Page 9 of Her Soul for a Crown
Help, she wanted to scream. But the word stuck in her raw throat. Tears blurred her vision. Thaththa hadn’t deserved this. He was a good man; the raja saw that. So where was he? Where were the raja and his army? They were supposed to protect them.
Perhaps the soldiers had gotten to them, too. Perhaps there was no help coming. Anula whirled around, breaths short and fast. Where was Amma? If there was no help, then only Amma could—
The Heavens. Amma was going to pray. But what if she couldn’t? What if the soldiers—
No.Amma had gotten out of the way. They’d both made it. They just needed a little help to find each other. They just needed the Heavens’ help.
“Great Divinities of the First Heavens, please save Amma. Save my village. Forgive me for taking Amma’s necklace without permission. Forgive me for drinking wine. I’ll never do it again. Please…save me.”
Anula spun on her heel. Still, no one came. Only fear and blood and weapons entering places they shouldn’t.
The Yakkas. She should pray to both the Heavens. Wasn’t that what most people did?
“Great—” She paused. Yakkas were to be bargained with, and only one at a time. But there were hundreds. If she chose wrong—no, she’d choose Amma’s favored. Surely he cared for her. “Great Blood Yakka of the Second Heavens, hear my prayer. I offer the fields of my father, my whole inheritance. So please, please, please save us now!”
A boom sounded behind her, and she jumped.Thejungle—Amma said to hide in the jungle. That’s where she’ll be waiting.Fleeing through the city streets, Anula ran past red homes and red stalls, dark lumps face down in dark pools, burning paddy fields, and smoking storehouses. She dared one glance over her shoulder and skidded to a halt.
The answer to her prayers rose high in the village center.
She choked at the sight, nothing left in her stomach to purge, her body as empty as the Heavens must be if this was their answer.
Why?
She stumbled, turned, and ran again.
***
Hours later, a trumpet sounded.
Anula’s eyes snapped open. Waking for the first time without Amma’s kisses, without Thaththa’s warm embrace, things she knew she would never wake to again. The gray dawn spilled over the smoking, charred ruins of Thaththa’s land.
Alone in a tree, Anula watched hundreds of men on horses and war elephants emerge. They thundered into Eppawala, gold, green, and red painted on their armor. The raja’s men, swiftly snuffing out the invaders, outnumbering them two to one.
“It’s too late,” she murmured to no one. No father, no mother, no baby sister or brother. “You’re too late.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. It was not the same as a hug.
Two men on horses paused beneath her tree. “It’s gone. All of it. The people, too.”
“As Prophet Ayaan foretold,” the other man snapped.
Anula startled.
“Of course, Commander Dilshan. I only meant the plan worked perfectly. The prince of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa wastoo busy savoring his victory to notice an ambush being set, and now he’s dead. The raja will surely acknowledge your skill.”
Her pulse quickened.
“Raja Mahakuli Mahatissa and I strategized together,” the commander said. “He will acknowledge nothing but his own grandeur. Now quit your flattery and ensure those fires don’t spread. Only Eppawala was meant to burn.”
The words razed Anula’s skin, set fire to her aching heart.
Only Eppawala was meant to burn.
4
Though centuries had passed since Reeri lost his life, the memory of it was sharp and persistent as a mosquito bite. He no longer counted how often his first memory surfaced, how often he had let it, imagining the gold-red daylight rising behind his eyelids, the chirping and buzzing and sizzling rousing him.
On the first day of life, he had opened his eyes to wood; above, below, and to each side. The floor was crammed with candles, fabrics, oils, and vessels.A shrine, instinct had thrummed.
