Rain (The Quest Trilogy-Book Two) (23 page)

Rain turned to face the princess with a triumphant expression.

“That, princess, is your lucky arrow!” he announced.

“What makes you so sure?” asked the princess.

“From what you have just done, it is clear that you are a highly skilled archer. And the possessor of such skills needs no lucky arrow. For one such as you, every arrow is a lucky arrow because your arrows will never miss their target.”

The princess stared at him for a few seconds with an unfathomable expression.

“You have successfully completed all three challenges …” she whispered, as though in a trance.

She walked haltingly over to her chair and sat down on it stiffly.

“If I have completed all your challenges, why do you appear so sad?” inquired Rain.

The princess did not answer. She turned her face to the side, but not before Rain saw a tear roll down her cheek.

“Princess, is something wrong?” said Rain softly, going close to her and kneeling down beside her chair.

“You have won fair and square. I cannot go back on my word. You are free to marry me if you wish.”

Rain looked at the guards surrounding them from every side.

“As your future husband-to-be, I demand a moment to speak with you alone.” said Rain, using his most commanding voice.

The princess waved the guards away and they retreated obediently back into the palace, but not out of view. By the time they cleared out of the orchard, the princess had regained her composure.

“You may speak freely now.” she said to Rain.

“I have a secret to reveal. But before I do that, I need some honest answers from you.” said Rain.

The princess took a deep breath. “My father always said, in order to achieve great things, we must be prepared to make great sacrifices. Earning your trust is important to me. I shall, therefore, answer all your questions honestly.”

Rain was sitting there, admiring the bravery and candor of the princess, when he felt something crumble around his neck. Without knowing it, the princess had just given him his next wisdom. In order to achieve great things, we must be prepared to make great sacrifices; Rain repeated the words in his mind and then turned his attention to the matter at hand.

“Princess, I need to know … I have won your competition … yet you appear very disturbed by that. Why? Is there someone else your heart beats for?”

She tried valiantly to keep her composure and it took a visible effort from her to do it.

“Yes, I was in love … with Saleh. He is my father’s foremost advisor. He is intelligent, kind, honest … he has every quality I have ever wanted in a husband. I set up this entire challenge as an excuse for him to be able to marry me. But it seems my affections were misplaced because he didn’t participate at all.”

The princess let out a sad sigh. “And I was so sure that he felt for me the way I felt for him. Nevertheless …” said the princess, squaring her shoulders, “it is too late now. I must turn my heart and mind away from that which I desire, and try instead to make the best of what is destined for me.”

Rain shook his head.

“No, princess. You will have exactly what your heart desires.”

Her eyes locked onto his. “What do you mean?” she whispered.

“I mean, that I didn’t really come here to win your hand in marriage. I came here to find out if you love Saleh … the same way he loves you.”

The princess gasped and the guards drew out their spears. She waved at them and they relaxed their stance. “What are you trying to say? That Saleh loves me?” she whispered.

“Yes. Very much.”

The princess narrowed her eyes, eyeing Rain suspiciously. “Who are you? You are no prince from Nimrohi. In fact, I am sure now that no such Island exists. And why are you doing this? What do you want from me?”

“Whether I am from Nimrohi or not, it no longer matters. Firstly, because I have won your challenge and secondly, because I am a friend and you can trust me. Saleh does. In fact, he’s the one who helped me get here in the first place.”

“Really? Then you should be able to tell me why he didn’t he enter the challenge if he loves me like you claim? It would have been a piece of cake for him.”

“Because you set the competition for princes of all lands, and he is only a vizier. That’s why.”

The princess couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you speaking the truth?”

“On my life, I swear.”

She looked crestfallen as the truth in his words hit her.

“That is all?
That
is all?! Oh, that foolish, foolish man! Whatever am I to do now?” she said, wringing her hands in dismay.

“It’s very simple. Throw your challenge open to all those who hold any place of importance in their king’s courts. That way, Saleh will not only get a chance to participate, he will also understand that you want him to. Once he realizes that you love him, I can guarantee you that he will be the first in line for your hand.”

The princess’ face cleared and she smiled a dazzling smile.

“Why didn’t I think of that? I shall do exactly as you have advised. As for you …I apologize for my rudeness. How can I thank you, prince Rainier, or whoever you may be?”

“Don’t mention who I am or what I did to anybody.” said Rain with a smile. “Now, I’d like to be on my way.”

“All right. I will have the guards escort you to the city gates. Goodbye and good luck with your life.”

“I wish you the same.”

Rain bade the princess goodbye and left the palace, but not before being straddled with a sack full of gold coins as a token of the princess’s appreciation. Rain distributed most of the coins to the poor, keeping only five for himself as a souvenir, before exiting the city gates.

Once he was outside, he set the horse gifted to him by Saleh free in the woods and sat down to wait. What he was anticipating didn’t take long to happen. When the rushing of the wind stopped all was quiet, Rain found that he was back - not at the desert with Heart and Subodh - but on Ruby Mountain, exactly where he had been when he had been pulled into the city of Marut.

*****

CHAPTER 18

Rain’s first reaction was to punch the air and go: “Oh yeah! Now I get to collect my wisdom!”

Then, he took a look at the bottom of the mountain, where a lone bush stood waiting and the wind fizzed out of his happy balloon.

“Oh, no! She’s still there!” groaned Rain. “How long is she going to remain this way? I’ve been away for a month now and look, she hasn’t budged an inch!”

“In my estimation, she will probably wait for you for the next one hundred years after which, she will finally accept that you are not going to return. By then, she will also understand the folly of falling in love with one who is not of her kind and then … she will either come to seek retribution or she will move on. All of the above is, of course, only an assumption.” said his Geeya.

“One hundred years …” breathed Rain.

“Yes. Demons do not have the same life span as a human. They live for eight hundred years on average. In the next hundred years, she will reach the maturity level of a human twenty-five year old year old.”

“Well, a hundred years from now I’m definitely going to be dead, so I don’t have to worry about her coming to wring my neck in the dead of the night.”

“I guess …” said his Geeya with a pensive frown. Rain peered intently at her pretty face.

“Okaay … I know I have plenty of cause to worry, but why do
you
look so worried?” he asked.

“Do you remember what Master Shengdu said on the day of the Naming Ceremony? He said; be mindful of your actions, because what goes around comes around.”

“I remember that. But what has that got to do with any of this?”

“Rain, somewhere in this universe you have sown the seeds of betrayal. Regardless of what the demon chooses to do, I am afraid this might come back to you.”

“But it’s not something I wanted to do. I had to save my life.” argued Rain.

“I agree. Besides, on your way up here you freed many sequestors from the curse of Ruby Mountain. Hopefully, that will cancel out the energies of what happened below.”

“You’ve got me really worried now. Whatever happens, I hope this doesn’t have the snowball effect.”

“The snowball effect?” repeated his Geeya.

“You know… roll a small snowball from the top of the mountain and it keeps collecting ice until it’s this giant, destructive thing.”

“Ah, yes. One must hope that that does not happen.”

There was the sound of movement behind and Rain turned to find Naaga appearing from the mouth of the cave followed by the new Queen cobra, and hope flared in his chest.

“So … you have returned.” said Naaga.

“Yes, I had to leave for another Quest at that time.”

“I see…”

Naaga breathed out a plume of white smoke.

“You have kept your word and brought me my Queen. For your efforts, I would like to reward you. Name it, and it shall be yours.” commanded Naaga.

So this had been a Quest after all. And now he would get to collect his wisdom.

“I would like a wisdom as my reward.” said Rain.

“A queer request… nonetheless, this is your wisdom. ‘If ever you are wronged in life, do not waste your time trying to tell everyone that you are right. Instead … show them.’”

Rain repeated the words in his head and felt a claw crumble to dust on his chain. The Queen then slithered forward.

“You are the reason I am here. Therefore, I would like to reward you as well. Tell me what you would like, sequestor.”

Rain threw an uneasy glance over his shoulder at the waiting bush.

“Could you help me get back to the desert without having to go back down and cross the River of Reptiles?”

“Get on my back and hold on tight.” said the Queen.

Rain climbed onto the Queen’s scaly back and caught her sides firmly.

“I’m ready.”

The Queen Cobra shot into the air and up into the clouds. Rain watched Ruby Mountain and the bush waiting below pass by as they flew above it all. Soon, they were out of the forest. A few hours later, the oasis came into view.

“Over there!” he called out to the Queen cobra, who landed smoothly and then slithered over to the oasis. Rain got off her back when she halted.

“I would like to drink some milk.” said the Queen, her green eyes glittering.

“I’ll get it at once.” said Rain, running off in the direction of their tent.

Heart, who was pulling some water out of a well, came running over as soon as he spotted Rain.

“Welcome back, brother Rain! You didn’t tell us you were going for a fancy dress party!”

Rain looked at himself. He was still wearing the royal finery that Saleh had lent him.

“Oh, these … I’ll explain later. Right now, the Queen cobra is waiting on the outskirts of this oasis and she wants some milk.”

Subodh, who had heard the conversation, came running out with a large bowl full of camel milk.

“Let’s go!” he rasped.

The three of them hurried over to where the Queen stood waiting and Subodh respectfully placed the bowl of milk in front of her. She drank the entire lot in a single gulp and then looked up and blew out a jet of poisonous fumes. “I shall be on my way now. But before I go …”

She bent her head and touched the sand below where a silver path emerged.

“Follow this path … it will lead you out of the desert.” she said to them, and then slithered inside the sand, disappearing from view.

Rain and Heart turned to Subodh.

“What do you say, Subodh?”

“It is time to leave … the future beckons.” said Subodh.

*****

Early the next morning, they packed their supplies and belongings and set out on the silver path stretching out before them. Every once in a while a great ripple would go through the path, throwing all of them off their feet. When they stood up the again, they would always find themselves a great distance away from their last spot.

Barely two weeks later, they were out of the desert and onto a lonely highway. In the distance, they could make out the headlights of a car which caught up and then zoomed past them.

“Finally! Civilization!” cheered Rain.

The highway was dotted with the occasional motels where they could stop in order to grab a bite or rest for the night. Late that evening, Rain began to complain of hunger and exhaustion.

“The next place we see, we will stop to eat, okay?” said Heart.

Rain pushed his hands into his pockets. “But I’m hungry now!” he grumbled.

His stomach gave a loud growl as a testimony to his statement.

“I know, but all our food supplies are over. Just have a little patience, and then we’ll find a good place to satisfy your hunger.” consoled Heart.

“I don’t want to have patience, I want to have food!”

Heart gave a sigh. He knew it would be useless trying to reason with Rain when he was in this mood. There was silence for a short while and then Rain’s stomach growled again. He stopped walking and dug his heels into the ground stubbornly. “I’m not moving until I get something to eat!”

Subodh nodded and then walked behind Rain and landed a blow to his head.

“Ow!” yelled Rain, jumping forward.

“Will that be enough, or would you like some more?” said Subodh calmly.

Rain muttered something under his breath but began to move again, stomping his way ahead. They faced no more trouble from him after that and soon, were approaching a cozy little shack. It had the words ‘Sam’s – come on in, beer sport!’ written on a sign above it.

The place was dimly lit from within and had four large wooden tables placed in four corners with a single light bulb hanging over each one, out of which only three were working. One table was shrouded in darkness. Rain walked straight to the ordering counter where a fat man stood, wearing a grease-stained vest and with a cheap cigarette dangling from his lips.

“What’s on the menu tonight?” inquired Rain.

“Would you like some wine or beer?” said the barman.

“No. I don’t drink alcohol.”