7

Calculating rapidly, Chakrawaru wrote a figure on a page, and turned it over with a licked finger. This went on for a few hours, the morning sliding into afternoon. At last he stretched, heaving a satisfied sigh. It had been a good month, of business deals and negotiations. ‘My treasury will soon be bursting at the seams.’

A scratching on the door had him shut the register with a snap and just as he secreted it away, a voice called out to him from the other side. ‘Sir, His Majesty has asked for you, in the court.’ Chakrawaru spun on his heel. The king, in the court? Impossible.

He ran all the way, stopping just once to catch his breath, and braked to a halt on the threshold. Vasuket, in wonderful spirits, sat surrounded by the council. Gone was the sickly pallor, his cheeks instead a rosy pink. Irrepressible chuckles had replaced the mournful sighing, and his exuberance was enough to put a young man to shame. Chakrawaru gulped. What mysterious wind had blown in while his back was turned?

Catching sight of his advisor, Vasuket hailed him. ‘Just the man I want to see.’

Chakrawaru approached with folded hands, his demeanour that of a devoted servant. ‘Am I dreaming, Your Majesty? This is a blessed day indeed, to have you back here.’

‘No magic wrought this miracle, Chakrawaruji,’ responded the chubby minister with an artful smile, ‘it was General Saahas!’

A tremor ran through Chakrawaru, ‘We should be thankful to him, where is he?’

‘There he is,’ exclaimed Vasuket. ‘Dear boy, we were just talking about you.’

Chakrawaru turned slowly. Saahas’s tall figure framed the high doorway, and when he walked in, Chakrawaru could only stare, his gaze devouring the younger man.

No longer a stripling, experience had hewn Saahas into the mould that Meghabhuti had left for him, his whole being rippling with purpose. The tangled hair, bleached to tawny gold in the sun, was tied back to reveal the chiselled angles of his face. A firm resolve indented the chin, his creased brow like the lofty mountains that Chakrawaru had glimpsed only in paintings and when he darted a searching glance into the deep brown eyes, the memory of their last meeting rushed back, painfully fresh. ‘He pitied you.’

‘Chakrawaru,’ Vasuket’s voice seemed to come from a long distance.

‘I beg your pardon, Your Majesty.’

The king chuckled, ‘My sudden appearance has robbed you of your faculties! Do pay attention now! The ministers will undertake a short tour of a military project with the general. I want them to go immediately.’

‘Yes, Your Majesty, I will make the travel arrangements,’ Chakrawaru answered, aware of the council’s mocking gaze, his own words coming back to taunt him, ‘The general will become the laughing stock in all of Aum.’

‘And I will take your leave, Your Majesty,’ smiled Saahas. ‘There is a schedule to plan.’

‘We too must make preparations,’ chimed in the council, excited like a bunch of schoolboys.

‘Wonderful,’ beamed the king. ‘Chakrawaru, you and I will take a walk outside.’

The semal tree stirred in the breeze, offering them a fiery red flower as they passed under it. Chakrawaru picked it up, looking at it wonderingly. ‘Spring,’ he murmured in surprise. ‘It has a way of stealing upon us.’

Vasuket laughed, rubbing his hands together. ‘Indeed, the season of renewal, of continuance. I want a grand reception at the palace when the general and the council return from their trip. Invite all of Sundernagari, arrange a feast fit for the gods and music to intoxicate the soul.’

‘Why, what is the occasion, Your Majesty?’

Vasuket placed his hands on the advisor’s narrow shoulders, his voice dropping to a whisper, ‘The announcement of the future King of Aum.’

Chakrawaru’s stomach flip-flopped. And even as he opened his mouth to ask, ‘Who is it, Your Majesty, our next king?’ a nasty little voice inside his head sneered, ‘As if you don’t know.’

‘Saahas, of course,’ Vasuket replied, eyebrows rising in surprise.

‘Of course,’ he intoned, his voice flat. ‘The general will be an able successor to you.’

‘He will make a far better king than me, Chakrawaru. Have you seen the way people look at him? They adore him,’ Vasuket smiled. ‘He reminds me so much of Meghabhuti, yet there is a difference. Even though people had looked upon Megha with awe, his penetrating gaze could make even the most stout-hearted quail. But Saahas,’ Vasuket’s sigh was light and happy, ‘Saahas has an easy charm, an openness that warms people to him. And his passion for Aum, Chakrawaru, all those wonderful projects! Yes, during the reign of King Saahas, the kingdom will swiftly march in the direction set by its founding fathers.’

With a sickly smile pasted on his lips, the advisor rushed to his quarters. Once inside the sanctuary of his chamber, with the door firmly shut behind him, he pulled out the register, hugging it to his chest. ‘The man I detest, loathe with every particle of my being, he cannot be king. No, oh no, he will destroy my life, again. All the respect and power, earned so carefully, all will be gone the moment he sits on the throne. I’ll be finished.’

All of a sudden, his legs gave way and clutching at a stone shelf, he caught sight of himself in the mirror. ‘The treasury is mine,’ he cried at his reflection. ‘It is my sweat and tears. I will not let anyone take it away from me.’ His reflection stared back at him. ‘Defame the general,’ it goaded. ‘Embroil him in a controversy, get yourself allies and him some enemies.’ Chakrawaru rushed into the storeroom.

From beneath a pile of heavy quilts he dragged out a large wooden trunk secured with an iron lock. Hastily tugging at a string under his long shirt, he pulled out a bunch of keys and picked out a carved one. The chest opened with a satisfying click. Bundled inside were hundreds of scrolls all tied up neatly with strings. Unrolling one after another, he flung them on the floor, each a meticulous record of those obliged to him. At last, he found the one he was looking for. Jotted down in his admirable calligraphy were the details of the person he sought, a name and an address. The latter had been scratched out and written afresh, for it had changed since the time he had first made her acquaintance.

Chakrawaru smiled grimly. The time had come to collect his debt.