He saw Thorin’s eyes dart to something behind Muchuk. A coil of leather flashed. Muchuk turned, but it was too late. A leathery snake gripped his wrist, and uncoiled again with the ferocity of lightning. In that instant, he realised his right palm had been severed from his wrist by Ushas’s dagger-whip. The mandala shattered into a million tiny fragments that dissipated in the air.

Before Muchuk could shriek, Raith’s fist crunched into his skull. He felt himself fall; his head cracked sickeningly on the ground. The heel of Ushas’s boot came down on one knee, sending searing pain lancing up his thigh.

This is unfair! What did we do to deserve this? Muchuk Und found his last thoughts to be pathetic. Expecting fairness in this world was to expect a viper not to poison you because you did not eat it.

‘Toss him in, Savitre,’ Thorin screamed.

Savitre’s hand descended on Muchuk’s ankle and dragged him like a rag doll, leaving a bloody trail on the white floor. Muchuk tried to grab at Savitre, but all his power had leaked out through the holes in his side, the cuts on his neck, and the flattened bones in his legs.

‘I am sorry, Muchuk. I did not know,’ Savitre said.

Muchuk forced his head up. ‘Roll back into your hole, you piece of blood smeared shit!’ It wasn’t his wittiest insult but it was straight from the heart.

Savitre did not respond as he heaved Muchuk up the ramp to the ship. But Thorin did. ‘That was rude of you, Muchuk Und.’ Thorin’s face appeared before Muchuk’s blurred vision, looking pained, as if genuinely disappointed at his lack of politeness. ‘He really did not know. Do not think of us as animals, son. There is a reason, a necessity, for our actions.’

Muchuk felt himself hauled to a sarcophagus within the ship. His shoulder blades cracked against the bottom of the coffin as he was thrown in. He tried to spit at Thorin’s face but the spittle flew a short distance in the air before falling back into his own eyes.

‘Let me put your mind at ease,’ he heard Thorin say as a cold hand wiped the blood and spit from his eyes. ‘See, you learned much about us here – our weapons, our magic, our way of doing things. That mandala you used was good. Regrettably, you did not learn everything. The thing is, time travels differently here. You say you have spent ten years here…well, yes you have, but you see that is a century in your world. Do you understand what I am saying?’

A century had passed… All gone. His children. His wife. His kingdom. His life. The Daevas had cheated him. Suddenly, cold wind tugged cruelly at his hair and roared in his ears. He began to feel numb as cold water began to rise around him. He could feel ice forming over his eyes, his lips, his face, his body, each tiny crystal as pure as a star, prickling his skin like freshly cut grass. The lone tear that traced a difficult path through the grime on his face, froze before it hit the rising water.