Christmas Jack-o'-Lantern

by Subhajit Waugh

Chapter 45

  Deadly Dilemma

  Jack was torn apart by internal conflict, while making his final decision.

  “On one hand, I must rescue my sister Snegurochka” Jack said to his closest friend Barbarossa “On the other hand; there is real possibility of my horrible death looming high”.

  “Since he has not thrown the parchment in the embers yet…” Barbarossa said “…there is very good probability that he won’t do that in future either. He might be merely bluffing”.

  “Please tell clearly what is in your mind” Jack said.

  “As your true friend I suggest that let the status quo continue” Barbarossa replied “Why to take such terrible risk and confront Devil right now? Take your own time to obtain and safely destroy that parchment”.

  “And in the meanwhile, what will happen to Snegurochka?”

  “You have to sacrifice something” Barbarossa replied with a deep sigh “After all she is only your adopted sister”.

  “How can you say that to me?” Jack reacted harshly.

  “I am sorry…I deeply hurt your feelings…” Barbarossa replied “…but this is such a terrible dilemma that there is no easy solution. No easy way out! You have to choose between two evils. You must! And I can’t bear to see you burning in the eternal flames”.

  “But eternal submission to maniac Devil is no guarantee against his evil intentions; he is a mad dog” Jack tried to reason.

  Arguments and counter-arguments continued throughout the whole night.

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  Chapter 46

  Gearing for confrontation

  Jack took the bold step to fight against Devil, whatever his fate had in store for him.

  He faced the daunting or rather impossible task of gathering a massive army against Devil in the shortest possible time.

  “You have seen the power of the scepter of Elf-land yourself” Jack said to Makarios Ameer “Even a broken piece has changed your fate. Now you are fast emerging as the supreme leader of Elf-land”

  “True!” Makarios Ameer admitted reluctantly. He didn’t like to admit that he wasn’t creating his own good fortune with his own hands.

  Jack confessed to ‘Makarios Ameer’ of the whereabouts of the remaining part of the broken scepter of Elf-land.

  “It is in Devil’s possession?” Makarios asked in disbelief.

  “Yes. And, until you recover the remaining half” Jack said “the Elf-population will never accept you as the ‘Blessed Prince’ and the true heir to the throne of Elf-land. And besides…the prophecy says that there can be no permanent peace in Elf-land till the scepter is restored back in its original glory”.

  “So what’s your suggestion?” Makarios asked gravely.

  “Devil will never hand you the broken piece peacefully” Jack said “the more you’ll try to convince him, the more adamant he will become”.

  “Hmmm….” Makarios considered deeply.

  “Therefore, gather an army against Devil” Jack tried to convince “rather than against ogres and trolls of Iceland”.

  “You want me to abandon my plans of a final assault against our enemies and launch the attack on Devil instead?” Makarios asked.

  “If you want the remaining scepter, then yes!” Jack said.

  * * *

  Jack approached Baba Yaga, now President of all factions of witches.

  She agreed to raise an army of witches from across the globe in the shortest possible time.

  “Frankly speaking” Jack confessed, “I am really surprised that you agreed to my plans without any conditions and without any opposition”.

  “That’s simply because I am looking forward for the big conflict. The great conflict!” Baba Yaga said, “I have a personal score to settle against the Devil”. Her voice was harsh and her eyes started glowing like red-hot charcoal.

  * * *

  “I have written a letter to my ‘ghost wife’ in India” Jack said to Barbarossa “I have asked her to recruit and raise an army of ghosts in my name as soon as possible, taking help of her chieftain uncle if needed” Jack said.

  “And I have made arrangement for three ghostly galleons for them” Barbarossa replied, “I mean only for those who will be unwilling to make this long journey gliding through the air” Barbarossa added hastily as clarification.

  “Thank you my friend” Jack said “Money is not a problem presently. Mr. Santa, his fabulously rich cousin Sinterklaas and Ded Moroz have already paid the equivalent of the demanded ransom to me as advance. They have assured to fund me generously. I’ll have access to the fabled coffers”.

  Barbarossa was leaving, when Jack called him back.

  “I’m sorry, I forgot to ask” Jack said, “Have the ‘liches’ army of Koschei gathered yet”.

  “Yes” Barbarossa replied “They have been lodged temporarily in makeshift camps”.

  “Good!” Jack said, appearing pleased “…raise the red alert at the forts of the ‘Chinese Vampires’ in Varna and Constanta. Ask them to start gathering their armies of Jiangshi. And order them in my name to keep the ‘Chinese battle Dragons’ ready for battle at a moment’s notice”.

  * * *

  The sun had set about half an hour ago beneath the horizon. The sky had a beautiful hue of reddish orange, as darkness was approaching.

  Jack took a quick survey of the massive gathering at the ‘Halloween Ground’. Halloween creatures of all sorts had gathered from far and wide at Jack’s call. Vampires flapped their black skinny wings; ghosts hovered in the air or glided effortlessly here and there; ghouls and zombies swayed unsteadily like living corpses. Occasionally a few werewolves gazed at the skies and raised blood-chilling howls. The gargoyles appeared rather disturbed and irritated by such howling choruses. They thumped their stone-hard chests like gorillas.

  Jack placed his mouth at the metal funnel “I am Jack, also known as Jack-o-Halloween-” Before he could complete, the crowd cheered, “Long live the pumpkin king!” “Long live Jack!” etc.

  Jack waited for a few moments and then signaled them to silence.

  “We have gathered here for an important decision” Jack shouted as loudly as he could “As you are aware, Devil has gripped our Halloween world with his invisible tentacles. Devil’s world of hell is separate from our world, and so are our interests and his hellish interests”.

  Jack took another survey to observe their reactions. He was disappointed at their lackluster response and lack of enthusiasm. “Our entire Halloween world is at stake” Jack continued, “Devil’s whimsical decrees are snatching away our freedom. His tentacles are suffocating us. Devil intends to rule us mercilessly with an iron fist and to keep us under his boots”.

  Jack spoke passionately. “It’s now or never! Won’t you all wish to enjoy freedom?”

  There was a mixed and half-enthusiastic response “Yes!” “No!”

  “Won’t you rise, for the cause of Halloween?” Jack tried his best to arouse them against Devil, but he felt depressed that his efforts were not having its desired effects.

  Again there was a mixed reaction. Neither the voice of agreement, nor the refusal overwhelmed the other.

  Jack wiped the sweat from his forehead. It’s time for the trump card. It’s now, or never!

  “Won’t you fight to preserve the brightness of Jack-o-Lantern?” Jack picked up his ‘Jack-o-Lantern’ from beneath the podium, and held it high.

  The glowing mascot of their world intently captured their attention, just as a glowing candle does to nocturnal insects. There was a thundering roar from the massive gathering.

  “Rather than laying it down at the feet of Devil, I shall douse it myself. I swear I will!” Jack threatened loudly “Do you want the eternal flame to die forever?”

  Jack could feel the podium vibrate with the booming cries “No! No! Never!”

  “Then make up your mind” Jack shouted as loudly as his lungs allowed “Give a clear and final verdict”

  The crowd roared with one voice “Lon
g live Jack! Let devil go to hell”.

  “Will you fight against Devil?” Jack shouted, “Will you pick up arms?”

  “Yes!” “Yes!” “We will! We will!” The ground shook as they thumped their feet in excitement. Ghosts raised shrill cries as they whizzed through the air.

  Jack took a deep breath and filled his lungs to the utmost. Then he placed his mouth at the funnel and shouted at the top of his voice “Then gather all our Halloween brothers and sisters from across the globe. Spread the message: Our world is at stake. Every Halloween creature must do his duty”.

  The podium and the ground shook again.

  “I repeat…” Jack shouted “…will you loyally join Jack-o’-Halloween’s camp?”

  “Yes!!” There was a booming reply “We will!” “We will!”

  * * *

  “Regarding your plans of raising an army of ghosts from India, there seem to be a problem” Barbarossa said.

  “You mean no ghosts are willing to join our fight?” Jack asked

  “Did I say that?” Barbarossa replied, “Of course they are perfectly ready to volunteer their life…I mean their afterlife”.

  “Then what is the problem?” Jack frowned.

  “They are jumping on their feet at the mere mention of ‘fight in a foreign land’. Out of these five words, the word ‘foreign’ is the most magical, which is doing the trick. It taps rights into their most abnormal desire”.

  “Huh! Speak in simpler language” Jack rebuked “Tell me about the problem!”

  “The problem is something else, Jack!” Barbarossa said, “There is a population of millions and millions of ghosts in India. The words ‘foreign’ and ‘opportunity abroad’ are spreading like wildfire. Already, swarms of thousands and thousands of Indian ghosts are immigrating, with no intention of ever returning back”.

  “What!!!” Jack almost fell from his chair in astonishment.

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  Chapter 47

  The Final Clash

  One of Jack’s commanders pointed at a red dot on the large wall map “This…is Bistritz, the capital of Bistrita County in Transylvania. A large unit of Devil’s army has camped north of this city on the bank of Bistrita River. The situation is alarming!”

  He looked at everyone with a grim face, observing the anxiety appearing on their faces. He wiped his face with his sleeve and continued, “I am sure, their target is ‘Castle Dracula’ and ‘Halloween grounds’. They must be planning to cross the Tihuta pass…” He touched on a spot on the Bargau range in Eastern Carpathian Mountains, with his pointer stick “…Here…I am sorry, it’s marked Borgo Pass on this old map…they’ll cross this pass and enter the realm of count Dracula. And if they succeed….” He shook his head with a sigh, without saying anything further.

  “That’s serious” Jack said, “We can’t afford to lose ‘Castle Dracula’ and our sacred ‘Halloween grounds’ under any circumstance. It will be highly demoralizing to our armies. They are launching a psychological attack”.

  “How far are our own units from the Borgo pass?” Barbarossa asked anxiously.

  The general wiped his face again and tried to smile “luckily, the two battalions we had dispatched three days ago have travelled in parallel paths along this Prut and Siret rivers and must have reached the mouth of the rivers. They will clash with the enemies soon”.

  * * *

  The clash had already started, sooner than the military planners sitting around the table had expected. The fourth wave of shield walls clashed with a splatter of blood, clanking of swords and shields. Hundreds of long spears plunged through the ribs and hearts of soldiers on both sides.

  Waves after waves of soldiers entered the slaughter zone. Wounded and bleeding soldiers piled on top of each other. The battle was so fierce that nobody even cared to remove the dead bodies.

  Mr. Ebonite was one of the low-ranking elf soldiers in Jack’s army unit. He almost felt like vomiting with disgust at the sight and smell of bloodshed all around him.

  All around him blood was splattering like showers. The air was filled with angry swearing and deep moans, cracking sound of blades cutting into bones, clanking of armors, gunshots of muskets, and occasional rumbling of distant canons.

  When evening fell, Mr. Ebonite was one of the very few elf soldiers, who escaped unharmed.

  Whether he was lucky or not was difficult to tell.

  He watched the severed limbs and heads of fallen warriors all around him. Trolls and elves, zombies and ogres, vampires and werewolves…all lied peacefully as equals.

  Several workers were collecting the helmets, and armors of fallen warriors like scavengers. Only the bodies of commanders, generals and high-ranking soldiers were being carried away for burial or funeral. The rest were being abandoned to rot or being devoured by wolves and vultures.

  Mr. Ebonite watched with unbearably intense agony, as one elf soldier lay moaning on the ground, clutching the deep wound in his chest. Fresh blood was still dripping out of it. There was hardly any hope left; only the suffering would be prolonged.

  Mr. Ebonite held his sword like a dagger, closed his eyes, and whispering, “forgive me, lord”, he plunged the sword in the heart of the suffering elf.

  He clutched his own hairs and broke in a sob “Oh my God! Why doesn’t someone stop this madness?”

  * * *

  Back in Jack’s headquarters near Galatz, about thirteen miles away from the confluence of Danube and Siret rivers, a battle of quite different sort and intensity was raging on.

  A short heighted general, with long pointed ears, stood up. He looked half-human, half-elf. He straightened his back. “I have a daring and ambitious plan” he announced confidently “Drive a stake in the enemy’s heart”.

  Instantly, two extremely pale-skinned vampire generals bared their fangs and frowned in revolting disgust. “Never speak of driving a stake through the heart,” one of the vampires protested fiercely.

  The speaker cleared his throat and said apologetically “What I mean is…attack the enemy’s backbone”. The vampire generals calmed down a bit, but still grumbled. The speaker pointed at the map and continued, “Now look here…this is Devil’s headquarters, about 65 miles east of Budapest, on the bank of Tisza River. Devil thinks he is absolutely safe there-“

  “And isn’t he really safe there?” a plain human-looking general remarked in a sarcastic tone “Devil’s headquarters is four hundred miles away from here. The Transylvanian plateau between us is swarming with Devilish forces and camps. And what about the horseshoe shaped arc of another four hundred miles of high Carpathian and Transylvanian Alps, blocking any direct assault…” he left his words trailing with a whisper which sounded like “…. you moron”.

  The two vampire generals, who were offended earlier by the speaker, picked this opportunity and grinned. One of them commented “Would you say next ‘There shall be no Carpathians’ or something like that?”

  The speaker looked at them angrily and swallowing his anger, he continued “When Subedei Bahadur, the general of Genghis Khan came to conquer Budapest in 1241 A.D. he divided his army and sent them in three branches: one of the columns by a northern route, another through Transylvania in the south and the third directly. He knew that the enemy can’t block all of them simultaneously, and at least one would reach Budapest….” He paused for a breath “…. and in fact, Devil’s headquarter in nearer than Budapest by around sixty miles. As I said, this is an ambitious plan-“

  “Say overambitious plan” the human looking general stressed in an attacking tone “a flawed plan”.

  “Why?” the speaker reacted, defending himself fiercely “Even Napoleon divided his forces, and advanced in several columns in Italian campaign-“

  “Don’t teach me human history” the general replied sharply “Being a werewolf, I am more human than a half-elf like you. And I am from battle school myself”.

  Jack rose up and said loudly “Calm down please. Don’t turn your heated debate into
a battle!” Then he turned to the human looking werewolf and said, “Do you have any better plans?”

  “Of course!” he replied triumphantly “we should try ‘pretended retreat’, and let our enemy chase us, leaving their strategic positions and becoming disorganized and weak-“

  “Showing our backs to our enemy?” The semi-elf objected harshly “Such plan arises in the heads of cowards only. Our brave soldiers will lose their faces”.

  “Yes, they will lose their faces!” the werewolf reacted “But they won’t lose their heads! Besides, your cited hero ‘Genghis Khan’ and his army of horse-archers were the greatest experts in this technique” he turned to Jack and said “we will lead them to deadly trap, where hordes of our werewolf warriors will lie in wait. We’ll tear them to pieces and feed on the carcasses”.

  “Huh!” the semi-elf reacted “You think we can wait till full moon night for this to happen?”

  * * *

  Tension prevailed in Devil’s camp as well.

  “How many gargoyles do they have in their command?” Devil asked gravely.

  “About three hundred” one human sized demon replied.

  “Only three hundred!?” a smile appeared on Devil’s face.

  The demon general bowed down and said, “please don’t feel offended, but the number is not a matter of joke. Gargoyles have impenetrable armor and stone hard bodies…luckily they exhibit poor maneuverability, or else they would have been quite invincible. Our centaur archers would face a challenging task-“

  “How many archers do they command?” Devil snapped.

  “They have gathered around fifty thousand of the finest elf archers. They can fire, volley of arrows in such quick succession, that the projectile arrows shadow the sun in the battlefield, temporarily”.

  “How many archers and cavalry have we gathered up yet?” Devil asked anxiously.

  “Our cavalry consist almost entirely of our brave centaurs….” a centaur general, said proudly, stepping forward. He had the upper parts of a man and the body of a horse “...and more than half of the entire archers too”.

  “How many centaurs do you command?” Devil asked.

  “About four thousand, my Lord”.

  “Only four thousand?” Devil asked.

  “That’s all I could gather from the Black forest” the centaur general replied.

  “We needn’t worry, my Lord” a huge Icelandic troll said in a boastful tone “we will completely dominate the battle in hand to hand combat. A blow of our mace will hurl dozens of elves tens of feet away; crush their bones and turn them into lumps of flesh”.