Episode 95
(Romana, April 17, 1127)
There now remained no doubt. The woman was one of them, and by the same means. So why didn’t she know the old language? She could have forgotten, but something seemed off about the woman. Had she been damaged? It could be psychological, the result of millennia of the sort of trauma only a Two need fear.
Maybe it was something more concrete. Hypoxia? This raised an alarming possibility. If her confusion was the result of an injury, how long ago had it happened? Was she normal when she first entered the cave? Vasile calmed himself. If there was a miasma here, the Twos would have shown signs of it already.
Unless it came and went. Would they awaken one morning gasping in a cloud of toxic fumes? Or, worse, never know at all? He and Mihai would likely emerge unscathed, but he wasn’t certain of it. Well, life was uncertain. They would have to hope for the best.
The woman clearly had lived in the cave for quite a while and hadn’t been completely incapacitated by it. If there was something, it probably was slow-acting. He would have to keep an eye out for signs of decline in the others.
They weren’t planning to stay in the cave indefinitely, just long enough for the unfortunate furor they had caused to die down. A couple of years would suffice, and that shouldn’t be too dangerous. He doubted the Twos would suffer any irreversible damage. Besides, it was unclear whether the woman actually had been damaged. Maybe she was this way all along. As far as crazy or dumb went, there certainly had been worse in the old country. He sighed. Even at the very top.
Vasile smiled at her. “Very good. You saw the number of fingers we each held up. That’s the number of rules guarding each of us. They were given to us with our spheres. Ana and Jakov have two, and Mihai and I have four. Each rule guards us from certain harms.”
Larel looked like she wanted to ask a question but was unsure how, so Vasile took a guess.
“You probably want to know why some of us have two and some of us have four.”
The woman’s face did not reveal whether this was her question, but she seemed interested.
“It depends on why the sphere was given to you. Some were favors, others were purchased. I received mine as a gift, Mihai’s was offered in exchange for something…” He shot a glance at Mihai to see whether he cared to elaborate, but the man just shrugged. “Well, he doesn’t like to talk about it,” Vasile continued. “Ana’s was a gift from her father, and Jakov purchased his. The rules aren’t the same either, but all the spheres have one or two basic ones.”
Larel nodded, and he wondered whether she actually comprehended what he was saying.
“None of us speak the language in which they are written.” Vasile explained. “It’s not the old language. I’m not even sure if it is a language at all, though there is reason to think so.”
“Spare the pontification and get to the damned point,” Ana grumbled.
“Do you have somewhere you’d rather be?” Mihai asked before Vasile could reply.
“Pretty much anywhere you’re not.”
“Door’s that way.” Mihai gestured at the cave entrance.
“Feel free to use it,” Ana shot back. “Why should I leave because of you?”
“Yeah, I guess a sty is where you belong.”
“Would you two shut the fuck up,” Vasile snapped. “I’m trying to have a serious conversation.”
Ana grinned. “Yep, your ideal conversation: with somebody who doesn’t talk back.”
“Best kind of woman there is,” Mihai blurted out.
“Only kind you have a shot with.”
Vasile gave Mihai a cold look before he could respond to her.
“Fine, fine,” Mihai muttered. “Do your stupid little speech.” He returned to contemplating the ceiling.
With a deep breath, Vasile continued his explanation. “The most basic rules translate to things like ‘you can’t kill me’ and ‘you can’t harm me’. Of course, this is a bit vague — or maybe an inadequate translation. You can’t be harmed by certain obvious forms of violence, but you certainly can be harmed.”
“Like Elena found out,” Mihai grunted.
Vasile shot him a particularly nasty look, but the damage was done, and Larel had a childish expression of anticipation. He sighed. “She was a Two with whom we used to work. There was a misunderstanding.” After a rather lengthy glare at Mihai, he continued.
“For example, Jakov can be drowned. His body wouldn’t perish, but he’d become simple — just like anyone normal who was underwater for too long before being resuscitated. Such damage is irreversible. His mind would be broken, but his body would continue intact forever. As a Two, he also can feel pain. Neither Mihai nor myself are vulnerable in those ways. Do you understand?”
Again, Larel nodded.
“We need to ascertain your number. I think it’s fair to assume you have at least the two basic rules. Do you know your number?” Larel shook her head.
“Well, I suppose that isn’t surprising,” Vasile mused aloud. Though hesitant, he decided to ask.
“Did something happen to you?”
Larel didn’t seem to know what he meant.
“Something that broke you,” he clarified. “Like what I said about drowning, or maybe a partial hanging. Something that could have caused you to forget the old language.”
To his relief, she didn’t seem offended, just uncertain.
Vasile gave her a sympathetic look. “I suppose it’s normal to forget with age and no practice.” He wondered whether the same would have happened to him had it not been for the group.
“Well, don’t worry about it,” he offered. “It will come back to you soon enough. If it’s any consolation, the rest of us may remember the old tongue, but names and faces fade — however vivid they once may have been.”
“If I met my own mother today, I wouldn’t know her,” Jakov laughed.
“That’s just because you’re an idiot,” Ana replied.
“She’d certainly pretend she didn’t know you,” Mihai added. All of this was in the old language, and Larel wore an oblivious smile.
“What this does mean,” Vasile explained, “is that she probably is from the same place as us.”
“She doesn’t know the old tongue,” Jakov pointed out.
“I don’t remember her,” Mihai observed.
Ana gave him a dry look. “And you knew everybody in the entire country?”
“Everybody who mattered enough to be made immortal.”
She gave a smug grin. “Then why are you just a Four, hotshot?”
“Because it’s better than a Two.”
Vasile shook his head, tuning out their squabbling. “I think she suffered some trauma,” he announced. “Everything else points to her being one of us.” He looked at the ground. “That’s disappointing. I thought maybe there was someone else out there making immortals.”
“Why?” Mihai asked. “That would mean more competition.”
“True enough. But it would make things more interesting and less” — Vasile looked around — “stagnant.”
He turned to Larel. “Since you can’t tell us your rules, we’ll have to assess them ourselves.” This sounded sharper than he had intended, and he wasn’t surprised that she recoiled.
He softened his tone and took her hand. “We’re not going to harm you. Please trust me. You do trust me, don’t you?” Larel hesitated a moment, but then gave a firm nod.
“Good, I’m glad. I’m going to try a couple of things. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to harm you. However, I won’t lie — it will be a bit uncomfortable.”
He gave her a reassuring smile. “This is for your benefit as well as ours. The better we understand your weaknesses, the better we can compensate for them.”
Vasile took Larel’s hair in his hand and pulled sharply. She squealed and yanked away. “This won’t last long,” he promised.
He gestured for her to come closer, and Larel hesitantly did so.
“It is clear that you are not guarded from pain. This is useful to know. Next, I’m going to check whether you need to breathe. I am going to hold your nose and mouth. You will struggle, but I need to hold them for a while to see if you begin to pass out. This will be unpleasant, but I want you to bear it. Are you ready?”
Larel gave a reluctant nod. Vasile stepped behind her, placed a cloth against her mouth and another against her nose, and pressed hard. She struggled convulsively, and after a few moments he released her. He smiled and thanked her for indulging him.
“I have good news and less-good news,” Vasile announced to her. “The good news is that no more tests are needed, and the discomfort is over. The less-good news is that you are almost certainly a Two.”
Larel’s eyes grew wide, but Vasile doubted she really understood what this implied. Was she just picking up on his own disappointment?
He smiled at her. “Please do not let this worry you. All it means is that you are a little less sturdy than some of us. But that’s what we’re here for. We look out for one another, the strong for the weak. And we’re all weak in our own way.”
Vasile cupped Larel’s hands in his own. “There is nothing wrong with being a Two. While some of our kind imagine there is a hierarchy, that is rubbish.” He gave Mihai a pointed look, then returned his eyes to her. “We all are equals, even if they do not realize that.”
He adopted an earnest expression. “I’m truly sorry to have had to do that, and I promise not to intentionally cause you pain again for as long as we are friends.” Vasile capped this off with a noble flourish of his arm.
He then turned to the group. “Ana and Jakov, since Larel is a Two, I think she will be best off with you as teachers. You share similar limitations.” Then, in the old tongue, he warned Ana, “do not harm her.” Ana rolled her eyes, but nodded agreement.
Vasile clapped his hands. “All right. We found a new home, and we found a new sister. I’d say this has been a very successful day. Let’s locate that water source. Larel, please follow us outside and show us where the stream is.”
Vasile and Jakov took the lead. When they were out of earshot, Ana turned to Larel. “Just so you know, Vasile can find you anywhere once he’s smelled you. Don’t even think of trying to run away. That’s my first lesson to you.” Then she cursed and repeated the whole thing in local before storming out.
Mihai was the last to leave. As he passed the woman, he smirked. “Larel means idiot in the old tongue.”