by Dan Glover
Though he did nothing to dissuade any of the People from thinking Lucy was his daughter, Drummond knew the girl's father was in actuality Kirk. He doubted the imbecile even realized it. Drummond treated Lucy as one of his own daughters... a girl to use and discard and use again. He took particular joy in degrading Lucy in front of Nate.
Now that they were adults Drummond hatched a scheme to not only woo Lucy away from Nate but to use her to establish a colony apart from the People. He recruited three of his real daughters to go with them. Incestuous relationships were nothing new in Drummond's family. He convinced them all that the deadly virus floating about had no doubt dissipated by now and they would be safe despite the warnings from the Ladies not to leave the group.
Drummond smiled thinking how bereft Nate would feel when he discovered Lucy was gone. He rejoiced knowing he had finally gotten the better of the kid.
When the sickness began, he realized they were too far from Orchardton Hall to return before succumbing to the disease. Had Kirk known? Had he followed them after all? Was he there to rescue them, or to gloat?
It was strange to see him watching their little group from afar... only not the imbecile Kirk. It was the Kirk he remembered meeting on that riverbank back in Kurgan—the intelligent Kirk. It was the eyes that gave him away... even in the distance they shined like the devil's own. Maybe the fever was getting to him, but Drummond swore he could see a sad little smile on Kirks' face.
Chapter 17—Secrets
"I have something I must tell you, my love."
She awoke to find Natalia's arms still wrapped around her body with loving legs still embracing hers as Lily sensed her lover was awake too.
"You may tell me anything and no matter how horrible it is I will still follow you to the ends of the world, my darling Lily."
Natalia's voice was little more than a sinuous whisper gracing Lily's naked flesh sending cascades of want shooting through her body.
"I am most dangerous to those of your kind, my precious Natalia. My body is poison to yours."
"Come now, my luscious Lily. I'm not dead. I'm not even sick. I feel better than I have felt for years, in fact. This cannot be true. Are you telling me this so you can leave me? Please say it isn't so."
"Oh no, my darling, I will never leave you. You must know that you can never leave me, either. If you do, you will die."
"You tell me nothing I do not already know, my luscious Lily. If I was to leave you, my life would cease to be. Of this I am certain."
Natalia traced geometric patterns on Lily's left palm with a touch so light it might well have been a feather. Lily had been in love many times and each affair ended like all the others, in sorrow and heartbreak. This time, like all the others, she thought how things might just turn out differently. In her hearts, however, she knew she was only fooling herself.
"The train is slowing, darling Natalia. Why are we stopping?"
Lily leaned across her lover to crack open the shade covering the window. The train was definitely pulling up. She could feel the car lurch as the brakes set in. Yet there was no station in sight. Panic was rising inside of her... had she been set up? Could this girl be a spy?
"Something is wrong, my gentle Natalia. We should not be stopping here. I must get dressed... they are coming for me!"
"Hush, my love... do not be alarmed, my sweet Lily. This train stops many times to pick up passengers and to let others off. Sometimes it stops right in the middle of nowhere, like now.
"We will start again soon... have patience. Now please tell me who could possibly be after you, my lovely one?"
"There are terrible people who are looking for me. If they find me they'll take me back. If they catch me they'll take me back and cut me up. I'll never see you again. I don’t think I can bear the thought of that, sweet Natalia. If they come looking, you must hide me."
"Quiet, my darling Lily, you are trembling! No one will ever take you from me. This I promise. We will deal with them together if they try. But why should anyone wish to lock you up, my precious one?"
"Because of what I am, my tender Natalia, because of who and what I am. They want to know my secrets. For years they studied me as if I was but a bug under a microscope. They stuck needles into me.
"Though I begged to be set free my words fell upon deaf ears. Even the one person who I thought of as my friend refused to help me. She was more interested in the secrets I hold within my body than in my safety and comfort."
"But isn’t what your captors did against the law, darling Lily? How could they simply take you and lock you up?"
"They did not consider me a human being, sweet Natalia. And they are right... I am not one of you. But I am a living being. That did not seem to matter, however."
"Oh my pretty baby... I'm so sorry for your suffering. Do you have family we can go to? Do you have someone to hide us and to protect us from these... these humans?"
"I fear all my family and friends are dead, lovely Natalia. I went home seven years ago to visit once again. I called out to them but no one answered. Lake Baikal has changed so much. Its waters were no longer fit to breathe. The depths were dark; they stank of pollution. I became weak. A great sadness came over me.
"When I was a still young, Lake Baikal was alive with colors, with thousands of different fishes. My family flourished under its waters. The place was paradise.
"When the Others appeared, I knew our time in the Lake was coming to an end. They were fearsome beings who took the girls of my family against their will. Yet even the Others were not as terrible as the monkeys from above.
"Still, we stayed in the Lake. We had nowhere else to go. But then filth from above began filtering down into our habitat. At first we did not understand. First one and then others of my kind surfaced to find the source of this pollution.
"Many never returned. Those that did return told tales of a strange new species that inhabited the shores of Lake Baikal. They were shaped like us but those people could not breathe under the water. They were frail. They died easily. They lived lives that were short and brutal.
"Since the waters were making us sick, we began surfacing, learning to breathe the air instead of the water. We began to intermingle with these strangers on our shores, at first, just briefly, but then for longer and longer periods of time.
"As the years went by we were forced ashore. The humans who lived by Lake Baikal were infatuated with our kind and yet they feared us as witches. They raped our women and killed our men.
"We were trapped. We couldn't survive outside of the waters of Lake Baikal since we could only renew our bodies under its surface. We couldn’t survive under the waters due to the filth being dumped into the Lake.
"When I was younger and yet still very old by your standards I left Lake Baikal with my sister. We traveled east seeing many marvelous sights and making many new friends. After seven years of traveling, we felt the pull of Lake Baikal.
"When we returned, however, I lost her in the depths of the Lake. While I was trying to save her, I was overcome by the polluted water too. When I woke, I was in a cage."
Lily felt Natalia's tears dripping onto her naked skin. She was at first surprised but then she realized this woman really did love her. Natalia's sobs punctuated her words.
"Oh darling Lily, you are making me so sad. Your story sounds like the tale of my people. I am a Russian Gypsy. My family was always traveling. We were not welcome to stay in any one place and yet all those folk who hated us also longed for our treasures.
"My parents were killed by a mob who believed we brought down demons upon their village. They left my mother and my father hanging from a tree. None of my company dared to go and cut them down to give them a proper burial.
"I have no home now, no family. Though I have made a lot of money I am alone in the world. Until now, that is, now that I have found you, my love. I'll stay with you as long as you'll have me."
Lily took her lover in her arms holding her so closely that she could f
eel her single heart beating and the heat of her body radiating into her own.
"My sweet Natalia, you make me feel so much better! Everything has changed for me too, now that I've met you. Before that, I too was alone in the world. Each time I returned to Lake Baikal I found my people—what was left of them—were living in stone huts beside the water. We do not reproduce as humans do. Children were a rarity. Adults do not age like humans, either. We are very long lived as a species.
"My sister took ill from the waters. She disappeared beneath the surface. We were connected in ways your people are not. Under the waters we could not talk as we do above. We communicated by electrical impulses. This is what you feel, my love, when you hold me close. I am saying I love you.
"I knew my sister was dying. I dove into the Lake to save her but I too was overcome by the noxious waters rushing through my gills and sickening my body. I was taken as I lay on the shore in deep shock, near death. I was lucky it was not the villagers who found me, however. They would have killed me.
"No, the humans who found me were scientists who sought to understand what I am. They took me to a faraway place and locked me up to study me. Still later, one of them tried to find out what it is in my blood that makes me live for so long. This she will never discover. Though I told her in plain English still she looked in all the wrong places. She is the one woman who befriended me, however. She talked to me as if I was her equal.
"I explained my secret to her, the secret of the crystals I carry within my bones. She was very sly, this person. She kept my secret but I knew it was not for my benefit. It was for her own aggrandizement that she kept it.
"Eventually I knew I had to escape. I knew if I did not, I would certainly be dissected for the sake of science. She and her partners plotted to kill me to discover the secret to immortality yet even then she would only be met with disappointment. She did not understand at all.
"More, though, I felt the pull of the Lake. I had to get back again, even if to only wander its shore, if only to wade in its waters and feel them lapping at my ankles once again."
"How old are you, Lily? I mean, really? You're not twenty years old, are you?"
"How old do you wish me to be, my love? I am whatever age you desire."
"You talk as if you have been around for thousands of years, my sweet. Is that so?"
"Oh, much longer than that I suspect, my darling Natalia. I have no real idea how old I am. My people did not keep track of such things. I remember when your people were but chattering squirrels hiding in the shrubbery, however. Even then they were obnoxious and hateful. Oh, I should not say such things, for you are a marvel under the sun, my Natalia. I love you, you know."
"Kiss me, my little mermaid. Make me tingle all over the way you do. My God, but I love you too."
Chapter 18—Trips
Nate discovered he was engulfed in Lady Lily's arms.
Rather than feeling mortification at sleeping with someone so close to his mother Nate sensed the fulfillment of a desire that had been growing within him for many years. As he entered her she cried out while clutching at his back pulling him closer and deeper within.
They were not alone.
This neither startled him nor did it fill him with embarrassment. It was expected that Lady Lauren would be here too. That was his purpose, the reason he was born into the world, although he was not actually aware of it and couldn't intentionally rationalize it into an idea as yet.
The headboard of the bed began to bang against the wall as their lovemaking became more frenetic. He knew the sound was loud enough to alert the entire castle to what was happening but he didn’t care. Lily was all that matters.
The banging grew louder. He was drawn up from the depths of his dream waking to the midday sun peeking through the curtains on his windows and mother Natalia pounding upon his bedroom door.
"Wake up in there! We are off to Lake Baikal in an hour, darling Nate."
He was up late the night before readying the buses for the trip. They would be driving three vehicles on this iteration... two filled with passengers and one for supplies. The trip would last for two months. Nate looked forward to these adventures and for the first time the Ladies had relented and changed their usual course.
"I'm up, mother."
It was exceedingly difficult to shake off the lingering power of the dream, the pleasure he felt pressing his flesh into Lady Lily, the wanton look in her eyes as she gazed up into his face. Though he scolded himself for the infatuation he felt for Lily he couldn't stop thinking of her as a lover. In fact, she seemed to lead him on.
One week ago he walked through one of the gardens on his way to the barn where the buses were stored. Lady Lily was lying under an umbrella to keep the sun from her easily burned skin. She was naked. This wasn’t out of the norm—the Ladies often ambled about the grounds nude—but this time he couldn't help but be drawn to her.
"And just where are you heading to on this glorious day, lovely Nate?"
She was alone.
Holding out a hand she smiled as he approached, the webbing between her fingers glowed translucent even in the shade. He sat down in a lounger next to her still holding her hand in his. He stroked her fingers lovingly: trembling.
"I am readying the buses for our journey, Lady Lily. Much needs attending to so we do not break down along the way."
His fingers lingered tenderly over the webbing between her thumb and forefinger as she relaxed her hand onto his lap.
"You enjoy touching me, my sweet Nate... do you not?"
Nate felt himself blush at being so blatantly discovered. At the same time, however, he couldn’t think of any reason to lie, and indeed if he did he realized Lady Lily would know.
"Yes I do, Lady Lily. Your skin is so soft and so smooth."
"I enjoy your touch as well, lovely Nate. When we arrive at the Lake I have a surprise in store for you."
The trip to Lake Baikal was a blissful time. The castle in Scotland was their home, however. It sustained them. Though they could go anywhere and live in any place it was here where they were most happy.
There was time here for all things though Nate couldn't help but notice most of the People failed to take advantage of it. Rather than reading and writing and creating works of art they spent their days idling with each other, drinking liquor and talking of what they planned on doing soon. He couldn't help but wonder when the time would be ripe for seeing their plans to fruition.
The Games were another story: all the People loved to participate in them. Nate learned from the many books he read of the days when athletes from all over the world gathered together to test their skills against one another. Before his untimely death even Drummond willingly participated although Nate suspected he did not test his skills so much as he sought to put others down.
Though the World Games were once held every four years, upon Nate's suggestion they convened for two weeks each season. The People learned to work hard each day in anticipation of racing against one another and the ordeals of strength they would go through.
Nate made up some of the Games and kept others as they were. One he invented was the sand-run. The contestants had to race along the beach during high tide in water up to their knees. Another was the cliff climb. Each contestant had to attempt to reach the top of a sheer cliff the lighter people wearing weights to make everyone equal. Winters in Scotland were special times and the games reflected that too.
The girls often brought shame on Drummond and Kirk beating them handily when it came to running. However, the men made up for it using their brute strength to best the girls in such activities as throwing the discus and the javelin. At the end of the Games points were tallied up and the winner was awarded with not having to do chores until the next round of Games.
By initiating the games Nate was slowly becoming an acknowledged leader among the People. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind to the Ladies of the Lake. Mother Natalia told him the story of how together the three of them
saved the last dregs of humanity by taking in a small group of children at the time of the Great Dying.
On that day in the garden alone with her he talked over other things with Lily too.
"Perhaps there are others living somewhere far away who survived the Great Dying, Lady Lily."
It was nigh on impossible for Nate to comprehend the demise of so many people... billions of them, vanishing overnight. He had read libraries full of books and he suspected the world had many places that might yet harbor humanity. Still, his greatest source of knowledge came from the Ladies of the Lake.
"That may be so, darling Nate, but what of it?"
"Couldn’t we go and find them?"
"Why should we do that, precious Nate? Have I ever told you of the Others?"
"No, Lady Lily... that sounds ominous. What are the Others?"
"Ages ago we were content beneath the surface of Lake Baikal. There were no so many of us that we were crowded but enough that we were never lonely.
"The Others appeared unlooked for. None of us knew where they came from and though they looked much like us they did not have our gentle demeanor.
"From my understanding of humanity, their lineage is one of many species evolving in distinct geographical locations. Perhaps the Others were like that too... but of course I could never be certain.
"They did not understand the meaning of romance... of touching and caressing like we are doing now, sweet Nate. Instead, the Others took what they desired by force.
"Eventually that was their downfall... my kind began setting subtle traps for them, not to kill but to capture them so we might relocate them to another place.
"When captured, however, they became enraged. Before we could get to them, they had bashed their bodies to pieces against the sides of the traps.
"Now, the Others are but a memory, yet their progeny still live. Due to the Others' genetic predispositions, the people of the Lake are now only able to procreate once."