The Sevarg Chronicles: Bloodline

The sky roared and strong winds blew, toppling every dustbin on the street. Rain came down hard as a woman ran breathlessly along an apparently abandoned walkway. She was the only one out in this turbulent weather, her black overcoat completely drenched. She held something close to her chest, wrapped in a blanket. Her colorless face had a look of unnerving terror. She kept looking back as she ran further away from the tall structures of the city.  Finally she left the city behind and found herself on a patched up road leading to the outskirts. She looked back and the buildings appeared like blurred lights through the raindrops covering her eyes. She continued to run, splashing through the water logged at the roadside, despite of the unbearable pain in her legs. The lady heard her baby cry and she looked at the blanket in her hands. “Shhh,” she whispered, trying to calm the baby but he was too disturbed by the angry clouds. She looked at the baby’s face with eyes full of affection, as she ran along the deserted road. Maybe it’s the last time, she thought. She knew she won’t be alive for long to adore this innocent face. It was certain that the man following her would kill her.  But she worried that he might kill her son too. Though, she was determined to save him. She looked back but no one was in sight. She took a right and stopped in front of a shabby shop. It was the only shop in the area. ‘ZIP ZAP DELIVERERS’ was written on a half torn signboard above the shop. The lady entered the shop and placed the baby on the counter. “I need to place a delivery order,” she said to a man sitting in an armchair. Her voice startled the half asleep attendant as he jumped out of his chair and muttered, ”What?” “I need to place a delivery order,” she repeated, catching her breath. “Yeah … yeah sure. What do you want to deliver?” he asked opening his mouth in a big yawn. “A letter,” she said meekly. “Fine, give it to me,” said the attendant. “Wait, I have to write it,” she said and grabbed a pen and a piece of parchment from the counter. She started to scribble furiously with her shaking hands on the thick, light brown piece of parchment. Her writing was barely understandable. The baby kept on crying and she continued to scratch the pen across the parchment. After about five minutes she completed the letter and took an envelope from the attendant to place the letter in it. She wrote a few more lines on the back of the envelope and then handed it to the attendant. “Please seal it quickly,” she said. “Hold on, I am doing it,” said the attendant as he eyed the lady suspiciously. She appeared a little too fidgety and he wondered what she was doing outside in this weather, that too with a baby. He found the seal in a drawer and stamped it on the envelope. The hot red wax cooled and sealed the envelope. “The details of the delivery are on the back,” said the lady. The attendant read the line written on the back of the envelope and said “That is very well. You will need to sign here.” He handed a clipboard to the lady and she quickly signed it, Lara Keller. The attendant placed the clipboard in the drawer without looking at it. “That will be 10 orens.” The lady, Lara Keller, searched her coat’s pocket and pulled out a blue velvet pouch. She gave ten coins to the attendant from the pouch and shoved it back in her pocket. She picked up the baby and ran straight out of the shop as the attendant screamed behind her, “Thanks for trusting ZIP ZAP for the job!” It was difficult to see the road in the dark. Some occasional assistance was provided by the flashes of the lightning. Several times she stepped in the small pits on the road and barely kept her balance. She had no plan and desperately needed one. Her priority was to ensure the safety of her son. Her life didn’t matter. It was really strange that she didn’t even know the identity of the person who was following her and wanted to put an end to her life as well as her son’s. Outrunning her follower wasn’t an option. Her best hope to save her son was to hide him. The weather became more furious as if depicting the upheaval of emotions inside Lara Keller. She was running out of time and knew that the person following her would soon catch her. But her greatest fear was that her follower will get the device; the very device that she had invented. And if he did, the world might not be safe anymore, both the worlds indeed. Lara carried herself and her son as fast as she could on her sore legs. She entered a dark alley. A faint light was visible at its other end. She rushed towards it and there was a small playground with a broken slide and a couple of swings. And beyond it was a cottage-like building. Lara moved closer to the building named SAINT PETERS ORPHANAGE. The orphanage wasn’t in a great condition. Paint was peeling off at many places and the wooden door was partially rotten. Lara stared at the orphanage for five long minutes and then made her decision. “I am sorry,” she said looking at her son. “I know I am condemning you to a harsh life. But you will be safe here. I promise, one day you will know who you are. You will know your legacy, my son. Always remember … Mommy loves you,” her voice trembled and tears rolled down her cheeks, losing their identity among the raindrops on her face. She slowly pushed the half rotten door of the porch open, creating a creaking sound. There was another door painted in black. Summoning all her courage, Lara rang the doorbell. She stood there for a couple of minutes listening to the tip-tap sound of the rain but no one answered the door. Lara again rang the doorbell, this time holding the switch for several seconds. Apart from the sound of rain there was a strange silence. Even Lara’s son had stopped crying and had fallen asleep. Lara moved her hand to ring the bell for the third time but just then the door opened, revealing a dreadfully large lady wearing a lemon green nightgown. Her face was a thick maze of wrinkles but her voice sounded much younger when she spoke. “Who in God’s name is ringing the damned bell at this hour of the night?” she croaked. Lara stared at the lady before saying, “Are you the caretaker at this orphanage?” “Yes, I am. What do you want?” the fat lady asked grumpily. “You must have a good reason for waking me up in the middle of the night, I suppose.” “Yes. I want you to take in this baby,” Lara said, barely keeping her voice firm. The fat lady rubbed her eyes open. “’Take in’ as in you want to drop him at the orphanage to live,” her flat voice hinted no interest whatsoever. “Yes,” Lara quickly replied. “And what’s your relation with him?” the orphanage owner asked. Lara stayed quiet for several seconds. What was she supposed to say? That she was abandoning her only child. No, she shook that thought away. She was doing what was necessary to save her son. “Are you his mother?” the fat lady asked. “Yes, I am.” “Well I am not keeping him then. You see this is an orphanage, which means a place for orphans to live. And he isn’t an orphan,” the fat lady explained with wild gestures. He will be an orphan in a short while, thought Lara. “Please keep him. Let him live here. You have no idea how important this is for me and for my son.” “Yeah it’s always important for girls like you. I get ten a month requesting to take the kid off their hands. But it is not going to happen,” the fat lady said emphatically. She was about to shut the door at Lara’s face when Lara spoke, “Please, I’ll pay you.” The lady stopped and suddenly looked interested. “What did you say?” “I said I’ll pay you for letting my son live here.” “Huh. How much?” the lady asked narrowing her eyes at Lara. Lara pulled the blue velvet pouch out of her pocket and handed it over to the fat lady. She emptied the pouch on a table kept near the door. “Holy bazoongas! Is this real gold?” she blabbered, looking at about twenty gold coins scattered on the table. “Yes it is,” Lara said hastily. The orphanage owner was wasting her precious time, in which she could draw her follower away from her son. “You aren’t conning me, are ya?” “Of course not.” “That’s what you’ll say, won’t ya. Pretty heavy,” said the fat lady taking a coin in her hand. “You do realize that they are worth thousands of dollars, right.” “Yes, I do and I want you to keep them. Just promise me that you’ll take good care of my son.” Lara pleaded. “Yes, sure I’ll,” said the fat lady, “but what’s your story? Why are you leaving your son here?” “You don’t need to know that,” Lara said in a cold voice. “You are right, I don’t,” she said looking at the gold coin in her oversized hand. “Fine,” Lara kissed her son’s forehead, who now slept quietly, and handed him over to the fat lady. “Anything else,” the owner of the orphanage asked. “Yes. His name is Leo Keller. He will turn a year old two weeks from now, on 25th January,” Lara explained. “Okay,” the lady said, keeping her eyes off the gold with great difficulty. “One more thing,” Lara said, “someone will come to take him when he’ll turn thirteen. You’ll have to let him go.” “Who will come?” asked the fat lady. “A relative?” “Someone will definitely come. Just let him go then,” Lara said, already out of the front door. The orphanage owner stood there, holding Leo Keller, with a bewildered expression on her face as Lara started running and soon disappeared into the darkness. The pace of the rain dropped a bit but the wind blew harder than ever. Cold wind sent chills through Lara’s body. She clutched her overcoat tightly. She had come somewhat far away from the orphanage. Lara knew that the orphanage owner took in her son out of greed. The fat lady wasn’t an affectionate type. Lara was aware that Leo’s childhood was going to be tough. He’ll have to manage his early years without much love but it was the only option Lara had. At least he was safe there. Lara had visited this city only twice. She didn’t know the way around this huge city. But she faintly recognized the street she was on. If she remembered correctly, there was a taxi stand a couple of streets ahead. She wondered whether there would be any taxis there in this storm. But she had to try. Going by a taxi would be much quicker. Her legs didn’t have any strength to run. Even so, she walked briskly towards that taxi stand. Last time she had been in this city, it was full of people with waves of crowd everywhere. Now the streets were totally deserted. The storm had pushed everyone into their homes. Lara reached the taxi stand and relief washed over her as she saw a yellow car with a man sitting on its roof, smoking a cigarette. Lara approached the car and said, “I want to hire this cab.” Her voice startled the man. He didn’t notice her presence until she spoke. “Yes madam, sure,” he said and jumped from the car’s roof and threw the cigarette away. “Look at this damn weather. Everyone is off the streets. I haven’t made a single dollar tonight,” he said in a squeaky voice as he opened the back door of the car for Lara to enter. Lara got into the car. The cab driver started the engine and Lara flinched. She didn’t like the sound made by engines or by any machinery. “Where to?” the driver asked. “Just drive deeper into the city. I’ll tell you where to stop.” The driver gave a nod and headed straight down the road, leading into the city. Sitting at the back, Lara tried to figure out who her follower could be. Today when she reached home, she saw a man in full black torturing her maid. He was asking her about the device that Lara had invented. Lara’s maid had no idea about the device. The man told the maid that after he gets through with her he would kill her mistress and her son. Before Lara could do anything, the man killed the maid. Lara wasn’t able to see the man’s face but his voice was strangely familiar. She had no choice but to run along with her child. As she was leaving, she accidentally knocked over a flowerpot which shattered on the ground. The man must have heard the sound of the shattering pot. She knew that the man had seen her leave the house. There was no way he wouldn’t have followed her. Not many people knew that she was developing some device. And only a countable few had a hint about the nature of the device. She couldn’t trust anyone, especially with her son’s life so she came to this city. The cab driver hummed a ridiculous tune. He put a lot of weight on the accelerator as there was no traffic on the road, not even a single car. They were much deeper into the city now. Lara took an easy breathe as she had come far away from the orphanage. Suddenly the wheels screeched and Lara was thrown forward as the driver had hit the brakes hard. The car skidded a few yards on the watery road before coming to a halt. Lara steadied herself and looked at the road. A man stood in the middle of the road. He wore an overcoat just like Lara’s but it was rusty red. His face was shielded by darkness. “What the hell are you doing in the middle of the road? Got a death wish!” the driver screamed at the man. But the man didn’t reply. “Are you freaking deaf? Get off the road. Go find another vehicle to get crushed under,” the driver shouted again. But the man didn’t move. Instead he raised his hand in the air and the car was lifted off the ground, as if the gravity had ceased to operate. The car floated mid-air like a weightless bubble, several feet above the ground. It was filled with screams of the cab driver but Lara was surprisingly calm and quiet. She had expected something like this and she felt a bit satisfied that her son was safe. The cab driver tried to get out of the window but the man standing on the road turned his hand and brought it down in a quick motion. Simultaneously the car turned upside down and thrashed onto the ground, roof first. The glass shattered and some sharp pieces hit Lara on her cheek and forehead. The world appeared the wrong way up to Lara. She wiped a streak of blood from her forehead. Crawling along half torn seat of the car, she tried to get out of the broken window. Small pieces of glass were scattered on the road. They stung Lara as she forced herself out of the car. She saw the drivers body lying on the road, a huge piece of glass stuck in his throat. His expressionless face was a clear indicator of his death. As Lara crawled on the ground she saw the man approach her. The light from a lamp post by the roadside fell on the man’s face. Lara’s eyes widened as she said, “No, it can’t be.” “Yes Lara, it is.” said the man. “I am the one whom you were running from.” Lara could scarcely believe that the man whom she knew so well, the man standing in front of her wanted to kill her. “No, it wasn’t your voice I heard.” “You are right, it wasn’t. You saw … well an accomplice of mine at your house.” the man said. “Who was he?” Lara said and then realization struck, “Oh my God. He was…” “Yes, Lara, you guessed right.” the man interrupted Lara. “I was afraid you will recognize his voice. But it’s too little too late.” “Why?” Lara said. “How can you do this to me? We were so close.” “I must admit I am a great actor then. As for why, you know it. I want the device that you invented. Where is it?” said the man. “It was a failed experiment. I didn’t succeed in it,” Lara said. “Liar!” the man shouted. “I know you have completed the device. Hand it over or else I’ll kill you.” “It doesn’t matter if give you the device. You’ll kill me either way,” Lara said in a calm voice. There was no fear in her. She was just surprised that a man so close to her had betrayed her. “Hmm. That’s also true. But if you don’t tell me the whereabouts of the device, I’ll kill little Leo.” “No, you won’t,” Lara snapped. “Why? Because I care for him,” the man said in a mocking voice. “I don’t. Tell me where the device is and I’ll spare your son’s life. Tell me, at least for the sake of your son.” “What will you do with that device? For whom would you use it?” Lara asked. “That doesn’t concern you. Let’s just say I am tired of living in the shadows,” said the man. “I liked you Lara. You didn’t need to die. You just got wrapped into all this. I warned you, didn’t I?” “You’ll never find Leo or the device for that matter,” Lara said. “Really, let me guess. Leo might be with the Grays. You often drop him there. And the device, it may take me a bit longer to find it but eventually I will succeed. There aren’t many places where you could have hidden it.” “Good luck,” said Lara. “What a waste of life,” the man said. He raised his hand once again. Lara wanted to fight back but was too drained to summon any energy. The man brought his fingers together to form a fist. Lara felt an invisible grip around her neck that gradually tightened and choked her. She struggled to breathe and her lungs were on fire, as the grip around her neck became more firm. Finally, her stony eyes stared into nothingness. Lara Keller was dead and so was the storm.