Arcene & the Blue Castle

by Al K. Line

  But it would be decades until Leel was properly grown — she was part of a breeding program that had been going on for centuries so the dogs lived as long as the average human. Leel was just a puppy really, a perpetual child, just like Arcene. The difference being that Arcene had done it to herself, controlled her body chemistry to lock her physical age at fifteen — her response to events that would haunt her forever.

  It brought a smile to her face just thinking of the final act of revenge, but Arcene had paid a terrible price for the violation of her body: she had Awoken and the first thing she had done was ensure that she would never become a grown woman.

  Now she could never have another child as her body had stopped producing eggs. Although her actual age was over twenty, because of the chemical balance she had locked into place it meant that she would in many ways always remain a fifteen-year-old in spirit as well as body. She didn't mind, it meant she was always full of energy and perpetually inquisitive, just as she had always been. Some would call it naughty; Arcene liked to think of it more as just being curious.

  She smiled at the thought of her child, but had to admit she was relishing her freedom.

  "Come on, we've got an adventure waiting for us. Now, what shall we hunt for lunch?"

  Woof.

  Arcene had been away from The Commorancy for three days, and found she adjusted very well to a way of life she hadn't lived for many years. Now that she came to think about it, she had been living in The Commorancy for more than half her life, only leaving to track down the man responsible for taking the already dangerously low numbers of the remaining population known as Whole: those undamaged by The Lethargy.

  The result had been terrible, their minds lost, Arcene taken advantage of, her baby stolen.

  That was seven years ago and she had stayed home ever since, never having time to be bored with her boy to care for and the crazy Commorancy to explore.

  But she had missed the call of the wild, so when the opportunity presented itself she grasped it eagerly with her forever-young hands and set off with nothing but her sword, backpack, some water, enough food for a day, and her best friend apart from Letje: Leel. Two crazy travelers off on an adventure.

  So far nothing much had happened, just the panther and a "misunderstanding" due to some over-enthusiastic hunting of rabbits from Leel: the prize was devoured rather greedily before Arcene had the chance to cook it. With a few choice words, Leel was sent to look for more, this time coming back with three fully-grown rabbits held delicately in her mouth, not a mark on them.

  As they walked, reveling in the open spaces, Arcene's mind drifted with the breeze, recalling how it used to be when she was little, dirty, unkempt and almost feral. How different she was now, yet she knew at the same time the crazy child still dominated.

  Did she regret halting the aging process? A little; sometimes. But it was for the best. Most men would ignore her now — even with the population so low the majority were still interested in women, not girls.

  What she regretted, if just a little, was knowing that her mind would never develop into that of an adult, not properly. With a static body came hormonal levels that remained those of a juvenile too. She would never mature into a woman physically or mentally. Her innocence was preserved, but at a cost.

  She didn't really mind, she enjoyed being carefree and full of the vitality of youth. If she was to live maybe for thousands of years, which was possible for the Awoken — those who somehow came to understand the world on a deeper level, could control their bodies on demand, even enter and control the minds of animals, see the future, walk through the gaps in time if truly gifted — then what better way to experience it all than through wide-open and still partially innocent eyes?

  No, not a child. She mustn't think of herself that way. Fifteen meant she was almost an adult anyway, but her life experience had been so limited during her true childhood that deep down she knew she was no woman, never would be.

  It felt wonderful — it gave her an excuse to be mischievous.

  Arcene smiled at that. Oh, the things she had done, the trouble she'd got herself into over the years. It was a long list. The weaponized military exoskeleton she'd been trapped in and nearly killed Letje with was one incident that came to mind.

  Now here she was, just her, Leel and mother nature. It was nice to be alone. She missed her son but knew he'd be fine, and why shouldn't a young mother have a little break from parental duties and go off exploring for a while? It wasn't like time was precious, there was plenty to go around, and then some.

  She'd been dropped off by Fasolt, the oldest permanent occupant of her home, in the middle of what was once called England, although Arcene had no notion of what that really meant or where the boundary was — such things were once important, not any longer.

  The trip had been exciting, the hot air balloon exhilarating, marred only by Fasolt's dreadlocks that kept whipping in the wind, hitting her in the face like she was being flayed, and his bum. Ugh, his horrible bony bum that kept catching her attention every time he bent to do something.

  Not to mention his willy. Why he refused to ever wear clothes was beyond her, but he was just stuck in his ways she guessed. Still, who wants to spent their time staring at a man's horrid willy when the views were so breathtaking? So she made the most of it, even though Fasolt spent most of the time screaming and saying he would never, even if he lived to be five thousand years old, go in a hot air balloon again.

  When they landed Arcene reminded him he still had to make the trip back, at which point she saw fear in his eyes for the first time, but he still left in it, not wanting to leave it behind as that wouldn't be right.

  Once her and Leel were alone it took only a few hours for it to feel like she'd never been away from what she felt to be her country. The air felt different: freer, just like her spirits. Leel loved it too, and for the first day they did little but run and fall over in the grass, play games and hunt for food.

  Arcene set a simple routine in place, just so she knew what to do each day, and it comprised waking in the morning, eating as much as possible for breakfast, then traveling wherever the mood took her. The main thing was to walk, to see things, have adventures.

  She tried to stem the guilt about leaving her child behind, something she worryingly found all too easy for long stretches at a time.

  Was that bad? She wasn't sure.

  Throughout the morning the weather turned very hot, the summer sky clear and bright, the stubby grass on the rough terrain replaced by verdant lush pastures full of insects and flowers as they found themselves on a large plain extending in front of them for what seemed like miles.

  Bordering the open space were large swathes of forest — much like in the rest of the country the trees had dominated now farming no longer happened and the cities, towns and villages slowly crumbled to dust. Arcene had been told of how things used to be, how people lived, what the country looked like, but she had never experienced any of that, and found it all very hard to believe. Who would want to live in a city where there were endless people getting in your way, it was always bright and noisy, and all you could smell were foul fumes coming from cars? Those people must have been crazy. And that whole work thing, well that just sounded ridiculous.

  Marcus had told her how everything worked, about banks and money and having to do jobs you hated just to pay for somewhere to live and then you had to pay for a car to get to your job which meant you were stuck doing it until you were old and then you died. Ugh, The Lethargy sounded better than that.

  Why didn't people just go live in the woods and hunt? It sounded too far-fetched to be remotely credible.

  She was glad she hadn't lived then. She knew she would have gone mad in an instant. It sounded insane. All Arcene knew was the tattered remains of civilization, where most buildings had long ago collapsed and the towns and cities were deserted, empty of everything apart from the wildlife and the plants and trees that were reclaiming that which man had lost
.

  Most of the country was the same: the asphalt gone, the concrete crumbled. She could only guess at the truth of living in such places as watching movies didn't really give her the right sense of it once being a reality, just a better idea of what it had been like — it was fun to watch but she wouldn't have wanted to have lived like that.

  Thoughts continued to drift by as they walked through lush meadows where daisies and all manner of pretty plants parted in their wake, the bees returning to their feeding as soon as they were past.

  Little birds flew out of the grass, startled by their presence, calling angrily from the air before returning to whatever it was they were doing in the secrecy of the undergrowth. Arcene stopped at a particularly bleached flower head as it was almost the same color as her own hair: silver. It was why she was named Arcene the moment her mother set eyes on her, meaning silver in French. At the center of the flower was a bright pink dome, full of tiny stamen that sparkled beautifully in the sunshine. Arcene picked it on a long stalk and placed the bloom carefully behind her ear. Once she never even contemplated trying to look pretty, but age had brought with it more of an interest in such things, even if it was solely for her own amusement.

  "Pretty. What do you think Leel?"

  Leel didn't seem that interested so Arcene picked another and tried to place it through Leel's collar, a belt with a nice thick brass buckle. Arcene had painted the leather red but it had peeled back to brown years ago.

  "Hey! Suit yourself, don't look pretty like me then." Leel finished devouring the flower then looked expectantly at Arcene. "No, we don't eat flowers, we eat proper food."

  Arcene's belly rumbled at the mention of food — it was never long before her thoughts returned to that most important of subjects.

  Woof?

  "Let's keep going and see what we can find on the way, okay? Keep your eyes open for something tasty and I'll cook what you catch. Good doggie."

  Leel bounded off in front, swallowed up by the lush meadow, but every now and then Arcene caught sight of a tail or Leel would jump up in the air to check where she was and see if there was anything worth chasing.

  Enjoying the fragrance and the colors, they eventually found themselves at the edge of the meadow. Stretching out in front of them was something really, really cool.

  Look at that. Seems like things just got interesting.

  "Leel, wait." It was too late.

  Arcene ran after her. It was like chasing a horse, a fast one. Even with the backpack strapped to Leel she was just as fast. If anything she seemed to be quicker, as if the load gave her an important mission to be on, so she ran harder, leaped higher, barked louder too.

  "Wait up. Stupid dog."

  The strange sight that greeted Arcene was not something wholly unique to her. She'd seen castles before, lots of them, but she had been younger then, less interested in exploring than finding food and shelter. The adventures she'd had were a byproduct of that, but this was rather different. For a start it was painted blue, the whole thing, the massive walls, the main castle itself, sat high on a small hill with the walls circling beneath it. Blue, all blue.

  What's all this about then? That's a lot of paint, wouldn't want that job. No way.

  Leel was off in front, skipping about, running back and forth then left to right, as if trying to gather the courage to approach the large edifice. It seemed odd to Arcene that Leel, normally quicker to get into trouble than her, acted so reticent at what was, after all, just a crudely painted wall. Arcene moved out of the wild flowers to where the edge of the meadow suddenly gave way to stunted grass, as if it were partitioned. But there was no fence Arcene could see, although there were animals. Sheep!

  Ah, that's what she's excited about. She's never seen them before. But why isn't she attacking them? Normally she'd be— "Ow! Ow, ow, ow."

  Arcene jumped back in fright, her body tingling all over from the shock.

  That's weird.

  Scanning for danger she couldn't see anyone, and checking her body it didn't appear as if she'd been shot at with a dart or any other kind of missile. Looking down for a clue was fruitless too: the ground was just short grass, the high meadow a few paces behind. Leel continued to act strange though, running from left to right at the edge of the grass, whining quietly as if it would help.

  "Here Leel, good girl."

  Leel trotted over and nudged Arcene's hand insistently until she got a head rub, then sat down happily on Arcene's left side — she'd learned just how dangerous and somewhat flighty Arcene got with her sword, pulling it out if she thought she heard something, before slicing dangerously through the air, liable to take an ear off if Leel wasn't careful.

  Why's it blue?

  Arcene stepped forward again.

  "Ow ow ow!" She jumped back and turned to catch her attacker, but there was nobody around. There never was, the country was almost empty. Leel stayed put, clearly sensing whatever it was that was doing the shocking.

  "Well, that explains why the sheep don't run away, and why the meadow behind us is so long. Come on Leel, we're not welcome here."

  Arcene knew that if somebody had buried a cable to keep the animals in, it was just as likely they wanted people kept out, and besides, whoever would go to the trouble of painting a huge castle bright blue was probably a bit nutty anyway, so although it might lead to all kinds of great adventures it was probably best to just leave them to it and find fun somewhere else.

  Shame though, it looked like a cool castle.

  The castle proper was set on top of a high mound, more a small hill. Just like the outer walls, the castle was daubed bright blue, with short grass circling it, interspersed with low drystone walls and swathes of what appeared to be crops at various stages of readiness. Beneath it, and skirting the base of the hill, was a high wall, solid, thick, huge buttresses jutting out and going beneath water circling the whole enclosure. It was a moat. Arcene had read about them in the books she'd eagerly devoured once able to read — what a frustrating, yet finally rewarding experience that had been. It was the one time Letje had really lost her temper with her, well the second actually, or maybe the third. Fourth?

  On Arcene's side of the moat was just the grass and the sheep, the meadow behind her. It seemed to be the same all around the hill, although there were patches of trees coming right up close to the grass in a few places, but mostly the trees were thin, just a few, meadow stretching some distance away from the defenses in all directions.

  "Let's go for a walk around a bit of it Leel, no point turning back. But we aren't welcome, so behave. We'll just wander a little way, then go over there." Arcene pointed to the north where a large expanse of forest dominated. This was where she was heading, for no other reason than once upon a time there was a large city on the other side of the hills the trees hid. Now and then cities were fun to visit, even though she definitely wouldn't want to live in one.

  Leel waggled her floppy ears in agreement and walked in step with Arcene as they skirted the fortified castle, both staring with greedy eyes at the sheep, mouths watering, stomachs grumbling in unison. Arcene tried to ignore the nagging at the back of her mind, saying: "Go on, it's just a little electric shock. Go, just take one sheep, nobody will mind, there's plenty there."

  No, naughty stomach, you be quiet. That's stealing, and I don't steal now... Much. Arcene eyed the sheep once more, shook her hair, pigtails thumping against her back, and tried to avert her eyes. All she saw were walking chops; her stomach growled in anger at the missed opportunity.

  After ten minutes of walking, Arcene realized she had underestimated the size of the castle and its moat. It was as if she was walking on the spot, the scenery unchanged. It was just grass, meadow, the dark moat water reflecting the flaking blue walls, and the sight of the towering castle itself.

  This really would have taken an awful lot of paint.

  Woof. Leel bounded ahead.

  Something had taken her interest, but to Arcene everything looked the same. Ar
cene picked up the pace, not wanting to lose Leel — who had a terrible habit of disappearing for an hour or so at a time, coming back frantic, whining, tail between her legs, completely out of breath and in a panic. Arcene had often been tempted to slip into the dog's mind to join in on the fun, but held herself back as it felt too much like snooping on a child reveling in her freedom.

  "Daft dog couldn't find her own tail," muttered Arcene as she ran. She refrained from shouting however, somehow it didn't seem like the right thing to do, as if she was being watched. Like the castle itself was spying on her.

  "What are you doing, you silly girl?" Leel was just sat, head craning forward, staring at the castle. "Oh." It was a drawbridge, raised but at least it was a feature in the otherwise blank walls. There were large holes high in the wall where Arcene could see thick chains that would control the rise and descent of the bridge. Ugly and weather-worn gargoyles sat on top of the openings, silent sentries guarding against marauders. The underside of the bridge was black with thick mold, so Arcene assumed that it must be lowered quite often, the damp from the moat causing all manner of strange things to breed on the thick planks.

  Not today though, today the bridge was firmly closed. No visitors welcome.

  On their side of the water was a ramp rising from the earth at quite a steep angle, reinforced on the sides with the same stone that made up the castle itself, except these were natural stone color, not the peeling paintwork that someone who really, really liked blue had splashed over everything else.

  "Well, we can't go in that way. Come on Leel, I don't think this is a very friendly place. And anyway we haven't found lunch yet. You haven't," accused Arcene.

  Leel lowered her head in shame, and let out a little whimper before lifting a paw up high, almost knocking Arcene over when it landed on her shoulder.

  "Hey! Be careful. I've told you before, you've got to be gentle. You're quite big you know; normal dogs would fit in your mouth."