Salt of The Earth: The Fall of Barcelona

by Vlada Asta

  At first the grateful speeches were flowing like a river. Aeterni remained the center of attention, and he could watch her from afar. The Hente was curious about this new experience, and nothing else. That event didn’t have such a great meaning to her.

  Sebastian liked that feature of hers. She didn’t succumb to human weaknesses. She learned new things, liked some of them, but all this time she had been loyal to her principles and she wasn’t going to change them.

  She came to this party alone. The blind man had visited her in Laas’s residence for a couple of times, bringing her life cores. He didn’t speak much, and he mostly addressed her. When Aeterni was strong enough to hunt on her own, he disappeared again.

  Sebastian looked around and realized he hadn’t seen the Hente for a while now. The ceremonial part of the event was over, and the guests were more interested in food and dancing than their newly found hero. Laas was talking to his relatives who arrived from Rome for the occasion, and Aeterni simply disappeared.

  That was disturbing. Sure, she had fully recovered after those horrible wounds, but Sebastian didn’t want her to stay alone on a night like this.

  It didn’t take him long to find her. The Hente stood on one of the distant open balconies; she was observing the city from there. She was wearing a long shimmering dress – covering her from neck to toe modestly, and yet tight as a second skin.

  “Hey, are you alright?” he asked, coming closer. Sebastian didn’t want to scare her, although he suspected that she had sensed him long before he reached that balcony.

  “Of course I am,” she turned to him, smiling, and then shifted her gaze to the city again. “I’m just thinking about how human leaders can affect the crowd. Many of the people who praised me today still don’t like me, they don’t even know what Nuria’s Clan is. All that matters to them is that I’m a Hente. But Robert told them to be nice to me, and they are.”

  “Not all humans are like this… This party was supposed to make you happy, not sad!” Sebastian reminded.

  “I’m not sad. But you… you’re not having fun either.”

  “It’s too soon… Gabby died just a couple of days ago. It has nothing to do with you, it’s just…”

  “Don’t try to prove anything to me. I believe you are right.”

  He came closer to her and stopped by the railing. The wind was blowing his way, and he could smell the light flowery aroma coming from her. Some time ago Sebastian believed she was just using a perfume, like human women did. Later he found out her hair simply smelled that way.

  The city in front of them was truly magical. Soft golden lights, sleepy streets, and then the sea that was guarding them like a protective mother.

  “Why didn’t he come to the party?” Sebastian asked.

  “Who?”

  “That blind friend of yours.”

  “His name is Karim. And he’s not my friend.”

  “He saved your life…”

  “Not because he likes me,” Aeterni shrugged. “He was simply following his order.”

  “Who is that guy anyway?”

  She didn’t answer at once, and Sebastian didn’t push it, he was perfectly content with silence. There was something special about that evening, more important than the party. He touched the cross hanging on his neck, reminding himself about the oaths he had given. The thoughts that were brought by looking at Aeterni were against those oaths. He wasn’t sure how he was going to fight it – the desire was getting stronger…

  “Do you know that different countries sometimes organize military campaigns in the wild lands?” Aeterni inquired thoughtfully. “Against Hente.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard about it. But it’s very rare and doesn’t normally involve big squads.”

  “That’s a modern tendency. It used to be different in the past. Humans would send small armies to the wild lands to gather information and, possibly, win some of the old territory back. They succeeded at something, but it wasn’t enough of a reward to continue. Some ten years ago they planned a very serious operation. They sent a thousand of their best warriors to return a strategically important road under human control. But they got into a trap set by Ginevra. Most of those warriors died, with only few of them capable of escaping.”

  “I’ve heard about it,” Sebastian nodded. “New Vatican didn’t participate, but some other countries sent their best men there.”

  “They sent them – and they lost them. There were so many corpses on the battlefield that even Ginevra’s Clan wasn’t capable of eating them all. My Mother decided to use that. She came there and collected the remains of the warriors who got most wounds before they died.”

  “Why them?”

  “That meant they were strong and they fought till the very end – they didn’t give up. That cost a lot. She took the cells of two hundred warriors and united them into one, who got their best features. Remember I told you I’m not the strongest warrior in my Clan? There are only ten humans in me! The strongest is the one who has two hundred.”

  “And that’s Karim?” Sebastian figured.

  “Yes. He is the best in our Clan, our Mother’s main weapon. She sends him on the most important missions. She wanted him to support me and the city. He can see the world through the portraits he creates – instead of his destroyed eyes. He was the one who figured that there was a Hente in Alberta’s body, and he warned me about it. I asked him to make sure you were safe. I thought I could deal with Alberta on my own… and I almost made it!”

  “She’s dead and you’re not. That means you made it without any “almost”. But Karim… he doesn’t look like he’s happy to be here!”

  “Don’t let his gloomy face deceive you,” Aeterni smiled. “Though he’s good at giving false impressions. He rarely relaxes… but that’s understandable. His personality is new and unique, but he still got the memory of the warriors that were used to create his body. Their pain and the bitterness of their defeat… that doesn’t leave him. Don’t try to judge him or even understand him, you don’t need this.”

  “Maybe, because I already can’t understand why he cut his eyes out for this mission. And why he’s not rebuilding them now!”

  “Because he can’t. Only Mother can treat this kind of wounds. She’ll do it for him, but later. Karim has to continue his mission, and his black eyes may scare people. Humans are more trusting when they don’t know he’s a Hente.”

  The wind was getting stronger, and its touch became cold. Sebastian watched the waves getting higher on the distant sea, and first clouds appeared beside the full moon. There might be a storm tomorrow…

  There were so many questions he wanted to ask her. What would happen next? What were her plans? When would Tsiara attack again? How was she going to work with the Laas family? All of that mattered – but he didn’t want to bring it up now.

  Not here, under these stars, at the moment of peace. He and Aeterni had finally reached the kind of harmony he wanted – without anger or doubts. But that damn cross seemed so heavy around his neck…

  He had to treat her like he treated Gabriella – as a friend. That would be better for both of them.

  “Tell me, do you believe in the alien theory?”

  Aeterni’s quiet voice interrupted his thoughts, making him look at her again.

  “What alien theory?...”

  “You humans have made up a couple of theories about the Hente origin. I’ve been studying them while I’ve been bed-ridden – I had to use that time somehow! The alien theory was the funniest.”

  “I don’t see anything funny about it,” Sebastian objected. “But I can’t say I believe it… I don’t believe any of them. When I was reading about that theory, it seemed logical. Hente appeared all of a sudden, and spread fast. If they’re from Earth, how come no-one had seen them for ages before they showed up? Plus, they don’t look like any of the Earth creatures…”

  “That’s not logical! Dinosaurs didn’t look like you either, but they lived on this planet.”

>   She had never discussed that topic before, and when he tried to ask her, she avoided answering. But something changed, and he didn’t want to ruin that moment.

  Aeterni noticed his patience and decided to reward it:

  “We’re from Earth, you know… Just like you. But we’ve been around a bit longer. We were one of the first species to inhabit this planet. Things became difficult with the climate change and the continents moving. The place where we lived drowned in the great ocean, and the salt was killing us. I’m saying “us”, even though I didn’t exist back then. I simply possess this collective memory that all Hente have.”

  “What did you look like back then?”

  “Not too impressive, believe me… Nasty little bugs… We didn’t live on our own, we needed a constant carrier body to survive…”

  “Like parasites?”

  “Not exactly,” Aeterni specified. “A parasite doesn’t become one with its host. It feeds on the host, falls off and looks for a new one. And even if it doesn’t fall off, it continues to be a separate creature, not part of the host’s body. But when we took a body, we took it forever, controlling it… We couldn’t breed though, only Mother could create new generations. When the salt water came, we lost nearly everything we had. Just a handful of us survived, the ones who hid in fresh water, and that water turned into ice. Time went by, our tomb was covered with ground, and we became history.”

  “For how long?”

  “For thousands of years. We couldn’t get out of there on our own. We weren’t dead, but not alive either, we weren’t even conscious. The planet continued developing without our species.”

  “Then how did you come back?”

  “We were assisted – by humans. A scientific expedition reached the lands where we were buried. They were looking for the bones of prehistoric animals, but they found us instead. Naturally, they didn’t understand who we were. They took us to their laboratory, where we fully recovered.”

  “Those people were your new hosts?” Sebastian guessed.

  “Not all of them. It turned out that a male body infected by us died, together with the species that invaded it, which was a sad discovery. But a female body accepted us easily, helping us evolve and turning into a new Mother. And Mother could create new life from dead cells. In that regard, humans were much better than our previous carriers. We found ourselves in a new world, but we understood we could make it ours.”

  The things Sebastian was hearing now would be a shock to humanity. Nobody knew about that! According to the church rules, he was supposed to inform the Cardinal immediately.

  But he wasn’t going to do that. Why? That wouldn’t change anything for humans… not for the better, at least. It could only make everything worse! As long as people believed that Hente were some ancient gods or extraterrestrials, they were afraid. But after learning they were just prehistoric parasites, humans might try to start another war, only to lose again.

  The key to defeating Hente was hidden not in the past, but in the present. They had to learn what these creatures became, not where they came from!

  “The Mothers that live today – are they from those times?” he asked. “They’re the women from that expedition?”

  “It’s not only them, and I’ve already mentioned that. There were three women in that expedition. They became the three original Mothers – Vilena, Ginevra and Illirika. Their Clans are the strongest today. Four more Mothers, including mine, came from them. They’re weaker, and thus they’re interested in changing the existing order.”

  “And the first Mothers… seems like time has no effect on them!”

  “Time has no effect on any Hente,” Aeterni confirmed. “We die only in battles. Or rather, we don’t die at all, considering the fact that six Clans out of the existing seven are single personalities with multiple bodies.”

  “That’s not the best situation for humans…”

  “It’s a normal situation. I’m with you after all.”

  He felt her hand cover his. Her skin was warm again… He remembered the feeling of her naked bones on his face, but that memory didn’t scare him – he knew it wouldn’t return. Aeterni was healthy again, and that brought peace into his heart.

  “Do you want to dance with me?” she suggested. “The music is slow… I don’t know how to dance though, but I’ll try my best.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why? Because of Gabriella? I don’t think she’d be against it… She loved you. And when you love someone, you wish only the best for them.”

  “It’s not about her this time,” Sebastian confessed. “Remember, I’m still a church warrior. I can’t dance with any woman, especially a Hente. People are already gossiping about me and you!”

  “Why do you care?” Aeterni asked in surprise. “It’s your life, not theirs! We’ve almost died recently when we were saving this city! Don’t you deserve something for that?”

  Fathers of the church wouldn’t be impressed by her arguments. But she was right about one thing: Sebastian grew tired of following the rules forced on him.

  Slow music was reaching the balcony from the hall. The woman smiling at him was beautiful. Her safety made him happy.

  He wanted something that was prohibited to him. It was time to change his priorities.

  “Let’s go,” Sebastian headed for the balcony door. “You’re right.”

  “Great!” Aeterni smiled broadly. “I’m not going to set you up or anything! We’ll dance for a little bit and that’s it, I promise!”

  “For as long as you want.”

  ***

  She knew she shouldn’t be doing this. Sebastian was having a hard time now: even though he didn’t love Gabriella, she was a close friend to him. Besides, he believed he could’ve saved her, and that was an additional moral load on him. It would’ve been more merciful to let him recover from this.

  But Aeterni had never been good at making merciful decisions. She enjoyed the emotions he gave her too much – emotions were a rare treasure for a Hente. So she was careful to keep the ones she had.

  She was looking for some balance in that regard. She wanted to be close to Sebastian… When they danced together, everything was so perfect! She felt his body, and he felt hers, Aeterni knew that. The clothes between them were just a formality. They moved in the same rhythm, and the Hente even adapted her pulse to his heartbeat.

  They wanted each other. In the physical sense, the one the Church denied. But what was wrong with it? This desire was absolutely natural!

  They’d faced this contradiction some time ago. Sebastian knew he wanted her, and he fought it. Aeterni respected his culture and let him make his own decisions. She was hoping to break his resistance – but gently. She didn’t want to force anything on him, she just wanted him to admit his own urges.

  That evening was a bad time for this. Sebastian didn’t like this party to begin with, but he showed up and even danced with her. She considered it a present from him… He left before the other guests, angry at himself again for the desires that stirred in his body. Aeterni barely kept from following him.

  She was bored by this place. She listened to compliments and excuses, and knew none of them were sincere. She had to talk to the Laas family, but they were not enough to entertain her. Aeterni’s thoughts kept returning to Sebastian.

  He was morally weakened now, and it would be easy to manipulate his instincts… But that was just wrong! At the same time, what was she supposed to do with her desires? They didn’t go away – and they mattered! His stubbornness made both of them miserable.

  Finally she decided she had to talk to him one more time this night. Just to see him for the sake of it, without any action planned. To talk to him, to hug him… and hope that would be enough.

  She left the cathedral unnoticed. The guests were active enough for her to get lost among them, and then move to the door. She didn’t have to tell anyone where she was going!

  Barcelona met her with coolness that was especially plea
sant after being in that stuffy hall. The streets were empty, waiting for the dawn patiently, and Aeterni felt like she was the owner of this city. She was walking in the middle of the street, not trying to hide her presence, but not completely relaxed either.

  She caught the moment when she got company, though that person was moving soundlessly like a shadow. She was neither surprised nor frightened.

  “Are you going to him?” Karim asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “Don’t you think it’s a dangerous weakness? Creating and rebuilding your body took a lot of resources, and you’re wasting your time on caprices.”

  “Don’t you even start it,” Aeterni warned him. “Just don’t, you’re not making me feel better.”

  “I’m not here to discuss Mother’s orders. In the end, you are useful to the Clan. Your current actions are none of my concern.”

  “Then why are you were?”

  “I’ve noticed something strange… I still hunt outside the city, and lately it’s gotten harder to get any Hente even quite far from Barcelona. And the ones I catch have been here before, I’ve sensed them.”

  “So?”

  “New Hente stopped arriving to the peninsula. I’m not sure when that started, but the tendency is obvious.”

  He was right, it was disturbing behavior. There could be many reasons for it, and Aeterni didn’t like any of them. She wasn’t able to analyze it anyway – her thoughts kept returning to Sebastian.

  This problem had been waiting for days, it could wait for one more night!

  “Keep tracking them down, I’ll join you later,” she assured him. “Do you have any theories about it?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then it’s not too bad. You always smell danger for miles!”

  She wasn’t trying to flatter him, she was simply admitting Karim’s talents. It was his turn to guard this city, she had been doing it for a long time!