Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie Read Free Book Online

question first, I should add that, one, nobody sent me, but somebody did send
for
me, and, two, I don’t exactly come from somewhere, but I do come from some
one
. And if you think about it for a moment, you will know who that somebody and that someone are, especiallyas they are one and the same, and I am the spitting image of them Both, who are only One.’
    The silver sun brightened in the east. Dog and Bear looked agitated. It was definitely time for Luka to be at home getting ready for the school day. Soraya would be beside herself with worry. Maybe she had sent Haroun out to search the neighbourhood streets. When Luka got home for breakfast he was going to be in nineteen different kinds of trouble. But Luka wasn’t thinking about breakfast, or about school. This was not the time for cereal, Ratshit or geography. He was thinking about things he had hardly ever thought about in his life. He was thinking about Life and Dea— well, Un-Life. He still couldn’t bear that other, incomplete word.
    ‘And the Fire of Life can save my father,’ he said.
    ‘If you can steal it for him,’ said Nobodaddy, ‘then, yes, without a doubt.’
    ‘And it will give Dog and Bear back their real lives as well.’
    ‘It will.’
    ‘And what will happen to you then? If we succeed?’
    Nobodaddy did not reply.
    ‘You won’t have to implode, will you? You won’t Un-Be.’
    ‘That is so,’ Nobodaddy said. ‘It won’t be my time.’
    ‘So you’ll go away.’
    ‘Yes,’ said Nobodaddy.
    ‘You’ll go away and never come back.’
    ‘“Never” is a long word,’ said Nobodaddy.
    ‘Okay … but you won’t come back for a long time.’
    Nobodaddy inclined his head in agreement.
    ‘A long, long time,’ Luka insisted.
    Nobodaddy pursed his lips and spread out his arms in a kind of surrender.
    ‘A long, long, long –’
    ‘Don’t push your luck,’ Nobodaddy said sharply.
    ‘And that’s why you’re trying to help us, isn’t it?’ Luka concluded. ‘You don’t want to implode. You’re trying to save your own skin.’
    ‘I don’t have skin,’ said Nobodaddy.
    ‘I don’t trust him,’ said Bear the dog.
    ‘I don’t like him,’ said Dog the bear.
    ‘I don’t believe a word he says,’ said Bear the dog.
    ‘I don’t think for one moment that he’ll just go away,’ said Dog the bear.
    ‘It’s a trick,’ said Bear the dog.
    ‘It’s a trap,’ said Dog the bear.
    ‘There’s a catch,’ said Bear the dog.
    ‘There must be a catch,’ said Dog the bear.
    ‘Ask him,’ said Bear the dog.
    Nobodaddy took off his panama hat, scratched his bald head, lowered his eyes and sighed.
    ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘There’s a catch.’
    Actually, there were two catches. The first, according to Nobodaddy, was that
nobody in the entire recorded history of the World of Magic had ever successfully stolen the Fire of Life
, which was protected in so many ways that, according to Nobodaddy, there wasn’t enough time to list one-tenth of them. The dangers were almost infinite, the risks dizzying, and only the most fool-hardy adventurer would even think of attempting such a feat.
    ‘It’s
never
been done?’ Luka asked.
    ‘Never successfully,’ Nobodaddy replied.
    ‘What happened to the people who tried?’ Luka demanded.
    Nobodaddy looked grim. ‘You don’t want to know,’ he said.
    ‘Okay,’ said Luka, ‘so what’s the second catch?’
    Darkness fell – not everywhere, but just around Luka, Dog, Bear and their strange companion. It was as if a cloud had covered the sun, except that the sun could still be seen shining in the eastern sky. Nobodaddy seemed to darken, too. The temperature dropped. The noises of the day faded away. Finally Nobodaddy spoke in a low, heavy voice.
    ‘Somebody has to die,’ he said.
    Luka was angry, confused and frightened all at the same time. ‘What do you mean?’ he shouted. ‘What sort of a catch is that?’
    ‘Once someone like me has been summoned,’ said Nobodaddy, ‘someone