Page 11 of The Burning Mountain
“I don’t believe you.” Her voice broke and Veer identified a mother’s raw panic. “Please, if you have an ounce of pity, you will tell me where he is. He’s only eleven…he’s all I have left.”
Veer stood helplessly as the widowed queen of Thianvelli collapsed to the ground, crying in despair. He realized that the fighting had stopped as well, and everyone was watching the queen with a mixture of pity and sadness on their faces. Samyukta tried unsuccessfully to console her and get her to go with him once again.
A figure moved past Veer and crouched by the queen’s side, speaking softly, “Your Majesty. Do you recognize me?” Chandra removed her turban. “I am Princess Chandrasena ofAmaravathi. I met you several years ago at your son’s naming ceremony.”
The queen gazed at her through teary eyes.
“Chandrasena…Princess Chandrasena? But…aren’t you exiled?” Hope lit her desperate face. She caught Chandra’s hands. “Have you come to help me find my son? Is Amaravathi finally offering help?”
5
THE QUEEN IN EXILE
“My husband said not to trust anyone besides Amaravathi,” said Gauri Devi, seating herself on a chair in front of a short table. Chandra noted the ravages of time and hard life in the lines of her face. She maintained an austere sort of beauty, despite all that, but Chandra recalled a time when a constant smile had graced her face.
They were assembled at Samyukta’s house. His true designation was a judge in the Thianvelli court system, so his dwelling was large and comfortable. Square in design and like most in Thianvelli, it had a terracotta-tiled roof and a central courtyard open to the elements.
Samyukta maintained a dignified silence seated beside Gauri Devi. He’d made it plain that he didn’t agree with cooperating with the bunch of strangers who broke into their hideout, but he was vetoed by Gauri Devi, who wished to speak to the princess of Amaravathi and hear what she had to say.
Left with no choice, Samyukta was forced to invite them to his house to continue with further discussions.
A distinct nose ring worn by Gauri Devi, shaped like a miniature parrot with red-and-green stones, caught Chandra’sattention. She knew she was looking at a one-of-a-kind ornament. The nose ring was an important jewel for a woman of Thianvelli—traditionally either gifted by her birth family or bestowed on her at the time of marriage. They never took it off. Even after death, it was customary to burn the body with the nose ring still attached.
Chandra remembered being fascinated by the intricate pieces the last time she’d come to visit Thianvelli. She had pleaded with her mother for one, but the queen had gently rebuffed her, explaining she’d only get one if she married into a Thianvelli family. Or did them a great help.
Nose rings were symbolic. To be gifted one was an honor beyond compare. To ask for one was crass and insensitive.
Chandra shook herself from the past reverie and focused on the present.
Veer had surprised Chandra when he asked her to lead the negotiations on their behalf. His reasoning, when she asked him, was she had a better chance at convincing them, as she was from Amaravathi. Veer on the other hand, due to the war seven years ago, garnered little trust.
His only demand was to let Billadev accompany her to Samyukta’s house as her guard. And there stood Billadev, by the entrance, giving them privacy to discuss personal matters. His suspicious frown mirrored the less obvious one on Samyukta’s face. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Chandra sighed. It was going to take some time for both parties to build trust.
“I say this with sincere condolences and regret, but King Harideva is no longer here. You’re the only one who can make these decisions and need to consider what’s the best course of action.” Chandra watched as a girl of around four played with her miniature-sized cooking utensils in the courtyard, while her mother hung laundry.
Samyukta had introduced them earlier as his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The daughter-in-law wore a white saree with no adornments, which proclaimed her as a widow.
Gauri Devi had vouched for everyone in the household. They were all trustworthy to the cause.
“Yes, but Prince Veer and my husband had often fought against each other. How can I be sure he has our best interests?” Gauri Devi rubbed a raised scar along her wrist, in what Chandra recognized was a nervous tic. She seemed conflicted.
“You can’t, Your Majesty,” said Chandra. She needed to couch things as diplomatically as possible. Going against conditioned beliefs wasn’t easy. “Prince Veer is doing this because he needs Aditya’s pendant. His offer for help stands only if you assure us that you’ll help complete the next key piece. This is a mutually beneficial plan.”
“Yes, but what’s to stop him from killing my son once he has what he wants?” said Gauri Devi, her eyes pleading with her for reassurance. “Prince Veer is rumored to be deceptive and cunning.”
A thread of annoyance wound through Chandra on behalf of Veer. He had, in the war seven years ago, made a lot of enemies, but people didn’t seem to want to give him a chance, even when he was offering them help. A large part of that blame was on Veer himself who seemed to encourage his notorious reputation. But it made her task of convincing others difficult, when she herself knew him to be a morally ambiguous man.
She cleared her throat. “Prince Veer may be deceptive, but he’s an honorable man at his core. If he makes a promise, he’ll keep his word. And I would thank you not to insult my husband when I’m sitting right here.”
Gauri Devi flinched slightly at her reproach. “How can you defend him, Princess? Even if he’s your husband, he insulted and subjected you to his barbaric punishments. No one expectedyou’d survive those whiplashes. And then he abandoned you. I don’t understand how you ask me to trust him when he has shown no mercy to his own wife?”
Chandra hesitated, her words dredging up long-buried notions. It was true that Veer was responsible for so much of her misfortunes. If only he had kept a better eye on his friend, none of this would have happened. But the way he spoke about Virat sometimes made her wonder if he really knew what his friend had been doing behind his back. The man she knew him to be, from her own interactions with him, couldn’t have condoned such actions.
So how much was Veer to be held accountable for his friend’s deeds?
Over the years, Chandra had been resentful of a lot of people. Veer. Her father. The people who followed her father’s decree that no one talk to her. And even Kalpana for a length of time.
