Page 105 of The Burning Mountain
Vali had finally finished cooking. Surasen took a plate of food and offered it to Chandra. “Guests eat first,” he said when she looked surprised.
Getting his own plate, he tucked into the bread with relish. Silence fell, broken by the sounds of eating. Maybe it had been a while since she ate something hot and freshly made, but Chandra thought it tasted delicious.
“Why are you doing him this favor? Have you reached a mutual solution?” asked Chandra, as they washed their hands in a meager amount of water they had been carrying in leather-skin bottles.
“What do you know about our conflict, Princess?” asked Surasen, sitting on the ground once everyone had their fill. He had taken out a couple more knives from his satchel and threw them into the air, juggling them expertly.
Chandra told him what she had pieced together from Veer’s and Billadev’s statements.
Surasen nodded. “That much is accurate. My men and I are losing this conflict. Once, we were more than a hundred strong. Some have died, others have abandoned or defected from this fight. Less than twenty of us remain, and they do have families waiting for their return home. We’ve been away for more than five years, but if we go back now, we’ll have nothing to show for it.”
“I sympathize with the situation you are in, but how could you expect a kingdom to just give you the lands you requested, especially given the method you have chosen to get your point across?” said Chandra, watching the knife play and wincing inwardly, sort of anticipating him to slice his hands to shreds at any moment.
“It’s a moot point, anyway,” said Surasen. The rays of the dying sun reflected off the sharp edges of his blades and made light flicker across his thin, somber face.
“There is no way we are winning now. We’ve failed in our original mission. To get land we could call our own. To carve out an identity, to be heard.”
Flashes of orange flame sparked in the air as the knives whirled. Chandra’s eyes narrowed. She recalled Veer once mentioning that Surasen and his troop were trained in both magic and combat and wondered what sort of powers he had.
Surasen briefly paused his speech, his eyes taking on a determined gleam in the evening light. “I can deal with defeat,” he said, his words poignant. “Iwantto surrender, if it means the people with me won’t suffer further. But I know Vivismati isn’tgoing to stop hunting until we are dead. So, I had no choice but to agree to Veer’s offer to grant us amnesty in return for your safe delivery to Rajgarh.”
Surasen caught her keen glance and seemed to realize his knives were on fire, and stopped abruptly, catching them in one hand and returning them to his satchel. He gave her a sideways look, a crafty gleam in his eye.
“I had no idea that things were this dire between Rajgarh and Vivismati. Wish I had known about it before. Maybe I could’ve used it to my advantage. And this other news I hear—about some kind of impending disaster about to befall Rajgarh. I wonder if I should just have demanded more.”
“A man who goes back on his word is no man at all,” said Chandra, annoyed at his reasoning.
Surasen laughed, deepening the lines around his mouth and crinkling his crow’s-feet. “Even if I could, I wouldn’t leverage you for something as important as preventing Meru’s explosion,” he said, his mirth subsiding.
“We have families living in the upper reaches of the mountains, not to mention what it would do to the rivers and water supply. Meru’s explosion would affect all of us in big and small ways. King Pourava is too stupid to think he could remain unaffected by all this.”
51
THE SEVENTH CHAKRA
Vivismati’s guards caught up to them within miles of crossing into Rajgarh. The lookout placed on the Solvidas range of hills bristled with men armed to the teeth. Their small group stood no chance of winning against them.
In the distance, there was a shadow of a giant bird, growing rapidly larger as it flew toward them.
Vihari!
Chandra bit her lip. She knew he came for her.
“Go on, Princess,” said Surasen, recognizing Veer’s companion. “This isn’t our first skirmish, nor will it be our last. We can take care of ourselves.”
“But you’ll be overrun. Your numbers are not even a quarter of Vivismati’s army.”
“True, but the odds were always stacked against us. We won’t run away from them. Now leave. We can hold them off for a short while. Hopefully, you can fly beyond their reach by then.”
And when Chandra still appeared conflicted, he added, “Someone told me that a man who goes back on his word is noman at all. I made a promise to Veer to return you to safety and I’ll fulfill it even if I lose my life.”
“I’ll be staying back, too, Princess,” said Billadev.
Vali glanced at Billadev with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s not because I’ve suddenly grown fond of you,” retorted Billadev, glaring at Vali. “Vihari will only allow her to climb him.”
Chandra was dismayed at that reminder but what could she do?
