The Unwaba Revelations

by Samit Basu

  It was a jinn.

  Omar and Dalmaan thundered towards each other, scimitar and sword flashing in the sun. And then they slowed down, and behind them, the Artaxerxian cavalry and the asurs, soothed by the House Nergol ravians, slowed down as well until they came to a standstill.

  Omar and Dalmaan dismounted and approached each other slowly.

  ‘There is so much evil in this world. So much hatred, so much betrayal,’ said Dalmaan.

  ‘Yes,’ said Omar. ‘Isn’t it beautiful?’

  They embraced.

  The Artaxerxian cavalry sliced into the vanars on the left flank, the speed of their charge carrying them through several lines of stunned infantry. Angda’s finest warriors died with spears in their backs, and the rakshases that fought by their side were brought to earth and trampled by charging horses before they had any time to react.

  The Red Queen waited for the jinn to charge, and then shapeshifted into a small cat. As the jinn swept by her, she pierced its air-hide with her claws, and thought about fire. Flames blossomed inside the jinn’s shape, and it soared into the air, screeching in agony as it was devoured from within, and dissolved in a puff of smoke. Red cast another healing spell on the crow and its eyes opened. ‘Report,’ she said.

  All over the battlefield, shimmering shapes descended from the sky, gathering dust and smoke and blood-spray as they sped earthwards. The jinn charged into the rakshases; the force of the impact carried them right through their targets, leaving gaping holes in the rakshas’ bodies. A hundred rakshases died in an instant, and the ravians surged forward. Nenses, Dalmaan and Zibeb sent out fresh instructions and explanations, and ravians everywhere cast their nets on vulnerable asurs, driving them into a frenzy, and the Dark Lord’s army turned on itself.

  ‘I am Commander Triple-Zero One, ‘Kraken’. Take me to Dark Lord Kirin, please.’ The crow was dying, despite Red’s best efforts.

  ‘Tell me what happened,’ she said. ‘You do not have any time.’

  ‘We were sent to act as communications officers for the Fusag operation,’ said Kraken. ‘I noticed irregularities there immediately, and sent my officers to report them. They must have been intercepted on the way. I remained at Fusag with a few other officers, waiting for the opportune moment to effect a getaway. But we were watched at all times by jinn, and it was made clear to us that any attempt to report the goings-on at Fusag to the Dark Lord would have been rewarded with torture and death.’

  ‘What happened?’ said Red.

  ‘Bjorkun and Omar signed a secret treaty with the ravians at Fusag. They were promised dominion over the north and Imokoi and a brighter future for humans. Siege engines constructed in Fusag have been brought to the Dark Tower. While Omar and his men and jinn came to the battlefield to help the ravians, Bjorkun and the Skuans attempted to take over the Dark Tower from within. The rakshases of the Tower were attacked by jinn. I do not know what happened to them. It was terrible; the jinn swept out of the sky and started slaughtering rakshases and setting Izakar on fire. They threw the defenders from the battlements, broke the outer fortifications and hurled fire and stone on the denizens of the walled city. The rakshases fought back valiantly, and my officers and I escaped to bring this news to the Dark Lord.’

  ‘Bjorkun controls the Dark Tower now?’

  ‘I do not know. The werewolves, too, were taken unawares, but Alpha Laakon was rallying them when we left. The jinn were also used to slaughter the shadowsnatchers and vanars that stood guard over the passes to the east. Soon a ravian force from Epsai will join the king in Imokoi. All is lost. I have failed, and should be executed.’

  ‘Yes. But we will execute you later. For now, tell as many rakshases as you can that they must return to the Tower. This battle means nothing now. If the Tower falls, we are finished.’

  ‘Why did you not tell me?’ roared Degin. ‘I am a Council member! I deserved to know!’

  Zibeb patted him gently on the shoulder. ‘Do not question your king,’ he said. ‘Look around and savour this moment, Degin. In this moment is Peori avenged.’

  They looked around with satisfaction at the chaos all over the battlefield. Jinn and rakshases hurled spells and weapons at each other, rakshases teleporting and shapeshifting, jinn looping and swirling. The Artaxerxian cavalry made merry among the asurs. And the ravians were everywhere, slaying at will, commanding asurs to attack one another, helping jinn overcome rakshases. The battle had turned into a rout.

  ‘Thus is evil vanquished by the evil it contains within itself,’ said Lady Nenses. ‘It is time to destroy the Tower, Zibeb… your majesty.’

  ‘Not yet,’ said Zibeb. ‘We will wait for the siege-engines from the north, and have these asurs build us some more. We will wait for the auxiliary force from Epsai, and give Izakar the siege it deserves. The Dark Lord knows he is defeated. It is only a matter of time before the Tower falls. But the jinn must be destroyed as well. Let them battle the rakshases as long as possible.’

  Aciram heard the news, and his roar of anger echoed through the land. At his command, the rakshases begin to leave the field, abandoning the asurs, pashans and vanars. On the evening of the fifth day, the rakshases and Alpha Laakon’s werewolves drove the jinn out of Izakar, and fought the Skuans in the streets; Bjorkun escaped, but most of his men did not. A shroud of smoke still covered the Dark Tower as its defenders began to repair the battlements, to prepare for the coming siege. The jinn had ravaged the city’s food supplies and cast corpses in its water reserves, and as the Dark Lord stood on top of the Dark Tower and watched mighty siege-engines roll towards his ravaged city from the north, and the ravian army moving slowly, inexorably onwards from the south, he wept tears of rage. The Red Queen stood by his side, watching jinn circle in the air around the battlements, watching rakshas and werewolf generals barking orders at asurs far below. She showed no sign of any emotion whatsoever.

  At dawn on the sixth day, Queen Angda, left alone on the field, surrendered. King Zibeb accepted her sword with grace, and then asked Lord Degin, chief churl-commander, to entertain their noble guest. Degin smiled, and said he had very definite plans for their entertainment. Soon after a splendid banquet, and a touching ceremony where the ravian heroes were rewarded for their valour, Angda found herself walking out alone into the open ground in front of Izakar’s gates. Her tears flowed freely as her limbs moved of their own accord in a crude dance; she tore at her clothes and rolled around in the dirt like an animal. The ravians watched this performance and pronounced it deeply symbolic; it was decided by Zibeb’s Council that Angda would dance until the Dark Tower fell. And as Aciram and Red watched the vanar queen’s humiliation from above, and wondered whether to end it by killing her with magic, they knew that the Dark Tower had already fallen.

  Chapter Six

  Kirin and Maya lay on soft white sand, looking up at the stars. Night had fallen gently over Bolvudis, and the beach was empty; the makaras and mer-people Maya remembered from her previous visits to Bolvudis had left, and no one knew why. The sea was calm. Waves lapped quietly at their feet, and a breeze rustled through swaying palms behind them. Maya was sleepy; she had spent most of the day leaping around and fighting young Xi’en warriors. But Kirin was wide awake; perfect, tranquil moments made him vaguely nervous, made him sure that disaster was lurking in some nearby shadow. But the only thing lurking in the vicinity was Spikes, fast asleep under a tree. Two gulls flirted with each other and chewy death on his shoulders.

  ‘I wonder where my father is,’ said Maya. ‘Nimbupani said he’d sent messages to Bolvudis, and Irik and Stivin Seagull left a few days before we arrived with some boats loaded with trunks of equipment.’

  ‘Saving the world, no doubt,’ said Kirin. ‘The unwaba tricked him too; I wish there was some way of warning him, some way of telling him to go home and have a good time.’

  ‘We could go to Kol and try to find him,’ said Maya. ‘I haven’t seen him for so long.’

  Kirin turned towards her and kissed
her. ‘I was wondering when you’d tell me you wanted to leave,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think you’d be happy here doing nothing.’

  Maya sat up and shook sand off her back. ‘I just feel guilty, Kirin. We’re having too much fun. We’re lying around in this perfect bubble, and the world’s falling to pieces outside.’

  ‘And you still think you can save it? Beat the gods, change history, be heroes?’

  ‘No. But I don’t like not trying. I understand why you feel we’ve done enough. But we haven’t. I want to be here, with you, living this life; I’ve never enjoyed myself more. When we came here, I thought being near you, loving you, doing all the things I always wished I could with you – I thought it would be enough. But it isn’t right.’

  Kirin sighed and closed his eyes. ‘I just wanted to live my own life for a while. Meeting Zivran showed me there’s really nothing we can do, this whole thing is too big for us. They’re gods. They will do as they please, and trying to stop them will only amuse them. Why try, when we have some chance of being happy, at least for a while? I thought being here with you would mean that my life would be… complete, in some way. Can’t we stay for some more time? At least until we decide exactly what it is we plan to do?’

  ‘But what if there’s something we can do now, some solution we can find if we look for it? Shouldn’t we at least try to find out? This feels like giving up.’

  ‘That’s because it is giving up. And it’s not that difficult. We’re just accepting what’s real. It’s like knowing you’re going to die some day, that people you love aren’t going to be with you forever, that everything changes every minute of our lives. You can’t fight these things or change them. Sometimes you just reach a point where all you can do is laugh at everything – I mean, if you look at all we’ve been through from the outside, it’s really completely ridiculous – and then decide to make the best of what you have. Right now, I have you, and very little time. I don’t want to run around chasing answers.’

  ‘But we don’t know that the world is going to end. The unwaba told us that, and the unwaba was lying. Asvin thought he was going to end it, and now he plans to do what he can to save anything that needs saving. And there’s still a war to stop, and Kol needs our help too. What if the gods don’t see through Zivran’s trick? What if they finish the Game and go away? What if they decide not to destroy the world?’

  ‘Then we have nothing to worry about, and should enjoy our holiday.’

  ‘I can’t. I have to know I did what I could.’

  ‘You have, and so have I. Besides, we can’t go to Kol. We’re the Dark Lord and his wife, remember? There’s no going back to our old life now.’

  ‘We’ll find a way. We always have.’

  ‘We’ll find ways to throw ourselves in danger and achieve nothing, and if we survive, we’ll wish we hadn’t bothered. And then everything will end, and we’ll feel really silly before we stop feeling anything at all.’

  He looked at her again, and saw tears in her eyes. ‘What is it?’

  ‘I love you very much, but I have to go, Kirin. I can’t stay here.’

  ‘I don’t want to leave.’

  ‘You don’t have to.’

  Kirin said nothing. Maya leaned over and kissed him. Then she rose, and looked out over the sea, towards Kol, far away to the east.

  ‘You can’t go,’ he said, not looking at her.

  ‘Come with me, Kirin. Please. We can still win this.’

  Kirin said nothing. Maya looked at him for a while in silence, and then began the long walk to their hut.

  ‘What was that?’

  She stopped, annoyed. ‘Don’t make this any more difficult, Kirin. I’ll be back when I can. If I can.’

  ‘No, I heard something. There was a light.’ Kirin stood up, looking around.

  There was another light. A flash of light, at Kirin’s feet.

  And then there was a baby.

  Kirin and Maya both leaped backwards, yelling in horror. The baby looked at them cheerily.

  ‘Ey. Mum-mum-mum,’ it said. It was an extraordinarily cheerful-looking baby, composed almost entirely of circles. Maya peered, delicately, and discovered it was a girl.

  ‘What is this?’ she demanded.

  ‘It’s a baby.’

  ‘I know it’s a baby, damn it. What is it doing here? Where did it come from?’

  ‘What makes you think I know?’

  They peered at the baby, and she peered back at them.

  ‘Should we pick it up?’ asked Kirin.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Well, isn’t that what you do with babies that appear out of nowhere?’

  ‘What makes you think I know what to do with babies? Is it because I’m a woman?’

  ‘Gog!’ said the baby, sensing disharmony. She decided she didn’t like it.

  She began to cry, and Kirin and Maya stared at each other in absolute terror. The baby cried with venom. Her piercing wail shook the sky, and the Psomedean Ocean backed away slowly, and the palm-trees stopped swaying and would have shuffled embarrassedly if they’d had feet. The seagulls on Spikes’ shoulder fluttered away, complaining loudly about the neighbourhood.

  Spikes walked up to Kirin and Maya and looked at the baby, blinking slowly.

  ‘How long have I been asleep?’ he asked.

  The baby continued to cry. Spikes picked her up and shook her gently, with the general air of a crocodile trying to snap a gazelle’s neck, and the baby liked this. She cooed, and gurgled, and clutched one of Spikes’ tusks with a tiny fist, and said ‘Mamma.’

  ‘Don’t even think about it,’ shuddered Spikes, and handed the baby to Kirin, who looked at her as if she might explode, and tried to hand her to Maya, but Maya, being a very intelligent woman, had backed out of range long ago.

  ‘Well, enjoy your baby,’ she said. ‘I’m off to Kol.’

  ‘I’m afraid you must remain here,’ said a voice from the sand. An old, dry, whispery voice.

  The unwaba strolled out from a hole in the sand. He had the grace to look sheepish.

  ‘I can explain everything,’ he said.

  Kirin and Maya stared at him, each other, and the baby in turn for several seconds, opening and shutting their mouths.

  ‘Explain this,’ said Kirin finally, looking in horror at the small creature slobbering happily on his neck.

  ‘That,’ said the unwaba, ‘is the Infinite Infant.’

  Silence reigned for a while.

  ‘Pray continue,’ said Maya.

  ‘The Infinite Infant, the Baby of Destiny, Future Wielder of the Thunderbolt of Universal Doom,’ said the unwaba.

  ‘Ah,’ said Kirin. ‘That explains everything.’

  ‘Good,’ said the unwaba. ‘Now listen closely. Here is what you must do.’

  ‘Can I stamp on him?’ ask Spikes.

  ‘Please do,’ said Maya.

  ‘I see. Humour. How droll. Please carry on wasting my time, I have so much to spare,’ said the unwaba. ‘The Infinite Infant, since you do not know, is one of the most powerful gods – goddesses, I should say – in existence. She will lead her own pantheon when she grows older, and will rule over all known gods. And since time is irrelevant where gods are concerned, it may well be said that she rules us now. I would advise you, therefore, not to drop her. Do you have any more questions?’

  ‘I have several,’ said Maya. ‘First: why is this baby here?’

  ‘She is here because I brought her here,’ said the unwaba crossly. ‘I should have thought that was perfectly clear. I have kidnapped her.’

  ‘You have what?’

  ‘Kidnapped. It means abducted. Removed her in secret. With her consent, of course, because you don’t do anything to the Baby of Destiny that the Baby of Destiny doesn’t like. So one might argue it does not really amount to consensual abduction. It is, in fact, more like an elopement, or would have been, had I not been a chameleon and she an infant.’

  ‘And why, may I ask, have you kidnapped her?’ />
  ‘I should have thought that was perfectly clear,’ said the unwaba, annoyed. Time spent away from him had clearly had deleterious effects on these children’s minds. ‘No? I have abducted her and brought her here to save the world. Which, you may remember if you tax your feeble minds considerably, is what we set out to do in the first place.’

  ‘We haven’t forgotten that little meeting we had with Zivran, or how you betrayed us,’ said Kirin quietly. ‘Do you seriously think there’s any chance of us listening to you now?’

  ‘You doubt me because you were not, at the time, aware of my rather ingenious plan.’

  ‘The plan where you used us to return you to the heavens and then turned against us?’

  ‘No. If you were listening as intently as you claim, you will remember that I was omniscient while on this world, and regained my ability to forget while in the heavens. I was, obviously, aware this would happen. I knew I would forget what I wanted when I met Zivran. Therefore, I took steps to ensure that I subsequently remembered what I had forgotten. By repeating to myself the simple mantra ‘Precipitately Purloin Infinite Infant’, I overcame this problem. I was somewhat puzzled when I found myself repeating this to myself in the heavens without any idea as to why, but I decided to trust in myself – always a good choice – and did, in fact, pilfer the said child. Once that was done and I returned to this plane, I naturally regained my omniscience, and with it, my plan to save this world.’

  Maya sighed. ‘I’ve had enough of this,’ she said. ‘Squash him, Spikes.’

  ‘What will we do with the baby?’ asked Kirin.

  ‘Leave it here. It’s not our baby.’

  ‘We can’t do that. It’s a baby.’

  ‘When did you become so maternal? We’ll give it to someone on the island. Quivering Fatima would like it.’

  ‘Boog,’ said the Baby of Destiny disapprovingly.