'We will do that, Your Majesty,' Melcorka said.
Chapter Sixteen
'So this is the great temple of Shiva?' Melcorka leaned back to admire the architecture. The building was larger than any religious building they had seen before, a massively elaborate temple with the exterior a montage of sculptures of gods. There was the four-headed god Brahma, Ganesha the elephant god and Hanuman, the long-tailed monkey god. As expected, Shiva dominated all. 'Somebody has gone to great trouble to build this.'
'These Cholas are a very religious people,' Bradan said.
'We think we are civilised,' Melcorka said. 'This surpasses anything we can build, or have ever built.' She stepped back to further admire the building. 'We have a long way to go yet.'
'We'll get there,' Bradan said.
The temple was set within an exterior wall that also enclosed a large garden containing fountains and smaller temples and other buildings. Melcorka looked around her in awe, never having seen anything on this scale before.
'Do you like it?' Although the warrior had an immense spread of shoulders, his height made him appear rangy rather than muscular, and he sported a magnificent moustache that curled across his cheeks nearly to his ears. The long sword that hung from his belt was only a finger's width from the ground.
'It is a most impressive building,' Bradan said.
'What?' The warrior looked confused for a moment and then shook his head. 'Not the temple. A temple is just a temple. One is much like another, bigger or smaller but all full of statues. I meant the sword. You must have come here to inspect Vijayalaya's sword.'
Melcorka did not wish to admit that she had never heard of Vijayalaya, let alone his sword. 'Vijayalaya was a feared warrior, was he not?'
The moustached warrior puffed out his chest and struck a pose that showed his profile. Melcorka guessed that same pose had impressed a string of women. 'Vijayalaya was the founder of the Chola Empire. He was one of the greatest warriors the world had ever known. Vijayalaya was greater than Sekundar, as great as Rajaraja and perhaps as great as me!'
'He must have been a magnificent warrior to be as great as you.' Melcorka hid her smile. 'Everybody knows your name. Why, even in Alba people speak about you.'
'Of course.' The warrior struck another pose that showed the depth of his chest. 'The name of Kulothunga is known from the Andaman Islands to the lands of the Chin and from the Ganges to Persia.'
Melcorka glanced at Bradan, who kept his face straight. 'Were you at the latest battle against Rajgana Fort?'
Kulothunga shrugged. 'That was no battle. That was a skirmish, hardly worthy of my attention.'
'Ah,' Melcorka said. 'If you had been there, would the outcome have been any different?'
'If I had been there,' Kulothunga said, 'we would have won. The King sent one battalion and a few auxiliaries to take the Thiruzha's border fort. Bhim's pirates humiliated them.' He strutted past the fountain, head up and shoulders back. 'I heard that the pirates killed all the survivors and nobody is sure what happened.'
'I saw the battle,' Bradan spoke quietly. 'I saw the Chola attack with great courage and the Thiruzhas fend them off with archers and catapults, fire and elephants.'
Kulothunga preened his moustache. 'You are a foreigner,' he said, with one hand on the hilt of his sword. 'Yet you do not look like a Chinese or an Arab trader. Are you a mercenary who fought for the Thiruzha?'
'I am Bradan the Wanderer. I am not a fighting man at all.'
Kulothunga's interest waned. 'If you are no warrior, you cannot tell me about the battle tactics.'
'I am interested in Vijayalaya's sword,' Melcorka said.
'You are only a woman.' Kulothunga dismissed Melcorka with a shrug. 'Why would you be interested in a sword?'
'I have been called a swordswoman,' Melcorka said.
Kulothunga looked her up and down. 'Yet you carry no weapon.'
'We are guests in the Empire.' Bradan put a hand on Melcorka's arm to hold her back. 'Your king requested that Melcorka should hand in her sword before we met him.'
Kulothunga's eyes flickered from Melcorka's feet to her head. 'You are very skinny for a warrior.'
'Melcorka has not been well,' Bradan defended her.
Reaching forward, Kulothunga felt the muscle in Melcorka's bicep. 'There is no strength in you at all. You would not last five seconds in a fight with me.'
'If I had my sword,' Melcorka exploded, 'I would show you how I fight, you swaggering buffoon!'
Kulothunga laughed. 'You have fire, my pale Lady Foreigner with the decorated face. I like fire in a woman.' He faced Bradan. 'When you have finished with her, I would like to try her out.'
Once again, Bradan prevented Melcorka from launching herself at Kulothunga. 'She is too much of a woman for you. You would not last the pace. Now, my brave warrior, where is this famous sword you speak of?'
For a moment, Melcorka thought that Kulothunga would draw his sword and kill them both. Instead, he laughed again. 'You evidently have not heard that I have as much skill with women as I do in battle. I will forgive you, as you are only foreigners.'
'And I will forgive you,' Melcorka smiled through gritted teeth, 'as you evidently have never met a woman from Alba before.'
Vijayalaya's sword sat in a special case, within a small building in the grounds of the temple. Protected from the elements by glass screens, the sword was long, with a slight curve to lend weight to the business end, and a green grip on the hilt.
'When I am old and done,' Kulothunga said, 'I will seek one last battle and die with my face to a hundred foes. Men will venerate my sword as they do Vijayalaya's. Our swords will be displayed side by side and people will come to talk about my exploits.'
Bradan winked at Melcorka. 'Men already talk of your martial exploits,' he said. 'And women talk in wonder of your prowess in
