Eden: The Eighth Day Part 1

Bacchus walked into the courtyard and amongst the groups of impatient bidders. Some had been waiting at the gates for hours and were tired. All they needed now was a little nudge in the right direction.

‘I hear the emperor is keeping her all to himself,’ Bacchus whispered in one man’s ear, pulling his cloak tightly around him to disguise his features.

He found another impatient-looking man. ‘He’s getting soft. I bet he won’t sell her at all.’

This man nodded his agreement. ‘Aye, you’re right,’ he said. ‘He’s now’t like he used to be.’ He started complaining to a neighbouring bidder.

Bacchus floated further into the courtyard. He heard a pair quietly discussing the emperor.

‘He seemed distracted during the celebrations last night,’ one man said to the other.

‘You’re not wrong. The wife thinks he’s losing his bloody mind.’

Bacchus joined in. ’He’s too old and that witch girl is casting ’er spells on him. I bet those bloody rivers are now’t but for show.’

‘Aye,’ the first man said. ’Me and a few good men should go check ’em out ourselves.’ A few men overheard and joined in the conversation.

Bacchus crept off to another group. ‘I hear he’s using her to cast spells on the townsfolk. Trying to control us. He ain’t gunna sell her y’know.’

The men bristled at the news and looked around at the groups of men beginning to get rowdy. They joined in and Bacchus marvelled at his creation. He sidled out of the yard and dumped his cloak before re-entering the palace. It would only be a few moments now. He held the door ajar just to be sure, listening to the raised voices. Then a crash as one of the men had thrown something heavy against the palace walls. Perfect! Let the festivities begin.

Vita let a lazy smile cross her face as she gazed across the room towards the emperor.

‘It would make me very happy to please you, sire,’ she said, spotting the glint of his dagger resting by the bedside. She glided towards it in what she hoped was a seductive manner.

The emperor smiled his response to Vita’s relief and she knelt at his feet, blocking his view of the dagger. She bowed her head. ‘I am yours.’

He groaned his satisfaction and Vita braved a glance at his face. His aged features were stretched in a powerful smile and his eyes were closed. She scrambled behind her for the dagger. It was now or never.

Just then, the door burst open and Bacchus barged through the door to the chambers, donning a new ivory silk dress and looking more feminine than she had ever seen him. The emperor growled at his advisor.

‘I must speak with you urgently, sire.’

‘Bacchus, leave!’ the emperor ordered. ‘Whatever it is can wait. Can’t you see I am busy?’

Vita leapt up, pulling her straps up over her arms and crossing them over her breasts. The moment was gone.

‘I’m afraid I must insist, Your Majesty,’ said Bacchus. ‘There are bigger things to consider than your primitive impulses. It is imperative that you heed my advice.’

The emperor rose, practically roaring in Bacchus’s direction. ‘You will pay for this. You utter fool!’

‘Yes, yes, I would imagine so.’ Bacchus couldn’t believe what he was doing and for a maid of all things. At least she would get a good beating and he would avoid upsetting the hood. The emperor’s wrath, no matter how brutal, was nothing in comparison. And once that pesky girl was sold and out of his hair, the hood would have to leave him alone and let him get on with his plans. He silently praised his own genius.

‘Follow me,’ Malum said, heading towards a discreet door at the rear of his chambers.

The emperor walked straight over to a rack when he walked through the door and into an eerie room. He surveyed his instruments, trying to decide the correct punishment for his advisor’s sin.

Bacchus shivered. He looked around the dark, damp room, reluctant to step inside the unassuming looking door. He had a sharp realisation that this place was bad. Unlike the finery of the rest of the palace, this room had been neglected, the bare stone walls trapping the cold so that he could see little clouds of his own breath floating to the ceiling. Its cracks oozed green fungus and dripped a foul liquid with a plop onto the equally neglected tile floor.

He looked around him, wide-eyed and felt the wall’s history crushing him like a vice. He thought he might have heard a skin-prickling scream.

He took in the numerous holding racks and stones, where he imagined many a maid had been strapped as the emperor or his demons had administered their punishments. He could smell fresh blood and, sure enough, as he looked down he could see a small pool of the black stuff that he was about to step in. He quickly corrected his footing.

He looked across to the rack, the only bright thing in the place, with its gleaming instruments of torture. Metal trays held numerous needles, knives and forceps and other small tools, while the racks themselves held axes, whips, saws, metal flails and swords plus many other ‘toys’ for Malum to play with.

‘Sire, p-please,’ said Bacchus as he watched an evil glint forming in his master’s eye. ‘Let me speak before you decide.’

‘Go on then,’ said Malum. ‘Quickly. As you saw, I am in the middle of something very important.’

‘That’s just it, sire,’ Bacchus began. ’I just knew you wouldn’t listen. The courtyard is already full and the men are beginning to riot. There is talk of a raid. The townsfolk – they are calling you a liar. They are saying you are protecting the little witch. They ask if you lie about this, what else have you lied about? Some of the men even speak of crossing the rivers!

’Like I said last night, she needs to be made an example of, please. Have the demons beat her and take her to auction battered and broken. That is the only way you will gain their respect and put an end to all this nonsense. She is but one girl, Your Majesty. There are hundreds of beautiful women in this empire. I will gladly send you three whores to replace her.’

Malum grabbed an axe from the racks and threw it across the room towards Bacchus. Bacchus ducked, but not quite fast enough and he felt the axe skim the top of his head, taking a good tuft of hair with it.

‘Fine!’ the emperor said. ‘Bring her here and fetch the demons. Don’t let her out of your sight. I will go and deal with the rioters. I suppose it’s no good having an evil temptress walking my halls anyway. Blast that woman’s influence on my senses.’

‘Yes, sire. Thank you.’ He darted from the room before the emperor could change his mind.

Vesta walked over to the balcony, her steps floating steadily towards the door. Her eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

‘Is it really you?’ she asked

The old lady nodded and advanced towards the empress, her blinding white eyes disguising their perfect sight; and her skin was as black as the palace at midnight. She hobbled over at speed, much to Kayin’s surprise, and he felt some familiar distant memory float up through the fog, but then it sunk back towards the murky depths.

She grabbed hold of Vesta and the two women embraced. A tear rolled down the old woman’s face and caught in the wrinkle of her smile. ‘Vesta,’ she said. ‘It has been a long time.’

‘I can’t believe my eyes. I thought you had passed. Where have you been all these years?’

‘I fled,’ she said. ‘They had taken my babies and I feared Saturn. I fled the land and I hid until I discovered the truth.’ She stopped and looked intently at Kayin. ‘Where is my son? Is this him who stands before me? Are you my precious Able?’ Her arms extended to him and she spread a toothless grin.

Kayin took a step back; despite his best efforts, the woman frightened him. But that name… Able… somewhere in the depths he remembered. He thought of laughter.

‘Oh my,’ said Vesta, shooting a look at Kayin. ‘I don’t really know how to tell you. Perhaps you should sit down.’

The woman wasn’t listening, she was engrossed in Kayin’s eyes. He gulped. And then the tears flowed from her eyes and she wailed.

‘My poor, poor boy. You!’ she said, pointing her finger at him. ‘You killed him.’ She advanced towards him and Kayin found himself being backed into a corner.

‘It wasn’t like that,’ Vesta shouted. ‘Please! Just listen to him.’

Kayin passed a look of confusion and fear towards his mother. He didn’t know what this woman possessed, but he knew she was truly powerful. ‘There is nothing I can say, Mother,’ he said, the panic rising in his voice. ‘I know nothing of that day.’

She looked at him and gently shook her head and raised her hand, gesturing for him to bend down to the lady. He looked again and she nodded. As he reached her level the lady raised her arthritic fingers and placed them on his forehead. He watched in horror as her eyes flickered and she threw her head back. He felt his own head swimming and felt dizzy with the sensation. After what seemed like a lifetime, she finally released him from her spell. She nodded up at him.

‘Thank you, my child,’ she said and turned towards Vesta. ‘And she is here, still? Vita?’

Vesta nodded with a smile. ‘For now she is, but we may need your help with something.’

‘Vita, please,’ said Bacchus, as the pair stood in the torture room waiting for the demons’ arrival. ‘Just stand still. It’s only a dose of casual torture. Honestly, I don’t know why you have to be so dramatic. You’re making me feel anxious and when I get anxious I sweat. And silk this fine,’ he gestured to his new frock, ‘should never be sweated on.’

She could feel her heart racing at her surroundings, her stomach churning at the prospect of her immediate future. She had known, of course, as soon as he had opened the door to this cursed place, what evil had lurked here.

Despite staring into a black pit, she had felt it. Felt the crushing sorrow of its past and smelt the stagnant remnants of the demons’ presence, serving only as a feeble mask to the sharp metallic smell of blood, which lingered heavily below it. The smell had caught at the back of her throat, causing it to tighten. People had died here.

She had shivered, unsure whether it was her unease or the icy air surrounding her that caused her skin to prickle. Her eyes darted to a brief gleam of soft light shooting through the shadows, but it had disappeared as quickly as it came.

Bacchus had placed a lantern above the door and in an instant Vita could see the truth in her feelings. So this was the true, noble emperor? The man who had guided and supposedly saved their treasured empire?

She had been right to suspect the darkness beneath him. She warily took in the dilapidated room and the piles of rubble lying discarded on the floor beneath vast cracks in the high ceiling. A mosaic dragon lay cracked and broken on the floor, a look of pain in its eyes from what it must observe. Rust flaked above the tiles around the dragon’s edges. Vita thought this strange but soon realised the rust was an ancient pool of blood, neglected through his callousness or idle nature. She thought it sad that its owner should be forced to remain in this place, to watch, as many others met the same desperate fate.

Rusted racks with rusted lethal weapons lined the crumbling walls. There were hooks hanging above her, some had giant spikes, which chilled Vita as she imagined their purpose and some had loops, obviously used to restrain his innocent victims.

A pole as thick as a tree trunk lay across two X-shaped stands by a wall, which offered chains and manacles. Below the pole lay a dark puddle, still gleaming and wet. On the far side of the room stood an upended table with more spikes that glinted orange in the torchlight and protruded from its oak surface, and leather cuffs hung by chains at its legs. It rocked gently in an invisible breeze, creaking on its hinges. Vita jumped with the memory of ancient screams echoing off the walls. ‘Save us,’ they seemed to cry.

A horrible thought crossed her mind. Did Kayin know of this place? Had he been here? Had he taken lives? She froze. Was this the true extent of his nature?

‘You really are a thorn in my side,’ Bacchus was saying.

‘Why should I be a thorn in your side? I hardly even speak to you.’

Bacchus sighed impatiently. ‘How can I possibly work towards taking over this cursed empire,’ he said, ‘when I have to watch over you?’

‘You want to take over the empire?’ Vita laughed, trying to disguise her fear.

‘Why do you find that so hard to believe?’ Bacchus raised his palm to his heart in mock offence.

‘You would just have the whole place wearing pretty dresses and singing songs.’

‘And quite rightly so,’ said Bacchus. ‘The people could certainly do with some more taste.’ He gestured towards Vita’s tattered underdress with a raised eyebrow. ‘But I would make an exceptional emperor. I’d get rid of this hellhole for a start.’ His eyes narrowed as he glanced around the room.

‘You’re delusional,’ she said, ‘and you speak treason, you’ll be hung before you even get close. Although, you would probably be an improvement on Malum.’

‘And who’s going to share my plans? You?’ Bacchus laughed ‘You won’t be seeing the light of day again when that awful Vulcan gets his slimy little paws on you.’

He dusted his hands together at the perfection of his plan when he heard the demons’ thoughts signifying their presence. He watched as Vita’s head turned in their direction. He was surprised, only other demons could hear demons or… no, surely not. Not a little runt like Vita.

Vita instantly recognised the bear- and gorilla-headed demons from the night of her parents’ deaths. They gestured towards Bacchus and he took the hint and left the room, a small smirk on his face.

Vita could see her mother’s empty eyes staring at her from across the room. She could feel the impossible sadness ripping through her and she could feel her and Castus’s childhood dying all over again. And here she was now, again at their mercy. The familiar rage rose inside her and she felt her hand begin to twitch. She had promised to avenge them.

They strode towards her and she lunged at them, attacking their barely-there bodies. Her hand impacted the gorilla’s side, slipping on the unstable surface and right into the pit of his stomach. The pair snorted, amused, and the bear advanced, grabbing her deftly by the hair and dragging her to the wooden ‘X’ pole, which he smashed her head against. The room went black.

When Vita woke, she was kneeling with her hands shackled by the manacles in the wall. She could hear the two demons, Amlethus and Cassian, talking behind her and felt disgusted about the pleasure they were taking in her imminent torture. She tried to wriggle free but it was hopeless. She tried to think straight but her head felt dizzy from the impact of the blow.

She could hear the pair rattling the racks. Cassian, the bear-headed beast, had chosen a flail and was testing the ball and chain on the stone wall. Vita could hear the spikes impacting on the stone and the sound of the resulting debris scattering the floor. Amlethus had followed the emperor’s orders and stuck with the cat ‘o’ nine tails, which she could hear whipping and cracking the air. The noises were making her heart race and she jumped each time she heard an impact, unsure if this time it would be her flesh they would hit.

She heard a pair of heavy footsteps crossing the room towards her and their laughter at her pointless attempts at escape.

‘I love it when they struggle,’ Amlethus said, as he raised his whip high in the air.

Vita tried to calm herself. She didn’t want them to know her fear. She heard the air split with the power of the cat lashing through it and then her vision cracked with the pain searing through her flesh. The impact forced her forward so that her head smashed into the wooden pole, causing her breath to leave her body in a cry.

‘That was pathetic,’ Cassian said.

Angered at his companion’s mocking, Amlethus raised the cat again, bringing it down harder on Vita’s bare back. This time the lashes caused her skin to split and blood to trickle down to the floor. She was vaguely aware of the sensation as she let out another cry. It’s only pain, she told herself as she pulled her head up from the pole. Don’t let them see your fear.

’Luppiter te perdat!’ she said and she spat out a mouthful of blood.

‘Get outer th’way,’ Cassian said to his companion, as he moved into place with the flail. ‘I’ll make her scream.’

Vita tried the shackles again in a pointless effort to free herself. She could hear him playing with the chain and she went cold with fear. That thing would crack her in two.

‘I’ll make her scream like her whore of a mother,’ Cassian said. He raised the flail and began spinning it above his head for maximum impact. He didn’t care if she died, he had no need to fear the emperor; he needed him. All he cared about was hearing the sounds of pain and feeling his own power. He brought down the flail through the air.