Black Hellebore

by Maya Shepherd

  Orlando holds the white object tightly and stares into the flames rising from the fire. He seems lost in his thoughts and his face looks like it is carved from stone. Mary lightly nudges him.

  “You are thinking about your Liandra.” It is a statement rather than a question.

  Orlando doesn’t deny it, as he opens his hands and reveals the object to Mary. The white rectangular object is covered in carved runes and the edges are carved into the shape of waves.

  “What is that?” She asks curiously.

  “An amulet. It is carved from mammoth ivory.

  “Mammoth? Have I missed something? I thought they died out millions of years ago.”

  Orlando grins. A question like that could only come from his little adopted daughter.

  “They did. Their bodies have been preserved by the ice. The Dolgans dig up their tusks or their bones, so they can make talismans that ward off evil spirits.”

  Now it’s Mary’s turn to smile.

  “Since when are you so superstitious?!”

  “It can’t hurt.” Orlando replies as he shrugs his shoulders. “Maybe it would have protected me from certain things that have happened to me.” Again, he seems to get lost in his thoughts

  “Liandra? Do you regret meeting her?”

  “No” he answers without even a second’s hesitation. “She has helped me to feel a bit more human again.”

  “Even though she broke your heart?”

  “Rather a human with a broken heart than not a human at all.”

  Mary smiles and wraps her fur covered arms around Orlando’s neck, cuddling into him. She looks up at the starry night again.

  “Who knows, wherever she is in the world, maybe she is sitting there and thinking about you in the same way you are thinking about her.”

  Orlando laughs. “Probably” he says sarcastically, but he too looks up to the unfamiliar moon.

  As Mary’s eyes look down from the sky, she gasps in horror. Her gaze meets eyes as red as liquid magma inside a dormant volcano which are full of scorn. His hair is black as tar, and it flows down to his hips, covering his torso in dark waves. His chest is broad and muscular; the perfectly chiselled image of a god. The only item of clothing he is wearing is a pair of black trousers. His feet are bare, and seem to be floating above the ground without touching down. He exudes pure strength, but he is lacking any kind of warmth. There is no doubt about it; Cain has left his cave. He lives in a place where all of the evil ghosts hide.

  - 31. Tru Wilson -

  Tru finds Lia sitting on the bed in her hotel room cross-legged with the map of Saudi Arabia and the adjoining countries around the red sea, just as she had the day before. She didn’t take one look at the beautiful hotel room or the unbelievable view outside the window. Her father spared no expense to put her up in the most luxurious hotel in the city. The room is the kind of suite you would imagine seeing in a Hollywood film. It has marble floors, white furniture, a Jacuzzi on the balcony and a stunning view over the entire city, all the way down to the ocean, which glimmers a light pink colour when the sun rises.

  But it doesn’t seem to impress Lia at all. It seems like she would be just as happy to be staying in a tiny room in a cellar somewhere. She is sticking little multicoloured flags onto the map, only to take them out again while shaking her head. Her goal is to find her biological mother, and as quick as possible at that. Because of this, she has not left the hotel room once since their train arrived there. They had been picked up from the train station in a limousine with a chauffeur, which brought them to the huge hotel. As soon as they walked into the entrance hall out of the searing heat, they were met with a lovely cool air. The marble floors are covered with black patterns and the ceiling is made entirely out of glass, so that the room is always very bright, but to go so far as to say it’s pretty is probably down to individual taste. Even Chasity and Claudia seem to be alright in this country. They seem to fit in quite well as they walk through the hotel wearing black robes that cover them from head to toe, although Claudia is the only one fit enough to walk. Chasity is not any worse than she was, but that would be hard to do considering she was already in a coma-like state. None of them can understand why Lia was so insistant on them coming along. It’s all about Orlando again, since everything always revolves around Orlando. Chasity is his cousin, and Claudia is the only connection that Lia still has to him. With all of that, Tru can clearly see that Lia has forgiven Orlando everything else. It seems that through his absence her...worship...love seems to be growing? Is it really love? Can a person love someone without really knowing them or does it need to have time to blossom? Tru understands very little of that sort of thing, and so she wants to have little to do with any of it. Ever since she admitted to herself how strongly she feels for Lia, all she has been getting for said feelings is pain and rejection. Sometimes she just wants to run away from it all, but then there are moments where Lia smiles at her or takes her hand, and in those moments the world stands still as her heat flutters and everything seems so much easier. She just wishes she had the same effect on Lia.

  She sits herself down very deliberately in front on Lia on the bed and stares at her. After a while, Lia raises her head out of curiosity.

  “Everything okay?” she asks, like she has every time she has seen Tru since she drank some of her blood. At first her voice sounded a lot more concerned, but the more time passed, the less meaning the question had in Tru’s mind.

  “I am alright, but I am getting worried about you. Do you really think this is going to help?” Tru points at the map in Lia’s hands with the little flags poking out of it.

  Lia shrugs her shoulders. “I have to try at least, what else can I do?”

  “We are in Saudi Arabia. There is so much more to see here than just one woman who may not even want to be found.”

  “She is my mother.” Lia says with a sense of urgency in her voice, but Tru folds up the map right in front of Lia’s face, and as she starts to protest, Tru just places her index finger on her lips.

  “Trust me” she says and looks into Lia’s evergreen eyes. Her finger tingles on Lia’s lips and goosebumps start to form on her arms. She hesitantly drops her finger and looks at the map in her hands, but to her surprise, Lia takes her hands in her own and smiles.

  “Okay, I trust you, what’s the plan?”

  Tru grins. “That is a surprise.” She pulls Lia from the bed in excitement, leading her across the room and out into the hall through the heavy Javanese Teakwood door.

  They get the chauffeur to drive them through the inner city, past King Fahd’s fountain and down towards the coast. The streets are narrow and the drivers hardly seem to be following the Europpean rules of the road, but still everything flows smoothly and without any accidents. Camels and pack mules are squeezing through the traffic, along with bicycles and rickshaws. There are market stalls lining the sides of the streets, selling everything from fruit and vegetables, to clothes, home wares and small animals. The scent of frying fish and pickled fruits shoots into their nostrils. There are so many new and exciting smells and colours. It all seems so much different to what they are used to in their chilly home in England. It’s almost like a journey through a parallel universe.

  The sun is high in the sky as they reach the harbour, while the waves crash against the sides of it, forming white foam as the water pulls back. As they get out of the car, the strong rays beat down on their pale skin, but it is a comfortable heat. It shows them that they are still just as alive as ever, but what they do with that life is up to them. They are still holding hands as they walk along the harbour. When they were driving, Lia was all excited and wanted to know where they were going, but now she is silent and looks at her surroundings with wide eyes. Fishermen are unloading their catches from their tiny boats that look so old and haggard that they could fall apart at any moment. The men are shouting out offers for the fresh fish. Tourists with burnt shoulders are strolling along the promenade, stopping on every corner to
take one photo after another. Even the shop signs become items of interest to them. There are others dangling their legs into the water as they thickly coat their skin with sun cream. Salesmen with baskets full of watches and sunglasses are approaching the tourists, trying every trick in the book to convince them that they can only buy these genuine branded products at unbeatably low prices with them. Joyful laughter and giggling fills the air. It smells like freedom.

  They stop in front of a small white sailboat with an engine. There is a sign on a door on the ship offering scuba-diving classes. A thirty-something deeply tanned man with a dyed blonde surfer boy haircut immediately opens the door and steps out winking cheekily at them.

  “Want come with? Weather good for diving.” He asks them in broken English revealing a sizeable gap between his two front teeth. The sun is shimmering off his oiled up toned abs and Lia giggles.

  “Definitely!” Tru says and steps up on the boat. Satisfied, the man bows and sticks out his hand helpfully towards Lia, ready to pull her up onto the boat, but she follows Tru’s lead and climbs up by herself.

  “I’ve got it, thanks” she says to the Arab who just raises his eyebrow in confusion and reaches out his tanned hand to her again.

  “Farid!” he explains while pointing towards himself. This time the girls understand, and one after the other they take his hand and introduce themselves.

  Half an hour later, Lia, Tru, Farid and six other people are ready to set off. The engine rattles quietly as the boat sets into motion. Warm wind blows through their hair and in under their clothes. Lia’s white dress blows against Tru’s leg over and over again, while their arms touch with every small move the boat makes. A lovely shiver runs from Tru’s neck all the way down her back with every touch. Lia’s long silky hair touches her cheek gently and the smell of strawberries mixed with salt, the sea and fish hangs in the air. It is one of those moments that would be perfect to film, so that it could be watched over and over again, and never forgotten. If it were up to Tru, she would have happily sailed the seas for hours and would be the happiest person in the world, but the journey is over much sooner than she would have hoped. They stop inside a bay that is surrounded by exotic looking rocks. Farid throws out the anchor and then stands proudly up in front of the group. He hands out snorkels, goggles and swimming fins.

  “Before diving, you must be knowing, that there is dangers under water. There are rays, they have stingers for defense, but only using when thinking they are in danger. Also there is lionfish and firefish, very dangerous, has poisonous spines. Rhinopia is like scorpion, must be careful too. Keeping away is best.” He announces with his broad gap-toothed smile as he hands around photos of the creatures he has mentioned.

  Tru’s gaze moves towards Lia, whose hair is shining like pure gold in the sunshine. The stingrays don’t seem that dissimilar to her, as Lia too has a defense mechanism; her blood.

  “You will seeing many corals everywhere. Between will be giant moray eels, can be over two meters big. Also, many types of fish underwater and are like humans; each one different.” Who would have expected such a poetic sentiment from him?

  “If lucky, we see turtles and dolphins.” He finishes with a wink and slips into his big green fins. He waddles like a frog towards the edge of the boat and dives elegantly into the water. He waves towards his diving team encouraging them to follow him into the water.

  Tru somewhat uncomfortably removes her beige shorts and blue top. Underneath, she is wearing a simple black bathing suit. Her gaze shyly moves towards Lia, who quickly looks away as if caught red handed, her cheeks blushing pink. Is it the sun or is she embarrassed that Tru caught her looking at her? Lia quickly follows suit and takes off her white dress, revealing a fiery red bikini underneath. The colour makes her skin glow as if she is covered in glittery powder. The longer Tru observes Lia, the more she comes to the conclusion that Lia really can’t be from this world. She is too beautiful and every look hurts, because Tru knows that the feelings aren’t mutual no matter what she says or does. But once again, Lia grabs her friend’s hand and says with a welcoming smile; “Come on, let’s jump in together.”

  They step up to the edge of the boat.

  “3...2...1” Lia squeezes Tru’s hand, “...Go!”

  They jump. They float through the air for a moment before they are engulfed in the refreshing water. The negative thoughts are gone, as if washed away. They kick their legs as powerfully as they can and make their way back up to the surface, never letting go of each other’s hands. Foam has built up around them and the water ebbs and flows against their bodies.

  As soon as everyone is in the water, they all set off. At first it is strange to try and breather through the snorkel and Lia has to swim to the surface several times to catch her breath before she gets into the swing of it, but then it is simply wonderful. Fish of all shapes and sizes scatter around them. The rocks are covered in pink, blue, yellow and green coral. Both of them take in one of the liveliest natural habitats in the world in utter fascination. Every single little part of the reef seems like a wonder all on its own.

  They only need to stretch out their hand to touch a little school of fish, which then quickly scatters in all different directions. They glide over the reef with their fins, but then Farid suddenly raises his hand, giving them the signal to stay still. As he had predicted, a giant morane eel is coiling directly below him. It’s not only them who are eyeing the morane, but the creature is also looking back mistrustingly. Nobody seems comfortable to be in this situation with the huge animal. The fine hairs on tru’s back are standing up, and she seems to have more adrenaline than blood pumping through her body right now. They remain in this position for a good few minutes before the morane concedes and swims away.

  The light blue water is slowly starting to change colour as the sun sets and it takes on an orange hue. The plankton starts rising from the sea bed, commencing feeding time for the fish. The divers lay relaxed in the water as warm water begins to rise from the reef and streams past them. It is warm as bath water. Fish over thirty centimetres in length swarm around the group from all sides, while the divers watch the events unfold from underneath. The feeling they get from being able to share in this natural phenomenon is overwhelming to each of them

  Farid signals to them to stay as still as they possibly can, and so they just let the water take control of their bodies, when suddenly something unbelievable happens. After a few minutes, a fully grown Hawksbill sea turtle swims between them. The less the divers move, the closer the animal gets to them. Tru can feel its slippery, moss-covered shell moving along the palm of her hand. The amazing experience makes a smile spread over her lips.

  The turtle suddenly dives down into the depths as a group of dolphins head their way. They hesitantly swim between the divers, but every time one of them tries to touch one, they swim away quickly to a safe distance, and then turn back towards the people. Lia’s eyes open wide. Now it’s Tru who has grabbed her hand and is leading her towards the dolphins. Outside of the big group, the dolphins become more trusting, and playfully circle them. Tru feels a light push on her back, and as they both spin around in excitement, their combined turn looks like a dance of sorts. Thankfully, one of the smaller dolphins lets both of them stroke it. Its skin is slippery but soft at the same time. Tru expected them to be cold, but she can feel warmth coming from deep inside the creature. When she looks up over the dolphin, she makes eye contact with Lia’s green eyes that seem at home in the ocean. She can see tears in her eyes through her goggles that are warped in the water, but her face is glowing with joy. She has never seen Lia this happy.

  They are sitting close together back on the ship’s deck, as the sun dries the last droplets of moisture on their skin. Farid shakes out his hair like a wet dog and runs his hand casually through it before turning to the group.

  “Many say Red Sea is paradise.” He pauses and gestures around him. The sun is setting behind the hills, and is sparkling on the water, making it
shimmer a beautiful shade of gold. For the first time it looks really red and seems like it is actually burning. Just the sight of it floods them with warmth.

  “Red sea is red from red sand at bottom of ocean, made from burned mountains. When sun rises and sets it’s stronger. Also comes from volcanic ash that gets washed in ocean. Has nothing to do with blood.”

  Tru doesn’t care where the Red Sea got its name, because the view is just too beautiful to waste time thinking about things like that. It is the kind of thing you have to give your full, undivided attention to, because it might not happen again so soon.

  Having arrived back at the harbour, they don’t return to the already waiting limousine, but rather take a walk on the beach, hand in hand. Tru could easily get used to this, but her fear of more disappointment is too great.

  “Thank you!” Lia says out of nowhere and stops walking. She stands herself in front of Tru and looks openly at her.

  “Thank you for forcing me to leave the hotel room. Thank you for giving me the best day of my life. Thank you for always forgiving me when I take out my bad moods on you. Thank you for never giving up on me...” her voice breaks and tears pool in her eyes. They run down her blushing cheeks and break Tru’s heart. She is speechless.

  “Thank you for being you.” Lia says in conclusion as her voice trembles. There is so much warmth, trust and love in Lia’s eyes that it makes Tru feel dizzy. There is a lump forming in her throat that she tries to swallow. They are standing close to each other, separated by a few short centimetres. Lia’s weak breath tickles the fine hairs on Tru’s neck. Their lips are so close together, that she would just have to lean forward to make them touch.

  “Do you trust me?” Lia breaks the silence, and Tru can do nothing but nod. She would do anything for her; she would even die for her if she had to. Lia is the only person who she loves more than even herself. And now she finally knows for sure that it is in fact love. She loves her with her head and her heart. She loves her with her entire being.