The teens wandered towards the brick shelter, no doubt built by the authorities for people journeying along the highway. Keeran blinked and looked around with red-rimmed eyes, his face white with dust. ‘I’d hate to ride a horse for a living,’ he complained. ‘It hurts too much.’ Arul chuckled and slapped him on the back, dust exploding from Keeran, both boys laughing and coughing at the same time.
Navira shook her hair vigorously, adding to the growing dust cloud. ‘How did we end up here? I hadn’t even been outside Sailem before we left. Now I’m about to walk to Ailas. Our guru and your father are prisoners, and there’s an enemy force on the loose.’
‘I don’t know. I don’t understand any of it,’ Arul said. ‘I’m only sure of one thing.’ He smiled. ‘I’m happy that you two are with me.’
‘We’d better get going then,’ Keeran said. ‘After I have a decent sleep in that shelter. Trying to nap on a moving horse was pure torture!’
‘We all need a rest,’ Navira added, heading to the hut. She poked her head inside and surveyed the sparse interior, unfurnished apart from a single bench running along three walls.
As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Keeran clapped his hands in glee. ‘Look! Someone’s left bananas in here!’
‘Keep some for me,’ Arul said, walking towards the well. He drew a bucket-full of water, calling Jaya over for a long overdue wash, scowling as blood dripped off the wolf’s mouth and sank into the red dust. Then Arul poured a fresh bucket over himself, dust running off in muddy rivulets, wonderfully cool in the oppressive heat.
As the day wore on, Arul left Keeran and Navira to sleep and went to view the Great Eastern Plains. The blinding white disk of the midday sun hammered the land with a fierce intensity, forcing him to look for shade. Under the spreading branches of an ancient banyan tree, he gazed down over the most extraordinary landscape he had ever seen.
Shielding his eyes, Arul squinted at the multitude of villages and inns that clustered around the Royal Highway. Radiating out on both sides of the great road, a patchwork of rice fields knitted together to form an emerald landscape that spread out like a vast tapestry. In-between, irrigation channels shone like miniature sheets of beaten silver.
At the edge of his sight, almost lost in a blue haze, was the great royal city of Ailas. Arul knew it was his destiny; his karma to enter it. He felt like an ancient pilgrim in search of great truth. The sunlight brightened momentarily, his eyes fixing on a golden halo glinting from a vast domed structure. Beyond, a distant blue line glimmered faint on the horizon.
The sea.
Arul dreamt of it all his life, and soon he would stand on its shores and challenge its power over his dreams. An empty space inside flared with hurt. The place his parents once filled. The space where Arul the child once lived. Pain flowed through his veins, filling his entire being, forging the beginnings of Arul the man. He thought of his father, his guru, and his mother. All taken from him.
Yet a powerful sense of resolve surged through Arul. Determination to rescue his father and guru. A burning desire to find his mother. And something more. Something deep that called to him.
He held his mother’s golden amulet tightly, feeling a deep shift inside his being. A sense of endless possibility took hold, and the world of his childhood evaporated in that moment. It was as if the very land was watching the lone figure of Arul, perched at the edge of the world he knew.
Arul sat unmoving, watching the sun turn into a golden orb that floated downwards like a brilliant lantern. Navira and Keeran joined him and stood silently for a moment, awestruck by the immensity of the Eastern Plains.
‘I think I’ll take a look from up in this tree,’ Keeran said. ‘I’ll never get another chance to see a view like this.’ He studied the enormous trunk for footholds, untying his sandals and dropping his satchel. Wedging his feet into whatever he could find, Keeran climbed into the rustling canopy. ‘You could build a house up here!’ He called down. ‘I’m going to the top!’
‘Crazy as usual,’ Navira said, a grin creeping across her face.
‘What can you see up there?!’ Arul shouted.
‘More of the plains, I guess. Hang on, let me look the other way.’ There was a long pause. Arul looked up, but couldn’t see Keeran above the mass of deep green leaves.
Keeran’s voice sounded. ‘Arul?’
‘Yes?’
‘You know those Royal Scouts? I can see them coming. About a mile away.’
‘What!?’ Navira yelled. ‘I thought they were days ahead of us!’
‘We made up lots of time riding with the cavalry,’ Arul said.
Navira blew away a strand of hair tickling her face. ‘The scouts must have stopped somewhere. It’s the only explanation.’
Arul’s hands balled into fists. ‘We need to set up an ambush before they get here!’
‘Keeran! Get down here!’ Navira yelled.
‘What? It’s so nice up here!’
‘NOW, KEERAN!’
Arul was already walking towards the shelter. ‘The light’s getting bad, so if we hide in this hut until they pass we’ll take them by surprise.’ Behind, he heard Keeran scramble down the tree and thump to the ground.
‘But you’re the only one with a bow, Arul. All we have are these spears,’ Navira said. Keeran nodded furiously, trying to catch his breath.
Arul stopped and looked at his friends, a single word coming from his lips. ‘Jaya.’
Keeran grabbed Arul’s shoulder. ‘What are you talking about?’
Arul pointed down the road. ‘I’ll get Jaya to sit on the road over there to distract the Royal Scouts. Then we’ll come out of the hut behind them and tell them to surrender.’
Keeran studied Arul, his eyes filling with fear. ‘And if they don’t?’
‘I’ll shoot them.’
The teens crouched in the gloomy interior of the hut and waited, twilight creeping over the land, turning the trees a shade of deep red. Keeran’s nervous whisper sounded. ‘Is Jaya still on the road? He hasn’t run off, has he?’
Arul stuck his head through the open door. Jaya was sitting in the middle of the road less than twenty feet past the shelter, the dimming sunlight making him nearly invisible. He looked at Arul and yawned, eyes shining like yellow flames.
‘Still there,’ Arul whispered. He turned and stared west. The road gently curved and disappeared behind a stand of deodar trees, the rattling of cart-wheels sounding in the distance. ‘They’re coming!’ His heart pounding, Arul withdrew into the shelter, squatting against the cool brick wall. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and fitted it to his bow. ‘You-two stand on either side of me with your spears. We’re stronger together.’ Keeran and Navira looked as if they might be sick.
But in their eyes there was an iron that Arul hadn’t seen before.
‘We’ll get through this, Arul,’ Navira said, her jaw tight. ‘We’ll be right next to you.’
The clip-clop of horses became steadily louder above the creak and rattle of the cart. ‘One cart-driver, three Royal Scouts, and four guards if I remember correctly,’ Arul whispered.
Navira nodded. ‘Those Royal Guards will be the problem.’
The column passed by the shelter at a leisurely pace, the teens shrinking back into the shadows. Then the lead soldiers stopped, their horses snorting nervously. ‘They’ve seen Jaya!’ Navira hissed.
Arul crept towards the door, fingers tugging on his bowstring. ‘Get ready.’ His eyes slid to the drooping figure of his father chained to the back of the ox-cart.
Navira grabbed Arul’s arm. ‘Wait!’
Arul shrugged free with an annoyed scowl. It was now or never.
Navira grabbed Arul’s face and turned it. ‘What’s that across the road? Those moving shadows?’
Arul moved back inside and hid beside the door. Squinting across the road, he saw movement in the jungle. Deeper shadows under the trees moving swiftly and with purpose. A chill ran up his spine. Cold fear that he couldn’t explain.
Dark figures swept onto the road like oversized insects. Some wore red trim on their sashes, others completely in black. All were armed with bows and knives. The Royal Scouts swivelled in their saddles, fixing the intruders with emotionless stares. Behind, their mounted guards unsheathed their razor-sharp aruvals, turning their horses to face the threat.
The tallest Royal Scout shouted in an imperious voice. ‘Who are you people? We are on the King’s business!’ He was clearly used to people making way for him. Obeying. The strangers glowered at him and came to a halt. More dark figures crept from the trees, fanning out into a semi-circle.
‘I said…’ the Royal Scout began. Before he could finish, an arrow sprouted from his chest with a savage thump. With a surprised cry, he slumped forward in his saddle, his glittering hat falling into the dust.
‘Oh my God!’ Navira muttered.
Arul placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘Stay out of sight! They’re too many of them.’
‘What do they want?’ Keeran whispered, his voice hoarse.
‘They look like that priest I saw near Sailem. In the plantation,’ said Arul. He turned and looked at his friends. ‘I think they want my amulet.’
Navira frowned. ‘Why do you say that? I mean, how do you know?’
‘I didn’t tell you before, but as we slept, the priest used dark magic to try and take my amulet.’
‘Vishnu preserve us!’ Keeran said, his face aghast.
Navira looked at Arul. ‘So they’ve tracked you here and are killing anyone in their path!’
Arul’s fingers flexed over his bow. ‘It’s like they don’t want anyone to know of their existence.’
Outside, even as the Royal Guards charged the attackers with ferocious sweeps of their aruvals, one by one they fell to a host of arrows. The remaining pair of Royal Scouts sat erect on their horses, completely unarmed. One Scout died as a black priest scrambled onto his horse, driving a dagger through his neck.
The remaining Scout shrieked as he looked down at three arrows embedded in his magnificent robe, his scream fading to a sigh as he sprawled on the dust, a dark stain seeping from under his body.
‘They’ll kill Appa!’ Arul cried, leaping to his feet and sprinting onto the road before Navira could stop him. His bow came up fast. Three arrows whizzed one after another into the mass of black robes. Three priests crumpled to the paving stones before they even noticed Arul, their bodies twitching as they died. This time Arul didn’t feel anything like regret. Instead of wanting to be sick, white-hot anger burned through him.
Harnessed in front of the cart, the huge ox bellowed as the driver slumped forward with an arrow through his neck. Keeran screamed from the hut. ‘Arul! Come back! They’ll kill you!’
The last Royal Guard fought on valiantly, his horse lying dead nearby. Although multiple arrows pierced him, he swung his aruval wildly, spitting blood. Black priests lay heaped about his feet until finally, a long dagger ripped into his back. As he died, he stabbed backwards at his killer, bringing the man down with a howl of grim satisfaction.
Arul aimed again, but this time the assassins turned in his direction, pointing and muttering amongst themselves. Two of them peeled off and ran towards the cart. The others, now numbering twelve, closed in on Arul, robes like black pits in the fading light.
‘Appa!’ Arul screamed.
‘Kill them all!’ A priest wearing a red sash yelled.
Arul fired, the man closest to him spinning backwards with an arrow in his shoulder.
The rest kept coming.
Unexpectedly, Jaya’s mind spoke. Close your eyes, Arul. All three of you, or you will surely die.
Arul whirled towards Jaya and screamed. ‘Die? What’s going to happen? Tell me!’
The Jewel of Vishnu wakes.
Arul reached under his vest and pulled out his amulet, its engravings delicate beneath his fingers. Some of the black priests shrank back, licking their lips nervously. But the one in charge urged them on, pointing at Arul. ‘Kill him!’ He roared.
Arul’s amulet hummed, a deep vibration sounding like the very earth had woken. Again Jaya’s mind spoke. Listen, child. Think of all the hurt you have suffered. Losing your Amma. Always the outsider.
Arul stretched into the river of pain that had always existed inside him as long as he could remember.
Tiny sparks danced over his amulet.
You’re nothing.
Tears slid down his cheeks like glittering trails of glass.
Outsider.
Hurt so deep it was ripping him apart.
Your mother hated you. That’s why she ran.
The sparks turned to blue fire, swirling over the amulet like dancing liquid. White-hot anger surged through Arul like a great storm, his hands shaking uncontrollably. Above, grey-blue clouds appeared, seemingly from nowhere.
Blue hail shattered on the road like tiny gems, the air suddenly freezing. ‘Keeran! Navira! Close your eyes!’
Arul felt his deep rage flow into the amulet like a great ocean, wild and untamed. Divine energy reached out from infinite space and time.
Why did you leave me, Amma?
Why?
In terrible silence, a light brighter than the sun streamed from his amulet.
Before the black priests could scream.
Before they could blink.
They were ash.
Arul’s body went limp, sprawling unconscious on the ancient flagstones. Beneath the rage, a dark ocean of sorrow. An ocean filled with tears.
And light.
Amma loved me.
I am descended of Celestial Navigators who led our people across the stars.
I carry a divine jewel forged by the hand of Vishnu.
My name is Arul.
‘Arul! Arul! Wake up! Please!’
Lights flickered somewhere between this world and another like flames in the dark. Then Navira’s voice reached him, hollow at first, as though listening through a long tunnel. Arul forced himself awake, the wet road uncomfortably cold beneath his back.
Above him, Navira’s worried face hovered. Arul rolled sideways and gaped at Jaya, now sitting placidly under a tree. ‘Who are you?’
‘What? It’s me! Navira!’
‘No, I don’t mean you. I was talking to Jaya.’
‘Why ask him that?’
Arul closed his eyes. ‘Never mind. I’ll explain some other time.’
Jaya’s mind spoke. Exactly. I’ll explain some other time. Just remember, I’m here to look after you.’
Arul took a deep breath and coughed, suddenly remembering his father. ‘Appa! Where’s Appa?’ Rolling onto his knees, he began crawling towards the shattered remains of the ox-cart. Patches of white ash swirled where the enemy died as they stood.
What power can turn people into that?
Reaching the cart, he recoiled in horror as grey ash blew over his arm. Human remains. On the side of the road, the cart-ox peacefully grazed, a strange scene amidst all the destruction.
‘Appa! Answer me!’
The motionless body of his father lay under lengths of splintered wood. Arul dragged himself closer, grabbing at the planks, his fingers stabbed by needle-like splinters. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he cradled his father’s head in his lap. Navira and Keeran staggered up and began pulling wreckage off Arul’s father.
‘Appa! No…no…no…’ Arul kept repeating as though in a trance, grief tearing at him, his heart falling into an endless pit. Navira collapsed next to him, sobbing out loud.
Ori’s eyes blinked open, fluttering like butterfly wings. ‘Who’s crying?’
Arul stared at his father. Wiping his eyes, he looked again. His father smiled. ‘I knew you’d come for me.’
Arul pulled his father close and wept like he’d never wept before. His chest heaved until it hurt, his eyes turning red and swollen. Above their sprawled bodies, ragged clouds sped inland, pink and yellow in the sunset. Ori coughed and closed his eyes. ‘Now, stop crying and get me out of this mess.’
They gathered under the giant banyan tree watching the great plain fade to shades of deep blue, the land suspended between day and night. Ori finally spoke. ‘No, I won’t come with you, Arul. Sailem needs me now. I’ll gather my brother foresters from far and wide and we’ll march on Sailem. On Kapilan. He and his followers won’t stand much of a chance, believe me.’
Keeran rubbed his hands with an evil grin. ‘I’d love to see that!’
Arul’s father gazed at the first stars shimmering high above the plains. ‘But you three need to go to Guru Pari as he requested. He needs your help.’
‘Why?’ Arul asked. ‘I mean, he’s Guru Pari. He’s so powerful.’
‘Because he’s been arrested and imprisoned.’
‘What!?’ Keeran nearly shouted, his face darkening.
Ori leant against the banyan tree. ‘When I was prisoner on the ox-cart, the Scouts made camp a day’s march from here. They waited for a mounted messenger to arrive from the plains. I think they sent for him while they were still in Sailem. He was given a message for the army to arrest Guru Pari. That’s why we were late reaching this place.’
‘Thank Vishnu for that,’ Keeran said.
Arul nodded slowly. ‘So the army will arrest our Guru on sight as soon as he enters the city gates.’
Ori considered Arul for a moment, his face shifting as though he had come to a decision. ‘You see, Arul, the King had another reason to dislike Guru Pari. It’s time I told you about your mother.’
It was almost dark, their faces barely visible under the ancient tree. ‘I think we’d better sit down for this,’ Navira said. They all crossed their legs, making a close circle on the ground, tension flooding the silence before the next words were spoken.
Arul’s father tensed, pain from long ago flaring. He turned and gripped Arul’s shoulders. ‘Your mother was the Princess Izhaiyini, daughter of King Kantaman, ruler of Ailas.’
Arul stared at his father blankly, unable to process the words. Navira and Keeran’s mouths fell open, eyes flicking to Arul, disbelief etched on their faces.
Arul could tell his father was trying hard not to cry. ‘The Royal Court was on a hunting expedition in the mountains. I was one of the foresters assigned to the King. Your mother and I fell in love, although such things are forbidden between a royal and a commoner. We secretly pledged to be together, and when she returned to Ailas, I found reasons to stay in the capital, seeing your mother without anyone knowing. After some months, I enlisted the help of a Royal Philosopher at the palace.’
‘Guru Pari!’ Keeran blurted out.
‘Yes, Keeran. He helped me smuggle the Princess out of the palace. She was pregnant with you by then, Arul.’
Arul looked at his father with tears streaming down his cheeks. “You wanted to hide her in Sailem. Your village.’
‘Yes, Son. The journey up the Palar River was hard. The swamps were hell. The King sent a hunting party after us, but we evaded them and reached Sailem in time for her to give birth.’
‘So why isn’t she with us now?’ Arul said quietly.
‘We were happy for almost a year. Then…’
Arul looked at his father silently, his teeth clenched. It was so unfair that something he had been waiting for all his life would only take a moment to say.
‘Then one day she disappeared. Maybe the King’s agents found us. Maybe she ran away. I wanted to go after her, but Guru Pari told me that I would be executed on sight, and that you needed a father.’ Ori’s body sagged. ‘So I stayed.’
‘And you never saw her again, did you?’ Navira whispered, her voice hoarse. She wiped tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand.
Ori shook his head, sobbing, the dark hiding his face. After a moment he breathed deeply, distancing himself from the unbearable pain. ‘Arul, since you are the King’s Grandson, you could ask him about your Amma. Maybe free Guru Pari.’
‘Maybe we’d be thrown into prison,’ Keeran said. ‘Arul is an illegitimate grandson. Half commoner. Rulers sometimes kill people like him.’
Night fell, far-off villages shining like pinpricks in the dark expanse of the plains. Arul stood up and stared into the distance, time seeming to slow into an eternity. Then he turned and spoke. ‘I’ll go to Ailas. I have to free my Guru. I have to know what happened to Amma.’ He looked at Navira and Keeran, a silent understanding passing between them. He nodded to his father. ‘I hate to leave you again, Appa, but you’re right. We must help Guru Pari.’
They rested that night and all through the next day, Arul telling Ori of their adventures, treasuring their last hours together. By late afternoon, they felt restored enough to part ways, the deserted road striped with long shadows under the setting sun.
It didn’t take long for Ori to construct a decent spear. ‘I’ll get more weapons once I find the other foresters.’ He gripped Arul in a fierce embrace. ‘I’ll be fine. Once I’m in the jungle, I’ll be fine.’
‘Yeah, I know, you’re a Master Forester,’ Arul whispered.
Ori’s hands slipped from Arul’s shoulders. ‘Goodbye, Son.’
The teens watched Arul’s father begin his long trek back to Sailem, his figure blurring until he vanished from sight behind the trees. Arul’s lip quivered, his chest hurting as though encircled by iron bands. He sniffed and rubbed his nose, the smell of wild jasmine drifting in from the jungle, sweet and rich.
Navira spoke, the space between her words charged with emotion. ‘Arul, your Amma didn’t leave you willingly. I think she loved you more than even the Gods.’ Her voice dropped. ‘Something else happened. Something terrible.’
Arul breathed hard, grief uncoiling in his chest. ‘I know. Somehow I feel it.’
Keeran hugged Arul, his eyes swivelling to the road. ‘It’s time to go, Navigator Arul.’ The teens clasped hands and stepped onto the warm flagstones, now buttery yellow under the setting sun. They followed the steep road to the plains, three figures shimmering in the golden haze as though in a dream. Behind them, the Royal Highway stood empty once more, a silent witness to the power of a jewel forged in the stars by a God.
END OF BOOK ONE