Abiral’s Goblet

By Cassandra Hamm

Sand flooded back into the hole Suresh was trying to dig. Cursing, he blocked the flow with his shovel. At this rate, it would take him a lifetime to locate Abiral’s Goblet.

Sweat stinging his eyes, he gazed around the dunes of Dryagana Mrtyu: Dragon’s Death. No movement, and most importantly, no sand dragons. Careful to avoid looking into the massive sun, he peered at the orange-streaked sky. Still nothing.

He had at least an hour until the dragons returned from sunbathing at the ruins. But his skin prickled at every unfamiliar noise.

Suresh began another hole. The sun beat against his back like flaming whips, each ray more punishing than the last. If not for the cloth covering all but his eyes, his skin would melt away like water.

His shovel clanged against something hard. He brushed aside the sand with gloved fingers. A gold handle? Could it be?

“I thought you would abandon your fruitless search.”

The low voice cut through Suresh’s concentration. He whipped around.

Rajani’s headscarf masked all but her golden eyes, but even those struck Suresh mute. Why did she follow me here?

“In the moonlight, I can understand,” the prahmukha’s daughter said. “But during the heat of the day, and in Dragon’s Death at that? Are you mad?”

“You shouldn’t be here,” he sputtered.

“Neither should you.” She extended a hand toward him––the first since the day he broke their engagement. “Come, Suresh. Let us leave this place before they return.”

“But I’ve succeeded!” He swept away the sand to reveal a gold cup studded with citrines. He bit his lip, remembering his mother holding this very cup. Before she lost the goblet during a raid and was demoted, plunging them both into shame.

Now he had found it again. Are you proud of me, Ama?

“Abiral’s Goblet!” Rajani leaned over the cup, her headscarf sliding to reveal large hooped earrings.

Without thinking, Suresh reached for the scarf, adjusting it so the sun would not destroy her. But when her eyes met his, they were hard as the gold she wore around her slender neck. “Now give it to me so I can return it to my buba,” she commanded.

Suresh clutched the goblet to his chest. This treasure was the key to regaining his status. If she gave it to her father, the current pramukha, Suresh would never lead his people––and never marry Rajani. Even if she still wanted to marry him.

“I should be the pramukha.” Suresh lifted his chin. “It is my right.”

“Now it is my right, Suresh. Would you deny me my path?”

He turned his face away.

“You don’t have to live this way.” Rajani reached for his hand. He jerked away. “You could still be my husband.”

He did not want to be the pramukha’s husband. He wanted to lead––with Rajani by his side.

His gaze caught on another shape poking through the sand—an egg the color of moonlight against sand, but as dangerous as the sun.

Grabbing Rajani’s arm, he jerked her backward. “We must leave now!” Gods willing, they would escape before the mother––

Wingbeats thrummed through the air, stirring the sand. A cold shadow loomed over them. Suresh looked up.

Blotting out the vicious sun, the dragon descended in a flurry of wings. Her scales glowed from her sunbathing––rays that fueled her fearsome flames.

I’ll die in a dragon’s stomach, just like Buba.

“How dare you threaten my child?” Her booming voice stole his strength.

Rajani’s hand found Suresh’s, even though he had scorned her, severing their engagement after his shaming. They interlaced their fingers.

“I didn’t realize your egg––child––would be here,” Suresh said. “We’ll leave before––”

“You knew setting foot here meant your death.” The dragon’s nostrils flared, her eyes burning with the fierceness of the sun.

Shame, deeper even than what his mother had passed on, filled his being. Rajani will die because of me.

The dragon opened her mouth, sun-fueled flames glowing in her throat.

“A gift for your armor!” Rajani tugged at her earrings and yanked off her necklace, then replaced her headscarf. “So the sun will favor and protect you.”

Suresh gaped at her. Now he remembered those long-ago lessons about dragons melting down gold and applying it to their scales to strengthen the power the sun gave them. Brilliant!

The dragon closed her mouth and sniffed Rajani’s hand. Suresh stiffened.

“Fine gold,” the dragon said. “But not enough to atone for your wrongdoing.”

Suresh slumped. Would nothing persuade the beast?

He considered the weight in his hand. Abiral’s Goblet, the treasure he’d sought for months. The key to restoring his place in his tribe, to marrying his love. Yet, he could marry her even now if he weren’t so prideful.

Nothing is worth Rajani’s life. Not even my honor.

“Take this, sandslayer.” Trembling, Suresh lifted the goblet.

The dragon prodded it with her scaly nose. Chest tight, Suresh entwined his fingers with Rajani’s.

“I will forgive your trespass.”

Suresh choked as Rajani enfolded him in a crushing hug. He rested his chin on her head.

The dragon clenched the goblet and Rajani’s jewelry in her yellowed teeth. “Be gone,” she snarled.

Suresh and Rajani turned and stumbled across the dunes. As Dryagana Mrtyu faded away behind them, Suresh slowed. The sun slipped slowly beneath the horizon, relenting from its golden tirade.

“You will make a marvelous pramukha,” he said.

Now that the sun couldn’t harm her, Rajani drew the scarf away from her face. Suresh’s breath caught at the sight of her golden skin and brown lips. Pushing aside his face covering, she kissed his cheek.

“Be my betrothed once more.” Her hand, now free of its glove, rested against his cheek.

He would not be the pramukha. He would be the pramukha’s husband.

“It would be my honor,” he said.

The moon rose above them, bathing the desert in silver.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cassandra Hamm is fascinated by the inner workings of the human mind. Her love for flash fiction inspired her to host Instagram writing prompt contests, which she holds every other month. She was published in both the Stories that Sing and Bingeworthy Havok anthologies and the Warriors Against the Storm anthology. As a retail associate at a puzzle store, she has full permission to be a nerd and get paid for it.

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