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I’m in Shenlani.
Ukar? I call out, but there’s no response.
Ukar is my best friend, closer to me than anyone, human or snake. On Sundau, he could call for me from one side of the jungle and I would hear him.
Surely, if he is anywhere on this island, he must hear me now. He must.
Ukar!
I yank at my collar. The chain is clipped to a wooden pole in the corner of my cell. The metal gnaws at my palms, leaving painful indents, but it doesn’t budge. I crumple onto the cot behind me, flea-bitten and stained with smears of old blood.
I don’t want to wear Meguh’s clothes, but mine are drenched. Curiously, they don’t look like prisoner’s garb: I’ve been given a long silk tunic decorated with purple hibiscus flowers and artfully painted leaves. There’s a matching skirt, a sash—and a new mask too.
I dress quickly, but rather than tie on the sash, I hide it under my sleeve. I’d use my own hair to strangle the guards if I could. Thoughtful—but careless—of Meguh to provide me with a weapon.
Lastly, I pick up the mask. It’s heavier than what I’m used to. The wood is thicker and is painted the color of flesh, with fat red lips and eyelids shaded a lurid purple. Meguh’s color.
I feel sick just looking at it, and I hurl it into the corner. It hits the wall, and on the other side, footsteps clomp. The guards are back.
It’s the captain this time, judging from the gold trim along his vest. He’s burlier than the boy they sent earlier, and he’s got an impressive ivory-hilted sword on his hip. When he sees me, he laughs.
“Never seen a snake in a dress before,” he says.
Behind my back, I start unrolling the sash from my wrist. I won’t need much of it to strangle his thick neck, but I’ll need to be swift.
“Get over here. You’ve been invited to dinner with the king and queen.”
Now that’s unexpected.
I’d ask why, but I have other business. I launch myself at the captain, looping my purple sash around his neck.
Unfortunately, the man has good reflexes. His hand goes to his sword the instant I pounce, and he slices my sash into ribbons. I get a kick in the ribs and stifle a yelp.
“Careful,” he says. He points his sword at my chin, the blade scraping into the hard ridges of my scales. “The king doesn’t oft have a taste for snake meat, but he might make an exception for your little pet.”
A brittle understanding dawns on me. “Where is Ukar?” I demand.
“He’s been put away for safekeeping.” The captain smirks. “You’ll get him back, if you’re good.”
I stop listening. Ukar! I cry out. Ukar, my friend. Where are you?
Still no answer.
My stomach burns. No wonder they didn’t bother tying my wrists or binding my ankles. There’s no need. As long as Ukar is Meguh’s prisoner, I won’t leave.
The captain unclips my chain, and my shoulders drop from suddenly losing the extra weight. His smirk grows. “Put on your mask or you’ll scare the serving girls.”
I obey, but as he wraps a scrap of the sash over my eyes, I imagine the ways I could wipe that smile off his face. All end with me breaking his jaw.
I’m led through a labyrinth of passageways, blindfolded. I try to count my steps and remember things—like how the smoke of smoldering banana leaves stings my nostrils before we make a sharp right, or how the dirt under my bare feet becomes smooth sanded wood, then grass, then paved stone. But it’s a long walk, and it’s hard to remember what you cannot see in a land where you’ve never been.
The captain doesn’t warn me when there are stairs or rocks, and he laughs every time I stumble. I’m too focused on my escape to care. Only in nightmares have I imagined that my first steps away from home would be in Shenlani.
The wind becomes cool and crisp, harkening the arrival of dusk. Soon, the light seeping through my blindfold turns gray, like ash.
At last I hear the sound of dulcimer and bells. The music swells as I approach, joined by the buzz of male chatter.
I’m pushed onto a flat cushion, my blindfold is removed, and I find myself in the heart of King Meguh’s royal dining chambers.
