Destroyer of Sorrow: An Illustrated Series Based on the Ramayana by Vrinda Sheth

Author:Vrinda Sheth [Sheth, Vrinda]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Mandala Publishing
Published: 2021-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Destroyer of Sorrow

The dream visitation elevates me to the top of the blood-drinker pantheon. No matter how many times Ravana replaces my guards, they remain sycophantic. Every time I stand up, they stand. When I speak, they fall to the ground, hands outstretched. They fear and adore me—all because of the dream. All because I’ve had the courage to deny the throne, a prize beyond their imagination and grasp. Ravana sweeps through the gardens like a brooding shadow; he has heard about the guards being slain while his mother was distracted by the Pisachas. But Vibhishana has covered his tracks well. Still, Ravana suspects it, like an itch he feels but cannot reach. His own kingdom is in upheaval. That must be a good thing, the blood-drinker kingdom unraveling. And yet darkness is growing in the world. I feel it at the edges of my dreams, as if some important boundaries may dissolve forever.

An unexpected visitor comes unannounced. After eight months in her kingdom, Queen Mandodari deigns to visit me. She comes without an entourage, declaring her confidence. The guards don’t even need a signal from her to scatter. Mandodari stands silently at a distance. Her shoulders and belly are bare, a gem-studded cloth tied around her breasts. She has shining black hair, a gift from her mother, the Apsara Hema. Her skin is golden and her aura shimmering and so sweet of face, one would never guess her demonic nature. Among seven thousand women, she’s kept her place as Ravana’s primary wife, mother to his heir. Like Ravana, she has seen ages come and go. A year ago, her glow may have fooled me, but my perception has grown keen. No one can be his queen without matching his capacity for evil.

His other women look at me and wonder, Why not me? But Mandodari holds herself proudly, giving me a long, appraising look. With a husband like Ravana, her cunning has evolved. She must have presided over countless abducted females. She too is culpable. She certainly has not come to befriend me.

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