The Crypt Keepers

by Lauren Shain-Raque

  The snow fell in sheets around me as I made my way back to the castle to tell Rhys and Regelus what I had discovered. As Dmitry said they would, they met me in the study and told me immediately that the tower was vacant. I led the immediately to the mausoleum where the nearly frozen corpse of our father lay. We walled him up that night, leaving nothing for the wolves to find, and returned to the castle. ‘How did he escape our notice all these years?’ Rhys’ brow furrowed as he spoke and he worried with the kerchief in his hand that I had given him to wipe his eyes. ‘He must have been hiding somewhere in the castle, perhaps it was he in the tower.’ ‘Isn’t that what I told the both of you?’ there was a bit more venom in my voice than I had all together intended but none the less I continued.

  ‘He was living there with mother.’ They both pretended not to think me insane but were in no way able to hide their true feelings. ‘I showed you the letter, both of you. Why can’t you believe me?’ ‘Sabine, I, we want to believe you but if all you have for proof is a letter…’ Rhys stopped short and Regelus commended him silently on his ability to keep his tongue in his head. ‘So the corpse of your father is not proof enough? Does it not make any sense to either of you that you would find my entry in my journal and the hall and the letters? Why can’t you believe me?’ ‘Dear sister, we do believe that something that is beyond any of our knowing is happening. But to believe that a demon is responsible for our existence and that our mother did not die the night we are born is a bit hard to grasp.’

  ‘Honestly Regelus, to believe that you have existed five hundred years without changing to clean up the bodies of a village that dies each time it flourishes because of a demon is hard to grasp?’ ‘Yes Sabine, you have had proof that neither of us have had. We have not been privy to any of the conversations that you had with Dmitry and we have never seen him.’ They both watched me closely and as the tears welled in my eyes they knew that I was not trying to fool them. In those last moments that we spent together before we went our separate ways for the night I knew that I could not loose them but that I must. I returned to the bedroom in the vague hope that Dmitry would be there waiting for me. I sit now relating the night and I wait for Dmitry to return to me. I think now that I would damn my brothers to eternal servitude if I thought that I might find a confidante in Dmitry.

  The day broke early this morning, a light that was brighter than any sun greeted me and as I made my way toward it I knew that it was the light of reckoning. It issued forth from the mausoleum where my father had joined my mother just the day before. My brothers came with me as they were want to do since they now thought me crazy. We came to the gated entrance and though we are not normally affected by mortal things, each of us in our own was had to shield our eyes from the intense light that greeted us. The drawer in which my mother slept seemed as if it might burst with the light that came from within it. Rhys and Regelus, always quick to solve problems pried off the marble slab that protected her and waited for my go ahead.

  I wanted to tell them that within the confines of that crypt was power that might kill us all. The coffin, of which we had no part in making, was made of some wood that was not indigenous to our forest. As Rhys and Regelus wondered over the coffin and the clasp that held it closed I peered deeply into the cavity that had just been vacated to see if I might locate the source of the pulsing blue light that had filled the tower when father was alive. It was nearly bright enough now that I could not see what caused it but I remembered that day when I peered into the sun and held fast. Deep within the confines of the space was a small pinpoint of light from which the light came. I reached frantically within the cavity trying my hardest to take hold of the source of the light but came up empty. I reached again and again until finally I found myself within the drawer and I could see the source of the light.

  Hung from the wall of the space was an amulet. Small and round, it looked almost like a pebble. I pulled it from its hanger and wiggled my way swiftly from the space. Rhys and Regelus seemed far less fascinated with the coffin itself and were now horrified at the prospect of seeing its contents. I urged them to open the clasp without knowing what they would find when they opened it. The clasp was a clockwork thing and required some other element to open it. Almost as if an invisible hand were guiding my own I raised the amulet to the clasp which opened with just a touch of the cool blue stone. As I suspected, our mother lay inside looking as beautiful as the day that we came into the world. That was enough to convince my brothers that I was indeed basing all my claims in truth. Their minds changed far more rapidly than I thought they would, though I knew in my mind what would be in the coffin.

  ‘Is that truly what she looked like Sabine?’Regelus asked meekly, afraid that I might not have a kind word to spare on him. ‘That is what she looked like when I was in the tower.’ I turned coldly from them and sat lightly on the mourning bench. ‘I cannot recall what she looked like, Father never willingly showed us her portrait.’ Rhys added, looking down on her soft form. ‘Why does she look as if she might speak to us?’ Regelus wondered, his eyes watering. ‘Because, just this morning she was nearly alive. Why do you think that we found Father here yesterday? Did you think that I had lost my mind and that I only saw him?’ ‘In truth Sabine we didn’t know what to think.’ ‘Rhys is right, we were so confused by the fact that our Father might still be alive.’ Regelus held his tongue then, his eyes wandering to Daphene’s marker.

  ‘I am not Daphene brother.’ ‘I hadn’t said that you were Sabine I just…’ ‘What Regelus? Did you think that I’d gone crazy like her?’ ‘She wasn’t crazy Sabine…’ ‘What was she then Regelus?’ He pulled quickly away from me and exited the mausoleum without looking at me directly. ‘Sabine, did you really…’ ‘Yes Rhys, I did. I told the both of you that Mother and Father were in the tower and you did nothing to attempt to believe me.’ ‘Daphene muttered something to us before she died about the tower, and we did nothing. What do you think it did to Regelus when he heard you say the same thing?’ They left me alone in the mausoleum for a moment with nothing but the completely lifeless corpse of my mother. I leaned close to her face and the amulet in the folds of my blouse shone brightly. I pulled it from its safe place and held it close to her so that the strange glow that had kept her alive for so long was recreated.

  She was not in fact alive but rather suspended and in my hand I held the very means by which Dmitry kept her ‘alive’ for so many centuries. I called upon all the strength within me to put the amulet safely out of sight so that Rhys and Regelus wouldn’t know of its existence and called them back into the crypt so that my mother could once again be interred. With mother placed snugly back in her drawer and the amulet tucked away in the folds of my blouse we made our way back to the study. ‘I am truly sorry sister that we did not believe you, your claims were simply too fantastical.’ ‘Even for being s such as ourselves.’ Rhys added quickly. We sat in the study for a time in silence; neither of them having seen me pocket the amulet. ‘Rhys, Regelus, what would you say if I told you that our time on this Earth may be growing drastically smaller?’

  ‘Sister they have been growing smaller since the day that we were made immortal.’ Rhys smiled weakly in agreement with Regelus and I reclined smoothly in my chair. ‘I know that, but what if I told you that everything I said was true and that in very little time indeed we will no longer exist?’ I fingered the amulet in my hands beneath the top of the desk and with each turn of it in my fingers I longed for Dmitry to come. I feared nothing with it there in my hands and the yearning in the pit of my stomach grew. I became frustrated and with each smug remark and outburst on either of their parts. The bouncing of Rhys’ leg on the floor drove me crazy and the wetness of Regelus’ voice made me cringe. I found myself longing for their exodus from the study but knew that the conversation in progress must be had.

  I placed the amulet back in the folds of my blouse and the anxiousness that I felt before waned completely. I felt at ease with the amulet out of my hands and
so I was able to hear what my brothers had to say. Our discussion had shifted to life and what awaited us when it was over. If they were afraid they kept it very well to themselves. ‘I would say that I have had a long life, that it was filled with much heartache, and that though it would pain me to end it now, I would be able to do little to stop it.’ Regelus peered deeply into my eyes when he spoke and I knew from the lines that had furrowed themselves deeply in around his eyes that he was telling me the truth. I wanted so badly to take back what I had said but I couldn’t. ‘I, sister, would say the same. There is little need for us now, little need for keepers if the death is no longer needed to sustain life.’ ‘Brothers I do not seek to bring you bad news or to leaden your hearts, but I do not think that it will be that easy. Why if we are no longer needed have we not died?’

  ‘Perhaps we are lacking a final admission. A confession to whoever it is that holds sway over our immortality.’ Rhys and Regelus seemed as if they may in fact believe me but I knew that it would not hold long. ‘Why then when we said that there was no reason for our existence did we not cease to be?’ Rhys puzzled. ‘Perhaps we have not called the attention of Dmitry, if I am not mistaken you said yourself dear sister that it is he that holds us here.’ Regelus glowered at me and though I kept my gaze steadily on his, he refused to break eye contact. ‘Maybe you should call to him Sabine, or is he here now?’ They were jesting with me and I was not one to be tried in a time of uncertainty. I pulled up all the strength that I could muster and stared the both of them in the face. ‘What would either of you do if I called him? What would you do if I chose him over you?’ ‘I suppose we would die sister.’ They spoke almost in chorus with one another.

  I had picked up the amulet without even realizing it and as my frustration mounted I found myself hating the sight of my brothers. ‘I choose you Dmitry.’ I whispered to myself. It was as if I had set fire to a pile of dried leaves and as I sat in my chair behind my desk Rhys and Regelus began to convulse. I cried out for Dmitry but he stayed clear of me and I watched as my brothers twitched and flinched with a pain that I could only imagine. The amulet was now on the floor far from me and I realized what I had done. Nothing that I did moved them; nothing that I did stopped the pain. I cried out to Dmitry, cried out to anyone that I could think of but all that I could do was watch them slowly die before me. Rhys pulled at his throat and Regelus held still as his veins bulged. I sat by them idly as nothing that I did offered them any relief. Their faces contorted and warped into something that was not my brothers and a pain slowly shot out from my heart. I knew in that moment that the pain I felt was shared with my brothers for their faces again contorted and screams of agony burst from their lips.

  I knew then that the chain of events that I set in motion could not be altered. My brothers were to die and I was to remain in their wake. I tried to recant what had been uttered but I knew as I watched them there that I was beyond redemption. As their own pain grew the pain in my chest grew also and with each passing moment it broke upon another wave of greater pain. I watched them there, rolling about on the floor, extending their hands and legs out around them in search of some relief. I think that had it been a far less painful death for them both I wouldn’t have felt so damned guilty. Though the guilt lasted only a moment, I felt it so intensely in the first few moments of my heart’s breaking that I would have welcomed death with open arms and an eager mind.

  The pain radiated from my heart so that I knew what I felt was its breaking. My fingers curled up upon themselves and my legs twitched to and fro. The breath in my throat caught so that the color fled from my face and as suddenly as the pain began it was over. I rolled toward the leg of the desk in the study so that I could right myself. I hadn’t stopped to notice if my brothers were all right or not and when I pulled myself up from the cold stone of the floor I understood that they were not. Rhys was the furthest from me and so the last that I ran to. Regelus, spread eagle in the center of the room, choked and gurgled as I pulled his head into my lap. I barely noticed Rhys and wished that there were two of me. Regelus died quickly there in my arms. The last breath of life passed the threshold of his lips as I lowered his head to the carpet and shuffled over on hand and knee to Rhys.

  His eyes surveyed my face and the tears that I had cried for Regelus doubled. I pulled his head into my lap as I had Regelus’ and stroked his hair. He was unable to speak at this point but I knew by the puzzled look in his eye that he wondered to himself why I lived while both he and Regelus perished. I hummed softly to him a lullaby that our nurse sang to us when we were young and pulled him close to Regelus’ body so that I was once again sandwiched between them as if they were both alive. I cried to myself and to my dying brother and waited for something. I don’t know what I was waiting for all I knew was that it had yet to come to me. The tears fell steadily and with them came the pain again in my heart. It split me in twain and caused me to drop Rhys’ head off my lap onto the cold stone floor. I heard it crack there and wondered without looking if his skull had fractured or if the sound was simply exaggerated in my mind.

  I clutched at my chest hoping that application of outward pressure could lessen the pain that nestled itself there. It grew and pulsed and pulled at me until I thought for sure that I would die there with my brothers. As before it stopped suddenly and all that was left of it was the slight feeling that something had knocked the wind out of me. I righted myself once again to find Dmitry standing just before me. ‘Sabine, I can save you.’ He gestured to me but I could not bring myself to move toward him. ‘Sabine, you know that you fear death, why can’t you come to me?’ He gestured again, this time with more force and walked briskly toward me. ‘I can’t leave them. I… ‘ The tears pulled themselves from my eyes before I could tell him what I wanted to do and just as quickly he pulled me from the floor between my brothers to his side. He had picked up the amulet with his free hand as he lifted me toward him and he clasped it around my neck as he held me.

  ‘You can and you will my dear. You chose me, don’t ever forget that.’ He held me still, turning me to face my dying brother and one that had already gone on to another plain. I tried to pull away from him as the guilt that I felt still lingered in some measure in my heart but he would not let me. I wanted so badly to fall to my knees beside them and ask for forgiveness but I could not wrench myself away from his grip. I watched them, I prayed to some god, whomever might be listening, that Rhys would die quicker. I wanted him to draw upon his last breath so that the pain that filled his face would leave, but he lingered there, his eyes fixed on my face. ‘Not much longer now Sabine, in just a short while this will be nothing more than a distant memory and we shall again be human.’ I turned to him in that last moment, unsure if I heard him right, knowing that I had, and I heard Rhys gasp his dying breath. The blood pooled around the back of his head like a ruby halo and he was gone.

  ‘Once more my love.’ The pain shot through me once more and he held tightly to my waist to keep my feet beneath me. ‘That is the pain of your heart breaking Sabine. I can repair it.’ He whispered softly into the baby hair around the nape of my neck as he held me tightly. The pain continued and ceased as it had before but the feeling I was left with was nothing like what I felt when it struck me the first time. I looked to the corpses on the floor and though I knew that they had once meant something to me I felt no pain in their presence. I know not what changed in me only that the relief I felt with the last pang of hurt was enough to make the transformation worth it. I turned sharply to find Dmitry’s eyes level with my own and I embraced him tightly. He was the release that I had sought for so many centuries.

  He was right when he told me that all I would hold of that night was the memory of what had happened. I cannot recall what I felt as I helped Dmitry clean up the blood from the floor under Rhys’ head or if I had even loved him as wholly as I remembered loving him. I thought in all the years of the cleaning that I wouldn’t be able to assist them because I would feel too much, but as I
held tight to Rhys’ boots and Dmitry to his head, I felt nothing. We moved him to the crypt and settled his body on one of the benches meant for mourning and went back to the study to retrieve Regelus. He was a bit harder to move as the stiffening of his joints and limbs had already begun to set in. I felt nothing oddly when Dmitry broke one of Regelus’ elbows to better accommodate the door frame. We placed him on the bench opposite Rhys and began to pry loose the marble covers that covered their cubbies. What was left of my brothers was safely locked away in the family crypt by the coming of sunset.

  The volumes that collected in the study were cleared away. Dmitry says that the only work I need worry about it the book of our love. He continues to allow the use of this journal and as I read back through its pages I can remember the day that I wrote those words but not the feeling that went along with them. I am hollow now save for the love I feel for Dmitry. He moves about the castle now, rearranging things to suit himself, and I jot down musings. The pendant round my neck glows softly and warms a dime sized place on my chest. The crypt in the mountain is cleared completely, I saw the smoke of the fires as Dmitry made his way solemnly back up the forest path. The castle is a bit gloomier now with the company and decorations gone, but I know that with time I shall come to feel at home here. In time perhaps I will understand how I spent an eternity here feeling as I did. Or perhaps not, either way with Dmitry by my side I am whole.