Heir of Iron

Chapter 18

(The picture above is of the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Tamil Nadu, one of several temples which inspired the description of the Majavaru Lurchatiya. Original from http://www.yatrastotemples.com/meenakshi-amman-temple-in-madurai-tamil-nadu/.)

Kirshta had brought the jaha board from Ruyam's chamber into Navran's, and they played every morning after Vapathi dressed him, before he got drunk. Navran was surprised to lose. He never lost at jaha---normally when he played for money, those who he challenged would soon insist that they switch to sacchu, where the dice would wreck him. But his games with Kirshta were long and tense, and he lost as much as he won. If they could play all day, he might not even need to get drunk.

But alas, Ruyam would call Kirshta and Navran into his chamber in mid-morning, and they would eat, and Navran wouldn't see Kirshta again until the next day.

Weeks passed in a drunken stupor. He dined with Ruyam every morning, returned to his chamber to find new jars of rice beer, drank up his courage, then asked for a sack of coins from Vapathi. He had discovered that the Red Men liked to play dice games at the Horned Gate which joined the fortress to the palace. He passed the day drinking, gaming, and carousing with his jailers until their discipline sent them down for sleep. He staggered bleary-eyed back to back to his chamber. Vapathi washed his face and changed his clothes, and lay him down in bed. The next day he did it again.

Where Vapathi got the coins, he never discovered. He assumed that Ruyam supplied her.

"Today," Ruyam declared one morning over breakfast, "we are going to the Majavaru Lurchatiya. You will come with me. Don't be too drunk."

"Why?"

"Vapathi and Kirshta will bring you," giving no indication that he had heard Navran's question. "They can direct you as required."

A vague unease stirred in his stomach. When he returned to his chamber, the jar of rice beer had been refilled as every day. He dipped his mug in and went to the window. Across the moat he could see the corner of the Majavaru Lurchatiya, its east-most outer temple crouching like a stone turtle beneath the gaze of the Ushpanditya. He heard footsteps enter the chamber behind him.

"Vapathi," he said.

"Yes, Navran," she said.

"What are we going to do at the temple?"

She let out a little laugh. "Is this the first you heard of it? The whole Ushpanditya has been preparing for this for days. But I don't know what you and Ruyam will do."

For days? Had he been too drunk to notice? But the activity of the Ushpanditya rushed about him, and he had no way to know if it had changed in tone or intensity. "Will Ruyam make offerings to the Powers?"

"He is not a dhorsha. I don't think that he will."

"Have you been to the temple yourself?"

"Of course." A note of gentle mockery entered into his voice. "Are you nervous?"

He grunted and cast his eyes down. He pushed away from the window and walked to refill his mug from the jar of beer. "I have never worshipped in a shrine of Am. I'm Uluriya."

It was Vapathi's turn to cast down her eyes in embarrassment. "I have heard the word Uluriya, but I don't know what it means."

"It means...." He swallowed the mug of beer and slammed it down on the table. "In my case it means precious little. It means that I don't know what to do in a temple."

"Then let me explain," Vapathi said with a gentle, indulgent tone. "You go into the shrine, where the dhorsha perform the rituals of dhaur for Powers. There are three altars in this shrine, to Am, to Ashti, and to Kushma. I always go to venerate Kushma, but Ruyam will doubtlessly worship at Am's altar. The dhorsha will sprinkle you with blessed water and smudge your forehead with the ash of the altar. Then you present your offering---"