Page 45 of The Prince Without Sorrow

Chapter Forty-Four

Ashoka

A SHOKA LAY ON HIS BED, STARING AT THE CEILING without purpose.

His mind was scattered, landing at one thought before moving on to another as quick as a squirrel scampering for nuts. Three days had passed since the Great Spirit was freed from his father’s statue. Keeping his promise to the resistance, he’d banned mayakari killings outright.

He’d learned from his staff that public sentiment was mixed. Frustrating news, but something he had to fix. People had spent so long living under the ideals of his father that such sudden change was incomprehensible. Likely they thought him a fool, a madman.

Arush would come knocking on his door soon enough, but Ashoka hoped that his brother was too preoccupied with his plans for the north. An illogical manoeuvre on his part; he was still unsure what exactly had pushed Arush to declare his intentions to annex the Frozen Lands.

His thoughts jumped again, this time to Governor Kosala. His soldiers had carried the bodies of the governor and his guards away on stretchers. He’d only taken one life but, at that moment, Ashoka felt like he had taken them all.

Change comes from the seat of power , repeated the small voice in his head. It had been prodding him for days. Why don’t you take it?

‘ Ashoka? ’

He started. Rahil stood by the doorway, observing him with worry. ‘I called out your name three times. What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing,’ Ashoka said quickly.

Letting out a disbelieving snort, Rahil stepped inside and closed the door behind him. ‘Lies. You’ve spent an entire day in your quarters. The staff are whispering – some wonder if you’re keeping someone hidden in this room.’ The playful, teasing way in which he said it made Ashoka laugh and catch his eyes, holding them for a moment. Everything he wanted to say remained unsaid.

I want you , Ashoka thought, but I’m too afraid of ruining what we have.

Instead, he smothered a sigh and resumed gazing out his window, watching the midday sky. ‘You’ve caught me,’ he confessed. ‘I am hopelessly suffocated by a thousand different thoughts. They won’t leave me alone.’

Slowly, Rahil approached closer until he stood by his bed. For a moment, he stalled before sitting down on the edge, leaning over to tap Ashoka’s forehead. ‘Relieve them,’ he said. ‘Tell me – what are you thinking about?’

Thoughts scattered once more: the royal circlet. The Obsidian Throne. Him, seated upon it.

‘When you said I would make a terrible emperor,’ Ashoka began, ‘did you mean it?’

His question seemed to catch Rahil off-guard. ‘It was mostly in jest,’ he replied. ‘Why?’

‘ Mostly ,’ he repeated. ‘Do you think I’m lacking?’

If anything, Rahil appeared mortally offended. ‘Of course not,’ he exclaimed. ‘But people adapt, Ashoka, and they’ve adapted to your father over time. I was merely inferring that you may have a harder time being taken seriously.’

Do you doubt me?

He repeated his thought out loud, and Rahil denied it immediately.

Feeling bold, Ashoka beckoned Rahil closer until they were a hairbreadth apart. ‘Can I tell you something?’ he whispered. ‘A want?’

Rahil’s eyes fluttered closed, and Ashoka took it as an opportunity to briefly ghost his hands over the underside of his jaw. Mesmerized, he watched Rahil’s breath hitch at their contact, and nod.

To destroy me is to destroy my empire.

Will you do it?

‘The Obsidian Throne,’ Ashoka said. ‘I want it, and I’m taking it.’

The moment the words escaped his lips, he felt like a mayakari uttering a curse. Spoken aloud into the world, it was like a breath of relief and a heavy burden all at once.

Rahil’s eyes flew open. ‘You what ?’

‘I think you heard me well enough the first time,’ Ashoka replied. ‘Thinking I could change anything by leading the war council – what a stupid idea. It won’t change anything because I must answer to the monarch. I must submit to my siblings. I’ve seen just how much my father’s laws have destroyed the land and the lives of the mayakari here. You know as well as I do that the only way things can change is if I can force it, because spirits help us, this empire needs it.’

‘I agree with you,’ Rahil’s voice sounded pained. ‘But in saying this, you’re risking your life.’

‘I made a promise to the mayakari,’ Ashoka said quietly. ‘To stop their persecution is to rip the problem at the very root, and that root is my family. You can either disagree with me or stay with me.’

‘I won’t abandon you.’

Good. Straightening, Ashoka dropped his hand. The warmth vanished with it. ‘Thank you,’ he replied. ‘Now, I need to meet with the resistance – I have a plan.’

When he and Rahil flew into the resistance’s base of operations on Sahry, Ashoka was not greeted with suspicion like last time. Around him, mayakari continued to work and chatter among themselves. He was no longer a dangerous object.

‘Prince Ashoka,’ Naila greeted them, her demeanour much more relaxed than the last time he saw her. ‘What brings you here?’

‘I come bearing another request,’ he said. ‘One that you may not like.’

He must have spoken too loudly, for the witches in the cave fell silent, and suddenly all eyes were on him.

‘What is it?’ a middle-aged mayakari asked from the back.

‘I’m sure you all are aware that this ban I’ve instated can only last for so long,’ he told them, ‘before my brother comes knocking at the door. I only ask that you help make this period more permanent . ’

Behind him, Rahil gently bumped his shoulder to hurry his speech. He’d relayed it to him during their flight. Despite Rahil having listened, Ashoka suspected that he thought him to be drunk on false hope and delusion.

‘To make certain that mayakari are allowed to live in peace, a change in power is needed in this empire,’ he proclaimed. Palms clenched, he ignored their dampness. ‘ I am that change, and I need your help to take the Obsidian Throne.’

A stunned silence followed his announcement. Some of the witches stood frozen in place, others blinking rapidly as if they had experienced an auditory hallucination.

‘ Mutiny? ’

That was Nayani’s voice. Craning his neck, Ashoka spotted the tell-tale shadows under her eyes and the permanent scowl as she emerged from the throng of mayakari.

‘Rebellion,’ he said.

Another witch let out a strained laugh. ‘Respectfully, you must be mad, Prince Ashoka.’ A prominent burn was visible across her left arm. Like his ear, it had left scarred tissue behind. ‘Are you even capable of leading an army? Spirits know your siblings aren’t – I hear from family that the princess has gone mad, and the new emperor is reckless. Who’s to say you won’t turn out the same?’

‘Because,’ he stressed, ‘they aim to continue my father’s legacy while I wish to burn it to the ground, and I will do anything to make sure I do.’

He knew how vehement and sure he sounded. Though his harsh words did not surprise Rahil, it gave the questioning mayakari pause, and that was all he needed. A pause in thinking was good; it meant that there was a conflict somewhere. A perceived fact needed to be reviewed. A set of ideals could be changed.

The charged disquiet was broken by Nayani. ‘What is your plan of action, Prince Ashoka?’ she asked. ‘We cannot cause minor disruption and expect a revolution. It has been tried.’

‘I agree. I cannot simply march into the Golden City and claim the Obsidian Throne,’ Ashoka shook his head, ‘otherwise, I’d be as idiotic as my brother. No, I need more power before I can attempt such a thing. I need an army, I need supplies.’

‘The Ran Empire’s army is one of the largest in the known world, Ashoka,’ Naila jumped in, eyebrows raised. ‘You’d need something double the size. That sounds rather impossible.’

‘Not necessarily,’ Ashoka said with a smile. ‘If I can find myself an infantry where one person would amount to approximately three Ran soldiers, there would be no need to search exhaustively for more troops.’

Silent understanding dawned on both mayakari, but it was Naila who voiced their collective thoughts.

‘You want to use the mayakari as soldiers,’ she remarked, astonished. ‘ Destroyers .’

‘Correct,’ he affirmed. ‘I know the mayakari have a strict moral code of pacifism but think of the power they could unleash on the battlefield. Communicating with spirits, raising the dead, cursing the living... they’re powers that could topple an empire.’

‘It’s because of the damage we could inflict that the mayakari have always sided with non-violence, Prince Ashoka,’ Nayani said with a grimace. ‘Admittedly, us younger generations aren’t too invested in that code, but you’d then be teaching mere children how to fight.’

‘Child soldiers are not uncommon in war,’ Rahil added quietly.

Naila scoffed. ‘And we aren’t Great Spirits, Prince Ashoka,’ she said. ‘We live and die as any human does. How then, do you propose this works? Our numbers pale in comparison to your brother’s army.’

‘The Ran Empire still hasn’t taken full control of the south,’ he said. ‘There are still unconquered kingdoms like Mahvo where mayakari live without persecution. We can convince them to join our cause, train them, and have them fight.’

‘So, you want to kill more of us?’ Naila’s eyes were stony at his proposal.

‘Death is unavoidable,’ he agreed, ‘and I cannot guarantee that the entire army of mayakari will survive unscathed. But this would be for the good of the empire and the mayakari population. Your people will not have to live in fear any more.’

‘I want the killings to stop more than you do,’ Nayani growled. ‘The mayakari here are willing to fight, but I cannot say the same of those who remain unharmed in the far south.’

‘You’re a natural leader,’ Ashoka attempted to persuade her, ‘it would be all too easy for you to send envoys to the unconquered kingdoms – to ask them to join us. We will train them here, equip them with better weapons.’

‘But we aren’t enough .’

‘I understand, and I have a plan.’

‘I’m sure you do,’ she muttered.

‘We will journey to Kalinga,’ Ashoka said. ‘There, I will request an audience with Queen Kalyani. If I can convince her to fight with us – for us – we have a chance to debilitate Arush’s troops.’

‘You want to use the Kalingan army?’ Nayani’s eyes widened. ‘Prince Ashoka, I highly doubt that Queen Kalyani will waste her precious army in a siege. How will it benefit her? That is unthinkable.’

He knew that. He would have to bleed himself dry before Queen Kalyani would ever accept such a proposal. Still, he had to try.

‘Queen Kalyani would want her kingdom preserved, unaffected by our empire’s expansion. This would simply be the best way for her to achieve it, for I certainly will not continue the conquests once I claim the throne,’ he argued.

‘Prince Ashoka, has anyone ever informed you, that you are perhaps too staunch of an idealist?’ Nayani jutted out her chin.

Ashoka shrugged. ‘Many times,’ he said. ‘My older sister often reminded me that political idealism is a path primed for failure. I would like to believe otherwise.’

‘She may not be entirely incorrect,’ Nayani replied.

‘Will you and the mayakari join me? Help me topple my brother from his throne?’ he asked.

For a long time, she said nothing, and Ashoka was careful not to prod her any further. The mayakari was deep in thought. Finally, she turned to the witches behind her.

‘Are we willing?’

At first, there was no response. Then, a few tentative hands were raised. Whispers of death and cursed speech ran through the group as more and more put up their hands.

This pleased him. How unlike his father he would be, to gain the assistance of the very women he’d scorned and burned. He would rewrite the Maurya legacy and create a new one out of the ashes of his father’s defeat.

Finally, Nayani turned back to him and Rahil.

‘To ensure the safety of our kind in the future, blood will have to be lost in the present,’ she said, baring her rouged lips to reveal unusually pointed canines. ‘You have your wish, Prince Ashoka. The mayakari will fight by your side.’