Page 6 of The Prince Without Sorrow

Chapter Five

Shakti

H ER BOW AND ARROW FELT LIKE A PROMISE.

Shakti tore through forestland, trailing alongside the emperor’s contingent as leopards huffed and carriages jostled on the otherwise silent road. Her limbs ached as tiredness stole into her bones, but she wouldn’t stop. Every so often, she would get a whiff of smoke, of burned meat that seemed to have settled over the group like dust, and it just hardened her resolve. The scent forced unwanted images of Jaya’s skin turning red from heat, then forming fluctuant boils before they popped and overcooked the flesh, turning it charcoal black.

She forced down the urge to vomit.

They had long since left Kolakola, though she could still see grey wisps in the distance, the evidence of the army’s wrongdoing visible for anyone to see. They journeyed north, which meant that they were likely returning to the Golden City, their job seemingly done, the slaughter over. The road they would take was paved through the forest, which gave her the opportunity to follow them undetected as she did now.

Shakti expected the emperor to be safely tucked away inside one of the carriages but was surprised to find him riding a giant leopard with practised ease. Hatred came like lightning to her. She wished she could bottle it up and throw it at him.

Myriad curses played in her head. What would be the best one to heap upon that wretched man? Madness? Premature death? Permanent illness? Really anything that could make his suffering prolonged, but she needed to act before they entered the safety of the capital.

Her belly rumbled, pleading for nourishment. Shakti wished she could have the fried okra that Jaya had made the night before, packed into a clay pot in the kitchen. She didn’t know if her home was still standing, nor did she wish to return and find out. Besides, queasiness overrode her hunger pangs. How could she swallow anything without that phantom smell of meat following her around?

Eventually – thankfully – the cavalry stopped to set up camp. Here was her chance. Patiently, she watched and waited as soldiers dismounted from their leopards, allowing a brief respite for her overworked legs. Emperor Adil dismounted last. He waited by his leopard as his tent was set up first, large and black with heavy gold detailing. His subordinates were quick with it, too. Once it was finished, the voice that was imprinted into her mind made her heart pound as it spoke.

‘General Janak,’ she heard Emperor Adil say, ‘come with me.’

At his command, a tall, burly soldier stepped forward from the emperor’s left, and bowed. Emperor Adil motioned for him to follow, and both disappeared into his tent. Following his departure, the soldiers began to set up their own, smaller red tents.

Not yet .

They weren’t yet relaxed. Alert soldiers were a recipe for disaster. She needed to create a distraction and catch them by surprise, distract them long enough for her to curse Adil. Narrowing her eyes, Shakti glanced at the trees around her, searching for a suitable place to stay hidden. She needed a good vantage point, and that would be higher up. Staying on the ground and peering through bushes would hinder her view.

She tiptoed towards a great twisting Na tree whose thick branches interconnected with other smaller trees. With a soft grunt, Shakti hoisted herself up, finding footing on the many grooves and branches the higher she climbed. As she did, the enormous grey head of the tree’s spirit appeared from inside the trunk, and Shakti fought against distraction as it chittered a welcome.

‘ Na spirit ,’ she greeted. ‘ Apologies, but I must find safe ground upon your tree .’

The spirit’s mouth quirked upwards before it nodded and disappeared. Shakti almost laughed out loud. Safe ground. Her request had been part lie, part truth.

Shakti did not stop until she reached a branch solid enough to support her weight. She was far enough away for the soldiers not to see her but near enough to spot the emperor’s tent. With some effort, she clutched a branch above her to keep balance and sat herself down slowly. Then, she observed the camp.

The scent of cooking meat and small fires lit up the dark. Men and women spoke to each other in indistinct voices, and it made her blood burn. How dare these people appear so calm when they had burned her town and its people in the name of a tyrant emperor?

Her heart pounded ferociously. Curse. That was all she needed to do. This didn’t involve the piercing of flesh. These were just words, and words could only hurt so much.

This is for vengeance , she reminded herself again. This is justifiable.

Each time she reminded herself of this, the guilt lessened. She’d repeated it at least a hundred times now, and the apprehension had whittled down to the size of a gold nugget. Determined, Shakti curled her hand into a loose fist.

First, a distraction.

‘ Na spirit ,’ she whispered. ‘ I need your help .’

Within seconds, the giant grey head of the nature spirit appeared next to her, bobbing like a paper lantern. Its eyes were larger than the mouth, as empty as a starless night sky. Reaching out a fingerless hand, it brushed the side of her face.

Smiling, Shakti pointed to the emperor’s tent. ‘ Surprise the man inside that tent ,’ she said. ‘ Make it fly. ’

For a moment, she thought it wouldn’t accept her request, but then the small mouth quirked up into a childlike smile. Warmth flooded her body.

Then, it vanished. Shakti waited with bated breath.

Suddenly, startled yells arose from Adil’s tent as several of his personal guards and the emperor himself exited it, eyes wide open. He was without his circlet, dressed in a simple white linen shirt and trousers. His brown skin was smudged with soot, sharp and cunning eyes vigilantly searching the area around him. Without the usual regalia, he looked more human, like the common men of her township.

From inside the tent, a loud chitter emanated. The black cloth came alive with the furious white glow of the rambunctious Na spirit. Bloating like an overfed stomach, the tent stretched until the pegs that held it down sprang free and the white light continued to glow brighter. The creature was growing.

Now , Shakti told herself. She had Adil in her line of sight, alarmed and distracted.

To enact her curse, she descended into the cursed tongue. It was an ambiguous language without specificity to its words that could only be spoken by the mayakari due to its amalgamation of nature spirit and ancient Ran language. One could curse another with death, but not a specific kind of death. Otherwise, the curse would be void – that much Jaya had told her.

Gooseflesh erupted across her body, hairs standing up on it as if bracing for a cold front. Shakti shivered. Took a deep breath.

‘ Adil Maurya, I curse you ,’ she said. ‘ With the land and the Great Spirits as my witness, I curse you with living misfortune. May you never know peace. ’

It was as obscure as she could make it; continuous bad luck as long as the emperor remained alive. How that would take shape, only time would tell. Curses always worked, but no one could pinpoint when and how.

The moment she finished speaking, a chill descended. The world turned grey. Shakti heard screams, the cries of children, the sounds of metal grinding against flesh, and the roar of a forest fire. Then came the images: bones with muscle and cartilage still attached at the epiphysis, the gleam of a knife before it was thrust into skin, horror stories made to scare young and old, faces covered in blisters and pustules.

When the images disappeared, her aunt’s voice followed:

Are you happy now, little bird?

Shakti wasn’t. The victory and pride that showered her like a pleasant afternoon rain vanished.

She’d expected to feel like a monstrosity too, after cursing the emperor, but there was nothing. That small gold nugget of apprehension and fear split into another half. Now, it was the size of her thumbnail.

This isn’t enough , she thought. But there was nothing more she could do.

‘ Thank you ,’ she said to the Na spirit. It would hear her, even from this distance.

As she wondered when the curse would start to take effect, Shakti was startled by the sound of a desperate yell:

‘ Help me! ’

She resumed her gaze towards the emperor. Something was happening to him. He clutched at his shoulder as a roar of pain escaped his lips. The beginnings of chest pain, perhaps, for there appeared to be nothing wrong with his body from where she sat. Unless...

Shakti straightened. Her breath caught when Adil dropped to his knees and tore open his shirt. A dark stain blossomed like morning glories across his chest, spreading like vines around the left side of his body. Something that unnatural couldn’t have come from the human body.

A chorus of screams and shouts followed Emperor Adil’s fall. Men and women rushed to him from all sides like a tidal wave.

Is this... my curse , she wondered, stunned. The emperor was curled on the ground, very much alive and very much in pain. Physicians ran towards him, ordering nearby soldiers to keep him still as they examined the black mark. Meanwhile, Emperor Adil’s deep, guttural scream came in intervals as his body shook.

‘Stop this!’ she heard him roar. ‘I – my heart – it is hard to breathe .’

Jaya would have breathed in smoke as she died. Jaya would have found it difficult to breathe as her body was set alight. Whatever Adil was complaining of, it would not compare to what her aunt and the other mayakari would have felt. All the other mayakari. How many had he killed? How many families had he destroyed? After all, Shakti had not cursed him with death.

Living misfortune.

A slow, satisfied smile split Shakti’s lips. He was alive and hurting – this had to be her curse working.

‘Move His Highness into our tent,’ one of the physicians shouted, directing her arm towards the closest one. They didn’t dare move into the emperor’s tent, even after the Na spirit vanished.

As the soldiers and physicians scrambled to move the emperor, Shakti laid her palm across her forehead. Dizziness washed over her, sudden and unwanted. The beginning of a raging headache started to make her lose focus. She needed to descend before she fell, but would the soldiers be in the woods?

She had to risk it. Her ears rang incessantly as she climbed down. Twice, she almost lost her footing, and twice she righted herself. When Shakti’s feet touched the forest floor, she only had a moment of relief before her legs gave way and she collapsed.

What’s happening to me , she thought blearily as the urge to sleep overcame her. If the soldiers decided to search the forestland, she would be found, interrogated, and likely killed.

She needed to hide. Her body, however, was intent on not obeying her. Sudden chest pain caused her to wince. It was too hot. She nudged away the slit of her neckline only to see a small black stain growing across her left breast, like the one visible on the emperor. Whatever was happening to her was hindering every innate function in her body. She needed help.

The spirit of the Na tree . It was still watching her. Fingers digging into the dirt, Shakti managed to raise her head and lock eyes with it. Precious creature: it wouldn’t ignore a mayakari in distress.

‘ Na spirit ,’ she croaked before her eyes fluttered closed. ‘ Help me, I beg you. ’