by K.N. Lee
Inlaid into the Aethelu chess piece was a ruby.
Each of the other chess pieces must have represented other members of Aethelu’s family. The pawns were all dogs. Not one the same, many different breeds were included, but they all stood in the same way. Facing forward, heads held high, almost looking proud.
Anais handed back the bishop to Aethelu, who put it back in its correct position.
“My friend Andrew made this board and carved all the pieces. He’s a bit of a genius.”
“I’ll say,” replied Anais “It’s amazing.”
As white always goes first, Anais, using the black pieces waited for Aethelu to make the first move. Aethelu picked up a small ivory beagle and moved it forward two squares.
Anais had found her only equal in chess in her father, who had taught her the game at an incredibly young age. In fact, she had only lost two of the hundreds of matches she had played during her time in the chess club in school. She made her move, confident that the game would be over soon, with her being the victor.
Half an hour later, the game was still being played. The tension was rising. It was a thrilling game for Anais, as she usually found chess matches too easy. She had grossly underestimated Aethelu and missed a couple of moves she should have made. As it was, Aethelu had had her in check a couple of times already. Anais was fighting a losing battle and as she moved her rook (a huge man with a shaggy beard inlaid with jet) she knew it would be her last move. Sure enough Aethelu’s knight took her rook and put the king into checkmate.
Anais was stunned that she had lost, even though it had been inevitable from about five moves back. She never lost! It had been so exciting, though! Aethelu had chatted throughout the game with such enthusiasm about how she had learnt chess and how much she loved it. She reminded Anais of her father and his childlike passion for board games, another trait she had inherited from him.
“Good game, well done.” Anais was practically breathless “Let’s play again.”
She’d already started positioning her playing pieces.
Aethelu laughed and obliged her.
They played for hours, game after game, chatting all the while. She was having so much fun that she could almost forget that she was being held against her will.
At dinner time, Aethelu brought two plates instead of one and joined Anais at the table (the chess set once again in its closed position inside the table)
They both ate a wonderful dinner of lamb and shared a couple of bottles of wine which probably moved the evening on more quickly. She was surprised how sad she felt when Aethelu finally left in the wee hours of the morning.
That night, as Anais laid on her bed, she thought back over the last few hours. She’d had an amazing time. She’d really enjoyed herself, more so than she had in a long time. Aethelu made her feel special, and she was so interesting and fun. She’d not had such a good time since she left L.A.
Damn her, why was she feeling so good? She was locked in a room without her consent with no idea why or how long she’d be there. It began to worry her how much she was enjoying herself and that the more she enjoyed being here, the less effort she would put into escaping. No, not damn her, Damn Aethelu. It was probably the bottle of wine she’d consumed, but she began to get pretty angry with the situation.
Tomorrow she’d have it out with Aethelu. She’d had enough. No matter how great the company was or how delicious the food, she was still here against her will, and that was going to change.
The next morning when Aethelu brought her breakfast, Anais was ready to attack.
“Morning!” Aethelu exclaimed cheerfully holding out the tray with various Danish pastries on it. She stopped short when she noticed Anais’ face.
“Why?” Anais screamed at Aethelu who, shocked by the outburst, just stood there holding onto the tray, eyes wide. She didn’t know what to say, but she was spared having to think of anything by Anais carrying on her outburst.
“I’ve been trapped here, well over a week. You’ve given me feeble excuses about needing me, but you refuse to say why. I want to go home!” She knew she was one foot-stamp away from sounding like a petulant toddler, but she didn’t care.
“I’m done! I’m done with the food and the games. I’m done with the books (she should have thrown one, but she couldn’t bring herself to.) I’m done with this room, and I’m done with you.”
She wondered if she’d taken it too far, but it was too late to take it back now. She stood up, held her shoulders back, walked right past Aethelu to the open door and walked out without looking back. Her heart was hammering in her chest, but she wasn’t going to show it. She was expecting Aethelu to run behind her and shackle her again, but she got almost to the end of the corridor before she heard Aethelu.
“Don’t leave.” It wasn’t a command. Aethelu was pleading with her.
She looked around, and there Aethelu stood at the opposite end of the corridor. Even from a distance Anais could see tears in her eyes.
Anais turned back around. She didn’t know what kind of plan Aethelu’s father had for her, but she didn’t want to hang around to find out, even if it did mean that Aethelu got into trouble because of it.
“I can stop you,” Aethelu said. “You know I can. I just don’t want to. I might end up hurting you again. Please come back. I’ll get you whatever you want. What do you need? Name it.”
“I want to go home Aethelu. You are keeping me against my will. You won’t tell me why.”
“It’s only until my father gets back.”
“Yes, so you keep telling me, and then what? He gets to rape and murder me? I’m sorry, Aethelu, but I’m not waiting in a locked room any longer, just because you might get into trouble if I leave.”
Aethelu looked momentarily shocked, and then she started to laugh. Great big heaving guffaws, which were so unexpected to Anais that she almost forgot she was trying to escape. She looked over her shoulder and could see that the end of the corridor was only about two metres away and what’s more, ended in a staircase. She made a split-second decision and turned, counting on Aethelu being distracted. She turned towards the stairs and felt something brush past her like a wind. She took one step down and then there was Aethelu, right in front of her.
Anais turned to look back down the now empty corridor and then back to Aethelu.
“How did you...?”
“Anais, it’s nothing like that.” She paused, “Look, ok, I know how this must look like to you, but my father is not like that. I should have realised that you’d be scared, you just seemed so strong.”
Aethelu looked like she was struggling with what she was about to say.
“Give me an hour. I’ll tell you everything, then if you really don’t want to be here. I’ll let you go. We don’t even have to go back in your room, Come on, we can go down to the kitchen and I’ll make you a hot chocolate. No more locking you up. I promise.”
Anais didn’t know what to think. It certainly wasn’t the sort of thing a serial killer would say; besides, what did she really have to lose? She could give Aethelu an hour of her time, and then, hopefully, if Aethelu was telling her the truth, she could leave. Hot chocolate did sound great, too. She looked out of the window above the stairs. The winter morning was just beginning to get light and snow was falling lightly. Anais, having grown up in Los Angeles, had rarely seen snow and her heart leapt at the sight of it. In spite of herself she grinned.
Aethelu led the way down the stairs to yet another corridor. This one, however, opened up to a massive double flight of stairs which in turn led down into a vast hallway. Looking out over the balustrade, Anais could make out a grand entrance hall with huge wooden doors. The double height entrance was filled with vast portraits, of whom she assumed to be Aethelu’s ancestors, and who were decorated with both tinsel over their frames and Santa hats pinned to the occupant’s heads. The entrance hall, painted red, and with dark wood panelling, would have been dark and austere were it not for the beautifully intricate st
ained glass windows which were at eye level if you were standing where Anais was on the upper floor. The one nearest to her, on the right side of the door, had images of seven people, four men and three women, all with silver-white hair, and each holding a candle. A ribbon was woven between the people on which the words ‘Custor Lux’ were written. The farther window had a similar image, but with different words that Anais couldn’t make out. A giant Christmas tree, at least twelve feet tall stood in the corner, tastefully decorated in red and gold baubles and gold ribbon.
A star at the top finished the tree off beautifully. As Anais walked down the stairs, she could also see red and white striped candy sticks placed expertly on the tree amid the other decorations. Under the tree were mountains of presents, all expertly wrapped in the now familiar red and gold. They were all placed in perfect piles with wonderful bows of ribbon on each one. It confirmed to Anais that she hadn’t been erroneously kidnapped for money. Everything she had seen in the last two minutes screamed wealth and prosperity, from the plush red carpet that followed from the bedroom, to the corridors, to the massive chandelier that hung directly above the staircase. The only thing that looked out of place was a pile of shredded wrapping paper trailing from the tree to a door leading off to the right.
“Baker!” Aethelu screamed, following the wrapping paper shreds through the open door. “I’m going to kill you!”
Seconds later she reappeared with a black and white cocker spaniel puppy in her arms.
“Oh, poor baby I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. It’s not your fault is it? You are just learning.” She crooned at the wriggling puppy. “He’s just a baby.” she confirmed to Anais. “He doesn’t realise it’s wrong to eat the wrapping.” She looked the dog in the eyes and then said in a mock stern voice
“Naughty puppy, stay away from the presents.” and then she patted his nose for good measure and put him back down on the floor. He scrambled off, skidding a little on the highly polished wooden floor of the entrance hall. Aethelu beckoned Anais to follow her through a door to the left of the grand stairs, and as she passed through, she glanced back to see Baker was now tearing his way through what looked like a wrapped soft toy, obviously leaving Aethelu’s warning unheeded.
Through the door was yet another set of stairs, this time a spiral staircase took her down to the underbelly of the old house. It brought her to a kitchen so large that it could have fit half her house in Los Angeles in it. In the centre of the room, stood a giant oak table with ten matching chairs surrounding it.
The kitchen was lit by windows, which told Anais she wasn’t quite in a cellar. The ground at the front of the house must be higher than here at the back of the house, as there was also a door which looked like it led to the outside. Anais wondered if it was locked.
“Take a seat,” Aethelu gestured to the table and Anais sat down.
Whilst Aethelu busied herself with making the hot chocolate, it afforded Anais a chance to take in her surroundings. The kitchen was obviously made for servants. So large it was, it could easily have accommodated a full set of staff. She could easily imagine a cook stirring big copper pots over the huge range cooker, with a sous chef and pastry chef and an army of maids and other kitchen helpers. She could see an old-fashioned bell system with the names of each room labelled neatly under each bell. ‘Sitting Room’, ‘Drawing Room’, ‘Parlour’ read some of the labels. Others had come off with age. She imagined maids and butlers sitting at this very table waiting to be summoned by some now long-dead master. The words were faded, but she could still make out some of the names: Audsley, Alexander, Aethelu. All beginning with A, a tradition, which, obviously, had been carried down through the generations. She wondered who Aethelu was named after, a great aunt or grandmother probably. There were other names which had faded too much to read. Just how big was this house?
“It’s been broken for years!” Aethelu answered an unasked question when she saw what was holding Anais’ interest.
“So how do you communicate with the servants?”
“Mobile phone.” Aethelu grinned. “Actually, we don’t have servants anymore. Just a cleaning lady, Mrs Smithson, who comes three times a week to clean. I doubt she’d take kindly to being summoned by a bell, though.”
Aethelu put a steaming oversized mug of hot chocolate, complete with whipped cream in front of Anais and sat down.
She sat opposite with her own mug of cocoa and steepled her fingers. Anais waited for Aethelu to begin patiently, but as the seconds ticked past, it became clear that Aethelu was having trouble saying what she wanted to say. Aethelu unlocked her fingers and took a sip of the hot chocolate. Then with the fingers on one hand, she began to tap on the table, the other hand, cupping her face as a comforting gesture. The first hand then went up to her mouth where she began to bite a fingernail. Another sip of the hot chocolate and she still wasn’t ready to talk. Anais could see how nervous she was, but she would give Aethelu an hour, that’s all. She wasn’t prepared to give her any more time.
“Aethelu!”
Aethelu looked at Anais with a stricken look and finally took her fingernails out of her mouth.
“Oh God, how to start? My father told me I wouldn’t have to do this. I barely know where to begin.”
“You don’t have to do anything. I could just walk over to that door and leave. You could say I escaped, I overpowered you and then left. It wasn’t your fault.” Even as she said it, she had a whisper of not wanting to go. She quickly shrugged it off.
“My father wouldn’t believe me. You’ve seen how fast and strong I am. There is no way you would be able to escape, but my father isn’t really the issue. Remember I told you that we need you? I wasn’t making it up. You are special. We have to do something and the only way we can do it is with your help.”
“I’m not special, though. I have no money, no particular talent beyond knowing what a valuable book is and what worthless trash is. Is that it? You have something you want valued?”
She already knew this wasn’t the case. Aethelu giving her ‘Alice’ was proof of that. She was really just trying to keep Aethelu talking so she wouldn’t go back to chewing her nails.
“If only it was that simple. Money isn’t the object. It’s you. You are full of The Light.”
“The what?” Now Anais was perplexed. The Light? She had no idea was Aethelu was talking about.
“The Light. It runs through your veins. You positively shine with it.”
Anais looked up from her mug and looked directly at Aethelu.
“I have no idea what you mean? I don’t shine.” She thought of how lit up Aethelu had been, quite literally in the bedroom. She had shone, but Anais hadn’t.
“Ok, I’m going to tell you a story. It’s going to sound strange, but I need you to listen, all the way through, ok?”
“Okay.”
“With no interruptions.”
“Ok,” Anais repeated herself.
She sat back comfortably in her chair, ready to hear the strangest story she would ever hear, although she didn’t yet know it. If Anais had any inkling of what she was about to hear, of how much the next ten minutes would change her life, she would have sat up in her chair, listening intently. As it was, she slouched in the chair, listening only half-heartedly, with one eye on the kitchen door and her one means of potential escape.
Chapter 5
Aethelu cleared her throat and began.
“Many hundreds of years ago there lived a man. He wasn’t a rich man, but he supported his wife and six children by making herbal cures for local villagers. He was a brilliant scientist, although back then they called him the Magic Man or the Healer, I suppose you could have called him an Alchemist although creating gold held no interest for him. He was more interested in healing people. His herbal elixirs and remedies were way ahead of their time.
He gained a modicum of fame and people from nearby villages came to see him with their ailments. He became renowned for being able to cure many diseases. Eventual
ly, he had so much work he had to take on a partner. He spotted scientific talent in a local young man and taught him everything he knew. They became firm friends and worked together for many years. Eventually, the partners started working on a project together after they had finished the day’s work of curing the sick. They spent many hours, working into the night on a secret elixir. Neither man would divulge what they were doing and the project ran on for many months. The old man would not tell his wife the secret, only that what he was working on would change the world, starting right there in his own house. His wife loved him dearly, so she accepted that he would tell her when he was ready. She kept the house clean, looked after the children and took over some of her husband’s work so he could spend more time working on his project, for she had learnt a few herbal recipes of her own. Every so often the partners would surface for food or ask one of the children to catch a rat or a stray cat or any other living creature to experiment on. Over the course of a year, the men would work tirelessly, and try their potions out on many creatures. The results were invariably the same. The rat or cat or dog or mouse or bird or whatever the children could find was usually dead within days of being captured. One evening, the old man returned to his house like he had done every night for over a year, but this time was different. Instead of wearily climbing into bed as silently as he could, so as not to wake his family, he ran through the house shouting, telling everyone to wake up. He had tears of joy in his face. He told his wife and children that he had done it. All his hard work had paid off. He had invented an elixir of eternal life. He wanted them all to take it and quite literally live happily ever after.