Symmetry

by T M Caruana

  “And what is my deal in the bargain, which would outweigh your desire to almightiness?” he asked curiously, although without sincerity since what she had asked of him was something he couldn’t bring himself to do.

  It would mean the imprisonment of, or death to all living creatures. He hoped she wouldn’t cast magic to access his thoughts or feelings. If so, his silent objections would have him dead before the end of this evening. Eutychia got out of the chair, walked around the table to Samuel’s side and squatted down in front of him. She bowed her head towards the floor, lingered a few seconds and turned to face him, focusing her eyes on his.

  Straight as an arrow, a sharp pain struck his heart when he looked into her eyes.

  “Harriett…” he moaned quietly with a drawn breath.

  Now he recognised the black dress she was wearing. He had seen it before. It was Harriett’s anniversary dress. She wore it every year on the anniversary of the day they had first met. It had been the dress she had worn on their first date. She said that the ritual seemed to bring luck, as they were still happy together. The year before had been their tenth wedding anniversary and he had taken Harriett to the most expensive restaurant in London. It had been a wonderful, magical evening in August. The two of them had been so happy and had even discussed whether they were ready to have children. The child would have been four months old now if the car accident hadn’t occurred.

  “It’s not Harriett, Harriett is dead…” he breathed out again to remind himself that the projected image of her wasn’t real.

  It was just the witch’s nasty game. He leaned forward to see her blue eyes, just as he remembered them. The long auburn tresses that curled down over her slender body were perfect. He took her head in both hands and caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. He had trouble breathing; his craving for her had been so hard to bear since she had passed away. He shook his head to try and clarify his thoughts.

  “If you help me, I will make sure that you and Harriett can be together forever. I can convert her to your own kind, so you can live happily forever on Sabi. Your son, who you would have named Harald, would have been much like you and will be waiting for you with longing arms.”

  Could the witch resurrect people from the dead? To perform that spell would have an incredibly dangerous impact on the future and was another of the seven spells that were forbidden. The witch would use it without hesitation in order to get her way, if she really knew it. What a cruel game. Samuel felt sore with grief and didn’t utter a word. He wanted to push her aside, tell her that she wasn’t worthy of life, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it to a face so dear, that he had loved with all his heart. Harriett had devoted much of her time to charity for children in the hospital where she worked and was wildly regarded as a truly humble person. He had never revealed to her who he really was and she had never insisted knowing his past. She had loved him unconditionally. He could have given up his powers and his life for her and the latter he had actually done.

  Eutychia took Samuel’s hand and led him to the bed. She slipped off his djellabah and caressed his chest. Her dress magically became unzipped fell to the floor. They both stood naked before each other. Her body was identical to Harriett’s - the scar from the appendectomy, the birthmark in the crook of her arm and the snowflake tattoo around her navel, acquired in a moment of teenage rebellion. The irony was that Samuel had never told her that the snowflake symbolised ‘forever yours’ in his home world. Eutychia crawled under the covers and he was powerless to prevent his eager body from following. All his rationality deserted him, as he surrendered to seductive pleasure. There was nothing more that needed to be said. He had entered into a silent agreement.

  7

  ON YOUR OWN

  The view from the plane was outstanding as we approached Gibraltar. The runway was sandwiched between a sky-high rock on the left and the Spanish border town of La Linea de la Concepción opposite. The short length of the landing strip made me feel that the wheels of the plane would touch down in the sea before they reached the runway and that the left wing was going to scrape along the rock face. With fear clenching my gut I tried to convince myself that the plane was at a safe distance from both water and rock. Lowered barriers had blocked off the road beneath us, which were crossing the runway. A long queue of motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians had formed; all waiting for the plane to park before the barriers could open and allow them to continue on their way.

  Finally the plane came to a standstill and I could stand up and stretch my legs. It had been a strange day already from the start this morning. When I first opened my eyes after actually managing to sleep a few hours, a wave of panic had spread through my body until I remembered where I was and with whom. It was my first morning of freedom and to add to the madness, there was a man in the shower. Enchanted by his lovely torso as he strutted into the room after the shower, I had managed to keep calm by getting myself ready, packing my new toothbrush and Novus in the bag. I hadn’t said a word since his outburst yesterday evening. Moreover, it was the first time I noticed the tattoo on his chest, over his heart. It was exactly the same tattoo as I had, in exactly the same place. The symbol was about three centimetres in diameter with the image of a star containing the words ‘Water, Wood, Fire, Earth’ and ‘Metal’, inside each triangle. Each triangle of the star was coloured in the rainbow’s colours with purple in the middle, and red beneath the star as a diamond shape. Were we in a cult? Whatever it meant, it seemed we shared the same values. Despite my curiosity, I wouldn’t ask any more questions. I was stubborn and wasn’t going to be the first one to break the silence.

  The entire trip to Gibraltar had proceeded in the same spirit in which we had made ourselves ready. We travelled to the airport, boarded planes twice due to the connecting flight from Heathrow and sat side by side for hours, all without saying a single word to each other. We were like an old couple who had lived all their life together and therefore didn’t need to converse in order to understand what the other wanted. Tarus had passed me the tickets, screwed the cap off a soda bottle and given me a magazine with just a glance and a nod. We were both too proud to break the silence. I was waiting for an apology and he was probably too arrogant to give one. Anyway, he had been too busy looking over his shoulder every minute to see if we were being shadowed and probably hadn’t even noticed my obstinacy.

  At last the door opened to reveal the stairs down to the tarmac and fresh air poured in. Everyone naturally tried to squeeze out simultaneously. I wasn’t in a hurry since I hadn’t been entrusted with our final destination yet. I kept close to Tarus until I felt a hard slap to the back of my head. A guy behind me had tried to take down his bag from the overhead compartment and had misjudged its weight, which had resulted in victory for gravity and my head being used to dampen its fall.

  “Are you out of your mind?” hissed Tarus at the guy.

  His voice filled with rage and his eyes staring, as if they were about to explode. His fury and stressed body language probably originated from all the tensions this morning. Tarus had a short fuse and wouldn’t hold back, I had already figured out as much.

  “No, I’m not in any danger Tarus, I’m unharmed,” I said whilst I rubbed the sore spot on the top of my head and was more pleased that the silence had been broken than worried about my head.

  But my plea was in vain, for Tarus had already climbed past me and shoved his face just inches from the terrified young man.

  “It wasn’t intentional, it was an accident,” he stammered, close to tears.

  Unfortunately for him, he was so slight that Tarus was almost twice his size. I sensed the intensity in Tarus’s clenched muscles to be far more threatening than his size, but a strike could be devastating. Was he still in control of himself? I wasn’t too sure and felt afraid to go between them.

  “Do you have something important to do that you can’t wait for people to clear? Because if you do, let me help you throw the bag out of the plane!” threatened Tarus
without hesitation, as if he were about to execute his threat.

  Tarus grabbed hold of the man’s bag as if it was empty and with his unnaturally strength thrust the guy backwards.

  “Stop Tarus! Are you insane? Give him back his bag! I’m fine and what do you care about my well-being anyway?” I challenged.

  I had to jolt him out of his anger and luckily my tactic worked. Well, sort of, as he let go of the bag and heaved furiously past me, stampeding out of the plane. I smiled at the man apologetically and darted after Tarus.

  As I caught up with him inside the airport, I was still upset about the episode.

  “What was all that stuff really about? Clearly that’s not acceptable behaviour!”

  I sounded like a mother as I pointed in the plane’s direction.

  I spoke in an attacking rather than a lecturing manner. Tarus spun round aggressively and I recoiled in defence. He took a deep breath in an apparent effort to be more tactful.

  “The bag could have killed you and it’s my duty to make sure you get to the others tonight. I really don’t care what sympathy you had for the man. I just want to be sure that we get home,” he said quietly.

  The last sentence was more wounding than I wanted to admit. Was I deluding myself? Why would he care about my opinion? Satisfactorily enough, he did seem contrite, but I had had enough of his drama and tore off my bag from my shoulder and threw it at his feet.

  “If I am so fragile, you can carry this one too! Otherwise I won’t go a step further.”

  I wanted to see how far I could push him and to my astonishment, he didn’t even react to my defiance. He simply swung the bag over his shoulder, on top of his own. This was done effortlessly even though it must have weighed several pounds. He probably wouldn’t be as willing to accept the servant’s task if he had known that the power stone wasn’t in the bag, but rather on the chain around my neck. It must have been what he had searched my bag for last night, as I didn’t own any other stones, but with such a bizarre man as him, I couldn’t be sure. He had already taken possession of the poem, or map as he called it.

  “How’s your strength, are you hungry?” he asked.

  It seemed as if he cared, but it was still said rather perfunctorily. I was confused with his mood swings. I could no longer distinguish between what was his duty or his sincere caring. We hadn’t eaten anything today, but I only felt a lump in my stomach and no hunger. I had never been a big eater, and sometimes it felt like I didn’t have to eat every day, though it was probably just the symptoms of my illness’ symptoms.

  “No, I’m good, but I can accompany you if you want to eat something,” I offered, not wanting to appear uncaring.

  He smiled at me and said with shining eyes and a neutral voice, “No, I don’t need to eat.”

  It sounded as if he was hinting at an ulterior motive, as if he was hiding another secret.

  “What do you mean, you don’t need to eat?”

  My concerns were still unanswered, but I continued trying.

  “No, Hunter will explain everything to you later. He wouldn’t like me to explain things to you. He says I’m too biased.”

  “But what would he say if I want to hear it from you, because I trust only you?” I retorted in an effort to wheedle it out of him.

  Now it was his turn to go crimson. I hadn’t detected the slightest flaw in his arrogance until now. Had I really touched on a sore spot? He tried to conceal a gentle smile, but I noticed and it made me slightly dizzy. His lips tightened over his cheeks, creating dimples. Moreover, he did a poor job trying to hide it by turning his head the other way as we crossed the street to call for a taxi.

  “Since you still have some strength and don’t need to eat, we have time for one more thing I want to show you. It will pass some time whilst waiting for the sun to set.”

  His voice was gentle again, making me relax a bit whilst I made myself confortable in the taxi.

  “Unforgettable…Hunter’s expression…if you would rather listen to me over him,” he commented almost proudly.

  I could see a glint of his affection me. Could it be that he had let his mask of arrogance slip a little? Maybe it was a kind of Stockholm syndrome? The kidnapper and the victim had become friends.

  “To St Michael’s Cave please,” he instructed the taxi driver without consulting me about the new adventure.

  The taxi took off towards The Rock. Its north face rose up mightily above us, impressing me with its huge size as we crossed the airfield.

  “What is the currency here, is it the pound?”

  I suddenly realised I only had euros.

  Before I finished the sentence I saw that arrogant look appear in Tarus’s emerald eyes and a smile that showed all his teeth.

  “I have everything you need, baby!” he replied with a teasing assertiveness that tried to impress, but I could feel had a double meaning to it.

  Aside from his attitude he proved again to be a real gentleman. I liked him when he was in this mood; he actually wasn’t horrible to be around. It was best that I enjoy the situation as long as it lasted.

  The taxi drove past a roundabout with a fountain and then past the cable car station, which led to the top of The Rock. The taxi climbed higher and higher up the steep hill between houses and small streets until it stopped at a parking area halfway up to the top. Tarus jumped out and held out his hand to steady me, seeming to keep me closer than I felt comfortable with. I expected his hand to be hot and I didn’t want to jump this time making him feel uncomfortable, now that he was in a good mood. Once out of the taxi, I saw why he was being protective.

  “Apes!” I exclaimed, trying to distinguish if I felt more scared than thrilled at the sight of a pack of wild apes wandering around on the road, with their offspring jumping from tree to tree.

  “They are Macaques who are very curious about bags and fond of everything that glitters, just like women,” he joked, as he realised the resemblance and delivered yet another of his wonderful smiles.

  This was a new side to Tarus that I hadn’t previously experienced; was he trying to make me laugh now? I wanted to keep this social charade alive by returning a joke and spotted a male ape attempting to chase down a female who didn’t seem in the slightest bit interested.

  “I believe the males also have their similarities,” I said, pointing towards the female and her repeated rejections.

  Tarus laughed out loud this time and put his arm around my back, propelling me to an entrance to a cave.

  “This way - you will like this,” he said, as if he had given me a mystery gift and was anxiously awaiting a grateful reaction.

  And as always, he knew me better than I did. Inside the rock was a wide-open area with immense limestone stalactites dangling from the high roof.

  “Watch your head there,” he warned as we approached a narrower passageway leading deeper into the rock.

  I must have looked awestruck, my eyes wide open, my jaw dropping ever so slightly and unable to articulate anything more sophisticated than, “Wow…wow…” I repeated the word every few seconds.

  I hadn’t seen anything as impressive in my entire life, at least from what I knew or could remember on TV. The feeling of amazement toward this natural creation could only be compared in magnitude to my sadness at Vic’s abandonment. A sudden wave of sadness engulfed me and didn’t go unnoticed by Tarus. He had followed a few steps behind to witness my admiration from a distance, but quickly came closer, showing genuine concern.

  “Is there something wrong?”

  His soft voice comforted me, whilst the back of his hot finger stroked my arm. It was as if the rock walls were hiding him from the world and he had, for a moment, forgotten his hard shell. “Are you tired? Sit down for a minute,” he urged, without giving me any choice as he pointed to the stone stairway.

  “No, I’m alright. I was just thinking of my father. He must be worried about me and be wondering where I am. Maybe I should try to contact him,” I lied.

  I
didn’t want to ruin the moment and hurt him by showing my feelings for Vic. But what I said wasn’t appreciated and my attempt to save the moment turned into a disaster.

  “Your father…your father!” he repeated furiously, before clearly restraining himself from making any further comments.

  The high humidity inside the cave had begun to affect his fiery physique. He was paler than usual, which probably was the reason he was unable to argue the matter. He trotted up the stairs towards the exit and disappeared through the revolving doors. The beauty of the cave was so captivating, that I couldn’t be bothered to chase after him to accommodate his wild mood swings. Or was it best to keep close to him? If he took off, I would find myself quite lost in a world I wasn’t used to. No, I was pretty sure he needed me as much as I needed him. If I were to run after him every time he had these outbursts, he might start to believe that he could get me to do whatever he wanted. This time I wanted to actually enjoy my experiences for a while. I looked around. There was a large column in the middle of the stairway that led toward the exit. The surface felt cold and grainy as I stroked my finger around the stone. The smell was fascinating, even though it was stale, like old sweaty clothes.

  When I finally left the cave I saw Tarus already sitting in the taxi that was waiting for us. Now I felt even more depressed than before when I had been missing Vic so much. I took a deep breath and realised I had held the previous breath since the bottom of the steps as a defence against Tarus’s blazing anger. I saw his ridged posture through the window and looked away to the stunning views on the horizon. It must have been around six, but it was still light and the air was mild. I couldn’t decide if I felt cold just wearing my summery top or whether it was actually refreshing. I jumped into the taxi without looking Tarus’s way and he didn’t look at me either. He was clearly making an effort to control his temper.