The Eternals Read online

  “Simple, you say! I see it as far from that.”

  “Well, I suppose you've had longer of it than I, old man,” she giggled.

  “I'm not sure this is a time for jesting? We could be brutalised, slain at any moment, at least, I might. And there's not that long between us,” I huffed, as an afterthought.

  “I can assure you, if Chantelle gets her way, then I'll be dead long before you hit the floor. I believe the Marquis is to thank for my preservation. He thinks me a genetic miracle and has instilled the benefits of my blood into Vladivar's psyche. Just imagine, my love, an army of day-walkers.”

  “Then the last laugh would be on us,” I said.

  Linka did not answer. Instead, she looked at the bars in the door with a look of dismal resignation that drew me from my recumbent state.

  “Come on, help me up,” I ordered.

  “You are too weak.”

  “Was, too weak. There is a marked difference.”

  “Give me your arm,” she said, hoisting me up against the cell wall. “Is that better?”

  “Well, I could lie.”

  “I'll just pretend it is then.” She kissed my cheek, and I melted. “Any thoughts on how to get out of here?”

  “I'd considered praying, praying, and more praying.”

  “Praying it is, but to who?”

  “I don't think we have many if any allies, have we?”

  Linka smiled, a knowing sought of look, before our attempts at levity drew her furrowed brows to deepen. The arms we held about each other tightened of their own volition and we pulled each other close.

  * * *

  There could have been worse ways to die than in the arms of the woman I loved. I was all out of ideas and all out of hope. There was nothing I could say to offer promise, so I didn't. Those moments were like heaven, cold comfort in that darkest of places. It felt like we remained in that embrace for aeons. Then, came light.

  * * *

  “They come, my love, close your eyes,” I whispered.

  “I will never open them again,” she wept into my sleeve.

  I watched as lantern light filled the corridor through our barred window. Brighter and brighter it shone like a murder of shooting stars. Vladivar took no risks in my destruction. He sent enough guards to take down a city not one solitary man.

  I considered hiding behind the door as a key turned in the lock, but preferred spending my last seconds in Linka's arms. I would meet my fate on my feet not grovelling like a dog. That had to count for something?

  “Princess Linka, Jean, we have come for you,” said a voice so light and feminine as to be that of an angel.

  I couldn't understand it? Shielding my eyes from the intense light, I looked at those who outshone the lanterns.

  “The Nordics!” I gasped.

  “They have come to save us, my love.” Linka held me even tighter, the relief flowing from her to me. “I hoped, but could not be certain.”

  “Indeed, we have,” came a deeper voice.

  A man of such elegance and grace glided into the room that I almost bowed to him. He relieved Linka of my slumped form wrapping a strong arm around my chest.

  “We have you now, Jean. We want no part of Vladivar's madness for that is what he and his desiccated bride offer. Princess Linka was only ever our concern. I see we were right to be so.”

  “How are you going to get us out?”

  “Ah, a man of directness, I like that. Leave the getting out of here to us,” he said, but my general skepticism still prevailed.

  There were six of them, I presumed the six from the Zeppelin. They led us from the cell and into Vladivar's labyrinthine passages with an assuredness of direction I could not comprehend. One wall looked like another, even more so in the Nordics' silver glow. They pushed on with such deceptive speed it felt as though they carried me, the silver tresses of the two Nordic princesses giving flowing contrast either side of Linka's raven locks.

  When we burst from the passageways into Vladivar's packed throne room, I felt so secure as to nod a hello to my bane, who looked on with astonished fury from his throne. Chantelle sat on a wooden stool at his side in false queendom wrapped still in her black, lace wedding gown, a morbid statue. Vladivar didn't have time to shout an order as the albino princes and princesses cut a swathe through his armoured men. It was like watching a murderous ballet as the Nordics' limbs struck one assailant after another. Not for one-second was there violence, only ever great beauty. They moved with a fluidity I'd never witnessed, so fast as to blur, so slow as to be serene. They led us through a tangle of ruined bodies in a blaze of luminous, predatory perfection; I grinned as Vladivar looked on open-mouthed. The last thing I saw as we disappeared into the narrow passageway that led to the courtyard was his look of abject resignation. Through eyes even redder than his Nordic guests, he watched all he hated escape him.

  The Nordics burst into the courtyard at great pace and swept aside the few guards who obstructed them before whisking us out of the open castle gates.

  Unhooking the anchor of the passive Zeppelin, two of the princes, pale vestments flapping in the mountain breeze, hauled the ship close enough for Linka and the other Nordics to jump aboard, and then haul me in after them. The two princes jumped in after us, and in what seemed mere moments from instigation to escape, we were in the air, saved.

  Only when I gave a cursory look back whence we'd come did I see the woman who was once my sweetheart, so she thought, stood motionless in the middle of the courtyard. She observed us an impassive ghost, as a gust of wind tore the wedding veil from her grey visage to expose a crimson stain. Blood drizzled from Chantelle's exposed scimitar fangs and down her chin: she had feasted.

  She witnessed our departure toying with the silver cross around her ragged neck, the cross that was rightfully mine, until she and I could see each other no more. The tightening of slender fingers intertwined with my own showed I was not the only one who watched her go.

  Chapter Thirty

  -

  Sunlight

  “Jean.”

  “Um, what?”

  “Wake up.”

  “Why, what's happened?” I asked, sitting bolt upright. Feeling groggy for doing so, I fell back on one elbow.

  “It is rude to sleep in the presence of those who have saved your life.”

  “But, did they save my soul?”

  “That's beyond saving.”

  “Well, you're the one who'll be spending eternity with it, so it's a shared loss.”

  “I see,” Linka mused. “You may be right. What do you propose to do about it?”

  “I don't know?” I rubbed the back of my head. “How long do I have to deliberate?”

  “All eternity, I hope.”

  “Then, that gives me plenty of time to think after I've done this.” I leaned in to her knelt form and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. “It is nice to see the furrows have disappeared.”

  There came a tinkling of cleared throats from behind where I reclined upon a cushioned seat of luxurious leather upholstery. I manoeuvred my tired frame around expecting to see a vase of Linka's manufactured flowers swaying in a draught, only to be confronted by the splendour of the two Nordic princesses.

  “Good evening,” a voice spoke as of melting ice crystals warming to water.

  “Good evening,” I returned.

  “May I introduce my sister Ekatarina, and I am Narina.” Both pale angels bowed together leaving a trail of luminescent shimmer in their stead before returning to their upright positions and reabsorbing it.

  “I am, Jean,” I said in a formal manner even though it obvious they knew me. “I cannot thank you enough for your aid.”

  “It was nothing,” Narina said with a dismissive gesture.

  “It was not nothing to me, I can assure you.”

  “We could not stand idle whilst a fellow member of the Hierarchy and her betrothed faced harm.”

  I cast a startled look to Linka, who clenched her teeth and
raised her eyebrows in reply. Narina did not miss it and gave a slight nod, as one corner of her beautiful, alabaster lips upturned.

  “Did the Baltic lords escape?” I asked. “I do not recall seeing their airship during our rescue.”

  “They did. They were wise enough to leave straight after the ceremony.”

  “Why did you not leave?”

  “For Linka,” Narina's blunt answer.

  “For which I shall be eternally grateful,” she interposed.

  Narina and her sister smiled and bowed again in synchronicity.

  “May I ask where we are borne?”

  “Why, the Pole, of course!” Ekatarina spoke for the first time.

  “Then that is truly where you live,” I said, more to myself than she.

  “We do,” she answered regardless.

  “Do you not find it remote?” I offered, not knowing what else to say.

  “It is the best place for our kind,” she replied, ruby eyes blazing in the airship's dim light.

  “How do you mean?”

  “Half a year of darkness,” she said, bowing again with her sister's accompaniment.

  The pair drifted away to join their kin. The four males busied themselves by pushing and prodding at the balloon's controls in silence. Their grace of motion was unparalleled. They seemed of a different race, not an off-shoot of our own.

  A little relieved to be rid of their gaze, I raised myself with difficulty to my feet and looked out of the almost continuous window that wrapped itself around the ship. A world of snow and ice met my gaze as Linka nuzzled against my side.

  “So stark,” she offered.

  “So beautiful,” I returned, then realisation hit. “Good lord, how long was I asleep?”

  “A whole day, or thereabouts, you didn't even wake when I fed you.”

  “You should not have given me more of your blood, my love.”

  “Not mine, silly,” she giggled. “The Nordics have a supply with them.”

  “Human?”

  “Orca, they will not touch human blood.”

  “Orca, well at least I shall swim better.”

  “Perhaps?” she replied, whilst burying her head further into my shoulder.

  It was then I realised my negligence.

  “Sunyin?” I queried, fearing the answer.

  “I asked the same question to the Nordics, but they neither knew of him, nor of his whereabouts. I fear the Marquis may have escaped with our old friend. I do not recall seeing him during our extraction.”

  “Nor I. The Marquis has a lot to answer for and one day, he shall.”

  “He will not be an easy man to find.”

  “Nevertheless, I shall find him.” I thumped the window glass in frustration, which made the ship's other occupants turn and glare. Six pairs of ruby eyes cut through the darkness to blink once, twice, then return to their tasks. “I hope the other Sunyins escaped unharmed,” I added, suppressing my rage.

  “I expect Vladivar will do well to muster enough men to hunt them down.”

  “I put nothing past him, or your sister, for that matter.”

  “We can only hope, Jean.”

  “At least, I have you.” I raised Linka's emerald eyes to my own dark ones and kissed her velvet lips.

  “About time,” she laughed, once we parted.

  “About time for what?”

  “I was wondering when you'd kiss me?”

  “I've been preoccupied.”

  “Always an excuse.”

  “I am a man, we need them.”

  “Hmm!” she mused, but nuzzled back into my side.

  We stayed like that, Linka content in my arms, I equally so in watching the Polar ice drift into view before locking solid into a continuous expanse of white. Snow whipped upwards in Arctic breezes, nature in reverse, and I marvelled at its simplistic beauty. It was a peaceful realm, a blank canvass, unaltered to fit the needs of whimsical minds; I'd already fallen in love with it.

  “I think I've found my true home.”

  “You like it?” a voice materialised from behind.

  “I was just thinking aloud,” I said, and turned to see one of the Nordic princes. He stood behind me silent as a snowflake, and twice as unique. I offered him my hand which he looked at askance before realising he should take and shake it. “Jean,” I said.

  “Grella,” he returned. “You have heard the call of the ice.” He indicated with his chin, an unnecessary action considering it surrounded us.

  “I heard nothing. I just found it peaceful, very calming.”

  “That is the call.” Grella smiled, as though talking to a child. “It is tranquillity without bounds. Some people call it snowspeak.”

  “I call it relaxing,” I joked, but my host did not see the funny side of things. “Where are we headed if you do not mind me asking?” I enquired, changing the subject.

  “We are to crest the Pole and land in the city of our people.”

  “Do you all live there?” I motioned to Grella's kin.

  “There is nowhere else, only the city of Hvit.” Grella spoke in solemn reverence.

  “Hvit, I do not know this city?”

  “Only those of our race have ever been there. Our city has moved ever northwards away from the rest of the Eternal race in search of the peace the rest of you abuse. We live in a place too remote for all but ourselves to locate.”

  “Then, we are honoured,” I replied, even though I felt on the cusp of arguing I was not like those he described.

  “Yes, you are honoured. You shall be the first. Now, please excuse me, we will soon skim the day. There are things that must be prepared.” Grella nodded and moved off to the front of the craft where his brothers and sisters worked in a blur of white motion.

  “You seem tense,” Linka said slipping her hand into mine, my almost having forgot her there.

  “I don't like being labelled.”

  “They mean nothing by it. This has been their way for aeons.”

  “You're probably right.”

  “I am,” she replied and grasped my hand a little tighter.

  “I'm not sure I wish to skim the day either, or however Grella put it. I think it may be time for us to retire.”

  No sooner had the words left my mouth than it hit me.

  “Where are the coffins, Linka?”

  “There is no need for them.”

  “Then, how did we pass through the day without them?” I spoke in a sudden daze. Linka squeezed my hand again, but I was already scouring the interior of the craft with a hunter's eye.

  “You will find nothing, Jean.”

  “Do the seats convert?” I asked, as I tugged at the upholstery.

  “No, they do not,” she chuckled.

  “I…I don't understand?”

  “We do not need them, my love, we never did.”

  “What are you saying? We shall be burned to ash the moment we pass into the daylight.”

  “We shall not.”

  “How can you be sure?” I felt desperate as though I might for the first time sweat.

  “Jean.” Linka grasped me by the shoulders. “Jean!” she spoke more forcefully.

  “You do not know what you are saying. We must seek cover or it will be the end of us.”

  “Jean!” I've watched the sunrise almost every day of my life. That is why my room at the monastery was curtain-less and faced south it was what kept me going.

  I sat down as Linka fixed me with those shining jewels that were her eyes. She told the truth, and somehow I knew it before she even spoke it.

  “It is beautiful, my love. I have never seen another thing to rival it apart from when I open my eyes to you.”

  “But the legends, our instincts, they can't all be wrong?”

  “As far as I understand it things were very different in the distant past when the sun was golden not…” Linka paused. “Things have changed. You will see, my love, you will see.”

  “I cannot believe I have hidden from something tha
t would do me no harm.”

  “It is only natural for our kind to hide from the daylight. Only the Nordics and myself know better.”

  “But, why say nothing?”

  “The Nordics said nothing to give them an edge, and to a degree assist in the peace and tranquillity they've always craved. Can you imagine a world where Vladivar might roam unchecked? Where we would all be?”

  “Even further down the road to destruction.”

  “Exactly, Jean.”

  “And your reason?”

  “It was only the knowledge I'd seen the sun and survived it, the thought I might be special, that kept me alive.” Linka looked down to her feet at that.

  “You are forever special, my love. Standing in the sun will never change that.”

  Linka sighed.

  “And your mother did a very brave thing for you. I see that now. Her sacrifice guaranteed your life, and I would not be with you without her. She shall forever be my personal angel.”

  “She has always been mine.”

  “I heard the shushing of the Nordics' garments as they glided over to us.”

  “You may need these,” said Princess Ekatarina.

  I looked to the strange goggles in her hands, then to her and her kin. Each of the six wore thick ruby lenses set inside a black, rimmed housing that stood almost an inch from their faces.

  “The sun may hurt your eyes it would be best if you put these on.”

  “We will not need them,” Linka countered, standing and bowing to the six. “With your permission, may Jean and I stand at the front. I think he will like to do so.”

  “You may.” Ekatarina gestured for us to walk before them.

  Linka took my trembling hand and led me to the front of the craft. Every fibre of my being screamed not to be there, but the trust I had in her overcame all. I took my place, legs stood slightly apart, and stared out of the Zeppelin's front window, a raven before six doves.

  “Do you feel it, Jean?” came Linka's voice in my ear, but I was in another world. My terror was palpable. I'd never been so frightened in my life. The feeling it was my time to leave the plane of Eternal existence blazed throughout my mind, but the hand that grasped mine steadied me, gave me hope.