‘You must be confused,’ Bheem said softly. ‘This game is beyond the comprehension of people like you, Nala. It’s the curse of royal blood. Duryodhan,’ he spat the name, ‘my cousin exiled us here to deprive my brother of his rightful throne. No doubt he planned to send assassins to take care of us. Every morsel of food we ate is first tasted, every walk in the garden done fully armed, every letter we write is in ciphers. Can you imagine living like that, Valka? No, you cannot. Every passing day it felt like assassins were closing in on us and we were a locked target, like parrots in a cage.’ Suddenly, the bitter lines of his face gave way to a smile. ‘Until you and your family came along. Six brothers and a mother,’ Bheem mused. ‘Five of us, and Mother. Your Caani is tall like me too, though after the fire it will matter naught. It was a perfect swap. War always has collateral damage, Nala. And mind you, we are in a war. A war fought not on the battlefield, but within these walls. You were a godsend. The perfect decoy for us to go undercover and gain allies for the war Duryodhan is planning. The bonus is they will find lac and resin caused the fire, and blame Duryodhan for an act he anyway meant to commit.’ Bheem seemed pleased. ‘It was all my handiwork. Now my brothers will never again doubt my intelligence. I’m sure you can relate to that.’

Nala could hear shouts of Fire! coming from the yard below, where tents had been pitched. There were screams for water buckets, the whinnying of petrified horses, the frantic barking of dogs.

‘You are trying to say something, aren’t you? What is it?’ Bheem moved his hand from Nala’s mouth.

In that moment Nala recalled all that he had learned about combat and self-defence at Meru. He bit into the hand that had so recently muzzled him. He sank his teeth into it with all the strength of his jaw.

‘Vayu’s teats!’ Bheem yelled. ‘You’re dead, boy! I was going to give you an easy death, but now you pay, forest scum!’ Bheem grunted and took a step back. Nala kicked him, missing his balls but catching him above the knee. Fuck! It felt like his ankle had snapped in two but Bheem had barely budged.

Growling, Bheem came at Nala. There was a crunch as Nala’s skull hit the ground. He spat out blood. ‘Fucking forest scum!’ Bheem’s enormous boot came down on Nala’s ribs, tearing a sick gasp from him. A barrage of kicks thudded into him, over and over again. He curled up like a worm, unable to breathe. He felt himself being dragged. The dark sky whirled. He was dragged back to the balcony and lifted over the balustrade. Nala kicked and struggled, trying in vain to stay alive.

‘Go back to the mud where you belong,’ Bheem hissed in his ear.