Ash Mistry and the World of Darkness

by Sarwat Chadda

  Parvati laughed. It was a light, carefree sound and chimed softly in the pit. Her green eyes brightened. “How do you know all this stuff?”

  “From Dad. He’s designed pretty much everything from offices to banks to prisons, and more than a couple of factories. He once told me how to disable a bank’s security system. Easier than you’d think. Though you’d need a crane and a ten-ton truck and a week drilling outside the bank to do it.”

  “Ash doesn’t know these things, and you’re the same.”

  “No, we’re not.” Ashoka peered around him. “He was busy doing all that important stuff while I was at home with Dad.”

  “Being with your family is important too. More important than you think. It’s the reason we want to save the world.” Parvati turned her back. “Unzip me, please.”

  Wow.

  He’d thought he’d have to wait till university before he got requests like that.

  Parvati sighed. “I can hear your hormones boiling from here. Get a grip, Ashoka.”

  “Er … right.”

  He closed his eyes and unzipped her. She did the same and, back to back, with no peeking, they slipped out of their wetsuits, now slimy with chemicals, and into clean clothes from the backpacks. Loose black trousers and T-shirt, for Ashoka with a pair of black rubber-soled plimsolls, while Parvati dressed in a similar T-shirt, but with shorts and barefoot, easier for her transformations.

  The knife went back on her calf sheath and they transferred their equipment to utility belts along with a walkie-talkie they’d use to call Ti Fun’s people when they needed picking up. Ashoka took out his bow and snapped it open. There was an arrow clip fixed to the main body and he pushed his four arrows into it. It went over his shoulder.

  Parvati nodded approvingly. “Suits you.”

  “Another compliment?” Ashoka looked up at the ladder leading into the hatch and grabbed the first rung. “I’ll get big-headed.”

  Parvati followed him, smiling.

  They emerged through a manhole into an unlit side alley between two large steel-clad warehouses.

  “Which way?” said Ashoka, pulling himself out.

  “It’s your family we’re rescuing; you tell me.”

  Ashoka crept to one end of the alleyway. He looked around him at the vast complex, with its buildings and stores and pipes. Huge clouds bellowed out of two immense chimneys and Ashoka put out his hand to catch what fell. “Ash …” he said, rubbing the dry powder in his fingers and letting it be carried away with a puff. “Whatever they’re cooking, they’re doing it on overtime.”

  It covered the ground like snow.

  Parvati hissed. Never a good sign.

  “What is it?” he asked. Her gaze was on the cloud rising from the chimneys.

  “Nothing. Let’s get a move on.”

  Now if I was a criminal super-villain, where would I hide my hostages? thought Ashoka.

  Nothing here looked like a prison where you’d hide people away. Would he lock them in one of the tool sheds? No, too simple for Savage; he wouldn’t rely on a few barred windows and a padlock. Which building had the most security?

  “The medical laboratories,” said Ashoka aloud. “They’d be the most protected for two reasons: industrial espionage and risk of contamination.”

  “How will we find them?”

  “Follow the white coats,” said Ashoka. “Like those two.”

  They wore more than just white coats. The two people crossing from one building to another were in full head-to-toe lab suits. Their hoods were down and they were finishing off their sandwiches as they approached a steel door. The building itself was windowless and the walls white-painted concrete. A field of exhaust ducts stood up from the flat roof and a stream of pipes and cables ran from the building as if it was the heart of the complex and they were its arteries and veins, supplying life to the rest of the industrial machine.

  One of the scientists unclipped his badge and swiped it over the lock. The door hummed as the electronic locking mechanism disabled itself. Light escaped.

  “Quick,” said Parvati, and she sprinted towards them.

  The first scientist brushed the crumbs off his hands and went in.

  Ashoka looked around – all clear – and ran after Parvati.

  The second scientist was still pushing the sandwich into his cheeks when Parvati came upon him.

  She sprang into the air and flew the last four or five metres, knees tucked up to her chin, and was about to land on him when she kicked out, her heels rocketing into his back and hurling him against the door. He slammed into it and Parvati sailed past and through the door before he hit the ground.

  By the time Ashoka reached the door, a few seconds later, it was all over.

  “Drag him in,” Parvati ordered, crouching over the second unconscious lab worker. “Before the door shuts.”

  Ashoka hooked his arms under the man’s armpits and pulled him into the corridor. The door closed just as his heels cleared the door frame.

  Parvati drew her knife.

  Ashoka grabbed her arm. “You can’t kill them.”

  “Do I look like a psychopath?”

  “Er …”

  Parvati’s fangs were extended and her huge brilliant green eyes were sliced by vertical pupils. Scales clustered at her neck. Psychopath would be a polite way of putting it.

  “Never mind.” She licked the blade. “My venom causes paralysis and organ failure, among other things. In very, very small doses it’ll keep these two out for a few hours. No permanent harm. Trust me.” She nicked each man on the neck, less than a shaving cut. “Now let’s get them out of sight.”

  The nearest room turned out to be an empty office with lockers and tools and shelves of technical books. The lights were off and it didn’t look like anyone would be here before morning. They bundled both men under the desks and tied them up with cables to be doubly sure. Parvati found some tape in a drawer and stuck it over their mouths to make triply sure.

  “Look at this,” said Ashoka. There was a piping schematic on the wall. “It tells you what’s running in and out of this block.”

  “And that helps us how?”

  Ashoka traced his fingers along a line. “These are medical gas supplies. And they disappear here. That floor’s not marked.”

  “They want to keep it private?”

  “Exactly. Look at the electrical diagram. The size of the distribution board is huge. There’s a floor eating up a lot of juice.”

  “Let’s try that lift.” Parvati pointed at the end of the corridor. “That must be where these two were headed.”

  “Whatever’s happening down there is serious business.” The seals were fresh and the metal highly polished. “They’re taking no chances with leaks.”

  Parvati hesitated. “Perhaps you should wait here, Ashoka. I’ll go down and find your family and bring them to you.”

  “Why? What’s the matter?”

  She brushed grey ash from his shoulder. “I’d rather not say, in case I’m wrong. Just stay here. I shouldn’t be long.”

  “Forget it. I’m coming.” Ashoka met her gaze, even though his heart was beating with fear. “It’s what Ash would do.”

  “Yes, but Ash has done some incredibly stupid things.”

  “Then let’s get moving before my common sense kicks in.”

  Parvati hesitated again, and for a second Ashoka thought she was going to say something, but then she opened the door and the two of them walked to the lift. Ashoka swiped one of the lab worker’s cards over the sensor and a moment later the doors opened. “This is it,” he said, getting in quickly before he changed his mind.

  Down they went and Ashoka’s heart clenched. What was down there? Parvati bit her lip and tensed and untensed her fists. He could tell that she was afraid, and if she was afraid then he should be terrified. But his sister and his parents might be down here, so down he had to go.

  Eventually the lift stopped. Parvati readied her blade. The door opened. Her eyes
widened. “Oh my God …”

  And Ashoka entered hell.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  I’ve done it. I’ve killed Savage!

  Rani stared at Ash in disbelief.

  Savage was dead.

  Any second now … thought Ash.

  Any second now and the Kali-aastra would awake, flooding him with supernatural power. He’d given Kali a great sacrifice, a Great Death. The death of his enemy, the man he hated most above all else. Savage’s life force would pour into him, giving him the Englishman’s abilities. He’d be unstoppable.

  Any second now …

  The seconds passed.

  Nothing was happening.

  Why wasn’t the Kali-aastra awakening? He’d killed Savage. What more could he do?

  He’d killed—

  Savage’s body glistened.

  Ash watched in horror as the wound sealed and the skin smoothed until there was no mark upon it, and Savage began to glow more and more as if beneath the white flesh shone something brighter, something that was reawakening his heartbeat.

  “No …” breathed Ash.

  Savage opened his eyes and they were a pair of dazzling diamonds lit by a pure white fire within. His teeth transformed into glass and his flesh morphed from meat and bone into crystal, a billion subtle edges and surfaces catching the light and bouncing it between them until Savage was blindingly brilliant.

  Savage sighed. He bent and rose. His nails, diamond-tipped, cut long lines in the tiles. The nails accidently tore across his bloody shirt and it drifted off like red ribbons into the wind.

  “No …”

  Even his hair had transformed, to a crystalline crest that chimed and rang as the minute follicles struck each other.

  “What are you?” whispered Ash. The ten skulls, the brands proclaiming Savage’s mastery over all magic, were black sooty scorch marks on his flawless, inhuman chest.

  Ravana had forged his body from gold to be able to contain the vast, swirling sorcery within him. Magic drew a heavy price from those that used it, ageing and corrupting them, and eventually destroying them. The same was said to be true for humans, even more so. Magic corrupted humans in body and soul, and for that reason it had been believed that mastering all ten sorceries was impossible. But Savage had found a way.

  Was this Savage’s solution? A body of diamond?

  The light dimmed. Crystal gave way to meat and skin. His teeth went from glass back to ivory. Only in the centre of his chest did the glow linger, a beating heart, not of blood and muscle, but something else – a small clump of shining stone.

  Savage put his palm against it. “Ah, you have discovered my secret. This is why I am not destroyed by the ten sorceries. I’m protected by the ultimate life force: the Life Giver.”

  No. Not after all they’d been through. Only a month ago Ash and Parvati had stopped Savage from getting his hands on it. A diamond of legend, created by a god, that had the power to cure any injury, any sickness. Said even to raise the dead. Ash had stopped Savage and hidden it for ever.

  But that was in a different timeline. A different universe.

  “The Koh-i-noor?” said Ash.

  “Indeed. The Brahma-aastra,” said Savage. “I really, truly cannot die, Ash.”

  “But Ravana cursed it.”

  “How to lift the curse was the first thing I asked the demon king when I freed him from the Iron Gates.”

  Savage pressed his palm against his chest. “I took out my heart and replaced it with the diamond. There was a period of adjustment, but I’ve never felt better. Literally glowing with good health, you might say.”

  No wonder the Kali-aastra hadn’t awakened. There had been no death. With the Brahma-aastra within him Savage could not die.

  Savage beckoned to Rani. “Tell Jackie to go to the orphanage and collect the children. They’ll be back to human form now and no doubt confused and a little distressed. Bring them here so we can educate them into their new role.”

  “As monsters,” said Rani.

  Savage met the rakshasa princess’s green gaze. “Yes, my dear. As perfect little monsters. Just like you.”

  Ash stepped forward. He had to do something …

  Rani blocked him and put her hand up on his throat. She shook her head slowly.

  “If you were still the Kali-aastra, then you might have stood a chance, but you are not, not in this timeline. Just when you needed her most, Kali has abandoned you,” said Savage. “Now, Rani, please escort our guest somewhere safe and secure. Let him meet the other … inhabitants.”

  How could Savage be beaten? It was impossible. Ash wracked his brain for ideas, but nothing worked. The guy could probably survive a nuke.

  Down they went, into the bones of the mountain. Rani held out a lantern before her as they left the palace above them and entered a labyrinth of crudely chiselled-out passageways, chambers and yet more stairs: dank, narrow, miserable. Icicles sparkled in the passing flames and the amber light was sprinkled upon the frost-coated walls.

  This was a place lower than hell, and with every metre Ash went down his heart beat more rapidly. Was there a way out of this? Should he run? He’d been chained again around the wrists, and the manacles were leaden and soaked up hope, leaving him crushed by despair. Maybe he couldn’t escape, but he had to try.

  “Parvati …”

  “That’s not my name.”

  “Where are you taking me?”

  Rani pulled at his chains. “Hurry up.”

  Ash stumbled along behind her in the semi-darkness. What was that? He thought he heard something up ahead. Who else was down here? What else?

  “Why didn’t he send you to get those kids?” Ash asked. He’d heard the tension in her voice when Savage had ordered Jackie to do it. “You were angry.”

  “What do I care for some orphans?” she replied tersely.

  “You tell me.”

  Rani spun around, her eyes blazing. “They are what they are. Demons.”

  “They’re kids. How old were you when Savage found you?”

  “Younger than them. They should be happy for the time they had being children. That is over now.” She turned back to face down the corridor. “Come on.”

  “You don’t like it, Parvati.”

  “That is not my name!”

  Ash grabbed her shoulder and Rani hissed. Her tongue danced between her fangs and Ash gulped. He’d gone too far. But this was the only chance he had. There was something good, compassionate, deep inside the rakshasa. He knew Parvati, and whatever timeline or world or age she might exist in, she and he had always been friends. No matter what.

  “Listen to me. Savage is going to destroy those kids’ lives – corrupt them, twist their minds and feelings and souls … and you can stop him. You’re a demon and you’ve told me that demons don’t have feelings or compassion or love, but that’s not true. Savage feeds the monster in you, but there’s so much more. I’ve seen it.”

  She snorted. “So you say, but this other rakshasa, this Parvati of yours, she must be a weak and feeble thing. I am a queen of demons. Who is this other Parvati? Some vagabond? What does she have that I do not?”

  “You know what she has.”

  “Humanity? Compassion? Love?” Rani’s eyes were murderously narrow. “Those are things I do not want, I do not need.”

  “They’re yours for the taking. Just help me. We have to stop Savage.”

  She shook her head. “It’s impossible. Savage cannot be stopped.” She raised her lantern and revealed an iron door ahead of them. “He has planned for this a long time.”

  A moaning echoed from beyond the door. The sound – low, mournful, trembling with anger – chilled the blood.

  Ash stared. “What’s in there?”

  Rani unlocked the door and pushed him inside. He fell hard, gashing his knees on the bare rock.

  Rani put the lantern inside the cell. “Some light, for what it’s worth.”

  Ash couldn’t see far in. The cell was some na
tural cave. The walls undulated and shimmered with ice. Deep within the endless darkness, beyond the feeble lantern light, he heard feet shuffle. Voices – many – came out of that black void. “What’s in here?”

  Rani paused at the half-closed door. “Savage has been experimenting to perfect his drug for ten years. Here’s where he keeps the failures.”

  She shut the door and bolted it.

  Ash gazed out into the darkness. “Hello …? Who’s there?” He backed up against the wall. “Come out into the light.”

  And they did.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  The first slithered. It dragged itself over the damp rock, through the dripping pool, with spindly white arms that ended not with hands but bony hooks. Its eyes were huge bulbous things: white, sightless. The mouth was a puckered hole with black gums and a few yellow teeth. Weeping sores covered the sallow, sickly skin that sagged over twisted muscle.

  Ash, back against the door, stood ready. The chains of the manacles were heavy, dense iron. He swung them from side to side, prepared to fight.

  More creatures emerged into the lamplight, each more malformed and grotesque than the last. One had a mangy pelt and a single wing, neither beast nor bird and no longer human, his skull deformed into a beak and pressed sideways so he kept on turning his head at angles, weird glazed eyes blinking and unfocused. A reptilian tongue darted above the curved jawbone. Another lumbered closer in an ape-like gait, a pair of puny bow-legs supporting a massive torso and arms thicker than Ash’s waist. Its head faced almost backwards and patches of a mane sprouted over the cheeks and scalp. A single eye sat in the centre of its brow.