Josephine Marlin and The Alternatives

by Karen Eastland

  I hate snakes, not really “hate” snakes like, “hate”. It’s more like I hate their scaly, slippery slithering bodies touching mine, that’s all. So I learned as much about them as I could. Standing still, whether out of fear or respect, was the right thing to do. I watched as the last of their scaly tails slid off my feet, and made their way to the banshee before I was able to take a breath.

  Stepping back into the darkness, I did a quiet little ewwww dance.

  I didn’t know if a banshee could talk to snakes or vice versa, but I’d found out in a hurry that anything was possible, and I wasn’t taking any more chances. In retreat, I stopped when I felt something large and furry brush against my legs.

  I stood still, my heart was in my throat. I didn’t know what to expect when I looked down. There was enough light from the fire for me to see, but I was afraid to look. Whatever was brushing against my legs wasn’t moving on. I felt trapped. Each time I moved, it moved. I just wanted to get back to the other side of the cavern, into the dark again.

  There was nothing I could do. I was going to have to look down to see what was now rubbing so hard against my legs, it had pushed me into the wall. Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes, tilted my head downwards, lay my palms flat against the wall, and opened one eye for a quick peek. Seeing what it was, I felt instant relief and almost collapsed.

  ‘Dog!’ I whispered, letting out another breath I’d been holding.

  We moved back to the other side of the cavern. I sat on the floor and hugged Dog, while he excitedly licked my face. He was as happy to see me as I was to see him. Pressing my back against the stone-cold wall, and wedging one heel around a small rock, Dog sat on my lap, and we cuddled for a long while.

  I began to formulate a plan to kill the banshee and to save Pony. Mostly though, Dog and I cuddled.

  ‘I saw you cry when I died,’ I whispered to him. ‘I didn’t know dogs could cry. I’m sorry for scaring you. If it’s any consolation, I didn’t know I couldn’t really die either.’

  I don’t know how long Dog and I’d sat in the darkness, but it didn’t matter. Time had no meaning in the banshee’s cave, and now locked away in my head was the escape tunnel, thanks to the souls from the mist.

  Banshee

  I discussed my plan with Dog and, guessed from the lick to my face; he thought it was a good one. I was going to wait until the banshee, who was pacing back and forward, turned to walk back. Dog would then sneak out, allowing Pony see to him, then hide on the other side of the cave, and wait for my cue.

  Pony was chained to a set of steel cuffs woven through two holes high up in a rock wall. From the rust stains on the rock, they looked like they’d been used a lot. I needed her to see Dog first because I didn’t want her alerting the banshee to my presence. Dog and I waited in the dark. We watched as the banshee came towards us and watched her walk away before making our move. The souls reached out to me as she neared.

  ‘Now,’ I whispered to Dog as the banshee turned.

  He walked passed Pony so she could see him, then moved quickly to the other side of the cavern. I heard Pony’s murmur as he passed and watched to see if the banshee reacted.

  She didn’t.

  Like the souls in the Rim, those vestured to her knew what I was thinking, and told me Dog was safe. The plan was for me to kill the banshee!

  That’s it!

  I stood in darkness allowing my fear to grow and when I’d become too terrified for words, I made my move.

  ‘If only I had a golden lance to kill that bitch with!’ I thought, then poof, like magic I held a golden lance in my hand. Taking a quick peek, I liked what I saw. The lance fit nicely in my hand, and I felt it’d been crafted just for me. The souls began screaming; I looked up as the banshee neared and she stood inches from me. If I lifted my hand, I could’ve run my fingers through the blue mist of her gown.

  ‘I’ll just wait until she turns away,’ I thought, ‘then make my move.’

  Watching as the banshee turned, I stepped from the shadows as quiet as I could, and readied the lance. With it hovering in the air, aimed at her stomach, she turned. There was no time to react because before I knew it, she was standing toe to toe with me. Raising her hand, she had sliced down into my flesh before I could escape.

  She sliced her talons across my throat, and I felt the familiar warmth of blood as it oozed and spurted. I don’t know why, but I remember an intense feeling of disbelief as she pulled her talons from my neck, then slashed them across my stomach.

  ‘You’d think I’d be used to it by now,’ I thought feeling cold, yet calm as I realised I was dying again. Falling to my knees, I hovered for moments swaying back and forth, then fell to the ground at Pony’s feet.

  Just as before, I tried to stem the flow of blood by putting pressure on the wound, but lacked the energy to lift a finger, let alone a hand. All I could do was lie on the ground and feel the blood drain from my body. It bubbled into my throat as I looked to Pony screaming her melody of death as it wrapped around my body. In an attempt to let her know I’d be alright, my words had become lost and could only spit blood.

  In those final moments before death, I recalled what the We had said, “When in death, you must will life”.

  Lying on the ground at Pony’s feet dying, I felt myself begin to leave my body. I couldn’t go back to the Rim until it was time, so I called forth enough energy to roll to my stomach. I hoped if the banshee couldn’t see me heal, I’d have more time to figure out how to kill her. I was chanting in my head, as that familiar dark haze began to envelop me.

  ‘I will to live, I will to live, I will to live,’ I whispered as the last of the light of the fire, the cries of the souls, and Pony’s screams, faded into the dark…

  I don’t know how long I’d been dead for… well either time, but I was back and didn’t go to the Rim.

  The banshee had left me on the floor in front of Pony, who was sobbing uncontrollably. I wanted to make her feel better but knew it was safer for all of us if she believed me dead. Upon opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was the whites of Dogs peering out from the darkness to the left of Pony. He hadn’t seen me, but I saw him look up and knew the banshee was coming.

  I closed my eyes again. Fine dust wafted up to cover my face as the banshee turned on her heels and walked away. Feeling around while trying to limit my movement, I searched for the lance. I didn’t know where it’d gone, but it was nowhere near me. My movement must’ve alerted Pony because I heard her whimper. It was much earlier than her banshee whimpering and, before she could say anything, I looked at her and gently shook my head.

  ‘No,’ I mouthed. I wasn’t ready for the banshee to know I was alive. Pony looked up and whimpered. Dog also look up as the banshee moved to where I was lying.

  Laying in a pool of sandy blood, it was easy to feign death. I felt dust fly into my face with a little more force as she walked to the other end of the cavern. The souls knew I was alive because they’d begun calling to me. Certain the banshee was far enough away I had another feel around for the lance, but I couldn’t see it anywhere.

  ‘If only I had a golden lance to kill that bitch with!’ I thought after allowing my fear to fill me, but nothing happened. So I gave it another try.

  ‘If only I had a golden lance to kill the banshee with!’ but still nothing happened.

  I felt confused and was wondering why the lance wasn’t just materialising in my hand. I concluded that because the lance had already been called, it couldn’t reappear in the same time, at the same time.

  Looking to see if Dog was still there, I was about to draw his attention to me when I saw how sad he looked. Then he saw my eyes open and became extremely happy. He was wagging his tail so hard and fast, I thought he was about to take off, and damn if he’s not the smartest dog I’d ever met.

  ‘He’s coming home with me,’ I’d decided.

  ‘If you can stop dying long enough to get home that is,’ said Brain.

  Ignoring Brain
for stating the bleeding obvious, I was relieved to see Dog remained hidden. When the banshee began making her way back towards me, I could hear Pony’s whimpers and see Dog look upwards just before backing into the darkness. I lay very still and felt the banshee’s breath on my cheek.

  ‘She must’ve come in for a closer look than last time,’ I thought. Pretending she was a snake, I stopped breathing and lay still. The familiar brush of cave dust hit my face as she left.

  Opening my eyes, I carefully motioned for Dog to come to me. He looked around, dropped to a crawl position and almost slithered to my side. He lay tight up against me so he couldn’t be seen, and I kissed his nose.

  ‘I need the lance,’ I whispered. ‘Get me the lance Dog.’

  He remained crouched and slithered into the dark again. I saw him look up to alert me to the banshee’s presence. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep up the pretence, remembering what the We had said, “If you take too long, the banshee will wonder where your soul has gone”.

  Again I felt her breath on my cheek and knew she’d begun to get impatient. When she walked away, she deliberately kicked sand in my face. The force of it stung against my skin and, even though my eyes were closed, I’d blinked as it hit. The sand caught up in my lashes, and as I blinked, it went into my eyes.

  My eyes began to water. I couldn’t use my hands to wipe them, nor make any big movements without alerting the banshee. I could only see blobs through the tears and barely saw Dog go past. Pony whimpered as the banshee neared again. There was no way I could keep up the pretence. Tears were streaming from my eyes, then her breath was on my face, and one of her talons scooped a tear from my cheek.

  ‘It was now or die again,’ I thought.

  Squinting a little, I could barely make her out, but saw her face as she bent in for a closer look. As she began to pull away I lifted my head hard and fast, head-butting her with such force, I was certain I’d heard the cracking of bone. It was hard enough to knock the banshee off her souls, and although I knew where she was, I still couldn’t see her. Getting up from the floor was a challenge, but I needed to do it quickly. My vision was so impaired; I could only make out her position.

  ‘Watch out Brain,’ I said. ‘We’re about to die again.’

  ‘Oh goody,’ said Brain. ‘I thought you would have had enough of that by now.’

  I felt Dog push against my leg and looked down to see the gold of the lance. He put it in my hand, then ran as the banshee moved towards me. I began blindly stabbing the lance into the air and was only able to keep the banshee at bay. She could see and kept dodging my thrusts.

  Certain she’d moved back I pulled my shirt from my pocket and wiped it across my eyes. They were still watering, and a few granules of sand were scratching my eyeballs, but I could see a little better. I saw the blur of the banshee opening her mouth as she let out a blood-curdling scream.

  Looking to Pony, I noticed the scream did not affect either of us. I turned back to the banshee just as her bow wave hit, and blew the last of the sand from my eyes. When she noticed it’d not affected either of us, she stopped and cocked her head sideways. It was like she was wondering what we were.

  Wasn’t that the question of the day!

  The banshee looked at us curiously. She wanted my soul but for some reason couldn’t kill me to get it. That must’ve been pissing her off, and I guessed the halftime show was over when she began speaking in her odd language as she moved towards me.

  Lifting the lance, I started stabbing it in the air and waited until she was close enough before my thrusts got better, even though my aim didn’t. I wanted her to believe I was still unable to see. As she neared, I saw her raise her hand and take on that all too familiar death blow stance. She was ready to kill me again, but I wasn’t ready to die again.

  There was a sudden and urgent pull from the souls vestured to her. I watched as they pulled back, forcing the banshee to stop. She tried to move, but couldn’t. There was an odd look on her face when she watched me raise my lance. I didn’t know if I’d get a better chance, so leaned on it and ran at her.

  She looked surprised at first but overcame it quickly when she realised what I was about to do. The banshee leaned back to balance on the souls, and I missed. Taking the opportunity, she raised one deadly taloned hand, and bringing it down through the air, she sliced into me and removed a chunk of my upper arm.

  It hurt, I’ll admit. Maybe I even screamed a little, but it grew back so fast, the pain felt like a nasty insect bite, just before I killed the little bastard for daring to snack on me.

  My self-healing surprised her, and she wasn’t prepared for the lance as I ran it through her neck. It burned into her flesh. It slid in with ease. Smoke wafted up from where the lance had entered. She screamed, but it wasn’t enough to kill her.

  She took another slice at me and pierced the right side of my stomach. Screaming from the pain, I put my spare hand over the wound and stabbed the lance into her eye. I felt it burn its way through into her brain. As I pulled it out, her eyeball was still attached. Shaking it off, I flicked the eye into the fire and listened to its sizzle.

  Taking a moment to heal while the banshee was blinded, she came back at me in a rage. A round of piercing screams echoed throughout the caves. I finally had her, and was ready to go in for the kill.

  Aiming the lance, I took the opportunity and ran. I could feel her flesh sizzle as I drove the golden lance into her belly, and looked her in the eye as I pushed it deep inside her. The sound of her scorching flesh was satisfying, so I leaned in and pushed harder. I’d rammed the lance so deep into the banshee’s body; the tip had exited through her back.

  It continued to sear her flesh, and I felt very pleased knowing I’d got her just above the souls, and just below her chest. The dead centre I’d say.

  The banshee tried and failed to pull the lance out, but the lance wasn’t done. Burning the banshee’s flesh was only half the job.

  I stood back and watched as the lance drained the life from her. She had black flesh pealing around the wounds on her neck, eye socket and stomach. She released one last blood-curdling scream then she began to shrink before my eyes. As each soul vestured to her, left, they took their light from. Watching them float from her body to rest on the roof of the cave, they too watched as the banshee died.

  She tried one last time to kill me, by raising her hand and sliced it down, but Dog ran from the shadows, slammed into her bare legs, and pushed her face first to the cave floor.

  The banshee rolled to her side where only the grip of the lance was visible. As each soul left, she became weaker, older. When the last of the souls came to rest on the roof, the golden lance buried itself deep into her body. We watched as the banshee transformed into a log of petrified wood, and heard the cave groan as if it too had been released from the banshee. Unsure about what was going to happen, I held tight to the stone leg of one of the banshee’s tables until the cave became silent.

  ‘I was not expecting that,’ I said, looking at the log with my mouth agape.

  I was about to thank Dog when he walked to the banshee log and cocked his leg. It was an icebreaker. I moved to sit on the floor at Pony’s feet and laughed. I’d become so accustomed to my new reality; I wasn’t even shaking.

  ‘I wonder if this is how Ann feels?’ I thought.

  Looking up at the souls, we watched them dance around the roof of the cave as they sang a song of thanks. They swooped down and brushed against our cheeks like little kisses. Several hundred surrounded Pony and eased her pain by singing their sweet song for her.

  ‘Thank you Andoré,’ they said in one chorus. ‘We will see you soon.’

  We watched as the souls waltz one more dance around the cave, before making their way up through the rock, to go home to the Rim.

  ‘I’ll see you soon,’ I called as they left.

  ‘Pony,’ I smiled while feeling extremely happy the souls had filled her with peace, even though I wasn’t entirely sure
Pony was capable of that feeling at that moment.

  ‘Jo doe pop, Jo doe pop,’ she was hysterically saying over and over, once the souls left.

  ‘I did go pop, but Dog and I came back for you,’ I said giving her a big hug. ‘What a beautiful song the souls sing, don’t you think?’

  ‘Jo doe pop, Jo doe pop.’

  Pony was still chained to the wall, and couldn’t hug me back. I wanted to be the one doing the hugging for a change. When I felt her calm, I took a few minutes to unchain her.

  It’s only fair, don’t you think? After all, I was chained up for hours not too long ago… At least Pony’s dry.

  Once Pony was free, I guess it was her turn for cuddles. I’d just stepped down from the stone wall and didn’t see her coming, and before I knew what was happening, she’d tackled me to the floor. I thought the banshee was back for another round until I heard Pony’s voice. That’s when I realised I was getting a big slimy Pony hug.

  I’d almost landed in the fire as she body slammed me, but what does that matter to me now? Dog got in on the cuddles too. It was nice rolling around on the floor getting a hug, and not trying to plug up my mortal wound, while listening to Pony’s screams as I died.

  Amphora of Souls

  I don’t know how long we’d been rolling around on the floor, but it didn’t matter. We were feeling calm and happy and lay on the floor just looking at the roof where the souls had collected. I missed them already.

  Suddenly, a guttural groan echoed from somewhere deep within the system, and it began to shake and rock the ground we were lying on. Pony’s eyes opened wide, and Dog stopped rolling around. We were waiting for the cave to shake again when I remembered the amphora.

  ‘We’ve gotta get up,’ I insisted while looking at the roof. ‘We need to find the Amphora of Souls, remember?’

  Pony got off the floor and pulled me to my feet. She looked as worried as I felt when another utterance echoed up from the caves behind us, before easing off again.