Week 7 Storytelling: Amba's Ruin

(Magical Forest Image Drawn from a Midsummer Night's Dream)

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