Tales of the Southern Kingdoms (One Volume Edition) Read online

  One day they weren't alone anymore. At the back of the small cave they had found a tunnel that seemed to go deep into the bowels of the earth, but they decided to stay by the opening, both to keep an eye on Maya and to avoid getting lost in an underground tunnel. They were street children, even if they had learned to survive in the jungle, so they were too afraid to explore the dark tunnel.

  But somebody else hadn't been that picky and well armed men with dark tattoos and blood-red turbans fell on them, coming from inside the tunnel. The dozen men easily captured the five teenagers in spite of their desperate resistance. They found themselves locked up in a subterranean cell, in the dreaded darkness they had tried so hard to avoid. Keiko tried to reach for Kumar, but he pushed her in Hayato's welcoming arms.

  "Quiet," her twin whispered. "Don't do anything stupid."

  "Like what?" she protested.

  "They think you're a boy," he answered.

  Hayato was right, she better keep her real nature from their captors. She was glad she had started dressing like a boy as soon as they had left Agharek and the safety of their family house – she had never liked wearing saris anyway. Her breasts were still easily hidden under a loose shirt, and she and Hayato looked identical, except she wore her hair long and he shoulder-length. As hair length wasn't a way to determine the sex of the person – Jayanta's were was almost as long as hers – she was probably safe.

  Soon enough they came for them. They were taken to a temple, where hundreds of torches burned and a black statue of an unknown goddess stood near a black altar.

  The High Priest was a bald man in his thirties, his naked chest and arms covered with dark tattoos of dragons and snakes. As soon as he lay his eyes on her, she knew he could see through her disguise. He scoffed, said nothing and continued his inspection. She noticed he licked his lips when he stared at Kumar, who sustained his eyes with a frown.

  "Welcome to the Temple of Darkness," the High Priest said at last. A slightly different accent told Keiko they weren't in Akkora anymore. "You took shelter in one of our tunnels, we thought to invite you in."

  "I thought we were prisoners," Kumar snapped.

  "I'm sorry, I was in Zarquon when they found you, or I'd have welcomed you differently," the High Priest replied pleasantly. "My guards did their duty by capturing intruders. I don't think you've been ill-treated, though, your youth spared you lots of unpleasant questions."

  "So this is not Akkora," Kumar deducted too. He looked fearless and Keiko wished she could hold his hand.

  "No, this is Arquon," the High Priest answered. "Well, it is outside of these tunnels. This underground city is the sole property of the Sect and I answer only to our Goddess." He pointed at the big black statue behind him.

  "And what has the king of Arquon to say about this?" Kumar asked.

  The High Priest scoffed. "Nothing, trust me. King Neeraj loves me very much."

  What did that mean? Puzzled, Keiko glanced at Kumar and saw him tighten his lips and lower his eyes. Hayato seemed to be holding his breath.

  "On account of your youth, I give you two choices," the High Priest continued. "Join us or die. You join us, you have food and shelter, learn our ways and our skills, and if you're smart enough you might one day live in a palace. Not interested? You die painfully, and it's all over."

  "Not much of a choice," Kumar said, sarcastic.

  "You're young, I'm certain you prefer life."

  "I'm not sure about this."

  "Kumar!" Shafiq protested. "Do you want us all dead?"

  "I believe he's asking us to make personal choices, Shafiq. You don't have to keep following me."

  "I certainly want to live!"

  Jayanta looked terrified but nodded repeatedly at Shafiq's words. Hayato whispered "Life" and she nodded, turning to look at Kumar, worried.

  "It can't be worse than it already is, I guess," he said with a shrug.

  "Welcome to the Sect!" the High Priest exclaimed, opening his arms. "You will be trained in our customs and rites to worship the Bloodthirsty Goddess!"

  Keiko wasn't sure the open arms were as welcoming as they looked.

  ***

  There were women in the Sect. Keiko was divided from her friends – she could see each of them was marched off to a different room carved in stone – and found herself among them. They laughed at her almond eyes, but thought she was pretty. They bathed her and dressed her in a blood-red dress with black embroideries looking like an oversized tunic reaching her feet. The wide sleeves were unusual and it looked like something that could be easily discarded or ripped off.

  The women left, leaving her alone in a windowless bedroom, nervously seated on a bed with black bed-sheets and canopies.

  Then the High Priest came. "What's your name?"

  "Keiko."

  "Where do you come from?"

  "I was born in Sutra, but my parents come from the Islands Empire."

  "This explains your beautiful eyes. Is the boy your brother?"

  "Hayato is my twin."

  "Twin! And what about the other three?"

  "They're orphans from Leland."

  "I recognized the Akkora accent." He caressed her cheek, thoughtful. "I'm trying to convince Neeraj to marry, and we're meeting ambassadors from all the southern kingdoms. So, you're orphans, uh? I thought one of them might be royalty."

  She smiled. "Maybe he is. We call Kumar our Little Prince."

  "He certainly has a fast tongue," he scoffed. "But he will learn."

  "And will you tame me as well?" she challenged.

  "You are more manly than your brother," he teased. "But I will tame you all."

  "You won't be the first, you know?"

  "Yes, street gang members are rarely virgins. But trust me, I can teach you things you never dreamed of. It is our power, the power of the Sect."

  "What is?"

  "Sex and blood," he whispered before kissing her.

  ***

  She could feel Hayato's pain as much as he could feel hers. His training was different from hers, but both were falling into the pit of desperation. Sometimes she wondered about the others, or better, she worried for Kumar. If he was going through the same things Hayato was suffering... but what could she do? She was raped on a regular basis, and she wasn't being trained for combat, where she was sure Kumar could give vent to his anger and frustration. Not Hayato, always the quiet one.

  They were prisoners in a dark underground city that received very little daylight. Keiko longed for the sun, and even the hated jungle seemed better than the High Priest's bedroom. As a woman, she rarely met her friends except during the orgies in the temple, when they were all very busy not looking at each other, too ashamed of what was happening to them.

  Her sexual education didn't bring her anywhere close to Kumar, though, and she started wondering if she could actually ask for him. Although he probably didn't want her now, less than ever, but maybe she could cuddle him and make him forget the others' touch. She saw steady couples among the Sect members (even if they swapped partners during the orgies with disgusting ease), so maybe...

  "Your friends ran away," the High Priest announced the day she had finally made up her mind to ask him if she could have Kumar. She gaped at him, incredulous. She hadn't had the time to express her request and Kumar was... gone? Where? The High Priest looked only mildly annoyed, though. How could they find their way out in the labyrinth of tunnels? It had been a foolish move on their part... and they had left her behind!

  "But don't worry, they won't go very far," the High Priest continued with a sneer.

  "They will end up sacrificed?" she asked, panic rising in her throat. She gulped it down before adding, "Is there anything I can do to save at least one?"

  "And who would that be?" he smirked. "Your twin or Kumar?"

  They brought back only Kumar, deadly wounded for the resistance he had put up to cover everybody else's escape. They had opened his belly like animals, but also cured him, stopping the bleeding so t
hat he could be conscious when they put him in the sacrifice cage.

  Keiko stared with horror as they lowered her love inside the Goddess Pit. She screamed, but the High Priest held her tight and forced her to watch, laughing, as they sacrificed her love. She prayed he died before the fire touched him; he was probably too weak to scream, because unlike the other victims, his voice didn't come out of the pit.

  Nor did his body. When the cage came back up, still white-hot, it was empty. Keiko stared at it in disbelief: usually there were carbonized remnants of the victim, but Kumar had vanished.

  "The Goddess really wanted that one," the High Priest sneered. She turned to look at him.

  "I will kill you," she promised, feeling hatred mounting inside her.

  He scoffed. He knew he was more powerful.

  For now.

  ***

  The runaways were all captured and brought back. Jayanta and Hayato had given up the fight, but Shafiq tried desperately to get rid of some Sect members. Until a magic lighting struck him down.

  Keiko observed admiringly Ramesh's sneer. He had so much power... She must learn how to use it too! She wanted to be as powerful as him to avenge Kumar's death. But to learn everything about his power she must pretend – pretend to enjoy the orgies, feel the other people's light or darkness.

  She felt Shafiq's light fade when Ramesh ripped his heart out. She felt Hayato's terror as well. She knew he was full of light and that was one of the reasons why Ramesh enjoyed him so much. She could feel the High Priest's darkness as well.

  Then she heard the source of his power. And it was calling her, tempting her. She could have her revenge if she was willing to give up something. Someone she loved.

  She went to the Temple, walking in the darkness without fear. She was beyond fear. She reached the Fountain of Power and stared for a moment at the black liquid that seemed to repeat "Drink from me".

  "Take my mother," she whispered.

  She cupped her hands and drank.

  ***

  "Keiko!" Maya, the woman, looked surprised, but not scared. "What have you done?"

  "I have the power, and I will punish you," Keiko answered with contempt.

  "Punish me? What for?"

  "You refused Kumar, driving him away from Leland."

  "I thought I was doing you a favor! You've wanted him since you had your first period!"

  "But he was in love with you."

  "And you really think the Pond has given you enough power to punish me?" Maya smirked. "You'll have to sacrifice a little more, if you really want to hurt me!"

  Keiko stared at the woman, suspicious. She could feel her rival was different, but she couldn't tell how or why.

  "Go back to your dark mistress, Keiko. You have no power over me," Maya said haughtily.

  Keiko tried to hit her with her hatred, but found an invisible shield. Not only that, a powerful counter-spell sent her straight back to the Sect's temple.

  "Why?" she asked. "Who is she?"

  "She is Fajrulo," a disembodied, husky voice answered. "You will need more power to subdue her. Fajrulo are the only ones immune to my power."

  "If your power isn't enough, how could I subdue her?"

  "Your will and my power can conquer her."

  "More power! I have already given you the life of my mother! Who else do you want, the rest of my family?"

  "You're the one who wants to beat a Fajrulo. And you know the price."

  Keiko grunted, going back to her room. She needed to think. Hayato was light and she needed darkness. Jayanta was weak. Should she try to tempt Ramesh? Convince him to help her? What should she tell him about Maya, though? Not the truth, at least not all of it. She could say she had discovered one woman she knew was actually a Fajrulo in disguise or...

  Maya was Fajrulo, therefore she was of a Magical Race. Maybe she had the power to bring back Kumar. But to force her meant subduing her, and to do it, she needed more power. But she couldn't ask Ramesh who had killed Kumar in the first place. She knew he could read through her, she'll have to find another way.

  Should she sacrifice also Yuki and Sayuri? Or little Takeshi? Poor little Junko? She didn't care for her father, who had sent her to her first rapist, but she missed her younger siblings.

  "Yuki, forgive me," she whispered. It didn't hurt as much as the loss of her mother. Maybe she was already losing her feelings. The anger and pain for the loss of Kumar still hurt and the hatred for Maya still burned. But one wasn't enough, so she had to give away Sayuri's life as well.

  ***

  The Pond had enough with those three lives. Soon Maya was trapped in Human form in the Temple of Darkness.

  "You will help me to bring back Kumar," Keiko ordered Maya.

  "I can't," the woman answered.

  "Then you'll be a captive for the rest of your life."

  "Maybe the rest of yours. My lifespan is longer than yours by hundreds of years, Keiko."

  "Why don't you want to help me?"

  "Because you want something impossible."

  "I want to bring Kumar back from death."

  "That's impossible because he's not dead."

  "You liar! I saw him vanish in the Goddess Pit!"

  "Vanish, not burn. I don't call that death."

  "Then help me bring him back from wherever he is!"

  "He has free will, but you can always try to force him like you did with me."

  "Where is Kumar?"

  "Why should I know?"

  "Because you're Fajrulo!"

  "Then free me, I'll look him up and bring him here."

  "I don't think so. You will stay here as a hostage until he comes back."

  "And how will he know I'm here?"

  "Your problem. You're of a Magical Race. Bring him back or stay where you are."

  Keiko turned her back on the cage that held the woman Maya, ignoring her snarl. She knew Maya was lying, and that Kumar was dead. But she had plenty of time to find a way to bring him back, so she could feel whole again.

  Part Two: Kumar

  Kumar woke up in anguish, breathless. What had just happened? He thought the High Priest had thrown him into the Goddess Pit, and found himself in the jungle, lying next to Maya who gurgled when she saw he was awake.

  He thought he heard a voice whisper, "You must live, Kumar."

  His heart was still beating too fast, so he took deep breaths, trying to calm down. The wound on his belly itched but looked closed, another external scar on his body, not as deep as the one inside him. The green of the jungle was a welcome sight after such a long time in the dark tunnels, torch-lit rooms and crowded beds. The whisper of leaves was sweeter than the words uttered in his ears by passionate but unwelcome lovers.

  He looked around, but couldn't see the tunnel where they had had the bad idea to seek shelter. And it wasn't raining, therefore the monsoon was gone. He was free. What should he do? Try to find that tunnel and his friends? They should be half-way back to Leland if they had some sense. Or maybe not, as both Shafiq and Hayato wanted to free Keiko.

  But there was no way to free Keiko. They didn't have access to her. And Kumar didn't want to go back to the Sect, not only because they had just tried to kill him. They had also hurt him more than anybody else, more than death itself. Death looked peaceful in comparison. Death was rest from a life that had become a burden to him. He should have requested it the day he had met the High Priest. Living with the Sect had been the worst nightmare of his nightmarish young life.

  He held his knees, putting his chin on them, thoughtful. His heart had slowed down. The noises of the jungle didn't distract him, he had gotten used to it – even if his friends were now gone, lost to something much worse than the jungle. He looked up at Maya, the only friend he had left, the best protection for his new life, because he had to move on.

  He looked at the scar on his belly. He knew the sacrifice had happened, but he still had no idea of who (or how) had saved him. That sweet, ethereal voice who wanted him to live
– what for? His life was a useless struggle. He had lost so much, why keep going on?

  His gang was gone, and he felt relieved – no more responsibilities, taking care of them, taking the beatings (or worse) for them, fighting for them. He was tired of fighting. He wondered how many months he had spent in the underground city of the Sect, following their gory rituals, learning their perverted ways, used and abused by a power he couldn't really handle yet.

  He had survived, though. Somebody wanted him to live, but still... the Fury awakened by the Sect's ways burned deep inside of him, and he didn't want any of the power he had felt in the underground city. He was barely sixteen, and felt he had lived enough already. He decided to erase all the painful memories and keep going. It was useless dwelling in the past.

  He knew he could take care of himself. He didn't need Hayato, nor Keiko, or Shafiq and Jayanta. Alone was actually better. Maya was the only company he really needed. He didn't feel like going back to town either. Enough of crowded streets, hustling and stealing through life. The jungle looked like the perfect place to earn a living on his own, without worrying about stepping on someone else's toes.

  ***

  Kumar saw the mud hut from Maya's back. It was built between the jungle and a river, with a bamboo fence all around it to avoid unpleasant visits, although one part had been torn down, probably by a buffalo. A man was seated on a log in the small cleared space in front of the hut, preparing bamboo lances to repair the broken fence.

  The noise of the long knife cutting bamboo branches and the gleam of its blade in the sun caught Kumar's attention. He didn't have any weapons on him since his mysterious escape, so he had trouble finding meat.

  He slid down from Maya's back and talked quietly to her. "Distract him so I can get that knife."

  Maya gurgled and he patted her, watching her walk towards the nearby river. He wouldn't mind a bath too, but he had to steal that weapon first.

  He climbed on a tree with branches hanging over the spiky bamboo fence and waited. He heard Maya trumpet and saw the man look up – black beard, white turban, no tattoos, probably a common hunter.

  He watched the man rise to try to see her, planting the knife on the log where he had sat and moving two steps towards the river. Kumar moved along a branch and jumped inside the bamboo fence with a hushed thud.