Chapter 2: Dev Ka Beta (The Elf's Son)

Chiku was not supposed to like the Pari.

His father had explained — explained with the particular care that parents used when parents were lying to children about the nature of their captivity: "Vinaya humari mehmaan hai. Mehmaan ko izzat deni chahiye. But mehmaan se dosti nahi karni chahiye — kyunki mehmaan ek din chali jayegi."

Vinaya is our guest. Give guests respect. But don't befriend guests — because guests leave.

Chiku had understood the surface meaning (guests leave) and missed the deeper meaning (this guest is a prisoner and your father is the jailer). Eight-year-olds understood surfaces. Depths came later — the later-coming that childhood's innocence protected against and that the protecting was: necessary, because depths were: painful, and painful was: inappropriate for eight.

But Chiku was not a standard eight-year-old. Chiku was a Dev eight-year-old — which meant: he had magic. Dev magic was: earth-based, the earth-based magic that the ancient Naag bloodlines had bequeathed to the Dev race when the Sundering had split the Pari into two kin (Pari — small, winged, light-magic; Dev — tall, pointed-eared, earth-magic). Chiku's magic manifested as: he could hear the forest. Not hear in the way that humans heard forests (birds, wind, leaves) but hear in the way that Devs heard (root-speech, soil-rhythm, the particular frequency that trees used to communicate underground through mycorrhizal networks — the networks that human scientists would discover millennia later and that Devs had heard since birth).

The forest told Chiku things. The forest told him: the Pari is sad. The forest told him: sadness in a small creature is louder than sadness in a large one because sadness did not scale — sadness in a six-inch Pari was the same volume as sadness in a six-foot Dev, and the same-volume in a smaller body was: concentrated, dense, the dense-sadness that the forest heard as: pain.

Chiku did not like pain. Chiku did not like that the Pari was in pain. So Chiku brought honey.

Every morning. For seven months. The seven months that Vinaya had been on the table — the table that was her prison, her world, the 60-centimetre-by-90-centimetre rectangle that contained: her bed (the hollowed wood with cloth), the crystal (the Unicorn horn that generated the invisible net), a clay pot of dried herbs, and whatever Chiku brought her.

Honey. Berries (the small forest berries that were Pari-sized — the sizing being accidental, the berries not grown for Pari but naturally the right proportion for a six-inch creature). Flowers (picked that morning, the morning-picking being Chiku's ritual — walk to the forest edge, pick the brightest flower, bring it to Vinaya, watch her face change from resentment to: something that resembled, from a distance, at an angle, in the right light: gratitude).

"Aaj yeh laya hoon!" Chiku — presenting a marigold. The marigold being: enormous from Vinaya's perspective (the flower was the size of her body), the enormous-flower that was a gift from a giant to a captive, the gift being: awkward, oversized, and sincere.

I brought this today!

"Chiku, yeh phool mujhse bada hai." This flower is bigger than me.

"Toh? Sundar toh hai na?" So? It's beautiful, right?

"Haan. Sundar hai." The admission that beauty existed even in captivity — the admission that Vinaya made every morning because making the admission was: the cost of Chiku's smile, and Chiku's smile was: the one thing in the cottage that did not hurt.

Yes. It's beautiful.

Tharun watched from the doorway. The watching being: the father's particular surveillance — watching his son befriend the prisoner, watching the befriending produce: complication. Complication because Rakshas would return. Rakshas always returned — the returning being: monthly, the monthly-inspection that the Usurper conducted at every outpost where prisoners were held. And when Rakshas returned, he would see: a Dev child who loved a Pari, and the seeing would produce: leverage. More leverage. The leverage that Rakshas already had (Chiku's life against Vinaya's imprisonment) would become: doubled (Chiku's attachment to Vinaya used against both of them).

"Chiku. Bahar ja. Jungle mein khel." Go outside. Play in the forest.

"But Pitaji, main Vinaya ke saath —" But Father, I want to stay with Vinaya —

"Bahar. Abhi." The command-voice that fathers used when fathers were: afraid, the fear disguised as authority.

Outside. Now.

Chiku went. The going being: reluctant, the reluctant-going of a child who knew that "outside" meant "away from the interesting person" and that "away from the interesting person" was: boring.

Tharun closed the door. Sat at the table — the sitting placing him at eye level with Vinaya (the eye-level being: accidental architecture, the table's height matching the seated Dev's eye-height, producing the disconcerting intimacy of captor and captive sharing a sightline).

"Rakshas do din mein aa raha hai." Rakshas comes in two days.

Vinaya's wings twitched. The twitching being: the Pari's involuntary fear-response, the response that wings produced when the body wanted to fly and the flying was: impossible (the crystal's net preventing flight, the preventing being: the Unicorn horn's particular power — nullify Pari mobility).

"Kya chahiye usse?" What does he want?

"Inspection. Har mahine ki tarah. But is baar — kuch alag hai. Usne sandesh bheja hai ki — woh tumse sawaal karega." Inspection. Like every month. But this time — something's different. He sent word that he'll question you.

"Sawaal? Kis baare mein?" Questions? About what?

"Tumhari behen ke baare mein. Bijli." About your sister. Bijli.

Bijli. The name that produced in Vinaya's body: the particular combination of love and terror that the loved-and-hunted produced. Bijli was: Vinaya's younger sister, the younger-sister who had escaped the Sundering's aftermath, the escaping that had made Bijli: free and hunted. Free because she was not captured. Hunted because Rakshas wanted all Pari captured or dead, and a free Pari was: an insult to Rakshas's control.

"Main Bijli ke baare mein kuch nahi bataungi." I won't tell him anything about Bijli.

"Woh jaanta hai. Isliye — woh tumse nahi puchega. Woh Chiku se puchega." He knows that. That's why he won't ask you. He'll ask Chiku.

"Chiku? Chiku ko kuch nahi pata —" Chiku doesn't know anything —

"Chiku jungle sunata hai. Jungle sab jaanta hai. Agar Bijli is jungle ke paas se guzri hai — toh jungle ne suna hoga. Aur agar jungle ne suna — toh Chiku ne suna." Chiku hears the forest. The forest knows everything. If Bijli passed near this forest — the forest heard. And if the forest heard — Chiku heard.

The chain. The chain that Rakshas had constructed: Bijli moves through forests → forests hear → Chiku hears forests → Rakshas questions Chiku → Rakshas finds Bijli. The chain that made Chiku not just a hostage but: a tool. A tracking device. The eight-year-old boy whose magic — the gift of hearing the earth — had been weaponised by a creature who weaponised everything.

"Tum — tum usse rok sakte ho? Chiku ko sawaalon se bacha sakte ho?" Can you stop him? Protect Chiku from the questions?

"Main Dev hoon. Rakshas ke saamne — koi Dev kuch nahi kar sakta. Woh hum sab se zyada taaqatwar hai. Hazar saal se." I'm a Dev. Against Rakshas — no Dev can do anything. He's been more powerful than all of us for a thousand years.

"Toh — kya karoge?" Then what will you do?

Tharun looked at her. The looking being: the look of a man who had run out of options and who the running-out had produced: the particular desperation that preceded either surrender or rebellion. Surrender was: safe. Rebellion was: death.

"Main nahi jaanta." The honesty that was: the only thing Tharun could offer when options were: exhausted.

I don't know.

Vinaya stood on the table. Six inches tall. Wings confined by the Unicorn horn's net. Magic suppressed. Body trapped. And she thought: this Dev — this jailer, this captor, this man who imprisoned her on a kitchen table — was also: a prisoner. Tharun was Rakshas's prisoner as surely as Vinaya was Tharun's prisoner. The chain that Rakshas built imprisoned: everyone. Every link held by the link above it. Every link holding the link below it. The only one free was: Rakshas himself, at the top, holding all chains.

The only way to free anyone was: break the chain. Not one link — all links.

"Tharun." Tharun.

"Haan." Yes.

"Agar — agar main tumhe ek raasta dikhaun? Rakshas se bachne ka? Chiku ko bachane ka? But — uske liye tumhe mujhe chhodna padega." If I show you a way — to escape Rakshas? To save Chiku? But you'd have to free me.

"Tumhe chhodne se Chiku marega. Rakshas ne bola —" Freeing you means Chiku dies. Rakshas said —

"Rakshas ne bola ki agar main bhaagi toh Chiku marega. Agar tum mujhe chhodho — lekin main bhaagun nahi — toh kya Chiku marega?" Rakshas said if I escape, Chiku dies. If you free me — but I don't escape — does Chiku die?

The distinction. The distinction between "escape" and "release." Escape was: leaving without permission. Release was: permission given. The distinction that was: a loophole in Rakshas's binding spell — the spell that was specific, literal, the literal-spell that punished escape but might not punish: consensual release.

"Main — main nahi jaanta ki spell aise kaam karta hai ya nahi." I don't know if the spell works that way.

"Main jaanti hoon. Pari magic samajhti hoon — binding spells samajhti hoon. Unicorn horn ka jaadu specific hai. 'If the Pari escapes' — escape ka matlab hai: leave against the captor's will. Agar captor willingly release kare — toh spell trigger nahi hoga." I understand binding spells. Unicorn horn magic is specific. 'Escape' means leave against the captor's will. If the captor willingly releases — the spell doesn't trigger.

"Tumhe yeh pakka pata hai?" Are you sure?

"Nahi. Pakka nahi pata. But — do din mein Rakshas aayega. Chiku se sawaal karega. Bijli ka pata lagaayega. Bijli ko pakdega. Ek aur Pari qaid mein. Tumhari guarantee kya hai ki Rakshas phir bhi Chiku ko nahi maarega — jab Chiku ki utility khatam ho jayegi?" No. Not sure. But in two days Rakshas comes. Questions Chiku. Finds Bijli. Captures her. One more Pari imprisoned. And what guarantee that Rakshas won't kill Chiku anyway — when Chiku's usefulness is over?

The question that was: the question. The question that every hostage-holder faced and that the facing was: the moment where the hostage-holder's loyalty was tested by: the hostage's expendability. Rakshas would keep Chiku alive as long as Chiku was useful. When Chiku was no longer useful, Rakshas would: the answer that Tharun knew and that the knowing had kept him awake for seven months.

"Do din." Tharun — the timeline.

Two days.

"Do din." Vinaya — confirming.

Two days to decide: stay imprisoned and watch Rakshas use Chiku to hunt Bijli, or trust a Pari's understanding of binding-spell mechanics and risk everything on: a loophole.

Two days.