Serpent's Kiss. Alex Archer

He reached inside his shirt and took out a small oilskin pouch. Another oilskin bag was hidden inside the pack he carried, but thieves wouldn’t have wanted it. Still, he never left it unattended. “I have merchandise for sale.”

      Sunlight glinted off the gold and gems inside the bag.

      Jyotsna’s fingernails bit into Sahadeva’s arm. “What have you done?”

      Sahadeva looked into her dark eyes. “I did what I had to so that we could be together.”

      Tears glinted in her gaze and she looked away from him.

      Sahadeva felt torn. He didn’t have time to explain. Jyotsna had always lived within her father’s village. She had no idea what the real world was like or what it took to live in it.

      “Send the boy in here,” a man’s voice called from within the shop.

      Reluctantly, the guard stepped aside.

      Sahadeva moved forward. He had to pull on Jyotsna’s arm twice to get her to follow him.

      Inside, the shop was small and heavily scented with incense. A thin man with graying hair and beard stood behind a counter. He wore a white tunic. Earrings, rings, necklaces, hair bands and gold-and-silver bangles hung from pegs on the wall behind him. Jewels sparkled in settings in some of them. Harshad smiled. “Welcome. What may I do for you?”

      Sahadeva freed his arm from Jyotsna. He placed the oilskin pouch on the counter. “I want to trade these for gold coins.”

      The jeweler spread the bag’s contents across the counter. Five rings, two bracelets and a loose collection of gems spread between them. Harshad looked at the jewelry with marked interest. “These are of very unusual design. Where did you get them?”

      “I found them,” Sahadeva replied. “They were in the Vaigai River.”

      The jeweler looked up. “Where in the Vaigai?”

      Sahadeva shook his head. “There isn’t any more there.”

      “Maybe you just didn’t look closely enough.”

      “Then I’ll go back and look again.”

      Harshad frowned. “You’ve been most fortunate, it seems.”

      “How much?” Sahadeva asked.

      “Are you in a hurry?”

      “No,” Sahadeva lied. He’d learned at his father’s knee never to show impatience during a trade. A hasty man often got the worst of a bargain. A needy man fared even worse.

      But what about a man who fears for his life? Sahadeva wondered.

      “I could look at these and give you an offer tomorrow,” Harshad suggested.

      “By that time I could get offers from other jewelers,” Sahadeva countered. “I was told I could get a fair price from you.”

      “Wandering around the city could be dangerous,” Harshad said.

      Sahadeva started gathering his treasure. “The ships are in. I want passage on one of them. Perhaps I can strike a deal with a captain who would trust his instinct for jewelry.”

      “Wait,” Harshad said. He sighed. “I’m only going to do this because you look like a good boy. Although some might question if you really got these things from the river.”

      Sahadeva held the bag tightly. He’d come to Harshad because he’d heard the man didn’t ask too many questions.

      “Come with me.” Harshad gestured to a doorway draped by curtains. He stepped through them and waved again.

      Sahadeva and Jyotsna followed him.

      “Just you,” the jeweler said. “Back here I only deal one-on-one.”

      Sahadeva hesitated, then turned to Jyotsna. “Stay here.”

      She pulled on his arm. “Don’t leave me.”

      “It’ll only be for a moment. You’ll be safe.” Sahadeva gently pulled her hands from his arm. Doing so almost broke his heart because her fear showed in her liquid gaze. “I’ll be right back. I promise.”

      Jyotsna wrapped her arms around herself. As she stood there, she looked incredibly small.

      Sahadeva made himself turn and follow the jeweler to the back room of the shop.

      “Sit, sit.” Harshad gestured toward a chair on the other side of a small wooden table in the back room.

      Sahadeva waved away the thick white smoke given off by the incense. Coils of the fragrant paste burned in every corner of the room. He sat at the table. The smoke made it hard to breathe and he immediately felt light-headed.

      Harshad clapped his hands. Immediately an old woman appeared through another door and delivered a tea service. She poured cocum squash into tall glasses of water, then left without a word.

      Sahadeva’s taste buds flooded at the drink’s scent. He and Jyotsna had subsisted on bread, goat’s cheese and water. Cocum squash was only available in April and May. He’d almost missed the season entirely. He picked up the glass and felt the chill.

      “Let me again examine what you have,” Harshad said. He smiled once more.

      Sahadeva saw the anticipation in the man’s face. Harshad clearly wanted the jewelry and gems. Slowly, Sahadeva emptied the pouch onto the table. The heavy gold smacked into the wood. The sound echoed strangely in Sahadeva’s ears.

      “You found these in the Vaigai River, you say?” Harshad examined one of the rings.

      “Yes,” Sahadeva said. He sipped his drink. The flavor was strong and cool.

      “You’re lucky. Many men have searched that river for treasure,” Harshad said.

      “I know.”

      “Some soothsayers still insist there is a secret city with impossible wealth located there.”

      Sahadeva’s heart thudded and his head swelled from the pressure. “I wouldn’t know about that,” he said.

      “It is supposed to be a city of naga s,” Harshad said as he moved on to examine a bracelet. “Half men, half snakes. Have you ever seen such a thing?”

      “No.” But Sahadeva knew well the old stories and legends told of such things.

      “They lived on an island, it’s said. Then the monsoon season brought a wave that broke their island and drove them inland. They tried to live on the mainland, but they worshiped snakes and practiced bloodthirsty rituals. No one would suffer them to live there. So they fled upriver.”

      Sahadeva listened without comment. He had to force himself to breathe. He wanted out of the room. Anxiety crawled over him at the thought of leaving Jyotsna with the burly guard. It was worse thinking about her father’s warriors lurking in the street.

      “Do you think these things came from that city?” Harshad asked.

      Sahadeva’s heartbeat became thunder in his ears. He was certain the jeweler could hear it. “No,” he lied.

      “Why not?” Harshad asked.

      “No one has ever proved that city ever existed,” Sahadeva said. No one had ever found the tributary Sahadeva and his friends had found, either. It went underground for a time, and if Pramath hadn’t gone hunting that morning they might never have found it, he thought.

      “Still,” Harshad mused, “there is usually some kernel of truth in those old legends.”

      Sahadeva said nothing. He pulled at his collar in an effort to get more air. Heat flushed his face. He forced air into his lungs.

      “I’ve even been told that the things that have been found from the naga city are cursed,” Harshad said.

      “Cursed?”