Aru Shah and the City of Gold - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,29
that bad, is it? Aru craned her neck to look back at her trapped friends. In her head, she’d imagined everyone wearing matching expressions of LET’S GET ’EM.
Alas, it was not to be.
Aiden’s face had gotten squashed between Brynne’s and Mini’s shoulders, so he looked like an angry chipmunk. Mini’s glasses had gone sideways and poked her in the eye, so she was tearing up. Kara’s face had gotten stuck against her own arm. And Brynne had gotten so twisted, she was facing the other way.
When they took you out, a sharp rock bounced inside. I think I can open the net with it, said Brynne through their mind link.
YES, thought Aru.
Just keep them distracted.
By now, Aru had reached the podium. On one side of it was a rickety wooden chair, and on the other, a tall object concealed by tattered silk. She was forced into the chair, which faced a large throne where a vanara sat wearing a white wig and red robe. The creature glared at her.
“SILENCE!” it yelled, bashing a banana against the armrest of its throne. “ORDER! ORDER IN THE COURT!”
“Wait a minute…” Aru said.
“Where’s the defendant’s counsel?” asked the judge.
The younger vanara guard placed a rotten tomato beside Aru’s foot and then stepped back, announcing, “Present, Your Honor.”
“Hold on, you’re giving me a rotten tomato for a lawyer?” demanded Aru. “It can’t even speak! Don’t I have a right to, I dunno, better counsel or something?”
She wasn’t actually sure what she was saying, but she’d heard something like that in a movie, so it seemed close enough. Another vanara hopped down from the seats. He was dressed in an elaborate suit of banana leaves and wore a pair of sunglasses with one of the lenses punched out. He whispered to the judge, “Can she do that?”
The vanara judge shrugged and said, “Proceed with your questioning.”
The prosecuting attorney puffed up his banana suit, then pointed a furry finger at Aru. “State your name for the court.”
“Aru…Shah?”
“And what king do you fight for?”
“King?” repeated Aru. “None?”
“Nonsense! Which king enthralls your land?”
Aru considered this. “Uh…probably Tiger King, but I don’t think—”
“YOU SEE, MY SISTERS AND BRETHREN?” said the vanara lawyer, rotating in a circle to address the crowd. “Once more, these kings and queens and gods and men drag us into their foolish wars. And who ends up paying for them? Us! Why do you seek to destroy us, oh Aru Shah, subject of the Tiger King?”
Okay, Aru was not going to be able to explain this one. It was time to be honest. She took a deep breath.
“So, I think there’s been some kind of confusion?” tried Aru slowly. “You see, we’re not trying to destroy anybody…. We’re just trying to get to Lanka.”
The moment she said Lanka, shrieks rolled through the amphitheater.
Uh-oh.
Brynne, how much longer?
It’s going to take a bit! said Brynne.
“Lanka,” seethed the prosecutor. “The city where our woes started…and you dared to utter its name in our presence?”
“Sorry—”
“AHA! Our official apology from the humans has come at long last!”
The vanaras cheered, throwing down cherry pits and banana peels.
“Read out the defendants’ crimes against our people, counselor,” said the judge, bored.
The lawyer puffed out his chest. “Thousands of years ago, you demanded our help! Do you remember that?”
“I’m fourteen!” said Aru. “I wasn’t even there.”
“The god king Rama, avatar of Lord Vishnu, god of preservation, demanded our help, and we gave it, did we not?”
The vanaras cheered.
“He wanted to cross the sea to Lanka, and what did we do?”
“BUILT! BUILT! BUILT!” shouted the vanaras from their seats.
Built? thought Aru. Oh, yeah…She knew the tale. Rama had needed to get to Lanka, where his wife, Sita, was being held prisoner by the ten-headed demon king Ravana.
“The sea would not answer to Rama,” said the attorney, “so we threw rocks into the ocean and built the god king a bridge! But what did we receive for all of our efforts?”
The crowd went silent. A sea breeze blew through the amphitheater, rustling up dust and broken jewels. The lawyer turned slowly to Aru.
“When Lanka was set on fire, who did they blame? Us. When the prince of Lanka grew hungry, who did he devour? Us. When the world moved on, who was left behind and forgotten? Us.”
As one, the vanaras rose from their thrones. The only sound came from the drag of their tails over the stone tiers as they advanced toward Aru.
“You cut us off from the world, leaving us with nothing but scraps…” said the lawyer,