by Samit Basu
‘It’s never been this high before,’ said Chancellor Ombwiri. ‘Completely unprecedented. Not even in the Age of Terror did the water ever rise this high.’
The fountain was empty.
The water was on the ceiling.
The Unkissable Toad, who lived in the fountain, was croaking in astonishment.
‘This means the dragons are awake,’ said the Civilian. ‘And if Danh-Gem has the Gauntlet…’
‘But Kirin has the Gauntlet,’ protested Maya.
‘And your friend Kirin, the other missing link,’ said the Civilian slowly. ‘The last of the ravians. Yes, I can only imagine the danger he is in now. I only hope his designs succeed.’
‘Unless he’s a traitor. Unless he’s working for Danh-Gem. Unless he was lying to you all along,’ said Asvin harshly.
‘You have no idea what you’re talking about,’ snapped Maya. ‘I don’t understand how you can be so stupid.’
‘This is not the time for arguments,’ said Mantric. ‘Do you not realize what has happened? Danh-Gem has risen again. Now whatever it is that Kirin is up to, if humans are to solve this problem, the solution lies in Asvin’s hands.
‘We must be resolute as we face the days ahead. Difficult times lie before us. I see great deeds, for both of you. For all of us. Savour this moment, you two. It marks the beginning of an Age.’
‘If Danh-Gem has indeed risen tonight, we will get to know by tomorrow,’ said the Civilian. ‘In that case, Asvin, tomorrow will be a big day for you. Tomorrow you will be revealed to Kol, and to the world. You will become its greatest hope. If anything can bring hope to the people when the dragons of Danh-Gem attack, it will be the knowledge that the Hero of Simoqin is on their side.’
‘I will not fail you,’ said Asvin solemnly.
‘I know,’ said the Civilian. ‘In this at least we have succeeded, this battle at least we have won. This may be one of the most important nights of your life, Asvin. A chapter is closed for you, and a new one is beginning. Your training is complete. Soon the world will know a new hero.’
‘Should I… write a speech?’ asked Asvin.
‘I’ve taken care of that,’ said the Civilian. ‘Don’t worry.’
They stood in silence, watching the water rippling in the dome on the ceiling.
The Shadowknife passed right through Danh-Gem.
The seconds turned into hours for Kirin. He felt the knife pass into the grey cloak, not even tearing it. He stumbled, he fell forwards, he passed into Danh-Gem.
He felt coldness, numbing, bone-chilling coldness as their bodies came together. Then a sudden, gladdening gush of warmth, of life as he passed through Danh-Gem, tripping, falling, landing on the ground heavily. He rolled over, his mind working furiously.
I struck too soon! He hasn’t materialized fully yet!
He groaned as he rolled up and prepared to spring to his feet. Now Danh-Gem was aware of him. It would have to be an open duel with the world’s deadliest rakshas. The element of surprise, his chief weapon, was gone.
He looked at Danh-Gem. The rakshas was not charging at him, hands raised, to deliver a killing blow. He had turned, and was looking down and smiling at Kirin, a mildly amused smile.
Then he laughed. Aloud.
A cold, dry laugh.
Danh-Gem lifted a hand to his hood and threw it back, uncovering his face.
And Kirin froze to the ground and stared in stunned silence.
It was a face very like his own.
But there was a scar on the left side of the face, from beside the eyebrow all the way down to the jaw. The face looked older than Kirin, the jaw was stronger, the eyebrows were a little thicker and the lips were a little thinner than Kirin’s. It was the face of someone who looked very like Kirin.
It was the face of Narak.
Hero finds book, apparently by coincidence. Book contains apparently trustworthy character, with strong resemblance to hero. Hero trusts book. Story moves smoothly, aided by surprising coincidences. But book turns out to be villain. Surprise, surprise, fight, hero battles all odds and wins the day. Not my own idea. Got it from a book. A human book, funnily enough, written by a young woman in Ventelot. Devoured the book. And her. Humans do have their uses, said the cold voice in his head, the voice that Kirin knew so well. But there’s a vital difference in our stories, Kirin. Because I am not a villain.
‘And I,’ said Kirin, standing up, ‘am not a hero.’
He lunged and swung the Shadowknife, but it passed through Danh-Gem again.
You can’t hurt me, Kirin, said Danh-Gem. The Shadowknife is my own weapon. Calm down, sit down, and listen to me.
‘No,’ said Kirin. ‘You fooled me completely, I admit. I’ve lost. I feel absolutely no desire to sit here and listen to you gloat. You shouldn’t have pretended to be my father. Just kill me quickly and do whatever it is you want to do with the world. I have nowhere to go, no one to go to. I don’t want to hear how you fooled me. You’ve won. Just kill me.’
Danh-Gem laughed. So you deny me the pleasure of the Long Explanation. You really aren’t a hero, Kirin. Any hero worth his sword and his big boots would know that the part of the story where the villain holds him captive and tells him every minute detail of his master-plan is the part where he gets the time to think of a miraculous means of escape. But you know there is no means of escape, there is no one to save you, and you ask me to kill you, so you don’t have to hear me go on and on about how clever I am. But I won’t kill you, Kirin. Because I lose everything if you die.
‘What?’
If you really want to know the truth, I can’t kill you. I don’t have enough power. You can walk away from here, and I won’t harm you. You are free to go.
But where would you go? No one in the world outside will believe you, Kirin. And you cannot use my chariot until I let you do so again. So sit down and listen. Simply because you will learn a lot if you listen.
Kirin couldn’t see a flaw in Danh-Gem’s reasoning. He sat down and listened.
My plan has come to fruition, and I am risen again. But do not celebrate this on my behalf yet. I may have risen, but I am not alive, Kirin. Your mother killed me. No one comes back unchanged from death. Not even Danh-Gem. I cannot conquer the world. I am, as they say, history.
‘Why all this, then?’ asked Kirin. ‘What was the point to all this?’
The point to all this was to give you a choice, Kirin. To give you a chance to rule the world.
‘Me?’ asked Kirin. ‘Why would you want me to rule the world?
Because I love you.
‘All right, that’s it. You’re mad,’ said Kirin. He felt lighter, somehow: he had lost everything, and the world was probably doomed, but he found he didn’t really care any more. He laughed aloud. ‘Of course you love me,’ he said. ‘It all makes sense to you, no doubt. But may I ask why?
Because I am your father, Kirin.
The clouds parted, and the full moon shone down again on the Circle of Darkness. Kirin saw the other members of the Brotherhood standing stone-stiff, with horrified expressions on their faces and awe in their unseeing eyes. Danh-Gem followed his gaze.
They will wake later. I felt the need for a private conversation.
‘What do you mean, you’re my father?’ said Kirin. ‘Even if I forget all the lies you told me when you were pretending to be Narak, I still remember my parents’ names. I am the son of Narak the Demon-hunter and Isara. All your lies cannot change that.’
True. You are the son of Narak and Isara. The thing is, I am Narak the Demon-hunter.
‘Make up your mind,’ said Kirin sternly. ‘You’re a ravian now?’
No. I’m a rakshas.
‘Well, it looks like I’m going to listen to your Long Explanation after all. If only to decide whether you’re lying or just insane.’
Very well. It doesn’t matter to me whether you believe me or not. Because I will never see you again after tonight. The power I used to make the book
you found is almost drained. I am here only because I could never care for you as much as I should have when I was alive, and I want to make up for that now.
‘You’re growing weak again? But my head isn’t aching.’
The headaches were my excuse for disappearing whenever I didn’t want to answer your questions.
‘I see. Thanks. Anyway, that’s the least of my worries now. So I’m a rakshas, not a ravian?’
No. I told you, Kirin, rakshases and ravians can both have children with other species. Remember the tales of the half-rakshas heroes? I even told you about half-ravians, how it was dangerous for them to travel between worlds. In fact, the spell that turned you to stone when the ravians departed probably saved your life as well. How could you pass through the portal to the next world? You’re not wholly ravian.
Of course, no one could imagine a rakshas and a ravian getting married and having a child, so I don’t blame you for being amazed. You are half-rakshas and half-ravian, Kirin. That is why you have a few powers of each, and lack some of each as well. You cannot control minds completely, like true ravians could – that power lies within you, but it is weak. And you cannot change shape like rakshases can. But you have mental power over objects, like ravians, and you can play tricks with fire, with light and darkness, like rakshases.
‘But I was casting human spells then. The spells I learnt in Kol, the spells a spellbinder friend of mine taught me.’
Human spells! Danh-Gem laughed. There is no such thing as a human spell, Kirin. Humans have no magic in their blood.
‘That’s not true. The spellbinders are very powerful.’
What the spellbinders do is rakshas magic, Kirin. That is why you can do spellbinder magic, too. The spellbinders have rakshas blood in them.
‘I don’t believe you.’
What do you know about rakshases, Kirin? Nothing. You know nothing except the things foolish humans write. There was a time, long before I came into power, when rakshases roamed freely among humans, in human cities. You forget that rakshases can change shape. Not all rakshases live in forests and eat humans. Many of us spent thousands of years living amongst humans, disappearing when people began to wonder why we didn’t die.
‘So if magical creatures are reappearing now, I suppose it means that rakshases in human form are walking the streets of Kol. Eating people.’
I myself think humans have only two purposes – food and sport. But not all rakshases are like that. Very few of us eat humans, in fact. Most rakshases didn’t like the idea of eating things that talked. They were the rakshas equivalent of human vegetarians. Many even married humans and had children with them. Many humans spent their lives not knowing they were married to rakshases or rakshasis. Spellbinders, sorcerers, druids and mages were the results of these marriages. They were mortal, but could work magic. Of course, the blood was diluted when the pure rakshases disappeared – today’s spellbinders barely have any power, and their lifespans are as short as those of ordinary humans. The spellbinders, of course, know nothing of this – they just think they are extraordinarily gifted. Typical human behaviour – ignore things that are staring you in the face.
‘Why didn’t you tell me all this before? Why did you lie to me?’
You wouldn’t have believed me. You don’t believe me wholly even now. And there is no reason why you should. But you would have simply thrown the book away if I had told you in the library that I was Danh-Gem. Because you have spent years among humans, Kirin. You believe that all rakshases are evil. Just as you believe that all ravians were noble creatures.
Kirin was silent.
‘Tell me more,’ he said. ‘Why did my mother marry you? How can you be Narak and Danh-Gem at the same time? How did you really die? Nothing makes sense.’
It is a long story, Kirin. A story I have waited two hundred years to tell.
First, let me make one thing clear. I am not evil. Neither, of course, am I good. I am a rakshas. I do not apologize for anything I have done to anyone but you. I make no excuse for who I am. Everything I did, I did knowingly.
Kirin nodded. ‘Go on. I have the time, and I’m supposed to be immortal. But if you’re really dead, and you stand to gain nothing from this, don’t lie to me.’
The truth, and only the truth, Kirin. Now listen to my story.
The story begins centuries ago when a young rakshas, hunting in Vrihataranya, saw a shining light a little distance away, and went closer to look.
When I reached the place where I had seen the flash of light, I found a young man lying on the ground. I was hungry, and charged at him in tiger-form, but even though he could not have seen me, he sprang up and out of the way.
Long I chased him, but he was quick, and he had mysterious powers. He brought branches crashing down on my head – sometimes he flung me back by just pointing at me. Try as I might, I could not catch him. I was fascinated – I wanted to learn these new tricks.
I chased him deep into the forest and he was lost. I knew he could be no human, that he was not of this world. I took human form, spoke to him and befriended him.
His name was Narak, and he was a ravian. A low-caste apprentice who had been sent from the world the ravians were planning to leave, to see if this one was inhabitable. As we walked through the jungle, I questioned him skillfully – he revealed all he knew about the ravians and their customs.
I knew right then that a new power was going to enter our world, a power that would change the world even if it did not seek to dominate it. And I was worried. I killed Narak and ate him, and then took his form. Days later, when more ravians came to our world, they found me. I told them the world was not fit for ravians to live in. But they were not convinced. They looked around, liked our world and decided to stay.
‘And you stayed with them, as Narak.’
The city of Asroye was founded in the heart of Vrihataranya. I helped in its making. My six brothers lived in Vrihataranya, and I would divide my time between them and Asroye. At that time I had no plans of conquering the world. The rakshases do not unite easily, Kirin. They are not hungry for power.
In the beginning I was fascinated by the ravians – I idolized them, and considered myself incredibly blessed because I lived among them. That changed later.
Their magic in particular amazed me, and I decided to learn it. My toys, made with rakshas magic, fascinated them, and they paid me good money, money which I put to good use. And then, one day, I saw the princess Isara.
I forgot everything else, and was consumed with love. I tried to abduct her in rakshas form, and she defeated me with magic but did not kill me. I returned to Asroye with a new mission in life – I resolved to win her hand. I resolved to be worthy of her.
My family was powerful amongst rakshases even then. In those years, we were waging war against the armies of Ventelot, who were trying to clear Vrihataranya to set up their foolish cities. As my power grew, so did our might. I learnt all about politics and war from ravian books, and put my new knowledge to good use. We began to expand our territory, and our power grew. Slowly, as they learnt to look beyond their own territories and immediate needs, rakshases from all over the world began to flock under my banner.
Kirin looked at the figure of his father as he paced from stone to stone, a distant glitter in his eyes.
One day, my brothers brought me news of a magical Gauntlet in Xi’en. A Gauntlet that would let its wearer control dragons. As soon as I heard of it, I desired it madly. I journeyed to Xi’en, and after great hardships, dug through the mountain and stole the Gauntlet. The dragons bowed to me, and I was drunk with power. I lost control then for a while, and did many cruel things that I bitterly regret now.
In the years I had spent in Asroye, I had managed to meet princess Isara a few times – she often bought toys from me, and we became friends. Every day I fell deeper and deeper in love with her. And I thought she returned my love, but was afraid to acknowledge it. And when I had the Gauntlet, I decided I would conquer the whole world a
nd present myself as its ruler to the ravian king. That, I thought, would make me worthy of her even in his eyes.
And then I suddenly found allies all over the world. The asur-vaman wars had just taken place, and the vamans had established themselves as rulers of the underworld. The asurs had nowhere to go. Humans hated and feared them. And when they heard of the ravians, who had begun to venture forth and meet the rest of the world, they thought the ravians would give them the shelter they so badly needed.
Ignorant fools. The ravians thought the asurs were the most despicable creatures they had ever seen. They hunted them like animals, Kirin, and filled the plains south of Vrihataranya with asur carcasses, for the ravians were mighty sorcerers and wielded terrible weapons. So where did the asurs go? They came to the new rakshas-lord whose fame was beginning to spread all over the world, the only ruler who cared not that they were ugly and barbaric. They came to Danh-Gem.
Kirin found himself nodding in agreement. He couldn’t blame the asurs for that. Or the pashans, for that matter. The way the Avrantics sneered at them even now…
With the asurs, we rakshases conquered Imokoi and set up a rakshas kingdom there. I learnt the secret of pashan birth, and I made the asurs build giant furnaces in Imokoi. There I raised my elite pashan soldiers, and was delighted by their strength and cunning. The first pashan I created, Katar, became my closest friend and companion.
The whole world realized that war was coming, and it was time to gather armies and build armouries. The humans and I happened to go to the vamans on the same day for help, for vaman craftsmen have always been the world’s finest.
The few vamans bold enough to come to the surface fought for the humans, but I gained a treasure as priceless as the Gauntlet – the Chariot of Vul. My problems were solved. The world laid itself out before me.
I found allies in Artaxerxia and Skuanmark – I fanned the age-old hatred that lay between these two kingdoms and Avranti and Ventelot, and used their armies to overrun Elaken and Ventelot. But I had no intention of harming the ravians. Neither did I attack Kol then, for they already had the favour of the ravians. Lord Simoqin used to travel to Kol often, and the power of the spellbinders was stabilized by his gift, the Heart of Magic.