Shadow of the giant

worship the Destroyer along with Vishnu
and Brahma."
    "But I never knew that you served Shiva," said
Suriyawong.
    She had no answer for him. She used her cellphone and made
the calls. "They're trying to stop the men from fighting."
    Then there was silence between them for a while. She could
hear the barked commands of the Thai soldiers, forming her men into small
groups and beginning their march down the valley.
    "Aren't you going to ask about your husband?" said
Suri.
    "What about him?"
    "Are you so sure your Muslim co-conspirators killed
him, then?"
    "Nobody was going to kill him," she said.
"They were only going to confine him until after the victory."
    Suri laughed bitterly. "You spent this long fighting
the Muslims, Vir, and you still don't understand them any better than that?
This isn't a chess game. The person of the king is not sacred."
    "I never sought his death."
    "You took away his power," said Suri. "He
tried to stop you from doing this and you plotted against your own husband. He
was a better friend to India than you ever were." His voice cracked with
passion.
    "You cannot say anything to me that's crueler than what
I am now saying to myself."
    "The girl Virlomi, so brave, so wise," said Suri.
"Does she still exist? Or has the goddess destroyed her too?"
    "The goddess is gone," said Virlomi. "Only
the fool, only the murderer remains."
    A field radio crackled at his waist. Something was said in
Thai.
    "Please come with me now, Virlomi. One army is
surrendering, but the other shot the officer you telephoned when he tried to
give the order."
    A chopper approached them. Landed. They got on.
    In the air, Suriyawong asked her, "What will you do
now?"
    "I'm your prisoner. What will you do?"
    "You're Peter Wiggin's prisoner. Thailand has joined
the Free People."
    She knew what that would mean to Suriyawong. Thailand—even
the name meant "land of the free." Peter's new "nation" had
coopted the name of Suriyawong's homeland. And now, his homeland would no
longer be sovereign. They had given up their independence. Peter Wiggin would
be master of all.
    "I'm sorry," she said.
    "Sorry? Because my people will be free within their
borders, and there'll be no more wars?"
    "What about my people?" she asked.
    "You're not going back to them," said Suri.
    "How could I, even if you let me? How could I possibly
face them?"
    "I was hoping that you would face them. By vid. To help
undo some of the damage you've done today."
    "What could I possibly say or do?"
    "They still worship you. If you disappear now, if they
never hear of you again, India will be ungovernable for a hundred years."
    Virlomi answered truthfully: "India has always been
ungovernable."
    "Less governable than ever," said Suri. "But
if you speak to them. If you tell them—"
    "I will not tell them to surrender to yet another
foreign power, not after they've been conquered and occupied by Chinese and then
Muslims!"
    "If you ask them to vote. To freely decide whether to
live in peace, within the Free People—"
    "And give Peter Wiggin the victory?"
    "Why are you angry with Peter? What did he ever do but
help you win your nation's freedom in every way that was possible to him?"
    It was true. Why was she so angry?
    Because he had beaten her.
    "Peter Wiggin," said Suriyawong, "has the
right of conquest. His troops destroyed your army in combat. He showed mercy he
didn't have to show."
    "You showed mercy."
    "I followed Peter's instructions," said
Suriyawong. "He does not want any foreign occupiers in India. He wants the
Muslims out. He wants only Indians to govern Indians. Joining the FPE means
exactly that. A free India. But an India that doesn't need, and therefore doesn't
have, a military."
    "A nation without an army is nothing," said
Virlomi. "Any enemy can destroy them."
    "That's the Hegemon's work in the world. He destroys
the aggressors, so peaceful nations can remain free. India was the aggressor.
Under your leadership, India was the invader. Now, instead of punishing your
people, he offers them freedom and protection, if they only give up their
weapons. Isn't that Satyagraha, Vir? To give up what you once valued, because
now you serve a greater good?"
    "Now you teach me about Satyagraha?"
    "Hear the arrogance in your voice, Vir."
    Abashed, she looked away from him.
    "I teach you about Satyagraha because I lived it for
years. Hiding myself utterly so that I would be the one Achilles trusted in the
moment when I could betray him and save the world from him. I