Bradan shook his head. 'I was watching you, not him.'
'He was fighting the other rakshasa,' Melcorka said. 'They fell into the sea together.'
'He's gone then,' Bradan said. 'I never liked him, but he was a brave man.'
'He was the best warrior I've ever met.' Melcorka looked at the sea with its litter of battle-wreckage. 'God only knows how we can kill these rakshasas.'
'We'll find a way if we can work out the Siddhar's riddle.' Bradan repeated it again. 'Use the steel from the west bathed in the water from the north to defeat the evil from the south when the sun sets in the east.'
Melcorka shook her head. 'I have no idea what that means. Why are these very clever people always so obscure with their sayings?'
'Perhaps they are so clever that they don't know they're obscure.'
With both rakshasas back under the water, Rajaraja regrouped the Chola fleet. He ordered the larger ships to resume their positions and divided the loolas, with some searching the battle site and the remainder returning to their primary tasks of scouting around the fleet.
'Forget the rakshasas.' Rajaraja sounded grim. 'We have the Thiruzha to defeat. Make sure we pick up all our survivors. I'll not leave any of my people for the sharks.'
The fleet sailed on, grimmer now with the loss of a battleship, grieving over the death of Kulothunga. As seamen buried their comrades at sea, marines sharpened their swords and counted their arrows. Melcorka perched on the ship's rail and began to clean Defender.
I'm not dead. Melcorka, we have a bond. I'm not dead.
The deep-voiced words resounded in her head. Melcorka looked up. 'Kulothunga? Was that you?' She scanned the sea; wreckage and the occasional dead body, a twirl of blood around a floating arm, the fin of a shark. 'Look! Over there! What's that in the water? It's Kulothunga! Is he alive?'
'Steer for that man,' Rajaraja ordered.
Kulothunga lay on his back amidst a welter of nautical litter, with his leg bleeding, a fresh scar across his chest and his sword still firm in his hand. Willing hands dragged him onto the flagship as morale soared.
'Kulothunga's alive! The Rakshasa could not kill him!' The news spread round the fleet to loud cheers.
'He's unconscious, though!' Bradan pumped the seawater from his lungs while Melcorka tended to his wounds.
'He has two deep cuts and a few bruises and scratches,' Melcorka said. 'But he's alive.'
'I defeated the rakshasa,' Kulothunga said, as soon as he stopped spewing seawater. 'After I cut off all its arms and legs, it could not swim.' He grinned to them. 'It sunk to the bottom of the sea.' Being Kulothunga, he preened his moustache. 'Am I not the best? I am Kulothunga, the best warrior there has ever been.'
'You fought well.' Melcorka kept her voice solemn. 'It is a pity you ended up floating in the sea so that a foreign woman and a man with a stick had to save you.'
'I killed the rakshasa.' Kulothunga lifted his sword. 'Nobody else can say the same.'
Melcorka nodded. 'I hope you are right, Kulothunga. I only hope that you are right.' She did not doubt Kulothunga's words; she only doubted that the rakshasa would stay dead after he had killed it.
* * *
Thiruzha lay ahead, with the walls of Kollchi waiting behind the island fort of Kalipuram. The defenders were ready, with the sun flashing on helmets through the ominous smoke that clouded the island. 'Now we will see how the Chola can fight,' Melcorka said.
'Bradan.' Rajaraja beckoned Bradan closer. 'Remind me about the defences of this island of Kalipuram.'
Bradan explained about the catapults, the boom and the bolt-firing machine.
'It is a formidable fortress then,' Rajaraja said.
'It is. You lost about a third of your fleet at Kalipuram,' Bradan said. 'By the time the remnants eased past, they were low in spirits and bereft of ideas, I think.'
Rajaraja grunted. 'You confirm what I thought,' he said. 'We will not make the same mistakes again. I will not lead my ships through a narrow channel under fire from hundreds of thousand archers and fire-throwing catapults. We will take Kalipuram Island before we enter the harbour.'
'That would be best.' Bradan noticed Kulothunga watching from amidships. He wondered what that warrior was thinking. 'I am sure Your Majesty remembers that I was only an observer. Any military man knows more than I do.' Bradan saw Kulothunga grunt in disgust, shake his head and walk away.
I never liked that champion, anyway. Bradan joined Melcorka in their cabin.
'Did Rajaraja tell you his plans?' Ever since the curse had been lifted, Melcorka had eaten sufficient for two. Now, she munched on a banana as she lounged on her bunk.
'No.' Bradan slumped to the deck. 'He listened to all I said and told me nothing. Kings don't often share their plans with me.'
'Nor with me.' Finishing her banana, Melcorka started on a handful of nuts. She looked up as the cabin door opened.
Kulothunga stood in the doorway with his sword at his side. Silhouetted against the dying sun, he looked even taller, with the breadth of his chest emphasised. 'It will be a busy day tomorrow, Melcorka. You will need some company.'
'I have Bradan,' Melcorka said.
'You need a man, a warrior, not a man who walks with a stick.' Kulothunga pushed into the cabin. 'You, Bradan, get out.'
'I am going nowhere,' Bradan said.
'Go, or I will throw you out. If you were not Melcorka's friend, I would kill you where you stand.'
'If you put one finger on Bradan, you will no longer be my friend.' Still gripping a handful of nuts, Melcorka stood up from the bunk.
'I thought you were a warrior. We fought side by side together. We have a special bond, you and I.' Kulothunga put a hand on his sword. 'A warrior needs another warrior, not a weakling who avoids battle.' He glanced at Bradan again. 'I could kill him before you drew blade.'
'Your weapon is too long to use in this
