The days went quickly, and I spent my time alternating between scouring the house for clues with my aunt and exploring the property with Decklen. Before I had known it, three months had passed, and we had uncovered no clues as to where the contents of the chest were located.
“Relax, it will come to you. You said your mother mentioned clues in the letter that would tell you where she hid them. Revisit the letter.” Decklen said to me. “It’s written there somewhere, you just have to find it.”
We were walking along the garden away from the fences and them. Even Decklen had seen one at this point, though he at the time had the sense to show no reaction to them whatsoever. But every time they appeared, a vein appeared on his neck.
“The more I see them, the angrier I become.” He’d said to me. “What they did to me, and to my family. To become like this. What joy is this?” He asked waving a hand at himself.
“Living forever always sounds promising I guess,” I said.
“Does it? If you hadn’t approached me, I wonder what I would be doing right now.”
“Well, I don’t know what you would be doing, but me.” I stopped.
Decklen looked at me. “Go on.” He urged.
I shrugged, “I guess I would be taking more advantage of it.”
“What do you mean?” He asked me.
“Well, think about it. You don’t have to eat. No one can see you. You basically have a ticket to do whatever you want whenever you want.” I looked at him, “You just haven’t, I guess that just says a lot more about your character than mine.”
Decklen looked at me before smiling, “I had just finished my world tour before my family was attacked. I had already seen the world. For two years, I did little else but travel and become worldly.”
“Yeah, but the medicines of today compared to then. And the discoveries. And there is way more available that suddenly changed overnight for you that wasn’t there literally the night before.” I stopped and turned to him frowning. “Why did you stay with me instead of going off on your own?” I asked him. “It’s not like I could have stopped you. I always wondered that. Why did you stay?”
Decklen didn’t speak as we continued on, “Why indeed.” He said softly.
We continued walking through the back garden together. If I had thought the front had been dedicated to flowers, it was nothing compared to the backyard.
It was an odd mixture of scents. The air was thick with the sweet smell of flowers, but underneath was the saltiness of the sea, pungent and sharp.
Decklen led me to the edge of the garden, the ground started to slope downward. I stopped and touched the necklace my mother had mentioned in her letter as he continued on.
“Where are you going?” I asked him curiously.
He turned and looked at me. Under the brightly shining sun, he seemed to glow to me.
“You’ll see.” He said mysteriously extending his hand to mine.
Curiosity overcoming me, I grabbed his outstretched hand, and he led me down the sloped yard and towards the trees. From my viewpoint, I saw nothing but the barks of trees. Decklen kept me well away from the gate as he walked on through the trees. I looked around, and soon I realized I had no clue where we were. As if sensing my thoughts Decklen spoke.
“I walked this route from the day I learned to walk. I will never lose my way here. No matter how long it’s been.”
I looked at his back slightly worried. The tree’s all seemed the same to me. “What was it like?” I suddenly asked him.
“What?”
“Growing up here, during then.”
He glanced back at me and smiled somewhat nostalgically and sadly.
“Different. Much different. It was a hard life in general, but mine was not. I was from an affluent family, and my life was decided the moment my mother started her first rounds of morning sickness. Before I could even comprehend what, it meant to live, my life was set on an unchanging path.”
“I don’t understand,” I replied as we came up to a fallen tree.
Decklen walked over it, and he reached his other hand out. Before I could stop him, he had placed his arm around my waist and hoisted me over the fallen limb. I blushed and straightened myself.
“I mean that by the time I was five, my life was planned. Who I would marry, what job I would have. I had private tutors. I spent my days learning about the teachings of Plato and Socrates. Descartes and Luther. I was taught about the beliefs of the old world and about the one true God. I learned religion and art. History and science. Arithmancy and reason. Only the best tutors for the heir of the Gwenael.” He said.
I stared at him. “You had a fiancé?”
He laughed. “Yes. So did my sisters. We didn’t marry for love back then. We married for prestige and social advancement. Ironically I was to marry a Rousseau.”
“Who was she? Was she nice?”
“I’ll never know. I never met the girl. She was the daughter of a count with links to the royal family. Perfect for my future in politics.”
“Politics?”
“Yes, politics. France had just come away from the seven-year war. It was the time of Marie Antoinette.”
“The Marie Antoinette? Of the palace of Versailles? As in King Louis the Sun King.” I said.
“Yes, Coeur.” He said patiently.
I stopped, and he looked at me. “What is it?” He asked.
I shook my head, “Nothing, it’s just when you put it into perspective like that.”
“Does it scare you?” He asked.
“No, it’s just no wonder you’re so good at history. You lived it.”
“Experienced it. I wouldn’t say I lived it. War never touches the rich even though they tend to fund it.” He said to me.
“You think we would have been friends?” I suddenly asked.
He glanced at me and smiled. It was sad and somewhat pitying. “No.”
“Why not?” I asked him.
“We…would not have walked in the same circles. You would have been a servant at best, and we would not have known each other. More so I would have never looked your way except to give you an order.”
I didn’t answer.
“Truthfully you are beautiful, if you had been my servant, I might have used you as a plaything. Had you been a servant elsewhere, you may have been picked up by a lord who would have provided for you, but you would not have married him. You would have been his mistress as long as you stayed youthful of course.” He continued.
“That sucks.”
“I didn’t live in a kind world Rheya, it pains me that the people of this time romanticize what was what can only be called an ugly time masquerading as beautiful.” He looked at me,
“But there were a lot of good things, art and”
“The same can be said from any time.” He said in answer. “Why are you so curious to know all of this?” He asked me.
“I don’t know, I guess some of the fog that surrounds you is going away.”
“And what are you finding underneath this fog.”
“I guess, you,” I said simply.
He stopped and turned to face me. “And what if you don’t like what you find?” He asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I was not a kind man Rheya. I was rich and spoiled. I lived an easy life with every available commodity at my beck and call. I said not earlier that if you had been in my life back then, I most likely would have used you and tossed you aside when I was done with you.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the Decklen I met.” I stopped. “No, it was. The Decklen I met was arrogant and mean. You talked to me like I was worthless. It was hard, but it was obvious that the way you were wasn’t your fault. It was the world you lived in. The first couple of months with you was hard. We both know that. You had a lot to learn. You stepped right out of a time capsule and had no idea where you were. And I know living with me was no picnic either, but you’re not the same Decklen that I met in the park.” I said.
He smiled. “That was because of you.”
“So maybe you would have been different if we had known each other back then,” I said smiling.
He smiled softly. “Perhaps.” But his face said he didn’t buy it.
Instead, he turned and started to lead me once more through a set of trees I would have sworn he’d chosen at random. But sure enough, we cleared them, and a sandy beach was spread before me. Pebbles lined the shore as I walked forward. I went to the water’s edge and picked up a stone but jumped back slightly as the frigid water lapped at my fingers.
“It’s cold at this time of year.” Decklen laughed.
I stood and still clutching the pebble followed him to some boulders lining the shore. We climbed them and sat down. I tilted my head back and let the sun’s rays wash over me.
“When we were children, long before I had responsibility, my sisters and I would spend hours here, playing and collecting shells and pebbles,” Decklen said.
“Sounds nice,” I said.
“It could have been your life as well.” He said.
I opened my eyes. “It could have huh.”
“Do you wish they had stayed?”
I thought about it. “No. Despite how rough it started, I’ve lived for four years now how I’ve wanted. I’ve taken care of myself. To think I could have grown up trapped and scared. I’m grateful for what they’ve done. What were your parents like?” I asked him.
He thought for a moment before answering. “On the surface, they were kind and proper. Every bit the French lords they should have been. Servants were glad to be employed by us. You see some lords abused their power it comes with the territory. I can happily say we were not one of those families. But underneath it all, I should have seen it. They became involved with people, people I knew were not the type of people that a family of our stature associated with. My family never consorted with the type of people who wanted to live forever. But I was away for so long. I sometimes think if I had stayed.”
“You blame yourself.”
“I blame my parents for my sister’s deaths. I wish I could have saved them.”
“Do you hate them?” I asked.
“I did. But, I spent the next three years of my life running. I was too busy trying to survive to mourn.”
“Did that make you feel useless?” I asked.
I wanted to know more. Decklen never talked about himself, and I found myself wanting to know everything I could.
“It did, but it was not the time I felt the most useless.”
“When then?” I asked.
He didn’t speak at first. “Do you remember, that day we were walking the short way from work. And that man tried to stop you?” He asked.
I nodded. It was why I either made the thirty-minute walk or took a cab to and from work now.
“I couldn’t protect you. Not without causing you even more problems. I have never to this day felt more useless in my life.”
I stared at him and felt myself start to blush. “I managed to get rid of him though.”
“Physics is physics. If he hadn’t gotten scared by those voices coming down the sidewalk. He was bigger and stronger and faster. And if he had been smarter, I doubt you would have been able to get away.” He stared at me silently. “In this world, I won’t dare to think I am smarter than you. But I am stronger, and I am faster. But I can’t use that to help you. I could only hold your hand as we walked home. Back then, if I had tried to stop him, I would have passed through him. That made me feel very useless.” He said.
“But the night you were attacked,” I said softly.
He laughed shortly. “Mon Coeur. I fought off a dozen of your family’s men before they took our home. I did not feel useless. I did more than anyone could have expected.” He said.
“I guess you’ve had three hundred years to think it over huh?” I said.
“Two hundred and forty-four.” He corrected lightly.
I laughed in answer.