Serpent's Kiss

Sahadeva held the porcelain plate and pretended to examine it as he scanned the marketplace behind him. His heart, already beating quickly, nearly exploded when he saw their pursuers.

“They’re still there, Sahadeva.”

Jyotsna’s whisper barely reached Sahadeva’s ears. He felt her trembling at his side. The marketplace offered untold terrors for her. She’d never been in a place so big or so filled with people. Knowing that they had enemies nearby only made things worse.

Carefully, so he wouldn’t incur the ire of the merchant, Sahadeva replaced the plate on the stack. The merchant started haggling, but the attempt lacked passion. Sahadeva’s worn and dirty clothing warned all of the shopkeepers and traders that he lacked money.

After thanking the man and praising his goods, Sahadeva took Jyotsna’s hand and led her toward the alley at the shop’s side. He touched the curved knife in the sash at his waist. He’d never killed a man before. He didn’t even like slaughtering the goats to put on the family table.

But he knew he would kill the men who pursued them in order to protect Jyotsna.

She looked like a child next to him. The top of her head barely came to his shoulder. Even draped in a loose dark-blue sari anyone could see that she had a woman’s curves. Sahadeva worried her beauty might bring trouble to them in the city. A plain dupatta covered her head and held her thick black hair out of her face.

Sahadeva was young and slim. All of his life he’d been a goatherd. Nearly a year ago, when he’d turned seventeen, he’d run away from home to join a group of young men who’d decided to take a boat up the Vaigai River. Legends of gold and silver, of lost fortunes and fantastic monsters, had beckoned.

When he’d left, Sahadeva had known his father would be angry with him and his mother would be disappointed. Three days into the journey, he’d been frightened and doubtful despite the stories of adventure. Nine days later, just when they’d been about to exhaust their stores and forced to return home empty-handed, he’d seen Jyotsna and fallen in love with her.

She’d wanted to see the big world he described. Her father had denied that to her as he had denied it to all his people. Only the warriors had ventured outside the cave city to get food. Occasionally they brought brides and grooms back into their secret village.

Those brides and grooms, he’d discovered, had only been allowed to live there for a short time. Outsiders were put to death once the children were planted. Sahadeva had seen monstrous things among Jyotsna’s people. There was no sign of anyone who had come from outside their enclave to live among them.

Jyotsna had captured Sahadeva’s heart. And she had been equally drawn to him. Unable to bear the thought of his death, she had warned him of the coming assassinations. Sahadeva talked her into running away with him, and they fled.

Now all of his friends were dead. Jyotsna’s father’s warriors had killed them mercilessly. Only luck and his knowledge of the terrain along the Vaigai had prevented Sahadeva and Jyotsna from getting overtaken.

But those pursuers were here now. Even Kaveripattinam, as large as it was and open to trade around the world, wasn’t enough to hide them.

Sahadeva strode briskly through the marketplace, past the shops and hawkers, through the maze of goods and buyers, until he reached the alley. Voices, whistles, bells and animal bleats sounded all around him.

The buildings flanking the alley blocked some of the heat of the midmorning sun in the narrow expanse. By noon Sahadeva knew the stones beneath his callused feet would be blistering.

At the other end of the alley, he a saw the harbor spread out before him. Tall Roman galleys sat in the ocean. And there were more vessels from other countries.

Since he’d been a boy and his father had first allowed him to help drive goats to market, Sahadeva had loved the sea. The sailors with their stories of foreign lands and exotic sights had filled his head. When he’d talked to his father about such things, his father had told him to quit wasting his time dreaming. He’d said a goatherd would never have enough money to buy a ship, and taking passage on one as a sailor was nothing short of slavery.

Things change, Father, Sahadeva thought grimly. He approached a man arranging a cart filled with woven baskets. “Sir,” he said. “I’m looking for Harshad the jeweler.”

The man stroked his fingers in his long beard then pointed. “Harshad’s shop is in the next street. On the right.”

Sahadeva thanked him and got moving again. The crowd was thinner. He didn’t think the men who pursued them would do anything here, but there were no guarantees. They were desperate men. He’d taken more than Jyotsna when he’d left their city.

A BURLY MAN STOOD guard at the jeweler’s door. He looked half-asleep, but the sword through his sash was sharp and nicked from use. Scars showed on his thick arms.

When he started to enter, the guard put his big hand in the middle of Sahadeva’s chest and stopped him. “There’s no begging allowed in this shop.”

Despite his fear and the urgency that pressed him, Sahadeva’s pride burned. “I’m no beggar.” His hand dropped to his knife.

The guard smiled. “You’re wearing a beggar’s rags, boy. And I wouldn’t pull out that knife. Unless you’re ready to die.”

Sahadeva swallowed hard and felt his face burn with shame. “I’ve got business with Harshad.” He reached inside his shirt and took out a small oilskin pouch. Another oilskin bag was hidden inside the pack he carried, but thieves wouldn’t have wanted it. Still, he never left it unattended. “I have merchandise for sale.”

Sunlight glinted off the gold and gems inside the bag.

Jyotsna’s fingernails bit into Sahadeva’s arm. “What have you done?”

Sahadeva looked into her dark eyes. “I did what I had to so that we could be together.”

Tears glinted in her gaze and she looked away from him.

Sahadeva felt torn. He didn’t have time to explain. Jyotsna had always lived within her father’s village. She had no idea what the real world was like or what it took to live in it.

“Send the boy in here,” a man’s voice called from within the shop.

Reluctantly, the guard stepped aside.

Sahadeva moved forward. He had to pull on Jyotsna’s arm twice to get her to follow him.

Inside, the shop was small and heavily scented with incense. A thin man with graying hair and beard stood behind a counter. He wore a white tunic. Earrings, rings, necklaces, hair bands and gold-and-silver bangles hung from pegs on the wall behind him. Jewels sparkled in settings in some of them. Harshad smiled. “Welcome. What may I do for you?”

Sahadeva freed his arm from Jyotsna. He placed the oilskin pouch on the counter. “I want to trade these for gold coins.”

The jeweler spread the bag’s contents across the counter. Five rings, two bracelets and a loose collection of gems spread between them. Harshad looked at the jewelry with marked interest. “These are of very unusual design. Where did you get them?”

“I found them,” Sahadeva replied. “They were in the Vaigai River.”

The jeweler looked up. “Where in the Vaigai?”

Sahadeva shook his head. “There isn’t any more there.”

“Maybe you just didn’t look closely enough.”

“Then I’ll go back and look again.”

Harshad frowned. “You’ve been most fortunate, it seems.”

“How much?” Sahadeva asked.

“Are you in a hurry?”

“No,” Sahadeva lied. He’d learned at his father’s knee never to show impatience during a trade. A hasty man often got the worst of a bargain. A needy man fared even worse.

But what about a man who fears for his life? Sahadeva wondered.

“I could look at these and give you an offer tomorrow,” Harshad suggested.

“By that time I could get offers from other jewelers,” Sahadeva countered. “I was told I could get a fair price from you.”

“Wandering around the city could be dangerous,” Harshad said.