Grim Expectations

by KW Jeter

  “Before, I thought I might have dreamt a great deal, which you have convinced me were things that actually happened, alas.” My face was set into a mournful expression as I gazed at the loathsome book in my hands. “But this raises another wonderment to my thoughts, as to whether I have ever existed at all, or am merely the creation of some marginally talented scribbler, grinding away in some garret redolent of gin and stale tobacco.”

  “You’d be a lot better off, Dower, if you gave up this endless questioning as to what is real, and what is not–”

  “If your observation is a preface to another blow… then really, you needn’t bother.” I pushed myself back away from him, as far as possible, just to be on the safe side. “My resigned attitude toward reality, or whatever it appears to be at the moment, is quite secure; I can assure you of that.”

  “Fine; keep it that way.” While the diction of the person behind the mask might have altered from when I had first encountered him, a general air of glowering menace seemed newly born. “You have more pressing matters to be concerned about. For one, there are people who want to kill you – I might’ve guessed that would be at the top of your thoughts.”

  “It does preoccupy me,” I said, “to a certain degree. But you will have to excuse some confusion on my part. For it seems that no sooner than various parties of a mysterious nature threaten my life, then equally strange persons come to my rescue. I confess that I am beginning to find this recurring process a bit tedious.”

  “Grateful sort, aren’t you?”

  “I would be more so, if I were not so certain that you and your associate – that disreputable Nick Spivvem fellow – did not have your own agenda that prompted your saving my hide, just as Blightley and Haze had theirs in mind when they had previously done the same.”

  “Spivvem?” The Brown Leather Man’s outburst was accompanied by a derisive snort, only slightly muffled by the glistening sheath that hid his face. “I have nothing to do with that sonuvabitch – he’s exactly the sort that gives criminals a bad name.”

  “The meaning of the word you employ is obscure to me – but I have a sense of what you wish to imply. There are many rapscallions in the world; why do you view this one in particular so harshly?”

  “You have no need to hear my reasons.” A sullen tone tinged the other’s voice. “Suffice it to say that you’re well quit of him. The only favour he might ever have done you is that he triggered the process that extracted you from those phony canals that Blightley and Haze had created, and brought you here so that I could pound some sense into your head. But don’t concern yourself about ever having to thank him for that – the man’s dead.”

  “How can you be sure of that?”

  “Trust me,” the Brown Leather Man spoke grimly. “It’s enough of a miracle that you survived the journey – and you wouldn’t have if I hadn’t been here to drag you ashore.”

  “I take it that your presence was no mere coincidence.”

  “You’re getting smarter all the time, Dower; there’s hope for you yet. Let’s just say that the people who’ve been trying to kill you aren’t the only ones interested in your comings and goings. I’ve been keeping my eye on you.”

  “So it seems. But my worries are hardly dispelled by that being the case. Those others you mention, who have indicated such a concern for my whereabouts, showing themselves as they did in Cornwall, and then in London – why should I not assume those assassins will turn up here, wherever this place might be, just as they have surprised me before?” I glanced about the artificial cove, as if there might actually be some sign of such an intrusion. “Those persons have displayed a remarkable persistence in attempting to do me ill.”

  “For the moment, you’re safe enough – you might not have been transported all the way to the Outer Hebrides, but you’re still quite a ways from London; if they managed to track you from Highgate Cemetery to that fake Venice underneath it, there’d be some time before they could follow you out here.”

  “And this location is…?” I peered more closely at him. As I did so, I congratulated myself upon the ruse I had succeeded in perpetrating. My pretence of still being gulled by his masquerade, and concealing what I knew in certainty of him, had stirred his natural volubility and yielded a good deal of information he might not otherwise have related. “Exactly how far have I been removed from that previous spot?”

  “You are in the Lake District, or that which was termed as such before having been transformed by those technological advances I know you abhor. I doubt if Wordsworth and Ruskin would recognize the place now, if they were to return from their urban exiles; precious few lakes remain, or at least there are none visible on the surface. Ullswater and Windermere, and all the rest that were considered so scenic and charming – they’ve all been drained into those underground steam mines, that furnish so much power to London and the other sprawling cities. Blightley and Haze sought some advantage for their enterprises by seeking to construct portions of the amusement park empire here – a good number of vast subterranean chambers are available for their purposes, having been hollowed out and then abandoned as the mines continue to be excavated downward. In addition, the tunnels containing the pipes and tubes that pump the steam to its destinations are easily expanded to accommodate the human passengers that the Americans seek to lure to their new entertainments – it was through the prototype of one of those, that you were rocketed out from underneath London and deposited here.”

  “Pardon me, but that raises in my mind some doubts as to my security. Wouldn’t it be likely then, that Blightley and Haze, or some agents in their employ, might show up at any moment? If they had been murderously inclined before, surely they would now be twice as disposed toward that end.”

  “Calm yourself, Dower. Their resources are limited – the capital they brought with them when they fled their native land, and the funds they have managed to raise here in Britain, have largely been exhausted, and with little profit to show to their increasingly impatient investors. Blightley’s attempt to recruit you into his schemes is an indication of just how desperate he is. Having failed at that, and with scant ability to send anyone else in pursuit of you, he and his odd partner will be more likely preoccupied with keeping their heads down and out of sight, while they calculate their next moves.”

  “That,” I said, “is welcome news. Events have come upon me at a fearsome pace, and I no longer possess what little youthful strength I once had, by which I might have been able to endure their frantic rush. You have proven that this island is a lamentable fraud–” I glanced sadly at the broken rock close beside me, with its hollow plaster innards revealed, then back to my present companion. “But it is close enough to the actual thing, as to provide a calm respite for me. I could quite happily remain here at peace, for a considerable length of time.”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” growled the Brown Leather Man. “Any hiatus in your dire circumstances will soon be concluded. Those who were previously in pursuit might not be upon your back at this very moment, but they will be soon enough. For accomplishing their lethal goals, the means they have at their disposal are greatly magnified compared to anything that Blightley and his associates can get up to. The worst of your assailants, and the forces that command them, have but toyed with you up until now – they underestimated the degree to which others are interested in saving your ass, plus the amount of sheer dumb luck that has kept you alive up until now.”

  Again, that strange disjunction of the words spoken in his deep-pitched voice, as though one manner of speaking was as much a sham as this locale to which I had been transported – but I already knew which was the falsehood, and which the authentic.

  “You won’t always be that lucky, Dower.” He continued his stark assessment of my situation. “And whatever time you’ve got left, it’s quickly running out. You need to get your act together, and quick.”

  “Very well–” My own voice became heated; his prodding had succeeded in raising my ire. “You sp
eak of these greater and more ominous forces arrayed against me – who are they? I might not be able to prevail against them, but I would wish to know the name, and the nature, of those who want me dead.”

  “A reasonable request.” The Brown Leather Man gave a small nod. “Perhaps you have already heard the name before, but had no idea of its significance – but in that, you would scarcely be alone; they keep their true purpose a closely guarded secret, and lull the great mass of people into believing them harmless. The More Loving Embrace – is that term familiar to you?”

  “No–” My spine suddenly snapped straight and erect. “Wait a moment – I have heard that–” A fragment of memory leapt from the recesses of my mind. “At my wife’s funeral, back there in the cemetery at Highgate, the cleric who gave the eulogy–”

  “You mean the Right Reverend Jamford?” Another nod was given by the Brown Leather Man. “You’re on the right track – go on.”

  “Odious man – ranting and raving about all sorts of apocalyptic nonsense. The fellow from the Gravitas Maximus Funerary Society – Rollingwood was that name – he said that it was entirely typical of him, which was why Jamford had been ejected from the Church of England as being entirely indecorous; a position with which I find myself in agreement. Even that brief encounter with the person was more than I could ever have wished to endure. But Rollingwood told me of the man’s new denomination, and that was the name of it – the More Loving Embrace…”

  “And had you seen or heard of them before?”

  “Never.”

  “For once,” noted the other, “you needn’t blame yourself for any ignorance. That the More Loving Embrace hadn’t come to your notice until you were standing at the side of your wife’s grave, and that you were not aware of its significance – it is less because of your reclusive mode of life, and more to do with those persons’ secretive ways.”

  “Who are they? What do they want? Specifically, what do they want of me?” I slowly shook my head in despair. “Such a wretched species Humanity is! Scarcely a day goes by, without some number of idle, restless individuals forming a new conspiracy, to wage war against all the other conspiracies that came together the day before. Why can’t they leave their fellow men undisturbed, so we can creep into our graves at our natural pace?”

  “Believe me–” His tone was even more drily composed than before. “If it were to be my decision, I’d happily let you rot as you wish, and just as most men do. And I suspect that a great many others, those who’ve fastened their attentions upon you, would be more than content if they were not compelled to pursue such an interest in order to further their designs. But there you have it: you possess no virtues that command the focus of the world’s covert forces, nor do you even desire to, but nevertheless this notoriety is thrust upon you. Either deal with it as best you can, or let it destroy you as the toad in the ditch is speared by the tines of the harrow.”

  “Let me inform you of something else I do not possess.” My long-simmering anger now boiled over. “I have no need of lectures in regard to Fate, and how it has seized upon me. Perhaps I have not made my peace with the matter, but at least I am not in ignorance of it. If you wish to be of service to me – and perhaps you do; I cannot tell – then do so by ignoring what were merely my rhetorical lamentations, and proceed with answering what you yourself evidently regard as the more important question. Who are these More Loving Embrace people you mention, and what is their aim regarding me?”

  “We’re on the same page, Dower.” Up to this point, the Brown Leather Man had maintained his standing posture, looming over me like those black clouds that amass on the horizon, signalling the approach of doleful weather; now he assumed a more companionable position by sitting down upon one of the rocks close-by, of a large enough construction to bear his weight rather than collapsing into shards of plaster and pasteboard. Leaning forward, he brought his face, featureless except for its slitted eyes, near to mine. “I’ll tell you what I know.”

  “Please do.”

  “They’re a secretive bunch – and don’t interrupt me with any complaints about how that makes them just like so many others; there’s secretive, and then there’s really secretive, and the More Loving Embrace falls into the latter category. They started out that way, apparently some time ago – I have no idea of the exact date. And as sinister as they seem to be now, they were otherwise at their beginning – some kind of charitable, philanthropic organization, kinda religious in their thinking; hence the name. But one that strictly adhered to the Christian edict that you’re supposed to keep your devotions unknown, and out of the public eye – so even when they were do-gooders, they kept themselves hidden, and remarkably well. But things change, don’t they? Human nature’s pretty inevitable stuff; the years went by, and the More Loving Embrace became more and more powerful, and even more given to secrecy – but now they had another reason for that. Because, bit by bit, they abandoned all that malarkey about doing good… so let’s just say they got interested in other things.”

  “As you say – inevitable. Exactly what sort of things are we talking about?”

  “Various,” he replied. “A great deal of them criminal in nature, except for those at such a high level that they are no longer crimes, but rather affairs of state – pretty much the same thing, of course. But of late the More Loving Embrace has settled on a particular agenda, which its members pursue to the exclusion of those previous interests.”

  “And the nature of that agenda is known to you?”

  “Well… perhaps.” The Brown Leather Man’s response indicated an evasive discomfort on his part. “But it’s nothing you need to know about.”

  “I think otherwise. These people have an unnatural interest in me, therefore I have a justifiable interest in return.”

  “Trust me, Dower – it’s better if you don’t know. The only thing that you need to be concerned about is that the More Loving Embrace is dead-set against Blightley and Haze, and all the plans that those two Americans have managed to rope their backers into. That might not be the ultimate point of their agenda, but it’s connected.”

  “Intriguing…” I nodded slowly. “That makes me think rather more highly of these More Loving Embrace people, whoever they are, and whatever they want. I am no particular friend of Blightley and his partner – the man stuck a pistol in my face, after all. And that came after he had done everything he could to cozen me into his ridiculous schemes. If this More Loving Embrace is so opposed to Blightley, why shouldn’t I be on their side as well?”

  “They don’t like you any better, Dower – the More Loving Embrace is who sent those guys with their guns to track you down in Cornwall, and try to put a bullet through your head. The same ones who followed you to London, and were hunting you in Highgate cemetery. The More Loving Embrace is a real equal-opportunity outfit; just because they don’t like Blightley and Haze, that doesn’t mean they’re not also capable of wanting to do you in.”

  “I must confess that I find your efforts at explanation to be more perplexing than enlightening.” Leaning back, I studied the darkly garbed figure with a measure of skepticism. “We seem to have made some progress; now at least I know who else it is who has been trying to kill me – or at least the name of their conspiratorial organization. But if they have some overriding animus toward Blightley and Haze, what in God’s name does that have to do with me? If the More Loving Embrace has made as close an observation of my comings and goings as you indicate they must have, being so powerful and omniscient as you describe them, then surely they are aware that I have never had any association with the Americans they so despise. I had never even encountered the men in question until this conspiracy’s armed agents drove me away from my home and into the arms of Rollingwood and the Gravitas Maximus Funerary Society – which of course I only did, hoping to find some safety in London; a vain hope, as it turned out. But nevertheless, if the More Loving Embrace had merely let me be rather than seeking my death, I would have continued in my
previous condition, with there being no contact between myself and those others. Unless, of course–” Another thought had suddenly struck me. “Unless the More Loving Embrace was acting on some preëmptive logic, and wished to make it impossible that I might ever have doings with Blightley and Haze in the future, through the simple expedient of murdering me. That seems a bit cold-blooded on their part, but nothing you have said about them indicates that they would shrink from such an action. Is that indeed their reasoning?”

  “You’re on the right track,” said the Brown Leather Man, “but you’re knocking on the wrong door. There’s something that the More Loving Embrace wants to keep from happening, all right, and they’re happy to kill you to prevent it – but it doesn’t have anything to do with the possibility of your hooking up with Blightley and Haze. It has to do with you, and your father–”

  “I knew it.” Disgust overwhelmed my soul. “That again? Is there never to be any surcease, any end to this constant prying into my unfortunate patrimony? This is an avenue down which I have been prodded before, and only to disastrous conclusions – and that being the case, I find myself very much doubting both the intelligence and the originality of this grand, ancient conspiracy you have talked about. One might have expected, given the notoriety and the extent of the damage caused by other villains obsessed with my father’s creations, that this More Loving Embrace association would devise some other, and more likely profitable, pursuit to chase themselves down.”

  “You misunderstand–”

  “No, I don’t.” My flaring temper prompted this interruption; I wished to hear no more from him. “I understand perfectly. These people, sunk into their own iniquity, have convinced themselves, as others have before them, that there exists some vastly clever machine devised by my late father, the discovery and subsequent operation of which will enable them to amass fortunes beyond imagination, chiefly by threatening other people with some terrifying violence. And of course, the key to that scheme is myself; by virtue of my lineage, I can either locate the damnable thing, or, if they already have it in their possession, I can push the appropriate levers that will set its gears and cogs into whirring motion. Well, sir, I will not have it – this is beyond my endurance. Those who have not lived my life might have some insane desire to repeat the worst portions of it, but I do not. Let them do their utmost, but I will not be part of it.”