Infinite Spring

by J. A. Armitage

  The doors opened with a creak.

  She was surprised to see the postman standing in front of her. Even since the lockdown had ended, he had put the mail in a small mailbox by the main gates. August, who lived in a small cottage near the entrance, usually brought it up to the main house.

  “Hello, ma’am. Could you sign here please?”

  He thrust a small package into one of her hands and an electrical gizmo for her to put her signature on in the other. She awkwardly clamped the package under her arm and did her best to sign her name.

  “Thanks, ma’am.” The postman took back his gizmo and turned, making his way back down the steps. Anais put the package down on the small table and closed the big oak doors, relocking them and pushing the bolt back into place.

  Once that was done, she returned the keys to the table and studied the package.

  It was addressed to ‘The Occupier.’ It was a pretty undistinguishable package, just a brown padded envelope. Anais would have just left it, taking it to be junk mail if it were not for the foreign stamp on the front. She looked closely and saw that it had been posted in India.

  She knew no one in India and neither did anyone else in the family as far as she could recall. She tried to remember where Aethelu’s aunt and uncle said they were sailing at the moment, but she was pretty sure they had decided to head to the Canaries. Or was it the Balearics? It wasn’t India, at any rate. As the name on the front was generic and could be for anyone, she decided to open it. If it turned out to be for one family member she would pass it on.

  Ripping the top open she put her hand in. She pulled out a folded letter. She looked inside again, expecting something more from a padded envelope but it was now empty. Putting the envelope down, she turned her attention to the letter. Unfolding it, she read the five words that were printed in bold, right in the middle of the paper.

  You have the wrong man!

  It was signed with the only other word on the paper.

  Jago

  She was still staring at it in complete disbelief five minutes later when Winnie appeared from the upper floor, obviously on her way to make breakfast for everyone.

  When Winnie saw her she started to speak.

  “Anais, what are you doing? How did you get down here? Is Aethelu with you?” She sounded concerned and a little angry, however, when she caught the expression on Anais face, her voice changed.

  “What is it?”

  Anais could not speak, so Winnie came over to her and read the letter. Her expression echoed that of Anais, and her hand flew up to her mouth.

  “My goodness! Where did you get this?”

  “The postman just brought it,” Anais managed to utter.

  “Do you think it’s true?” asked Winnie fearfully.

  “I know it’s true,” She had known from the moment she had met the man in the cellar. “I tried to tell everyone the other day, but no one believed me.”

  “Yes but…” Winnie was obviously having trouble knowing what to say. “I mean…but… Oh, goodness me.” Her usual calm composure had gone out of the window.

  “We need to get everyone up. This has been going on too long. The mistreatment of the man we know as Jago in the cellar and now this.” Anais was as terrified as Winnie appeared, but unlike Winnie, she retained her composure. “Can you gather everyone and tell them to meet in the dining room?”

  “Yes, yes, of course.” She turned and sprinted off up the stairs at much quicker a pace than Anais would have managed.

  Anais shuffled over to the table and once again picked up the envelope. Checking the inside again to make sure it really was empty; she once again looked at the stamp. It had been posted from Mumbai two weeks previously. It had obviously taken its time reaching its destination. The writing on the envelope offered no clues. It was neat and written in block capitals. She checked it against the writing on the letter. It was written in the same neat hand, but that didn’t help in any way. Using her crutches, she slowly made her way to the dining room to wait for the family. She didn’t have to wait long. They were much quicker than her. All of them, apart from Winnie, were still in their nightwear. They all came in together led by Aldrich. He was wearing burgundy paisley print pyjamas and the slippers he had received for Christmas. Rafe came in next, followed by a bleary-eyed Aethelu, who immediately took a seat next to Anais and held her hand sending tingles shooting up her arm. It was a sign of the shock at what she had been told that she didn’t notice that Anais was not wearing her leg brace anymore. Winnie came in next, taking her seat on the other side of Aethelu. Last to arrive was Alex. Anais tried not to stare as he sat opposite her. He was only wearing blue pyjama bottoms, leaving his well-defined bare chest on display.

  “Couldn’t you have covered up brother?” said Rafe, giving him a disgusted look. Rafe was wearing pyjamas covered with a blue silk dressing gown. His initials RH had been embroidered on the pocket in a pink silk thread.

  “I hardly think it really matters what I’m wearing right now, Brother!” answered Alex irritably.

  “Boys!” Winnie spoke sharply, “Now is not the time. Anais has something important to show us all. It seems we all owe her an apology, too.”

  They all looked at her. She could tell that Winnie had already told them something was up, but she didn’t know just how much they had been told. Instead of speaking she handed the letter to Aldrich. He read it and passed it on to Rafe. The letter went around the table ending up with Aethelu, who read it and gasped.

  “Where are Andrew and August?” Aldrich spoke directly to Winnie, who was sat at the opposite end of the table. “They both need to be here before we make any decisions.”

  “Andrew refused to come out of his room, as usual. August said he was on his way. He’ll be here in a few minutes,” she seemed beside herself. “I’ll go and make us some coffee.”

  “I’ll help, Mama.” Aethelu let go of Anais’ hand and followed her mother out of the room, obviously sensing her need for support rather than help with coffee.

  Aldrich took the letter back and asked for the envelope, which Anais passed to him.

  “It was posted a fortnight ago in Mumbai,” said Anais, trying to be helpful.

  “He’s playing tricks on us again!” Rafe lost his usual composure and slammed his fist onto the table making everyone jump.

  “So you believe it then?” Alex asked his brother quietly. “Can we be sure it’s not a hoax? I mean, we have him in the cellar.”

  “We had him in the cellar two weeks ago when this letter was posted. Now, I know he is clever, but even he would find it impossible to be in two places at once.”

  “He’s managed it before. We had two letters from him a few months ago, posted in different countries on the same day.”

  Anais had forgotten about that. At the time they had agreed that there was more than one person. At least two people had sent letters. Since Jago had been caught, they had forgotten their suspicions. Perhaps they had caught one of the men and this was a letter from another.

  Just how many Jago’s were there? It made Anais head hurt thinking about it. Perhaps he was all powerful and could actually be in two places at once. It seemed impossible, but before she met the Guardians, she thought living to six hundred was impossible.

  “Rafe! Alex!” Aldrich’s voice brought her back. “Let’s not start jumping to any conclusions. We will wait for everyone to get back before we discuss it any further. His voice sounded weary, which echoed the expression on his face.

  They didn’t have to wait long. Winnie came through the door a couple of minutes later carrying a silver tray with a jug of coffee, a pot of tea, sugar and milk on it. Aethelu followed with a tray of cups and finally August brought up the rear with a tray of buttered bagels.

  Winnie silently poured tea and coffee for everyone around the table before taking her seat once again.

  “Here is the situation,” said Aldrich, mainly for August’s benefit. “We have who we thought was Jago locked in the ce
llar. He has been chained up and kept under constant supervision for weeks. He was certainly there two weeks ago when this letter was sent.”

  “Who is watching him now?” Anais wondered aloud, as they were all around the table except Andrew who was still in his room.

  It was Rafe who answered.

  “He is on his own, but his chains are inescapable, the door is locked, and he was asleep when I left. This is the first time he has been left alone, but I thought it was important that I hear this. I will go back down to him when the meeting is over.”

  Aldrich continued, “We know it is Jago in the cellar. We have hundreds of years of documentation found in his house to prove it is him, not to mention the paintings, and the fact he is still alive after suffering weeks of no food. It has been a very, very long time, but I believe I recognise him. I would bet my life on that being Jago Cutter. That being said, we now have another letter. The same signature as all the others. I think we can discount a hoax at this point. I have to conclude that Jago in the cellar is working with a partner. The partner has to be totally human as Jago stole only enough of the Light Elixir for himself. Perhaps that is why he wants us to make more for him, so that this partner can live forever.”

  “Sabine!” exclaimed Alex. “It’s the only thing he says. He shouts her name out in his sleep. I bet she is his girlfriend, and he wants her to live forever alongside him.”

  “A likely answer. It is the only one that makes sense.” Aldrich looked up. “He writes his letters threatening us, gives half to this Sabine woman and they post them from all around the world to confuse us. I suspect she has the vial containing the virus as it was not found on Jago or at his house. This means we are back at square one. We still have to cure the virus or give in to him and make some more of the Elixir.”

  “I don’t believe so, Father.” It was Rafe. “We have Jago this time. If it is his girlfriend, or whoever, then we could organise a trade--Jago for the virus. She will have to contact us at some point.”

  “Agreed,” Aldrich said

  “Thank goodness for that,” said Winnie. “I couldn’t go through that again. I just hope you are right, Rafe, but it does seem to make sense.”

  They all began to stand up. It was Anais who stopped them.

  “No it doesn’t.” She’d been mulling it over for some time and realised that there was only one solution that made sense. Now was the time to tell the others her theory.

  “What do you mean?” asked Alex. All eyes were now on Anais.

  “It makes no sense at all.” She felt self-conscious as everyone resumed their places at the table. “I think there is only one Jago and I know it is not the man in the cellar.”

  “We’ve been through this before.” Rafe said dismissively. “It has to be him, he won’t die despite lack of food, and he had mountains of paperwork in his name. Father recognises him, for goodness sake. What more proof do you need?”

  “I believe the man we have in the cellar is Jago Cutter…”

  “Which is what we’ve all just been saying,” interrupted Alex.

  Anais gave him an annoyed look and continued, “At least, he was Jago Cutter. I think you recognise him, Aldrich, because six hundred years ago, he was Jago Cutter. He was your partner and he did take some of the Elixir and drank it. I just don’t think he is the Jago Cutter who keeps threatening us. I think someone has found out about the Guardians and wants to be immortal himself. I think he stole Jago’s identity and has been using a six hundred year old grudge to get what he wants. This man who goes by the name Jago has known about the Guardians since before I was born. We know this from my father’s journals. The man in the cellar is not the man who attacked me. It was not a woman either. I’m sure of it.”

  No one said anything for a few minutes. Everyone had been shocked into silence.

  Anais could tell they were taking the time to absorb the information.

  Eventually, Aethelu spoke.

  “So the man in the cellar is innocent? Why didn’t he tell us?” she asked.

  “He tried,” Alex looked uncomfortable, “When we caught him, he said he knew nothing about a virus. We didn’t believe him.”

  “Heavens above!” Winnie put her head in her hands.

  “We had all that proof…”Alex trailed off.

  “I think we should act cautiously,” said Aldrich. “We should not do anything rashly. This is only a hypothesis by Anais. We cannot know if that is truly the case.”

  “Look at it this way,” said Anais. “If I’m wrong, and it is Jago downstairs who attacked me, and it is this Sabine who sent the last letter, how did she manage to sign it with Jago’s signature? It’s exactly the same as on all those other letters. She could have forged it, but I don’t think so. It’s identical to the signature on all the other letters.”

  “Perhaps it was Sabine signing all the letters.” Rafe spoke

  “Why would she, though? I can understand the last one, but why would she sign the others when Jago was free to do it himself?”

  “Maybe she acted as his secretary,” Alex said weakly.

  Anais gave him a withering look.

  “We need to talk to the man in the cellar. If Anais is right, he has suffered a grave injustice,” Aldrich stood up.

  “He won’t talk to anyone. Ever since he’s been in the cellar, I’ve only seen him talk to Anais,” Rafe looked down.

  “That is because Anais is the only one of us who has shown him an ounce of kindness. I feel terrible. He was a friend of ours and look how we’ve treated him. I’m going to make him breakfast!” Winnie bustled out of the room.

  Aldrich spoke again, “Anais. It seems that you are the only one who has his confidence. Would you be able to go to the cellar and speak with him?” It was a direct turnaround from the attitude she’d encountered from them before regarding Jago. She hoped she was right although she was sure she was. It wasn’t just the logic behind her reasoning. She just knew it wasn’t him.

  “Yes, of course, I will take him his breakfast.”

  “Of course, if what you say is true, then that leaves us back in a predicament. The man claiming to be Jago, the man who attacked you is still out there and presumably still has the virus. I pray to God, it isn’t true, but I suspect it is.” He spoke to the whole table, “We will give Anais time to talk to Jago in the cellar, and then we will reconvene here tonight before dinner. It seems we yet again need to figure out a way to stop this Jago, or whoever he is, from unleashing his virus.”

  Anais stood up with some difficulty using the table for support and grabbed her crutches.

  “Where is your leg brace?”

  “You only just noticed? I’ve had it off all morning.”

  “How does it feel? Are you sure you are ok?”

  Anais couldn’t help but smile at Aethelu’s worried questions.

  “It all feels very stiff, but I’m managing. I guess your dad was right. It does seem to have healed a lot more quickly than normal.”

  They made their way slowly to the kitchen door, with Aethelu keeping a protective arm around Anais’ back.

  As they opened the door, Anais wondered how she was going to get down the winding staircase into the kitchen. She didn’t want to throw her crutches over the side like she had last time, and she knew she wasn’t ready to walk without their aid. She passed them to Aethelu as she held on to the metal bannister. It was extremely difficult on her leg without the support of a crutch and leg brace. Her leg was beginning to hurt at both the knee and ankle, neither of which were used to movement after so long in a straight position. Alex came up behind her, and once again, lifted her up. This time he carried her in his arms and not over his shoulder as he had done previously. Her leg could now bend thanks to the lack of a leg brace. She held on tight, overwhelmingly aware of his naked torso pressed up against her body. She could feel her cheeks go red and was quite glad when they reached the kitchen, and he put her down. She turned away from Aethelu, not wanting her to see her flaming cheeks, an
d sat at the big oak table.

  “I could have carried her,” Aethelu sniffed. She propped the crutches next to Anais and took a seat.

  “Why didn’t you then?” Alex sat at Anais other side.

  “Anais needs her independence. She needs to get used to walking unaided. She most certainly doesn’t need you carrying her everywhere.”

  “I haven’t been carrying her everywhere, only down the stairs.”

  “Oh, put a shirt on! You’ll put me off my breakfast.”

  Anais concentrated on Winnie who was cooking a fried breakfast and tried not to think of either Alex or Aethelu who sat at either side of her.

  Instead, she thought back to the man in the cellar. She wondered who Sabine was. She suspected it wasn’t a girlfriend, but she was intrigued as to why he would be calling out her name. She would soon find out.

  Alex and Aethelu continued to bicker over her, and it wasn’t until Winnie put three steaming mugs of coffee in front of them that they finally became quiet.

  Since Winnie never, ever made coffee in mugs, instead preferring china tea cups, it just showed how much she wanted them to be quiet.

  Eventually, Winnie served up one fried breakfast.

  “Where’s ours?” asked Alex.

  “This is for Jago. You can have cereal. Anais love, you can’t carry this down yourself with your crutches.”

  “I’ll help her, Mama,” offered Aethelu. Alex looked like he was about to protest, but he didn’t. Instead he sullenly passed her a bunch of keys which he said were for the chains.

  “I hope you are sure about this, Anais,” he said.

  “I am.” When a look of unease passed over his face, she added “I won’t undo the chains unless I feel totally positive that I’m right.”

  He didn’t look convinced but let her go, nonetheless.

  Anais and Aethelu made their way to the cellar through the larder elevator and the steel door.