Keeper: Chapter 25

Oops, I thought I had this set to automatically post last Thursday.  Must not have hit the right button. v

Chapter 25

Jamie blinked hard as the man with the face from his dreams swept past him and into the guest parlor. His heart was racing. ‘I wonder if keeper’s get used to this sort of thing,’ he mentally asked himself. Normally people didn’t step out of his dreams and onto the front porch. “If they did, dating in high school would have been a whole lot different,” he muttered as he closed the door, turned and followed his visitor into the parlor. The man with the scarred face was examining some of the knickknacks placed decoratively on the fireplace mantel. Jamie found himself being irrationally glad they were the impersonal sort of items Albe had never told stories about.



“I’m afraid you have me at a bit of a disadvantage,” Jamie said, recalling some of his mother’s lessons in manners and verbal sparring.



“Oh and how is that?” the man said, turning to face Jamie.



“Your face is somewhat familiar but I am afraid I can not place it, yet you have my name.” The man laughed and winked at Jamie.



“Of course, of course, I had forgotten the restrictions. They would have let you vaguely recognize me but nothing else in such a short time. You must be having an interesting time of it with visitors.”



“Oh?” Jamie replied. The man laughed again.



“Ah the training of a Keeper. Personally I always thought it was a bit over the top but who am I to flout tradition. And in this Albe was a traditionalist.” The man stepped away from the fireplace and executed a deep bow in Jamie’s direction. “I am Terrel San Vojnoen of the House of the Fiery Lily. You may call me Terrell of course.” Personally Jamie thought The House of the Fiery Lily sounded like the name of a bad brothel but he didn’t comment.



“And we have met before?” Jamie asked instead as Terrell straightened.



“Many times, a fact you will come to realize in the next few weeks.”



“Really?” Jamie said, trying to keep his disbelief out of his voice. Terrell smiled broadly.



“Of course. The traditional method of training Keepers involves the up and coming keepers not to know they are being trained. Memories are somewhat suppressed from what I gather or only found in dreams. A goblin kin becomes a giant iguana. Fairies become butterflies, that sort of thing. And then when the trainee becomes the keeper in actuality the veil gradually disintegrates.” Terrell gave a low chuckle. “I can only imagine what some of your dreams would be like in the next few weeks.”



“I think interesting would cover it.” Jamie commented dryly.



“Yes that would be a good catch all term I suppose.” Del reached the door with another load of delicacies on the tea cart. Absently Jamie wondered how many miles the cart had clocked between the kitchen and the parlor during the day. He had lost track of how many times it had arrived with the perfect set of edibles for who or whatever his guest happened to be at the moment. Jamie noticed the savory offerings were a little more on the stout variety and smiled. Apparently Del realized Jamie was going to miss lunch today as well. Del glanced up at the visitor and Jamie and did his customary nod before leaving. There seemed to be no surprise in Del’s face and Jamie realize he had only shown him the drawing of the fairy and not of his current visitor. Terrell’s face on the other hand registered surprise at Del’s presence. The flamboyant good humor seemed to drain for a moment, leaving his eyes cold and calculating. When he caught Jamie looking at him he smiled again, his eyes flashing nothing but good humor.



“I see you have hired a housekeeper then,” Terrell said. He walked over to the tea tray, placed a few of the small sandwiches on a plate and settled himself in the visitor’s chair. Jamie filled his own plate, his tastes edging more to the ham side of the sandwiches than the water cress and cucumber ones his guest had taken. He settled himself in the seat he had spent much of the morning occupying.



“Yes,” Jamie replied. “I did.” He took a bite of the small triangle of a sandwich. In two bites the morsel was gone. Terrell did not touch the items he had placed on the plate. He merely held it as if it were a prop.



“Good, good, always good to have help around the house,” Terrell commented. The line sounded somewhat stilted. Terrell’s jaw seemed to clench after he spoke the words and Jamie’s eyes drifted to the scar. It moved oddly with the muscles of Terrell’s face, almost as if there were something buried underneath the flesh and the scar was merely the covering.



“I thought so,” Jamie replied. He picked up a second triangle of sandwich and took a bite, wondering if Terrell would follow suit. Jamie watched him as he chewed and swallowed his bite. Terrell picked up a sandwich as though to eat it but did not bring it to his mouth. “So we have met before then?” he asked.



“Yes, many times,” Came the reply. Terrell set his untouched food back on his plate so his hand was free to gesture while he spoke. “Many times I would come over and Albe would be training you on some point or another of Keeper lore.” Terrell had a far away look in his eye for a moment. “He will be missed. Regrettable of course, but we now have you don’t we? So we must push on.”



“Regrettable?” Jamie said, watching Terrell. Terrell winced slightly, like an actor who realized he had misspoken one of his lines.



“I meant that he had to pass on of course,” Terrell said. “Ah, mortality.” Terrell quieted and his hand fluttered down to his plate. Jamie thought he might pick up one of the sandwiches but he didn’t. Terrell merely rested his hand on the edge of the plate. The silence stretched long and thin.



“So why is it you have come today?” Jamie asked, breaking the silence with a snap.



“Why?” Terrell asked with a smile. “Well to offer my condolences of course.” His face drooped into an expression of grave concern, then brightened a few heartbeats later. “And to offer my assistance of course.”



“Assistance?”



“Yes,” Terrell affirmed. “Albe and I were close friends and I’m probably the only one alive who understands the role of the keeper. Not accepting you of course, but then again you don’t actually understand yet due to the way in which you were trained.”



“And you can bypass the training?”



“Bypass? No not bypass. More of an assist really. Should something come up that you have to deal with before the training fully kicks in. I never really understood the method of training a keeper. They say it is so that the new keeper comes to the position fresh and without all of the old baggage of the previous keeper but I think it is somewhat ridiculous.”



“I see,” Jamie said. He stood and placed his empty plate on the tea cart. Terrell followed suit with his still full one. “That is a very generous offer.”



“Albe would have wanted it that way.”



“Of course.” Jamie began leading Terrell towards the front door. He opened it and thanked Terrell once again for his offer. Terrell stepped out onto the porch.



“Until next time, Keeper James.” Terrell said. Jamie inclined his head but did not offer his own farewell. Terrell turned and strode off the porch and into the woods. Jamie had to fight hard to resist the urge to follow him.

“He is heading east,” Jamie said to himself as he closed the door. Jamie glanced at the hall clock. Visitors had eaten the day away and he now had a little less than half an hour before his expected tea time visitor. Jamie retrieved the tea cart from the parlor and wheeled it back into the kitchen.



“I would have come for it,” Del told him as he rolled the cart to a stop.



“No trouble,” Jamie replied. He picked up his empty plate and loaded it down with sandwiches to quiet the rumbling in his belly. “What did you think of the last guest?” he asked.



“Seemed all right,” Del said with a shrug. “Why?”



“I had a dream last night about the destruction of the first house and he was in it.” Jamie reached for his sketch book and flipped the pages. He held out the picture to Del.



“Huh,” Del replied, his brow furrowed.



“He didn’t exactly have a hero’s role.” Jamie took a bite and chewed slowly. “He also didn’t seem to like that you were here.”



“Really?” Del asked. “Huh. Well as long as he ate the sandwiches no harm should come from him.”



“What did you put in them?” Jamie said looking at the sandwich in his hand. Del laughed.



“I didn’t add anything to them. I didn’t have to. The bread was baked in your hearth. The vegetables were grown in your garden. It’s an old law. None can eat of the fruits of your land, the bread of your hearth or the meat and salt of your table and then bring harm to your house.” Del’s voice was matter of fact and Jamie assumed it was some sort of fey tradition. His eyes drifted to Terrell’s uneaten sandwiches.



“And if he didn’t eat anything?” Jamie asked.



“Then I would definitely keep an eye on him.” Del replied.

Keeper: Chapter 24

24.


The figure was covered head to toe in a black hooded cape. The hood was pulled low over the face and Jamie could only catch the glitter of eyes in the shadows, no facial features. The figure was taller than Jamie but shorter than the High Talbot. As they walked towards the figure Jamie realized the person had found the deepest shadows of the porch to wait. He wondered if that was significant. Jamie passed the cloak he had picked up in the woods off to Del.



“Do you know what sort of refreshments to offer,” he asked in a low tone he hoped wouldn’t carry.



“Yes Keeper,” Del replied in the same hushed tone.



“Good,” Jamie replied. In a louder tone he called to the figure on the porch. “Good morning, sorry for making you wait.”



“The wait has not been long,” came the reply. The voice reminded Jamie of long dark hallways where dust collected in the corners and beetles scuttled under the floor boards. He gave an involuntary shudder.



“Good,” Jamie replied. They reached the porch. “Won’t you come in?” Jamie asked. He opened the door and Del moved directly to the kitchen. Jamie indicated the figure he was now was pretty sure qualified as male, should go into the parlor. The visitor settled himself in the guest chair. The guest chair was still in shadows as the parlor’s windows opened to the west. The entire room was dim and Jamie reached for the light switch.



“I would prefer you did not do that,” the voice came again. Jamie paused.



“Oh?”



“I am a creature of the dark and prefer the shadows,” he was told. Jamie let his hand fall from the switch.



“I see,” he said. Jamie stepped away from the switch and moved to his seat. “Del will be bringing refreshments shortly.”



“Does it bother you?”



“The refreshments?” Jamie asked, there was a low chuckle from under the hood.



“Meeting with one of the dark. One who might be evil?”



“Dark is a natural condition,” Jamie replied. “Many in nature are designed to live in the dark and suffer ill effects from the light. Evil is an intent. An action decided upon by an individual not a natural state.” Jamie blinked. The words had a familiar feel to them, like a lesson he had been forced to memorized. He couldn’t remember where it had come from though and that bothered him. “Although I do like to actually see the faces of the people I talk to. That sort of bothers me, along with not knowing your name.” There was another dark chuckle from under the hood.



“You are well trained by Albe that much is certain.” The man’s hands lifted to the edge of his hood. Jamie looked at them homing he looked politely interested rather than like he was staring. The man’s hands were pale, like skin that had never seen the sun. Jamie thought that was perfectly understandable. The man’s fingernails however were black. Jamie’s eyes were drawn to them. The black was not the black of nail polish but the purply black that you would sometimes see if you happened to accidentally slam a hammer into your finger rather then hitting the nail you held. As Jamie had made many frames over the years his hands were well familiar with the color. What struck him as odd was that it was a uniform color on all of the fingernails. Jamie had the feeling a hammer had not been used to create the color. The nails also seemed a little thick, more like the thickness of his mother’s acrylic nails than real fingernails. The hands with their odd nails pulled back the hood and Jamie shifted his gaze.



The skin of his visitor’s face was as pale as the skin of his hands. His eyes were black. Not the kind of black he had seen before on another human but black all the way through. There was no iris surrounded by black just the black. The eyes were also slightly more round than the normal human eye. His nose was sharply pronounced and made Jamie think of old roman coins. Over all the effect was more birdlike than anything else, a judgment somehow made more pronounced by the fine brown hairs on the man’s head although Jamie would be hard pressed to say why.



“Definitely of Albe’s teaching,” the visitor said with a slight smile. His eyes did not blink which made Jamie feel like blinking twice as much.



“Oh?” he asked, unsure of the appropriate response. The man smiled again, his teeth seemed somewhat sharper than normal and Jamie absently ran his tongue over the back of his teeth. He caught himself midway through but since his mouth was closed he did not think his gesture was observed.



“Yes most would view my appearance as confirmation of evil intent. After all I have seen many of your movies as of late. Am I not the picture of a demon inhabited one?” The tone was somewhat teasing and Jamie smiled slightly.



“I rather think the demon inhabited ones drool a lot more and tend to behave in a much more violent manner.”



“Indeed,” I will have to practice then before All Hallow’s Eve then if I am to pass muster with the latest Hollywood trends.”



“You could always throw a sheet over your head and go trick or treating as a ghost.”



“Indeed I could,” he said. Del interrupted the conversation, such as it was, by wheeling in a tea tray. Jamie noticed that while there was a tea pot on the tray there was only one tea cup. The second tea cup had been replaced with a dark glass. Steam seemed to be rising from its depths. Jamie decided he would ask Del questions later. Del wheeled the cart to a stop between the two of them, inclined his head at Jamie and then walked back out of the room. His visitor reached for the glass and picked it up. He seemed to enjoy the contents, by which Jamie assumed Del had chosen correctly. Jamie poured himself a glass of tea. There was already a lump of sugar in the bottom of the cup and it dissolved as the tea covered it. Jamie smelled the peppermint in the steam as it rose. His guest smelled the scent as well and seemed to find it vaguely amusing.



“I had heard that Millie had retired.”



“Yes,” Jamie replied, thinking of the conversation he had with Albe a few months before he disappeared. “She felt she had stayed in one place long enough and needed to see a bit more of the world’s changes.” At the time he had thought it a wish to see the world before she became too elderly to travel but her decision made a little more sense now that he knew Del. Idly he wondered where she was and if she knew Albe was gone. “You were a friend of Albe’s then?”



“I was,” although I must admit I had not seen him very much of late. A fact I regret terribly. The trouble with mortals is that you never really know how long you have them for.”



“I suppose that is true,” Jamie replied, never having thought of things that way.



“Regardless,” the man continued. “In the past he had done a favor or two for me. I told him I would like to do the same for him.” The man paused to sip his drink. “Of course finding something Albe needed was always difficult. He was quite adept at getting himself out of situations.” A fond smile crossed his face. It looked oddly lost but was gone before Jamie could figure it out. “And now he is gone so I suppose you will have to do.” The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin the size of a silver dollar. He held his hand out to Jamie. Jamie reached forwards and picked up the coin. As he did so his fingers grazed the palm of his visitor. The skin was icy to the touch. By contrast, the coin was quite warm. Jamie looked at it. The coin was silver but it had a slight rainbow sheen to it, like an oil slick on water.



“What is it?” Jamie asked. His visitor smiled finished the last of his drink and set the empty glass back on the tea tray. He reached for his hood, pulled it back over his head and stood in one smooth motion. Jamie found himself standing, as thought pulled to his feet by a string.



“Something I think you will need,” he was told. Once again covered with the cape the visitor turned and walked towards the door.



“Thank you, sir.” Jamie replied. “May I ask who you are?”



“I am who I am,” was the reply as the door opened. “What I am called is relatively unimportant as I doubt we will have cause to meet again in the future. Good bye child of Albe’s and be aware you have a great predecessor to live up to.” With those words of parting he stepped through the door and in a blink was strolling into the deeper shadows of the woods.



Jamie looked down at the coin in his hand but didn’t have long to ponder it as a second visitor arrived. This one was shorter than he was, the top of her head reaching only to the middle of his chest. She was as full of light and warmth as his first visitor had been full of the dark cold. Her stern expression however warned that her disposition might not be as bright as her countenance.



“You are the new Keeper?” She asked, sounding very much like he imagined a country school marm would have sounded at the turn of the century. Jamie tucked the coin into his pocket.



“I am,” he replied. “Won’t you please come in?” She entered and like his first visitor, she quickly got to the point. The point being that she owed Albe a favor and found herself instead having to pay it to Jamie instead. She seemed rather put out by the fact. She huffed back out a short while later leaving Jamie with a small vial that glowed vaguely gold and was sealed with purple wax. He had no more clue what to do with it than he did the silvery coin. Guests arrived in a steady stream. Some were polite and wanted to wax poetic about Albe. Others seemed to view their visit as the conclusion of a business arrangement. Each left him with an object or device he had no clue how to use or what to use it for. Lunch had come and gone and Jamie wondered if he was going to be able to eat before his four o’clock tea with the famed Fey architect. He escorted his latest visitor out, tucking the small packet of powder she had given him into his pocket as he moved. The next visitor was already on the porch and Jamie gave up his last thoughts of grabbing a late lunch.



Goodbyes were given to his departing guest and he turned to his arriving one. This one wore a gray cloak with the hood pulled over his head. Thunder sounded overhead and fat drops of rain began to splatter onto the already damp grass. Jamie invited him inside. As he moved he pulled his hood down and smiled at Jamie. Jamie froze in place as he caught sight of the half circular scar on the man’s cheek. Jamie took in the rest of the details and found himself staring at the man from his dreams the night before. The man smiled.



“Ah, young Jamie I see you do remember me.”

Back next week

Sorry for the delay but I have been moving to a new apartment.  No spiders, no loud white trash neighbors and much more space.  I will be posting again on tuesday April 6th.  Sorry for the absence.  v