Page 34 of The Prince Without Sorrow

Chapter Thirty-Three

Ashoka

T O RECTIFY THE WOUNDS INFLICTED BY THE G REAT Spirits of Taksila, he had to lift a curse.

Ashoka wanted to laugh. Of course, this wasn’t going to be easy for him. Complications followed him like a hound after a peahen. Once it sank its claws into him, it would hold on until it bled him dry.

Spirits, he wanted someone here to help calm his racing thoughts. He wanted Rahil.

Ashoka imagined a ghostly apparition of him, gentle and handsome, clasping his shoulder as he always did when Ashoka descended into his anxious ways. The thought relaxed him until his heart steadied into its usual rhythm, and he focused his attention on the expectant Nayani.

‘A mayakari willingly cursing a spirit?’ he remarked. Beside him, Harini appeared shellshocked by the revelation. ‘A Great Spirit, at that? Who would do such a thing?’

‘Usra,’ Nayani replied. When Ashoka shot her a confused glance, she elucidated. ‘The original leader of Taksila’s mayakari resistance. The one who pushed back against your father.’

‘If you know who did it, and how, are you not able to placate the Great Spirits?’

Nayani shook her head. ‘Not quite,’ she replied. ‘A mayakari’s curse can be reversed but there are only two ways to do it. The first is if the original curse-maker undoes it. The second way to remove it is—’

‘If you know the true intention of the curse,’ Harini finished quietly. ‘But that assumes the mayakari in question has told you.’

Ashoka sensed their problem without any further explanation. ‘Then, I gather that Usra is dead. Burned?’ he asked.

After a lengthy silence, it was Naila who answered. ‘Even worse,’ she replied. ‘Missing.’

‘Missing?’

‘She vanished during the final days of the burnings here,’ Nayani replied this time. Her face contorted. ‘Older mayakari have told me horror stories of those days, Prince Ashoka. Things that they never want to remember. Can you imagine your own mother being burned alive while you hid and watched? And when the only person they held hope in vanished... the resistance crumbled without its leader, and it stayed defeated for a few years before some of us decided that we could not stand our circumstances any longer.’

Missing. In his father’s reign, that could have meant anything from hiding to being murdered behind closed doors.

‘If your only hope of reversing the curse is gone, what can we do?’ he asked.

Extending a hand to gesture at the mayakari around them, Nayani let out a long exhale. ‘We are experimenting with curse magic,’ she replied, shrugging as if this were not earth-shattering information. ‘To see if we can undo Usra’s work without her. So far, it has been unsuccessful. We have tried to communicate with the Great Spirits when they embark on their rampage, but we cannot understand them, and they in turn do not listen to us.’

Ashoka had never heard so much new information regarding the mayakari in his entire life. The scholarly part of him that remained interested in the witches and their ways itched to hear more of Nayani’s explanations, but he forced himself to focus.

‘I cannot imagine why Usra would curse nature spirits,’ he said aloud. The mayakari he had read of did not mirror the ones he met.

Nayani scowled, and Ashoka realized he had spoken out of turn. ‘Perhaps you can imagine how Usra would have felt at the time of enactment,’ she replied. ‘Scared. Maybe upon the brink of death with no hope of salvation.’

‘Fear can make a person act without reason,’ he acquiesced.

Nayani scoffed. ‘To you, it may seem that way, Prince Ashoka,’ she replied, ‘to a mayakari staying alive through fear, perhaps it was within reason.’

‘My mistake,’ he apologized quickly. An idea had started to take root in his head. Both he and the resistance lacked the access to information. If a mayakari had gone missing, he suspected that his father would have recorded it somewhere. The man had kept meticulous records on alleged witches and death counts, and there was only one place in Taksila that housed them.

‘I might have a way of tracking Usra,’ he said. ‘My father’s study. When I first arrived, it was filled to the brim with maps and lists of names. Portraits, detailed notes of mayakari sightings – perhaps we can find information related to Usra there. If you can meet me in front of the estate tomorrow morning, we can begin immediately.’

Nayani visibly shuddered. ‘A good idea,’ she agreed, ‘but one you should carry out on your own. I will not step into that monster’s home, not if my life depended on it.’

Beside him, Naila raised her hand. ‘I can help you,’ she said. ‘It is not the most pleasant of situations to be in, but if we are able to find anything related to Usra, it would be a start.’

Grimacing, Nayani tilted her head in acceptance. ‘As you would like it, Naila. Keep yourself safe,’ she said before turning to Ashoka. ‘Please, see to it that she is not harmed, Prince Ashoka. Each time a mayakari dies, I lose more hope.’

When they returned to the royal estate, Ashoka walked Harini back to the staff quarters, avoiding soldiers on their way. The mayakari was unusually quiet, arms crossed over her chest and staring at the ground.

‘To curse Great Spirits is near blasphemy, Prince Ashoka,’ she remarked out of the blue, ‘but I can understand why this Usra did what she did. I hope you and the resistance can release the spirits from their misery.’

Ashoka stopped, and she mirrored him.

‘That sounded like a goodbye,’ he said. ‘Will you be returning to the Golden City?’

Harini nodded. ‘I’ll be taking a riverboat in the morning,’ she replied. ‘You’ve reached an agreement with the resistance, so I consider my job done, Prince Ashoka. Besides, I cannot in good conscience leave Shakti alone now that she works for your sister.’

Guilt wrangled him again at the reminder that he had been unable to do anything about Shakti’s reassignment. Being powerless to a sibling was oddly humiliating.

‘I shall have some of the guards accompany you to the docks tomorrow,’ he advised. ‘Please be careful.’

With an amused smile, Harini bowed and left, closing the door quietly behind her.

Stifling a yawn, Ashoka departed towards his balcony. The excitement of the small hours was starting to wear his alertness down. Fighting fatigue, he silently hoisted himself up the rails and entered his room.

Sleep greeted him quickly. He dreamed of an open field, of the pink dawn sky, of an amorphous and translucent being that morphed into a tiger – a Great Spirit of the jungle. He dreamed of the Obsidian Throne, of the royal circlet encircling his head, of the mayakari he’d watched die come back to life.

And, of course, Ashoka dreamed of Rahil.

He dreamed of hard muscle and gleaming broadswords, of promises and umber eyes, of skin touching skin with breathless anticipation.

‘I’m waiting for you,’ he told the Rahil in his dream. ‘Are you waiting for me?’

‘Always,’ Rahil had replied, his answering smile like a gentle caress.

And when he awoke, Ashoka was flushed, twisted in his sheets. He stared up at the ceiling exasperated that his own body and mind had revealed his want so clearly. The dream had felt so real, yet its reality was impossible.

It was with bleary eyes that he readied himself, struggling to swallow the milk rice and delicately cut fruits that had been laid out for him in the morning. Harder still, was trying to ignore Sachith’s confrontational stare. At first, Ashoka said nothing, having Sachith follow him through the halls back to the study, but it soon became unbearable. Though his guard was quiet, his silence was deafening.

‘What is it, Sachith?’ he finally asked.

The man’s response was immediate. ‘Do you take me for a fool, Prince Ashoka?’ he sounded agitated. ‘Sahry was gone in the middle of the night.’

Undeterred, Ashoka crossed his arms. ‘Out for a hunt, I think,’ he replied.

Sachith snorted. ‘Did you accompany her, too, Prince Ashoka?’ he retorted. ‘I didn’t think that would be something you’d willingly do. You’re lucky I didn’t send out a search party.’

Spirits .

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘You were with Sahry,’ the guard responded. ‘She terrifies more than a soldier does.’ He thought of her as a weapon, like many did. She wasn’t one.

‘Regardless, I am expecting someone today,’ Ashoka changed course. ‘See to it that she isn’t harmed.’

Throwing him a confused glance, Sachith bowed. ‘Of course, Prince Ashoka,’ he replied. ‘But... why would she be harmed?’

‘Because she is a mayakari,’ said Ashoka. When his guard’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to no doubt spew protestations, Ashoka stopped him with a wave of his hand. ‘I will not hear it. Those Great Spirits must be pacified, and the witches are the only answer. I am letting you know because, sooner or later, you would have discovered it; make sure news of this arrival does not go beyond the estate walls.’

‘A mayakari , Prince Ashoka.’ Sachith’s distress was acute. ‘Is that why you left the estate last night? Spirits , they can curse you, curse us all! Oh, Rahil will murder me for this, I’m sure of it.’

‘He won’t, because which one of us would tell him?’ inquired Ashoka. ‘If you want to avoid a quick death, just follow my command. This is the easiest, most logical plan. My siblings may not see it the same; inherited hate clouds judgement that way, but my idea is the correct one.’

Naila arrived to heightened suspicion.

Ashoka left to greet her when Sachith alerted him to her arrival. However, once he arrived at the palace steps, he found his soldiers surrounding her like a pack of leopards, weapons drawn.

‘Stop!’ he yelled, shaken by the sight. ‘Drop your weapons, now. ’

At the sound of his voice, the men and women complied. One piped up nervously, ‘But Prince Ashoka – she’s a witch .’

Ah. Sachith must have notified them. Dressed in a nondescript blue shift and black linen trousers, Naila looked like any other common citizen. ‘Prince Ashoka,’ she greeted, then jerked her thumb towards his guards. ‘They initially thought I was a lover of yours.’

Ashoka let out a beleaguered sigh. ‘What nonsense,’ he told his guards, who looked down guiltily. ‘I am here to govern, not invite a lover into my bed every night. Naila is here to assist me, not sleep with me.’

He saw a small grin paint itself across Naila’s face at his words. ‘What a way to let down a woman,’ she remarked, her eyes laced with mischief. ‘If I were more hot-headed, I would have cursed your entire existence.’

The word ‘cursed’ was like a trigger. Within seconds, his guards had drawn out their weapons – longswords, broadswords, rapiers, and dangerously curved sickles – and were pointing them at Naila who yelped in fright and ducked behind him.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Ashoka muttered to himself, before grabbing Naila’s wrist and steering her closer towards his guards, all of whom muttered and took cautious steps back, as if Naila were a volcano ready to erupt.

‘Stop where you are!’ he ordered. ‘We have a mayakari helping us – helping me . It gives you no reason to treat her like some sort of contagious disease. I trust Naila, and I need her help to solve the nature spirit rampages in the northern communities. If you disagree with any of my actions, you are free to leave. Do not expect what you’ve been accustomed to under my father’s reign.’

He saw Naila’s surprised face and ignored Sachith’s astonished one as his soldiers remained quiet. He noted with some satisfaction that, despite the crowd being silent, they were immobile. They were his personal guard, but he was not extremely familiar with their personal views on the mayakari. All that they knew was that Ashoka was not his father.

‘I don’t like the mayakari,’ one of his guards piped up, her expression somewhat timid as she sought his gaze. ‘But I am loyal to you, Prince Ashoka, and I will trust your judgement.’

Around her, there were scattered murmurs of agreement. Ashoka saw Naila’s face school itself into a mask of blank indifference.

His soldiers didn’t need to trust the mayakari. They just needed to trust him . Trust garnered enough coin to buy loyalty, and loyalty was worth more than its weight in gold. More than anything else in this world, Ashoka needed loyalty for his grand plans to come to fruition without any commotion.

‘Good,’ he said, relaxing his rigid stance. ‘Now that’s settled – Naila, come with me.’

He led her to the study, still filled to the brim with his father’s notes and maps. He’d cleared them into a corner, but even there, they took up space both physically and emotionally. The weight of their meaning was what scared him: that each cross on a map meant the discovery of a mayakari, that each slash across a portrait represented another undeserved death.

‘There’s something wrong here,’ she remarked with a shudder.

‘His maps?’ Ashoka supplied, confused.

Naila shook her head. ‘No, there’s something off about this estate. I don’t know how to explain it. Or perhaps I’m in a state of hyperawareness.’

She looked even more disturbed when they knelt to rifle through his father’s materials. He saw the tears well up in her eyes when she pored through page after page of hand drawn portraits and regretted his offer to have her help him. For a long time, they sat in silence, reading, until Ashoka could stand his guilt no further.

‘If you are unwilling to continue with this, I understand,’ he began, but she firmly interrupted him.

‘I am not so weak,’ she scoffed and pushed a stack of half-torn pages towards him. ‘Your father was simply depraved. Here he’s described different methods of torture.’

Ashoka took the pages from her and read his father’s sharp script, wincing at the orders to behead, to slash wrists to make a death look like suicide. ‘As I said,’ Ashoka remarked. ‘My father was a monster.’

He threw the papers away like they were poisonous to the touch, and instead continued his perusal. There were a few mentions of the resistance leader here and there, with maps of the north-west marked all over with possible sightings, but nothing concrete. Ashoka found what appeared to be letters to Rahil’s father, Adil’s then-general, with cruel promises.

‘ The witch deserves burial, not fire, Indran ,’ he read aloud. ‘ Her treasures will be mine to keep. How morbid. Have you found any mention as to when exactly the spirits’ rampage began?’

‘Not yet,’ Naila replied, her eyes on the parchment she held between her hands. ‘But from what I know, the Great Spirits began their rampage around a week after Usra disappeared.’

‘So, she could very well have fled before enacting her curse?’ he asked.

Naila tutted. ‘Not exactly,’ she said. ‘As far as we understand them, curses work, but no one knows exactly when they do. It could be within minutes, days, months, or even years. There is no logic to their enactment. Usra could have cursed the spirits the day of her disappearance, or even the day when the rampages began. It’s hard to say.’

‘If a curse’s enactment is unpredictable, does it mean their reversal is, too?’ Ashoka asked, imagining a scenario where the Great Spirits continued their razing even after the curse had been discovered.

Naila shook her head. ‘Reversing a curse is easy,’ she said. ‘The effect is instantaneous. Strange, isn’t it?’

It was as if one puzzle piece slotted into place while having another piece removed at the same time. How frustrating.

‘Do you think she fled?’ he asked Naila. She paused for a moment, considering his question before ultimately shaking her head.

‘No mayakari would leave their land unprotected,’ she replied. ‘What Usra did in cursing the spirits will no doubt bring her karmic retribution, but I do not think that she would have cursed them unless it was a last resort. You should know how I think by now, Prince Ashoka: I think that your father had everything to do with her disappearance.’

Naila stayed where she was, assessing him with a knowing glint in her eye. Even before she could open her mouth, he sensed that she was about to say something chaotic.

‘What is it now?’ he asked her, impatient.

‘Nayani’s request to you was reasonable,’ Naila said, her tone oddly light. ‘But I would like for you to consider another angle, Prince Ashoka.’

He thought of her alone, standing beside the severed head of her friend. ‘Go on.’

‘I think we all know that you will be unable to ban mayakari killings under Governor Kosala,’ she said. ‘And even if you do, he will reinstate them the moment you leave. Deposal is the answer, and it should be accomplished in a more... permanent manner.’

‘Permanent in what way?’ he asked.

A malicious smile split Naila’s lips. ‘A deceptively simple task, Prince Ashoka,’ she replied. ‘I want you to kill Governor Kosala. Now that is a permanent removal.’