Vajra An Elven Tale

Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

The Ruthless Prince

Agnidyuth fortress, Vajrateerta, 23rd March 2015

With her white shawl blowing against the winds of dusk and her eyes burning up in rage Devi Annapurna made quite a sight as she left the chamber of ministers abruptly. The doors closed behind her, turning on the oiled hinges, still managed to make a noticeable sound in the muted noises of the background.

The dowager queen said no more, her fingers curled in to fists for a moment before she exhaled sharply and let go. Her face, immobilized in to a mask of indifference, with features betraying no hint of emotion, the lady walked off. Some shadows from the dingy corners joined her as she marched on, soundless as if they were made of air and light just as the other unanimated shadows of the passageway, but alert of every movement the queen would make. Annapurna was accustomed to her guards, but at moments like these she did not feel grateful of their presence.

The bodyguards, or *Skia as they were called in Vajrateerta, were trained from a young age to blend in to the background of their ward and to be fiercely loyal to the throne of Vajra. They were shadows as their names suggested, yet with the ability to act when needed. Their senses where sharpened and always on alert, the Skia would hear everything and notice the tiniest of details there was to note about their wards. The last thing Annapurna wanted was her Skia to prey on her fury against the ministers and take a word to Sanskar shuttering her carefully constructed house of cards with a single blow of wind. The Skia would never lie to the crown prince hence maintaining the facade of serene innocence was needed.

Her footfall echoed in the empty hallways as she tried to walk as fast as she could without visibly attempting to flee the Skia walking a few paces behind her. The hallway opened to a vast balcony, windy at that time of dusk and grimly casted in to bluish shadows. The lamps, kept inside the carved holes of the wall were not lit. Annapurna stopped there for a moment, casting a sideway glance at the Skia stopped in the shadows. She could not see them, still her senses with their practice sharpening them, sensed them lurking in the background. For a moment, she let a tint of doubt blur her resolve. Where the Skia guarding her, or spying on her? If so, to whom did they report? Who would have sensed that her motives were different from those she feigned to the majority of Vajra race?

As she stepped in to the windy balcony and the relative light, the shadowy guardians did not follow her. They would not appreciate being seen, unless of cause the queen was in a life threatening situation. Annapurna let her eyes wonder to the twilight, reflected in the heavens before her. The different shades of blues and grays and the blurring edges of gold and pink, sprinkled over with a faint sliver of tiny stars.

Her sharp ears picked up the faint sounds of her guardians moving just beyond the line between the dusky light and the darkness of the passageway, stationing themselves so as to watch her, but hide their presence and give her an illusion of isolation and privacy. Annapurna sighed. It seemed she had been right, someone did instruct the Skia to keep their eye on her.

Who could it be? She wondered again. Only one would be able to answer that question. No, Annapurna told herself. That would be inaccurate. There were two people answerable. But there was only one whom she could approach with the question.

She walked to the railings of carved stone which marked the edge of the balcony in perfect off white spirals and gripped the stony bar that ran over the railing, gently. Closing her eyes, she took a gulp of the night air and reached to the depth of her mind and then beyond the fringe of her psyche to her brother, miles away in the camp of Vajras.

It was the only communication which she could rely on at the moment and trust that it would not be intercepted. A thread of thoughts beyond the read of the Skia...