by Dan Glover
"Everything isn’t all about you, Alpin."
As Amanda threw angry words at him he heard them bounce off his shoulder as he stalked away from her. When he returned an hour later, the room was empty, Amanda's belongings were gone, but her scent still lingered in the air.
Though he told himself it would happen in time, he never developed feelings for Amanda the way he had for Ena. She was a plaything, a distraction, a way to make Ena jealous. He knew he should feel guilty for using the girl like that but he didn’t.
"Kāne's presence may have deleterious effects upon you, darling Alpin. His body puts out an unseen energy that is affecting Nate's thinking. Your grandfather's moods are fluctuating wildly. He cannot remember things. This is why Lily implored him to sail away to America. You may be subject to the same affliction, my lovely Alpin."
Lady Lauren's words lent an excuse for his prodigal behavior but he knew better. Kāne had no affect upon his psyche. His moods were no different in the north of old Scotland than they were at Orchardton Hall. He was beginning to understand that instead of staying away from his home, he needed to learn some life-coping skills that would allow him to treat others in a way he liked to be treated.
The raccoon came out of nowhere.
They were normally nocturnal creatures but the sound of the motorcycle must have disturbed it from its nest. Alpin applied both front and back brakes while he attempted to bank the motorcycle around the masked beast. He managed to miss the raccoon but his front wheel struck a large boulder.
The force of the collision threw Alpin head first over the motorcycle's handlebars. It all seemed to happen in slow motion as he saw the rock approaching... he saw it growing large and hoary as he had just enough time to put out his arms to brace for impact.
He both heard and felt both wrists snap. There was no pain at first, only a creeping numbness. Luckily, since it was a sunny morning, he was wearing his helmet with the sunshade visor. His head bounced off another boulder imbedded in the incline beside the road and though it left him momentarily stunned his skull suffered no real damage.
Soon the pain in his wrists began to radiate up his arms deadening his elbows and lodging in his shoulders. Looking back at his motorcycle he saw the front wheel was badly bent, the forks were twisted, and even though it was still running the engine had developed a knocking sound that portended a bad end.
Sitting up he tested his legs by flexing his knees up and down. Movement out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention. The raccoon was bumbling across the road followed by five kits ranging in size from small to large.
"Thanks for nothing you ingrate."
Alpin's words enraged the pain in his wrists. He knew they were both broken and would have to be set. Shrugging off his backpack he used his lips and teeth to open it and retrieve a roll of gray duct tape.
Undoing the metal frame of the pack from the cloth it supported allowed him to make a crude splint for both wrists. Holding the roll of duct tape between his knees he managed to pull off a two foot section and then another.
Putting his right wrist in between the boulder and a smaller rock, he twisted his wrist back into shape. Pain seared his mind until he saw black spots dancing before his eyes. But the wrist was straight once again. Using his knees he held two straight metal tubes along both sides of the wrist while he used his mouth to wrap the tape around it.
Even though he was shivering with cold he was covered in sweat. He knew he was close to passing out now. Putting his left wrist between the rocks he twisted it back into place. The pain wasn’t as bad as before. He felt as if he was in a tunnel. Though the sun hung high in the sky darkness began to gather around the periphery of his vision as he secured the now-straightened wrist with the last two metal tubes.
By the time he was able to wrap his left wrist in duct tape, he was trembling violently. He knew his body was going into shock. Pulling his plastic poncho from the backpack he wrapped it around his body just in time as the darkness overtook him.
Chapter 75—Going Home
"Chester is amazing."
They were all gathered on the beach. Lily cradled the big cat's head in her arms as Nate told everyone the story of how he followed Chester over the distance of five islands and all the waters in between finally coming upon the shipwrecked crew's campsite.
"By the time I got there, Chester had made friends with everyone. Myself, I would have been ready to crap my pants when I saw a tiger as big as Chester emerge from the forest. But what did our courageous Amanda do? She went right up to him."
"It wasn’t bravery, Mr. Nate, believe me. I figured if he ate me, at least the others might stand a chance of getting away. But honestly... looking into his eyes something told me Chester was there to help us, not to eat us."
"I don’t care what you say, my precious Amanda... that was a sheer act of courage. You were ready to sacrifice yourself for me. I'll always love you for that."
Ena pulled her away and embraced Amanda as the rest of the group all sat around a small fire talking of their adventures. When their lips touched, they kissed unabashedly and hungrily. It didn’t matter to Ena who saw them though she sensed a sort of recalcitrance on Amanda's part.
It was like her first experience at making love on that remote and lonely beach back in old France... Alpin's eyes had been eagerly eating up the sight of her nakedness, feasting upon her flesh. Yet no sooner had they consummated their love, he had bounded off into the sea like a child bent on besting her at a foolish race home.
Had she given herself too freely? Perhaps part of the intrigue of love was in the waiting. She was all so new at this strange interchange of emotions. None of it made any rational sense. While she should have been sick with worry over her mother's injuries, instead Ena had found herself dreaming both moon and sun about only one person: Amanda.
She regretted not spending more time with the girl back home. Ena knew she had a misanthropic streak a mile wide. She disliked the People and their pettiness. Rather than making an attempt at knowing them better, Ena had shunned them all, even Karen, especially Karen. The only one she had anything to do with was mother Natalia.
The fact that she had been so close to the Ladies of the Lake had perhaps lent Natalia an air of royalty that was sadly missing in all the other human beings. That and the fact that she was one of her mothers had woven a web of love between the two of them that was rare in Ena's life.
She had grown up surrounded by a loving family and yet all the while knowing in her hearts that she didn’t belong with them. She was something different, something the world had never seen. It wasn’t that she hated the People or those of the Lake... rather, she simply felt better when none of them were around.
The business of love seemed way too steeped in starry-eyed dreamers who no idea what they were getting themselves into. She remembered reading a play—one written by a man named William Shakespeare—called Romeo and Juliet. Both main characters ended up killing themselves over the love they shared.
Suicide was not unknown even among those of the Lake but it was rarely practiced by the lovelorn. Rather, it appeared to Ena that sometimes the people of the Lake simply lived too long... they witnessed too much. They even had a name for it... they called it the diminishing.
She wondered if she was being too forward with Amanda... perhaps the girl didn’t feel the same depths of love for her that she felt. Ena, despite growing up around the girls of the People, had never gotten to know any of them well. Perhaps what she had read was true... there was a stigma attached to same sex relationships among the humans that the people of the Lake did not cultivate.
Still, when she kissed Amanda she could feel the surge of urgency welling up from the pool of the girl's feelings for her. Amanda did love her... Amanda did want her. Yet somehow Ena knew theirs was not an everlasting kind of love... rather, it was a flame that would burn hot and furiously for but a short while.
Still, she was ready to take the plunge. Taking Amanda by the han
d she tugged her back to the fire where everyone was in deep discussions over the future of their little group.
Nate and Maon had determined the Liberty was beyond salvage. Instead, they decided to use her timbers to construct a small skiff, one which they could fill with food and supplies for the two week trip back to Orchardton Hall.
The archipelago abounded with fresh fruit but meat was scarce. Therefore the men would began deep-sea fishing, pulling up enormous tuna, marlin, and cod, which the women cut up and hung in the sun to dry. Within days, they should have over five hundred kilograms readied for the trip, most of which would be earmarked for Chester.
The night before they planned on sailing, Ena gave birth to a baby boy. The birth was remarkably uneventful as she and Catan were ready for traveling by the next morning.
"I'm naming him after Chester. Catan means small cat in Gaelic. We have our big cat... now we have our small cat too!"
"I think that's such a beautiful name, lovely Ena! How do you know Gaelic?"
"Mother taught us, sweet Delilah."
"Do you speak Gaelic, darling Sileas?"
With Amanda's and Ena's help, Sileas made a full and complete recovery. The terrible wound she suffered left no scar, only a nearly indiscernible circular indentation on her temple.
"There are many dead languages, my precious Delilah, a whole world full. I'm interested in saving as many as I may. I spend much of my time learning to speak and to write words which may never be used again. I feel I'm honoring those who were here but have perished."
"You are a historian, darling Sileas."
"Perhaps you could call me that, sweet Delilah, though my interests lie more in words than in deeds."
"We should start a university when we get back to Orchardton Hall. There is so much knowledge in the world; it will be lost forever if no one bothers to learn it."
"I wish for baby Catan to learn everything he can. Our lovely Delilah is right. We need to start a school, a university, a place where anyone who wishes to learn may do so. So many of the People cannot even read and write. They waste their time on the trivial while forgoing the great."
"You are correct, lovely Ena, and yet we cannot force those who have no wish to learn to go to school. They will only ruin it for those who wish to be there. This university must be voluntary. Perhaps as the years go by, more of the People may wake up and realize how little they know of the world."
"I wish I could have talked Micah into going back with us."
Karen had been silent. Ena thought she was dozing but now she realized the doctor had been listening to every word being said.
"Who is Micah, Dr. Karen?"
"Micah is the man back in old New York City who held us captive. He is the most brilliant man I ever met and yet he is lacking in compassion and empathy. He sees the world only through the lens of his own intellect. He believes he can better the world through science. He has no regard for the world of magic."
"Why on earth would you want him to come along with us? He sounds like a megalomaniac. Did he really hold you captive?"
"Yes, he really held us captive. I always felt there was something endearing about him. I met him ages ago when I was just a girl. I went to the same university as he did. He was just twelve years old and suffering from a terminal illness. I remember how proud he was of his accomplishments."
"By the time he was twenty he had patented a myriad of medical inventions. Karen is right. Micah is a genius. He has no heart, however."
Pete too has been silent until the conversation turned to his old tormentor.
"He asked me if I wanted to live. Of course I wanted to live. Everyone wants to live, especially when they know they're dying. I didn’t understand what that would entail. He turned us into monsters. Yes, we lived biologically, but I have virtually no memory of all those years. It was only after Miss Karen arrived that my mind returned."
"Did you want him to come with us, Pete?"
"Not really, Miss Karen. He scares me. There's no telling what kind of madness he'll dream up next. I feel much better with an ocean between us. I'd feel even better living in another star system."
"Ah... now you're speaking my language, Pete."
Until he spoke up, Ena hadn’t realized her grandfather was sitting there in the shadows. Perhaps the fire was too warm for him. Going to him, Ena proudly held out Catan and though Grandfather Nate looked bedazzled by the little guy she laid the baby in his arms.
"Grandmother Lily told me how you wanted to fly into outer space, Grandfather Nate. Soon there will be so many of us we will need more room. Please promise me you won't give up on your dream."
Chapter 76—Compulsion
"They're on their way home!"
Lauren burst into Ginger's cabin with the news early in the evening while fireflies were just beginning to make their nightly migrations out of the tall grasses growing thick and lush around the outskirts of the estate.
The sudden noise the heavy wooden door made bouncing off the stone wall startled Ginger and seeing his mother jump little Joshua began to squall while trying to stick both fists into his mouth.
"Oh, I am so sorry, sweet Ginger... I shouldn’t be so abrupt. Ladies Lily and Natalia are always scolding me for my impetuousness."
"Oh it's all right, Mother Lauren... isn’t it funny how darling Joshua notices every little thing? He's only six months old and he's beginning to walk and talk. Oh... I wish his father could be here to see him."
"I do not pretend to understand your husband Kāne's choice to remain in Edinburgh. He belongs here with his wife and child."
"It was more my choice to leave Edinburgh, Mother Lauren. Perhaps one day Kāne may realize his error... perhaps not. Either way, we'll be happy here, me and little Joshua. I'm especially glad to hear the Nautilus is on its way home! Is everyone safely aboard?"
"Yes, my darling Ginger... everyone is safe though the ship is crowded. They picked up three survivors in old New York City... three men. Lady Lily also tells me of a huge tiger who has become a pet. Though this concerns me greatly, darling Lily assures me they are in no danger."
"They're bringing a tiger home with them?"
"Yes, and three men... I thought you might be more excited about the men, sweet Ginger."
"I have my man... I just wish he knew it as well as I do. It was probably my fault, Mother Lauren. After giving birth, I was so weak. It took me months to fully recover. My mother Mindy took advantage of the situation. She insinuated herself into Kāne's life. I caught them kissing one day. I think they were doing more than just kissing, too."
Ginger was ashamed discussing such intimate details yet the more she talked about it, the better she felt, as if an enormous weight was lifting from her shoulders.
"My son is a wonderful man, but he is still a man, darling Ginger. I know it is no consolation for you, but among our species it is not all that much of a taboo for a male to... well... to be familiar with both mother and daughter. In fact, it is fairly common."
"I'm sorry, Mother Lauren, but it just makes me sick to think of Kāne with my mother in that way. She lied to me... she lied to us. She claimed she wanted to come home to help me with little Joshua. She never lifted a finger. I never liked her much but now I flat out hate the woman."
"Have you taken little Joshua swimming in the ocean yet, my precious Ginger?"
"He is such a little fish, Mother Lauren. I swear he took to the water better than he did to the land. I had to keep a close eye on him or he'd go off swimming with the dolphins."
"Oh how I wish the salt water agreed with me! I'd come with you both."
"Come with us anyway! You don’t have to go into the water... sit on the beach and watch us. You'll get a kick out of your grandson. You really need to spend more time with us now that we are back at Orchardton Hall. I missed you so much."
A light warm rain wetted Ginger's hair as she carried Joshua in her arms. He chortled and waved his arms as the tiny droplets wet his face. Mother Lauren
followed behind carrying a container of food and drink and an umbrella. Walking down to the water's edge, Ginger set little Joshua down. With a giggle he immediately toddled into the sea with his mother right behind him.
Despite the effects of salt on her skin, Mother Lauren waded into the surf too. Little Joshua made a game of swimming from his mother to his grandmother and back again. Ginger couldn't help but notice how much her son resembled her husband. Despite her aim to remain strong for her son, a tremulous tear quivered down her cheek.
She knew Mother Lauren was attempting to salve her feelings by informing her about the infidelities of the males of her species but such knowledge did nothing to soften the disdain growing in her heart.
"Did you say our people rescued three men in old New York City, Mother Lauren?"
Tired of swimming, little Joshua was lying on a blanket under the umbrella fallen into the kind of slumber Ginger envied. She hadn’t been sleeping. She couldn't help but feel her heart quicken at the thought of holding a real man for a change.
"Yes, Lady Lily tells me these men are refugees who were held as virtual captives by a mad scientist."
"I don’t understand how they survived all this time."
"Nor do I, sweet Ginger... I suppose we shall have to wait for the return of the Nautilus to learn this tale. Our talks are limited. The batteries in the short wave radio run low so quickly we can only speak a short while."
"Will they be here soon?"
"Yes, sweet Ginger... they are making haste. Rather than relying upon the wind, Nate is running the engines. Sweet Lily tells me they hope to make the North Channel within ten days."
"Doesn’t seem as if they've been gone forever, Mother Lauren?"
"Oh my yes... I feel we must leave for Lake Baikal immediately upon their return. My bones are aching for its magical waters. I am sure Lady Lily must feel it too."
"Will Kāne desire to go along too?"
"Our time of renewal is different than the true males of our species. This is why we never encountered him at the Lake. Too, this compulsion for the Lake is driven by the stress I feel at the loss of my lovers."