Aru Shah and the City of Gold - Roshani Chokshi Page 0,48
traditional sherwani and trousers, but the material was unusual. One moment, it looked as green as a dollar bill; another, it was silver, like a coin. As in the billboard they’d seen, he wore an eye patch, and his good eye seemed to shift in color the longer he stared at them, from the shiny bronze of a new penny to the green tinge of an old one.
“That was a delight,” said Kubera in his smooth-jazz DJ voice. “I mean, the fight with Ravana? Brilliant. We just adored it, didn’t we, Biju?”
A little head poked up through his armrest and nodded. It was the same golden mongoose that had hissed at Aru to be quiet.
Biju hiccuped. From its small mouth a bright diamond fell into Kubera’s lap.
The god picked it up and scowled. “You’re getting sloppy,” he said with a sigh. “How many times have we been through the four C’s of diamonds? Cut, color, clarity, carats! I can see the inclusions on this one at first glance and, what is this, four carats? Peasant nonsense.” Kubera dropped the diamond on the floor. “Take it away, Biju. Perhaps you could use it as a paperweight for the letters I have no wish to answer.”
Aru was about to raise her hand. I’ll take it! She’d be rich! But Mini shot her another warning glance, and Aru dropped her arm. Biju the mongoose huffed, retrieved the diamond, and disappeared.
“Now, where were we…?” asked Kubera. “Oh, right. Loved the fight. Very, uh, what’s the word…?” Kubera snapped his fingers. “Cinematic!”
Aru frowned. “Thanks?”
“And I hope you enjoyed the mongooses’ performance just as much. They worked very hard on it. It was quite possibly…” Kubera stifled a yawn. “Quite possibly the most fun I’ve had in two centuries. Too bad there were no games. I do like those, too. Oh well, can’t win ’em all! Now off you trot—”
“Fun?” repeated Aiden.
Kubera, who had started to look bored, perked up.
“Respectfully,” said Brynne in a tone that bordered on disrespectful, “it doesn’t seem fun that there’s an army heading your way. And if the Sleeper actually gets hold of the nectar of immortality, I doubt life is going to be fun for anyone else. The Otherworld might end up, I dunno…destroyed? And instead of enabling us to go find and fight him wherever he is, you’re putting us through trials just to prove we’re worthy of using your army!” A slight wind rose around Brynne, lifting the hair off her shoulders. “All this is said respectfully, of course,” she said again when Mini glared at her.
“Speak freely,” said Kubera nonchalantly. “Sass can be so refreshing. A little zinger here and there from blips of mortality is amusing.”
Did he just call us “blips of mortality”? Aru asked via the Pandava link.
“Is none of this valuable to you?” asked Aiden, motioning all around with his arm. “Don’t you care that it all could be lost?”
Kubera cocked his head to one side, studying Aiden. A wide grin spread across his face. “Ooh…I like you,” he said, his eye glinting dangerously. “So earnest! So pretty! No, no, I don’t mind a little destruction. If nothing is ever destroyed, you never find out what’s worth protecting.”
“What about Hanuman and Urvashi?” asked Brynne. “Are they worth protecting?”
“Of course!” said Kubera. “That’s why they’re in a comfy little jail cell under my palace! It’s perfectly ventilated, and packed with Friends DVDs. What more could you want? Now, are we done? Don’t you want to start your quest? Three days is all you get before the Sleeper’s army arrives, you know. His ambassador showed me this wonderfully menacing depiction of the Sleeper’s forces when he last visited.”
He snapped his fingers, and a 3-D illusion of a sprawling army rose around them. Asuras and yakshas and beings with feathered arms and horned heads stormed past Aru with a flat, determined look in their eyes.
“Impressive, no?” said Kubera. “I take it the Sleeper’s rallying cry has been quite inspiring. ‘Change your fate! Remake the world!’ Et cetera, et cetera.”
At the front of the army, dressed in a dark robe that ended in curling wisps of smoke, marched the Sleeper. His face looked gaunt, and his mismatched blue and brown eyes were fixed on some far-off destination. His collar was open just far enough to allow Aru to see that something glinted around his neck: the necklace holding all the memories he’d given up in an effort to change his destiny.