Salt of The Earth: The Fall of Barcelona

by Vlada Asta

  But today she couldn’t recognize herself. She barely had a moment of rest this night, and now she was irritated by absolutely anyone. If someone smiled at her, Gabriella’s soul would fill with anger. How could they smile if Sebastian and the others hadn’t returned yet?!

  And they should have. She had been waiting for them since early morning, looking through the window from time to time. But the streets were empty… Gabriella kept reminding herself that there was nothing wrong with a short delay, but that didn’t make her feel any better. Their mission had been dangerous to begin with!

  There was only one hope left – that they had taken a different street when they returned. Not their normal route, but that was possible.

  After thinking about it, she hurried to Ulmanas to find out if he knew anything about it. She understood that it was unsafe for them to talk, people could take it wrong. They wouldn’t be punished – but that was the first crack that could ruin their reputation. Gabriella couldn’t stay away though. There were only two people in this world she trusted – him and Sebastian, they were like brothers to her.

  Ulmanas wasn’t happy about her arrival, but not aggravated either. He probably realized what she felt.

  “They’re not here yet,” he said without waiting for her question.

  “Have they contacted the Headquarters?” Gabriella asked hopefully.

  “As far as I know, no.”

  “Why?! They should’ve been here hours ago!”

  “Keep it down, will you?” the warrior frowned, looking around them in alert. “You’ve already caused problems… They weren’t sent for a relaxing walk, it’s an intelligence mission!”

  “But they should’ve reported about it!”

  “It’s not always that easy. They could face technical problems or something else. The weather is changing, as you can see… Maybe they’re caught in a thunderstorm!”

  “I don’t like it,” she confessed.

  “Not surprised.”

  “Why am I the only one who’s worried? Why doesn’t anyone else want to know where they are?”

  “You’re not the only one, trust me. But there are rules we must abide, especially at times like this. The citizens are scared, and any hasty decision on our behalf may break what little peace we have left here.”

  “But something has to be done…” Gabriella whispered.

  “We must wait. According to the rules, such mission may go on for three days without connection. But if they don’t contact us even longer, we’ll send a rescue team for them. I’ll be in that team, I can promise you that.”

  He wanted to support her, and she was grateful for the gesture, but it didn’t make her feel any better.

  “Three days is too long… You do realize they might be dead by the time the rescue team gets to them?”

  Ulmanas became gloomier:

  “I know, and they might be dead already. It’s in God’s hands, and all we can do now it wait.”

  Chapter 3

  He wasn’t used to such awakenings. His body had always been in perfect shape, even after severe training, he had never touched any alcohol, so such morning surprises were new to him. His head was spinning, his body was overwhelmed with weakness, and his hands were pulsating with dull pain.

  It took Sebastian a couple of minutes to remember what had happened. But when he did, the remains of his drowsiness were gone in an instant.

  Opening his eyes, he discovered he was in a living room. It was old and undoubtedly abandoned, but the furniture stayed, and sheets and cushions around him were clean. Someone took his shoes off along with the leather jacket, leaving only the undershirt on; his hands were carefully bandaged and his skin was cleaned of the blood and dirt from before. In spite of feeling sick and worn out, he knew he would survive this.

  He was alone in this room, but not in the house. Sebastian could hear footsteps in the hallway, calm and relaxed. The one walking there felt no need to hide, and the warrior knew who it was.

  He looked around to discover that his sword, knives and other weapons were gone. But there was a clean uniform waiting for him on one of the chairs – a new one, probably from the patrol squad that used to live here.

  The footsteps sounded closer, and soon the young woman from the cathedral entered the room; she was holding a large cup in her hands. Sebastian tried to get up, but his body was against it, and each movement brought sharp pain to his wounds.

  “Stay still,” the woman told him. “You were on the edge when I brought you here. If your wounds open again, you will die.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’m saving you,” she replied nonchalantly. “And you are ungrateful. Here, drink this.”

  She put the cup by the bed where he lied. The liquid inside it looked and smelled like broth, but Sebastian couldn’t trust anything in this situation.

  “I don’t know how to cook, but in the house where humans lived there were instructions about it,” she explained. “It’s actually very simple: you take water, put a little cube in it, heat it, and it’s done. I’m sorry, but it’s the best I can do.”

  “I’m not going to drink it.”

  “Why?” she asked, puzzled, and then shifted her gaze to his bandaged hands. “Oh yeah, you can’t even hold that cup! Let me help you…”

  “Stay away from me! If you want to kill me, just do it, but I’m not going to carry any infection to the city!”

  He had heard about Hente infecting humans with their blood before. Sebastian hadn’t encountered it personally, but… this woman was obviously part of some unknown subspecies, anything could be expected from her.

  She took a couple of steps back and stood there, folding her hands over her chest.

  “Do you realize I could’ve killed you there? Or let you die when Tsiara’s pet was planning to tear your heart out?”

  “You saved me for a reason. You need me for something, but I’m not going to be part of it!”

  “I actually need you for something,” the woman nodded. “But it’s not going to harm humans. I want to help you!”

  She was talking his language easily and fluently, and only her sharp fangs influenced her pronunciation a bit, giving her a strange accent. Sebastian had never been told about such Hente! He had studied all subspecies carefully, even the ones that lived far from New Vatican. The chronicles told him that some of these creatures could speak, but it was distorted and brief speech, like the one the pack’s leader used. There wasn’t even a theory or a rumor about the predators being able to talk like she did.

  At the same time, Hente were smart and cunning, anything could be expected from them.

  “Listen, I’m sorry about your friends,” she said. “I regret that I wasn’t able to help them. It wasn’t intentional, and I have nothing to do with the ones who attacked you.”

  “Who the hell are you?” he repeated.

  “I am Aeterni from the Teresa Clan,” she smiled broadly, giving him a better look at her fangs. Despite their small size, they were quite impressive. “Nice to meet you! Can I know your name?”

  He wasn’t sure whether to answer or not. Sebastian found himself in a totally surreal situation, no-one prepared him for this! He could only rely on his intuition – which told him there had to be a reason why he had survived the cathedral massacre.

  “I’m Sebastian… Brother Sebastian.”

  “I know that Brother is not a name. See, I know some things! You are the clergy united by common faith. You’re pretty good at fighting… But it’s not what we should be discussing now. You need to recover, and I’ll help you.”

  He didn’t want to accept help even from a human woman, not to mention a predator, from the species he hated with all his heart. But she wasn’t asking him anything. She came closer to him, lifted him by the shoulders carefully and assisted him in drinking the broth from the cup. Her thin arms possessed the kind of strength even a man would be jealous of.

  She was as strong as the rest of her kind. And equally dang
erous.

  The hot drink actually made him feel better, but he wasn’t going to admit that. Sebastian still wasn’t sure it was not some kind of plot to turn him into a walking weapon against other humans.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on now?” he asked tiredly. “And please, don’t touch me.”

  “Well, you’re certainly not the most grateful guy around!” Aeterni sighed. “Here is what’s going on: my clan sent me here to make a deal with humans. But it’s hard to approach you, you start throwing knives without listening! I was wandering through the peninsula, trying to find a way to start those negotiations. Suddenly I felt the presence of Tsiara’s kids, came here and found you. I thought that helping you might be a good start!”

  Judging by her voice, she believed she explained everything with that story and was very pleased with herself. But Sebastian was even more confused than before.

  “Who is Tsiara? How did you get to New Vatican?”

  “Oh, I forgot you know nothing about the Clans at all… You prefer to call us species! Well, there are actually no species or subspecies among Hente. There are Clans. Each Clan consists of the children of the same Mother, that’s why they look like each other, but don’t look like everyone else.”

  He could easily claim she was lying if it weren’t for one important factor: humans already knew that Hente were breeding through their queens. There was a sole large female in each pack – like among ants or bees. However, it was considered there were a few queens in each subspecies, nobody could’ve guessed they only had one!

  Everything that humans knew about Hente was based on theories and observations. They had never talked to these creatures… But right now Sebastian was facing a priceless source of information, which wasn’t going to hide anything.

  “So there’s a single Mother that maintains the whole population?” he asked in disbelief.

  “Yeah…”

  “But there are thousands of Hente in each subspecies!”

  “Well, we’ve existed for centuries, hundreds of us are born each year, and we don’t die of natural causes,” she explained. “That gives us a chance to create an army. But if you think our Mother gives birth like a human woman, you’ve very wrong. She creates warriors that are ready for hunt from day one. They leave her on the day of their birth in search of food. The more food Mother gets, the more warriors her Clan has, it’s like a never-ending circle. All children are connected to their Mother from birth to death, they carry her strength and will.”

  The more she talked, the more Sebastian could understand. He had always been puzzled by the fact Hente demonstrated such perfect organization with no apparent leader among them, how they communicated without making a sound, what kept them together, why different species normally didn’t get along.

  At the same time, he was in no hurry to trust Aeterni. Even if she told him the truth, that didn’t prove she meant well for humanity.

  “Why did you come here?”

  “Because my Mother wanted it,” she shrugged. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “Okay, but why does she want it?”

  “Because working with humans can be useful to us. We’re cannibals.”

  “You’re… what?”

  “Cannibals,” Aeterni repeated calmly. “We don’t eat humans, we eat other Hente.”

  “How’s that possible?”

  “That’s evolution. Humans are safely locked in their countries, you have little idea of what is happening in the outer world – the part of it that you call the wild lands. And the planet is dying! You see, most clans eat not only humans, but all living creatures. The fauna is disappearing, natural balance is broken. Earth suffered when you guys were the top of food chain, but with Hente things became worse. That’s why my Clan is different. Each warrior in it is born to feed on new kind of food – coming from other Clans.”

  “Then why do you need humans?”

  Sebastian wasn’t thinking about whether she was sincere or not. He was simply trying to picture the world Aeterni was talking about.

  “Because it takes time for a Clan to develop,” she answered. “We’re more complicated than other Hente, and it’s harder for our Mother to create us. To make us, she uses the bodies of the human warriors that died in battles. For instance, creating my body demanded ten humans and five years of Mother’s work. But I’m different from any Hente you saw. I have my own personality, and even though I’m connected to my Mother, I can make my own decisions. There are less than one hundred of us so far, and other Hente don’t like us, which is predictable. That’s why it’s convenient for us to unite with humans. We can sense other Hente at large distance, we track them and kill them, and you can cover our back and guard us when we’re resting. Isn’t that a good option?”

  “Your words contradict the reality we are used to,” Sebastian noted. “We’ve been taught differently…”

  “Not my fault that you made up your own version and believed it. You saw me kill other Hente. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

  It actually meant a lot. Not the killing itself – if they were part of a collective mind, they could sacrifice a few beasts easily in order to deceive Sebastian. Another thing meant more to him: the last Hente left in the cathedral was afraid of Aeterni. It didn’t sacrifice itself willingly, it wanted to escape, and she didn’t let it.

  “I don’t know if I can believe you…”

  “You’re not even trying to!”

  “It’s not about me!” Sebastian snapped back. “You want me to lead you to Barcelona, right?”

  “Any big city would do. I need to talk to your bosses.”

  “So Barcelona it is. But innocent people may suffer because of it! And because of me.”

  “Sounds too harsh – I know you have water protection installed in your cities, you can kill me in a matter of seconds!”

  “How do I know salt water has any effect on you? You’re a new breed! Maybe you’re an invincible mutant, and I can’t bring such a threat to humans!”

  “If I was that cool, I’d attack the city without you,” Aeterni argued. “I knew it was going to be difficult… Fine, wait here.”

  She left the room only to return a minute later. Aeterni brought his weapons, the sword and five knives, and put them on the table.

  “Watch closely, Sebastian, I’m not going to do that ever again.”

  She brought her finger to the sword’s edge and pressed slowly. A drop of salt solution appeared from the metal, turning her skin marred in mere seconds. Aeterni pulled her hand back, shaking it, and winced in pain.

  “You see?” She demonstrated him an ugly wound that looked a lot like a burn. “Salt affects me the same way it does other Hente.”

  Sebastian felt a sting of guilt at seeing her in pain, but ignored that feeling. She wasn’t human, so she didn’t deserve pity!

  What should he do? Deny her? He could do that, he still wasn’t afraid to die. But that wasn’t the point! He was worried he was robbing the humanity of a new chance to survive – the one they really needed.

  However, it could be a plot, a great scheme designed by Hente…

  “Even if I bring you to Barcelona, they might not want to talk to you,” he pointed out. “They can kill you the moment you step onto the streets.”

  “Yep, that’s an option.”

  “Aren’t you afraid?”

  “Well…” Aeterni looked thoughtful. “If I die, all the knowledge I’ve gathered will pass to my Mother, and our Clan won’t come here anymore, so there’s no risk to the Clan. But I as a separate personality will cease to exist. I wouldn’t want that to happen! At the same time, I know that something has to change in this world. It would be great to be the source of those changes, and I decided to try.”

  Negotiations… Sebastian read that when Hente had first appeared, humans tried negotiating with them. At the dusk of the old world many still believed there was a peaceful way out – but they failed. Hente just wouldn’t talk to them. That was where the belie
f they weren’t capable of it came from.

  And here she was in front of him, a living proof to at least part of the old books being wrong.

  He had thought about it more than once – about separate battles and victories not being able to change anything on the global scale. What if this cooperation worked? What if it would usher a new era?

  He knew for sure what would happen if he didn’t help Aeterni – nothing. Things would remain the way they were. But if they made this new union… the future would become unpredictable!

  “Let’s assume you’re not lying to me…” he started carefully.

  “I am not!”

  “I said, let’s assume that! I can’t imagine how you can harm the city, that’s why I’m still talking to you. But I don’t trust you.”

  Aeterni moved closer and went down on her knees in front of his bed, so their eyes could be on the same level. Looking into that solid black abyss, Sebastian had no idea what to expect – help or aggression? Or a quick death, if he disappointed her?

  But she didn’t touch him. She said:

  “You’re a clergyman, aren’t you supposed to believe? I’m asking for some faith here. I swear that I will never under any circumstance harm you. Sadly, I have no way to prove it now. You choose whether to believe it or not, but I will keep that promise.”

  “Why are you promising this only to me?” Sebastian whispered, unable to look away from her eyes. He had never seen the eyes of a Hente so close! “Why can’t you promise not to harm all humans? That would be more impressive!”

  “I don’t want to impress you, I’m telling the truth. I can’t promise not to harm any human at all, because I won’t keep it. Humans are too different. I feel that you are a proud warrior… I saw you looking into the face of death while keeping your head high. You can’t be my enemy after that. But if I meet people who are less honest, I will have to harm them. All I want is to talk to your kind though.”

  Inner contradictions still tortured him, and he was far from being confident about anything, but he had to make some decision. He was tired of doubting everything.

  “Okay,” Sebastian finally announced. “I will contact my leaders and tell them about you. They will decide whether to negotiate with you or not. I’ll lead you to the city if they allow it. But I can’t make any promises.”