Tiger Thief (20 page)

A
ya was woken by the sound of singing.

She sat up and winced. Her head was pounding and her body ached. All day and half the previous night she had clung to Emira as they fled the City of Jewels, following Ripiraja’s lead. She vaguely remembered dropping, exhausted, off Emira’s back. Then someone had wrapped her in a blanket and she’d fallen asleep.

Now she rubbed her eyes and squinted to block out the harsh morning sun. She was next to a cluster of grey boulders and above her was a real, live tree.

Her heart beating in excitement, she got up to inspect the tree. In wonder she felt its cool, delicate leaves and as she touched its trunk she almost thought she could feel it breathing. For a moment she just leaned against it as she
got her bearings. Behind her she could see snow-capped mountains, while all around the landscape was made up of green, rolling hills dotted with granite boulders. All at once she realised she was in the foothills of the holy mountains, several days’ journey to the north of the City of Jewels.

Curious, she walked past the boulders towards the sound of singing and with a thrill of recognition she saw Uma the witch squatting by a lively river. Next to her was a cauldron bubbling over a fire, and nearby Emira was pacing back and forth, a look of fierce sorrow on her face. There was a body lying between them.

“Sharat!” called Aya. In her excitement she began to run towards them, but as she got closer her heart sank. Sharat’s skin was pale and waxy and no blood flowed from the wound on his chest.

Still singing, Uma lifted her head to indicate that Aya should hold Sharat’s hand. Obediently, Aya did so, but as soon as she touched it, she knew that her worst fear had come true. Sharat’s skin was as cold as ice. He really was dead.

“No,” she whispered. “No…” In despair she fell to her knees, but Uma shook her head, and gestured for her to sit up.

“Sing!” she said.

Uma’s chant wasn’t in any language that Aya had heard before, but slowly she began to pick out words, so she began to sing along.

As Uma chanted she fed the fire and smudged Sharat
with aromatic smoke from a bunch of leaves that smouldered in her hand. Then she picked up a hollow gourd to keep time with the music:
tak tak tak, tah tah tah
.

With a sense of wonder, Aya began to see patterns emerging from the steam that was rising from the cauldron – amorphous beings with fluttering hands, hair like clouds, and staring eyes.

Still singing, Uma lifted the cauldron off the fire and into the river to cool down. Then at last she poured out barely a cupful of dark liquid.

“Hold him up!” she told Aya.

Aya lifted Sharat’s limp body as Uma drank the potion down in one gulp. Then leaning over Sharat she put her mouth over his, and exhaled with all her might.

Suddenly Sharat took a gasp of air, and let out a hacking cough that threw his body into violent convulsions.

Emira watched, every muscle in her body tense.

“He’s alive!” gasped Aya.

With a graceful move, Emira leapt to her feet and walked over to them.

“He’s all yours,” murmured the witch, putting her hand on the tiger’s back.

Purring, Emira leaned over Sharat, and licked the wound on his chest. Aya looked down in wonder. Sharat was breathing peacefully now, and where there had been a gaping hole above his heart was just an angry red scar.

Uma pushed herself up to her feet. “Let’s leave them alone,” she told Aya. “Sharat needs to rest.”

She helped Aya lay Sharat down on the grass while Emira curled up around him to keep him warm.

Finally Uma turned her attention to Aya.

“It seems you’ve been on quite a journey since I last saw you,” she said. “Would you like some food?”

Aya hadn’t eaten or drunk since finding the crystal pool. Now her mouth began to water.

“Yes, please,” she said.

Taking her hand, Uma led Aya towards her shelter, a small building built out of the same grey rock that littered the landscape. Aya glimpsed a flurry of turquoise feathers. A big bird with a curved beak and clever, beady eyes landed on a tree nearby.

“Ripiraja!” said Aya. She turned to Uma. “He helped us escape.”

“So he keeps telling me,” said Uma.

“Run away! Run away!” cawed the bird, and with a shiver his feathers turned to shades of scarlet tipped with gold. Aya laughed, delighted.

“Beautiful!” she said.

“Don’t flatter him or I’ll never hear the last of it,” grumbled Uma. “He won’t stop bragging about how he found the amulet and saved the day.”

“Who’s a clever boy, then?” the bird crooned. With a flurry of wings, he hopped up and landed on Aya’s shoulder, his claws gripping gently so as not to hurt her.

“Oh!” she cried.

“You’re very pretty, too,” he whispered coyly in her ear.

Uma rolled her eyes. “Watch out. He likes you.”

Aya giggled. “I like him, too!” she said. “But how did you end up on top of Emira’s cage?” she asked the bird.

“Tricks and magic!” said the bird. “Tricks and magic!”

Aya laughed again as she tickled the parrot between the feathers under his chin.

As Uma stopped to watch them her expression softened. “I’m glad you all came back safely,” she said.

Then she began to busy herself around the fire. “Now why don’t you tell me all about your adventures?” she said. “And don’t leave anything out.”

S
harat woke up to the sound of Emira purring. He opened his eyes.

“Where am I?” he asked.

Emira’s purring grew louder.

Sharat sat up and leaned against her for support. As he moved he felt an ache above his heart and looked down to see a scar on his chest. Suddenly everything that had happened in the last few days came flooding back to him.

“We got away!” he said.

Emira pressed her head against his with a rumble of agreement.

Sharat buried his face in her fur. For a moment he just sat there, feeling the warm, familiar shape of her body. Then he noticed the sound of voices nearby and lifted his
head to look around.

Behind them was a river, beyond that was the crest of a hill, and far below that the flatlands stretched all the way to the horizon.

“We’re almost back in the mountains!” he said. He looked at Emira in wonder. “Did you carry me all this way?”

Emira growled gently, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction.

Sharat pushed himself to sitting. “Where’s Aya?” he asked.

Emira made a gruff noise as she got to her feet and padded up the hill. Sharat followed her past the boulders and saw Aya and Uma sitting together by a campfire, deep in conversation. Ripiraja perched on a tree nearby, his feathers reflecting the sunset.

Uma had already seen them. She lifted a hand and beckoned.

“Up here!” she called.

Emira padded towards her with a growl of greeting.

Aya’s head shot up and dimples appeared on her cheeks. “You’re awake!” she exclaimed.

Sharat smiled weakly as he stepped up to the campfire. He was feeling dizzy.

“I’m hungry,” he said.

“Sit down,” Aya told him with a grin. “There’s plenty of food.”

Sharat sat next to her and took what she was offering. Then he hesitated. “Emira must be hungry, too,” he said.

Uma jerked her head towards the mountains. “There are fish in the river, and plenty of goats in the hills,” she said. “Emira can look after herself.”

Sharat glanced out over the countryside. “Is it safe?” he asked.

Uma nodded. “Yes, it’s safe,” she reassured him. “We’re not in the Empire any more.”

The tiger’s tail twitched. It had been too long since her last hunt. She glanced at Uma with a questioning sound in her throat.

“I’ll watch him,” Uma told her. “Don’t worry.”

Emira’s eyes shone with intelligence as she growled in reply. Then she stalked off to find some prey.

Sharat looked around again. “How did we get here?” he asked. “The last thing I can remember was Rookh trying to turn me into a licker.” He shuddered. “He put this golden
thing
in my chest.”

“I
knew
he was controlling you,” said Aya. “He thought that if he could make you kill Emira he could stop the Queen’s prophecy from coming true.”

Sharat felt puzzled. “But Emira didn’t die,” he said. “What happened?”

“Mohini tricked him,” said Aya. “She knew that when you stabbed Emira with the Sword of Shiva it would open a gateway back to Aruanda. That was her plan all along – to escape. The trouble was, you weren’t a jinni then, so when you used the sword it ended up killing you.”

“But it didn’t kill me!” exclaimed Sharat. “I remember now. We were in some kind of tunnel. Me, Emira and
Mohini. There was a light at the end. Mohini wanted us to come with her. Then I heard someone singing.” He stared at Aya. “It was you!” he said. “You were singing my jinni name. It was Kalki!”

Aya nodded. “That’s right,” she said. “I called your jinni name and you came back as the Prince of Jinnis and fought Doctor Rookh. That’s how we got away.”

Sharat frowned. “But how did you find out what it was?” he asked.

There was a strange look on Aya’s face. “It turns out I knew all along,” she said. “Mohini came to see me in the dungeon. She was the one that told me.” She glanced at him shyly. “You’re … you’re my brother.”

Sharat stared at her in wonder. “Your
brother
?” he said.

Aya nodded. “As soon as she told me I knew I had to find you,” she said. “My mother always used to talk about my brother, Kalki. I just didn’t realise who he was.” A sad look crossed her face. “I didn’t know who
she
was, either.”

Sharat reached down to take her hand. “So you were part of my family all along,” he said. For a moment neither of them said anything. Then Sharat cleared his throat.

“What happened next?” he asked.

Quickly she told him about how she’d stolen the key from Mohini and made her way to the fight.

“I tried calling your name,” she said. “But it didn’t work.” She shook her head. “I thought it was all over when you stabbed Emira. Luckily Ripiraja found the
amulet just in time and dropped it in my lap.”

There was a shiver of feathers in a nearby tree.

“Ripiraja! Ripiraja!” cawed the parrot.

Sharat’s head shot up. “You made it!” he exclaimed. “I thought Emira had eaten you!”

“Eat
me
?” The bird puffed himself up in indignation.

Sharat and Aya laughed, and even Uma smiled.

Aya nodded. “I used my last wish to ask Alcherisma to mend the Mazaria,” she said. “That’s how I brought you back to life. It was no good calling your name, I had to
sing
it.”

Suddenly Sharat let out a gasp. “I’ve just realised what the Queen was trying to tell me at the end of her dream,” he said. “‘Aii!’ She was saying Aya’s name.”

He glanced at his sister. “She must have known you were the only one who could wake my jinni side.”

Aya nodded. “Maybe that’s why she gave me the Mazaria,” she said quietly.

Uma was nodding, too. “It’s as if you were meant to find each other,” she said. “As if she’d planned it all along.”

Sharat felt a pang of longing. “I still can’t believe she was my
mother
,” he said. “I just wish I’d had a chance to rescue her.”

There was a look of pain on Aya’s face. “We couldn’t have rescued her even if we’d tried,” she said. “That’s another thing Mohini told me. She’s dead. Rookh’s finally killed her.”

Sharat felt a sharp pain. “Dead?” he said in disbelief.
“But what about the prophecy?”

Aya’s lips twisted. “That’s all nonsense as well,” she said bitterly. “There never was any prophecy. It was just a nursery rhyme after all.”

Just then Uma interrupted. “I wouldn’t be sure about that,” she said.

Sharat and Aya looked at her. “What do you mean?” asked Sharat.

“I found something very interesting in your wound,” Uma told him. “Something that prevented Rookh’s gold from entering your heart. It may even have saved your life.”

Rummaging in her skirts she pulled out a small oval object and held it out for them to see.

Clicking his beak, Ripiraja hopped over and cocked his head to one side. “For me?” he said hopefully.

“No, Ripi, this isn’t for you,” said Uma sharply.

“What is it?” asked Aya.

Uma had a glint in her eye. “This is something I haven’t seen for very many years,” she said. “It’s a seed from one of the trees that used to grow in the walled garden that once stood at the centre of the City of Jewels.”

“A
seed
? But how did it get into my chest?” asked Sharat, confused.

“You tell me,” said Uma. “It must have come from something you ate. A fruit, perhaps?”

Sharat frowned. “But I didn’t eat any fruit in the City of Jewels,” he said. He hesitated. “Unless you count the fruit from the dream.”

“What fruit?” said Aya.

“The Queen of the Forest gave me a piece of fruit,” Sharat explained. “I ended up swallowing it whole when Rookh dragged me out of the urn.”

There was a look of jubilation on Uma’s face. “That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear,” she said.

“What do you mean?” asked Sharat.

“Remember I told you that the jinnis were the spirits of the forest?” said Uma. “Well,
this
is the seed of the Queen’s tree. She must have given Sharat the fruit knowing that he was her only hope of escaping Doctor Rookh.”

Sharat stared at the witch. “Do you mean that if we plant this seed we can bring her back to life?” he demanded.

Uma’s eyes were shining. “Yes,” she said.

Sharat felt a rush of excitement. “So I’ve fulfilled the prophecy after all,” he exclaimed.

Uma shook her head. “Not quite,” she said. “You won’t have fulfilled the prophecy until you’ve planted the seed and the tree has grown. Only then will the Queen be reborn.”

Sharat and Aya exchanged glances.

“Let’s plant it now!” exclaimed Aya.

Uma shook her head. “No,” she said. “We’re still a bit too close to the City of Jewels and we still don’t know what’s happened to Doctor Rookh. I’d prefer to wait until we reach the mountain kingdoms.”

“But how are we going to get to the mountains?” asked Sharat. “I don’t think Emira can carry all three of us.”

Uma’s eyes twinkled. “We’ll go with the circus, of course,” she said.

Sharat’s heart leapt. “The circus?” he exclaimed. “Where are they?”

“They’re on their way,” said Uma. “We should be able to see them by now.”

Pushing herself to her feet, she led them past the boulders to a ridge overlooking a road that twisted up the hillside from the plains below. “Look!” she said, pointing.

Two elephants and a chain of caravans trundled slowly into sight.

Sharat let out a cry of recognition. “It’s Tara and Baba!” He turned to Aya. “They’re the elephants from the circus!”

Aya looked down in wonder. “It’s just like we planned,” she said.

Uma turned back to the camp.

“Ripiraja!” she called.

The big bird flew over on silent wings and landed on her arm. “Yes?”

“Tell Lemo that the boy and his tiger are safe,” she said. “They can come and fetch us as soon as it’s light.”

With a squawk of agreement, Ripiraja took off and circled three times before swooping down to the valley below. For a while they just stood and watched the stars coming out as night fell. Soon Emira appeared next to them, groomed and well fed. Sharat put his hand out and caressed her neck.

“We’re going home!” he whispered.

Emira sighed happily. Then she leaned against her boy and began to purr.