Soul Eternal

by Kate Keir

  I couldn’t help but think he was trying to sound more untouched by his past than he really was. I stayed quiet and waited for him to begin.

  “You already know I was one of the first men to walk on earth. I lived in a much simpler time than the one you do, Flora. Sometimes I envy the wonders today’s humans have access to, and sometimes I pity you for how complex you make even the basic things in life.

  “Anyway, I lived in a settlement, and we foraged and farmed to survive. In those times there was no real speech. We would communicate with sounds and gestures. We were animals, Flora. Just another part of the food chain.

  But, although we may not have been able to actually say it, we were capable of feeling love and a desire to reproduce. So, I had a partner and a child.”

  Chapter Ten

  My mouth dropped open in surprise. I could no way imagine Sluag as a father and in love with a woman. Noting my disbelief, he continued.

  “Humans are weak and susceptible to such feelings. I was no different. Now I am immortal, I am completely different, Little Dreamer.

  “We lived not far from another settlement, and that meant fights over food and territory would often break out. I was involved in many of these skirmishes as I was a young male in my prime.

  “One such fight began just outside our settlement one night, and the trouble spilled over to the huts we lived in. I knew I needed to get back to my family, and I fought my way there. It was slow progress and took me over half an hour. All the while I was afraid of what might have befallen them both.”

  Despite my hatred of Sluag, I found myself leaning forward eagerly. It was fascinating to hear about this other life of his.

  He sounded distant now as he recounted the events that changed his life.

  “When I finally got to our home, I found one of our own men inside. He was related to me in some way—a cousin, I think. When I arrived, he had just finished killing my family. Both of them had their heads dashed in, and they were laid out on the floor of the hut. There was no reason for doing what he did. I think perhaps, he may have been jealous of me.”

  I felt a twinge of sympathy for the Sluag who had been through the loss of his family, just like I had. But I quickly steeled myself against empathising with the immortal monster who now sat opposite me.

  “Not long after those events, I became who I am now. The world quickly realised its mistake in the creation of humanity, and it desperately sought a way to control the demons that had been unleashed. I was one half of the resolution and you are the other, Little Dreamer.”

  “I’m sorry you were betrayed, and you lost your family.” I said it with sincerity.

  He stood quickly. “Ha. I don’t need condolences, Flora. It was an event that happened so long ago, I cannot even recall their faces. I am immortal. I do not feel sadness, regret, or pain.”

  “Then why are you still so bitter that you have to destroy the world for every other human?” I spat.

  “You don’t see it the way I do, Little Dreamer. Humans have damaged this planet beyond repair, and they will continue to do so until there is nothing left. I don’t see a reason to let them carry on.”

  I clenched my fists in frustration, a small part of me acknowledging he was a little bit right. “I’ve just given hundreds of souls another chance at existence. The reason I did that was because they were good and pure and kind. Not every human is twisted and broken like your rogues, Sluag.”

  He nodded at me silently. “Eternity is a very long time, Flora. I don’t want to spend an hour longer than I have to, stuck here in the Endwood.”

  I thought about that. “Can’t we work something out? A way for both of us to be happy?”

  He smiled, his hideous mouth splitting apart to reveal his yellowed teeth. “Step over to this side of the border, Little Dreamer. I can use your blood to completely tear down the veil, and I will be free. That would make me happy.”

  “You know I won’t do that, Sluag. Mainly because you can’t be trusted once you escape the Endwood.” I frowned.

  “Then how can we ever reach a deal, Flora?” He leaned down until his face was as close to mine as it could be, without crossing the border.

  “You said eternity was too long in the Endwood. If you help me, I can set you free. You don’t have to stay here forever.” I spoke with forced nonchalance.

  A fleeting darkness momentarily crossed Sluag’s face before he broke out into a yelping laughter that went on and on for what seemed like hours. He slapped his thigh in his mirth and threw back his head to guffaw at the sky.

  He finally stopped laughing long enough to speak. “Oh, Flora Bast. Did you just offer to kill me and try to make it sound as though you were doing me a favour?”

  I shrugged. “Forever is gonna get boring eventually, right?”

  Still beaming, he sat back down on the tree stump opposite me and took a deep breath.

  “Why are you really here, Flora?” His eyes locked onto mine, and I couldn’t look away.

  “I think you know why,” I whispered.

  “Penthesilea is dying, is she not?” His words were devoid of emotion.

  I swallowed around the sob that threatened at the back of my throat. “Yes,” I managed.

  “Why, exactly did you come here, to see me?” He was going to drag this out and make it as painful as he possibly could.

  “Because the only thing that can save her is the blood of an immortal and you’re the only one I know.” I met his gaze steadily, refusing to look away.

  Tapping his long and bony fingers against his chin, Sluag appeared to seriously ponder my statement.

  “Are you asking me to give you my blood, Little Dreamer?”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  “No.” His reply came quickly.

  “I’d hoped we could make a deal of some kind,” I suggested.

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “What could you possibly offer me, Flora?”

  I shuffled forward, until I was perched on the edge of my seat and I smiled at him. “I don’t know. Do you have any suggestions?”

  He grinned and his eyes burned. “I have one.”

  “Go on.” I encouraged.

  He moved forward until he was right at the edge of his own seat. Our faces were separated by only a few inches of air now.

  “Give me Lyall?” He was as still as a statue as his fire-pit eyes glinted, so close I could see my own reflection in the centres.

  “I can’t.” I mirrored him, unflinching as I stared back at his scaly face.

  “Why?” he hissed.

  I leaned forward a little more. I knew the tip of my nose was only a millimetre from the border now.

  “I don’t know where he is,” I confessed quietly.

  Seeming to enjoy the game, Sluag leaned closer to me. He was so close now, I could see his tufts of hair ruffling in the breeze from my short, sharp breaths.

  “If you knew where he was, would you give him to me?” Sluag spoke so softly I almost didn’t hear him.

  This was my one chance. My hand had been hovering over my knife for the last few minutes. Now, I ripped it free from its sheath, and rearing back, I slashed the blade down through the air between us and sank it into Sluag’s thigh.

  “No, I wouldn’t,” I yelled as Sluag howled in fury.

  I was acutely aware that I was on his side of the border, and as he grabbed at my arms, I threw myself backward, toppling my whole body over my tree stump and falling into an undignified backward roll.

  A few strands of my hair had been wrapped around his spindly fingers, and fire ripped through my skull as the momentum parted the strands from my head.

  “You bitch,” Sluag roared as he smashed against the invisible barrier that prevented him from following me into the Everwood.

  Sitting up, I assessed the blood that tipped my blade with a smile, and pushed it carefully back into its sheath. I looked over at my adversary, watching him rage up and down the line in the grass, shrieking obscenities at me.
/>   I only hoped I had enough of his blood to heal Pen.

  As though reading my mind, Sluag calmed and focussed his furious eyes on mine. “It’s not enough to save her, Flora. She will still die.”

  I had to hope he was wrong. “We’ll see, won’t we.”

  I started to fade from sight, desperate to get back to the mortal world and get Sluag’s blood to Pen.

  His next words chilled me to the bone. “You have just destroyed any chance you might have had at mercy, Little Dreamer. When this veil is truly broken, I will annihilate everything you love before your very eyes, and then I will tear you asunder.”

  When I re-emerged before the railway terminal, I stood, trembling in the downpour for a moment until I was completely soaked to the bone, and my breathing had slowed down enough I could be sure I wouldn’t pass out.

  Chapter Eleven

  Realising—despite the sheath—I might lose some of the valuable blood from the blade of my knife if I stayed out in the rain any longer, I started toward the derelict building.

  A sudden sound behind me made me swivel around and thrust the blade out in the general direction of the noise.

  “Who’s there?” I challenged.

  A dark figure emerged from the trees and started toward me. I was just about to warn it to stop or I would attack, when it spoke.

  “Not the welcome I was hoping for, love.”

  Without hesitation I launched into a headlong run and threw myself into his waiting arms.

  “Lyall. Oh, my God, it’s you, it’s really you.” I pressed my face against his chest and breathed in his scent as tears joined the rainwater on my cheeks.

  He squeezed me tightly and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in the direction of the terminal.

  “You’re soaking, love. Let’s get you indoors.”

  The sounds of my excitement at Lyall’s return had disturbed the others, and they were all standing in the main room when we walked inside.

  “Lyall, good to have you back.” Artair smiled.

  “You’re both soaked. Flora, is that blood on your knife?” Enid asked questioningly as I drew my blade from its sheath.

  “Um, yeah. I need to explain a few things, and then I really need to get to the hospital.”

  I recounted the events of the last hour, starting with Finlay’s text and ending with Lyall’s arrival.

  Lyall frowned at me when I finished speaking. “I leave you alone for half a day, and you go and get into a full-on fight with Sluag. Flora, what the hell were you thinking?”

  “That I needed to do something to help Pen.” I spoke defensively.

  “Any one of us could have gone to the Endwood to get Sluag’s blood, Flora,” Enid admonished.

  I stood up. “I know, but I’m the only one who could get close enough to him to do it. Look, I’m cold and wet. I’m going to get a quick shower, and then I need to get this blade to Pen.”

  “I’ll show you where the showers are,” Artair offered.

  “I’m coming with you to the hospital, love,” Lyall insisted.

  “Okay, give me fifteen minutes to get cleaned up.” I followed Artair along a cold, narrow corridor that opened into a communal washroom which housed six shower cubicles.

  “There’s some shampoo and stuff on the shelf.” Artair pointed at a collection of bottles before he left me alone.

  Once I was clean and dressed in some spare clothes that had been thoughtfully left at the terminal, I walked back into the main room where everyone was drinking coffee.

  I grabbed a mug and perched on the arm of a chair while I waited for Lyall to bring us a car from the garage.

  “How many cars do we have here?” I asked Artair.

  “Just two,” he replied.

  I nodded. “Pen thought of everything, didn’t she?”

  Freya smiled. “She’s a smart lady. That’s why we need her back here, Flora.”

  I heard the car pull up outside, and I put my mug down before taking hold of the blood-stained blade. It had dried to a rusty red colour now, but I figured we could use warm water to soak it off.

  “We’ll be back soon, okay.” I gave Enid and Freya a hug and nodded to the others.

  “Be careful. We’ll keep doing what research we can on the internet,” Enid said.

  If Castle Dion had burned, then so had all of our manuscripts. We had nothing on paper to help us now. I pushed the depressing thought to the back of my mind and headed out into the grey half-light of early morning.

  I climbed into the car next to Lyall, and he started the drive to the hospital.

  After a couple of minutes of silence, I asked the question that had been burning at the back of my mind.

  “What happened after we left? Where’s Leah?”

  Lyall’s jaw tightened, and his knuckles whitened as he gripped the steering wheel. For a moment, I thought he wouldn’t answer me, but then he relaxed his grip and started to speak.

  “I went back but everyone was out of the castle before I got there. I didn’t see any of the others, except Leah. I found her in the gardens, but she tried to run from me. When I caught up with her, she admitted that she was the one who had left the gate open.”

  My eyes widened. I hadn’t got to know Leah really well, but she had still been with us for months now. “How could she betray us?”

  Lyall’s lip pulled back in a snarl that reminded me of his wolf alter. “She was conditioned to being one of Sluag’s minions, I guess. She’d spent too long around evil that she couldn’t make the transition over from the dark side.”

  “What happened to her?” For a brief moment, dark thoughts invaded my mind.

  He frowned at me. “I didn’t hurt her, if that’s what you thought. I let her go to the Draugur. It was what she wanted. I ran before they could get their claws into me, so I have no idea what happened after that.”

  I stared out of the window. The rain had finally stopped, but the sky was still overcast and grey. “What about Castle Dion? How badly did it burn?”

  “The main structure is stone, love, so it will still be standing. The problem wasn’t the fire, the problem was the fact the Supers seem to have decided to make it their home.” His voice was husky, as though he was holding back his grief.

  My lower lip quivered. “They’re living there?”

  He nodded but didn’t speak.

  I frowned. “What about the cats? Did you see Achilles?”

  He nodded. “I saw all three of them, but they ran when I tried to get close. They know how to hunt, Flora, and they have each other. They’ll be okay until we can get back to Castle Dion.”

  I was relieved Achilles and the other cats had escaped. But the thought of Supers living in the castle and possibly even sleeping in my room, devastated me. Especially when I thought of the state of the railway terminal I had just left the others hiding inside.

  “What are we going to do?” My voice was barely a whisper.

  He reached out and laid a reassuring hand on top of my own. “We’re gonna make Pen well again, regroup, and then take our castle back. Don’t worry, love, it’s going to be okay.”

  I looked out the window as the hospital came into view, hoping with all of my heart Lyall was right.

  Finlay met us at the door of the hospital and guided us to Pen. When I stepped into the room and saw her, my heart sank. She looked as though she had lost half her bodyweight overnight, she was hooked up to so many machines and drips, and she was unconscious.

  I looked at Finlay. “I had no idea she was this sick.”

  He sat down next to Pen and wrapped one of her fragile hands in his own. “She’s been unconscious all night. They haven’t said it, but the hospital staff have given up on her.”

  I had texted Finlay to let him know we had the blood and that we were on the way. I just hadn’t told him how exactly I got it. I drew the knife from my bag and unwrapped it from the protective plastic that it had been placed in.

  “I just hope it’s enough,
” I said.

  Finlay’s eyes widened as he took in the knife and the blood that tipped the end of the blade, but he didn’t ask any questions, and I was grateful.

  I located a kettle on a table in the corner of the room and flicked the switch to turn it on. Next, I stood the knife up in a cup and waited for the water to boil.

  I poured the water along the blade, once the kettle had clicked itself off, and I was relieved to see the blood running into the glass along with the water. I tried not to pour too much water, knowing it was going to be a challenge to get Pen to drink even a small amount.

  Once I was ready, I turned toward the bed, clutching the cup of swirling red liquid.

  I prayed this was going to work.

  Chapter Twelve

  Finlay tenderly lifted Pen’s head, and I poured the tiniest drop down her throat. I held my breath, hoping I hadn’t misjudged and sent the liquid down her windpipe.

  Pen’s swallow reflex automatically kicked in, and she gulped the blood solution back. Encouraged, I poured a little more into her mouth, and she swallowed again.

  “It’s working. She’s drinking it,” Lyall murmured.

  Once all of the liquid had disappeared down Pen’s throat, Finlay laid her head back against the pillows, and we waited to see what would happen.

  The first indication the blood had worked was a slight movement in the fingers of Pen’s left hand. None of us spoke; we just waited to see if she would open her eyes.

  When Pen’s eyes flickered open, each of us smiled in relief. Finlay squeezed her hand gently, and I could see her fingers weakly return the gesture.

  “Welcome back.” Lyall said softly.

  “What did you three do?” Pen’s voice was quiet, but I could still hear her question in the silence of the room.

  I gave her a brief rundown of everything that had happened since we evacuated Castle Dion, finishing with me using the kettle to create the blood solution and feed it to her.

  Pen grimaced when she realised she had drunk Sluag’s blood, and I eyed her apologetically.

  “I’m sorry, it’s not really as though we had a choice.”