Jump Then Fall | An Aru Shah AU

1

Aiden craned his neck to watch the royal messenger make his way through the crowded streets, though they were emptying quickly once they realized a large golden chariot was coming their way. Aiden got pushed to the very back, although that wasn't really a problem due to his towering height of 5'11".

"Attention, citizens!" the messenger called through a megaphone, amplifying his voice. The chatter of the crowd ceased immediately. "A young man by the name of Shakuni has been summoned by the queen. If that is you, please turn yourself in." The man waited a couple of minutes, before stating, "Severe consequences will be inflicted upon those withholding information."

There was a bit of a scuffle in the crowd, then a small boy was shoved in front of the chariot's path. He had gangly limbs, and even from a distance, you could see the outline of his ribs underneath his thin skin. The boy was wearing only threadbare shorts, and his eyes were dilated in fear. Young man? Shakuni struck him as more of a small child.

Shakuni stumbled to a stop in front of the messenger, his skinny knees shaking. He clasped his trembling fingers together, awaiting his sentence. His head drooped toward the ground in terror.

The messenger put away the megaphone and pulled out a list from a pocket in his golden robe. Even though he was far from him, Aiden could hear the messenger just fine. "Twenty lashings on sight, then bring him to me," the messenger read from the note. He then reached behind him and took out a whip. Shakuni whimpered with fear.

Aiden couldn't stand it any longer. He shoved his way to the front, ignoring people's grumbles and instead focusing on getting to the boy. If he made it before the boy got lashed, all the better.

Nearing the front, Aiden opened his mouth to make a rude comment, when an arm pulled him back. A feminine voice hissed, "What are you thinking? You can't just march up to a royal messenger and expect not to get punished!"

Aiden glared down at the owner of the voice. "Why do you care?"

"I may not be able to save the boy, but at least I can prevent you from becoming a target on the queen's radar," the woman grumbled. "But of course you deny my help, just like all men."

"Excu— what?" Aiden sputtered indignantly. "What do you mean, 'just like all men'—"

"Easy. All men believe they're stronger and wiser than women, so they refuse their help. This refusal is what gets them into foolish situations. Case in point," she huffed, tugging harshly on his arm and pulling him further from the action. In front of them, the young boy was on his knees, two angry red lines crawling down his back.

"But we have to help him! He's just a young boy—"

"We can't do much for him. Trust me. If anything, help will only make it worse." The woman rubbed her left arm tenderly, lost in memory.

Aiden took this moment of distraction to examine who he was dealing with. The woman (he really needed to ask for her name) had smooth dark brown skin, akin to the soil under their feet. Her waist-length hair was braided tightly and draped over her shoulder. Her clothes looked a little crumpled and grimy, but still in wearable condition. But the one thing his attention kept returning to was a thin white scar on her chin.

Suddenly, someone cried out. Aiden spun around and found it was Shakuni, the ground around him tainted deep red. His back had no skin left; it was all flesh. The whip was slick with blood, and it crashed into the boy once more.

Aiden frowned. That had to be more than twenty lashings. Just twenty couldn't do that much damage. The woman next to him had come to the same conclusion, for she whispered in his ear, "The messenger seems to be extending the punishment beyond necessity."

"Is he allowed to do that?" Aiden muttered angrily.

"When you're in the royal court, you can do anything," she said with a glare at the messenger.

Said messenger handed the whip off to one of his henchmen, who cleaned it with an old rag. The messenger then brought the megaphone back out to state his parting words: "Let that be an example for those who think they can steal from the queen." He gestured to his henchman to take the boy, and they crudely dumped Shakuni in the back of the chariot with no consideration for his injuries. With a tug of the reins, the horses began to speed back towards the castle in the distance.

As the chariot sped by, however, something bright and red was dropped out the back by the boy. The crowd didn't notice it; instead, everyone had resumed its activity as if nothing had happened, as if whipping a weak, young, defenseless child was right.

Aiden quickly picked up the small object. It had sharp edges and crudely cut corners, and sparkled like the sun itself. His eyes widened when he realized what it was. He'd seen it many times during big events and holidays, when the queen herself came out to visit her citizens. It was the ruby centerpiece of the queen's crown.

Beside him, the still unnamed woman inhaled sharply. "How did such a young boy come to possess such a valuable stone— and directly from the crown itself?"

"The crown is heavily guarded, isn't it?" Aiden remembered. "When it's not on the queen's head, it's locked in a vault deep underground."

She nodded. "No one knows where it is, except that there's a series of secret passages, then a maze, before they have to enter a long, specialized code to get to the vault. And the vault itself has high-level security past the other defenses."

Aiden pocketed the stone. "What do we do with it in the meantime? Should we return it?"

"I'd say that's the best option, but . . . the boy was probably hiding it for a reason. Perhaps we should sleep on it and decide tomorrow?" she asked.

"Perhaps," Aiden agreed. "But no one must discover this, or we'll be publicly executed. No one will know, right? I don't think—"

"Relax," she told him, laughing. "It's just one night. What harm could possibly be done? Now go and do your thinking, because you better have a decision by tomorrow."

Aiden exhaled. "Sorry. I just worry we'll get caught withholding such a valuable gem. I'll meet you by the pond tomorrow at noon?"

The woman nodded, then turned to walk away. "See you tomorrow."

Aiden suddenly realized something. "Hey, wait!" he called after her. "I never got your name. I'm Aiden Acharya."

The woman looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Arundhati Shah. But you can call me Aru."

~

ahem.

so.

we're not gonna talk about my disappearance.

anyways, hope you enjoyed that!

don't forget to eat, drink, sleep, breathe, live, vote, comment, and follow!

~dolphin