June 12, 2024

Flesh and Blood
By Manaly Talukdar

This story first appeared in the online journal Cotton Xenomorph on March 31, 2024

Click here to listen to this story on the Kaidankai podcast.



My soldiers never came back. It’s been three weeks since they made their way to this cave castle--this abyss for sinners. Now it was my turn to enter.

The smothering darkness blinded me, the fleck of light from the roofless dome miles above was no different than a star (lightyears afar) stitched in the night sky, cast only the faintest tint of an illumination. My arms, outstretched, palm-slapped the clay textured pillars. Water dripped on the flooded floor like the ticking of a clock. The hems of my dhoti drenched in mud water festered with chunks of human feces. With the back of my hand, I swatted the flies that bathed in the offensive, vile atmosphere and buzzed around me with zest.

The word Hygiene was foreign to Kroja, a barbaric animal who limped within the walls of his den and was unbothered to discard the putrefied junk. My face scrunched up in disgust as I curtained my nose with a sateen handkerchief. The ale I chugged on to soothe my jittery nerves couldn’t shake the feeling that a pair of eyes surveilled my every movement. 

“Kroja! Where are they?” My voice echoed back. I descended a steep slippery stairwell encrusted with algae. The stench of rotten meat stained the atmosphere.  Had his taste changed? Forgotten how to barbecue his meals?

My steps halted midway when a guttural cry bounced and sizzled, before a blood curdling scream pierced my ears.

“Norkov! Jade! Cezar!” I called out. I was served with dead silence, then a giggle that danced to the beat of flapping wings.

“Who’s there?” I cried out as I punched the air, engineered to rely on my fight reflex. No response.

I was sure he would use my men as a bargaining chip, their lives for his freedom, so he could claim an equal right to live amongst the mortals. They must have been chained, castrated in a windowless room, tortured for hours. He would recognize Jade and Cezar, the two soldiers I ordered to shackle and drag him through the streets while civilians had pelted bricks and stones at the bad omen. Their wisdom ripened after my incessant warnings, warnings that infused them with a sense of doom if they ever dared to orbit near the Darkness. They were terrorized of  Kroja’s curse, infested with his unsympathetic wrath if his corrosive stare befell them.

My pace quickened. Fire torches clung to the tunnel's brick-red walls and warmed the corridor which grew narrower as I progressed, my claustrophobia heightened. A rusty iron door marked a dead end. I tried twisting the handle, shook the door by its frame but it was sealed shut, I nicked my fingers in the process.

As I turned to trace my way back, a copper glazed metal barrier blocked my way. I was a rat caught in a mouse trap. The air thinned in my lungs. The idea of dying in a confined space seeped in. “What the hell is this!? Kroja! Open this goddamn door!” I balled my fists and banged on the ironclad door, a cascade of thuds boomed.

The door finally clicked open with a cackling squeak. A candle-lit chandelier hovered mid-air (the sole source of light), the marble floor covered in patches of shapeless apricot beige linoleum was littered with lumps of flesh. The rustle of chains, chants of gibberish mumbles, muffled cries of despair played like rhythms in an orchestra which harmonized a song of pain— a chamber of jailed compartments that housed an endless series of elevated floors that skyscraper-ed to the beyond. He preyed upon the souls trapped within these cellblocks, red-circled their sins, scribbled out a crude verdict for their upcoming rebirth either as an unloved human who would have no roof over their head or food on their plate, or a feral cat chased and assaulted for sadistic pleasure. How many had he imprisoned? My neck prickled at the thought of my soldiers being imprisoned amongst them. 

“The Prince of Light finally graces us with his presence!” He greeted me with a chirp of mockery, blanketed behind the shadows, leaning on the third floor’s balcony railing ornate with wind-chimes of bones. 

“Release them!” I demanded.

Kroja slithered down a monolithic onyx column to bring us face-to-face. Scaled skin of midnight, emerald viper eyes, skeletal, wrists bejeweled in copper bangles, cheeks clean shaven. His matted hair ran from his scalp to his waistline like a high current waterfall.

​Kroja. My shadow self, a mirror which ruthlessly contorted my features.

“Chopping my leg off wasn’t enough for you,” he said as he flaunted the tip of his coiled anaconda tail, “and apparently, neither was locking me up in this abyss for an eternity … so you put a price on my head.” My jaws tightened. 

“They came here to avenge their fallen comrades. I couldn’t keep sacrificing my men for your pet’s unusual diet!” I growled. “The world could do without you and Tara’s cruelty.” 

“Getting rid of your own flesh and blood for world peace. How heroic, Jorah!” He chuckled which exploded into a ripple of chortles, “The weight of that golden crown has indeed smitten your better judgement.” My fingers twitched at his insult.

“Here, have my head. At least, I’ll be free from this hellhole.” He slid out a machete hidden inside the forest of his matted hair and tossed it at my feet, provoking me to quench my age-old pursuit, “and once I’m free, someone has to take my place.”

He hissed out his forked tongue to stroke my chin and bared his stalactite fangs.

“Your pristine light will begin to fade. You’ll avoid mirrors, reek like raw fish but you’ll get used to it.” He winked.

My heart sank in my stomach, goosebumps sprouted on my pale skin, a cold shiver ran down my spine, ears pulsated. “The ones I save for my so-called cruelty are right here.” He swung his hand, gesturing at the entire prison chamber. “These souls have either defiled the innocent, slaughtered for pride and vanity or have corrupted impressionable minds. Some of your men belong here too, the ones who still have minutes on their clock but need to be stopped. So I let Tara have them for dinner.”

He gleamed. “Have you forgotten what I’m all about, brother?” He arched an eyebrow. Silence had grabbed me by the throat. 

“I’ll make you a deal.” Kroja continued.

A hyena-like cackle ping-ponged around the prison chamber, a man whimpered in pain. The grills of a cage rattled open, the insides faintly lit by the chandelier's  candles. A vulture, as dark as obsidian, stood over my soldier Norkov, its claws deep in his back as he lay on his stomach. Puddles of blood oozed across his body, an eye was missing from its socket, and blood sprayed from his mouth as he belched an inaudible cough. The most formidable knight of my army, who could burn a village to the ground at my command, defeated and on the verge of being devoured.

“Either you save him or save yourself from becoming me. Only one of you is getting out of here alive,” he announced. I collapsed to my knees, my crown the weight of a boulder. “Choose, brother.”

I couldn’t. I couldn’t imagine myself living in this murky abyss, wearing the shoes of my shadow self for an eternity. I didn’t want to lose Norkov, whose fierce loyalty I had treasured since the beginning of time. The Darkness had finally caught the Light by its leash.

“Kro, I shouldn’t have locked you up like an animal. You shouldn’t have been amputated nor feared.” I began to plead, fumbling through my confession of unfairness done to him.

“I was rather treated with disgust than fear.” His words a bare whisper.

“I couldn’t possibly ask for your forgiveness, but if you give me a chance to earn it …” He bore a numbed expression as I continued making my promises “I could give you land and fortune, you wouldn’t have to live in this sewer anymore.” I paused, nails buried in my palms, “I will make a public apology, redeem your reputation. Make people bow their heads to you! But please, have mercy on us.”

My plea for forgiveness masked as a bargain. My promises: a product of barter.

“Isn’t that mat smooth?” Kroja eyed the carpet my knees were on, “it’s new!”

Was he trying to change the subject? “Sure, but will you let us …” I froze when my fingers traced the surface of his new flooring muddled with discarded brownish-red organs. It was oddly smooth, like skin. I stared at the linoleum wide-eyed, my mouth fell open, tongue dried. Human skin!

“I used Cezar and Jade’s meat-suits. Never thought they’d make a nice piece of decor.” He smirked, claiming a slice of victory. The helpless cries from the doomed souls tuned out as my vision blurred, my heart throbbed in my throat, I was kneeling in the pool of my deceased soldier’s remains. My mind reeled at my imagined scenario of Kroja sinking his poisonous fangs deep in their necks, taking his sweet time tearing off their skin, their flesh slushed upon this very floor.

“They tried to tear off Tara’s wings.” He served his reason for slaughtering my seasoned warriors. Did they scream? They had a profound tolerance for pain. 

“Oh, yes. They screamed … for days.” The scavenger read my mind, “Your dead soldiers raped, maimed and killed thousands … if not tens of thousands. Mere blunders you call it, don’t you? They died in agony, I made sure of that.”
​
“I’m not getting out of here alive.” I muttered to myself, unaware until now that I wielded a staunch blind faith over my appointed army.

“You’re still the Light, if I snuff you out, the sun will never rise again” he said, “I’m good at revenge, but I’m not that good at revenge!” 

“But after what I did to you ….” My voice trailed off. 

“I have learned to live in the underworld. Turns out, I’m stronger here than up there in the mortal realm.” 

I failed to meet his gaze, my head bowed, fingers clutched my hair as his hand rested on my shoulder, “But if you really want to make an effort, you can begin by holding your men accountable for their crimes,” Kroja suggested. “Don’t make me come after them before their time runs out.”

The rusted iron door flung open. I left as Tara pecked and chomped on Norkov’s flesh, sipped his blood till the light left his eyes. 

                                                                 💀💀💀

​Manaly Talukdar was chosen as a finalist for her short fiction "Where is Grandpa?" in "The League of POETS" Weekly Contest (Week 1). She has been featured in Wilderness House Literary Review, Across The Margin, BlazeVOX Journal, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Coalition For Digital Narratives, Masque & Spectacle, Corvus Review and The Broken Spine. "Flesh and Blood" will soon be featured on Kaidankai: Ghost and Supernatural Stories! You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @manalytalukdar and read her stuff on: https://linktr.ee/manalytalukdar

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