Contents
Chapter 42
Overview
Dal-Gaata, the Empress of the Night, reveals herself to Durgash, a wizard who has prolonged his life by denying pleasure and death. She shows him the afterlife’s peace and timelessness, convincing Durgash to abandon his arcane safeguards. He embraces mortal joys for twenty years and then dies content, entering her infinite realm.
Summary
Durgash, a wizard who has lived over two centuries by strict prohibitions against pleasure, routinely refuses temptations from Marbaja’s poppy den and Amala’s pleasure house. At the House of Ease, he dismisses the mistress’s offer until she reveals herself as Dal-Gaata, Empress of the Night, compelling his attention.
Dal-Gaata flies Durgash above the city, then through visions of treasure and war to test what he values. Unimpressed by sky and wealth, Durgash boasts of magic that shields him from blades and arrows. Dal-Gaata halts a battlefield mid-slaughter and brings him into the ear of a dying, cleaved soldier.
Inside the soldier’s passage to death, Durgash witnesses a starlit shore where the youth is welcomed into bliss—Dal-Gaata herself embracing him without shame or pain. A child on the strand places a grain of sand in Durgash’s hand, revealing the hourglass truth: life is bound to time, but death frees the self to all its best moments, dreams, and loves.
Returned to the House of Ease’s threshold, Durgash chooses change. He destroys his longevity tools and spends twenty years in drink, smoke, and bed, savoring mortal joys he had denied. When Dal-Gaata finally stops his heart, she lays his hourglass on its side—time made infinite—and Durgash dwells with her, free to revisit every cherished self and moment.
Who Appears
- DurgashAncient wizard avoiding death through strict rites; witnesses death’s mercy and abandons immortality for a mortal, joyful life.
- Dal-GaataEmpress of the Night (death); unveils afterlife’s peace, guiding Durgash to accept mortality.
- AmalaMistress of a pleasure house; tempts Durgash to indulge before Dal-Gaata’s intervention.
- MarbajaPoppy merchant; repeatedly invites Durgash to smoke the essence of the poppy.
- Unhelmeted soldierDying youth on a battlefield; his passage reveals Dal-Gaata’s blissful shore.
- Boy on the beachChild who offers a grain of sand, illustrating time’s hourglass and death’s freedom.