Stung, Aarushi pulled away. “You are like a mother to me. I thought you would understand.”
“I understand you are a young girl full of romantic dreams. But a parent sees the world differently.”
Aarushi bowed her head. “Please leave me, Gita. I wish to be alone to reflect on your words and calm myself before dinner.”
The old woman smiled and nodded.
When Gita left, Aarushi locked her door. She slipped Roshan’s ruby heart from the fold of her sari. Taking a pair of brass scissors from her netting basket, she loosened her braid and cut three strands of her thick black hair. She braided them with three strands of gold silk from the basket and used an ivory needle to net a mesh bag around the heart. Attaching a black silk cord, she hung the pendant around her neck. A tiny flame flickered deep within the crystal.
Next, she opened the rosewood chest at the foot of her bed and removed a brilliant red silk sari trimmed with gold zardozi embroidery. Her father wanted her to look impressive. He would get his wish. But she wouldn’t be wrapped in his green sari of happiness. No. She would wear red, to match the flame burning in Roshan’s heart. Red—the color of Durga the Divine Mother, slayer of evil.
“Master, I was worried. I expected you back this morning.”
“The damage to the harvester was worse than I expected.” Roshan pulled the discharged crystal from the slot in the elephanton, tossed it to Nadir, and climbed down from the metal beast. “I will need to rebuild the whole mechanism. Hurry. Help me get it into the workshop. I have just enough time to clean up and find Aarushi.”
Nadir ducked under the elephanton’s bronze trunk as the machine’s pressure valve released a blast of hot steam.
“Nadir, you know not to get so near the trunk. I don’t need anything else to go wrong today.”
“No need to rush. I don’t think dinner will be over early tonight, master.”
“Because of Aarushi’s birthday? Her father doesn’t usually make much of it.” Roshan lifted one end of the harvester while Nadir took the other.
Nadir walked backwards to the workshop. “The big dinner is not for Aarushi. It is in honor of the visitor, the one who arrived on the airship.”
“Airship?” Roshan’s brow furrowed as he and Nadir struggled to lift the harvester onto the workbench.
“I heard the kitchen servants say he flew all the way from South America on it. His father owns a coffee plantation that Sahib Sengupta wishes to merge with. Rumor says the sahib will use Aarushi to seal the bargain.”
The heavy machine slid off the workbench and crashed to the floor. Shishi! How could I have been such a fool? I should have spoken to her father months ago. Roshan rushed out the door. If only he wasn’t too late.
“Master?” Nadir called after him. “What about the harvester?”
Roshan didn’t answer. He was already across the yard and slipping into the garden at the back of the Sengupta residence. Aarushi and he had met here often. It was one of her favorite places. Hiding in the shadow of a large bodhi tree, he crept toward the dining room doors. Inside, candles blazed upon a table set with fine china and crystal. At the head of the table sat Aarushi’s father, deep in conversation with a dark stranger. There was no sign of Aarushi.
Suddenly, the room fell silent. Her father leapt to his feet, his face ashen. The stranger turned and rose, his gaze locked on something beyond Roshan’s range of vision.
Then Aarushi entered the room. Roshan had never seen her look so breathtaking. It was as if a flame had floated off one of the candlewicks and taken human form. The stranger approached her like a supplicant, bowed and kissed her hand. He held out the chair next to him.
She laughed and took a seat across the table, instead.
Her father remained silent. She had eclipsed him. The dinner belonged to her now.
The stranger raised his wine glass. “A toast to my bride-to-be on her birthday. May her fiery spirit ever burn so bright.”
Roshan turned away. He could not watch.
“Be careful of your wish, sir. You may get burned.”
Antonio laughed and drained his glass. “The only thing that is burning is my tongue, señorita. Your Indian food is delightfully spicy.”
“Try putting the cucumber raita on the chicken samosas to cool your palate.”
A servant bearing an envelope on a silver tray approached the table.
“Excuse me.” Her father removed a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles from his pocket to read the note. “My time is never my own.”
“Is anything wrong?” asked Antonio.
“No, nothing important. My overseer informs me a harvester was smashed in our southeastern field. Most likely an elephant passed through, but for some reason my overzealous engineer Roshan asked him to recount the tea chests. He also mentions he found several more holes in the ground, whatever that means. I will speak to Roshan in the morning. I’m sure you’re familiar with the minor problems of running a business. No reason to interrupt our dinner.”
Her father was covering up something. Aarushi felt certain there had been a raid. It was the first flush too, the most expensive harvest of the year. Was Father nervous that it would upset the merger if Ruiz found out they had been hit by tea pirates? Perhaps she could use the news to her advantage.
“I believe I saw your airship this morning, Don Antonio, as I walked in the garden.”
“So, you were looking forward to my arrival?” Antonio sampled a mouthful of the lamb curry.
“My father had just informed me of his plans. I must say I was surprised to see you approaching from the east out of the sun. I thought South America was to our west.”
Antonio choked on his food.
His reaction startled Aarushi. Was he hiding something too?
“You have a keen eye, señorita. I did come from the east. My crew and I circled around to avoid a storm.”
“Ah, storms must be a common hazard. Since you did fly over our eastern fields, perhaps you noticed something that would help our overseer.”
“No…I can’t say I saw anything remarkable.”
Aarushi felt like she was playing a game where the rules kept changing. His answers seemed evasive. Had he seen the pirate raid? Was he planning to use the information to drive a harder bargain with her father? She decided to try another tack.
“Your ship seems small to have made the long journey across the ocean. But then, I know so little of airships.”
“Pardon my daughter’s ignorance, Don Antonio.” Her father took a sip of wine, turning to correct her like a young child. “The airships you remember were large because they were warships, Aarushi.”
Antonio smiled at his host. “No need to apologize. I find the señorita’s interest refreshing. I designed the ship myself and would be happy to show it to her. It is built for speed and is lighter and smaller than what she may have seen.”
Aarushi wished her father would stop interfering. He definitely didn’t want the conversation to dwell on pirates. She decided to make a bold move.
“Built for speed? You’d better guard your ship well, Don Antonio. It sounds like something the local tea pirates might want to steal.”
“Aarushi!” Her father waved away a hapless servant attempting to remove his empty plate. “You have had too much wine. You are speaking nonsense.”
Her plan wasn’t working. The only reactions she was getting were from her father. Don Antonio wasn’t worried about the merger. If anything, he seemed to be enjoying himself.
He smiled at her. “Would you pass me more of the cucumbers, señorita?”
As she offered him the bowl, his hand gripped hers, forcing her to look at him. He pitched his question for her ears alone, his grin daring her to answer.
“Have you ever met a tea pirate, señorita?”
Aarushi’s hand shook as he released it. Hoping her voice didn’t quiver, she whispered. “Have I, Don Antonio?”
Roshan wandered out of the garden in a daze. He’d lost Aarushi. Somethi
ng tugged at his sleeve. He tried to brush it away, but it wouldn’t stop.
“Master, this message came while you were gone.” Nadir waved a note at him.
How had he ended up back at the workshop? He pushed past Nadir and kept walking. Nothing mattered.
Unaware of his surroundings, he stumbled along in the twilight until he tripped over a rope and fell to the ground. He raised himself up on his elbows. What was a rope doing in the middle of the lawn? His gaze followed the line up until he saw the gondola of the airship swaying above him. He was about to stand when he heard voices.
“Did you hear something?”
“Stop jumping at shadows, Harry. You afraid a tiger’s going to leap up here and eat you? The Captain’s got everything under control.”
“So you say, Ned. But it’s not so easy to get away with murder.”
“This will be an accident, not murder. You saw how interested the old man was in the ship. He couldn’t hardly take his eyes off it. All Tony has to do is offer him a ride after the wedding. He’ll be unsteady from celebrating. A quick push and over he goes. No one will suspect a thing. Tony will console the grieving daughter and take over the plantation. He’ll be rich and he’ll let us ‘steal’ tea to sell on the black market and make us all even richer.”
“I’ll be happy when it’s all over. And I still say I heard something down there.”
Roshan lay still until he heard the men walk to the other side of the ship, their voices fading. Aarushi’s intended was a fraud. It was all an elaborate scheme to steal the plantation. He had to stop them, but the moon had already risen. The crew would surely spot him if he tried to cross the lawns. His only chance was to crawl to the tree line while their backs were turned and then circle around the long way, back to his workshop.
“Don Antonio, let us retire to my study to enjoy a glass of port and a cigar after this fine dinner.”
“A wonderful idea, Señor Sengupta. We can finish signing the merger documents. My only regret is losing the company of your charming daughter.” Antonio offered Aarushi his arm and escorted her out of the dining room. When they reached the hall, he bent and kissed her hand. “Buenas noches, señorita.”
Aarushi turned to go up the stairs, but as soon as her father’s study door closed she dashed back into the dining room and out through the garden. In a few minutes, she was knocking at Roshan’s door, where a sleepy Nadir greeted her.
“Nadir?” She glanced over the boy’s shoulder, looking for Roshan. “Hasn’t Roshan returned?”
“Yes mistress, but he went out again.”
“Where? I must see him.”
“He did not say. I tried to give him this note from the chowkidar, but he would not take it.”
Aarushi snatched the note from Nadir’s hand and read.
It is as you suspected. Several tea chests were missing from the drying shed. I discovered three more of the strange holes in the ground. They seem to form a rectangle around the area where the harvester was smashed and dragged. But what manner of beast the pirates tied there, I cannot guess. There were no tracks. As you requested, I sent word to Sahib Sengupta.
—Nayan.
Her hands trembled as she finished reading.
“I will give Roshan the message. Which direction did he go?”
Nadir pointed toward the front lawn. Mind racing, she hurried off, the note still clutched in her hand.
The smashed harvester and holes made no sense to Nayan, but Aarushi knew exactly what it meant. She had witnessed the airship landing, the heavy anchor crashing to the ground and dragging across the earth, the men scrambling down to pound the stakes in the ground to secure it. She recognized the mysterious beast that left no tracks; it loomed ahead of her. She quickly folded the note at the sound of a husky voice behind her.
“Señorita, an unexpected pleasure. I thought you had retired for the evening.”
“So much has happened today. I found I could not sleep.” How did he sneak up on me? The man moves as quietly as a cat.
“Then allow me to give you a tour of my ship. Your father and I have completed our business and it is too dangerous for you to be out alone with pirates in the area.” Antonio smiled and motioned for her to mount the ladder.
Aarushi forced a laugh. “You continue your jest from dinner, Don Antonio. Surely you cannot mean to scare me away.”
At the ladder, Aarushi hesitated, paralyzed by her fear of the airship. Every nerve in her body screamed at her to flee.
“You will not fall, señorita. I will be right behind you.”
Durga, protect me.
Roshan burst into his room and began firing orders.
“Nadir, put a new crystal in the elephanton and check the water level in the boiler. Have it ready upon my return. I must speak to Sahib Sengupta. And get my pistols from the chest under the bed.”
He threw his rumpled shirt on the floor and pulled on a new one. He needed to look presentable or Aarushi’s father would never listen to him.
Nadir rolled off his bed. “What is wrong, master? Did the note have urgent news?”
“The note? Oh, I forgot about that. Give it to me.”
“Didn’t you see Mistress Aarushi? She said she would deliver it. She headed toward the air—”
“Aarushi went to the airship? Never mind the elephanton, I’ll get it myself.” Roshan scribbled a note. “Take this to Sahib Sengupta and don’t let anyone stop you. Aarushi’s in danger. Hurry!” He stuffed the pistols into his waistband, grabbed a charged crystal from the workbench, and ran out the door.
Oddly, Aarushi found being on the airship less menacing than looking at it from below. In fact, it was quite beautiful. Antonio took great pride in his ship, from the polished maple woodwork to the gleaming brass fittings. His cabin contained a four-poster bed hung with heavy damask curtains. The brass spyglass on deck allowed him to survey the entire plantation. Antonio stopped his tour at the center of the ship where, instead of a mast, an open spiral staircase led up into the balloon.
“Why would anyone go up there? Isn’t it full of gas?” Aarushi asked.
“No, that’s a common misconception. The balloon itself is full of air. The sides are packed with many small hydrogen gas cells. Come see.”
Aarushi mounted the stairs into the belly of the beast. A steel-tube skeleton provided the framework of the dirigible. Hundreds of inflated gas cells lined the walls. A metal catwalk encircled the balloon, giving access to the gasbags. Leather harnesses were attached to pulleys and hung at various stations around the walkway.
“Those pulleys allow me to reach any of the cells for repair. Otherwise, I would have to employ a young boy called a monkey rigger to climb the framework, a dangerous but necessary job. The hydrogen gas in those cells is highly flammable. I cannot afford any leaks. No open flames are allowed above deck. For safety, the engine that drives the propeller is in a sealed compartment in the hull.”
“Your ship seems almost alive, Don Antonio. Allow me to give it a heart, as a token of our future together.” Aarushi slipped the black silk cord over her head. The ruby heart suspended from it glowed with an inner fire.
“I have never seen such a gem. You honor me, señorita.”
Aarushi tied the cord around one of the metal struts, making sure the charged crystal contacted the metal. Her hand felt the crystal begin to heat immediately. It wouldn’t be long before the metal bar would grow hot enough to burn through the adjacent gas cell and ignite the hydrogen within it. The pirate’s beast would not make another raid.
“And now, I am tired. Will you escort me back to the house, Don Antonio?”
“Certainly, señorita.”
Suddenly the ship rocked, throwing Aarushi into his arms.
“Captain, we’re under attack. Someone riding a robotic elephant rammed us,” Ned called from below. A shot rang out.
“Roshan!” Aarushi pulled away from Antonio and raced down the spiral stairs, Antonio right behind her. The ship rocked again.
> Ned swung the ship’s bronze cannon around, preparing to fire.
“No!” Aarushi screamed, throwing herself at the deckhand. Antonio jerked her back. She struggled against him. “Don’t shoot. He is only a jealous and foolish boy who wanted to marry me. Let me speak to him.”
“Hold your fire.” Antonio let go of Aarushi and allowed her to approach the ship’s rail.
Roshan lowered his pistol. “Shi-shi, this man and his crew are not who you think they are. They are pirates. They plan to murder your father and take over the plantation.”
“Roshan, please go back.” She held his eyes, hoping he would understand her. “I know you love me, but you must not make up wild stories to try to win me back. I have given my heart to Antonio. Even now it beats within his ship.”
Roshan stared at her, and then up at the balloon. If he understood her, they had very little time. He pulled a lever causing the elephanton to rear up on its hind legs. “Shi-shi, jump! Now!”
She leaped from the railing, but her sari snagged on a belaying pin. She dangled helplessly from the ship just out of Roshan’s reach.
Antonio leaned over to pull her back on board. “Give me your hand!”
“Fire!” Ned yelled, pointing up at the balloon. “Abandon ship!” Without waiting for orders, he grabbed a mooring rope and slid to the ground. Harry followed close behind.
Antonio looked at Aarushi as the first gas cell burst into flame. “What have you done?”
Roshan aimed his pistol, but could not fire a shot without hitting Aarushi. He watched in horror as Antonio raised his sword over her.
Aarushi screamed. The cutlass flashed, slicing through her sari and dropping her into Roshan’s waiting arms.
Antonio turned then and quickly slashed the mooring ropes. Freed, the great ship tore its anchor from the ground and rose into the night. Antonio raised his cutlass and saluted them from the deck. “Farewell, señorita. May your spirit ever burn so bright.”
For a moment, the ship hung in the black velvet sky before erupting in a giant fireball and plummeting back to earth.
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