by Dan Glover
"They are suffering withdrawal effects—I was beginning to feel it too—but they'll be fine now that Lady Lauren is back, and I'm already feeling better. Kirk is locked away. He's lucky Amanda didn't shoot him too."
"Despite what she did, the death of Marilyn is bad news, darling Natalia. Still, it is not unexpected. The People are quarrelsome and prone to violence. I am surprised something like this has not happened before."
Natalia turned to the back seat where Lily was cradling Maon in her arms. She felt embarrassment at being human in a way she had never done before. She realized that the propensity toward brutality she shared with her fellow humans had nearly done them all in.
Karen was crying. She made an attempt to hide her tears when she noticed Natalia looking at her and then she sighed.
"Marilyn is but a troubled soul now. She was capable of so much good and yet there was such darkness inside of her. She wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything. Perhaps that was her undoing."
"Why did she want to kill us, darling Karen? We've never done anything but to be good to her."
Listening to Lily's question Natalia realized the Lady was as much in the dark about the failed coup of Marilyn and Kirk as the rest of them.
"She had the idea that we were upsetting god's creation, Lady Lily. Rather than working toward a better and more loving world, Marilyn felt that it was human destiny to rule the universe. With the birth of Nate and later Maon she foresaw the end of humanity.
"She voiced those concerns to me years ago but like a fool I didn’t pay them credence. All this is as much my fault as Marilyn's. I should have been more vigilant. Perhaps all this could have been avoided if I had only said something."
"You are not the only one who noticed Marilyn's strange behavior, sweet Karen. We all noticed it. I had no idea she would go so far, however. You cannot blame yourself for this."
"I can't help it, Lady Lily. I knew Marilyn best. I should have picked up on her penchant toward cruelty. I might have inadvertently stoked the fires by using her many years ago to... well... I don’t want to go there right now."
"We all do what we need to do to survive, darling Karen. Don't be too hard on yourself. You are the one most responsible for the future of all of us. Without your knowledge and expertise we would all be facing extinction."
Natalia reached over the back seat to touch the doctor on her arm.
Chapter 53—Ossuary
"So much death..."
Natalia seemed both charmed and alarmed as they descended into the deepest chambers of Orchardton Hall.
Lily was enchanted.
"Oh my... I love ossuaries!"
She remembered the great burial places beneath the blue waters of Lake Baikal where the bones of all her brethren were piled into high white mounds extending down into the muck at the shallow end of the southern shores.
They were deep below Orchardton Hall having worked their way through sub-basement after sub-basement before reaching the dungeons where the skeletons of victims still lay fastened to rusty chains embedded into cold unforgiving stone walls.
"Are human beings really so cruel?"
"Of course we are, sweet Lauren. That's why there are so many of us. We trample everything to make way for our own kind."
"This cannot be so, my dearest Natalia. You are not such a horrid person, certainly."
"I like to think you're right, darling Lauren... but I am terrible in my own right. Before I met our lovely Lily I was dying and all alone in the world. There was a reason for that. I treated people dreadfully. I used them for my own purposes and then discarded them when I was done with them. Why are you laughing, my lovely Lily?"
"I laugh because I love you so much, my love. We're the same, all three of us. Perhaps this is why we have survived when so many others have perished into the eternity of death. I used people too. I always asked them to stay with me even all the while knowing they would refuse. I knew if I but touched them that those people would die horrible deaths unless they remained by my side. Yet I still did it."
"I was a dead woman when we first meet, darling Lily. You know that."
Lily recalled the sallow look on Natalia's face. She had rarely seen a person closer to death. She had healed those of her own kind but never so sick a human being. Much to her amazement Natalia regained her strength in a matter of hours after they got together for the first time. Now it was impossible to see the same woman whom she met on that train in Paris not so long ago.
"You are a love I have searched for my whole life, my darling Natalia... the three of us—you, I and our amazing Lauren—make the perfect family, do we not?"
Beneath the dungeons they came to the ossuaries. They walked down endless corridors built with walls containing hundreds, perhaps thousands of skulls stacked together and interlaced with other bones in a kind of symmetry that held both the beauty of life and the horror of death for Lily. She couldn't help but remember all her own kind now moldering beneath the waters of Lake Baikal as she wondered where her own bones might one day come to rest.
"Does the sight of death frighten you, my sweet Natalia?"
"A little... yes. But not so much as long as I am with the both of you."
"It frightens me a little too, lovely Lily. I have never been down this deep in all the time I've lived here."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, my beautiful Lauren. Come... let the three of us hold hands so that no harm will come to any of us. Do you know how far these catacombs go?"
"My husband told me they travel for many kilometers underneath this entire region. In the days of fierce battles the knights of Orchardton Hall used these tunnels to secretly move behind the ranks of invading soldiers. In this fashion they defeated all enemies who threatened the kingdom."
"Where do the tunnels come out at? Do you know?"
"I have heard it said some of them lead into the basements of other homes in the area but the exits have long been blocked off. Others lead to the coast. These too are blocked for fear of thieves making their way into the catacombs to steal and plunder."
"If someone was trapped down here they could still get out... is that correct?"
"If they were able to break down doors they might get out, darling Lily. Why would you ask such a question?"
Lily wasn’t sure now was the time to share her premonition with the others. The thought of being sequestered in such a dark and dank place sent a quiver up her spine. Yet she recalled all the years she spent locked away behind steel and glass and she had no plans on returning to that life. Her captors would come for her; she was certain they would not quit until they were stopped dead.
"Come... let us go back up to the light of the world. These tunnels trouble me, my lovely Lily."
"Of course, sweet Natalia... we must make note of these twists and turns we take for future reference. I feel we may have use of these passages in the not too distance future. The people who are looking for me have not stopped. They will follow us here. We must be ready for them... all of us."
"That's not possible, my darling Lily. No one knows of the whereabouts of my castle. It is still in my husband's name though he has been dead many years. They cannot trace it to any of us. Rest easy, my lovely Lily... no one will ever take you from us."
"Remember that postcard you showed to us in Russia, sweet Lauren... the one with a picture of Orchardton Hall upon it?"
"Yes, darling Natalia... of course I do."
"Do you have it? I remember pinning it to the wall under the cabinet in the kitchen. Did you take it down?"
"I do not recall doing so, no."
"It is still there at the cabin. I'm sure of it. If our Lily's pursuers find it, that postcard will lead them right to us. It is my fault. I should have made sure to take it down before we left."
"Nothing is your fault, sweet Natalia. Those people who hunt me will find out where I am no matter how long it takes. They have many methods at their disposal. Now come along with me. Let us go back up into the world. I don’t know about
you two but I am in the mood for love."
Chapter 54—Trial
Kirk woke with a headache and his hands tied behind his back.
"I'm going to vote to exile you from the castle."
Amanda was sitting across the table glaring at him.
"I'll ddddie."
"You deserve to die. If Lady Lauren wasn’t here to stop me you'd be dead right now."
"Lady Lauren is bbbback? Wwwwhat about Ginger?"
"She's back too. Ginger was the one who showed Lady Lauren and Natalia how to escape from the dungeon. We played down there all the time, you idiot. Of all the girls to pick to push down those stairs you would choose her."
"Wwwwhere is Mmmmarilyn?"
"I killed her."
Amanda got up, walked around the table, and slapped Kirk's face hard enough that it brought tears to his eyes. He blinked them away not wanting to appear weak in front of the girl.
"You turned me into a murderess. I hate you."
Kirk's mind was muddled from his recent illness as well as the unexpected turn of events. He was supposed to be the king by now. Marilyn promised he would be the leader of the People for thousands of years.
The door opened. Lady Lily and Lady Lauren walked into the room followed by Karen and Nate. Natalia followed them along with Ginger. The door was shut.
"We are here to determine how to deal with you, Kirk."
Lady Lily stood before him. He couldn't raise his eyes to meet hers so he stared at her feet instead. He found it odd that he never before realized how big they were.
"I have little hope that you will ever become a useful member of the People. You have never been anything more than a drag upon them. Still, as the only remaining male of your species it seems a shame to condemn you to death. Have you anything to say, Kirk?"
He couldn't seem to form words in his mind much less get his mouth to work. He sat staring at the floor as Lady Lily stood aside and Ginger took her place.
"You might have killed me, Kirk. You don’t even seem to care. I've not done anything to you except to be your friend. I'll never trust you again no matter how long we live."
Kirk still couldn't find his voice. Though he attempted to stem his tears he was unsuccessful this time as the water began to flow down his cheeks unabated as Nate stood to speak.
"You could have come to the Ladies when Marilyn began putting these thoughts into your head, Kirk. All this nonsense about being guided by god should have alerted you to her state of mind. On the other hand, perhaps all of us should have been more aware of her propensity to violence."
Kirk couldn't bring himself to look Nate in the eyes either. He continued staring at the floor knowing his life hung in the balance yet unable to speak. Natalia was next.
"You nearly killed Ginger. You locked me and Lauren in that horrid dungeon knowing your friend was badly hurt or perhaps even dead. You conspired with Marilyn to put an end to our species all in the name of god. I for one will never feel comfortable with you being free again."
Kirk watched the feet of Natalia as she walked away; compared to Lily's they were tiny and dainty. He wondered why he wasn’t filled with guilt over what he had done. He nearly killed Ginger. If their plan succeeded the people who stood in front of him now would either be dead or imprisoned. Dr. Karen spoke next.
"I saved your life, Kirk. Consider this: Marilyn wanted to leave you and the others in the street the day we brought you here. I wouldn’t have it. I insisted on taking you with us to the castle knowing you would die otherwise. I am so disappointed in you."
Hearing Karen's words finally loosened his tongue and perhaps for the first time in his life he spoke without stuttering. He heard a snap inside his head. Raising his eyes from the floor he looked at his accusers one by one as he addressed his crimes.
"I don’t care about any of you. I never have. I could lie and tell you that I am sorry for what I did. But I'm not. Marilyn was the only one who ever took an interest in me. She tried to help me better myself. I know all of you think I'm nothing but an idiot. But Marilyn didn’t. She thought I could be someone. She said I would be a king.
"I believed her. I even had dreams about it. Believe me when I say if I had the opportunity to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing, other than perhaps blocking those damned passageways so no one could escape from the dungeon.
"I started life addicted to alcohol. My mother once told me how she stayed drunk the whole time she was pregnant with me. It did something to my brain so I'm not a smart man. I know that. But I'm smart enough to know when my species is ending. If your plan succeeds, human beings will become extinct in the future while these mutants take our place.
"Marilyn knew that too. She asked me for help. What could I say? I had to do what she wanted. She loved me and I loved her. She promised me how we would give rise to a whole new world, me and her."
He had never made as long of speech in his life. He expected it would make no difference, however. An itch on the tip of his nose began innocuously enough but soon a desire to scratch it overwhelmed his mind.
Chapter 55—Ally
The isle of Scotland was luxuriantly brilliant and beautiful from the air but darkness blackened her heart.
As Karen's jet swept in low over the coast on its way to Aberdeen her legs were cramping from lack of activity and each time she attempted to take a deep breath a sharp pain pierced her left side.
Marilyn didn't disappoint her. All the news from England was good. Both the grand inquisitors at CDC headquarters mysteriously disappeared. Though an all-out search was mounted there was nothing to say they were at CDC headquarters prior to their vanishing. A terrorist plot was suspected. The Prime Minister had held off appointing any other mediators until the situation was under control.
Marilyn informed her how Hector was to be buried in his family plot in Edinborough. Karen mused how she might even have attended it what with being his widow of sorts but she had bigger plans in mind. She was closing in on Lily now. She could feel it.
A sparkle caught her eye. Looking down at her finger the diamond set in the engagement ring was afire with the light of the sun shooting through the window. She should have taken it off. Now she felt a pang of guilt creeping in where it was not welcome. Hector was an asshole. He used her for years for his own ends and he would've continued to use her. Still, she allowed it to happen, so who was more to blame?
She hadn’t talked to Marilyn in over a week now. They both realized suspicion might be cast their way so it was better to stay incommunicado. The emails they shared were confined to strictly business.
"How did everything get so screwed up?"
"Pardon me, miss?"
"Oh, I'm sorry... I'm just talking to myself."
Karen didn’t realize she had spoken out loud until the man seated next to her said something. He looked like an English butler who was used to being ordered about.
"Actually, I am sitting here thinking the very same thing. My name is Abercrombie... Alex Abercrombie. And you are?"
"Karen Pool... I apologize for speaking so crudely, sir. It's been a tough couple weeks. Everything I do seems to turn out wrongly."
"And what is it that you do... if I may be so bold?"
"I'm a doctor."
"Oh how extraordinary! Are you a doctor of medicine?"
"Yes... I work for the government in England. I'm on my way to Scotland to meet a colleague."
"So tell me, Dr. Pool... are you familiar with our little country?"
"Scotland? Why no... this is my very first visit. And please... call me Karen."
"I suppose your fiancé might be upset were I to ask you to dinner."
"Yes he probably would be upset. Are you planning on asking him or asking me, Mr. Abercrombie?"
"Ho, ho... yes I quite get your meaning. I would take it as a personal favor if you call me Alex for the duration of our acquaintance, if of course I am not being too personal in assuming that we might have a relationship brewing."
<
br /> "I would love to have dinner with you, Alex. Thank you for asking."
"Good, it is settled then, Ms. Pool, or rather, Karen... could I have the pleasure of showing you about as well?"
"I thought you might never ask. I have a postcard of a castle that I am interested in visiting. Do you know of it?"
Reaching into her purse she took out the postcard of Orchardton Hall and handed it to Alex. She noted how her hand was trembling and so she laid her arm across her knee to help mitigate the tremors.
"I am afraid I don't know the location of this particular castle... but I know the right people to ask. I'm sure once we safely land we can locate it in a jiffy."
"Does flying bother you as much as it does me, Alex?"
"I'm a frequent traveler, my dear, but I confess I still get the heebee jeebees each time a plane comes in for a landing."
"Would you like to hold my hand?"
"Dreadfully so, yes I believe I should."
Karen nearly pulled her hand away when she felt his clammy flesh. It reminded her of a cadaver back in medical school that she was required to dissect. She decided the clamminess was a sign of his nerves. She was of course lying about being bothered by flying but she knew from his body language that Abercrombie was petrified. She decided on the spur of the moment to use that fear to her advantage.
He was a big man despite his mild and cultivated mannerisms. His domineering size might come in handy should she meet up with Lily and her accomplice. If nothing else his presence might lend an air of authority to her visit that might otherwise be mistaken for apprehensiveness should she show up alone at the doors of Orchardton Hall.
"How long are you staying here in our little country, Karen?"
They were sitting at a booth in a diner on the outskirts of a grimy little suburb of Aberdeen. The tabletop was greasy. She wiped her silverware on a napkin before using it. Abercrombie drove a beat-up Ford that failed to belie a station in life quite below that to which Karen was accustomed yet she smiled through his obvious embarrassment as if she expected nothing else.