Page 2 of A King's Oath

“Samarth, eraser?” Jai nudged him from behind. He reached inside his pencil pouch, pulled out his newest eraser and passed it over his shoulder.

“Wow, what’s this?” His bench partner chimed again, reaching for the miniature wooden horse charm fallen from his pouch between them. It was broken off from its keychain, a gift that his mentor, Maan bhai had given him after his victory at the Cartier Queen’s Cup. Samarth had been lucky to witness that match live at Guards Polo Club in Berkshire. Maan bhai — Kunwar Maan Sinh Devgadh and his horse Pawan had all but painted the ground in dust.

The shreds of his eraser blew from over his shoulder as Jai puffed his paper clean. Samarth blinked out of his thoughts andtried to turn his mind from Maan bhai’s winning tail shot. He had so effortlessly swung his mallet behind the horse’s hind legs and the next thing they knew — the ball was gone. Golden goal.

“Hello? I am talking to you,” his bench partner hissed again, under her breath.

“‘Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “far away across the city I see a young man in a garret,”Ms. Veda read out, all eyes into their Rapid Reader book. Samarth too focused his eyes there, in The Happy Prince. It wasn’t really the story of a prince but of a gold statue of a prince. It was erected in the middle of a town square. His smile was so bright that they named him ‘The Happy Prince.’ But he was also kind. So kind that he was talking to a bird, urging her to pick the precious jewels embedded on his body and take them to help the poor of the town.

“Hello…” his bench partner tried again but her voice was cut off as Ms. Veda stopped reading — “Ava, why don’t you continue from here?”

“Me?”

“Let’s make another tradition for the second term. Everybody reads our Rapid Readers in parts. Why must you only study it. Read it here, enjoy it. Go on, Ava.”

She cleared her throat and pushed to her feet, his horse charm still clutched in her hand. All eyes were on them, and his bench partner was confidently turning the pages of her Rapid Reader, smiling. Samarth saw how she was crushing his horse charm in her hand. He gently held her fist and her churning stopped. If she went any harder she would break whatever was left of it.

“Twelve,” he whispered with his mouth closed and was successful in prying his horse charm out of her hands as shefound the right page. But again, panicked eyes over a brilliant smile turned to him. Samarth rolled his eyes, pinning his finger over the line in his own book.

And without a hitch, with the most confident, impressive voice he had ever heard, she began to read —““Alas! I have no ruby now,” said the Prince; “my eyes are all that I have left. They are made of rare sapphires, which were brought out of India a thousand years ago. Pluck out one of them and take it to him. He will sell it to the jeweller, and buy food and firewood, and finish his play.””

Samarth observed how the class was silent. Even those backbenchers had stopped snickering. But then, they had all been separated, one of them right by his side.

““Dear Prince,” said the Swallow, “I cannot do that”; and he began to weep.”His bench partner injected all the emotion into her reading, her voice contorting with every word, making her look different from all the girls in the class, in the foyer, in school. Samarth forgot about his horse charm still clutched in his hand as he kept looking at her from his perch, his neck bent at an awkward angle.

“So the Swallow plucked out the Prince’s eye, and flew away to the student’s garret…”

She took a dramatic pause, her eyes now big as they opened fully. Had she been half-asleep all last term?

The shrill ring of the bell signalled the end of the period and she stopped.

“Alright, take a break. Have your water if you wish to. Ms. Nandini will be taking your Math this term. I have spoken to her, and all your other teachers. This seating arrangement will prevail throughout the term. Nobody will change theirplaces, nobody will switch partners. And I do not want to hear complaints about my class from any other teachers. I’ll see you in the last period.”

As the class loosened up around them, Samarth began to stand up and move away. She would want to go out and loiter until Ms. Nandini came. And he would get a few minutes by the window.

“Where are you going?” She pinched the edge of his tucked shirt and tugged.

“You will want to go and meet your friends, no?”

“Who friends?”

“Advay and Sanya and the lot.”

“They are not my friends.”

Samarth frowned, glancing over his shoulder as that backbenchers’ group got together again to share whatever precious chatter they had missed through the period.

“Isn’t that why you got placed here?” He asked, eyes still on them.

“No. Didn’t you hear Ms. Veda?”

“What?” He turned. And she was looking at him like he had grown a second head.

“I said, didn’t you hear Ms. Veda?”

“No.”

She gave him a look. A second of silence. Then shrugged — “You are not as bright as everybody thinks, Samarth.”

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