“Go through,” said the boy, clearly satisfied with himself.
“Go where? We’re at the edge of a cliff, Miloš.”
“Will you just trust me and go through? Carefully!”
Slightly hesitant, Kati walked through the dense vines and came out on a small precipice. The wind blew ferociously and all under them as far as the eye could see were dense forests glistening with the remains of a summer shower. Spring had passed and so had most of the summer and the leaves were starting to turn. The Countess hadn’t been back when she’d promised to, which was a small blessing for Kati.
“Beautiful isn’t it?”
Kati shook her head in agreement.
“Come on there’s more,” he said carefully closing the door behind him.
“Where are we going? There isn’t much else up here.”
“Just do exactly as I do,” he advised before climbing up the face of the cliff on some very precarious stepping stones which formed a small staircase into the side of the mountain beyond the wall’s edge.
“I’m not going up there, it’s dangerous!”
“Stop being such a baby and follow me, it’s really quite safe and it’s only a few steps, I promise.”
She took a deep breath and watched where Miloš put his feet. When he was safely up a few yards and standing on another little platform she felt safe enough to follow him up.
“See I told you it wasn’t that far,” he said helping her climb the last step and find her footing.
The two children were standing at the mouth of a storeroom which included two buzzing beehives and a wall lined with jars of glistening honey.
“This is it?”
“Of course, what did you expect?”
Realizing the pressure she was under with her knowledge in recent days, she let out a sigh and ruffled the boy’s hair.
“Nothing, I think my imagination just got away from me a little bit. How did you find this place?”
“I was in the back playing one day when I noticed the vines moving. When I looked more closely I saw that someone hadn’t closed the door properly and I came through it, just as terrified as you were because I knew it was the end of the wall. It was the bees that told me about the storeroom though, I saw a bunch of them flying in and I followed. I think it’s the cook’s little side business. Can you imagine that rotund woman making her way up here every day? I’m surprised she hasn’t killed herself yet.”
Kati inadvertently giggled. “Where is she now?” She asked.
“It’s her resting time, she won’t catch us,” he said grabbing a jar of honeycomb from the shelf and handing it to Katalina who was greeted by the most delicious smell when she opened it.
“I haven’t had honey in ages,” she said licking her finger which she had sunk into the viscous liquid as far as it would go. She took out a piece of honeycomb and gave it to Miloš and the two of them sat on the ground greedily devouring the lot, getting lost in the moment. Their little excursion had helped ease some of the tension she had been feeling in recent days and she was grateful for it. Leaning to her side she gave the boy a brief squeeze on the shoulder and then headed back inside to continue reading about Theodora's escape from the Keep.
At the end of the passage we saw yet more daylight. We had walked far enough from the main part of the Keep to have avoided the most lethal intensity of the Lightflood but it had now started seeping in from in front of us too. A few more paces and we would be out. When we reached the opening we were immediately blinded by the light. My skin tickled slowly and then started to burn. My eyes watered and my head throbbed with pain; I instinctively covered the child with more of his robes to protect his delicate skin and tried to look out to where we could run to hide but was greeted by an unexpected development. We were a great height up from the ground into the side of a sharp cliff.
“We have to jump, Theodora, there is no other way,” said Vyktor answering my unspoken question. We certainly couldn’t go back and there was definitely no other way down. The light was really strong and blinding and we couldn’t make out what lay at the base of the cliff. All these years in that place and finally a stroke of luck had allowed us to escape only to jump into the void to an almost certain death. I looked down at the child and secured him a bit more in his robes, which were now considerably less white than when we'd started out. I turned to Vyktor who gave me a knowing nod encapsulating exactly what we were both feeling in that moment: fear, love, uncertainty, hope. Clasping the child tightly in my arms I jumped and asked the Eternal Mother to watch over us.
The trip down was not as long as I had anticipated but it was still formidable and painful at landing but whatever broke our fall was softer than the ground would have been. The light still burned me so I knew I had to find the strength to get up and run towards the shade as soon as I could. I sat up and looked around to see where I was and was greeted by a horrifying sight. I was laying on a pile of dead bodies casually disposed of in a massive pit in various stages of decomposition. The stench emanating from the cadavers was unbearable. It was pure death mixed with quick lime, sickness and dirt. The pestilence that had taken hold of the priests in the Keep was making its way through the villages and the countryside too. There must have been hundreds of them, men, women and children in various states of undress. There were rich and poor, lay people and even some priests. This disease made no discrimination and it was hungry. I stood up as fast as I could and located my son, who was lying close to me. For the first time during this ordeal I was grateful he was unconscious and would not have to see any of this. As I got up I located Vyktor who was standing on the edge of the overflowing pit gesturing towards a covered wooded area.
The small cave in which we hid was damp and dark. I hated being back into one of these so soon after our escape but it was the only relief we could get from the light. We knew that we were not too far from the Keep, but we had to wait for nightfall before setting off. My whole body hurt and I reeked of the death that had saved me but there was nowhere to wash for the time being, so I just hid in the dark with the boy close to me.
“Don’t worry, they won’t be coming this way, there is far too much death for them to enquire around the pit,” said Vyktor as he caressed both our heads sensing my fears once again. “In many ways we are in the safest place we could be, not even the Ghosts could locate us right now in this stench. All the same I’ll keep watch for a few hours while you sleep and I will wake you later on so that we can change places.”
By night time I woke up and instantly felt a wave of panic at the new surroundings. It was the first time in two and a half centuries that I had slept outside the Keep. Looking around I found Vyktor was at the mouth of the cave looking out and the child was still sleeping in my arms so I relaxed.
“You said you were going to wake me.”
“I couldn’t do it, it’s been so long since you slept in the day I didn’t want to deprive you of the satisfaction. I’ll sleep when we’re gone from here.”
“Vyktor, why is he still asleep after all these hours?” I asked gazing down at my beautiful boy.
“I don’t think he’s a healthy child, Theodora…”
“No! They did something to him, I’m sure of it! They’ve given him some sort of concoction to make him sleep so that he could take his heart and now he's not waking up! My boy is not ill!”
Vyktor lowered his gaze and said nothing.
I ran my fingers through his hair and I untied the ceremonial robes he was bundled in. As I undid the robes I noticed something that I hadn’t seen when I picked him up. Amongst all the clothing lay a small wooden box with an inlaid hunting scene on it and next to it the small knife the priest had tried to use on him. It must have fallen in the clothes during our rushed exchange. It was small but pristine and so beautifully crafted out of fine silver. I opened the box and it was filled with five other knives of different sizes the hilts of which were equally ornate and decorated with what looked like more scenes from the same story
. There was a stag and a woman with a bow and arrow and I marveled at how beautiful and powerful she looked. I carefully replaced the missing knife in its holder with the fabric from my skirt and closed it tightly. These were the knives the priest was going to use to kill my little boy and I wondered at their significance. I put the notebooks I had taken from him on top of the box and secured them with a large piece of twine to protect them until I could find out more about them. Vyktor then made a harness with fabric scraps with which he secured the child onto his back and we set off. We still had the silver bracelets on our hands and we would have to find someone to remove them before completely regaining our strength and abilities.
A few hours before dawn we reached a village where a blacksmith was firing his furnaces in order to start work before the strong heat of the summer’s day. We didn’t know what language he spoke and he didn't understand Latin but we somehow managed to communicate to him that he could keep all four bracelets if he took them off us. We also gestured at his horse but he was unconvinced. I don’t know what the going rate for a horse was at that time, but the tired old mule that we were given seemed grossly overpriced.
At day break we reached a house the stench emanating from which testified to the fact that its now dead residents had been further victims of the plague and we were amused by the fact that this pestilence was providing excellent cover for us. The former owners were a family of four. The house, which was relatively pleasant and spacious, was filled with milking accoutrements indicating that this had been a family of dairy farmers before they'd gotten ill. In the bedroom upstairs a woman lay in a large bed with her two daughters in her arms, a beautiful scene had it not been for their disfigured bodies, discolored skins and pained expressions. Flies and maggots buzzed and wriggled about them unperturbed by the foul stench that blanketed the entire floor. I closed the door tightly, instinctively wiping my hands on my skirts from whatever unseen miasma still lingered on the handle. The father we found on the lawn outside in a similar state, his decomposing fingers still clasped tightly around a wooden pail as he made to fetch water from the well but never reaching it. From one of the other rooms we helped ourselves to new clothing and shoes and burned the old ones in the fireplace, trying to cover our tracks. To my good fortune the outhouse included a large tub which we happily filled with some fresh water from the well and washed ourselves for the first time since our escape from the Keep. I was extremely grateful for the family’s well-stocked pantry which included lavender and rose scented goat milk soap, made by them using their surplus produce.
I washed myself and my boy and put him in clean clothing. All I had found for him was girls’ chemises but at least they were clean and not Order prescribed. All the same I washed his Keep robes as well as I could and carefully bundled them along with the knives and the books to examine later lest their inscriptions hid some kind of meaning relating to the condition they had reduced him to. Climbing up to the higher lever of the barn we lay down to rest.
“We should give our boy a name.” I said, trying to make Vyktor feel something towards him. I realized his condition meant that his father had been slowly rejecting him.
“Where I come from, the name for the chosen is Valgt and for warrior it’s Kriger, so I think we should call him that after the trials he has endured.”
“Valgtkriger…” I said it out loud, trying to learn my son’s new name. I knew that he was no warrior in the traditional sense but it felt right because he had managed to survive in that place for so long on his own.
The following evening we reluctantly left Valgt sleeping in the barn and went hunting together. The risk of being discovered always at the back of our minds, our eyes and ears ever-vigilant for the subtle ghosts and their guardians. As we walked through the forest we felt fortunate to have survived and still be together enjoying a relatively carefree moment of hunting. Having caught three rabbits we sat on the ground, drank their blood and ate their flesh. No humans were to be found in the area so this would have to do. When we were done we just lay down and looked at the stars for a long time.
“Vyktor, do you think Valgt will ever be cured?”
“Do you?”
“I think that by studying the Priest’s writings I might find something to help him.”
“Then I believe it too. I have faith in you, Theodora, and I know that when you put your mind to something you can make it happen. We’re a family, and whatever happens we need to stick together.” Sitting up, he produced a golden ring with a small ruby from his pocket and put it on my finger.
“How apt,” I said looking at the glistening red stone.
“Under witness of the moon and the stars I bind myself to you, Theodora Laskari, till my dying breath. If I am grateful to the priests for one thing, it is for bringing you and Valgt into my life for through you I have known a real love and it is because of this love that I am living and breathing here, right now. Knowing love like this is a true blessing." My beautiful Norse warrior might not have been a man of many words normally but when he did speak, he spoke volumes. With tears in my eyes I took his face in my hands and kissed him with all my heart and we made love under the night sky for the first time.
Kati finished the last page in the bundle of notes and got to binding it. She mulled over what she had learned as she glued and sewed. Without realizing it another evening had passed and she wondered how much longer she had before the Countess returned.
Fifteen
The next book in line was different, older and more weathered than the other writings. This one had already been bound, but it needed to be fixed. It had been leafed through many times and the spine had come off in several places.
Kati opened it carefully and saw it also read differently.
Venice 21st June 1575 A.D.
Though I have been taught letters in the Keep it has been a long time since I’ve held a quill in my hand. When we were first captured we were taught to write but I never thought I would be free or have an opportunity to put quill to paper. It is a skill that takes practice so now that I can, I shall document our days and hopefully improve my penmanship and also decipher the Father Superior’s notebooks, for I believe my son’s cure is in there. This is the first of a series of journals telling my story for the benefit of my son for when he is well. If for whatever reason I cannot tell him myself, then he will know how he came to be. I will start from the present moment and then go all the way back to my childhood, Affliction and imprisonment though some of the dates are unclear in my head, particularly in relation to my time in the Keep.
After several weeks of traveling we have come to a place where we can hopefully remain undetected for a while. Venice is a beautiful city built on the water with canals instead of streets and bridges instead of alleys. I recognize some of the sculptures in the streets from Constantinople from when the Crusaders came and took the city from us and destroyed it for its art and valuables. It is a peculiar sensation to think that no one who witnessed those scenes of mayhem and savagery unfold is alive today other than myself and that to look at the sculpts you would think they have been here forever. I suppose in a way they have.
The city has been severely ravaged by the Great Mortality which we have been witnessing throughout our travels over these weeks and which brought about our freedom from the Keep. It has suffered a great loss of population and those that remain have abandoned their senses. They live day to day and are slaves to their lusts and instincts for they do not know if they will still be with the living tomorrow. They have witnessed so much death in recent months that there’s a certain acceptance it is but days away and chaos reigns supreme. Life still goes on but thieves and impostors are virtually in charge as are the ones that claim that this is God’s punishment for their sins. The belief that this is the end of days is rife and soon all shall descend into hell forever. I wish I could tell them that there is no such thing and that this is simply a pestilence, albeit a powerful one, and that suffering on this earth is the only hell th
ere is.
We have chosen to stay in Venice as death has been so prevalent here that our feeding will not cause suspicion, but we have to be careful all the same. We have also managed to hide the child with a poor family outside the city so that his frailty is not suspected as sickness which could mean our being turned away or worse. We are staying at an inn in the city center, where the innkeeper has been taken by the pestilence and his young wife is happy enough to have some people around her. We have told her we are medics studying the disease and looking for a cure during the day and helping the sick by night and though she is skeptical she has accepted us as she desperately needs the money we are paying her. Our apparent wellbeing gives her some comfort.
I cannot put into words how much the world has changed in the time I have been away. I feel so left behind with events and advancements that sometimes I am at a loss at what to say in conversation and not sound ignorant or insane so I use my time in looking for a cure and reading whatever I can get my hands on regarding current and past events.
Bathory's Secret: When All The Time In The World Is Not Enough (Affliction Vampires Book 1) Page 17
