Arcene: The Island (17 page)

That day was magnificent. Vorce inspected his new home as if for the first time, even though he had watched over every step of its creation. He knew he would never leave.

A few months later The Lethargy finally had a name. Not long after, everyone died.

The Island was styled on so many different buildings it was impossible to classify. From a distance it looked like nothing so much as a giant insect. The endless pillars, some straight, others splayed, held up a curved underbelly. The top was in no way flat — walls were staggered, some plain stone, others complex buildings in their own right. The shape of the entire Island was that of a lozenge, unnecessarily complicated but what he wanted. Seen in silhouette, it was like a fairytale castle times a thousand, but way more elaborate. Fanciful structures broke the skyline, connected to their neighbors by stone bridges. There were large lakes, and trees in their thousands had been planted, saplings that were strong enough to withstand the weather and the salt air.

Acres were given over to pastureland, hardy cattle introduced, although looking back on it that had been wishful thinking. Everything was stone, a material that could always be reused. Interiors were furnished simply, accommodation basic. Nothing was to be luxurious and give people fanciful ideas, they were to remain humble, not lust after nicer and nicer things until they were dissatisfied — he'd seen enough of that, almost became one of those people.

The work had been epic on a scale only the truly wealthy could accomplish, and keeping it secret had been one of the hardest things of all, but it had been timed perfectly. Nobody really cared about much anymore by the time work began, and when it was over it was obvious it had been the right thing to do.

Vorce would build a new society. Things would be different. The finite scale meant he could always keep control.

The buildings were often fanciful, but never large. Scale was modest and most were furnished sparsely. Right from the beginning he set it up so that the interior was to be a sign of your position — the deeper you got, the more important you were. Closeted away, safe if anything went wrong with the world as a whole. Vorce had nuclear Armageddon or chemical attack of one form or another firmly in his mind, and the structure was built accordingly.

Inside, the walkways were constructed of steel and stone, elaborate arches and ornate designs incorporated into the utilitarian, nothing too depressing as who knew how long he would live? The end result was impressive even by his own high standards, combining the right amount of primitive building techniques with cutting edge design philosophy and materials to ensure he would never get bored. It would stand for a thousand years. Longer. Now he wondered if he'd been a little shortsighted. Who knew his life was to be so extended?

Vorce let the memories fade. He was a different man then, so very different to who he was now. Life was pretty good, and it was just about to get a little interesting. To be honest, it had been a quiet century, and he smiled as he heard his wives coming up the last flight of stairs, keen to witness the arrival of a guest. Many of them had been alive for little more than the blink of an eye, so were chatting excitedly, hushed by his older wives, told to stay quiet and not cause a scene.

Vorce smiled.

Let them enjoy their youth, squeal and be excited, say the wrong thing and act like the children they were. Life only happened once and was for enjoying.

As long as you did as you were told, of course.

Wasn't Expecting that

Arcene stepped off the platform, unable to take her eyes off the incredible structure she stood on. "What do you think, Leel? Pretty impressive, right?"

Woof.

A hundred people, maybe more, stared at them. A girl could get a complex if she cared at all about such things. Arcene wasn't keen on large groups of people, but in her current condition she was so weak, and felt so empty, she really didn't care.

Arcene held onto the woman's hand. Talia, that was her name, right? She allowed herself to be helped step off the platform onto the meters wide wall circling the island. What a place! Talk about unusual. Arcene's home was degrees more bizarre than this, but still, it was impressive beyond anything she'd seen in her recent adventures. And out to sea, too. Cool.

People were dotted about the open space where she set foot on welcome land after so long at sea, and her body took a while to adjust. It felt like she was still moving, as if the people were bobbing about, but her brain, with a little help from low energy reserves boosted via The Noise, soon centered her. She relaxed as the feel of solid ground beneath her feet filtered into her mind.

Everyone was curious, that much was clear, but it went beyond that — they were almost in awe. There were little children running around naked, playing games and screaming as loud as the gulls that circled above. There were teenagers, adults, old people, all wearing little in the way of clothes, just covering up as best they could with their clearly improvised clothing.

Over to her left, up a slight rise of land and then a vast series of wide steps, were a group that acted differently to the others. Serious, and better dressed. In charge. They stood at a dark entrance to a two-story stone building, ornately carved with bizarre, abstract shapes and forms that morphed between plant and animal the more you looked at them.

The squat structure had a domed top with a long, slender rod pointing to the sky. Maybe a lightning conductor? She took in the other buildings dotted around the island, many right up on the edge but plenty within the landscape. Some whole, some in ruins. All beautiful.

The entire space was like a natural parkland with only slight human intervention, although the closer you looked the more you realized it probably took an awful lot of work to make it appear so natural. There were rises and dips, large open fields and tiny forests, lakes and dashes of color, everything having a rugged, hardy appearance — built to withstand harsh winters and the salt air that would make short work of many plants and environments.

"Ugh, oops." Arcene staggered and nearly fell. She was weaker than she'd thought.

"Are you okay?" asked Talia.

"Food. We need food and... water. Please." Arcene's voice sounded weird to her, like she had a mouthful of gravel. Her throat hurt, more than she thought possible. But they were saved, and what a place to find!

"Oh, sorry, how rude of me. Come, we must meet Vorce, he is our Leader."

Talia handed Arcene a bottle. "Thank you." She drank gratefully, but it wouldn't go down and she coughed and spluttered, spraying water everywhere.

"Take it easy, take it easy. Just have a sip. Your throat is constricted. How long were you in the blue?"

"The blue? Oh, the water? Um, a day? Two?" Arcene sipped the water, and this time it trickled down her throat. Her stomach felt hollow, like the water just dropped and went
ping
as it hit the bottom. She poured a little into her hand and Leel lapped at it greedily. Again, and again, until Leel coughed too. "Slow down, Leel, we have to just sip it." How did that work for dogs though? They couldn't sip, could they? "Eh, what?" Talia had said something.

"I said, let's not keep Vorce waiting. He will want to speak to you. We should hurry."

"Um, okay." Arcene focused on the man at the center of the crowd on the steps. There were a lot of women, and girls. And a lot of men with funny looking expressions, like they were trying to act all wise and grave. To Arcene they looked comical, playing at being significant. But not the man, Vorce. He looked important, definitely in charge by his manner and how others kept glancing at him to see how he acted.

For a moment, Arcene was lost in thoughts of the similarities between where she found herself and the place she had not long left. Here was another cut off and remote group of people, although it was the same wherever you went because of the lack of means of transport. But this would be a closeted world, one she knew would have all manner of secrets and strange rituals.

Hopefully nothing like her recent experiences, but she couldn't help but imagine dark and dastardly deeds. People became strange when they were isolated. People were strange anyway, she supposed, but when there was absolutely no outside influence, well, it got downright weird.

How long had they been here, alone? Probably from the beginning of The Lethargy, if she had to guess. Most would be born here. But these Elders, this Vorce, she could tell just by looking at them how old they were, the kind of people they were, their inflated opinions of themselves.

Vorce was different, that was clear with a glance, and although he certainly felt himself a leader, and important, he had none of the ego that often came with such a role and the control wielded over others. No, there was something else about him. He was grounded. This girl, Talia, she seemed nice, so things were looking up.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Arcene dragged her legs up the steps after passing the curious islanders. How obvious, make the subjects feel small as they approached the powerful people above. Well, it didn't work on Arcene. Nobody was better than her, nobody. She would not act like a subservient subject, not for anything, or to anyone.

"Hello. Thanks for letting us visit. I'm Arcene, this is Leel." Arcene patted Leel on her head gently.

Woof.

"You are most welcome, Arcene and Leel. I am Vorce. Welcome to The Island."

"Thanks. Nice place." Arcene turned and admired the home of the people, and had to admit that they all appeared happy, and well fed, if a little oddly dressed. Oh, and there were the markings, of course. Would it be rude to ask? "What's with the, you know?" Arcene made a spiral motion around her face. That was all right, wasn't it? Nothing wrong with asking.

"Haha, you're not afraid to ask what's on your mind, are you?" Vorce stepped forward from the excited group. Silence hit like the eye of the storm she'd been lucky to escape from with her life.

Arcene shrugged. "Sorry, was that rude? I've been told before I'm a little blunt. I didn't mean to pry. I apologize."

"No, it's fine. But please, we can talk later, you must be thirsty and hungry, your voice sounds very odd. Here, eat, please."

Arcene turned at Vorce's gesture. Her eyes went wide at the sight of food, glorious food. "Leel! You wait, that's rude." It was too late. As soon as Leel saw what was coming she was on the poor girl with the tray before she even offered it. "Down. Bad dog." Arcene dashed over to Leel, and the terrified girl who was trying to move away from what must be to her a creature of astonishing size, huge eyes gleaming and teeth bared in a mouth that could take her entire head off with one bite.

Leel backed the petrified girl up against a carving while the onlookers stepped away in fright. Trying to be good, Leel sat and lifted a paw, head cocked to the side.

"Sorry, sorry. Leel, you'll scare her, be nice. Are you okay? Sorry, she's just very hungry. So am I." Arcene eyed the meat on the plate, a mixture of dried squid, something cured, and what looked suspiciously like mouse.
Bet they bred like crazy here and then everyone realized that wasn't such a bad thing.
Lots of people eked out a subsistence on meat Arcene knew those from long ago found unsavory, but when you were hungry you took what you could get and were grateful for it.

"Will she bite me? She looks dangerous," said the girl, the platter shaking, the food threatening to fall.

"Oh, no. Well, only if she's angry, or I tell her to."

"Please, if you—" Arcene turned and pulled her sword from its scabbard on instinct. She faced a man with a long beard and terrified eyes. He stepped back, the pit of Arcene's sword a hairs' breadth from his neck.

"You don't touch me like that. I don't know you."

There was a gasp from the women that surrounded Vorce, a shriek from out in the crowd that seemed to have doubled in size while Leel was naughty, and Arcene realized she may have overreacted a little. It was instinct, she couldn't help it.

Nobody touched her, not unless they were friends, or family. Arcene's experience with the man that had taken her against her will, almost succeeded in stealing the baby he fathered, and what she did as a result, had left her damaged. She knew it, but it didn't alter the fact that no man would lay a finger on her unless invited, and the chances of that happening were not high.

"I... I'm..." The man looked like he was about to apologize, then puffed out his chest and comically tried to intimidate Arcene.

It may work on others but to her he looked like a fool, a bad actor in a role he was ill-equipped to carry out. "Do you know who you are threatening? How dare you!"

"Haha, I don't care who you are, you have no right to touch me. Try it again, go on, I dare you."

"Please, forgive Elder Boehn. Our customs are somewhat different to yours, that much is obvious." Vorce nodded to Arcene and she lowered the sword, retired it to the scabbard. "There. I'm sure we will all be friends soon enough, but for now, please eat. Leel too. Come, let us move somewhere more amenable to conversation, and you can eat and tell me all about what brought you to us. Talia, you will accompany us?"

It didn't sound like a question to Arcene. As she turned, she realized Talia was closer than she'd thought, and by the looks of it ready to defend the man, Boehn. Arcene looked at her properly for a moment, seeing the woman's true age and nature, and relaxed. Talia nodded in surprise at what was clearly an unusual invitation, and then took the tray off the girl who sighed with relief as her role was done.

"This way, please." Vorce led them down the steps under the intense scrutiny of hundreds of people. They walked across a beautiful garden containing a pleasant mix of hardy grasses and succulent plants that could cope with the weather. Vorce led them past the staring people who watched in amazement and envy as Arcene was given such an honor. There was also jealousy, she noted — Talia was stepping up a few rungs in whatever hierarchy there was on The Island. Arcene made a mental note to capitalize Island. To them it wasn't just any old island, it was The Island — all they had ever known.