Eternal Life (Modi "Shelby" Twotongue)

[Substitute Author]

you better turn around and blow your kiss goodbye
to life eternal angel



They arrived at sunset.


The news of the approaching strangers traveled through Fort Winterridge quickly, reaching Lady Whitney within five minutes. ?Oh?? said the vixen, her tone anticipatory and cool. Shelby sat on a stool to the right of her mistress' throne, softly plucking out chords on her lute. ?Shelby, stop that,? ordered the Lady in a sharp tone. ?It's quite distracting.?
With a murmured ?of course, my lady?, Shelby bowed low and put the instrument in the sack that lay on the floor beside her, then returned her attention to the unfolding scene.

The rail-thin otter (Shelby recalled that the name Whitney had given to him was Ondoby) who had brought the news knelt in the center of the room, his head bowed. He glanced up as Lady Whitney continued: ?So? Details, my dear. Details, please.?

?There are two of them,? said Ondoby in a rushed, high-pitched tone. He's afraid, thought Shelby with vague disgust, and letting it show. They wondered how she managed to control them? They let her. ?Foxes. They look pretty ragtag.?
?How long before they reach the gates??

?Only about ten minutes, my lady...?

?All right!? Abruptly, Lady Whitney rose to her feet, clapping her paws together. ?Olgard!?
?Yes, my lady?? rumbled the tall, burly fox who stood near the back of the room, stepping forward. ?You want me to assemble a squad??

Lady Whitney smiled, revealing a set of sharp, gleaming teeth. ?You read my mind, darling, simply read my mind.? Olgard bowed, turned, and murmured something to the armour-clad weasel who stood behind him.

Shelby, in the mean time, examined her mistress, brow creased in thought. Yes, she thought, Lady Whitney had everyone terrified and charmed. She was tall and slender, a vision of deadly beauty in her white gown and cloak. The long knife which hung at her side was prominently displayed and absolutely spotless; but Shelby had seen that self-same silver knife stained red with blood many times. It was the false affection, and the often-seen casual cruelty, that gave Whitney her power.

?Shelby!? Lady Whitney's voice sliced through the stoat's thoughts, and she looked up, getting to her feet. ?Follow me,? said the fox as she swept out of the room. ?We're going to meet the newcomers.? Olgard's second-in-command had already returned, bringing with him a group of soldiers ? mostly weasels and ferrets. Whitney beckoned, and they all proceeded out of the room, Ondoby scurrying behind.

The corridors of Fort Winterridge were narrow but well-built, the stone blocks cemented carefully together, torches flickering in their regularly spaced brackets along the walls. The sound of footfalls echoed, but nobody spoke; Shelby just kept her head down, the image of the beaten-down and obedient servant. She spoke only when the Lady ordered her to, after all, and heavens help her if the words weren't to Whitney's liking. After making their way down a broad set of stairs, they arrived in the grand entrance hall.
Here, there were many alcoves in the walls, all of them empty save for broken-off stumps of stone at the very bottom. There had once been statues of the town of Winterridge's famous leaders, healers, warriors, seers ? all the people who had made the community what it was. But when Whitney had arrived with her soldiers, she had ordered that all the statues be destroyed; they were woodlander things, ugly and useless to her.

?Open the door,? commanded Whitney, sweeping out into the center of the floor. The guards posted at the tremendous wooden gates complied wordlessly, pulling them open slowly, with a loud scraping sound.

Standing there were three foxes. They noted the drawn swords and bows all aimed at them from within the phone, and one ? a scrawny, patchy-furred dogfox ? stepped forward tentatively, paws held up. ?We come in peace,? he called out.
?Check them,? Whitney said to Olgard, not looking away from the travelers. Barking out a few short orders, Olgard and a group of guards advanced. The foxes did not resist as they were roughly inspected for weapons.
?Nothing, my lady,? rumbled Olgard.

?What are your names?? Whitney demanded.

?I'm Stonetooth,? said the dogfox. ?This here's my mate, Pine, and our son Blodrenn. Like I said, we come in peace, yeah? We're just travelers, ya know. Been on the road for a long time. We saw the fort and we thought, here we are, tired and worn out, maybe some kind beasts here would give us shelter for the night.? Shelby watched him carefully, expressionless, searching for the lies; she was surprised when Whitney addressed her.
?Shelby!?
?My lady??
?What have you got to say to that??

The attention turned to her. Shelby looked over at Stonetooth steadily, warily; he returned her gaze with an easy smile. Finally, she spoke.

?To those beasts who know their destination,? said Shelby slowly, ?the path is short. But the lost and ignorant may wander as long and far as they wish and never arrive anywhere at all.?

There was a brief moment of silence from all parties. Then a high-pitched, bell-like laugh broke it. ?Oh, my dearest!? cried Whitney, beaming at Shelby. ?What a wonderful, quaint thing to say!? Shelby smiled and bowed her head with a murmured thanks. ?Yes, you may stay here,? continued Whitney, addressing the foxes again. ?After all, how heartless would I have to be, to turn away tired travelers? Come in, please do come in.?
-

As she ran with the other escaped slaves, Shelby found herself thinking back to that moment. That one moment, when everything had started to change ? if only she could have seen! If only she could have known what was to come, and prevented it! If only she hadn't aroused the ire of Stonetooth, then perhaps he might have kept her, instead of selling her to the slavers, after his plot was revealed, his betrayal realized, his takeover complete?
Cursing quietly under her breath as she stumbled, Shelby forced herself not to get distracted.
They continued to run, many of them clumsily; Shelby herself was uninjured, not particularly hampered by the remnants of the chains around her wrists. She kept up with the group, not thinking ? now wasn't the time to think, she had to do.
But after a while, Shelby slowed, hanging to the back of the group. She wasn't out of breath ? back at Winterridge, she had entertained Whitney every evening with her dances and her illusions, and while being an oarslave had weakened her she still had that wiry strength and stamina. Then, finally she halted, watching as the others went on ahead, and she thought.
She didn't want to be with the slaves. Of that much she was certain. It was unspeakably dangerous. Yes, they had the badger, but how much good would he do them if they got caught? Where would they go, how would they stay alive?
Perhaps there was still a way, she thought, to play double-agent ? but if she couldn't find the other slaves again what was the chance??

It's too dangerous.
With her decision made, Shelby took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She didn't trust the other slaves; she wanted to be away from them.

So the first, and most important thing, was getting out.

Shelby was good at not being noticed when she so chose. Nobody looked back her way as she edged along the rough rocky wall of the tunnel, in the direction they had come from; they were all too preoccupied, after all. She doubted they would remember her even once they stopped to think and talk ? she was so carefully forgettable. Eventually, she rounded a bend and set off at a normal pace, the sound of voices fading into silence as she went further and further.

After a minute or two, she halted. ?You're all idiots,? she announced to the emptiness and the darkness. The contempt felt good. Powerful. As she walked she thought about her situation, her mind spinning out over all the different things... She continued on her way, footsteps brisk ? and then she halted, realizing that in the turns she had taken, with her mind still back on other things, she had lost her way. Hellsteeth! She swore aloud as well, a more colourful assortment of curses issuing from her mouth as she whirled around.
?Always,? she hissed, and she banged her fist against the wall, ?always you do this!? Fool. Failure. Why couldn't she just focus her mind when it mattered? Did the gravity of the situation somehow conspire against it to snatch her attention away? So many things to think about and she couldn't calm her overactive mind...

The tunnels all looked the same, and Shelby groaned. The chainlinks attached to her arms clanked as she straightened ? and then she froze and jumped, dropping into a defensive crouch, as she heard an echoing groan behind her.
?Who are you?? Shelby demanded of the emaciated rat who stood there, swaying slightly, in the passageway. ?What do you want??

?Danger,? moaned the rat, sobbing and clutching its own arms tight, rocking back and forth. ?Danger, ah ah ahhhh, aaaaa??

?Shut up!? snapped Shelby, pressing herself back against the wall. Although the rat did not look threatening in the least, its bizarre wailing and ominous warning alarmed her more than she felt comfortable letting on.

The rat stared at her and took a step forward, reaching out a paw. Its eyes were wide and bloodshot and frenzied. Shelby tensed, ready to bite or kick or punch, but then the rat halted. There were a few moments of silence, Shelby's pounding heart sounding loud in her own ears ? and then the rat gasped, and whispered: ?They come.?

And then the world became disjointed.

?No?!?
The rat, she thought, the rat had a knife, oh why hadn't she seen the knife at its side? The flash of silver and suddenly there was a snarling, mad, terrified face in hers and a pain in her chest. A scream, in her ears, which she only recognized as her own when she realized the rat's mouth was closed.
No. No, no, I don't want to die, oh please no. Please, I can't die, I swore to Ander?
The rat raised the knife and brought it down again, again. Again.

One last time.
There was blood in her mouth, somehow, and she choked, slumping to the floor, her vision swimming. She couldn't hear or see anything; she tried to spit out the blood but her jaws wouldn't work. I don't want to die...

-

?Brother...?
?Hey, Modi. What's with the glum face, huh??

?... how can you say that??
?I'm sorry.?
?You're going to die, aren't you. That's what Doctor Greenleaf said, I heard him. The?the wasting sickness is going to k-kill you... they can't cure you, c-can they??
?Modi... Modi, don't cry, okay. It's okay.?

?It's not okay! What am I g-going to do, when you're gone? They all, they all hate me, you know that! And if you're not there to p-protect me??
?No... Modi, don't yell. Calm down. Listen to me. Are you listening? Good. Now don't ever forget what I'm going to tell you. You... have to protect yourself. Because you know... in the end, you're the only one you can really trust to never leave... you're stuck with yourself and that's all you've got in life, okay? I took you in when you were just a squalling babe, I've protected you all these years... but you have to protect yourself. You get that? Modi, promise me you'll do that. You'll take care of yourself, and you won't let anyone hurt you, and you'll never die. You're going to take on the whole world and win. And you know what? If you're alive, you can keep me alive, too, in all your memories of all our times together... all the times we were happy... don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget me. Promise me that.?

?I promise. I p-promise, I promise, I won't forget you, I w-won't ever die?!?
-

It was the pain, thought Shelby dully as she stared up at herself, making her hallucinate.
?Hey, me,? she said, voice rasping like unpolished granite.

The other her, the hallucination, looked down severely. ?You're dying. You're breaking your promise.?
Shelby sobbed hopelessly.
?I think it's for the better.?
?W-what?? she stammered, eyes going wide. Then she coughed, the pain hitting her again like a tsunami. I'm dying?I don't want to die!

?Is this who Ander would have wanted you to be?? asked the hallucination. ?This isn't the Modi who loved. You're not his sister any more.? The words were spat out like broken glass. ?You don't fear anything. You don't love anything either. You're so above the world, so safe, and you might as well be dead. He'd be heartbroken if he could see you know.?
?I-I'm sorry, I'm so... so sorry...?

?Do you even understand,? whispered the other Shelby, crouching down, ?what you've been doing all these years? No, of course you don't. All these things you're afraid to think about, you coward... You've been trying to become him, ever since he died. Because he was strong, wasn't he? He was your big brother, your guardian, he could save the world. He couldn't be hurt, right? So you want to be him... you want to be him, so bad... but he betrayed you.?

Then, suddenly, Shelby was Ander ? she didn't understand how or why, but she was standing looking down at him, herself, broken and bleeding and dying. And Modi was yelling:
?I hate you. How could you leave me, I needed you! Look at what you did to me, look at what you did to my life! You wouldn't let me go, would you? You?you broke my trust in you and you left me alone, but you couldn't just leave it there. You had to haunt me, too, didn't you? And now you're dying.? There was a grim satisfaction in Modi's tone. ?Lying here, alone and bleeding and with no-one to care... So go on. Leave me alone and go on and die already!? Her voice became a shriek and then, suddenly, she dissolved.
As she drew in her last, rasping breath, an expression of pain crossed Shelby's face; it had nothing to do with the gaping wounds in her chest.

She died.