In the land
of Listheina, it was customary to leave all decisions of consequences to the
spirits of the land. People understood the inherent cruelties and selfish
tendencies of man and trusted the justice of nature’s raw power of any human
deliberation. Everyone from ancient kings to young children would call upon the
just spirits for answers of truth and justice.
In general,
the spirits would answer by simple means such as moving a token towards the
person they chose or lighting one man’s pyre over another, but on occasion, the question would intrigue these
sprites to take on an ephemeral, physical form for a time to answer the mortals’ petitions.
In this
kingdom, abundant with mystic power, there lived a king and his three beautiful
daughter, Umbre, Undanna, and, his eldest, Andra. For many years, they lived
happily together in the kingdom their father had built, calling upon the
spirits often for advice on the most just manner of ruling their people.
In this
time, the girls lived their lives freely, traveling, learning, and, in Andra’s case, falling in love. Andra, in
her travels chanced to meet a strong and handsome king named Shalva who fell at
once for Andra’s beauty and
grace, praising her for days on end, offering her lavish gifts and courting her
bravely, but love and longing were not the ways that matches were made in a
land such as this one.
Long down
the line, the girls father called upon the spirits and determined that the time
was right for his daughters to wed. He called a grand ceremony in which any who
wished to take his daughters away to marriage could come forward and try the
spirits will.
When the
time came for the ritual, the king called out to the spirits and begged them to
choose the best of men for his wonderful daughters. As soon as the call passed
his lips, a single suitor was enveloped in a glorious light, and the prince
Bhishma stepped forward seeming himself to be a natural force.
Turning
to the king, Bhishma demanded his prize.
The king stood agape and cried out to the spirits that they could not mean to
give all his daughters to one man. He shouted in anger at the air around him.
Suddenly, a shimmering, translucent lilac form glowed before him and chided him
in a voice terrible to hear:
“Your request
has been answered, mortal. Hold your tongue.”
Strength
sapped by the phantom’s terror, the
king conceded victory and his daughters were sent away meekly with Bhishma.
When they
arrived at Bhishma’s castle, Andra
fell to her knees and wept at Bhishma’s feet, begging him to send her to her beloved. In shock, Bhishma began
to understand that Andra would never care for anyone other than Shalva. He
immediately sent her in a carriage back to her lover’s castle.
Unfortunately,
it was too late. Shalva looked with pain upon the woman he loved and explained
to her that he could not bear the shame of marrying a man the spirits chose for
another, and he sent her out of his house.
Andra’s heart broken, she wandered the
forest weeping until a fey came and took pity on her, comforting her and giving
her shelter. When the sprite had taken her in, Andra begged her for answers,
explaining the cause for her agony.
The
creature looked ashamed and bowed her head, explaining that the truth she was
now to give her could never be told another human lest Andra spend her eternity
in torment. Once the girl had sworn her sacred oath, the sprite revealed to her
that Bhishma was chosen so readily because he was part god and was, accordingly
able to strike a deal with his kin that allowed him to be chosen over all
others. The mysterious woman explained that the fae knew of her love for Shalva
and the love he had born her in return. They would certainly have chosen him
for her if Bhishma had not had the benefit of familial ties.
At this,
Andra began weeping, and her hot wet tears fell upon the dirt floor of the fae’s hut and began to sprout blood red
flowers from the dirt. Andra gave in to all the raw emotion tearing her and
became engulfed by her own rage in an aura of hot red energy so powerful that
the celestial took a quick step back to avoid being burned.
Andra
turned to her cowering host and bellowed in a voice no longer human, “No man shall hear the words you
spoke to me, but Bhishma will suffer and die for his crimes!” Thus Andra became consumed by
vengeance and sought nothing else so long as she should live. She would be the
death of Bhishma, one way or another.
Author's Note: I really enjoy Amba's storyline, and I wanted to write a version that was very similar to the actual story with the main exception that I wanted Amba to have a clear cut reason for blaming Bhishma to the point of wanting him dead. I wrote the story in a sort of fairy tale format because I thought that employing an external source of justice would be an interesting society to explore. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.
Bibliography: Edified Amba's Ruin
