by Dan Glover
"Grandmother Lily once told me how it is her morning dreams that often portend the future. Mine have never come true but this is the first morning dream I ever had that I can actually remember. It was exceptionally vivid. I thought I was awake. I like having you in my dreams too, darling Amanda. It makes me feel so close to you.
"I don't mean to pry... but did you like it with my brother... I mean, with Alpin? We only made love the one time... after that, he ignored me. I could never understand why. I suppose I never will. Or do you enjoy being with girls better, sweet Amanda?"
"I've never been with a girl before, my precious and lovely Ena. Alpin was my first real lover. He made me feel small and unwanted. I didn’t enjoy being with him at all. I like being with you so much better. You make me feel alive... like I'm someone special, not just someone to take advantage of and then leave me to cry by myself."
"Oh, my precious and splendid Amanda! I'm so sorry he did that to you. You are too special to be treated in such a manner. I have a secret too. Would you care to hear it?"
"I would treasure it more than jewels, my perfect and beautiful Ena. Please tell me your secret and I promise to keep it forever."
"We'll have to wait, my darling Amanda. I want to give you all of my attention and I cannot do that with my mother lying so near to death."
"Oh look! Did you see that, sweet Ena? Your mother just blinked her eyes!"
Chapter 70—Three's a Crowd
It began with a kiss.
He knew he should not be spending so much time with Mindy. Ginger didn’t say anything to him but of course she didn’t have to. He saw a look of hurt coloring her eyes each time she turned in his direction.
Edinburgh Castle was large enough to house an entire village and yet Mindy always seemed to turn up exactly where he was at. Despite his better judgment he allowed her to accompany them back home in order to help Ginger with little Joshua. But Mindy was rarely with her daughter and spent even less time with her grandson.
She startled him with that first kiss.
Ginger was still regaining her strength the first month they were home so Kāne brought little Joshua to their bed each time he woke hungry during the night. The little one slept in a crib next to them. They assigned Mindy a bedroom at the other end of the hall in the same West Wing where they slept which lent them privacy while still allowing her to feel she was part of the family.
Kāne had never been big on sleep. Most nights he got perhaps four hours while on occasion he did not sleep at all. He was never bothered by his lack of sleep and in fact he seemed to thrive on it.
Often, after bringing little Joshua to Ginger so that she could nurse him, Kāne would watch until his son's appetite was satiated and then carefully lift him from sleeping Ginger's breast to put him back into his crib.
Being awake now and unable to go back to sleep, Kāne would at times wander down to the ground floor where he occupied himself with his studies: he had brought copies of the extensive historical archives from Orchardton Hall which he pored over night after night.
He marveled at the knowledge of human beings and he often wondered how anyone so intelligent could be so stupid. They had so many abundant resources at their disposal but they only wasted them, as if the earth was so big what it contained was inexhaustible. They burned fossil fuels at such an alarming rate that the supplies had been dwindling even at the time of the Great Dying and in doing so had pumped so much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere that they would be feeling the effects for ten thousand years.
The ice caps were melting. Kāne had never even realized there were such things as miles thick mountains of ice. According to everything he read in the Archives, when that ice melted—and it would—the sea levels would rise dramatically... perhaps even enough to threaten Edinburgh Castle, which sat at a lower altitude than did Orchardton Hall.
As the world heated up, vast storms would rage unabated across the globe ravaging both sea and land. The more he read the angrier he became... all this was well known way before the tipping point had been reached yet no one bothered with trying to turn things around. It all seemed to boil down to one thing... something called money.
It made no sense, the fascination with something as ephemeral as money. One could not eat it. It lent no succor as did a loved one. It had no intrinsic value of its own other than that which had been placed in it.
He could understand the lure of gold and precious stones. They could be formed into beautiful works of art. Money did not even burn properly. The vast piles of it still littering the world did nothing but take up space.
Just a few months ago he could not read English. Writing was an unknown commodity of which he had no knowledge just like money. One night—while Ginger slept and he wandered empty dusty rooms—he discovered a slim volume on the fundamentals of reading and writing sitting on a shelf in the old library at Edinburgh Castle... curious, he took it down.
"What do you have there, sweetie?"
Ginger caught him unawares when she came down for breakfast in the morning. The kitchen light was still on even though the sun blasted its rays through the windows. He had no idea the night had passed. She walked into the room cradling their son on her breast.
"A book on reading, darling Ginger... I thought I might learn."
"I thought about learning to read too. Perhaps you can teach me, my precious Kāne."
"Teach you what, Ginger?"
Mindy's voice had the quality of sandpaper in the morning. She went to the counter where she poured herself a cup of coffee without bothering to ask if Kāne and Ginger would like some too.
"To read, mother... you never bothered with sending me to school when I was a girl."
"Oh all that education kind of stuff is overrated, Ginger... a girl has no need to learn reading and writing. Their duty is to the man of the household. You should spend your time taking care of Kāne, not worrying about reading."
"I thought we might take a trip to Orchardton Hall tomorrow, mother. Perhaps you should pack your bags. I really appreciate you being here to help with little Joshua but I'm feeling up to it now. I'm sure you're anxious to get home. It's been nearly three months since you've been here."
Kāne sensed the friction between mother and daughter yet he had no idea how to help alleviate it. At times, Mindy seemed like the daughter rather than the mother. Ginger seemed to have taken the role of parent; she never chastised Mindy outright but rather she seemed to seek a way of gently guiding her mother towards a more righteous way of living.
"I don’t want to go back to Orchardton Hall, Ginger. Whatever gave you that idea?"
Ginger flashed Kāne a look of despair. He knew he should take the side of his wife yet at the same time he'd grown used to having Mindy around.
"I have to do a little work on the Jeep, darling Ginger. I'm walking into town today to find the parts I need. The brakes are making noise. If we drive it like it is we will ruin the rotors."
"So we can't go to Orchardton Hall tomorrow."
The pain in Gingers' voice was palatable. He hated hurting her like that; he hated the fact that he wanted Mindy to stay; he hated that he could not confide his reason to the one person in the world to whom he should be able to talk with: his wife.
"It might be a few days before I can finish the work, my lovely Ginger. I'll get started today right after breakfast."
When they first came across the castle while on one of their trips through old Scotland, Kāne discovered a fleet of automobiles stored in the barn behind Edinburgh. The gasoline in the tanks had dried up leaving varnish in the fuel lines clogging the carburetors and fuel filters. Though he tried to get them running again, he had no luck.
The Jeep was a gift from Nate. Kāne knew if he didn’t keep it maintained they would have to resort to horse and buggy. He played on that as a reason for not going back to Orchardton Hall yet he suspected Ginger knew the truth.
Mindy emerged from the shadows early one evening while he was coming from the out
door shower. He had yet to finish repairing the burst pipes scattered throughout the inside the castle; in one of the outbuildings he found black paint and a plastic barrel which he used to contrive a shower.
By painting it black and mounting the barrel upon a scaffold of lumber he scavenged from the same outbuilding, he added a showerhead and a shutoff to the barrel before filling it with well water with a hand pump.
The sun heated the water inside the drum so hot that he had to add a second drum to hold cold water. Using a series of elbows he melded the water from the two barrels together to produce water at just the right temperature.
In the dim light of the dying day he thought it was Ginger. Perhaps she had left little Joshua with her mother for a few minutes and came here to surprise him. She stepped forward kissing him full on the mouth. Confusion clouded his mind as Ginger morphed into Mindy and even though he knew the truth he kissed her back.
Though it was just a kiss like an avalanche gathering detritus as it roared down a mountain slope the kiss triggered a cascade of feelings within him that he didn’t heretofore realize were there.
They were sisters of opposites.
Ginger was the light: all that was good, beautiful, and right in the world. Mindy was the darkness: mysterious, frightening, and full of potentiality. They were not mother and daughter so much as the twins of good and evil.
Such anomalies were common among Kāne's immortal people. Parents did not age beyond their prime years. Once their children grew into adults it was not unusual for others to mistake them for brother and sister rather than parent and child.
He knew Ginger sensed the growing gulf between them.
Since little Joshua was born, she refused to have anything to do with him insofar as a sexual nature. He understood she had gone through a brutal ordeal. Still, at the end of three months, he was beginning to wonder if they would ever make love again.
Mindy's kiss was continually on his mind: the way she pressed her body into his, the voluptuousness of her breasts, and the softness of her skin. While Ginger lay sleeping Kāne often rose to patrol the empty hallways in hopes of perhaps meeting Mindy there.
He didn’t want her to go back to Orchardton Hall. At the same time, however, he knew the longer she stayed in Edinburgh Castle the greater the danger was of his marriage dissolving.
Mindy was useless. She lounged in bed most of the day, did no chores, and refused to help with the baby. Kāne didn’t understand the attraction for her. He loved Ginger. He loved his son. He knew he was jeopardizing it all with that nonsense.
"I think you're in love with my mother."
Ginger's words did not surprise him so much as they hurt him. He realized his intentions which he tried to hide so well were entirely transparent. He searched for words of denial that were not forthcoming.
"Maybe I should be the one to go back to Orchardton Hall. I think I'll take Joshua and go as soon as you have the Jeep fixed... if there is really anything wrong with it in the first place."
He could find no words to argue with.
Chapter 71—Hunter
Chester was first off the boat.
He leaped into the water before Nate could order Kirk to drop the anchor. He loved watching the big cat swim... the way his tail swayed through the wake he left reminded him of his own motion in the water.
Though he spent an entire day studying it, Nate wasn’t sure of the accuracy of the chart. He believed they were close to the Bahamas—and perhaps the same island they stopped at before—but the landscape didn’t look familiar.
He was concerned about Maon and Sileas.
"Our lovely Lauren tells me that they set sail with Ena and Amanda some four weeks ago. They intended to come to our rescue. Maon thought we were in trouble. They have a radio aboard, however. They sent out a mayday alert two weeks ago. They were taking on water. The ship they are upon is old. He found it in a warehouse but she says he didn’t take the proper time to make sure it was really sea-worthy before setting out."
"Are you sure these are the proper coordinates, darling Lily?"
"I'm positive. I asked Lauren to repeat them three times."
"Well then, they have to be on one of the islands in this archipelago. This whole area looks as if it went through a storm recently. See how all the trees are blown backwards? And there is fresh driftwood piled upon the beach. They may have gotten blown off course."
"They could be anywhere, my darling Nate. Maon told me before we left that he would come to our rescue if we didn’t show up back at Orchardton Hall on time. I tried to dissuade him but you know how obstinate that boy is."
"He's a good sailor, my darling Lily. We'll find them."
Taking Kirk with him and rowing to shore in the skiff, Nate noticed how cloudy the water was. Landing on the beach he saw broken limbs hanging from trees and piles of coconuts scattered under the palm trees.
Chester was nowhere to be seen. His enormous paw prints went directly inland as if he'd caught scent of something perhaps good to eat. Nate knew these islands were generally devoid of large animals, however.
"What do you suppose Chester is up to, Mr. Nate?"
"I'm wondering the same thing, Kirk. Let's follow him."
Though Chester bounded over the breakwater in a single leap, Nate and Kirk soon discovered mounds of thorny driftwood caught up in the tree line forming a nearly impenetrable wall twenty feet high. It took them the better part of an hour to make it through the maze.
Looking over at Kirk, Nate saw they were both covered in scratches and sweat. The midday sun combined with extraordinarily high humidity to make his clothing stick to his body as if he was walking in an underwater wet suit. When they finally broke through the maze of thorns they encountered yet another obstacle.
The area on the immediate side of the breakwater was marshy and wet. They sank into the stinking muck up to their knees making it as much of a struggle to get through as the driftwood. Each step forward made a sucking sound. Nate wondered how Chester navigated the marsh so quickly.
"Don't you wish we'd of brought some water with us, Mr. Nate?"
"Yes I do. I'm thinking if we press on we might come to higher ground. I saw mountains in the distance. There will be water there."
He knew better... they should go back, gather supplies, and then proceed. A sense of urgency drove him on, however. The muggy atmosphere under the canopy of dense foliage combined with the immense tropical heat to render the marsh nearly impassable.
About the time he felt the last of his energy ebbing, they reached dry land. Chester's tracks led them farther inland to a stream of clear water cascading over a high cliff. He tasted it gingerly expecting it to be salty. To his delight, it was fresh water. After drinking their fill, they washed the muck from their legs and feet before venturing on.
Chester was no dummy. Rather than climbing over the mountain in front of them, he skirted it by circling to the right. Keeping higher to the base of the mountain the traveling was easier and a sweet sea breeze cooled them.
The big cat seemed to be in a hurry. From the distance between his tracks Nate figured he must be hurtling toward his destination at top speed. An hour later they emerged from the forest to discover a beach opposite of the one they started from. Chester's tracks led to the water's edge before disappearing into the ocean. There was no other sign of the big cat.
"Look over there, Mr. Nate... there's another island. Chester must have swum over to it. What do you suppose he senses over there?"
"There's only one way to find out. Can you swim, Kirk?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Nate... I can swim but not that far."
"Why don’t you stay here then and I'll go. Rest and eat some fruit. I'll be back soon."
Nate stripped off his clothes and entered the surf. The water was cold and sandy as if the bottom layer had been stirred up to the top. The salt water didn’t agree with his gills so he swam the five kilometers or so upon the surface of the sea breathing the air as he went.
Wading out of the surf onto the shore, Nate wondered if Chester was perhaps in search of a meal. Though he hoped the big cat sensed the whereabouts of Maon and his crew, he figured hunger overrode his other proclivities no matter how magnanimous Chester seemed to be.
This island wasn’t as large as the previous one. Following tracks across the volcanic sand soon led him back to the ocean. In the distance, another island glittered in the midday sun.
Before he realized it, he had tracked Chester across five islands. Losing his sense of direction he wondered how he would find his way back, or if he too might spend the rest of his life searching for the others.
The old charts were all wrong. One archipelago looked the same as all the others. The islands blended together to send him spiraling down into a morose sort of brooding which did no one any good.
He was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. The salt water irritated his skin, the sunshine had burnt him red, and his head was muddled as to which way he came from. Sitting down in the shade with his back to a palm tree he meditated briefly to gather his wits before moving on.
It had been a month since the radio began working again.
Thanks to Lauren, Nate had the coordinates where the Liberty went down yet when they arrived they found a thousand islands within a hundred kilometer radius, each of them capable of being reached by the crew of a sunken ship.
"Did you ask Maon what island they were closest to, mother Lauren?'
"I don't think he could read me, darling Nate. I could barely hear him. He said they were in a severe storm and were in danger of sinking. When I tried responding all I got was static."
"We are at the coordinates that you gave us; there's no sign of the Liberty. We'll begin searching the nearby islands but it may take us some time."
"Keep hunting, sweet Nate... I know they are there. If I was stranded on an island, I would build a fire. Look for smoke."
Now, sitting upon the beach and taking deep breaths to still his mind, Nate smelled smoke.