《The Counterfeit Empress》


 The Unluckiest of Nights

    Chetal was beaten, bruised, had been almost caught by the guards twice this night, and had nothing to show for it. Less than a hundred copper jitals and Ahar, the handler, wouldn''t let you eat that night. Less than a ten and the doors of the safehouse were closed to you. Gangs of grave-eaters roamed the streets late in the night, and survival was a coinflip. If they caught your scent, you were dead - and one thing Chetal shared with the other kids in the safehouses across Hampi was that all of them stank to high heaven.


    Empty-handed, and Ahar would welcome you with open arms into the safehouse, for a meeting with his whip. Chetal''s back was scored up-and-down from half-healed whip scars.


    She approached the safehouse with dread, her eyes combing the dimly-lit streets for a rich drunk or an idiot roaming around in the night, an easy target for her tired hands.


    But there was no one to be seen. In fact, strangely enough, there were no lookouts outside the safehouse door. Two kids were always supposed to be at the door at night. You couldn''t get in without giving them the password. There were sometimes incidents with kids of rival safehouses trying to sneak in and steal the night''s haul, and Ahar was strict about security.


    Chetal opened the door with apprehension. The safehouse was empty. Beds were lined all the way to the back of the wide hall, but no kids occupied them. Something hung from the orblight in the centre of the hall.


    She went to it with trembling legs. It was Ahar''s body, hanging upside down, his throat slit into a wide smile. Blood dripped from his head, pooling onto the wooden boards beneath.


    For a moment, Chetal just stood there, soaking in the horror. What did this mean?


    It means no whipping tonight, a voice in her head murmured. It meant the safehouse was no longer any kind of safe. It meant she was a witness to murder.


    Oh shit. She had to get out of here.


    Chetal rushed to the open door, which slammed shut in her face. She pulled out her knife, still facing the door, terrified of turning around.


    "See this is why I hate making a mess. It spooks people out, causes them to reach for the nearest weapon, and makes it difficult to have a conversation. I would drop that knife if I were you. It can be...a choking hazard."


    Chetal turned around, the knife still clutched tight in her hand.


    A man sat in a chair beside Ahar''s upside-down body. Neither he nor the chair had been there a moment ago.


    There was only one explanation. The man was a shaper. There was no running from him.


    "I take it you are Chetal. Ahar did the introductions before his untimely demise," the man said with a gesture towards the body.


    Chetal swallowed. "What do you want?" she asked.


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    He smiled. "You seem to be a reasonable girl. I like reasonable kids. Tell me, Chetal, what do you know of the royal family?"


    What was this about? Was he toying with her? Did he plan the same fate for her as Ahar? Where were the other kids?


    "What did you do to the others?" she asked, dreading the answer.


    "I set them free. The night is theirs. No more beatings, no more having to work for a man who was running a theft-racket in the guise of an orphanage."


    "There are grave-eaters out there," Chetal replied.


    "A little danger is often just the right impetus for building character. Wouldn''t you say so?"


    "I know the Emperor lives in the huge palace at the top of the hill with his wife and daughter. That he''s old and sick, and blind to what''s happening in the city."


    "And he''s dead. Would you like to guess how many people in the Vijaynagara Empire know that right now?" the man asked, leaning forward. His eyes shone in the orblight.


    "You''re lying."


    "Let''s play a game, where everything I say is supposedly true. Now, make a guess."


    "I don''t know," Chetal replied, feeling increasingly weird about the situation. What was happening?


    "Well, I am obviously one of those people, cause I told you. And you, my future Empress, are the other. Just the two of us. I killed the assassins, but sadly only after they had done what they came for. In this moment, no one else knows."


    Chetal''s brain couldn''t process what was going on. Her thoughts were stuck on one word. "Empress?"


    "Ah, you caught that. You see, along with the Emperor, his wife and daughter were also murdered. But the empire is at a tipping point. We cannot let power slide into the hands of the squabbling, greedy nobles. And so the young princess cannot be allowed to stay dead. How would you like to be her?"


    "I...don''t understand."


    "It''s very simple, dear Chetal," the man said spreading his hands. "I couldn''t save Princess Ara, but I saved her body. I can shape a living person into that body. And so I''m here."


    "But...why me?"


    "There are fifty safehouses in the city of Hampi. Hundreds of girls across them who would be the right age to be shaped into the body of the Princess. You just happen to be my first stop. There is no compulsion. Say no, I''ll wipe your memory of the night, and be gone."


    Being shaped into Princess Ara''s body would mean losing hers. But so what? What had this face, this body, this life given her? Only beatings and hungry nights and fear. The man could be lying, of course, but he was a shaper. If he wanted her dead, he only had to show her a card. Besides, orphans made sense. There was no one to ask about them. An orphan disappearing in Hampi wouldn''t even make a ripple.


    But other parts of his explanation were slightly harder to believe. If she was merely one of hundreds of options, why kill the keeper of the safehouse? Why send all the kids away? Why not just meet her outside, in the streets or on the roofs, and figure out if she was interested? There was something he wasn''t telling her. She mattered enough for him to commit a murder. And she couldn''t really imagine him streaking across the city killing dozens of handlers. But calling his bluff might annoy him. And a shaper was the last person Chetal wanted to annoy. Especially one who''d dispatched her handler mere minutes ago. This secret would need to be thought about later.


    "What''s your name?" Chetal asked.


    The man smiled. "For now you can call me Jin."


    "I''ll do it, Jin," she said before she could change her mind.

 The Luckiest of Nights

    For a moment, Jin just considered her. He made no attempt to get up.


    "You will lose your face. There''ll be assassination attempts. You will have to work day and night to catch the subtlest of her mannerisms. The cost of a mistake, the slightest slip, would be the fall of the empire, and your head in a guillotine. I will not woo you with the promise of a comfortable life. From this moment onwards, there will be no going back, dear Chetal. So let me ask you again- are you sure?"


    With the death of Ahar, her life here anyway was over. He''d been her tormentor, her tyrant, but also her protector. Now he was an upside-down smile in an empty hall, all his power just smoke in the wind.


    More than anything, Chetal wanted to be this man, this shaper who had casually walked into her life and changed everything. A man who would leave here with no consequences. Who knew secrets no else did. This was true power.


    "You don''t have to worry about me. I''ll do it. I''ll go through with whatever I have to."


    Jin rose up from his chair, which melted into the floor behind him. "Then it''s time to go."


    The door behind Chetal swung open.


    "We''ll be flying through the night. I need you to hold onto me," he said pulling out a card from his belt.


    The card had a painting of woman climbing starlit stairs towards the moon. Under it was the word ''Levitate''.


    Chetal felt herself rising through the air along with Jin.


    Within moments, they were flying into the night, the city a maze of hazy orange streets below her. It was mesmerizing.


    Chetal tried to take in every little detail - the wind in her hair, the scent of kitchen smoke from a thousand fires, the towering gopuram of the Temple of Vishwanath in the distance - for who knew if this would ever happen to her again.


    "Are we going to the Palace?" she asked.


    "We are."


    On the Hill of Giants stood The Imperial Palace, grand and glittering in the moonlit night. The hill had been named after an old rumor -  that the giants who''d ruled the kingdom in the Age of Ice had risen to the skies here.


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    The homes of lesser nobles littered the foothills around the palace, potted plants and creepers decorating the terraces. Soon they were past the terraces, and the Palace gardens filled Chetal''s view.


    They landed softly on a high balcony. A pair of orbs lit the palatial bedroom, illuminating a scene of eerie death. Two men lay sprawled on the carpet, their bodies stiff and cold. Chetal had bent down to check. Death wasn''t scary. There was nothing dead men could do to her.


    Princess Ara''s body floated a foot above her bed, bound by some kind of shaping magic. The sheets were dark with blood, and her nightgown was stained.


    "For this to work, I need you to be very still, understoo-"


    The doors crashed open and a handful of guards came rushing in.


    "Murderers! Assassins! The Princess has been attacked!" the guard at the back shouted as he ran to wake the palace. The remaining four guards pulled out their falchions and surrounded Jin and Chetal.


    Chetal''s heart was hammering in her throat.


    Quick as flash, Jin held a card up. As the guards caught sight of it, their eyes widened and bodies froze.


    Jin put the card back in his belt. "Hm. I should''ve expected that. Perhaps we can turn this opportunity into a lesson. Tell me what you perceive of this situation, Chetal."


    "Um, there''s a guard running around the palace raising alarm. Shouldn''t we...you do something about it?"


    "All in due time. Until then, I''d like you to illuminate the situation for me. An oblivious princess is a dead princess," Jin said gesturing to Princess Ara''s body. "I''d like you to be better."


    "The guards came in already expecting things to be wrong. They raised alarm a little too quickly, adjusted to the situation a little too fast. They likely knew about the assassination. Which would imply they had been sent by the same people responsible for the assassination."


    "That''s a good start. The rooms of the royal family have a magical seal that cannot be broken by palace guards. The assassins broke it to enter the chambers of the Princess. However, I resealed the chambers before I left."


    "So they have a shaper on their side who helped them break the seal, both for the entry of the assassins and later the guards."


    "Indeed. What course would you suggest we take now?"


    "The entire palace force will be here soon. We need to get out. Possibly with the body of Princess Ara, and one of the guards so we can interrogate him," Chetal replied, nervousness thrumming in her chest.


    "The guards, unfortunately, won''t tell us anything. Their incriminating memories have been locked behind a memory wall. As was the case for the assassins. But yes, the rest of your advice is sound. However, Let''s do something a little less sound."


    Jin pulled out another card from his belt, and the guards crumpled to the floor. Then he went to the huge double doors the guards had come through and pulled them close. When he moved away, the tell-tale glow of magic surrounded the lock.


    "That should hold them for a few minutes. In the meantime, we''ll go through with your transformation. It will only hurt a lot. Are you ready?"

 The Secret Everybody Knows

    "What do I do after?"


    "Let''s take this night one moment at a time," Jin said with a smile.


    He pulled out a card.


    Chetal expected him to show it to her, but he just glanced at it himself and put it back in his belt. Princess Ara''s body began to float towards Chetal.


    As it came close and turned upright, Chetal noticed the skin was bubbling.


    Oh god.


    At once it splashed all over her like liquid. She went insensate with the burning pain, weeping and screaming and trying to get away.


    "I need you to be very still, Chetal. Or you won''t live through this," Jin''s voice cut through the pain.


    Chetal forced herself to be still. The screaming continued inside her head, but on the outside, with a supreme effort of will, she made herself stay quiet.


    "Open your eyes, Princess Ara."


    Trembling all over, Chetal looked up at Jin. His face was an inscrutable mask. She looked down to find herself in the bloody nightgown of the Princess.


    There was noise at the door.


    "They''re trying to break the lock now. I must be gone," Jin said walking to the balcony.


    "Wait no, don''t leave me! What do I do?" Chetal asked, her voice strange and higher pitched than she was used to.


    "Pretend you''re in shock. Ask for Inharat, the guard-captain. He''s loyal to the crown. He''ll likely escort you to a hidden saferoom. Once there, demand that Tenali Rama be brought to you."


    "Who''s Tenali?"


    "The court poet."


    "What?"


    But Jin was gone. The doors slammed open, and a bunch of guards came streaming in.


    They quickly made a protective circle around her. "Princess Ara, are you alright?" one of them asked. His uniform was richer than the other guards, and his helmet a different shape.


    "Inharat?" Chetal asked uncertainly.


    "Yes, it''s me. You''re safe now, Your Highness. I''m deeply sorry for this lapse in security."


    Chetal hugged herself. "I was-I was attacked. I don''t feel safe. Take me somewhere else, Inharat."


    "Of course, Your Highness. Come with me."


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    Chetal followed him out of the room, the guards in a protective formation around them, into a huge hallway that seemed to go on forever.


    She was tensed all over. The balance of this body was unfamiliar to her, and she feared that at any moment Inharat would turn to her and accuse her of being a fraud. It felt like a secret everybody knew, but were just pretending to go along with.


    Inharat pulled down a painting near the end of the hallway, and a secret door opened up into the wall.


    "This way, Your Highness. There are no exits from this room save this one, and I''ll guard it with my life."


    Chetal looked into his eyes. She saw determination and anger there.


    "Inharat, could you do something for me?"


    "Of course, Your Highness. What do you require?"


    "Send someone to bring Tenali Rama to me."


    All the words felt wrong on Chetal''s lips. The Princess would probably have used other words. She probably didn''t talk like this at all.


    But Inharat merely nodded. "I''ll send for him at once."


    Chetal wanted to thank him, but she bit her lip just in time. Maybe the Princess wouldn''t do that?


    She went through the door into the secret room. Inharat shut the door behind her.


    Chetal collapsed on the fancy bed. She''d imagined months of training in secret before she''d have to play the role of the Princess. Not being shoved into the thick of things with no idea how to be her. Jin had played her.


    There was a beautiful, fragrant scent somewhere around. Chetal pushed herself up on the bed to inspect it.


    Oh, this was her own smell. Even mixed with the metallic scent of blood, it was intoxicating. People could smell like this? Weird.


    She checked her hands, which were small and dainty with nails painted iridescent green. There was no grime under her nails, no marks on her skin.


    She stumbled to the life-size mirror in the room.


    Her hair, even disheveled, was long and silky. Her eyes were ocean-green, with brown flecks around the edges. Strange. Princess Ara looked beautiful. But more than that, she looked delicate. Fragile. She seemed to be everything Chetal wasn''t.


    Chetal felt a strange sense of vertigo. She''d lost her body forever. A part of her self. She''d thought she wouldn''t  care, but in this moment, she did. A wave of raw, aching grief ran through her. Tears spilled down her eyes. No. Down Princess Ara''s eyes.


    There was a knock at the door.


    "Inharat?" Chetal asked, wiping away the tears.


    The guard-captain peeked in through the open door. "It''s Tenali Rama, Your Highness. Would you like me to let him in?"


    "Yes, please."


    A young, bald man entered the room. He gave her a deep bow. "Apologies for my disheveled state, Your Highness. I have been informed that there''s been an attempt at your life, and that you asked for me. I came as quickly as I could."


    "Thank you for coming here. Please take a seat," Chetal said, panicking now.


    Jin had told her to ask for this man. But there had been no instructions after that. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say?


    He gave her a quizzical look, and he didn''t sit down. Crap, had she made a mistake?


    "How may I serve you, Your Highness?" he asked.


    His tone was neutral, but it was clear this was a searching question. He was trying to find something out.


    "I, uh, I need you to find out the people responsible for the attempt at my life," Chetal said, mimicking his words.


    Tenali almost fell into the chair at the wall. He got back up and staggered against a pillar. His eyes were wide with shock, and his eyebrows all the way into the clouds.


    "Oh dear lord. You aren''t her," he whispered.

 After the End of the World

    "What do you mean?" Chetal said, trying to sound confused and angry. Inside, she was a curling mass of panic.


    Tenali folded his arms across his chest. "Let''s not insult each other''s intelligence. You''re not Princess Ara. For me to decide what I should do with that information, I need to know everything. No playing around, please."


    Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap.


    Did Jin know this would happen? How could he have expected her to maintain this fraud with zero knowledge of the Princess, or palace politics, or the people around her? Crap. Best get this over with. If Tenali turned on her, she''d run outside, yell at the guards that he had attacked her, and let them sort it out. Okay. That was a plan.


    She gave him a summary of her night. Including the information that the Emperor and Empress had been attacked as well, and were dead.


    All blood left Tenali''s face.


    "The Emperor...is dead? As is Princess Ara?" he whispered, stumbling over his words.


    Chetal nodded. "I''m sorry if you were close."


    "Do you mind if I have a bit of a mental breakdown right about now?"


    "Uh, okay?"


    Tenali sank to his knees against the wall, with his head in his hands. He stayed like that for what felt like an eternity.


    Chetal tried not to stare.


    "It feels like my world is ending around me," Tenali muttered.


    "What...are you going to do to me?" Chetal asked quietly.


    Tenali rose back up. There was no confusion in his eyes anymore, though his face still carried the devastated look.


    "You appear to be telling the truth. I don''t know what the intentions of this shaper who''s brought you here are, but I agree with him that the the death of the royal family could be catastrophic for the empire. So consider me an ally."


    Oh thank god.


    "There''s a lot I can do for you," Tenali continued, "but you''ll have to trust me. Do you?"


    No other choice at this moment. If Tenali had found her out, so would others. She needed allies on the inside.


    "I do," Chetal replied. "What do we do now?"


    "The guards must know by now that the Emperor is dead. It''s likely that Inharat is debating whether to inform you right now. I doubt you could summon up an appropriate reaction to that information at the moment. So when I leave the room, I''ll pretend to be shocked at the news, and then convey to Inharat that you are presently in a very delicate frame of mind, and must not be disturbed with such distressing tidings. You will have until the morning to hone your reaction. I hope you''re passable at acting, because we have a LOT of acting to do."


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    "I''m okay," Chetal replied. On tough days, Chetal had often paired with another kid or two from the safehouse to help loosen the pockets of the dear citizens of Hampi. The others would be the fingers- dexterously slipping coins out of purses, and she''d play the shine- the distraction who''d keep the eyes of the marks on her while the theft happened.


    "I certainly hope so. Or we''re all doomed. I will inform the Guard Captain that I''ll be the deliverer of the bad news to you first thing in the morning. Together, we''ll practice your reaction. I need some time to think. Until then, get some rest. And try not to die a second time."


    "Will do my best. Thanks."


    Tenali gave her a rare smile. Then he bowed to her and left the room.


    That felt strange. Everyone around her had been weird and respectful for the short while she''d been in this body. But that was expected. Their behavior was towards Princess Ara. They were used to giving that respect, and she to receiving it.


    But Tenali had bowed to her. To a street thief who''d crawled in gutters for coin, and who''d have slept on her stomach tonight if everything had gone the way it was supposed to.


    Chetal''s hands went to her back. No whip-scars.


    Suddenly she felt like she was suffocating in this room. There were no windows. She needed to feel fresh air on her face. Inharat would probably not let her leave. And she had no more energy to pretend to be a Princess.


    Chetal walked to the only other door in the room. She pulled the handle.


    It was a washroom, but nothing like anything she''d seen. It could fit like ten beds from the safehouse inside, for twenty kids to sleep.


    There was a fancy bathtub, and all kinds of colorful powders at the shelf beside it. Chetal opened one of the bottles. A strong scent of rose wafted in the air.


    Wow. No wonder the Princess smelled like a flower-garden.


    There was one window, small and high, with a grilled shutter that latched on the inside. Likely to ensure that no one could get in through it.


    Chetal pulled up a stool to it, and turned the latch. She swung the window open and climbed out.


    The window opened high above the palace gardens. Chetal deftly swung herself above the top ledge and onto the gable roof.


    The sky was a rush of stars, and the night a keen, magical blue. She breathed it in deeply.


    "You''re not supposed to be here, you know?"


    Chetal almost fell off the roof.


    A girl sat at the ridge of the roof, watching the stars. She looked young. Perhaps seven or eight years old.


    "Um, hi. Do we know each other?" Chetal asked tentatively.


    "I know who you are," the girl replied, turning to Chetal.


    "What''s your name?" Chetal asked as she sat beside the girl.


    "Kiara. My mom is a cook in the royal kitchen. Her name''s Jeeva. Have you met her?"


    Chetal smiled at her. "Sorry, I haven''t. But I''ll say hi to her next time I''m in the kitchen."


    Kiara was quiet for a while.


    "I saw them enter your room. I was sitting there, on that roof. I had to hide behind the chimney," she eventually whispered.


    A chill ran up Chetal''s back. "Saw who enter my room?" she asked, trying to keep her tone neutral.


    "The men with knives."

 The Impossible Murder

    Chetal pursed her lips. She had to play this cool. If she freaked out or tried to interrogate Kiara, the kid might just bolt.


    "Can you show me where you saw them?" Chetal asked quietly.


    Kiara took her to the spot, a few roofs over, just above Princess Ara''s balcony.


    "They went down here," she said.


    "And do you remember where they climbed onto the roof from?"


    Kiara pointed halfway across the roof. Chetal made her way to the spot and peeked down. The wall this side was smooth and featureless, except for a window, with a ledge above it. Just like the bathroom window Chetal had climbed out of. Hm.


    She turned to Kiara. "Kiara, can you do something for me?"


    Kiara nodded.


    "I''m going to check this window. If you hear me shouting, or sounds of a fight, or see someone get out of the window, run down into the palace and tell the guards, okay?"


    Kiara''s eyes went wide. "Are you really going to go there alone?"


    Chetal didn''t trust the palace guards, but she''d have liked to have Jin or Tenali with her. Or Inharat. But Jin was gone who-knew-where, and it would take too much time to summon Tenali again, who probably wasn''t athletic enough to climb down windows anyway. And every interaction with Inharat felt dangerous, like she was on the verge of being discovered.


    Chetal patted Kiara''s head. "I have you as my lookout, don''t I? I''ll be fine."


    "Wait. One of them dropped something," Kiara said.


    She handed Chetal a flat wooden card. It was painted, and the word ''Vanish'' was engraved at the bottom. A sooth card, used by shapers. Like the ones Jin used.


    What the hell.


    Chetal tried not to show her shock. "Thanks. Wait for me, okay?"


    She climbed down onto the ledge, and then swung through the open window. Kiara''s gasp above broke the quiet of the night.


    Chetal landed in another washroom, except this one had a thick layer of dust over everything.  Two pairs of bootprints had disturbed the dust on the floor. They tracked from the washroom door to the window.


    Chetal opened the door and made her way through, careful to avoid stepping over the prints.


    The attached room was a carbon copy of the secret room Inharat had put up Chetal in. Except white sheets draped all the furniture, and dust indicated that no one had been here in a long time.


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    The prints abruptly came to an end in the middle of the huge room.


    This made no sense. Had the assassins somehow flown into here? But then why not fly the entire way? A shaper could''ve gotten them in through a portal, perhaps. But then why not portal directly into Princess Ara''s room?


    The undisturbed stretch of dust beyond the bootprints hid the answer to what looked like an impossible murder.


    "It''s interesting, isn''t it?"


    Chetal whirled around. Jin stood next to the washroom door, leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest.


    Her surprise quickly changed to annoyance. "You left me to be discovered. Tenali instantly knew I wasn''t Princess Ara," she said.


    "How did that go?" he asked, unfolding his arms.


    "How do you think it went? I almost had a heart-attack. Had to tell him everything. Thankfully, he seems to be on our side for now."


    Jin pushed against the wall and walked to her. "I knew Tenali would find out. He''s too sharp to not notice."


    "What? Why not warn me then?"


    "This must be done a certain way, Chetal. An explanation will be coming soon. Just not now."


    Chetal thought over her next words carefully. "I have a question."


    "I assume it''s about how the assassins got here. There is a logical answer. But again, I can''t-"


    "It''s not about that."


    Jin''s eyebrow went up. "Oh. What is it about then?"


    "Did you...did you kill Princess Ara?"


    Jin pursed his lips. "Now that is an interesting question," he replied.


    Chetal held up the sooth card. "One of the assassins dropped this on the roof."


    "And you think it belongs to me?"


    "I''m asking you."


    The air in the room grew tense in the ensuing silence.


    Then Jin smiled, and pulled out a card from his belt. Chetal turned her eyes away, afraid he''d show her a card to kill her.


    "Relax. If I wanted to kill you, I had many opportunities. You can look at the card," he said.


    Chetal shot the card in his hand a quick glance. Another ''Vanish'' card. Oh.


    "I still have mine. The one in your hand belongs to a different shaper."


    Chetal considered his expression. "And you know who it belongs to, don''t you?"


    "Yes. But enough questions. I believe there''s a kid waiting for you on the roof, who''s growing increasingly nervous and is about to run to the guards. We don''t want that to happen."


    "She didn''t see you, did she?" Chetal asked.


    "Of course not. Or she''d already be halfway to the palace guards."


    Chetal offered the assassin''s ''Vanish'' card to Jin.


    He pushed it back to her. "Keep that. It might come in use."


    "How? I''m not a shaper."


    He gave her a small smile. "Aren''t you?"


    Chetal just stared at him. Was this a joke?


    "Quickly now. The kid grows restless."


    He shepherded her back to the washroom, and helped her get up to the window.


    "I''d advise against any more adventures in the night. Get some sleep. Tomorrow is an important day."


    "What happens tomorrow?" Chetal asked.


    "Tomorrow, you take the life of a child."

 Ghost of a Dead Princess

    Chetal turned around, shocked, but Jin was gone.


    Had he been serious?


    "Princess Ara?" Are you there?" Kiara''s terrified voice floated down.


    Chetal sighed. She pulled herself up the ledge and onto the roof.


    "Oh thank the lord you''re okay! I thought they really killed you this time!"


    And she hugged Chetal.


    Chetal awkwardly patted her head. "Hey, it''s okay. I''m alright. It''s late now. Time to go back to your Ma."


    Chetal escorted a rather clingy Kiara to the kitchen balcony the girl had climbed up onto the roof from, and then made her way back to her secret room.


    She spent the night tossing and turning in bed, sleep a distant dream.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Morning brought a knock, and Inharat''s voice beyond the door. "May I enter your chambers, Your Highness? Courtier Tenali is with me."


    "You may enter," Chetal replied, trying to summon her most dignified voice.


    They came in, Tenali looking much more presentable and composed compared to last night, and Inharat like he''d spent the past hours like a block of immovable stone with eyes, zealously guarding the door to her room. Which he probably had. There was an unmistakable shadow of shock and grief over his face. The man was easy to read. Chetal made a note of that.


    "I apologize for intruding upon you early in the morning, Your Highness, but there are matters to be discussed that cannot wait. I have requested Guard Captain Inharat to wait outside while I apprise you of them," Tenali said, his face serious.


    Tenali had made it easy for her. All she had to do was ask Inharat to wait outside, and then she and he could practice her reaction to the news of the death of her parents in peace. Well, not her parents. Important people, whose deaths someone gave a shit about.


    But somehow, in this moment, sending Inharat away felt wrong. Instead, Chetal glanced from Tenali to Inharat, like a scared child who suspects something terrible has happened.


    "Where''s father, Inharat? Where''s mother? Why haven''t they come to see me?"


    Tenali''s face registered the briefest of frowns. He did not approve.


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    Inharat pursed his lips. "That''s the news Tenali wished to share with you, Your Highness. Last night, there was an assassination attempt on the lives of the Revered Emperor and Empress as well. I regret to inform you that they..." his face broke. "...we have lost them."


    Chetal had thought about this moment a lot in the past few hours. There were a few ways people reacted to shocking, distressing news. There was the disbeliever- ''No, you''re lying. There has to be a mistake. Let me just go see them!'' The wailer - which basically involved a lot of sobbing; the fainter - which was the easiest of them to start, but the hardest to end well. The trick was to control the body''s instinctive but obvious giveaways - like the instinct to cushion your fall with your hands or knees. Or to cry out in pain when your head hit the pavement.


    She hadn''t been able to decide how Princess Ara would react. But in this moment, she felt an emotion rise deep within her body. No, not her body. Princess Ara''s. An instinct slammed into her consciousness, wrestling against her will for control. She allowed it to flow through her.


    It was rage. She was shaking with the sheer intensity of it, lava pouring down her veins.


    Chetal walked up to Inharat, and slapped him.


    "You...were sworn to protect them. How could you fail?" she whispered, her eyes on fire.


    Inharat, who had stoically borne the slap, fell to his knees at Chetal''s words. Her words? Or Ara''s words?


    "I have dishonored myself, Your Highness." He said as he pulled his sword out of its sheath and offered it to her with both hands. "My life is yours to take."


    "What use would that be?" Chetal replied, the words tumbling out of her like someone else was speaking them. "The palace is rife with schemes and intrigues, and the murderers of my parents are still about. I cannot trust anyone except you. Serve me, Inharat. Be my sword. Be my eyes."


    Inharat brought his forehead to her feet. "I will not let you down, Your Highness."


    And with that, the compulsion making her speak left Chetal.


    What in the everliving hell.


    "Thank you, Inharat. You may leave." Chetal said, flustered and confused.


    "I''ll be back with news," Inharat said as he left.


    Tenali did not look happy. "That wasn''t wise," he said.


    "The slap? I swear, it wasn''t me. I..."


    "No, the gamble. We could have practiced your reaction, but you chose to take a risk. It worked today. It may not tomorrow. I can''t help you if you refuse to listen to my advice."


    How could she tell him what had happened without sounding crazy? It REALLY hadn''t been her. She wouldn''t have dared slap the guard captain of the royal palace in a thousand years. The rage, the commanding attitude, it was all alien to her.


    "I...I''m sorry. It won''t happen again. I''ll, uh, seek your advice before deciding on anything."


    "Good. Your survival depends on it. I have matters to attend to, but I''ll be back be soon. Be ready. If I succeed, we might have your ascension tonight itself."


    "Ascension?"


    "I''ll tell you more about it when I return. Take care."


    And he was gone.


    "Who are you, and what are your doing in my body?" a girl''s voice sounded in Chetal''s mind, high-pitched and commanding.


    ...Ara? Is that you?

 The Wrong Shaper

    I''ve been...drowning. Ever since I woke up from the attack to find an intruder in my body. What have you done?


    Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Of all the things in this blighted world that weren''t supposed to happen, this was the most not supposed to happen.


    Chetal steeled herself.


    "I thought you were dead. A shaper, um, shaped me into your body. He said the Vijaynagara empire would collapse if you were found to be murdered. So I was supposed to be you."


    Did your shaper kill my parents?


    Ara''s tone in Chetal''s mind was flat as she asked this, but it was edged with boiling rage.


    "No. At least, I don''t think so. I don''t know much about what happened last night. I''m just an orphan from the streets thrown into this mess."


    Don''t lie to me. You chose this.


    Chetal sighed. "I chose not to die a homeless rat in the streets, yes. I didn''t know you were still...in here."


    Possibilities were hurtling through Chetal''s head. Princess Ara likely wanted her body back. But was it even possible to separate them? And even if a shaper could do that, what would happen to Chetal afterwards? Would the separation kill her? Even if Chetal was returned to her old body somehow, without Ara''s face, she was still just a penniless street thief.


    "What do you want to do?" She asked Ara, fearing the answer.


    Ara gave no reply.


    "Hey, you still there?"


    There''s someone in the room.


    Chetal went absolutely still.


    A human-like figure detached from the wall and rushed towards her. Before Chetal could scream, she was staring at a card.


    It showed a man lying on a carpeted floor in an unnatural posture. The word ''Petrify'' was carved into the wood below the image.


    Chetal went rigid. She couldn''t move at all. The figure who''d detached from the wall was a woman. Her invisibility melted away, revealing a young face with grey hair, and tattoos that ran down from her neck to her arms.


    A shaper.


    She crossed her legs and sat down on the floor.  And then she broke into a smile. "It''s not a smart idea to talk to yourself, Your Majesty. The walls have ears."


    Shit. This woman had heard everything.


    Stay calm. If she wanted to kill us she''d have done so already.


    "Let''s talk. But understand that if you shout for help, I''ll kill you. Slowly."


    At once, Chetal could move her head. But the rest of her body still felt bound.


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    "What do you want?" she asked the shaper.


    "Why don''t we introduce ourselves first, Your Majesty. I''m Taro. And you are?"


    "Ara," Chetal said.


    "Hey now, we both know that''s not true. You''re some gutter-girl a shaper shaped into Princess Ara''s body. Let''s start with your name, and then the name of the shaper who did that." Her sickly sweet smile stayed in place.


    Do not tell her. It might be the only reason she''s kept us alive.


    Chetal stayed silent.


    "It was a big surprise, you know?" Taro continued, as if she wasn''t waiting for a reply, "We kill the Emperor, the Empress and the Princess, and suddenly the princess is alive again. And I''m getting blamed for it. So I''ve come here to fix that. How about this -  I give you your body back, and whatever else it is that gutter-girls dream about, you give me what I asked for, and we both go our separate but very happy ways?"


    Chetal forced her voice to stay even as she spoke. "How do I know you won''t just kill me after you have what you need?"


    "Oh this is not a negotiation, Your Majesty. This conversation only continues as long as I enjoy it. And I''ll warn you, I do tend to get bored quickly."


    Chetal pursed her lips, thinking through her options. Shouting was useless. The shaper could kill her faster than any help could arrive.


    Make her an offer, Ara''s voice spoke in her mind. Riches, political favor, she must want something.


    No. That would be stupid. A shaper capable of assassinating the royal family would be as capable of getting whatever she wanted out of life. And this woman felt unhinged enough to kill Chetal if she said something that displeased her.


    "Feeling shy? I have just the answer." Taro pulled a small purse out of the inside pocket of her coat.


    "You know what I love about torture, Your Majesty?" she said as she opened the purse.


    Gleaming steel instruments greeted Chetal''s gaze. She swallowed.


    "It''s that every person is unique. A flower unlike any other. And you have to know which petals you can fold, and which ones you can pluck. The wrong choice, and the flower dies. It''s a delicate balance. By the look on your face I can tell you''re not an appreciator."


    "Let me make you an offer," Chetal spoke, her heart hammering in her throat.


    "Oh, gutter-girl has something for me? Is it money? Gold, diamonds, old treasures locked in Emperor''s vault?" Taro said mockingly as she picked up a thin metal rod with a screw-like end.


    Tell her whatever she wants! Ara''s shrill, panicked voice invaded her thoughts. Please. At least it will be a peaceful death.


    No, Ara. I''m not dying here today.


    With great effort of will, Chetal matched the shaper''s gaze. "I can be your agent in the palace. Through me, you''ll get to control the entire Vijaynagara Empire, without any of the risks that come with being Princess Ara. If at any point I become an inconvenience, you could always kill me in the future. My name is Chetal. The shaper who shaped me into Princess Ara''s body is named Jin. I don''t know anything more about him, but if you let me, I could find out."


    Taro cocked her head. For a terrifying moment that stretched into forever, she said nothing. But then she smiled. "Ah, this is intriguing. You have some smarts on you, gutter-girl. You have won the prize of staying alive."


    Taro carefully placed the metal rod back into the purse. "Shame I won''t get to use my tools. But if you are to be of use to me, you must have all your pieces with you. A princess with a hole through her finger would be an odd sight."


    Chetal let herself relax the tiniest bit as the purse disappeared in Taro''s coat.


    "Offer accepted, Your Majesty. Your first task is to find out more about this shaper Jin. Next time we meet, I''ll want answers. Who he truly is, what his plans are, and whether he enjoys being tortured. Actually, that last one I''ll figure out myself."


    "When will I see you next?" Chetal asked.


    "In time. Until then, why don''t I give you a little something to make sure you don''t betray me?" Taro said as she pulled out a card.


    It depicted a mountain-dwarfing giant in chains, with the word ''Thrall'' engraved below.


    Chetal fainted at the sight of it.

 An Idea of the Dangerous Kind

    Chetal woke up on the floor. The shaper was nowhere to be seen. Which didn''t mean much, unfortunately. She had a splitting headache, and she could feel Ara''s emotions churning in her mind. She''d clambered to the side table for water when Ara spoke.


    You sold your loyalty to live.


    If not for me, both of us would be dead.


    I AM dead.


    Well, deader.


    Is this what you wanted? To become a mole of your Emperor''s assassin?


    The Emperor did jack shit for me when he was alive. Do you know what happens in the orphanages of Hampi? Have you ever even been in the city?


    Of course I have. Don''t be ridiculous. And whatever personal suffering you have been through doesn''t give you the right to ruin an empire.


    Your idea consisted of trying for a peaceful death.


    An honorable death would have been better than-


    Will you shut the fuck up? You got to live your life and make your choices. And it only brought you a knife in your chest.


    Ara quieted.


    Chetal felt awful. Her body ached like she''d been beaten everywhere, and her forehead was ready to shatter into pieces. But even so, she recognized she''d made a mistake. She couldn''t afford to make an enemy out of Ara. She needed the princess.


    Listen, I did what I had to do. I don''t really want to be her mole. I''ll tell Jin what happened when I see him. I''m sure he''ll be able to help me get rid of whatever Taro did to us with her card.


    Ara gave no reply.


    You wanted to find the murderers of your parents. We found her. Staying alive gives us time to bring her to justice.


    I no longer know whose side you are on.


    Trust me, Ara. Just this once. Please.


    Just this once.


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    Thank you. Together we can find out who this Taro is. I have to ask you though - how did she break into the palace so easily? I thought shapers were controlled by the Emperor.


    They are. Shapers are nothing without sooth cards. And only two carvers exist in all of Vijaynagara who can carve them. Both are employed by the Crown, under strict oversight, right here in the palace. Only the shapers of the royal court have access to sooth cards. Taro and Jin are not part of the royal coterie.


    So they came from outside Vijaynagara?


    No, our borders are sealed against intrusion by foreign shapers. Their sooth cards would turn to ash the moment they cross.


    But then, how is this happening?


    I don''t know, came Ara''s frustrated reply.


    Maybe they stole cards from your royal shapers?


    Sooth cards are bound to the shaper they were carved for. They appear blank if not in their hands. Besides, my father wasn''t stupid. Shaping is a dangerous power. The only way to secure it was to bind the shapers and carvers in soul oaths to the royal family and the empire. If the royal coterie of shapers had tried to betray us, it would have killed them. We would have known.


    I found a sooth card on the roof. I think Taro might have dropped it.


    Chetal brought out the ''Vanish'' card. She didn''t need to point out that the card did not appear blank in her hand.


    This shouldn''t be possible.


    Plenty of impossible had happened to Chetal in the past two days, so her understanding of the word was much looser. She needed to talk to Jin, but she had no way of finding him.


    Summon Inharat, and ask him to bring the royal shapers to you.


    What then?


    Then you do as I say.


    What Chetal truly wanted was to curl into a ball and wait for her body to stop hurting. At the safehouse, unless you were dying, you didn''t get any off days. Just day upon day of what Ahar called ''working for your stay''. And he had a system in place to make sure the kids didn''t rebel against him. The ones who were obedient and routinely brought in a good haul were promoted. They got second helpings of food, beds closer to the large window that faced the canal, and every now and then, a small part of the haul they''d brought in. The promoted kids ensured that everything stayed in order at the safehouse. Once they were too old for the orphanage, they would get to go out into the world with a pocketful of jittals to start a life with.


    Chetal had never been promoted. Ahar had told her that something in her eyes made her look ungrateful. Angry. He''d tried to weed that look out with lashings. But with each lashing, the anger had only settled deeper into Chetal''s soul.


    It flared now, washing away her exhaustion.


    No shaper, neither Jin, nor Taro, would rule over her. If all that waited for her at the end of this was a grave, she''d walk the way to it herself. Not at the mercy of someone holding a knife to her throat.


    An impossible idea was making its way up her thoughts. A stupid, dangerous idea. If she couldn''t beat them...


    Chetal went to the washroom window, ignoring the screaming pain in her head. She''d rest when she was buried.


    What are you doing?


    Finding new paths.


    She hauled herself up the window.

 Unforeseen Consequences

    In moments she was out on the palace roof. It was a blazing bright afternoon. Behind her the countryside stretched for miles, fields sown with rice and jowar. The city of Hampi spread before her, a creature of smoke and stone, temple gopurams baking under the high sun. Beyond them, the gigantic wall of the Pampa dam hid the Tungbhadra river from view.


    Have you lost your mind?


    A little bit. You said you''d trust me.


    What Chetal needed was a space where she wouldn''t be disturbed. She crossed the roof and dropped into the abandoned secret room she''d discovered yesterday. Ordinarily, it wouldn''t have been any kind of safe, but if Taro had wanted to kill her, she''d already be dead. The problem was no longer mere survival.


    Once inside, she pulled out the ''Vanish'' card. It showed a richly furnished room, with a chair and table, except the table was missing. Books, quills, and a lampgrinder floated in thin air where a table should have been.


    Are you going to try using the sooth card? Don''t bother. I was tested for shaping ability. More than once. I don''t have any.


    Maybe I do.


    Do you think you''re special? Only five people in all of Vijaynagara have shown the ability in the past decade.


    Only one way to find out.


    This is ludicrous.


    We are dealing with shapers outside royal control. They can do anything to us. They already have. If there''s a possibility to play their game as an equal, we have to explore it.


    Chetal remembered Jin offering her the sooth card, a smile on his lips.


    If Taro has secretly followed us here, what do you think she''ll do when she discovers what you''re trying?


    The answer was clear enough.


    She''ll kill me.


    Us.


    It''s a chance we have to take. It''s this or being her puppet until she no longer needs me. Or gets bored.


    It takes years of training to master sooth cards. You can''t stumble your way into becoming a shaper.


    Then help me. You know more about this than I do. Where do I start?


    Ara was quiet for a while.


    Sooth cards work through the will of the shaper. Sooth means truth. The cards show the truth of the world, not as it is, but as it could be. It''s the shaper''s will that creates the truth captured in the card. The one in your hand, for example, shows a table that has vanished. So it could be used to make objects disappear.


    Okay. How do I make it work?


    Focus on the card, and on an object around you. Maybe the chair over there. It''s a little like playing the piano with both hands. You have to divide your focus.


    They didn''t have a piano at my orphanage.


    Good. It''s an awful instrument designed to torture little kids.


    I''ll take your word for it.


    Are you focusing on the card and the chair?


    I''m trying to.


    Now imagine the card shows an invisible chair in this room.


    Okay.


    Chetal felt like she was juggling balls in her mind.


    This next part is a little difficult. You have to believe with absolute certainty that the chair before you is invisible. Believe it the way you believe there''s a floor under your feet, or the way you know it''s afternoon. The invisible chair has to be your truth.


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    Chetal tried. It was an impossible task. She didn''t feel anything happen, and predictably, nothing vanished.


    But Ara had discovered a zeal for it, and pushed her to try again. And again. She tried for what felt like hours, sweat pouring down her forehead in the stuffy room. In time she could hold both the card and the chair in her mental focus. Imagining that the card showed an invisible chair rather than an invisible table wasn''t hard either. But the belief did not arrive.


    Both she and Ara eventually grew frustrated.


    You don''t believe. I can feel it. Even in the one in a million chance that you could be a shaper, nothing will happen until you do.


    The chair is right there. I don''t know how to believe it''s suddenly invisible. Not without closing my eyes.


    That would defeat the purpose.


    I know.


    Answer me a question. When Taro was about to torture and kill us, I felt your will. You knew with absolute certainty you wouldn''t die. You decided you would make it so you didn''t. How did you do that?


    Chetal thought back to the moment. Ara was right, she''d known she''d live. Every time her life had been on the line, even at the orphanage, she had crawled her way out of the situation. She''d survived. Her will to survive was like a blazing torch against the darkness of death. It was a certainty that felt solid like the floor beneath her. Like truth.


    That, right there. I felt it again. Use it.


    Chetal stared at the chair with singular purpose. She poured her will into the card. The invisible chair was like her instinct to survive. More real than anything her eyes or mind were telling her.


    Something tugged at her powerfully, and she felt woozy. Chetal staggered and fell to the floor. She felt like she had to vomit, but she heaved and nothing came out.


    With great effort, she looked up at the chair.


    It had vanished.


    She clambered up and reached out to where it had been. It was right there - smooth, polished wood below a thick layer of dust underneath her palm.


    Ara?


    There was no reply.


    Ara, are you there?


    We need to meet the sooth carvers. Ara''s voice held deep shock, and perhaps a bit of envy.


    A thrill ran through Chetal. She couldn''t stop staring at the vanished chair.


    We should return to the room. The sun has set.


    Chetal climbed out of the room and made her way back to hers.


    She couldn''t stay still. She paced from one end of the room to the other, feeling like she was exploding on the inside.


    Shaper.


    That one word seemed way too large to fit inside her.


    She kept passing her reflection in the mirror as she paced. Something there was wrong.


    Chetal came to a halt before it. Her reflection had no eyebrows.


    Her hands flew to her face, to where her brows should be.


    They were there, just...invisible.


    Shit.


    What have you done to my face.


    I think...I accidentally made my eyebrows vanish too.


    Fix it before someone arrives.


    How?


    I don''t know how. I told you, I''m not a shaper. Pull your will out of the card. Or imagine your eyebrows are visible again.


    There was a knock at the door.


    "Your Highness, may I come in?" Inharat spoke.


    Dammit. Dammit, dammit.


    Chetal was panicking. The problem wasn''t simply that she had no eyebrows. She could''ve possibly lied that she''d shaved them or something. It was that there was a possibility of them reappearing at any moment. And eyebrows that unshaved themselves were harder to explain than no eyebrows.


    "I''m sorry, not now," she replied to Inharat.


    What are you doing? I don''t apologize to those who serve me.


    Sorry!


    Tell him you are otherwise occupied presently. And that you''ll receive him in an hour.


    "I''m otherwise occupied presently. I''ll receive you in an hour."


    "Your Highness, my apologies, but this is urgent. We have found the conspirators behind the assassination of the Revered Emperor and Empress."


    Ara''s voice went deathly flat. Tell him to come in.


    I can''t. Still don''t have eyebrows!


    I don''t care.


    Chetal felt Ara trying to force her own control over her body. There was no way out of this.

 Orphan

    Ara was incensed, and Chetal was struggling to retain control. A part of her will was still locked in the sooth card, and she didn''t know how to pull it back. She had no idea how Inharat would react if he saw her without eyebrows, or with eyebrows that came and went. He might think she was a shaper in disguise and attack her. Shit.


    Moments away from losing control of the body, Chetal did the only desperate thing she could think of - she pulled out the ''Vanish'' card and snapped it into two.


    Her will flooded back into her. At once, Ara''s attempts subsided, though her rage was still knife-hot.


    I need to be in control.


    Okay. Just...don''t do anything foolish, alright?


    Chetal surrendered control to Ara''s will.


    Ara opened the door. "Where are they?" she asked Inharat.


    "They are being held in a cell in the Windbreak tower, Your Highness."


    "Take me to them."


    Surrounded by Inharat''s most trusted guards, Ara made her way down the palace steps.


    Chetal felt a strange sense of vertigo at her body moving without her will. She hadn''t needed to give Ara control. Once she''d snapped the sooth card and regained her will, Ara''s attempts at trying to take command of the body had felt like a matchstick trying to chop an onion. The rage Ara felt was also unfamiliar to Chetal. She''d been too young when someone had dumped her at the steps of a small temple at the outskirts of Hampi. The temple priest already had a gaggle of abandoned children to take care of, so after a few years, he''d given her over to one of the numerous orphanages in the city. It was run by a woman named Jitna, who''d been the first person to teach Chetal that some people could be terribly like stone. Jitna wasn''t cruel or violent, but she never showed a shred of emotion. Or interest. She was just...there. When Chetal had been ten, she''d been shifted to a new orphanage, one run by Ahar. That was where she''d learned how to steal, and how to sleep on an empty stomach when your back was whipped raw.


    Chetal had no idea what Ara might actually be going through. The closest thing to a parent-figure she''d had was Ahar. And all she remembered feeling at his death, barely a day ago, was relief and fear for herself. But she did understand as a concept that parents were important to people. And she understood anger. So she let Ara take charge.


    A light rain had begun to fall outside. As they made their way across the palace back gardens to a tall, spindly tower, it turned into a downpour.


    Ara kept walking.


    A moat surrounded the tower, and at a signal from one of the guards, a drawbridge was lowered across the water.


    The grilled iron gate at the base of the tower squealed open, and they went inside. Ara climbed hundreds of torchlit steps to reach the top of the tower.


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    There were cells here. Inharat took her to the leftmost one. Within, a man and woman had been chained to the wall. There was an open gash across the woman''s forehead.


    Rain pounded the cell through a large open window.


    "Who are they?" Ara asked.


    "The man is named Birit, he''s one of our gardeners. The woman is his wife. Her name is Jeeva, she''s a cook in the royal kitchen."


    Ice ran through Chetal''s spirit. They were Kiara''s parents - the little girl she''d met on the roof.


    "Have you interrogated them?"


    "I have, Your Highness. They are spies from the vassal state of Jitranga."


    Chetal knew about Jitranga. It had been a small kingdom near the western edge of the Vijaynagara empire. Ten years ago, the Emperor had sent a delegation to offer the kingdom protection against the enemies in the north on the agreement that it would become a vassal state of the empire. When the ''offer'' was rejected, armies followed. The submission of Jitranga had become infamous in the Vijaynagara empire due to the battle of Sikt, where a contingent of the Vijaynagara army almost lost to a much smaller force. The empire won the battle, but with huge losses. Bloodraged and reeling from the battle, the Vijaynagara contingent razed the nearby villages, massacring men, women and children. The sacred river Rehla was so bloated with bodies that it ran red downstream for days.


    "They joined the household of the Duke of Tirmi five years ago with false identities," Inharat continued, "and eventually made their way into the royal staff. The night of the assassination of the Revered Emperor and Empress, the cook laced their food with a drug to cause sleep paralysis. The same drug was used for the food served to the royal shapers, and to me. Once they had achieved that, they had the help of a shaper to execute the final step of the plan."


    Taro.


    "Who is this shaper?"


    "They claim to not know her identity. They said she approached them. I have, unfortunately, not been able to ascertain it either. The protections instituted against foreign shapers should render it impossible for any to slip into the empire with their sooth cards, and I have confirmed that no sooth cards were crafted by our palace carvers for any rogue shapers."


    "What about the traitorous guards who broke into my room and tried to kill me?"


    "As I understand, they were under the thought control of the shaper."


    Chetal HAD to know what had happened of Kiara. She begged Ara to ask about her.


    "They have a daughter. Where is she?" Ara asked.


    The woman and man had their heads hung low, but at that, they looked up. Jeeva''s eyes were wide with panic.


    "She''s a child, Your Highness. I beg for your mercy!" she pleaded. "She had no part in this. Please, Your Highness!"


    "The child is safe in the staff quarters, Your Highness. I have stationed a pair of guards with her to ensure that."


    "Inharat, are you certain there is no more information to be gleaned from them?"


    "I believe so, Your Highness. However, if you wish, I will continue interrogating them."


    "No need for that. Throw them out the window."


    NO! Ara, what are you doing?


    Ara ignored Chetal.


    Inharat looked surprised. "Your Highness, until we track down the shaper involved in the conspiracy, it may be best to -"


    "Don''t ever question me again, Inharat. Do it now."

 Old Wounds

    Inharat dipped his head. "Of course, Your Highness, my apologies."


    Chetal tried to reassert control, but Ara''s will, fueled by her fury, had an iron-like grip over the body.


    At an order from Inharat, the guards unchained the prisoners, and dragged them to the window. Rain poured down the fear-etched lines of Jeeva''s face. The man, Birit, had closed his eyes. He seemed to be praying.


    Chetal slammed her will against Ara''s.


    Why are you fighting me? Do you want to protect the murderers of my parents?


    They have a daughter, Ara. She''ll be orphaned.


    As was I.


    Chetal did not know what it was like to lose one''s parents, but she did know what happened to orphans who weren''t the heir to the Vijaynagara throne. They got sent to orphanages. Like the ones she grew up in. Something inside her broke at the thought of little Kiara being sent to someone like Ahar. Or worse.


    Please, I beg you, let''s not do anything stupid. We can talk about this.


    This is just the beginning. I''ll raze all of Jitranga to the ground.


    NO.


    Chetal felt her will surge like a tidal wave. She crashed upon Ara with all her might. They fought against one another, but there was no time. Chetal pummeled Ara''s will into the depths of their joined consciousness, until there was no resistance from the princess.


    Chetal, you are killing me.


    As the guards forced Jeeva towards the window ledge, Chetal screamed.


    "Wait! I have changed my mind. Keep them in the cell for now."


    Inharat ordered the guards back.


    Chetal''s heart was hammering in her chest as Jeeva and Birit were chained to the wall again.


    Jeeva stared at her, terrified and perplexed, but quickly lowered her eyes.


    A crisis was unfolding inside Chetal. The Emperor and Empress meant nothing to her, and neither did their deaths. In fact, it was because of Jeeva and Birit that she was here at all. And yet, Princess Ara would be expected to have the murderers of her parents executed. And beyond the expectation from others, if she showed any kind of leniency to these two, she''d be making an enemy out of Ara.


    But the crisis went deeper. She''d spent the past day just surviving. But however short or long, this was going to be Chetal''s life now. She knew what Ara wanted. Ara had her life spelled out before her from the moment she was born. And despite what had happened, her life was still on that path. She''d be the Empress of the Vijaynagara Empire.


    But Chetal had her old life wiped away. Her wants back in the city had been simple - food, coins, to not get whipped. And in a burning corner of her heart, vengeance against Ahar.


    But Ahar was dead. There''d be no more whipping, no more yearning for a crumpled piece of bread, no more stealing. With all of it gone, the question loomed large before her - what did she want?


    It was too big - so big that it was crushing her. She couldn''t answer it. And somehow, it felt like unanswered it would kill her. She needed a smaller question. So she focused on the now. What did she want right now?


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    She wanted to talk to Jeeva and Birit. Chetal didn''t know what she was going to say, but she just wanted to stay with them here for a while. She summoned Ara''s imperiousness.


    "Inharat, I need to speak to them alone. Wait below the tower with the guards."


    "But Your Highness-"


    "What did I say about not questioning me?"


    Inharat bowed in apology. "Check the chains," he ordered the guards. "Make sure they are secure."


    The guards did so, and locked the cell. Inharat gave her a last glance, expressing his strong disapproval of what she was doing, and left after the guards.


    Once the steps of the guards down the tower had faded, Chetal sat down cross-legged before the bars.


    "Who did you lose in the war?" she asked.


    Jeeva did not look at her as she answered. "My father. My brother."


    "My wife and children," Birit answered, matching Chetal''s gaze.


    "Did you not expect to be caught?"


    "The shaper had promised to get us out. We also had a backup plan in case she betrayed us. But she never showed up, and the backup...fell through," Birit said.


    A question had wormed its way to Chetal''s lips. A dangerous question. Barely a day ago, one question had changed Chetal''s life. This one could change...everyone''s. The asking of it felt like dropping a lit match in a sea of oil, but she felt drawn to it like she hadn''t felt drawn to anything before. With trembling lips, Chetal let it out.


    "What would you do if I set you free?"


    Jeeva looked up sharply. She grimaced as the collar dug into her neck, but didn''t look away. Her gaze ran through Chetal like a sword. "Are you mocking us?" she asked.


    "No."


    "Why?" Birit asked.


    Ara hadn''t just wanted Jeeva and Birit to be executed. Her rage blazed against all of Jitranga. She would''ve sent the empire''s armies into the kingdom and burned it to ash.


    What did Chetal want? She wanted to not have Jeeva and Birit be executed for the murder of the people responsible for killing their families. But she wanted more. A great wrong had been done to the people of Jitranga. It was a wound that had festered until it had taken the life of the entire royal family. Ara''s enraged solution was to cut off the limb.


    To the royalty, the lives of ordinary people were like those of ants - unimportant, and to be spent at their whims. Lives of people like Chetal. Millions of people would die to the fury of an Empress.


    Chetal wouldn''t let that happen. She thought through her next words carefully.


    "The people of Jitranga have suffered at the hands of the Vijaynagara Empire. I don''t want to continue the bloodshed. Nothing I say will bring back your families or mine, but I could pardon you as a peace offering to Jitranga. You have a daughter. Perhaps you can build a new life yet."


    Jeeva and Birit stared at her. "Would you really?" Jeeva whispered.


    "If you answer my question. What would you do if I set you free?"


    "We will take our daughter and go back to Jitranga. And...we will remember your mercy," Jeeva said.


    "Your people will welcome you as heroes. What you say to them could change the fate of Jitranga. Of all of Vijyanagara. Carry my message to them - not one of mercy, but of peace. Perhaps together we can mend old and new wounds."


    Birit bowed his head. Jeeva kept staring at Chetal, not with disbelief now, but something else. Chetal couldn''t parse it.


    "I will give orders to have you shifted back into your quarters under watch. Your daughter will be safe until then."


    Chetal rose and made her way to the stairs.


    "Your Highness?" Jeeva spoke.


    "Yes?"


    "You will make a fine Empress."