11. Rajesh
RAJESH
It was torture. All of it.
Leela was alive. Very much alive. It was a miracle, sure, but it was torture because he couldn’t have her.
And yet, all Rajesh could think of was appeasing the Scorpion in his mind to ensure she wasn’t going to die as he flew across the desert in search of monsters to kill—or perhaps to let off some steam.
Rajesh focused on the ship’s pull as he took the wheel, guiding the crew over the dunes between the scattered rocky peaks. Night enveloped them, only the stars and the light of the twin moons guided their way across the red sands.
“Captain?” Tanmay approached the wheel.
Rajash clenched the wood, watching as Navya flew the ship. “Yes?”
“I…. umm… Well, we, the crew, were wondering if… umm…”
Rajesh glanced at Tanmay and arched a brow. “Raven got your tongue, second mate?”
“Maybe a little.” Tanmay fiddled with his fingers, pulling at the joints.
Rajesh sighed. He knew what the crew were thinking. Leela was alive, and there was the lore of the Scorpion and the Viperess. It was quite common knowledge among the Gilded Thorns. What wasn’t common knowledge was their legacy and how devious the Scorpion really was.
Devious, am I?
The booming, honeyed voice had always caught Rajesh off guard.
Of sorts, yes.
I am honored.
Having the Scorpion in his mind since his father died the night of the attack had sent him into a pit of darkness for years. But he knew what the Scorpion wanted, or rather, waited for.
“Spit it out,” Rajesh said to Tanmay. “We’re about to fight monsters, and the last thing I need is for my crew to not trust me.”
“Will you kill the Viperess before she enacts her revenge? Like the tale says?” Tanmay asked.
Rajesh glanced over the crew, scattered over the deck. They were acting busy with their chores, getting the ship ready to land or hoisting weapons from below. But he caught the nervous twitch of several crewmates, and he knew they were all too eager to listen.
Rajesh forced the same pleasant smile he’d learned to mask his emotions and chuckled. “Wouldn’t that be a tragic tale? Kill the woman I was set to marry just because she harnesses the Viperess?”
Cruel indeed.
Your opinion doesn’t matter right now, Scorpion.
“Well, yes,” Tanmay said. “It would. And we want to support you in any capacity because, well, you’re our captain. And as the tale says, one must kill the other.”
Rajesh was aware of the tales. All too well.
His entire life had changed ever since his father died from a severe sickness and he inherited the Purple Scorpion as the next leader of the household.
He now had the beast living inside his head.
He didn’t need to be reminded of how this was going to play out.
As selfish as it was, he wished it had passed on to Iravan. His brother would’ve better managed the harbinger Flame inside his head with his quips and charismatic charm.
“It will be fine,” Rajesh simply said. “There’s no need to worry about me and my future issues. The Scorpion wants what’s best for the kingdom, nothing more. Nothing less.”
“But—”
Rajesh let out a frustrated breath, cutting off Tanmay. “We don’t have time, Tanmay. We have people to protect. Monsters we need to kill. That is our job.” He turned to the crew, who were all tuning in. “That is our job!”
The crew nodded.
“Anyone else got an issue, or can we get moving?” Rajesh chided. He saw anger in his crew members’ gazes and grasped the wheel tighter. “No one is to touch her, do you understand me? If the tales are true, then I am sure the Scorpion will find a way on his own. No one touches her. Got it?”
The crew scurried off wordlessly. Some went downstairs. Others held onto the ropes to change the direction of the masts or the depth of the sails.
Navya’s eye caught Rajesh’s, the familiar glint inside stilling him. She arched a delicate brow and crossed her arms. He knew what that gaze meant. He had barely thought to talk to her since Leela arrived, and he really didn’t have time to fix this lover’s quarrel.
“Take the wheel,” Rajesh ordered.
Tanmay obeyed and swiftly guided the ship over the dunes.
Rajesh thudded down from the quarterdeck, grabbed onto the knob of the staircase, and turned in the direction of the captain’s quarters.
As soon as he was inside, he walked over to the table and sighed.
He worked his fingers through his hair, tugging on the strands to suppress the burning rage eating him alive.
The gentle heat of the Scorpion mellowed, but it was a constant reminder of the Flame that could control him.
At least, the Scorpion tried to control him.
Breathe…. Breathe…. Breathe…
Your emotions are shimmering.
I know.
Rajesh grabbed the edge of the table and leaned over, his head pounding and blood pumping.
He tapped his foot as he tried to calm his emotions.
He remembered all the strategies his mother taught him, to focus on five things in the room, to feel the soles of his feet and whatever they touched, and to just breathe…
Nothing worked. His anger reached a crescendo of hunger, like eager claws. Heat ran up and down his spine. The Scorpion curled in the back of his mind, always watching and waiting.
Rajesh burst. He swept the table, smashing everything to the ground. A clay cup full of wine splattered onto the scribbled notes with a loud clatter, and he grabbed the closest paper and scrunched it. He screamed into the parchment, ignoring the way his body succumbed to the emotion.
It was too late.
When his anger dispelled enough, he glanced at the paper and unfolded it. He’d grabbed an image of Leela, the one he’d drawn in charcoal to ensure he could remember the precise length of her nose, the way her cheekbones resembled the curve of the dunes, or even the tiny freckle by her right eye.
She used to be his everything.
His wonder in the wandering world.
She had come back to him. The same on the outside, but different on the inside.
So was he. When they’d last seen one another, he wasn’t a Vessel.
He wished his mother had never told him about it.
But only hours before the attack six years ago, she had told him he would have to become the next Vessel to the Scorpion—the one Flame who, when the dimensions split, latched onto the first man he saw and had since harnessed generations of Rajesh’s bloodline.
His family was cursed to forever serve as a Vessel to the Purple Scorpion.
Until it enacted its revenge.
Rajesh gritted his teeth and smoothed the paper out. He hadn’t meant to do it, but no matter how much he tried to suppress his emotions, they rose without warning like whirling monsters.
Shit…
Shit indeed.
What happens now? You want me to kill her, don’t you?
It is why I’m here. Kill her, and your bloodline goes free. I get to ascend back to the Awakening.
It was all Rajesh had wanted. To get rid of the voice inside his mind, the one that had caused too much destruction. To use the Scorpion to rid the world of the monster-turning sandstorms.
He refused to believe there wasn’t another way to get rid of the Scorpion. He’d been trying so hard to find an artifact strong enough to destroy the Flame but not harm himself. Now that the Viperess was using Leela as its Vessel, he needed to pick up the chase again.
He had to find the wish-fulfilling tree.
It was the only thing capable of granting his unattainable wish.
But he had tried, for years, and so had his father and grandfather before him, to find that fucking tree.
It was impossible to find an artifact said to have dropped from the Awakening gardens and sprouted in the earthen plains.
Especially when Rajesh was tied to the desert kingdoms, to Nihikia.
Indeed, impossible.
Shut the fuck up.
The Scorpion chuckled, the sound low and vibrating throughout Rajesh’s skull like a drum.
No. He wasn’t ready to give up.
He scrunched the paper and let the anger, for the first time, control him. He needed to feel it, to breathe in the idea of his revenge. To ignite the fury. To start his mission once again and find this wish-fulfilling tree, or at least find a way to help Leela control the Viperess.
Whatever it took.
There might be a way.
Shut up.
What if I told you I could help Leela?
Rajesh steadied himself against the table. What do you suggest?
I’ll help you train Leela to never let the Viperess control her.
That way, she’s stuck in Leela’s mind forever.
I see it as a win-win situation here. Me alive in your mind.
Us working together to control her. You’d be able to be near your dearest love.
Who else is strong enough to really help her? Your crew?
Rajesh hadn’t given a thought on who would train her.
He’d stormed off without giving a second glance.
He could help Leela. Admittedly, he was the strongest of the Vessels in the guild.
His mental capabilities and the way he held the Scorpion back with generational knowledge were just some of the reasons.
It seemed like the proper solution. No one else came to mind when he ran through the list of people he knew. None were capable of holding back a Flame like the Viperess.
Fi—
Before Rajesh could even take a breath, the ship lurched and groaned, and shouts were emitted from the deck. He stumbled forward, smashing into the table. Steadying his footing, he burst out of the captain’s quarters.
He froze, his hand tightening on the doorknob. Giant yellow eyes bore down on the crew. Emerald scales glinted in the moonslight as Rajesh traced the mammoth, its elongated neck down to the long tail which ended in another head.
A two-headed angstent.
The monster reared its two heads back. Multiple curved horns cut at the skies as the snake-like creature sank into the desert sands.
“MOVE!” Rajesh called. “FLY US OUT OF THIS NAVYA! EVERYONE ELSE, WEAPONS! VESSELS!”