‘You sound like my father,’ he retorted. He glared at her, the Icelandic blue of his eyes chilling. ‘He believed that as well. Yet in his lifetime, you saw what happened. Albert wasn’t alone in choosing to pursue the second-rate existence of a human. By the time I took over, we had become almost too few to count. As a leader, my father was a failure, and towards the end he was both troubled and confused. He warned me our existence as a species was fast drawing to its end. Doomed, he said.’ He prowled the room restlessly. ‘Warned me! How dare he? I was nineteen when he died; even the clan considered me too young to rule. Except I wasn’t. Since then, I have lost sons, seen our people beaten to the ground, and always I refuse to give in. I made a promise that day which I intend to keep and, because of that promise, we are once again thriving. Despite all the obstacles mankind has deemed fit to place in our path, in my lifetime we have doubled in strength. And we will continue to do that until, if necessary, we become strong enough to defend ourselves.’
His tone gentled. ‘I agree the world is changing, Marie. For the better? No!’ he shouted, making her jump. ‘So why should we copy it? A time is coming when countries will be forced to adopt a different stance then maybe, just maybe, the hunter will become the hunted. If that happens,’ the strident tone vanished, ‘I for one will derive great satisfaction from their deaths.’
Collapsing his long legs into the armchair, he held his hands out to the blaze, staring into the fire. ‘Where did you say my son was?’
‘With friends in the country,’ M. Meijer replied for his wife. He glanced anxiously, seeing her work remaining untouched, her head bent. ‘Quite safe,’ he hurried on. ‘We visit regularly to celebrate their birthdays. They have a son, Rico, and the two boys have become the greatest of friends. Zande is happy there also; and the little girl.’
‘What little girl?’ Van Vliet frowned.
‘I told you, Robert, three children survived,’ Albert repeated patiently. ‘One was a girl, scarcely more than a baby.’
‘One of us?’
‘I doubt it, very few girls become carinatae.’ He hesitated. ‘Yöst asked if I could discover where she came from. She must have relatives somewhere.’
‘And have you?’ he replied impatiently.
‘Sadly no. When the flock failed to return, I had no one to ask. I am hoping you will take the children back with you.’
‘How? They cannot join me in the air. Besides, children are women’s work. I have more important matters to attend to.’
‘The women can’t help, they were all killed,’ Mme Meijer burst out into speech again. ‘You left them, remember?’
Van Vliet leapt to his feet and raised his hand. She flinched back in her seat, her hands up to protect her face. Her husband rushed between them, his small frame insignificant against the powerful physique of the younger man.
‘Madame Meijer, you will do well to remember who you are talking to and not try my patience too far,’ he hissed. Dropping his hand to his side, he resumed his pacing, the scowl on his face as black as his clothes and shoes. ‘I am aware you dislike me,’ he continued, his voice calming. ‘Yet it was not I who planted obstacles in the way of your marriage. That was my father, and he was right to do so. Doubtless, I would have done the same. I don’t agree with marriage between our people and yours. Liaisons, yes, because children are the lifeblood of our people. But not marriage.’ A smile broke through the Black’s bleak expression. ‘No doubt we shall remain enemies,’ he added, his eyes brimming with laughter, all memory of his former aggression forgotten. ‘For your marriage is a constant reminder of how wrong I was and I hate to be beaten.’
Almost immediately, the smiling memory was replaced by something more severe. ‘Don’t be fooled, Marie, your happiness still changes nothing. You can be sure, if anyone from the clan asks permission to marry outside, I will place every possible obstacle in their path. As Black, I must consider the future existence of the carinatae before everything.’ He paused, pacing restlessly. ‘No one has a greater right to exist than the children of Zeus, far greater than the rest of mankind. Humans went searching for a god to believe in because they were jealous of ours. Now they use his name to persecute us, declaring it their god’s will and that they should inherit the earth. That I will not allow, whatever it takes.’
Pursing her lips in response, Mme Meijer stood up, dropping her sewing onto the seat behind her. ‘Yes, Robert, I understand all that and I sympathise. I also thank you for finally admitting you were wrong, that despite everything our marriage has been a success.’ Her gaze softened, and she smiled at her husband.
‘I admit I took a dislike to you then, Robert,’ she continued talking, ‘considering you overbearing and autocratic even as a child. In your own way, you are little different from the men you despise. Even so, I will continue to support you because I promised my husband to do so. Nevertheless, out in the countryside, unsure where they belong, are three children who have seen and heard things no child should ever experience. And you don’t care.’
The staircase door slammed shut behind the indignant figure. Albert dropped down into the chair she had vacated, staring blankly. ‘It’s the children,’ he broke into the tense silence. ‘She wanted children you see,’ he explained, rubbing his hand over his chin. ‘What did you mean about a time coming when we might need to defend ourselves?’
‘There’s some talk of war in the southern hemisphere.’
‘War? Not again! It’s not much more than twenty years since the last one. So many died then, they called it a war to end all wars. What can they be thinking of?’
Van Vliet subsided into a chair, his long legs outstretched. ‘And your wife wonders why I despise mankind. It’s been simmering for a while, although I don’t believe it’s ready to boil over just yet. Don’t you read the newspapers?’
‘Of course. I had hoped it was all posturing and exaggeration.’
‘We all hope that. I have read my history, when has man’s greed and avarice ever been placated by a soft answer?’
Shaking his head in reply, Albert sat down in the chair his wife had just vacated. ‘You were just a boy, Robert, during the last war and probably don’t remember. Even I was young.’ His hands twisted round and round in concern. ‘Yet quite old enough to witness the many deaths from starvation and disease. That’s why we came south. I pray you’re mistaken.’
For a moment Val Vliet’s expression changed, becoming distant, as if he had stepped outside of the front door and was contemplating a different view. Albert recalled Yöst doing the same, the morning he had foretold the priest’s arrival at their house.
‘No, it will come.’ He sighed. ‘Like the great winds that tear through the tropics, it will blow through this land and sweep everything away.’ He edged a smile, transforming him once again into someone both softer and younger. If M. Meijer had ever asked for evidence of Zande’s paternity, this moment above anything else would have provided it. ‘There is much to admire in their society, war isn’t one of them.’
‘Will you be returning to the island?’
‘A place that still reeks of death? No. We will go north, to our home among the lakes. Weren’t you brought up there?’ Albert nodded. ‘The people who rent the land from us are simple souls. They want no truck with other people and will keep their distance. I have already warned the cobs, we will spend the summer building new homes. That is one advantage of being in the north, summer days are longer and it will be easier to complete any work before we migrate south again.’
‘Will you want the children to live there?’
‘Your obsession with the children you rescued does you no credit, Albert. Children are easy enough to come by. Several of the cobs have visited that area before and already have families. You tell me my son is well cared for with these … farmers?’ M. Meijer nodded. ‘Leave him where he is for now. I will send for him when I’m ready.’
Mme Meijer was sitting by the window in the rear bedroom, a dozy fly buzzing at the windowpane seeking a w
ay out. In the garden below, miniature florets of white and yellow poked their heads out of the earth like timid moles, a brisk wind tangling sheets on the clothes line into knots. Hearing her husband’s footsteps, she glanced up. ‘He’s gone?’
‘Yes.’ He sat down on the bed in which the children had slept. ‘My dear, it is never wise to provoke Robert. You heard his warning. Carinatae have been killed for less.’
‘I couldn’t stay quiet, Albert. Did you hear him? Children are women’s work, indeed.’ Flinging off her husband’s hand, she rose to her feet, staring out into the rapidly encroaching twilight. ‘How many women and children were murdered that day?’ she stormed. ‘Does Robert know? Does he even care? Did he even bother to ask how many bodies were dumped on that beach?’
She rested her cheek against the glass in the window, the lines on her face deeply etched with worry.
‘You asked Yöst?’
Her eyes shot open, storm clouds lingering in them. ‘Of course, I asked him. And while you went shopping for clothes, I wrote down their names so as not to forget. Yöst won’t forget, either. I know you don’t believe in our god,’ her tone bristled with indignation. ‘That’s why I keep my faith between him and me. I should have told you … it was wrong of me not to. After the children had left us, I went to church and asked the priest to say a prayer.’
‘The priest, Marie? How could you?’
‘I’m not a fool, Albert. Of course, not that man. I caught a tram to the neighbouring town.’
‘And we are quarrelling. Oh, Marie, I’m so sorry.’
She wrapped her arms around him, dropping a kiss on his cheek. ‘About the prayer or about Robert?’
‘About Robert.’
She sat down again, her demeanour once again composed. ‘I admit I resent your siding with him. He may be charming, yet even as a child he was self-centred, considering himself too high and mighty to play with other boys. Since becoming the Black, he believes himself a god and expects to be treated as one.’
‘I obeyed his father and I obey him.’ Albert heaved a sigh. ‘I know you dislike him. The Black doesn’t need to be liked; he needs to be obeyed.’ He chuckled. ‘I never imagined, in my lifetime, I’d ever hear him admit to being wrong … especially about our marriage. Except, in a way, he is right.’ Seeing his wife’s fiery expression surge into life again, he added hurriedly, ‘Yes, I know. He is everything you say, selfish and uncaring, yet he is responsible for almost a hundred souls in the northern hemisphere alone. Not only does he house us, he also clothes and feeds us.’
‘Albert,’ Mme Meijer bristled. ‘Hearing you talk, anyone would consider he gave you that money out of the kindness of his heart. You have earned every cent, taking care of the clan’s affairs all these years. Anyway, where does his money come from, he always has plenty?’
‘Families, whose sons are carinatae, they leave money.’ M. Meijer grimaced. ‘And Robert is clever at making more. His great-grandfather was left a parcel of land up north. That is where they are going tonight.’
‘And the children?’
‘I am sorry, no. Robert says it will be at least another year before new homes have been built and to leave them where they are for now.’
‘Leave them where they are, so typical of the man to wash his hands of responsibility.’
M. Meijer gave a chirrup of laughter. ‘Marie, when you are in this mood, there’s no dealing with you. Having persuaded me Ramon is a good man and the children will be safe with him, why are you now asking for them to be removed?’
‘Safe, yes. They were being hunted, remember? Nevertheless, safe is a long way from being loved and living in a family.’
‘They are in a family,’ he reminded. ‘This is not about Ramon or Robert, is it Marie? You want them with you.’
‘You do too,’ she rounded on him. ‘You love TaTa, don’t deny it.’
‘I wasn’t going to,’ he agreed. ‘I hadn’t planned it. On the island, I was too scared to notice anything other than there were three of them. I was reading the newspaper to her, that few minutes before the priest banged on our front door. Five seconds was all it took, to realise I would have given my life to keep her safe; and been glad to do it. I still feel that.’ He reached out and took his wife’s hand. ‘If you wish to take care of them, we must travel north as well. And put up with those cold winters you hate so much.’
‘If you promise to return here once they are grown up.’ She stared eagerly into his face. ‘Except I refuse to live in the community. What I said to Robert … it will happen again unless he allows the cobs to mix with local people. So many men in one place, even with women and children, it never goes unnoticed.’
‘My dear, you exaggerate. In all communities there are men with families.’
‘Albert, these are not ordinary men, worn down by the daily grind, that leave the house each morning to go to work. These are beautiful beings that do no work. I remember the first time I saw them … they took my breath away.’
‘What about me? Didn’t I take your breath away?’
‘My dear, you still do.’ She placed a hand on her heart. ‘Separately, they may escape comment. Together … suspicion and hostility are bound to follow, for men are never as accepting of rivals as women. No, Albert, I absolutely refuse to be a part of that. We will rent a house nearby where the children can go to school. Yöst said, last time we saw him, how much he misses learning about new things.’
‘We have been married almost thirty-two years and you still surprise me.’ He raised her hand to his lips. ‘Unfortunately, if we have to wait another year, Yöst may well be too old for school. Fourteen is the leaving age or so I heard. Of course!’ His face lit in a wide beaming smile. ‘Marie, I am so very stupid. I failed to understand why you were so upset at Robert’s visit and now why, all of a sudden, you are prepared to leave our house and move to a new country. A country, may I add, with winters so cold the sea freezes. For me, it is TaTa. For you …Yöst or is it Zande?’
‘Of course, it’s Yöst,’ she snapped out. ‘The trouble with you, Albert Meijer, is you’re too short-sighted to notice what’s under your nose. You also were an orphan when I met you. Besides, he’s a wonderful human being.’ She noticed his surprise. ‘Yes, I did say human being, Albert. There’s not many, human or carinatae, who could have dealt with the situation on the island as he did, and kept the children alive as well. Of course, I love Zande; it’s impossible not to,’ she continued, smiling gently. ‘Everyone he meets will love him. Yöst, sadly, will have no one apart from us.’
‘He has the flock,’ Albert cautiously prompted.
‘And what good is that,’ she bridled, ‘when they spend half a year somewhere else?’
‘None, I agree. Except in a few years, Yöst will join them. If we do move north, are you prepared to lose him for six months out of every twelve?’
‘He doesn’t have to go.’
‘Marie, you know perfectly well, he will want to go. Once he has changed, that’s all he will think about. Besides, carinatae need sun to maintain their strength.’
She swung round, her gaze questioning. ‘When you were his age, is that all you wanted?’
‘To fledge?’ Downstairs the living room clock struck the hour, its chimes reverberating up the length of the stairs. ‘My goodness, is that the time? No wonder my belly is rumbling, Marie. I am hungry and need my tea.’
She sighed. ‘More women’s work, isn’t that what the Black calls it? Providing food is women’s work.’ She linked her arm in his. ‘Well, maybe it is. Perhaps cooking meals is the price we pay for love.’
Mme Meijer had refilled the teapot, pouring them both a second cup of tea before Albert reverted to her unanswered question. Pushing back his chair, he took out his pipe, filling it with fresh tobacco from the leather purse on the mantelshelf.
‘Yöst reminds me very much of me as a child. Once I knew my heritage, all I dreamed about, all I existed for, was the day I changed. When it eventually happened and I
left my home to live with the other cygnets, what the Black told me the night of my initiation seemed unimportant compared with my ability to fly. To soar into the clouds, first as a carinatae and then as a celeste, is beyond anything. The first year I flew south with the flock, I saw whales and seals, and flew over herds of zebra and giraffe. I couldn’t wait to see what other extraordinary creatures were waiting to be discovered. I even pitied mankind, knowing myself to be special, one of the chosen few.’
He paused to strike a match, igniting the tobacco in his pipe and puffing contentedly, a faint trail of grey-blue smoke drifting up towards the ceiling. ‘Books will insist there are seven wonders in this world. I saw many thousands. By then, of course, I was in love with life; the notion of it being cut short … it never entered my head.’ He gave a loud sigh. ‘What sixteen-year-old ever believes he will actually die one day? Life stretches into the distance with no end in sight. At that age, we are so impatient for life, we consider even fifteen or twenty seconds an eternity.’
‘Albert, I know you hate being interrupted when you embark on one of your stories …’
‘You don’t enjoy my stories?’ He sounded hurt.
‘I love your stories,’ she reassured him. ‘Only after thirty years I have heard them all, at least once. I was going to ask … Robert seemed more concerned about his wife than his child. Why is that?’
Her husband sighed even more heavily. ‘Why have you never asked me this before?’
‘Because it has never happened before,’ she retorted sharply. ‘Besides, I want to know more about Yöst’s life when he joins the flock.’
‘His life will be quite wonderful, I assure you. Now, let me see. If you read your history, it is peppered with kings who slay their kindred to maintain a hold on the crown. To prevent that ever happening to us, Zeus deemed a single child would be born royal – as the Black,’ he clarified. ‘While Zande lives, Nuria would have produced mainly girl children. Even if she had born another boy, it wouldn’t have been a Black. If you remember Robert and his brother, Yöst’s father. Robert was the younger by some years. There’d been an older sibling who would have inherited their father’s mantle. Tragically, he died young. When Robert was born, he moved up into his place.’
The Click of a Pebble Page 27