The Eternals

by Richard M. Ankers

  * * *

  I felt sorry for the creatures by the time I'd finished with them. The wolves were just hungry and doing as nature willed. Their only crime was to catch an apex predator on a bad day.

  I'd vented the frustrations of Vladivar's inhospitality on them, they did not deserve it. But by the time I'd finished I genuinely felt much better about things. That was until I spun to see the battered Sunyin looking on in horror.

  “I make no apologies for my actions, Sunyin, it was us or them.”

  “Yes, Jean,” was all the monk could manage.

  “Your eyes say different.”

  “I…I…I have never witnessed such ferocity as I have these last two days. My beliefs say not to judge others and to act only in kindness, but I am finding it…difficult.”

  “There is much cruelty in these damnable times, my friend. A gloss, a veneer, if you will, of good manners and good dress does its best to disguise it, but that is all it does. This will never conceal the fatal flaws in our twisted society. We Eternals are a dying breed. Regardless of how many layers of makeup attempt to conceal it, the cold hard truth will still be there. This world is dying, as are its inhabitants, and I for one will be glad to see the back of both.”

  “I do not wish you dead, Jean,” Sunyin said with bowed head.

  “That is because you are better than us, I am ashamed to say. I wish I could say differently, but I cannot.”

  “You must not say such things. If it was not for you I would be as dead as my brothers.”

  I moved to Sunyin's side and lifted him from the bush. The monk still trembled dreadfully.

  “If it was not for me, I believe your brothers would not be dead at all.” Sunyin looked to me at that moment and I expected I'd see hate in his eyes, but there was none. He was too good a man to be travelling with scum like me and I wondered if all humans had been like him?

  “One still has a part of you,” my companion spoke flatly and pointed to one of the fallen creatures.

  “They did not lay a paw upon me,” I replied, but looked to where he indicated. Sure enough, one wolf had a long shred of black material fluttering from its maw in the night breeze. I pulled the remnant loose and examined it.

  “What is wrong? Is it not a piece from your jacket, Jean?”

  “It is, my little friend, just not this jacket.”

  “I do not understand.”

  “It has my scent, Sunyin.”

  “How would it come to have it?”

  “Oh, I dare say the wolf ripped it from the person who tormented it and its fellows.”

  “I am so sorry, but I still do not understand!”

  “They were set upon us, my friend. These beasts were given my scent from a piece of clothing I mislaid a long way from here.”

  “I apologise for my questions, but what does that mean?”

  “It means, I am being played, Sunyin. No wolf or pack of wolves could kill such as I. Someone just wishes to make me aware that I am being controlled.”

  “Who would do that?”

  “Vladivar, he toys with me,” I answered more to myself than Sunyin. “He must have taken my jacket from the Comte's palace. He watched me that night, they all did.”

  “I am not following you, although I am trying my best.”

  “Do not fear, Sunyin,” I said patting him on the back then wishing I hadn't at his wince of pain. “Vladivar is already on my list.”

  “List?”

  “Yes, my small friend, of people who shall soon die at my hand.”

  “That is not good.”

  “Not for him, Sunyin, not for him.”

  * * *

  Blessed with a clear, sparkling night, we made immediate haste and left the carnage of the wolves and my true self far behind us.

  “Where are we heading?” Sunyin asked after perhaps an hour's silent trudging.

  “West,” I replied.

  “What is there west?”

  “Less easterners.”

  “Hmm, I see,” said Sunyin, as he pondered my words. “But, will there not be more of those who wish you harm in the west?”

  “I hope so.”

  “You hope so!” Sunyin exclaimed. He stopped in his tracks as though he'd walked into a wall.

  “Yes, Sunyin, I hope so. I hope to find every person who has manipulated my, and by association, your life, and have words with them.”

  “Violent words?”

  “Extremely.”

  “That is not good. No worth comes from evil actions.”

  I looked at the little monk as he stood there shaking his head and chuckled to myself. If only he'd known the catalyst to our situation was of my own lax making. “How did you come to be born so good a person, Sunyin?”

  “I was not born, so it must be the way I am.”

  “Everybody is born, my friend.”

  “Not everyone. I was created from blood the Marquis discovered and then my brethren from my own.”

  “Did he tell you this?”

  “I am aware of it.”

  “Where did he get the blood from in the first place? The Marquis has always been one who went his own way, but at heart he is an idiot. Someone must have given him the inspiration to do what he has with you. I do not believe he has the foresight to have done it on his own.”

  Sunyin frowned before saying, “There was one man who used to visit Shangri-La, he was well spoken and extremely intelligent, but I do not know his name.”

  “Nobody else you can think of?”

  “No. Before yesterday I had never even left the city limits.”

  “You never once left the city!”

  “The Marquis forbade it and we had no reason to do so. Shangri-La was our home. Only on occasion and at his explicit command have my brothers ever departed, and they always returned.”

  “But Shangri-La is a construct it has never been a real place.”

  “It was real to us, Jean. Why would any of us leave the city of enlightenment?”

  “Because the Marquis milked you of your lifeblood.”

  The little fellow's face dropped as I said this and I regretted my impetuous words the moment I had spoken them. “I am sorry, Sunyin, I did not mean that. Your home was no more a construct than anything in this false world.”

  “What is your home like?” asked Sunyin, a renewed sparkle in his eyes.

  “I do not have one,” I replied, and felt the need to turn and continue with our trek.

  “I am sorry, you must be very lonely,” came the monk's words.

  “Oh, not really, it's provided me with a freedom I would not otherwise have had.” But the Sunyin's silence signalled he knew just as well as I did that I lied.

  * * *

  We walked on with only passing words. Sunyin appeared too caught up in the delights of the world at large. The monk appeared fascinated by every puddle and dripping leaf whereas I grew more introverted with each passing second. I languished in a deepening pit. Yet, the stars sought to lessen my worries. Those distant suns shone down upon us as Linka's eyes had done on me at the ball. The world in response was stilled but for our footsteps and the scraping of the towed coffin.

  But the further we walked the harder the going became for Sunyin. I kept having to wait for him to catch up until eventually I heard a slump and looked back to see the little monk in a heap on the ground. For a second, I contemplated leaving him there, he was a hindrance to my greater physical prowess, and I believed the old me would have done, but not the new. Having already been attacked once by wolves, I did the only thing I could. I lifted Sunyin and placed him inside the coffin, laying his head at the higher end, then closed the lid on him. For a time, the monk would know the sleep of an Eternal. I hoped the experience was better for him than me.

  I towed my burden deep into the evening. An unadulterated vista of clear grassland stretched on seemingly forever and despite the hardships of the previous days I savoured those hours walking through the rolling grasses. The wind whipped at my tattered
clothing, clouds raced across a silver sky, and I tasted the peace I so longed for. The false, gothic balls lay somewhere over an unknown horizon and a person's ability to pirouette was no longer a requirement. All I had was a view and a goal. I'd had no purpose for so long that despite the macabre nature events the feeling it gave me enlivened my soul. If an Eternal had a soul to enliven that was?

  The debate over whether my kind truly lived, in the real sense of the word, was a highly discussed topic during my formative years. But, like so much else in society it too became a taboo subject. The thinkers went the way of humanity and the party dwellers took centre stage. How extravagant a function one could put on became a far greater quality than the ability to think. When my parents, as frustrated as I by the games of the few, chose to end their lives rather than participate in what they knew to be the planet's death tolls, I was left in limbo. The bitterness I harboured at their decision festered within me for an age before I finally accepted I was merely a jealous coward. I should have ripped out my heart as they did each other's and had considered doing so almost every evening since. Waiting for the moon not to rise into the heavens one fine night had become a tedium I could quite well do without. Women had proven a mild distraction, but only that. The Eternals of highest societal standing took perches far in excess of their worth, and the titles they bestowed upon themselves even more so. I'd attended their dances, their masquerades, their games of charades, and hated myself through every soporific moment. Chantelle had been the least antagonistic of them. I'd even have stretched to admit she had intelligence if given the opportunity to display it. But her father, King Rudolph, made quite sure of her close proximity at all times. Not so close as he had with Linka though. I thought I knew all the little secrets of our twisted cabal, but her residence in this world remained a mystery. Thank heavens it had been Chantelle's essence I had taken and not hers. I don't believe I could have lived with myself had it been reversed. In all my centuries of life no one had affected me so; I'd never allowed it. Well, except once.

  Many hours passed until I at last smelled the stench of that which I had sought, the dividing line between east and west, grand decadence and barren stagnation. The river of death, the former separate entities known as the Volga and Tigris, stank of decay. If piled meat were left to rot for a year it would still have only carried a fractional stench of that accursed demarcation. Unable to bear the pungency of the air about me, I tore a section of my already ragged sleeve and wrapped it about the lower half of my face like a brigand of old. I was glad Sunyin was still unconscious and concealed for I would have feared for him otherwise. Within a few minutes more I stood before the undulating folds of gloop that made up the river's essence. I pitied whatever basin it flowed into if it flowed into anything at all.

  How I was to cross the thing without wanting to tear away my epidermis hadn't crossed my mind until that moment. I knew the river to be narrow enough for my kind to jump, but not with the burden of a monk filled coffin. I debated simply tossing my cargo to the opposite embankment but feared the coffin shattering, or he who resided within it. What was I to do?

  “Want a hand there, Jean?” came a bellowing voice from above. I searched the skyline but saw, nor heard, anything. “Up here, man!” came a booming, upper-class voice.

  I narrowed my eyes, as much in annoyance at my shattered peace than actual frustration, and glared into the night. As if by magic a head popped out of nowhere almost directly above. If I looked startled, it's because I was. A waving arm followed the head, and then half torso as it seemingly floated earthwards like a leaf on the wind.

  “Care for a rescue?”

  “I may if I know who's doing the rescuing.”

  “Why, Britannia of course!”

  * * *

  And that's how my coffin home, the encased Sunyin, and myself came to be aboard the invisible, and silent running Zeppelin balloon, HMS Gloriana.

  Chapter Ten

  -

  Britannia

  “Scott's the name” said my cheery rescuer offering his hand. I took it and returned his vigorous shake. “I'm the captain of this ship.”

  “Please, go steady with that,” I asked two of Scott's men who were manhandling the coffin to the back of a cavernous interior.

  “You won't be needing that in here. This balloon thing is completely UV proofed. There isn't so much as a screw hole for the sun to peep through. This flying beast doesn't even have windows as such.”

  “The coffin is of sentimental value,” I replied, giving Scott one of my special glares.

  “Do as the man says, boys,” Scott ordered. The two crewman nodded and continued as they were.

  “Darned if I ever saw an Eternal towing his own home around. I thought you were a mutant snail, at first,” Scott scoffed, his bushy, brown, walrus moustache bobbling along in jovial fashion.

  I did not share his amusement, and he soon stopped

  “Yes, well, never mind about all that, eh! I'm glad we found you, that's all that matters.”

  “Dare I ask who sent you?”

  “Britannia, of course! I'm here representing the British Isles and their speaker Lord Worthington.”

  “Since when has Worthington spoken on behalf of the populace?”

  “Ah, well, you see, it's like this.”

  “Like what?”

  “Er…”

  “Spit it out, man.”

  “Well, His Majesty King George met with an unfortunate accident about a week ago.”

  “What kind of accident?”

  “He fell upon a stake in his own back garden! Terrible tragedy really, almost one in a million an accident like that.”

  “Very much so,” I replied whilst trying not to slap the man. His cheery attitude and bumbling nature was going the right way to wind me up.

  “Ha! Ha! These things happen, I suppose.”

  “I suppose.”

  “His Majesty was the last of his line, as I'm sure you know, and Worthington was the only logical leader we had left. There isn't much of a population these days. I fear that Britannia's fair shores will soon be as deserted and barren as the land you've just traipsed through.”

  “It wasn't barren enough.”

  “Ah, I gather you encountered Crown Prince Vladivar.”

  “I did, and shall do so again.”

  “You want to go back there!” Scott said astonished. He raised a bushy eyebrow that perfectly matched his jiggling moustache.

  “Not exactly,” I smiled.

  “Ah, I see, revenge and the like. Dirty business that, I stay well clear of such things.”

  “And the like,” I echoed. “That leads me back to my initial question, which I should perhaps have rephrased. Why were you sent to rescue me?”

  “Oh, that's not for me to say, dear boy.”

  I lunged for Scott and pinned him to the inner side of the balloon allowing long fangs to slip from behind the encased protection of my lips. A sudden commotion erupted from behind as the two who'd moved the coffin were joined by another half dozen pathetic excuses for Eternal menfolk in a tumble of posturing bodies. Scott said nothing. The poor man was terrified. But I'd had enough of being a puppet, so tightened my grip upon his neck. The drawn blood dripped over my fingernails; I licked it off, then smacked my lips. The crew approached as one in their pompous splendour. I responded by tightening my grip; Scott squealed like a pig. A small shake of my head made sure they'd got the message.

  “Now, I shall ask you again, nicely. I advise you to furnish me with a suitable degree of information. Why have you come for me?”

  Scott went limp and whimpered like a little girl. “Th…they don't want Rudolph assassinated. Vladivar is a barbarian that is kept at bay by the Rhineland. Lord Worthington wishes this to remain so. That's all I know. Lord Worthington does not deal with the likes of me and my men any more than he does something he's stood in.”

  “Are you not a captain in his service?” I edged a touch closer.

  “It's
a mere title. Mere title!” he repeated in panic.

  I'd extracted information enough times in my life to know when a man told the truth. Scott's eyes knew only fear. I released him, allowing the captain to collapse to the floor. His men were my next target. “There's a reason that governments and royalty alike have commissioned me to kill, don't make me demonstrate why.” I snarled at the frightened crew for dramatic emphasis.

  To give them their due the crewmen did not back down though I expected them to have peed their pants if I blinked.

  “Back to your jobs now. That's good, lads,” Scott interjected through a croaking voice. The relief that washed over his crew was palpable. I'd never seen grown men disappear so quickly.

  “I'm sorry, Jean,” Captain Scott spoke from his berth at my feet. “I didn't mean to insult you. Orders and all that, you know how it is.”

  “Not really.” But I offered him my hand anyway, which he took and climbed unsteadily to his feet.

  Captain Scott was not a bad man, just an idiotic coward. It took less than a minute to discern that he was to return to Britannia with me and await further orders from Lord Worthington. I'd decided in half that time that I wished for different. But the need to sleep was upon us both. Scott bid me farewell with the promise of assistance if I should require it, all I had to do was call. For some reason, I doubted that would be necessary.

  I had no desire to wake the still comatose Sunyin. So, despite the discomfort, I lay out on top of the coffin. I owed Sunyin some peace, and despite every atom of my body wishing him evicted, I did not do so. Although I knew nothing in reality of human physiology, other than them being historically weak, I felt sleep would be the best thing for him. The blood bag he shared his bed with called my name, but I still felt strong enough to cope without it. So I trusted to Scott's words, folded my arms upon my chest, and fell into a few hours of death.

  * * *

  I awoke sometime around dusk with backache but otherwise well. All was silent in my temporary residence. The flying ship ran so quiet as to be almost stalled, but my inner gyroscope knew we crossed the heavens and that the sun had set below the western horizon. Dusk was a dangerous time for an Eternal. If one awoke to a suspected sunless sky and got it wrong, one would not be around long enough to tell the tale. But the Zeppelin prove as soundly insulated against the daylight as Scott had promised. Good job, too.