“We sat in the shade of a very large tree and ate our lunch peacefully.
“ ‘You want to see something?’ he asked when we had finished eating. His expression was that of an anxious little boy who wanted to show me one of his little treasures.
“ ‘Sure,’ I answered immediately, thinking he wanted to show me some kind of plant or small animal hidden in the soil.
“His face brightened as he stood up and extended his hand to help me stand.
“ ‘It’s a little far.,’ he admitted and with a mischievous expression added, ‘But I’ll carry you in my arms and we’ll... fly.’
“Suddenly, I suspected something was off because we’d never flown anywhere before.”
“ ‘Are you scheming something bad?’ I asked.
“ ‘Oh, no! You’ll find it very enlightening, you’ll see.’ He looked at me inquisitively, almost imploring that I agree. ‘It’ll be worth it, I promise,’ he insisted.
“ ‘If you’re taking me somewhere just to frighten me, I’ll tell Shallem. This I promise.’ I threatened him like a little girl.
“ ‘Shallem has already seen it and he wasn’t scared...’
“That comment peaked my curiosity. I wanted to see what Shallem had seen and never spoke to me about. My usual interest in learning more about him made me ignore my fears. Cannat watched me expectantly.
“I was still suspicious but my answer flew from my lips as if it had its own will.
“ ‘Okay, let’s go.’
“He gave me an ample and innocent smile as he picked me up.
“ ‘Hold on tight,’ he recommended.
“At first I didn’t understand what he was going to do, I was too entranced by his eyes in that position. Since Cannat had been nice to me for some days, and since we had such a pleasant afternoon together, I started feeling a certain type of fondness for him. You know, the Stockholm syndrome. It wasn’t until our bodies were rapidly flying through the air, as if we were weightless, that I realized what was happening. I clung to his neck and screamed with horror. I saw the ground beneath us as we continued ascending. Suddenly, I panicked and thought to myself, ‘What if he lets me fall?’ ‘We’ll see just how immortal you are.’, I remembered his threat. Was he planning to test my immortality?
“We were up so high I felt out of breath. I had never suspected I’d have a reason to cling to Cannat with such intensity. However, at the moment, the sensation of being weightless was just as frightening as being in a free fall.
“Cannat stopped. My cheek was pressed firmly against his chest. He was urging me to look at me but I wasn’t ready to do that.
“ ‘Look at me,’ he ordered. ‘or I’ll let you go.’
“ ‘Slowly and making sure I didn’t loosen my grip, I looked at him. The immaculate purity of that cloudless sky reflected in his eyes; never in my life had I seen such blue eyes. With the wind whipping his blond hair as we floated weightlessly a few meters off the ground, he seemed more angelic than ever. I saw Florence in the distance; the city looked like a small replica. Colliding with the ground was an imminent possibility but all I could focus on was the reflection on my eyes in his, which at the moment were bright and smiling.
“ ‘Oops! I forgot my wings!’ he joked. ‘Are you scared?’
“ ‘No,’ I answered automatically.
“ ‘If I were to let you fall,’ he whispered in my ear. ‘Would your soul remain in all the broken pieces of your mortal flesh? Or would your soul hide in a certain place, like in a small piece of your brain? What interesting conjectures.’
“ ‘You promised not to scare me,’ I stammered.
“ ‘And I’m not. I also promised this would be enlightening. This is part of what I want to teach you; this is part of today’s lesson. The topic: immortal human bodies. Of course, if you dislike the lesson and want to leave the classroom, as you suggested the other day... you are free to go. Think about it. I’ve never held such a fat woman and my arms are beginning to tire.’
“ ‘I’m not afraid of you,’ I lied. ‘If you were so sure Shallem would forgive you if you were to hurt me, you would have done so by now since you detest being around me.’ My words sounded surreal and my voice seemed not my own.
“ ‘How can you be so stupid to challenge me in this situation? Don’t you understand that I could lose control and throw you to the ground, just to prove you wrong? Even if I were to regret it later.’
“ ‘You won’t take that risk, you love him too much,’ I asserted, surprised by my own boldness.
“ ‘I didn’t bring you here to kill you, although I’m getting a very strong urge to do so. However, doing so would spoil the best part of this lesson. Let go of my neck! Why are you so scared? You’ve never flown with Shallem?’
“ ‘Of course I have, but he never threatened to smash me against the ground.’
“ ‘Neither have I. I was merely speculating about what would happen if I did. It’s part of my lesson. How many times did you fly with Shallem? I bet you never did.’
“ ‘How come you can’t read my soul, Cannat?’ I asked with subtle sarcasm. ‘You can’t even read the most obvious things. Shallem never needed to ask me questions.’
“Suddenly, Cannat seemed irritated. ‘Let’s continue our lesson,’ he said.
“And then we were arrows fighting against an angry wind, flying faster and faster. At first, I was so frightened I became nauseous. However, soon I realized Cannat was as stable as any modern plane; the wind didn’t disrupt our course; it seemed to beat around us but never at us. Seized by the pleasure of the speed, I gathered my courage and looked. Cannat held me tightly; I felt safe. It wasn’t his intention to drop me; it never was. We had flown so high I could make out Earth’s colossal roundness. We weren’t very high, of course, but we were high enough I could see that the Earth’s surface wasn’t flat but rather slightly elliptical. Trees had turned into cute miniatures. The changing landscape beneath me looked as if it were divided into many different geometric shapes. In short, I was seeing the world as no other human had seen it. Then, almost immediately, Cannat sped up so quickly I could barely blink my eyes due to the increasing pressure. We were moving so quickly that for a few seconds, it felt like we were two stone statues suspended in the air. Two completely immobile, living statues that weren’t able to raise their arms or turn their heads. It was as if we were pinned, nailed to a specific point in space, while the Earth rotated beneath our fragile, motionless bodies. My skin hurt and was as taught and cold as a piece of leather.
“Then, little by little, we slowed and the earth, which had turned into a dark green splotch, once again showed us her grandeur. It was very apparent the landscaped had changed. The small hills that surrounded Florence had changed into gigantic peaks. We had flown into the mountains. An enormous lake rested its calm waters at the far end of a spectacular valley. I was amazed by all of the lush, beautiful vegetation and by the way each unfamiliar plant seemed to colonize the different tiers into which the mountains were divided.
“ ‘It’s marvelous,’ I heard myself whisper. Then I realized Cannat was watching me intently and that only my arms rested around his neck. But I wasn’t frightened.
“ ‘We’re here,’ he announced and started to descend. The world grew larger and larger until the once tiny trees towered over us again.
“Cannat landed gently and set me down on the ground.
“ ‘I’ve never seen anything like that,’ I revealed, fascinated.
“ ‘We’ll give Shallem a few lashes when he returns for not having flown with you.’
“ ‘Yes, he deserves it. He always promises to take me to a thousand different places but things have become so...’
“ ‘Don’t defend him. There’s no excuse.’
“ ‘You’re right. It didn’t take us long to get here... Cannat, I’ve never seen a bear. Are there bears here?’ And I, naively, gave him a grateful smile for wanting to show me such a place.
“ ‘I’m sure
there are,’ he answered. ‘But Shallem will show them to you some other day. That isn’t our goal. He’ll attend to showing you the beauties of nature and I’ll take care of your education. Come.’
“He took my hand and after walking just a few steps, we reached the entrance to a cave. I don’t know if it was my sense of adventure or my curiosity that kept me from stopping to think about what could await me inside. I stepped inside the cave and began shivering uncontrollably. The entrance was so small and covered with vegetation that it grew completely dark as soon as we stepped through it. What was Cannat planning to do to me?
“I saw him grab a torch; it flared as soon he touched it. Then he grabbed my hand and said:
“ ‘Don’t be afraid.’
“I immediately started trembling when I saw the excitement in his face. Cannat gently pulled my arm so I would follow him inside, but it felt like I was glued to the ground. I sensed something dreadful emanating from within the cave. I was terrified to walk into its darkness. What if Cannat decided to leave me imprisoned in that terrifying and strange abyss of darkness without even his torch to light my way? I fixed my scrutinizing gaze toward the indistinguishable depth of the cavern.
“ ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he insisted. Irritated, he urged me to follow him with a gentle but demanding pull from his hand. ‘You won’t get hurt. Trust me,’ he persuaded.
“I followed him. What other option did I have?
“Cannat quickly drug me down a narrow, suffocating corridor that was around a meter long and which spilled into an enormous cavern. The ceiling was very high and from it hung sharp stalactites that, in some places, turned into thick phantasmagoric columns whose ghostly shadows devoured us as if they were starving giants.
“A calm, glass-like lake was in the center of that cold, tenebrous cavern. From where we stood, it looked like the lake occupied the entire bottom half of the cavern, but it didn’t.
“Cannat guided me toward a crevice in the rock. It was extremely narrow, too narrow for me to fit through.
“ ‘I don’t think I’ll fit.’ I told Cannat and I really didn’t want to try and fit.
“ ‘Try to fit through,’ Cannat whispered seductively. ‘Carefully.’
“I was doubtful.
“ ‘You first,’ I demanded.
“He smiled and slid through the crevice as easily as an elastic man. From the other side, I heard him urging me to follow. I rushed to do so because Cannat carried the torch and I had been left immersed in darkness. How ironic. I was afraid of the dark while in the company of the devil himself.
“For a moment I felt stuck and thought I wouldn’t be able to free myself. Cannat grabbed my hand and I calmed down long enough to wiggle my way through the crevice. My entire body hurt when I finally managed to dislodge myself.’
“ ‘You see how easy that was?’ Cannat would have seemed truly concerned if it weren’t for the malicious and disturbing gleam in his eyes.
“I took a deep breath and tried to still my pounding heart. I was faint with fright and due to the lack of oxygen in the cave. I smelled vomit and became nauseated.
“ ‘My God!’ I yelled. ‘Where’s that stench coming from?’
“I looked around and tried to find the source of the rancid smell. The cavern we were in seemed much smaller than the previous one and its ceiling fell, like an asphyxiating slab of stone, less than two meters above the floor.
“We walked carefully so as not to hit head our heads against the stalactites or trip over the small, but numerous, stalagmites. And as we advanced, the stench became more intense, thicker and more difficult to breathe in.
“Surprised, I suddenly stopped. I heard something that sounded like crying. Yes, there was no doubt. I was hearing weak human cries.
“ ‘Someone is here!’ I yelled in a mixture of shock and terror.
“Cannat seemed amused. I strained my eyes and ears trying to see and hear where those anguished moans were coming from. But it was impossible; the cavern was a resonant cavity where every noise seemed to come from a thousand different places.
“ ‘Let’s go,’ Cannat insisted. ‘Walk carefully.’
“I grabbed his right arm he guided me through the cavern. My terror was such that Cannat seemed the lesser of all evils that could be lurking, waiting for me in the shadows. However, in the end, he would be the source of all evil.
“Suddenly, three torches that hung in each corner of the cavern ignited as if by their own volition.
“As my eyes took in the horrific sight before me, Cannat analyzed the changing expressions on my face the same way a curious scientist would scrutinize the reactions of the animals in his laboratory after performing a dangerous experiment.
“Bodies upon bodies were stacked on top of each other, each one in different stages of decay. Ten or fifteen bodies, at least, formed a dismal pyramid of decomposing flesh. There were four others who, anchored by shackles and chains, were forced to stand. One of them stood chained between two rock columns and was less like a cadaver and more like a skeleton whose flesh had been devoured by worms. The other three, three women, were held upright by shackles that had been nailed into the rock behind them. One of them was a very young woman who wasn’t quit as pale or decrepit as the other bodies in the cavern. My God! The woman was alive! When she sensed our presence, her screams grew louder than the strange clamor of quivering moans, which seemed to come from everywhere.
“Her desperate wailing reverberated off the walls in that nauseating hollow. Her anguish spread through the air like a spew of fire that enveloped me, that petrified me with fear. It was as if all the pain in the world were centered in the cavern.
“ ‘Get her out of here! For the love of God, get her out of here! She’s alive!’ I screamed and begged.
“Cannat gave me his most deceptive and innocent smile. As he smiled, his small ivory incisors looked like a beast’s sharp canines.
“But sweetheart,’ he stated impassively. ‘They are all alive!’
“I was paralyzed, unable to move or speak, deafened by her screams and by the fetid stench from which there was no escape.
“I vomited as Cannat watched studiously. I felt so sick I would have preferred to die if that were the only way to escape. All the while, the monotonous litany of moans grew louder.
“ ‘Are you crying, Juliette?’ Cannat whispered. ‘Cry. Your tears will make you feel better.’
“All the partially digested contents of my stomach left my body. The retching wouldn’t stop and I remained doubled over, holding on to a column of rock and tasting the bitter after taste of bile in my mouth. The cave spun in circles around me.
“Cannat leaned over me, ‘Do you hear their pitiful cries?’ he whispered in my ear with absolute indifference and cruelty.
“My eyes burned and my heart beat frantically. ‘Look at them Juliette,’ Cannat ordered, basking in my misery. ‘Their bodies are dead and decomposing slowly. But their souls will be chained to their bodies until the very end. Until not even a fragment of bone is left as proof of their existence.’
“He grabbed me by the shoulders and made me approach the man who hung chained between the two lime columns.
“ ‘Open your eyes!’ he demanded. ‘Open them!’ He shook me so violently that I had no other option than to obey.
“ ‘Take a good look! He still has the strength to exhale his death rattles. Listen to him!’
“ ‘For the love of Christ, Cannat, get me out of here!’ I begged as tears rolled down my face.
“ ‘I’ll get you out of here, when we’re done with our lesson.’ He assured me with his eternal air of malicious innocence.
“I looked at what was left of the man in front of me and saw that his repulsive body wasn’t moving. His head hung, emaciated and unresponsive, over his left shoulder. His eyes were dull, dead. The flesh that remained on his bones was a yellowish green. His clothes were dirty and bloodied. His shackled wrists were so ravaged you could see his white bones betwee
n the shredded bits of decaying flesh. However and undoubtedly, I heard a sound coming from his purpled and corroded immobile lips. The body was dead, but it was inhabited.
“ ‘What do you think?’ Cannat asked earnestly as he turned the torch toward the cadaver’s face. He was so close to me that his words smoldered against my cheek. ‘Wouldn’t you say he was alive?’
“I turned to look at him. Beneath the play of light and shadow caused by the torch’s flame, Cannat’s eyes looked like mysterious sapphires and his parted lips like the threatening snarl of a wild animal. He grabbed me before I could fall.
“ ‘I want to leave,’ I mumbled as Cannat watched, fascinated, at how the tears glistened on my cheeks.
“ ‘Don’t be such a crybaby, sweetheart. Now answer my question.’
“ ‘I don’t know if he’s alive,’ I moaned. ‘I don’t know anything. I’m going crazy.’
“Cannat laughed softly.
“ ‘Listen,’ he whispered then threw the torch on the ground and using both hands, pushed my head toward the wretched lips of the cadaver.
“Just the thought of my skin touching the decaying flesh made me howl in terror. My howls of panic excited Cannat so he pushed my head until my cheek rubbed against the putrid softness that covered the living skeleton’s skull. I could feel the cadaver’s flesh slide like butter beneath my skin. Cannat pushed my face deeper into the mass of flesh, it melted like wax beneath a flame. I didn’t dare open my mouth to scream, or my eyes, which I had desperately squeezed shut, for fear that the repelling substance would enter me.
“My nose involuntarily hit the cadaver’s nose, it was like hitting a fragile wall which slowly gave way, detaching itself from bone and leaving, in its place, an empty orifice.
“Cannat shook me violently against the cadaver making it oscillate in the air as if its chains were a swing. It seemed like he was trying to beat my body against the bones until they finally crumbled to the floor.
The Devil's Concubine Page 23