Cala?
Her memories are hazy yet accessible. I resist traveling through them. We can coexist and still have our privacy.
After several more minutes, the wanderers dwindle. We pause and I catch my breath.
“This fell from your pocket.” Enlil slips the medallion over my head so the gold disc rests against my breastbone. He kisses my cheek.
I wait for Cala to melt, yet she watches as a bystander. Her presence has swiftly become familiar, her thoughts and feelings second nature. Dread needles at my heart. Is she disappearing into me, or am I disappearing into her?
We are one and the same, Cala answers. Enlil is our forever love.
Enlil waits for me to announce I am ready to go on. Only he knows the path I am to follow, even if coming here was my choice. As we set off, I wonder how much of a choice Cala had. Was she happier following Enlil’s path instead of finding her own? Maybe she never learned the difference. She may have trusted the gods would not lead her astray. She may have sought Enlil’s companionship above all else. Or maybe she did not have to sacrifice for his love. Perhaps she had it all along and he was always her only fate.
28
DEVEN
I amble up to the Umbra Palace with the crowd of wanderers. The last time Irkalla summoned her subjects, she publicly disciplined the demon Udug for failing to aid Kur in conquering the mortal realm. His screams stayed with me for days after. Udug has not been seen since.
The palace casts a shadow across the courtyard. The few intact walls have gaping holes that resemble eye sockets. Night and day, shrieks carry from the high windows. I once saw the rabisus unload wagonloads of new souls and lead them inside. Not long after, the screams began. Those same wagons are parked out front. The new souls have been cleared out, but the oxen are still yoked, their harnesses nailed into their bloody backs.
The wanderers shuffle me along in the throng funneling up the stairs. Fish Face Lilu examines the entrants with her huge, glassy eyes. She lets me pass without her gills flapping.
We congregate in the massive throne room. The grandness of its pillars and high arches resembles the finest imperial chamber in the world, the difference being everything here is sooty and tarnished, corrupted by the evernight. Similar perversions can be seen across the under realm. In this immortal stronghold, where power should rule just and fair, the mockery of authority is loathsome.
Rabisus guard every exit, and a pair of ugallus oversee our entry from the dais. Sitting on their haunches, the lion-eagles’ wings tuck around their sleek bodies, their wingtips dagger sharp. Also on the dais, souls are chained to the far wall, unmoving and silent. Draperies span from ceiling to floor. Once we are all inside, a female voice slithers out from behind the curtain.
“Welcome, slaves. You must wonder for what purpose I have summoned you.”
Every wanderer wears the same vacant expression. None have wondered anything in a long while.
Irkalla extends a big black claw into view and slices the chains off an imprisoned soul. She curls her talon around the wanderer and snatches him behind the drapery. His screeching is replaced by bone-chilling crunches. My ears burn and my teeth grind until the feeding stops.
“We have a visitor,” Irkalla explains, smacking her chops. “A mortal man has trespassed into my realm, my city, my palace.”
I lock my joints. This summons was for me?
“General Naik, step forward and announce yourself.”
The silence from the dead is suffocating.
“De-ven,” Irkalla singsongs. “Mortal blood reeks of starlight, and yours is especially potent. Forgive our late introduction. Kur believed you would perish shortly after your arrival. Unlike me, he does not value the mettle of mortals.”
My stillness itches.
“I grow impatient, General.” Her breaths billow the curtain. “If not for propriety’s sake, perhaps you will step forward for her.”
Lilu leads out a chained woman with long midnight hair. She wears a blue sari, identical to the one she wore the first time we met in the lower story of the Samiya Temple.
“Deven?” Kali scans the audience. “Please come out.”
“Yes, please do,” Irkalla intones.
This woman is a fair replica of my love, but the real Kalinda shines like the midday sun. Her soul-fire is unmistakable, and this woman has no notable radiance. I recheck the doorways for a clear exit. Rabisus still guard them.
A large red eye peers out of a hole halfway up the curtain. Irkalla must be massive, as big as Kur or larger. Her gaze sweeps to me. “There you are. Did you think you could hide from me under all that filth? Son of man, your soul-fire is blinding.”
I backtrack a step.
“Uh-uh,” she tsks. “You must not flee or I will kill your beloved and eat her soul.”
Lilu presses a sharp fin against Kali’s throat. I grimace despite it not being her.
“Go ahead,” I bellow. “That isn’t Kali.”
Irkalla expels a laugh-hiss. “Clever little mouse.”
Lilu lowers her razor fin. Kali bears her teeth, and before my eyes, she transforms into me. I hardly recognize myself. My jaw is bruised and my body gaunt. I touch my bottom gums, swollen and sore. When did I lose two teeth?
“Marduk is a gifted chameleon demon,” Irkalla says. “Mortals are so easily fooled by him. Hopes and dreams distract them from basic truths.”
“I would settle for the truth. Why was your chameleon demon following me?”
“He does as I command,” Irkalla answers grandly. “We have not had a mortal visitor in centuries. You must be weary of hiding. Come to me and I will see that you have food and drink, a warm bed and a soft pillow.”
Her offer is a barefaced lie. The under realm offers no such comforts. Irkalla wants me for some awful purpose. Since she dangled a false version of Kali before me as an enticement, I suspect that I am bait.
Irkalla huffs. “Your indecision is tiresome. Guards, bring me the mortal.”
The twin ugallus stalk down the steps. I push through the wanderers. The ugallus knock them down and chase me to an exit. The fox rabisu in the doorway lunges. I throw it off and dash out of the palace, down the steps to the wagon and yoked oxen.
An ugallu leaps over me and lands, blocking my path. The second prowls up to my back. I slip between the oxen, and the ugallus roar.
The oxen stomp their hooves and snort in defense at the lion-eagles. I jump into the driver’s bench and snap the reins. The oxen and wagon take off into the city. Once I leave its walls, I will lead my pursuers in the opposite direction from Kali. Her soul-fire shines in the distance, alerting me to which way not to go. Irkalla will not get us both.
I lose track of her light and push the oxen faster. The city gates lie wide open. For the briefest moment, I glance down at the reins and my mind empties.
What am I doing? Where am I?
Out of the corner of my eye, a monster leaps from an alleyway. I bend back, but its claws smack me off the driver’s bench. I tumble to the road, and the wagon bounds out of sight.
Two big creatures prowl to me. They have wings like a bird of prey and sleek, feline bodies. I have never seen anything more horrendous. I roll off my side. Blood spreads down my hip from a slash. I cannot recall what got me into this predicament, but stubbornness drives me to my feet. Whatever these monsters want, my instinct is to defy them.
I take three strides before the nearest beast bats at me. I sail into a wall and slump to the ground. Hunks of brick shower down. My mental faculties scramble to latch on to something tangible, something hopeful.
I am already adrift.
29
ASHWIN
Brac and Indah come out of the infirmary to meet me. I push up from the floor of the corridor, my back stiff from sitting against the wall all night.
“How is Basma?” I ask.