The Archer's Heart (15 page)

“Kneel down,” Keshan hissed. “This is Mendraz, King of the Yashvas.”

Jandu dropped to his knees and bowed his head. His mind reeled. He had only met a few Yashvas before, and none had been on fire. The Yashva king radiated no heat, only light. Jandu chanced a glance up at Mendraz’s face, and quickly looked back down at the dry soil. The king had yellow spiraling irises. Looking into them gave Jandu vertigo.

“I am sick, and need help,” Mendraz said, his voice booming above Jandu like thunder. “I must consume the sacred Hedravan tree which grows in this forest. I sent Zandi to fetch it for me but she was unable to defeat Koraz.”

Keshan lifted his head and brought his palms together in supplication. “I am sure Prince Jandu can get you whatever you need.” Keshan stared pointedly at Jandu.

Jandu lifted his head. “Of course, your highness! You may take whatever you need.”

“Every time I attempt to consume the Hedravan, Koraz extinguishes my blaze with rain.”

“I could recite the Korazsharta,” Jandu blurted. It worked before.

Mendraz’s melting face seemed to almost smile. “Yes, I have heard of the mortal who outsmarted Koraz. You have become legendary amongst our people. But such trickery will not work a second time. Koraz has allies in the Yashva world that will protect the forest. I need you to help me as I feed.”

“Of course, my lord. We are yours to command.” Keshan bowed low once more.

Mendraz’s fire curled forth in bulging rolls of pale blue flame. “Keep my fire burning. Do not let it go out.”

 “How exactly are we supposed to stop the rain from falling?” Jandu shouted above the roar of the flame. Already dark clouds formed over their heads and the summer air turned cold.

Beside him, Keshan broke out in a wicked grin. “Maybe you should just help King Mendraz start a bigger fire.”

“What?”

“Koraz won’t stop one tree from burning when the whole forest is on fire.” Keshan overturned the picnic basket and extracted a jar of olive oil. “Give me an arrow!”

Jandu complied and Keshan dipped the tip of the arrow into the oil. Then with a word Keshan set the arrowhead alight.

“Fire at the grass,” Keshan instructed.

“This is insane!” Jandu bellowed. “I can’t burn down my own forest.”

“Trust me! ”

Jandu loosed the blazing arrow. Where it slammed into the undergrowth spires of white-hot flames shot up. Keshan ignited arrow after arrow and Jandu fired in a wide perimeter. Sparks and fire ignited the tinder-dry wood. Smoke rolled outwards in black clouds and the trees crackled as they were engulfed in shooting flames. Deer shot from the brush in panicked herds.

 The sky opened up and rain pounded down on Jandu. In the distance he saw Mendraz’s flame weaken. Jandu aimed an oil-soaked arrow at the tree and fired. The arrow pierced through the sky, whistling, then sank into the tree’s trunk, igniting the bark.

Keshan handed him another arrow. The end of the shaft burned white-hot and steamed in the rain. Jandu shot another volley into the forest.

“We’re running out of arrows,” Jandu shouted, reaching into the nearly empty quiver on his back.

“Just keep shooting!” Keshan shouted back. The clouds intensified above them, swirling unnaturally, the rain falling as thick as a waterfall. The force of it drove Jandu to his knees.

Suddenly King Mendraz’s blue flames shot high into the sky, piercing the dark clouds and searing them away to vapor. The rain instantly stopped, and steam hovered over the darkened landscape.

Jandu dragged in a deep breath and staggered to his feet. Keshan put his arm around him as they watched the forest burn. Mendraz’s flames licked even higher. The forest was consumed. The world itself seemed to burn. Sparks danced in the air like mosquitoes, circling above Keshan and Jandu’s heads.

Jandu and Keshan quickly dried in the heat of the nearby blaze.

“Step back from the fire, I’m afraid you’ll get burned,” Keshan told Jandu, motioning him further away. They departed the hot noise of the conflagration and made their way back down to the river’s edge. They watched King Mendraz devour tree after tree. The sun set and the world became illuminated by eerie flickering light. Keshan checked on the horses and Jandu gathered their scattered belongings back into the car of the chariot. Jandu’s arms ached, but he felt happier than he had his entire life.
This
was what he was meant to do.
This
was who he was. Fighting beside Keshan, with a magical bow, defending the king of the Yashvas. How much better could life be?

Jandu heard footsteps behind him and whirled at the intruder.

Mendraz stood before them, huge and magnificent.

Mendraz’s face remained blurred. His body shimmered in and out of focus, dark brown one minute, and blue the next. His eyes were impossible to focus upon, spiraling inwards. He wore the fine gold and silver of any king, but like Zandi, this metal seemed to swim, it phosphoresced and shifted as if liquid.

Jandu and Keshan immediately knelt before him.

 “In gratitude for your assistance, please accept a gift.” Mendraz didn’t move. But he whispered a series of words, too quickly for Jandu to understand. And before him there appeared a quiver of arrows.

Jandu continued to kneel, eyeing the quiver expectantly.

“It is inexhaustible,” Mendraz explained. “So you will never again fear you’ve run out of arrows.”

Jandu itched to reach out and grab the quiver. Instead he bowed his head. “Thank you, my lord.”

“And for you, Keshan,” Mendraz said. “I grant you use of my chariot. Repeat after me and you may summon the chariot at your will.”

Mendraz recited a complex string of commands. Before Jandu and Keshan, a gold lacquered chariot coalesced from the air, opulent with precious gems, its thick iron wheels covered in Yashva symbols.

Keshan repeated the complicated string of Yashva sounds. Jandu looked up, admiring the golden glow of Keshan’s skin in the flickering light of the forest embers. When Keshan finished the sharta, the chariot disappeared once more.

“I accept this gift with honor, my lord,” Keshan said.

Mendraz’s body radiated blue light. He offered them a peace sign, and then vanished from their sight.

The forest ruins smoldered. Only blackened roots and branches remained. A gust of wind shot hot sparks from the forest floor, filling the sky with dancing red lights.

Jandu looked at Keshan shyly. He lifted the inexhaustible quiver.

“I can’t believe he gave me this.” The pliant soft leather quiver was densely packed with arrows. He pulled one out, admiring their elegant fletching. To his surprise, his initials were already carved into each shaft.

“You deserve it,” Keshan said. His voice had gotten husky. “You fought magnificently today.”

“And you.” Jandu put Zandi and the quiver down on a rock and turned to Keshan.

The winds died down, and ashes no longer blew everywhere. All the animals and demons had disappeared. It was finally just them—alone in the small fragment of forest left to the world.

Jandu could smell Keshan, his earthy, coconut smell, mixed with the sharp tang of burning wood. Keshan placed his hands on Jandu’s arms, pulling Jandu closer.

Jandu’s pulse beat faster. Keshan’s touch brought a sleepy, rich fire throughout his body, like he had just downed several strong glasses of wine. Touching Keshan was inebriating.

The sky was completely dark. In the distance, Jandu heard a cockatoo calling its lover.

“When I look at you, I want you with such a longing that it drives all reason from my mind.” Keshan’s eyes were deep and languid. As Keshan pulled the two of their bodies together, a flare of pure longing burst through him.

“What are you doing?” Jandu whispered. Pleasure spread like warm oil from his hips where they made contact with Keshan’s, down his legs, pooling in his groin.

Keshan leaned towards Jandu’s face, and kissed him softly on the forehead.

“Expressing my love.” Keshan kissed Jandu’s left cheek, and then his right cheek. Jandu stood frozen, paralyzed between fear and desire.

Keshan leaned in and kissed Jandu on the lips. Jandu’s eyes widened in surprise as Keshan pushed his lips harder against Jandu’s, and then slipped his tongue into Jandu’s mouth.

Keshan’s tongue thrust deeper and Jandu moaned. He plunged his tongue inside, wanting to swallow Keshan whole. The feeling of pressing himself into Keshan’s hot mouth sped the heady waves of liquid desire through his body.

This was not like kissing women. This was unlike any other kiss he ever experienced. It was like he was melting. He filled Keshan’s soft mouth, feeling the hot explosion shake through him.

Keshan ground his hips against Jandu. Jandu’s fear resurfaced. He worried what Keshan would think when he felt Jandu’s erection. But then Jandu noticed Keshan’s own hardness against his thigh, hot and thick, demanding attention.

“Don’t worry,” Keshan whispered, as if reading Jandu’s mind. Keshan planted kisses along Jandu’s chest, sliding down his torso, until he knelt before Jandu.

The wind picked up again, sending Keshan’s jet black hair flying around his face. Keshan looked radiant and inhuman. Sparks danced through the air behind him.

Jandu’s whole body shook as Keshan pressed his hands against Jandu’s erection. Keshan undid Jandu’s dejaru, pulled out his cock and wrapped his lips around Jandu. Shock flooded Jandu, and then embarrassment, and then all emotions but pleasure disappeared. Keshan teased the tip of Jandu’s cock with his tongue, hot fingers gently massaging Jandu’s testicles, each touch sending a thousand spasms of pleasure through Jandu’s groin and up his spine. Jandu moaned aloud, unable to help himself.

Keshan opened his mouth impossibly wide and seemed to swallow Jandu whole. Jandu struggled to keep his legs locked. He rested his hands on top of Keshan’s wild black hair.

“Keshan...” he gasped, afraid he would stop breathing at any moment.

This was the feeling he had been craving his entire life. Keshan upon him, pulling him inside. Jandu moaned again, feeling his knees buckle with the force of his ecstasy.

He longed to get Keshan out of his clothing. Jandu gently eased himself out of Keshan’s mouth and knelt down.

“Let me touch you,” Jandu said, surprised at the thickness of his own voice. He had never been so aroused he couldn’t speak before.

Keshan smiled slowly, reaching up with his bangled hands and unbuttoning his vest. He undid the drawstring on his trousers and took them off carefully, each movement graceful and natural, like this was the most banal moment in his life, undressing for Jandu beside a smoldering forest.

Jandu’s eyes feasted on Keshan’s nudity. His body shone in the eerie moonlight like a pool of dark water. His skin seemed almost iridescent, and in the moonlight, appeared bluish. Jandu had never admired a man’s body like this, with such carnal desire, but now the masculine scent of Keshan’s flesh, the heavy width of his sex, the chiseled plains of his muscles, they seared into Jandu’s mind, making him tremble with need. Jandu ran his lips and fingers along Keshan’s smooth chest, down the cleft of his abdomen, watching Keshan’s stomach rise and fall with his rapid breathing. Jandu nervously touched the tip of Keshan’s cock.

Keshan shivered in pleasure.

“Jandu,” he said his name like a mantra. “Jandu…”

Jandu didn’t know what he was doing, so he let himself go by feel. He touched Keshan as he would touch himself, slowly stroking, and then brought his cock to Keshan’s so they brushed together. The sensation sent shocks of electricity along Jandu’s spine.

Jandu leaned down and put Keshan in his mouth. He had only imagined this, so he was unprepared for the sheer heat of Keshan’s skin. The soft, velvety flesh, so hard and warm, felt better than Jandu could have ever imagined. He loved the taste of him, a mix of salt and cloves and musky skin, he loved the feel of Keshan growing impossibly large in his mouth.

Keshan’s body tensed. He gripped Jandu’s shoulders and then he came, Jandu swallowing the fullness of it, the taste alluringly salty.

Keshan sat up and pushed Jandu down on the grass. He brought his mouth back to Jandu to return the favor. Jandu looked up and saw the stars and sparks and Keshan’s eyes, and then felt his groin shiver. Jandu exploded in Keshan’s mouth, a moan escaping his lips, unable to hold it in any longer, having to give in to the feeling.

Jandu lay back, feeling dead.

His body shook with aftershocks of pleasure. The wind against his exposed genitals sent tingles down his spine. Keshan draped an arm over Jandu’s bare chest.

“Keshan,” Jandu whispered. “I love you.”

Keshan responded by leaning over Jandu’s face and kissing him so sweetly, Jandu wanted to die from it. He could taste himself in Keshan’s mouth. As they dressed quietly, Jandu’s mind raced again. What had they done? Surely it was wrong. Shame burned deeply inside him for what he did. He loved Keshan. Was that how he should have treated him? Allowed him to kneel and pleasure him?

Keshan appeared unconcerned. He had a deeply peaceful expression on his face. His lips looked slightly swollen from their encounter, and the sight only enflamed Jandu’s passion further.

They harnessed their horses to the chariot and Keshan talked the entire way back, rambling on about his brother, about politics in Tiwari, and about his new school. He asked Jandu to come and teach archery there for a season.

Jandu could barely follow the conversation.

 “So you will teach at the academy then?” Keshan asked. He had a slight smile on his face, as if he knew Jandu hadn’t been paying attention.

“What? Sure.” Jandu blushed furiously.

Keshan leaned towards Jandu, his lips right above his ear. “You’ll have to stop blushing every time you look at me, Jandu.”

Keshan surprised Jandu further by kissing him quickly and deeply. A moment later, their charioteer appeared on the road ahead, leading a search party. Jandu thought he could see Baram’s armor among the gathered Triya and couldn’t help closing his eyes in dread. They had obviously seen the fire from the palace and, knowing that Jandu and Keshan were out there, assumed the worst. First an attempted assassination, now a forest fire. Yudar wasn’t going to want Jandu anywhere near Keshan now.