Lord of Light

He climbed down to the floor and activated a final control. The top of the cage rolled away. Then he took up the long metal pinion hook and moved back to the rope ladder. The bird smell was overpowering. Garuda shifted restlessly and ruffled feathers twice the size of a man.

Slowly, he climbed. As he was strapping himself into place, Yama and Ratri approached the cage.

"Kubera! What madness is this?" cried Yama. "You have never been fond of the heights!"

"Urgent business, Yama," he replied, "and it would take a day to finish servicing the thunder chariot."

"What business, Kubera? And why not take a gondola?"

"Garuda's faster. I'll tell you about it on my return."

"Perhaps I can be of help."

"No. Thank you."

"But Lord Murugan can?"

"In this case, yes."

"You two were never on the best of terms."

"Nor are we now. But I have need of his services."

"Hail, Murugan!. . . Why does he not reply?"

"He sleeps, Yama."

"There is blood upon your face, brother."

"I had a small accident earlier."

"And Murugan appears somewhat mishandled also."

"It was the same accident."

"Something is amiss here, Kubera. Wait, I'm coming into the cage."

"Stay out, Yama!"

"The Lokapalas do not order one another about. We are equals."

"Stay out, Yama! I'm raising Garuda's hood!"

"Don't do it!"

Yama's eyes suddenly flashed and he stood taller within his red.

Kubera leaned forward with the hook and raised the hood from the Bird's high head. Garuda threw his head back and cried once more.

"Ratri," said Yama, "lay shadows upon Garuda's eyes, that he may not see."

Yama moved toward the entrance of the cage. Darkness, like a thundercloud, hid the head of the Bird.

"Ratri!" said Kubera. "Lift this darkness and lay it upon Yama, or all is lost!"

Ratri hesitated only a moment, and this was done.

"Come to me quickly!" he cried. "Come mount Garuda and ride with us! We need you, badly!"

She entered the cage and was lost to sight, as the darkness kept spreading and spreading, like a pool of ink, Yama groping his way through it.

The ladder jerked and swayed, and Ratri mounted Garuda.

Garuda screamed then and leapt into the air, for Yama had moved forward, blade in hand, and had cut at the first thing he had felt.

The night rushed about them and Heaven lay far below.

When they reached a mighty height, the dome began to close.

Garuda sped toward the gate, screaming again.

They were through it before it closed, and Kubera prodded the Bird.

"Where are we going?" asked Ratri.

"To Keenset, by the river Vedra," he answered. "And this is Sam. He is still alive."

"What has happened?"

"He is the one Yama seeks."

"Will he seek him in Keenset?"

"Doubtless, lady. Doubtless. But ere he finds him, we may be better prepared."

In the days that preceded the Great Battle, the defenders came to Keenset. Kubera and Sam and Ratri brought the warning. Keenset was already aware of the raising of its neighbors, but not of the heavenly avengers who were to come.

Sam drilled the troops who would fight against gods, and Kubera drilled those who would fight against men.

Black armor was forged for the goddess of Night, of whom it has been said, "Guard us from the she-wolf and the wolf, and guard us from the thief, of Night."

And on the third day there was a tower of fire before Sam's tent on the plane outside the city.

"It is the Lord of Hellwell come to keep his promise, oh Siddhartha!" said the voice that rang within his head.

"Taraka! How did you find me—recognize me?"

"I look upon the flames, which are your true being, not the flesh which masks them. You know that."

"I thought you dead."

"I nearly was. Those two do drink life with their eyes! Even the life of one such as I."

"I told you that. Do you bring your legions with you?"

"Yes, I bring my legions."

"It is good. The gods will move against this place soon."

"I know. Many times have I visited Heaven atop its mountain of ice, and my spies remain there yet. So I know that they make ready to come to this place. They also invite humans to share in the battle. Though they do not feel they need the assistance of men, they think it good that they join in the destruction of the city Keenset."

"Yes, that is understandable," said Sam, studying the great vortex of yellow flame. "What other news have you?"

"The One in Red comes."

"I expected him."

"To his death. I must defeat him."

"He will have demon-repellant upon him."

"Then I will find a way to remove it, or kill him from a distance. He will be here by nightfall."

"How does he come?"

"In a flying machine—not so large as the chariot of thunder we tried to steal—but very fast. I could not attack it in flight."

"Comes he alone?"

"Yes—save for machines."

"Machines?"

"Many machines. His flying machine is filled with strange equipment."

"This may bode ill."

The tower spun orange.

"But others come also."

"You just said he comes alone."

"This is true."

"Then riddle me your true meaning."

"The others do not come from Heaven."

"Where, then?"

"I have traveled much since your departure for Heaven, going up and down in the world and seeking allies among those who also hate the Gods of the City. By the way, in your last incarnation I did try to save you from the cats out of Kaniburrha."

"I know."

"The gods are strong—stronger than they have ever been before."

"But tell me who is coming to aid us."

"Lord Nirriti the Black, who hates all things, hates the Gods of the City most of all. So he is sending a thousand unliving ones to fight on the plains beside the Vedra. He said that, after the battle, we of the Rakasha may take our choice from the bodies which yet remain among the mindless ones he has grown."

"I do not relish aid from the Black One, but I am in no position to discriminate. How soon will these arrive?"

"Tonight. But Dalissa will be here sooner. Even now, I feel her approaching."

"Dalissa? Who . . . ?"

"The last of the Mothers of the Terrible Glow. She alone escaped into the depths when Durga and Lord Kalkin rode to the dome by the sea. All her eggs were smashed and she can lay no more, but she bears within her body the burning power of the sea-glow."

"And you think she would aid me?"

"She would aid no other. She is the last of her kind. She will only assist a peer."

"Then know that the one who was known as Durga now wears the body of Brahma, chief among our enemies."

"Yes, which makes both of you men. She might have taken the other side, had Kali remained a woman. But she has committed herself now. You were her choice."

"That helps to even things a bit."

"The Rakasha herd elephants and slizzards and great cats at this time, to drive against our enemies."

"Good."

"And they summon fire elementals."

"Very good."

"Dalissa is near here now. She will wait at the bottom of the river, to rise up when she is needed."

"Say hello to her for me," said Sam, turning to re-enter his tent.

"I will."

He dropped the flap behind him.

When the God of Death came down out of the sky onto the plains beside the Vedra, Taraka of the Rakasha set upon him in the form of a great cat out of Kaniburrha.

But immediately he fell back. The demon repellant lay upon Yama, and Taraka could not close with him because of it.

The Rakasha swirled away, dropping the cat form he had assumed, to become a whirlwind of silver motes.

"Deathgod!" the word exploded in Yama's head. "Remember Hellwell?"

Immediately, rocks and stones and sandy soil were sucked up into the vortex and hurled across the air toward Yama, who swirled his cloak and muffled his eyes with its hem, but did not otherwise stir.