'I'd be careful of that title,' Melcorka said. 'Kosala saved us all when he held back the rakshasas and threw across the flask of sacred water.'
'Everybody helped,' Bradan said. 'When we face evil, everybody is needed.'
The wind increased slightly, rustling Catriona's sail and skiffing spindrift from the surface of the waves.
Melcorka lifted a hand in farewell as Bradan adjusted the sail.
'To adventures new,' Bradan said.
Tossing back her hair, Melcorka placed Defender in the small cabin. 'To a calm sea and a smooth passage.'
'Melcorka,' Bradan said, 'do you realise that Dhraji was only scared of one warrior, the best there has ever been?'
'I do,' Melcorka said. 'That would be Kulothunga.'
'No,' Bradan shook his head. 'It was not Kulothunga. You defeated his rakshasa. You are that warrior, Melcorka. You are the best there has ever been.'
'Nonsense,' Melcorka said. 'Take us onward, Bradan.'
'Which way?'
'Whichever way the wind takes us,' Melcorka said.
'That suits me.'
They smiled at each other as the wind bellied the sail.
Dear reader,
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Malcolm Archibald and the Creativia Team
Historical Note
Although this story is entirely fiction, the Taino and Kalingo people of the Caribbean were contemporary with Melcorka and Bradan. The Kalingo were fierce warriors and the Taino were a peaceful people, as Columbus discovered when he came across them, four centuries later.
The Chola Empire also existed. It was one of the more successful empires of the Middle Ages and at its peak, extended from the southern tip of India to the Ganges and included Sri Lanka, the Andaman Islands and parts of what is now Malaysia and beyond. Rajaraja was a real Emperor, but he did not have to contend with Melcorka or rakshasas. He did have a fleet and a powerful army to help spread his power, while his son and heir, Rajendra, led a Chola army to water its elephants in the Ganges.
Malcolm Archibald
Moray, Scotland, October 2018
About the Author
Born and raised in Edinburgh, the sternly-romantic capital of Scotland, I grew up with a father and other male relatives imbued with the military, a Jacobite grandmother who collected books and ran her own business and a grandfather from the legend-crammed island of Arran. With such varied geographical and emotional influences, it was natural that I should write.
Malcolm Archibald
Also by Malcolm Archibald
The Swordswoman
The Shining One (The Swordswoman Book 2)
Falcon Warrior (The Swordswoman Book 3)
Melcorka of Alba (The Swordswoman Book 4)
Jack Windrush -Series
Windrush
Windrush: Crimea
Windrush: Blood Price
Windrush: Cry Havelock
Windrush: Jayanti's Pawns
A Wild Rough Lot
Dance If Ye Can: A Dictionary of Scottish Battles
Like The Thistle Seed: The Scots Abroad
Our Land of Palestine
Shadow of the Wolf
