On the day the brothers' great war opened, a bow that eats a man's lifespan fell into a bastard son's hands. Instead of killing him, the enemy kingdom put a driver at his side, ordered to count every day he burns and send the number south. Yet the longer her column of numbers grows, the stranger it gets: the rein in her hand keeps going slack.
A sun kingdom where a tongue that has recited the mantra to its final step is feared more than any royal bloodline. The great war of nine brothers opens, and Kaladhanu, the forbidden bow that takes days off the life of whoever draws it, falls of all hands into those of Nishant, a bastard son. Rather than hunt him down, the enemy kingdom attaches a chariot driver to him, Urvi, under orders to write down every day he burns and send the tally south. Nishant can read what an arrow will cost before he draws it, and Urvi is bound to hand that cost to the south. What the two of them, sharing one chariot, choose to write in each other's ledgers decides who climbs down from this war with days still left.
- The moment Urvi, halfway through the tally bound for the south, rubs out the last line with the heel of her hand.
- The moment the price on every arrow shows itself just before the draw, and your hand stops between a three day target and an eighteen day one.
- The moment the watcher the enemy assigned you hauls the reins over in front of your brother's chariot, staking her own life ahead of your bow.
The moment Urvi, halfway through the tally bound for the south, rubs out the last line with the heel of her hand.
