‘Wake up stupid!’
An insistent voice drifted into Arul’s consciousness, a pair of hands shaking him hard, the voice louder now. ‘Hey stupid, wake up!’
With a gasp he sat up. ‘I’m not stupid!’
‘Yes you are!’ Said Navira, still shaking him. ‘Especially since they’re moving your Appa while you’re fast asleep!’
‘What?’ Arul croaked, staggering to his feet unsteadily, blinking into the early morning light. Far below in the village, tiny figures of local villagers went about their business. But Arul’s eyes were drawn to the middle of Karur, where some kind of commotion was happening.
A knot of locals stood near a large wooden building, probably their pañcāyattu. The Royal Scouts stood unmoving in front of the meeting hall, their gold buttons shining brilliantly in contrast to the dull clothes of the villagers. Behind them stood Ori, surrounded by four Royal Guards, their uniforms like splashes of red dye against the dusty ground.
With a terrible feeling churning in his gut, Arul watched as a four-wheeled ox-cart was brought around to the front of the building. The Scouts and their guards mounted their horses while Ori was prodded onto the cart and chained. Two local drivers climbed up, their movements nervous. With the sharp crack of a whip, the cart rattled off in a cloud of reddish dust, the Scouts taking the lead, the Royal Guards in tow.
‘No!’ Arul moaned. ‘We can’t keep up with them on foot!’ He threw down his spear violently, his breathing ragged.
Navira stood close to him. ‘All we have to do is make it to Ailas and find Guru Pari. It doesn’t matter if we can’t catch them now. We know where they’re going.’
‘If we had caught them on the open road, then what? Defeat so many armed men?’ Keeran added. Arul slowly nodded, resigning himself to this new reality, recognizing that he had to be smarter about things if they were going to make it through in one piece.
Then Navira spoke urgently. ‘Uh…could you take a look down there next to those haystacks?’
Arul looked towards the village. A cluster of men stared up the hill at the teens, pointing excitedly and jabbering amongst themselves. Then they began to run up the slope like a swarm of ants.
Very angry ants.
‘Time to go!’ Arul yelled, tying his sandals. He grabbed his things hurriedly while his eyes scanned for escape routes. Navira clutched Keeran’s arm and yanked him away as he stood gaping at the onrushing villagers.
They fled from Karur, heading east down the far side of the hill through scrub and grass. Arul kept parallel to the road for some time before angling away, the land sloping downhill, deep red volcanic rocks sprouting from the earth like raw wounds.
The sun had passed its midday zenith by the time they walked out over a barren outcrop, the rock blazing hot under their feet. A steep series of cliffs bordered a forested valley below, the dark canopy stretching as far as they could see. Keeran stood next to Arul, while Navira kept rearguard, watching for pursuers. The faint sound of a waterfall could be heard somewhere close.
Arul looked to the cliffs and saw a winding trail, the sheer rock-face glowing ochre and yellow in the early morning. To the right of the path, a vertical drop plunged at least a hundred feet to the valley floor. ‘I think we’ve reached the eastern border of the highlands,’ Arul said, motioning for Navira and Keeran to go on ahead.
Arul knelt behind a scrubby bush, a perfect ambush spot. As Navira passed him, she paused. ‘I think they’re gaining on us. I could hear shouting back there.’
Arul nocked an arrow, flexing his fingers. ‘I’ll give them a scare that should give us more time. You keep going along that path with Keeran.’
Navira touched his head fleetingly. ‘Be careful, Arul.’
It didn’t take long before the lead pursuers came into view, raggedly dressed and carrying crude spears. They saw Arul and urged each other on with shrill voices. Arul exhaled and let fly a warning arrow, the men leaping back as it clattered off the rocks, the stone arrowhead flashing sparks. The villagers came to a stop and crouched with their spears at the ready.
Arul had another arrow nocked by the time they regained enough courage to advance. This time he intended to strike his target.
Without warning, a dark blur flew out from the cover of scrub, knocking over a villager with a scraggly beard. He yelled the foulest curses in Arul’s direction, his companions running off in all directions. In-between the confusion and shouting, Jaya leapt at another man’s arm, biting him savagely, a scream of pain echoing off the cliffs. Jaya kept running past the villagers towards Arul, reaching cover before the villagers had time to react.
Jaya stood next to Arul, eyes fixed on the closing danger. Arul whispered into Jaya’s ear, pointing to the cliff path. His wolf took off like a flash, vanishing around the bend as a hastily thrown spear clattered onto the stone. Villagers were very superstitious people, doubly so if a wolf was involved. The hunting party muttered about spirits and wolves, fear creeping into their eyes.
Arul turned back towards the villagers, now regrouped and cautiously advancing. The man who was bitten groaned and staggered back towards Karur, holding his injured arm close to his body.
One down.
Rising up from behind the bush like an avenging spirit, Arul aimed his arrow to injure. The bowstring thrummed, an arrow flying straight into the leg of the closest villager. The man shrieked and collapsed into a writhing heap.
The others crawled back to whatever cover they could find, shouting to each other, fear etched across their faces. The villager he’d shot gaped at Arul, blood streaming from his leg.
I’ve never injured someone with my bow.
Arul closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. Taking advantage of the fear he’d created, he ran towards the stone path on shaky legs. The thundering waterfall grew louder as he rounded a corner, his hand grasping at the crumbly rock. He couldn’t help but glance at the swaying treetops far below, a wave of dizziness unsettling him.
Then he was past the cliff, coming out onto a broad rock ledge, the air blanketed in a fine mist. Looking around, Arul licked drops of icy water dripping off his face, tasting like melted snow. The ledge was at least thirty feet wide, all bare rock and glistening wet, the roar of the falls deafening. Navira and Keeran looked at him, their faces desperate.
They were trapped.
The swift torrent of water had cut out a channel over many centuries, splitting the rock ledge in two. Foaming water rushed past and flung itself over the cliff, creating a great waterfall that cascaded for a hundred feet or more, a white mist drifting over a rock pool far below. From there, the water emptied into a greenish-blue river which flowed beneath the dark boughs of an unknown forest.
Jaya paced nervously, unsure of the thundering water. Arul knelt and patted his wolf. ‘Good boy. You really showed them a thing or two.’ But Jaya kept looking at the waterfall as if to ask, what is this thing?
Then Arul saw Navira standing near the cliff’s edge, looking down at the waterfall. ‘Navira! Get back from there! You’re making me nervous!’
Keeran walked up. ‘Hey Arul! Some place, huh?’ He gazed around. ‘Uh, now what?’
Arul looked at him square in the eyes. ‘We need to climb down from here or else we’ll be captured. Or killed.’
‘What? Climb? No way!’ Keeran stepped back in horror.
‘Keeran, listen. I don’t think those villagers will be too kind to us. I shot a few of them back there.’
‘Oh no!’ Keeran groaned.
Arul continued. ‘Look, if we keep to this path, they’ll trap us. They know this land better than us.’
Navira joined them. ‘You shot someone?’
‘Yes. Only to injure. Now let’s look for a way down.’ Arul shuffled to the cliff-edge, lying down flat and squirming on the wet rock until his head protruded off the rock. Then he saw it. A way down. A series of small ledges behind the waterfall. He called the others over and pointed it out. Keeran wouldn’t even hear of it and backed away, only changing his mind when the first arrow skidded off the rocks less than ten feet away.
The teens crouched and searched for the archer, Arul reaching for his quiver and focussing on the point where the cliff-path exited onto the ledge. ‘There!’ He shouted. A man’s head poked out from the corner and glanced about. He spotted Arul and hastily pulled back with a squeal.
Moments later, Keeran lowered himself off the ledge, his face contorted with fear. Navira followed closely, her jaw determined, but her eyes telling a different story.
They were all scared.
Arul called Jaya over and pointed across the chasm. On the far side of the ledge, the path seemed to continue along the cliff-face.
I’ll just have to trust him to find the long way down.
Jaya studied Arul for a moment then backed away from the chasm. He crouched and accelerated in a tremendous burst of speed, clearing the foaming water in one great leap, pausing for a moment to look back. Then he was gone.
Now for those villagers.
His father had taught him that kneeling made him a smaller target. Arul knelt and waited for the villagers to reappear. After a minute, the same man he had seen before crawled around the rock face, clumsily raising his bow.
Too late.
Arul brought up his weapon and fired it in one fluid motion, the arrow burying itself in the man’s shoulder. He rolled over, mouth wide open, his screams drowned out by the waterfall.
Arul almost vomited, biting his lip to focus, dreading the possibility of taking someone’s life. After a moment, another villager belly-crawled to the injured man, dragging him back by his ankles. Arul used the distraction to sling his bow over his shoulder. Then he lowered himself over the cliff with shaking hands until he felt the narrow rock ledge with his feet.
I need to slow down. One slip and it’s all over.
Arul moved sideways towards the waterfall, its deafening thunder shaking the very air, his fingers gripping every crevice with all of his strength. Freezing vapour clouding his eyes, he blinked to clear his sight, groping for the next handhold. Under his fingers the rock shook with the tremendous force of the water.
Navira and Keeran crept along beneath him, fumbling for one ledge after another. Out of the mist an arrow hissed past Arul’s ear, only to be seized by the falling water and hurled down into the forest. Cursing, Arul scrambled towards the cover of the waterfall as yet another arrow went wide, lazily arcing into the valley. Now hidden behind the waterfall, he moved as fast as he dared. The small ledges could be navigated by moving in a zigzag fashion, and soon he was just above Keeran.
‘Stop shivering and keep moving!’ Navira yelled up at Keeran.
‘He’s scared, that’s all!’ Arul shouted.
Momentarily distracted by Keeran, Arul’s fingers slipped on a patch of slick moss. He tried to hold his weight with his other hand, but it too skidded off the wet rock.
Arul’s heart leapt in his chest, an awful realization that death approached. In the blink of an eye he felt his body tipping backwards into empty space.
Navira screamed.
Arul understood that what he did now would cause him to live or die. He kicked himself clear of the cliff face and into the waterfall, gasping as the cold water hit like a sledgehammer and drove him straight down.
He was tumbling out of control.
If he landed flat on the water, he knew he would shatter half the bones in his body.
Desperate, he struggled to draw up his knees and pivot in mid-air, head pointing down. He forced his arms out into a diving position, hoping he wouldn’t hit the rocks.
Arul barely had time to suck in a gulp of air. He hit the surface of the pool with a crack, his quiver and weapons ripping away from him. His breath violently shoved from his lungs, Arul plunged deep underwater. The light faded to dark green, the water vibrating with the force of the waterfall. He started to black out as the pool swallowed him, his mouth filling with icy water, the bright glow of the surface receding like a sunlit window.
Arul struggled and thrashed as his air gave out.
Then it was strangely quiet. Peaceful.
Am I dead?
Unexpectedly, the face of a woman materialised above him like a gathering mist. Her beautiful face smiled, calling him upwards.
Who are you?
From her neck, a glowing amulet shone with ever-changing colours. A living rainbow.
His amulet.
In a blink she was gone.
The silence dissolved into the muffled roar of the waterfall. With whatever energy remained, Arul kicked and fought to get to the surface, hazy clouds shimmering above. With a final surge, he burst through the surface and sucked in a huge gasp of air.
Arul found himself lying on a warm rock, although he had no idea how he got there. The sun was definitely lower in the sky than he last remembered. He squinted into the glare and blinked, suddenly vomiting water from his lungs. Sound returned to his ears. He heard Keeran and Navira screaming his name, their hands gripping him, crying and laughing all at once.
With his next gulp of air, Arul smelt the green of the jungle. Rotting leaves. Mullai flowers. The damp explosion of life.
Nothing ever smelt so good.