Salt of The Earth: The Fall of Barcelona

by Vlada Asta

  That was the first thing Sebastian realized upon waking up. The second discovery was a foreign weight on his chest, alive and warm. Opening his eyes, he saw tangled black locks, her head resting on his shoulder and her arm thrown over his chest.

  He remembered everything in that instant. The way he was trying to recover under the cool shower, fighting the desires that could have him thrown out of the Church. Then she appeared – and he just lost it. Everything else was hazy, but he remembered the burning, overwhelming pleasure and… the feeling of freedom. He had never been so free in his life!

  Now she was sleeping beside him in his bed. He didn’t even know she could sleep like this! In the cell of a monastery where women weren’t allowed to enter. Her very presence here was a mortal sin, and the thing that they did… unforgiveable.

  The feeling of happiness he woke up with was gone without trace, changed by fear. Sebastian wasn’t afraid of an official punishment: what could they do to him? Beat him, appoint some lashes? He could handle this, he had never been afraid of pain. Could they kill him? Death was an easy way out of this hell!

  He was more concerned about his own soul now. He committed something he believed impossible. Sebastian ignored most of the church prohibitions, but that was too much even for him.

  He had been taught to live differently. The rule he broke that night was one of the main ones. A crime against everyone and everything… starting with his soul.

  Sebastian knew why he had done this – or rather, what argument his mind used to push him into this. He remembered what he had been whispering to her in the moments of passion. The words that burned inside his soul, he just had to let them out… And that feeling still lived inside of him! But… how? How could that be possible?

  Nobody could love a Hente. He hated the whole species, his parents died because of it, it brought so much pain to human kind! And he didn’t even trust Aeterni when he first met her. How could his doubts be replaced by… this?

  She had done something to him. She had to. She hypnotized him, poisoned him, controlled him… Alberta Laas used to be a normal human, and what had those Hente done to her? She turned into a monster because of some parasite!

  What if Aeterni was doing something similar to him? Her Clan was special, and nobody knew how great their powers were!

  The more he thought about it, the easier it was to believe. It made sense! She burst into his life, seduced him, touched his soul. She didn’t save Gabriella, though she could’ve done that! She wanted to make him weak through this pain, to break him. And she succeeded.

  The question was – why? It was clear that she wanted to spend a night with him. But why did she need it so bad? Sebastian didn’t feel any changes in his mind or body; if she had controlled his will, he wouldn’t have been able to think now! But he knew he loved her, and he wouldn’t be able to hurt her, ever. Was that her goal?

  Or…

  He suddenly remembered that Alberta was infected by her lover. The way of contamination was clear since the parasite was disguised as her unborn baby. It wouldn’t be the same for Sebastian, naturally, but Aeterni could do something similar. She made his body feel something new, blinded him with pleasure, and at that moment he surely wouldn’t feel any pain. It was the best moment to infect him, and no-one even expected that, she was the city’s hero!

  He had to check it. Sebastian couldn’t stay with her for a moment without knowing the truth. Luckily, there was a way to test his theory: a special scanner kept in the monastery. It was designed to examine the warriors who had returned from dangerous missions, and any member of the Church could use it.

  Being careful not to wake Aeterni, Sebastian moved out of the bed. He didn’t want her to know. There was still a tiny chance she wasn’t trying to infect him with anything… though it was unlikely. She used his weakness too perfectly! Plus, if she learned he was planning this test, she would try to stop him, and that was dangerous.

  He got dressed and left the room. The monastery was quiet, most of the Brothers were asleep at this hour, while some of them had already left for their shift. It was the best time to do what he wanted.

  He left the living quarters of the building, crossed the inner yard and entered the training wing. It was empty in the morning, just like the room with the scanner. It wasn’t needed, since no squads hunted around Barcelona, the Hente were gone from those lands…

  He closed the door, took off his clothes, just like the instructions demanded, and turned the machine on. Sebastian could still feel her touch on his skin, her smell clung to him. It made him feel good – and humiliated, because he had succumbed to this feeling so deeply.

  Sebastian had no idea what he was going to do if he found a parasite inside his body. So far, he just had to know for sure. He felt that if she truly infected him, the love for her would vanish on its own.

  As soon as he walked into the capsule, it was filled with water steam. Sebastian knew it was salty, but he didn’t feel any pain apart from a light sting in his eyes. However, that didn’t prove anything if the parasite was inside of him – the one inside Alberta was protected from the outer world.

  The scanner started working, and Sebastian had to wait patiently. He felt like it was taking too long, and he had to use all of his willpower to stand still.

  Finally a sound signal identified that the process was over. Under normal circumstance, the result was to be announced by the assistant monitoring the screen. But since Sebastian didn’t call anyone for help, he checked it himself.

  There was no sign of foreign presence in his body. Inside or outside – and that scanner was designed to sense the Hente blood or even ashes that got into a warrior’s body. Sebastian had no Hente cells in him. The computer confirmed he was in perfect health with no threat suspected.

  And he was ready to believe he was lucky until he heard her voice.

  “So that’s how it is…”

  Sebastian turned to the door and saw her standing there. She was wearing her dress from yesterday’s party, even though it was torn now, her hair was still disheveled, and her face clean of any make-up she had been wearing the night before.

  Few people could read any emotions in her black eyes, but Sebastian was good at it. And now he recognized her reproach – and pain. The kind that could be brought only by betrayal.

  “Aeterni…”

  “Don’t say anything,” she interrupted. “You know, your words have no meaning… Things you’re doing contradict the words you’re saying.”

  “You got it all wrong…”

  “I understand everything better than you think. You thought I could do this to you… to anyone! You don’t know me. That’s not love.”

  “Wait!”

  If she was a human, she’d be crying and screaming. But Aeterni appeared emotionless, and her voice sounded even. In that situation, it was worse than any tantrum…

  “There’s nothing to wait for. I came here to learn more about human nature. I’m learning it every day. Thank you for the lesson.”

  She turned around and left the room. Sebastian wanted to follow her immediately, but he had to get dressed first. He threw his clothes on as quickly as he could, but he was late nevertheless. When he ran out into the inner yard, Aeterni was nowhere to be seen.

  ***

  “Soon we will all be replaced by hente,” Arthur yawned. “And we’ll be serving them. You’ll see!”

  Miguel didn’t think so, but he didn’t feel like arguing. He had already learned that arguing with his partner was all but useless. Arthur enjoyed the process, especially if he could turn everything into a scandal. And the result always remained the same: both sides kept their original opinion.

  Personally, Miguel didn’t think that the union with the Hente was a bad thing. He talked to his friends from Barcelona, and all of them praised that huntress. What was her name… Aeterni, as far as he remembered. If she was doing a good deed, who cared about her origin?

  But Arthur just wouldn’t shut up:
>
  “I’m telling you, it’s all one big distraction! Look at us, we are the kind Hente, we came to save you! No, those creatures have some nasty plan!”

  “There are no “they” out there,” Miguel reminded. “She’s alone…”

  “Her Clan will soon follow! They keep to themselves, always!”

  “We used to believe they lived in packs, she’s the one who told us about Clans…”

  He didn’t want to object, but the things Arthur was saying were so ridiculous he couldn’t stay silent. Miguel realized it was just another strategy to drag him into the argument, but it was already too late: his partner was inspired by his reply.

  “You think they can’t win this war peacefully? They can! First one of them shows up, then she brings friends, and finally, we’re out of the game! What are you going to say to this?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Come on! Continue if you started!”

  “I didn’t…”

  Miguel didn’t have the time to continue, he was interrupted by the sound of alarm.

  It was rare, and it actually scared them. They were monitoring one of the safest parts of the border, so close to the sea they could see the waves from the roof of the building. Hente didn’t come here, they normally broke to the peninsula through Toulouse. Miguel had never fought them personally, the protection system was enough to scare them away.

  But now this system was damaged, which caused the alarm to go off. There were no training alarms here, everything was real, and the computer showed them the spot where the pipes became blocked.

  “Bad timing,” Arthur grumbled.

  “Aren’t you afraid?”

  “Nah, I think a tree fell over those pipes, or something like that. Let’s check it out, and then we can get back to our argument.”

  Miguel also wanted to believe that there was no real problem out there, and dealing with it would be easy. But he doubted things were truly that simple. The system they were working with was extremely important: those pipes supplied the water to the control points at the border, including Toulouse. Basically, it was the main lock on the gates of the peninsula!

  Sure, the system had many supporting pipes, but the situation was still serious.

  “Don’t you think we should inform someone about it?” Miguel asked.

  “No way! What’s the point of informing them about everything? We can deal with it ourselves!”

  Arthur was older, he spent more years working here. The seduction of believing him was too great – because that would put all the responsibility on his shoulders.

  The damaged spot wasn’t too far from their headquarters. Miguel could see there were no trees there from afar – growing or fallen. There was no movement there either, and the situation was becoming more and more confusing.

  But that confusion didn’t last long. As soon as they left the car and walked to the pipe, everything became clear.

  The metal was gnawed through, six feet of the pipe were completely destroyed, with small pieces of it lying over the perimeter. But those freaks had never eaten metal before! At least, Miguel hadn’t heard about it.

  There was no doubt about who was behind this. Only the Hente’s fangs were strong enough to tear iron like paper. Beside the pipe that was still leaking with salt water the ground was covered in black ashes. Those creatures were hurt, they watched their bodies fall apart, but they didn’t stop!

  “Little bastards,” Arthur spit on the ground, keeping his gun ready. “They’re smart! They’re wild, but there’s some brain in those ugly heads!”

  “Why did they do this?”

  “Vengeance, I guess. They know those pipes bring the salt to the border where they are destroyed. They’ve always been a pain in the ass!”

  “But why did they break the pipe instead of attacking us?” Miguel inquired. “It would’ve been more logical if they were seeking revenge!”

  “Yeah, right! Seems like they’re smarter than you if you really think so. If they tried to get to us, they’d get a salt bullet right between their eyes! And here they simply burned their maws a little, giving us a whole lot of work!”

  “We need to call a repair team from Toulouse.”

  It was the only right decision. That was taught to them at the Seminary, that was part of the rules hanging on the wall in the headquarters. Miguel didn’t even see any other options!

  But his partner had a different opinion:

  “No way!”

  “What do you mean – no way?”

  “Calling a repair team means tons of paperwork and a possible punishment for us!”

  “What punishment? Why? We didn’t know those Hente would do this! This part of the pipe can’t be seen from the base!”

  “You won’t prove that to anyone!” Arthur announced. “It’s easier to deal with it ourselves and pretend that nothing happened.”

  Miguel looked at the twisted metal in disbelief.

  “What are we going to do about it?”

  “It’s easy! We’ll block the water, cut this part of the pipe off and put a new one here. We’ll do it in a day, and calling a repair team would take us weeks of filing the papers!”

  “Can we do that?”

  “Why not? There are extra pipes and all the necessary equipment back at the headquarters…”

  “That’s not what I mean,” Miguel interrupted. “This pipe is part of the security system… Can we fix it as effectively as a team of specialists?”

  “Please! It’s part of the support security system! Support – that’s the key word here, don’t forget it! And it’s not the only one. The main pipe is hidden underground, they can’t reach it. And these extra pipes are never used. Sometimes they’re tested, but we’ll make sure it will handle a short test.”

  “What is the main purpose of this pipe?”

  “Provide more water to Toulouse if needed – and the repaired part won’t handle it,” Arthur admitted. “This pipe will simply fall off. But that won’t happen! It’s only for extreme situations, and they don’t happen these years. And most importantly, at the end of each year a technical team examines all pipes, fixing them if needed. They’ll find the part we replaced and reconstruct it properly. Everyone will be happy! This pipe can wait for a couple of months, you’ll see.”

  “But when the tech team finds it… won’t we be punished for hiding this?”

  “How are they going to know we did this?” Arthur smirked. “This accident won’t be registered in any documents, they’ll spend forever trying to find when that happened! It’s not worth it. We can do it safely.”

  That didn’t sound too trustworthy, but any objections would lead to a fight. Arthur never forgot such things, he was actually quite vindictive.

  Apart from that, Arthur was a church warrior. He wouldn’t suggest something that could potentially harm humans. If he was saying that this system wasn’t too important for the border’s security, Miguel had to believe him.

  And even if something extreme actually happened in Toulouse, there were other support systems that would come to the city’s rescue, this one didn’t matter too much. Hente couldn’t have spoiled all of them!

  Miguel decided to believe that.

  ***

  “She left a letter,” the Cardinal’s voice was free of any emotions. “She informed us that her departure does not mean the deal is off. Soon another representative of Teresa’s Clan will arrive to take her place as the city’s protector. Care to explained what exactly happened between you two, Brother Sebastian?”

  Sebastian neither wished nor could explain that. He felt empty inside, and all the emotions that burned in him were now cast in ice.

  He hadn’t seen Aeterni since the moment she caught him by the scanner. He was trying to find her, but couldn’t. She just disappeared – she didn’t go to Laas, she didn’t talk to the warriors, she just left this letter in the Cardinal’s office. The blind Hente, Karim, could’ve known where she was heading. But Sebastian hadn’t seen him in a while
either.

  He wanted to be angry with her, because that was the easiest option. Aeterni’s behavior was unacceptable! Thousands of lives depended on her, and she fled the city! Sure, Barcelona and its surroundings were free of Hente at the moment, but still!..

  Aeterni became the hero who saved the city, people loved her. How could the Church tell them she was gone and her place was to be taken by someone else?

  She probably didn’t even think about it. She was driven by her instincts and feelings, so any debt to the society had no meaning to her. Her actions only reflected the true level of pain she felt…

  She told him she loved him too after he confessed to her. And he went on checking whether she infected him with something… That wouldn’t make anyone happy. It appeared that his love didn’t include trust and understanding. Was it really love then?

  But Sebastian knew it was, he was certain now. He had finally realized it only when he lost her. He believed he’d find a way to explain everything, beg for forgiveness… and then it was too late.

  She was gone. Aeterni was strong and fast enough to reach the wild lands in a day, they would never be able to find her. That was it.

  “Answer me, Brother Sebastian!” the Cardinal demanded.

  “I’m sorry, Your Eminence, but…I have nothing to say. We just had a fight.”

  “Why?”

  “It was personal…”

  “Your personal matters effected the entire city!” Jeremiah pointed at the window. “I want to know what it was about!”

  “About something a church warrior has no right to do,” Sebastian had finally looked the Cardinal in the eye. “I didn’t want her to leave, and I never asked her to. It just happened this way… I’m not glad it did, and I’m sorry.”

  “What’s the use of your regret? You and Aeterni keep playing like little kids, completely forgetting how many things depend on you! It can be forgivable to her, because deep inside she’s an animal after all, but you’re a human!”