Krishna’s jaw dropped. ‘Yami’s mercy! They are digging!’ They are mining under the Iron Curfew! Everyone, leave the Keep now!’

As he turned to leave, he saw Ugrasen, still standing by the window. ‘Lord Ugrasen! We must leave now!’ he called urgently.

Ugrasen turned, a weak old man, a tired smile on his lined face as he nodded. That was the last thing Krishna remembered before the world plummeted around him.

I

The wind on the terrace was blessedly cool, and only faintly reeked of smoke. A stool and a cot were the only furniture on the roof in Lady Rasha’s quarters. Shishupal fidgeted nervously, watching the monkeylike clambering of the soldiers on the Iron Curfew. He was grateful for this exquisite, albeit accidental unobstructed view of the Iron Curfew, as well as the Keep.

‘The fighting seems to have stopped,’ Shishupal said. ‘Should we go out to check if we can smuggle into the tunnels? Are you listening?’

Eklavvya exhaled a sigh, wiggling his toes beneath a threadbare sheet. ‘Thanks to your unkind prodding, blissful dreams have indeed released Eklavvya from their ample bosoms into the frigid arms of undisturbed reality.’

‘What do you mean undisturbed?’ Shishupal frowned.

‘There may not be any fighting but we still cannot escape.’ Eklavvya rose wearily and stretched his back. ‘Not until the tunnel’s entrance is choked with cityfolk. Only then will we be able to slip in unnoticed. Though now that you have woken Eklavvya, he does wonder why do all sturdy things have to be so ugly. For all its strength, the Curfew is fucking hideous.’

As if offended, the Iron Curfew exploded. Flame-wreathed rocks scattered as a section of the Iron Curfew broke apart with thunderous reverberations. Then came another explosion and a blinding flash. The cracked section of the Wall was now lay flattened in a wave. Stone and earth rattled down like unseasonal hail over the ash-layered rubble of the Curfew

Shishupal threw himself down on the floor, his desire to look tough beside the Yaksha greatly outweighed by his desire to stay alive. He didn’t hear the thunderous sounds of the double detonations until some time later, because for some reason sound is slower than seeing. A vast crater now yawned between the jagged edges where the impregnable Iron Curfew had been breached. On either side of the vast crater the Curfew stretched, apparently oblivious it had been violated. Ash rode the breeze in playful abandon.

And then sounds of cracking filled the air. Shishupal turned in a trance towards the Keep that was connected to the Curfew. Cracks spread out on its walls like the greedy tentacles of a kraken. And then, before his disbelieving eyes, the Keep slowly toppled and slid onto the ground. Stones rained down from the titling Keep, pinging onto the roofs of houses and into the street below.