Victory City(13)

“Take us to our brothers at once,” Chukka Sangama said in his most commanding tones. “We need to explain to them why there is no difference between thieves and kings.”

In the throne room, Hukka Raya I and Crown Prince Bukka were getting used to their large seats, their gaddis, so jewel-encrusted that they would have been uncomfortable if there hadn’t been thick cushions covered in brocaded silk to sit upon. Hukka soon found that if he sat upright on the gaddi then his feet didn’t touch the ground, and he looked like a child. Therefore, it was better to lounge, and if sitting up was absolutely necessary, then footstools would be required. All these things were being worked out, to ensure the princeliness of the crown prince and the kingliness of the king. Chukka, Pukka, and Dev entered the royal presence to see the royal personage, their brother, experimenting with footstools of different heights. Bukka’s gaddi was a little lower. He, too, was learning how to lounge regally, and if he sat up his feet touched the floor, so he did not have to deal with the problem of dangling.

“So this is what it means to be a king,” Chukka Sangama taunted his brother. “It’s a matter of getting the furniture right.”

“We are disappointed in our siblings,” said Hukka Raya I, using, for the first time, the royal plural, and speaking to the throne room in general, as if it were a person. “Our siblings are unable to live up to the role for which history has chosen us. They are dark princes, shadow lords, phantoms of the blood. They are stale bread. They are rotting fruit. They are moons in eclipse.”

“As they are our brothers,” Bukka said, also addressing the empty air, “our choices are straightforward, but limited. Either we have them executed immediately, as potential traitors, would-be usurpers, or else we give them a job.”

“It’s too early in the morning to spill family blood,” said Hukka Raya I. “Let’s think of something for them to do.”

“Let’s give them a job far away,” Bukka suggested.

“Very far away,” Hukka Raya I agreed.

“Nellore,” Bukka proposed. That was on the eastern seacoast, approximately three hundred miles distant. “It needs conquering,” Bukka added, “and these three won’t be much trouble to us there.”

Hukka had a grander vision. “First Nellore to the east,” he said, “then Mulbagal to the south, and then Chandragutti to the west. Once you capture Nellore, Brother Chukka, you can stay back there and take charge. And Brother Pukka, you can have Mulbagal when it falls, and Brother Dev, you’ll go alone to handle the conquest of Chandragutti, and then stay put there. So each of you ends up with a kursi, a throne, and I hope you’ll be very happy. And in the meanwhile Bukka and I will conquer everything in between.”

The three disreputable brothers shifted their feet and frowned. Was this a good deal or a poisoned cup? They weren’t certain. “You get the treasury overflowing with pagodas,” Chukka objected. “That doesn’t seem right.”

“Let me be clear,” said Hukka Raya I. “I will provide each of you with a formidable army. An undefeatable force. On one condition: my generals will be in charge of the soldiering. You can sit back on your horses under the imperial flag, and after the battles my generals will put you on the throne, but in combat you’ll do exactly what they tell you to do. And after it’s done you’ll each have a province to rule, which is a much better option than stealing horses and worrying about being killed by the Kallar and Maravar gangs. Brother Chukka, you’ll have the privilege of worshipping in the Jagannath Temple at Puri. Pukka my brother, the great hero Arjuna’s temple will be yours. And Dev, your temple’s in a cave, that’s true, but to compensate for that, you’ll get the best of the three forts, an awesome hilltop fortress, with pleasing views on all sides. In addition I will provide each of you with a personal guard detachment, drawn from the women of the Imperial Defense Force. You’ll be safe with them, but if you attempt any kind of treasonous insurrection against the empire—against us—they have orders to kill you on the spot.”

“That sounds like a bad offer,” Pukka said. “We’ll just be your puppets. This is what you’re really saying. Maybe we should just refuse your proposal and take our chances.”

“You’re free to refuse, by all means,” said Hukka Raya I, not unkindly, “but then you won’t leave this room alive. You understand why. It’s nothing personal. Just family business.”

“Take it or leave it,” Bukka told his brothers.

“I’ll take it,” said Dev Sangama immediately, and the other two slowly, thoughtfully, nodded their heads.

“Be off with you then,” said Hukka Raya I. “There’s an empire to be conquered, and history to be made.”

The captain of the guard, Ulupi, as serpentine as her name, hissed at Chukka, Pukka, and Dev that the audience was at an end. Her tongue flickered between her teeth before and after she spoke.

“One more thing,” Hukka Raya I called after them. “I don’t know when we will see each other again, if ever, so there’s something you should know.”

“What’s that?” growled Chukka, the most discontented of the exiting three.

“We love you,” Hukka said. “You are our brothers, and we will love you until you die.”