Heir to the throne

Chapter 17

He woke with a jolt. His eyes flew open, his heart racing in his chest as he tried to remember where he was. It wasn't a nightmare that had stirred him so violently from his sleep. The memory of the handsome man walking through the wheat fields slowly ebbed away, and though Zyaan had not seen his face, he knew who the man was. His stomach churned, his emotions grew erratic.

His eyes blinked furiously. The blurry vision of the monk lighting clay lamps at the feet of the statues slowly came into focus. Zyaan couldn't remember falling asleep or how long he had been in this chamber. He had sat here in solitude for a while, trying to recreate the last few moments of his father's life in his mind. Zyaan wanted to feel the emotions that his father felt as he watched one of his closest friends become his murderer. Zyaan wanted it to enrage him, send him crazy. He wanted to become a madman!

He sat up on the stone bench that had served as his bed. At some point, the monk had placed a blanket over him that now slipped away from his body into a heap on the stone floor. The old monk waddled away, using an entrance that Zyaan was sure led to the temple grounds.

Left alone in the quiet tunnel Zyaan's attention was pulled toward his father's statue once more. He pushed himself to his feet, stretching his limbs. His body ached from being on the stone bench for so long, but nothing could douse his happiness.

He stood before his father, a deafening hum close to his ears that made the silence more prominent. He wondered how his father would have greeted him every time he woke. He smiled and touched the cold marble, his fingers tracing the outline of high cheekbones. The light from the lamps danced in those inanimate eyes that seemed to speak to Zyaan. His smile grew wider as he admired his father's features. Zyaan imagined he must have been so handsome, tall, and regal, with lean limbs and a healthy glow. The image floated in his mind like a firefly lighting the darkness.

"Hello, Father. I am Zyaan, your son. I have wished to meet you all my life. Today I feel like we are one. I do not know your pain nor can I take it away. My heart bleeds to know what you went through in your last moments on this earth. But I promise you that I will become your revenge. I will destroy the man who took you away from me. Who robbed me of every moment we could have shared. I will bring your murderer to justice. He will beg for mercy at my feet. I promise you this. Your wife's honor will be restored. The whole world will revere her as a goddess."

Tears flooded his eyes, and he blinked it away.

"Father, this world is a strange place. I have met the son of your enemy, and my heart now fights against me. He is nothing like his father. He is warm and kind. But he's so flashy, like a peacock. Very silly at times. You would have liked him. I have this notion that Adhi will help me but I am scared to tell him who I am. He will come to know eventually but I don't want to hurt him. He doesn't deserve it. The man I am after is his father but, if he gets in the way, I will have to destroy him too. As much as it hurts."

He let the tears flow as he realized that this stone image of his father had no wisdom to give him. He could pour his heart out all he wanted, but Zyaan was on his own. The decision was his to make, and when the time came, Adhi would have to make his choice too.

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It was raining heavily the next morning. Eager to finish his chores, he started early. The raindrops soaked his thin cotton clothes as he carried water back to the kitchen from the river in two buckets suspended from a pole by thick cords. The house was quiet, and as he lit the fire in the wood stove under the lean-to, he let his thoughts ramble.

His wet clothes stuck to his body, and the ends of his hair felt prickly against his skin. He set the large pot on the stove and filled it with water from one of the buckets. He would let it boil first and then add the rice. His mother had told him that it was a good way to purify the water and prevent illness. Zyaan doubted there was anything vile in the water up here. It was just a precautionary measure before they ended up spending the remainder of the day in the water closets relieving themselves (not that he wouldn't mind seeing Adhi in such distress).