head toward the door. “I saw you included the soldier. And the new princess. Not what I expected.”

  “People are never really what you expect, in my experience.”

  “I would love to hear more about this experience of yours sometime,” he said casually. Had Mayank been a budding rebel? A fan?

  “One day,” Esha said. “When Vardaan isn’t breathing down our necks.”

  “I mean, you must have met the Viper.” He sounded excited by the idea, even a bit pining. “A legend.”

  Esha hid her smile behind a cookie. “I cannot officially say whether I’ve met the Viper. But there may have been a mission.”

  Mayank gave her a knowing look and winked. “Ooh, a mission? Sounds far more interesting than life here.”

  “It was fun,” she admitted. “It was also lonely and terrifying and hard.” Esha put her feet up on the chair in front of her. “Palace life is much easier.”

  “But just as deadly.”

  “That is the truth.” She nodded. The night before they’d gone over all the various Houses and their current loyalties with Reha. Even Esha’s head spun after all of it, and she enjoyed games like that. “But in a much less obvious way.”

  “Do you really think we should go on the offensive?” he asked. Mayank pointed at her feet. Esha removed them from the chair and he took the seat next to her.

  “I think it’s better than waiting for Vardaan to make his first move. The more time we give him, the bigger his army. I don’t believe we should underestimate the Pretender King.”

  Mayank nodded, looking out of the window to their right. “I agree. But I also worry we’d be putting troops in danger for no reason. What if he’s trying to draw us out to easier terrain, where his smaller numbers won’t matter? We have the advantage in Gwali.”

  “It’s possible.” Esha shifted in her seat, unsure how much to tell Mayank about their trip north. She decided this was no time for secrets. “I’m sure you’ve noticed magic has returned to the land. The entire city is whispering about it after that scene at the fish market.”

  “I might have noticed something,” he said, his eyes alight. He had clearly been waiting for her to bring it up. “It’s good news. The bond. You succe
eded.”

  “No,” she said. “We didn’t.”

  The confusion on his face was clear, but Esha paused, unsure how exactly to explain all that had happened. Finally, she told him everything.

  “It’s broken? How is that possible?” Mayank rubbed his temples, looking as if there were a million things suddenly on his mind. Esha understood that keenly. “And the Yavar . . .”

  “They’re going to do everything in their power to forge a new bond, one in their favor,” Harun said, reentering the room with Kunal. His glance was heavy and lingered on her. She hadn’t fared much better since their talk. It had been the right thing and yet . . . the right thing was rarely easy.

  And Kunal. Despite their currently nonexistent relationship, she had thought Kunal would at least try to get her alone once they were back in the palace. Especially after that kiss. That stupid kiss. Yet, he had barged out from the room the moment the break from their meeting had been announced.

  “Farhan confirmed it. We missed something,” Kunal said as he reentered the room. He held up a scroll as he got to the front of the large wooden table. His lips pursed at the sight of her and Mayank so close together. Reha took that moment to rejoin them, arriving with leaves in her braid and a new knife in her waist sash.

  The scroll itself was larger and older than any she had seen in the library in their recent searches. It reminded her of scrolls her father had pored over when she had been young, ones that had been tucked away in the back, hidden away from the regular visitors to the famous Great Library.

  “We had everything right—except for the place.” Kunal unfurled the scroll and pointed to an old and worn-out section of it. “We assumed all that was needed were the original artifacts and everything else would be the same. It’s been niggling at me and it was something Reha said that unlocked it. The ancients drew their borders differently. Gwali’s walls were only built in the last few centuries after the Blighted War and certainly after the first rituals were performed. The mountains were then considered sacred but only used for pilgrimages.”

  “What does this mean, then?” Esha asked.

  “The first ritual, the Ayana, wasn’t done at Mount Bangaar. That’s why the temple crumbled. It couldn’t handle the magical resonance of all that energy. It wasn’t built for it. The original artifacts came from an age of magic, where everyone had some in their veins. The lands pulsed with it.”

  “It’s like that report of the rice paddies to the west,” Lord Mayank said, scrunching his brow. “The old buoys and dam that had been built for the river were washed over. They couldn’t handle the rush of the new river. The magic overwhelmed the ancient levees that had been built, even damaging the old temple on the river. It was similar to what you had described, Esha. Stones cleaved in two, as if someone had taken a sword to them.”

  Kunal nodded. “Exactly. I saw that report.” Esha gave him a sharp look. How? He ignored her and kept going. “It’s what gave me the idea. The stones cleaved in two—it can’t be a coincidence. Magic is pooling in specific parts of the land.”

  “So then what?” Esha asked.

  “This scroll corroborates my thoughts.” Kunal pointed to the section and traced a line straight across to a small image. “A city of gold. That’s what it says in ancient Jansan.”

  “‘A city of gold, drowned by the sea,’” Reha sang quietly. “‘A wreath of sorrow, no way to be free.’”

  Esha snapped her head around. “Where is that song from?”

  “A sea ballad,” Reha said, nodding. “Common around here. But it comes from the tale of the city lost to the gods’ wrath during the Blighted War.”

  “Does the song say anything else?”

  She shook her head. “I can ask around.” Reha looked as if she wanted to say something but didn’t know how to. “We should wait. Vardaan’s a danger, but he’s not our main danger, especially since he’s cozy down in our dungeons. If the Yavar reforge the bond on the full moon, it won’t matter who’s fighting who. We knew he’d come back before my coronation, anyway. I’m not eager for the throne, don’t get me wrong, but we need to have a ruler on the throne before we declare war. The matter of ruling must be decided.”

  Esha looked long and hard at Reha.

  She had changed since she had known her as Aditi, the past two moons weighing on her. Her round eyes were lined in kohl, the current court fashion, and she looked the part of a regal lady. Her training as a lady’s maid had made that easy.

  But there was a rawness to her that Esha recognized in herself. A willingness to do what needed to be done. It wasn’t found in everyone. And her lack of desire for the throne made her the very queen this healing land needed.

  “We should move up the coronation,” Esha said. “Why wait?”

  Reha looked like she had been slapped. “What?”

  “Not a bad idea,” Harun said. He rubbed his chin in thought. The other two men seemed to be considering it as well.

  “If we get you on the throne quickly, we have power,” Esha said. “We can build alliances under the rule of the rightful Samyad queen.”

  “In name alone—” Reha started.

  Esha waved her concerns away. “No one is ever ready to be queen. But you are more ready than most. True, we’ll have to find some way around the optics of you being part of the Scales, but we can work with it. The country is dealing with an uncertain time, even if they don’t quite know it. And it’ll be a move against Vardaan that doesn’t require our military. Our currently useless military.”

  “Maybe we should take some more time to talk about it,” Kunal said, glancing at Reha. The girl’s face was pale.

  “What are we doing now if not talking about it?” Esha countered. “A two-pronged attack. One offensive, one defensive. We crown Reha as the rightful queen and we search for this lost city of gold.”

  “Drowned city of gold,” Lord Mayank corrected.

  “Doesn’t that sound so much more fun?” Esha muttered. “We can do both at the same time. A cover to distract Yamini or whoever else might be on the trail of the artifacts.”

  “We don’t even know if we can find the city for sure,” Reha said.

  “That’s what we’re going to find out, aren’t we? The soldier and Farhan seem to be sharing one mind, so I’m sure we’ll have more answers soon. We can also put our best scholars on it.” Esha grimaced. “On pain of death. It’ll be important to keep this secret.”

  “You said I’d have a month,” Reha said, shaking her head. Her hands were tight on the edge of the table and her shoulders tense. “I have my own business to square away here in the city. Do you think I can just—?”

  “Reha, it’s only a few weeks earlier,” Harun said.

  “A few weeks is a lot! I don’t—”

  Esha grabbed Harun’s hand and he turned to look at her. She shook her head at the response she knew he was building to and nudged her head at the girl and the door. Harun nodded and walked over, putting a light hand on Reha’s arm. “Let’s go for a walk. I’ll show you the jasmine bushes you were asking about before. We don’t need to come to any decision now.”

  Reha looked as if she was going to protest, but they left together, Harun slinging a tentative arm around his younger sister. Esha knew the relationship was still uncertain and that they were both at the stage where neither wanted to disturb the waters.

  It wouldn’t last. Esha hadn’t had any siblings, but she had enough Blades running around her to know that familiarity only bred more conflict. They were laying the foundation that would allow them to weather those storms—at least that’s what she kept telling Harun every time he started to get that pompous, older-brother look on his face.

  “I guess we’re reconvening later, then?” Lord Mayank asked.

  Esha sighed. “Let’s make time tonight. Hopefully, Harun will have convinced her by then. We should put the other plans into motion.”

  Lord Mayank nodded. “I’ll go ready the troops and see if we have any preparations needed
before the coronation. I can also get a covert look at how prepared we might be for any attack.”

  “We’re not attacking, though, are we, my lord?” Kunal said from across the table, looking at Mayank with an expression Esha couldn’t place.

  Mayank didn’t fidget under Kunal’s stern gaze. “No, we aren’t, young prince. But best to be prepared, don’t you think?”

  “I agree,” Esha said quickly. “I’ll come stop by the barracks later, if that’s all right.”

  Lord Mayank gave her a short little bow and left the door ajar behind him.

  Which left her alone with Kunal.

  “I don’t like it,” he said. Kunal walked around the table till he was on the same side as her. As always, he made her heart catch in her throat. He was dressed simply, but the palace servants had cleaned him up in a way that was befitting of his royal bloodline.

  “Which part?” She arched an eyebrow at him.

  He moved closer, and while she considered fleeing, her ego refused to let her.

  “You know he likes you?” Kunal countered instead. He stopped a pace away from her, tracing the edge of the wood table.

  “Who?” And then, “Everyone likes me.”

  Kunal chuckled, deep in his throat. “Can’t disagree with that.”

  His smooth muscles were obvious under the thin, silk uttariya he was wearing. His arms outlined by the thick gold armbands around his biceps. And the green of his dhoti brought out the flecks of green and gold in his amber eyes.

  “Mayank.”

  “Lord Mayank, soldier.”

  “Prince Kunal, Viper,” Kunal said in turn, his voice low.

  He had closed the gap between them, apparently encouraged by the fact that she hadn’t fled the room like usual.

  Esha thrust her chin out. “The title doesn’t suit you. And he likes me as well as anyone else does. I’m good at what I do and I make a good ally. A good friend, even.”

  “Is that all it is?”

  “Jealousy doesn’t look good on you.” She had been hoping to throw him off guard, put him on the defensive with her accusation, but he merely shrugged.

  “I’m quite comfortable with it.”