Chapter Ten Arun
Arun’s smile slipped the moment he left Kasu’s exchange desk.
It was a relief to hear her speak about her own wishes – the desire to be reborn, to feel the sun again, to live in a house somewhere on the edge of an orchard.
It was easier to believe in her endearing earnestness now that he understood the reason behind it.
It meant he could stop worrying about why Kasu wanted to help and concentrate on finding his mother.
Camellia House demanded his full attention.
Its halls were not as large as those of his father’s palace, but they were teeming with ghosts and demons.
Reading stories about them was one thing, but it was different coming face to face with a dozen at a time.
He stepped aside as a man with a fox’s head passed, followed by a peacock-like creature with deep indigo skin and long feathers for hair.
Each feather was dotted with a dozen eyes that watched Arun from the back of the demon’s head as he passed.
Gamblers huddled around clicking roulette wheels, fighting to place their bets on large rectangular tables. They screamed to make themselves heard over each other, their voices growing to a crescendo that would suddenly drop to a deathly hush as the wheels came to a stop.
It was overwhelming. It was exhilarating. Arun had never before felt the sheer rush of joy and despair that exuded from the crowd. The electric murmur of voices, the noise of spinning wheels and the clattering of marbles was like the tide pushing and pulling him this way and that.
A pair of ghosts bickered as they passed behind Arun’s back.
“I heard the last meat auction was wild.”
“That’s what everyone’s saying! Damn demon lords and their exclusive auctions. Why can’t we join in on the fun?”
“Lord Cobalt can’t just invite anybody to the auction! S’not important if it’s not exclusive.”
“Ha! You say that, but I heard Lord Onyx weren’t even at the last one. And that Lord Cobalt was fuming at the insult. Hey, if Onyx ain’t around no more, maybe I could be the next demon lord!”
“Piss off! You ain’t even a demon!”
Arun did as Kasu had advised and listened closely to the conversations around him.
It seemed everyone in Camellia House knew of some rumour that absolutely no one else had ever heard before or was holding on to an earth-shattering secret that they could only reveal by shouting it to their neighbour in the loudest possible voice.
In less than a minute, Arun had learned about a teahouse in the western quarter that was mixing its tea with powdered bones, a rich demon who was hoarding dragon pearls, where to buy the best human ears, and what to do if caught in a spider lady’s web.
All of it was interesting, but none of it was what he had come here for.
Moving down the corridor, he made his way towards another gambling hall. Golden tiles glinted beneath the chandeliers. Shadows stretched and pressed themselves against the wall.
Then they spoke.
“Care for a bite?”
Arun stopped short.
“Excuse me?”
“Care for a bite?”
Ruo’s fur was so dark that with their eyes closed they seemed to melt into the darkness. It was only when they stepped away from the shadows that Arun could make out the shape of their body.
The cat opened their mouth to reveal rows of sharp, gleaming white fangs. “Would you care if I bit you?”
“Yes.”
Ruo huffed.
Arun glanced from one end of the empty hallway to the other. “Why are you here? Are you hiding?”
Stretching their claws, Ruo yawned and curled up against the wall, their fur seeming to melt into the shadows once more.
“The servants don’t like it when I hang around. They say I scare away the gamblers. Something about being intimidated by my beauty. In my infinite generosity, I am staying out of sight until closing time.”
“You scare away the gamblers? Because you’re a curse?”
“Curses belong to the mortal realm. Humans die to create us. They stew in their hatred for years and die so that we can do what they can’t – kill their enemies.
Most of us disappear after we have fulfilled our purpose.
Only very few – very special – curses like me linger on.
” Ruo grinned. “Then we make our way down to the under-realm to do as we please.”
Arun thought about the priests and monks back home who spent their days constantly praying for the health and happiness of the royal family.
He thought of the paper talismans stuck to the eaves of each royal building to keep out bad luck and the rings his father wore to protect himself from misfortune.
Perhaps it had all been in service of keeping curses away. Kings had no shortage of enemies who wanted them dead, after all, and Arun’s father was … not cruel, perhaps, but unforgiving. A curled fist where a gentler hand would have sufficed. A man who always chose the stick over the carrot.
“So who did you kill?”
Ruo shrugged. “Some woman.”
“You don’t know who she was or what she did?”
“I didn’t kill the wrong person, if that’s what you’re thinking. It felt good when she was finally dead. That’s proof I got it right.”
Arun tried not to shudder. “Then who created you?”
Ruo shrugged again. It was a strangely human gesture coming from a cat. “Not sure. Don’t care. The only thing I remember from my time in the mortal realm was killing that woman. It was a wonderful feeling! Like curling up in your favourite sun spot and sleeping the day away.”
There was something in the way Ruo’s golden eyes gleamed in the light that made Arun uneasy. Ruo seemed content, proud even, that they had murdered some woman they didn’t even know. Had they killed anyone else? Maybe he would be next.
Ruo’s chest rumbled like the living earth and Arun felt a shiver travel down his spine.
Once, when he had visited the temple to Bakrute’s guardian god, the head monk had shown him a mural on the wall depicting the three realms. The heavens above with its hundreds of gods, the mortal world of humans in the middle, and the under-realm full of ghosts and demons below.
“Humans who fall out of the cycle of souls become ghosts. Humans who commit unspeakable atrocities transform into demons. But humans who are good and noble are called to the heavens, and eventually become gods.”
Humans, humans, humans. Perhaps that was why the Camellia House staff tried to keep Ruo away. No matter what they became, both ghosts and demons had been human once. Curses were different.
“But Kasu isn’t afraid of you,” he said.
“Kasu is special. I like Kasu. She told you to look for gossip, didn’t she?”
Arun blinked at the sudden change in topic. He nodded.
Yawning, Ruo stood up and arched their back. “In the dice hall up ahead, there’s a ghost wearing a red ogre mask yelling about the heavens. You should talk to him.”
“I—” He did not get the chance to finish. Pressing back against the wall, Ruo slunk away, their fur melting and eventually disappearing into the shadows.
Arun watched the cat disappear. No wonder other ghosts and demons found curses unsettling. He let his unease sit with him for a moment before shaking his head.
There was still much to do.
The corridor led into another wide hallway.
The dice halls. As Arun stepped inside, he briefly locked eyes with a young ghost, dressed in a forest-green dealer’s uniform, sitting in the middle of one of the circular tables.
Two dice were lying on the table. Their upturned faces showed a red lotus on the first die and a green dragon on the second.
The dealer pushed both into a clay cup and closed her hand over its mouth.
“Place yer bets! Place yer bets now!”
Gamblers jostled Arun, stepping on his toes and elbowing him in his gut as they clamoured for the dealer’s attention.
“Paradise with the dead!” they shouted.
“The death of dragons!”
Gambling tiles were slammed down so hard Arun was surprised the table didn’t break. Ghosts roared. Demons snarled. The dealer shook the dice.
When she threw them out of the cup, they came to a stop in the middle of the table: a red lotus on the first and a golden lion on the second.
“The enlightenment of beasts!” she announced to a chorus of cheers and groans.
“I don’t understand this game,” Arun muttered.
“Then piss off up to the kirit tables! You’re in the way!” The ghost standing next to him turned to scowl. He wore a red ogre mask.
Arun tried his best not to smile.
“I don’t know how to play kirit, either,” he lied.
“Oh?” The ghost slung an arm around Arun. Greed danced across his expression at the thought of an easy mark. “Well, I’d be happy to teach you.”
Arun clutched his gambling tiles tight.
“You would? That would be wonderful. I’m new to the under-realm myself, and it feels like I don’t know anything.”
The ghost’s grin widened. “Come with me.”