Christmas Jack-o'-Lantern

by Subhajit Waugh

  The banquet was followed by a ritualistic Black Mass.

  After the mass, La Befana occupied the podium, and spoke loudly in her slightly Italian tone “This gathering was arranged for a very special purpose. After decades of differences among different factions of witches, and rivalry between ‘Christmas Witches’ and so called ‘Dark Witches’, it is high time…” she glanced sideways at Jack with an imploring look on her face, as if she wanted to say no more.

  But seeing the stern look on Jack’s face, and the witch-spray can in his hand, she quickly resumed her speech “…it is high time to bury our differences and unite together”

  There was an instant, mixed reaction among the gathered witches.

  Sensing that the critical moment has arrived, Jack came down from the stage and asked reluctant Baba Yaga to come onstage again. But she was too reluctant to face the crowd again and even tried to escape.

  “Now that the festivities and feast are over, and their bellies are filled to the brim” Jack tried to assure her “they won’t resort to violence. They are too tired for that now after the wild dance”. But despite all assurances, Jack had to almost pull her hand to bring her to center-stage.

  “And now, I wish to make an important appeal” La Befana shouted at the top of her voice “I propose Baba Yaga’s name for the post of ‘President of all Witches Association’, the post which used to exist before our split”.

  La Befana took a pause, glancing at the stunned audience. “Baba Yaga is very experienced veteran and most suitable candidate for this highest post” La Befana shouted “I am sure you’ll all agree with me. Please express your opinions”.

  There was a resounding cheering among the dark witches, and an overwhelming protest among the emerald-robed clusters.

  “It is really unfortunate, that my own supporters are opposing me” La Befana shouted again “even though many others are rooting for my decision. If you continue to oppose” La Befana announced in a threatening tone “I shall resign from my post of ‘Secretary of Christmas Witches’ in protest. That is what my conscience demands from me”.

  There was a hushed silence among Christmas witches, while the black-robed witches shouted in unison “Long live Befana!” “Long live ‘Baba Yaga’!”

  Jack stacked the witch-spray can in his robe, stood near the podium and addressed “I request all Christmas witches to consider the fact that La Befana herself is extending full and voluntary support for Baba Yaga”. He gave a hardened look at ‘La Befana’ as a stern warning against any last moment change of mind.

  “La Befana is absolutely convinced that electing ‘Baba Yaga’ with a huge margin for President’s post is a must for public good” Jack said “Electing her unanimously will be even better. In fact it will be the best possible thing for all faction of witches”.

  “Let’s not let ‘La Befana’ down and force her to resign by rejecting her wise request” Jack continued “let’s all support Baba Yaga’s candidature for presidency. Cheer for her and for unity among witches”.

  There was a resounding cheer from the dark witches. The Christmas witches were hesitant and silent.

  “And besides….” Jack continued, “Let’s request La Befana to accept the post of ‘Secretary’ of this bigger and united group. Let’s all support her candidature”.

  Several green-robed Christmas Witches now cheered in a subdued tone. The cheering caught like infection among other reluctant members. The cheers grew louder and louder. While they were still cheering, Jack and Baba Yaga had already left the stage and stood at a dark lonely corner. Before saying goodbye, Baba Yaga said in a grateful voice “I’ll keep my word. You’ll have my full support in your struggle”.

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  Chapter 26

  Rise and fall of ‘United State of Elf-Land’

  Jack walked down the street of the capital of Elf-land, situated near Reykjavik in Iceland. He watched victory parades and wild rejoicing with occasional popping of Champagne bottles. It was a field day for Jack. He was feeling so good that a suppressed fear appeared in his mind Good times never last. This is like a sweet dream, which will soon break into harsh reality.

  Dark Elves, Light Elves, Snow Elves, High Elves and even some Christmas Elves gathered in the streets for group dances, holding hands. Fireworks lighted the sky with dazzling light even amidst the faint light of dusk.

  The Elves had won and driven out the gnomes, and forced the trolls and ogres to retreat to the mountains of Iceland. But they haven’t been crushed yet Jack thought they are seething with anger at their humiliating ouster, and will return back like ferocious, hungry wolves for bloody vengeance.

  Despite Jack’s apprehension about handing over the scepter to Devil, Elf land was free at last. ‘Martini’ and ‘Kandy’, the regional leaders of the dark and light elves respectively, emerged as the two most powerful leaders of the newborn nation. All factions of Elves had joined hands and established the ‘United Elf Land’. Jack was brimming with hope of secret support from the elves, which will be crucial for him to rise up the power curve, and in his struggle against Devil. I must make secret agreements with ‘Kandy’ and ‘Martini’ as soon as the situation stabilizes a bit. But very soon Jack’s hopes turned to fear.

  Jack knew for sure that his fears were absolutely valid. This temporary & opportunistic alliance among the different faction of elves might fall apart like a pack of ‘whistoon’ cards. Elfland is highly susceptible to internal and external threats; the elves won’t be able to hold back long.

  The top elf leaders had ignored the confirmed spy reports about the recruitment of troll and ogre mercenaries by wealthy gnome financiers on an alarming scale. They also ignored warning of impending guerilla attacks from the valleys and ravines of the ogres. Instead, they chose to focus only on celebration of their victory. This deeply worried Jack.

  But at other moments, Jack was having a difficult time controlling his laughter that seemed to bubble up from his stomach like soda water. What a worthless stuff I have traded with Devil! Baba Yaga was right about the scepter of Elf-land. At those moments Jack felt like dancing, even though the risk of being observed loomed high. He was on Devil’s duty, surveying what Devil had described as 'the grim situation in elf-land’. He was assigned the task of submitting a detailed report to Devil.

  Jack stumbled upon the same check post, which he had visited earlier. He saw that the portrait of Devil was still garlanded, but this time with shoes instead of flowers, and Devil’s face had been blackened.

  Jack went inside and saw that some of the old wooden furniture had been knocked down. On one corner lay a few wooden trunks and cardboard cartons with paper seals “To Zurich” or “To Munich”. The lid of one of the huge wooden trunk lay open, and Jack saw pieces of antique chinaware, silk and muslin clothes, some gold jewelry with precious stones, one jaded flower vase, some ancient Elfish armor and several pieces of invaluable old paintings. The fleeing gnomes had left all these behind in panic.

  Jack wondered how much wealth had been looted and plundered over the years from all over Elf land. The ‘gnomes of Zurich’ had been draining them white and accumulating incalculable amount of wealth in the underground, secret vaults of Zurich and Munich. Jack sighed and came out on the street.

  Elves were marching down the streets, waving their newly approved national flag of ‘Elf cross’. Some were carrying banners or throwing confetti in the air. A new coalition Elf Govt. has been formed in their ancient capital near Reykjavik.

  Jack observed a few over enthusiastic Elves lying along the streets; lying over-drunk. The top elf leaders are also intoxicated with power and not behaving any differently Jack thought.

  * * *

  Jack reported to Devil.

  “What news, Jack?” Devil asked grimly.

  “Very bad!” Jack sighed and hung his head down as if it was entirely his fault. Jack was finding it almost impossible to prevent any traces of smile appearing on his face. Devil looked at Jack piercingly
, trying to get right inside Jack’s mind.

  Devil started strolling to and fro in the room, but asked no further questions. Then he fetched the scepter of Elf land and held it.

  “So this is the powerful, magical scepter of Elf-land, eh?” Devil growled.

  “So they say!” Jack replied.

  “All those unfortunate events happened in Elf-land while this was in my possession. So I don’t see any magical power in this. Not anymore” Devil said with a severe frown “or, is all the power locked securely in this, awaiting release?” Jack didn’t miss the sarcasm in Devil’s tone.

  Devil snapped the scepter into two. There was a glint of savageness in Devil’s eye “If the powers were locked inside, I set it free!”

  Then he turned to Jack and said, “You know Jack-I always destroy, which I can’t obtain”.

  Jack shuddered to think that Devil might be referring to his intention of destruction of entire race of elves in Elf-land.

  Devil was holding the two pieces of scepter in his hands. He gave a deep sigh and said; “Now it is nothing but useless stuff!” Devil sighed again “Rubbish junk! Fit to be thrown in the dustbin!”

  Devil raised his hand to throw the two pieces in the dustbin. He stopped abruptly “Beautiful diamond though-“, he muttered to himself.

  Devil tucked the upper part of the scepter under his fur coat and threw the other half in the dustbin.

  Then he turned to Jack and said with a wicked smile “return back to Iceland. I want further report. And I want news of exiled Gryla”

  “Yes my Lord” Jack bowed and left. The Devil left the hall with a grim face.

  Jack returned back after a few minutes and collected the piece of scepter from the dustbin. This is exactly how Devil recovered the parchment of our agreement in Brandon Public Bar, after I threw it carelessly in the dustbin Jack mused.

  * * *

  Jack was back in Elf-land.

  Jack toured several parts of Iceland in a state of utter shock and dismay. In the last two days, he had witnessed violent riots and bloodshed between light elves and dark elves. An effigy was still burning and emitting black smokes as Jack walked along. Small pools of ‘thick red’ coagulating blood and ‘blackish red’ blood stains lay drying along the paved road.

  Jack had helplessly witnessed the burning of buildings, mass protests, processions with black flags, destruction of public properties and widespread racial violence. A few elves passed by-their clothes were still stained with blood and hands smeared with blood. They looked like bloodthirsty beasts that had tasted blood and were craving for more. “Revenge!” was the word resonating on the streets.

  It all started, when, in an utterly shocking move, the New Parliament of Elf-land had attempted to introduce the “New Slave Act” to continue slavery on racial basis, as it had happened in the distant past. It was instantly met with heated debate, which soon turned into angry uproar. The speaker made a desperate attempt to adjourn the parliament indefinitely. But it was too late. The spark had touched the gunpowder!

  The violent uproar in the parliament grew more intense, turning it into a battleground in no time. Angry words turned to dirty slang, and then gave way to physical violence. Shoes were hurled at the speaker and at one another. Parliamentarians running for shelter turned into practicing targets for anything that could be hurled. Chairs and desks served faithfully as clubs and shields.

  But the numbers of dark elf parliamentarians were roughly equal to the number of light ones. There was no clear victory to either side and the parliament was dissolved and then plundered by opportunists.

  It was a deep shock to the Elf population. They had been promised freedom and equality in the Preamble draft. A few unemployed elf youths sensed vacancy for instant leadership. Those empty-minded folks hatched the Devilish idea of adding fuel to the flame rather than trying to douse it. They acted like hatred preaching leaders and urged their communities to take up the fight. Soon, both the major elf communities decided to take the fight to the streets.

  Martini and Kandy were heading two opposite camps, totally against their own will and forced by circumstance. Both were against racial discrimination, but found it impossible to convince the crazy mob. In burning, racially torn-apart Iceland, skin color was all that mattered now, and mattered enormously. Dark elves pushed up Martini as their supreme leader, and white elves danced with white skinned ‘Kandy’ on their shoulders.

  Both of them had almost the same views on political matters. They differed only on external affairs policy i.e. on the subject of employment of Elves worldwide, especially in ‘Christmas toy factories’. Suddenly, this difference got highlighted and became the major political agenda.

  Supporters of Martini cried aloud “Stop exploitations of Elves, worldwide!” and “stop drainage of skilled workers”, while supporters of Kandy waved banners “foreign employment generates wealth”, “encourage outflow of labor and inflow of wealth” etc. And the opposite party workers clashed on these issues, often fatally.

  To make things worse, Belsnickel, the head of devilish strike & espionage unit of Santa Claus, held a meeting with ‘Kandy’, offered enormous packages, and got the assurance of steady supply of skilled Elf workers for Santa’s workshops. Jointly they declared, “It is in the interest of both of us to keep Elf-land free of Russian Ded Moroz’s influence”. They hailed their alliance as ‘North Atlantic Holy alliance’

  Without wasting any time, Russian ‘Father Christmas’ Moroz raised the slogans “Elves around the world, unite” and “Rise and throw off your shackles”. He formed alliance with dark skinned Martini, in presence of, and on terms dictated by ‘Koschei’ the head of Moroz’s devilish unit.

  The bitter rivalry between Santa and Moroz had already spread in Elf-land, and was heading for the worse.

  The troll-Devil-gnome alliance was seething with anger at their humiliating ouster. Sensing opportunity, they started striking back violently.

  In short, Elf-land was becoming a battleground; a real hell.

  All of Jack’s hopes of future support from Elf-land disappeared. His ambitious plans really collapsed like a house of ‘whistoon’ cards. Jack couldn’t digest the blow-it was a great setback for him. Jack started realizing the power of the cursed scepter.

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  Chapter 27

  From bad to worse

  “I feel guilty for the mess in Elf-land” Jack said passionately to Barbarossa.

  “Are you feeling bad about the deteriorating condition of the elves or about losing your support base?” Barbarossa asked.

  Jack didn’t reply.

  “I must find out the blessed prince of the Elves” Jack said “only he can bring everlasting peace to Elf-land” Jack added hopefully.

  “But how can you find him?” Barbarossa asked.

  A cloud of gloom shadowed the hopeful expression on Jack’s face.

  “That precisely is the problem” Jack admitted “the prophecy merely states that he will have the blood of dark and light elves in his veins. But it doesn’t specify whether his parents will be of different colors, or whether it refers to grandparents or whether we’ll have to dig seven generations to trace his blood links. And in the present situation, nobody is willing to admit having traces of ‘impure blood’ in his vein!”

  Jack sighed and continued, “Besides, we don’t even know, whether he’ll be a celebrity royal member or some unknown descendant of royal family hidden among the common elves” Jack said.

  “How tough will it be to search him out?”

  “How tough?” Jack forced a smile on his sad face “It’s like searching for the ‘sorcerer’s stone’. It’s like searching a needle in a haystack”.

  Both of them sat gloomily, considering other possibilities.

  A smile appeared on Barbarossa’s face, and he sat upright.

  “You have given me the idea Jack” Barbarossa said “Suppose, you knew for sure that a sorcerer’s stone lies somewhere among the thousands and tho
usands of pebbles scattered over the surface of Iceland. How would you go about finding it?”

  “How?” Jack asked.

  “Ah! You tell me”.

  “Maybe I’ll search for unusual looking pebbles” Jack shrugged his shoulders and said with an irritated tone “I’ll collect all the potential ones and then touch each of them on this lead jar, and watch it turning into gold. But, what is your novel approach?”

  “I’ll have the tip of one walking stick coated with lead, and go on regular morning walks, touching pebbles playfully”.

  “That’s really a nice idea” Jack said “But how will it affect our scenario?”

  Barbarossa smiled and replied, “think of the broken piece of scepter in your possession as the sorcerer’s stone, Jack”.

  Jack was stunned. He rose up and hugged Barbarossa. “Sometimes you come up with ideas like a genius!” Jack said excitedly.

  * * *

  Within two hours Jack reached the office of Martini, the leader of the dark elves.

  Martini’s personal secretary bluntly turned down Jack’s request of an appointment. “Martini has several grave matters to attend; he doesn’t have a moment to spare” she said “didn’t you notice the swarms of party workers and VIPs lining outside the office?”

  Of course Jack had observed the teeming crowd. Martini is the topmost leader of the dark elves now Jack thought being surrounded by fans and followers is natural.

  If I could somehow remind him of our meeting in the volcanic secret headquarters, he’ll be glad to see me Jack pondered but what if he can’t remember me among his thousands of followers. That’s even more natural.

  After a hell lot of efforts, and handsomely bribing Martini’s secretary, Jack got a very brief appointment.

  Martini shook Jack’s hand “I am so glad to meet you again, dear Jack. How are you and how did you remember me?” Martini’s voice indicated that he was expecting Jack to bother him by asking for some favor.

  “I came here to ask you a favor,” Jack said.

  “Yes?” Martini said, tucking a file marked ‘confidential’ in the cabinet. He was so busy, even while speaking that it occurred to Jack that Martini might be avoiding him.