Marduk’s Mark [6]
Neeves and Arguments
Gerhalt and Karlos were sitting at a small dining table for four, facing each other. There was no food on the table though, just some old pieces of parchment, ink bottles, and quills. Karlos produced a blank piece of vellum from a pack on the floor and placed it on the table. He took the thinnest quill and dipped it in a bottle of red ink. He took it out of the bottle and started tracing on the vellum, beginning with a perfectly horizontal line. Then he traced additional lines, each approximately inclined 15 degrees more than the previous line. He was drawing the shape that had appeared on Xandra’s forehead.
Gerhalt looked at him as he drew the shape, his unblinking eyes showing an almost blank expression on his face. There were many pieces of rolled up, scrunched vellum in a bin by his side.
“You got it this time,” he said just as Karlos removed the quill from the vellum. Karlos nodded and sat back on his chair, drawing a deep breath.
Reysha walked in on the men, rubbing her eyes and moving slowly. She noticed the discarded vellum and the finished one with the drawing of the Mark laying on top of the table. She was opening her mouth, but Gerhalt interrupted whatever she was going to say.
“I know you’re confused about our handiwork here,” he said. “But it’s time we stop wasting our time and find a way to undo this. It’s happened in our home and that’s a serious problem.” She nodded at him.
“This is probably related to mom’s insistence that I was born for a special reason, right?” she asked. Both Gerhalt and Karlos nodded at her.
“You now know the Mark first-hand,” Karlos said. “Take a good look at it.” He pointed at the piece of vellum he had just finished inscribing with the image. “It’s the Mark of Marduk. Xandra just had it appear on her forehead.”
Gerhalt looked down and muttered, “Of all possible places…”, he said, his voice trailing off.
Karlos continued, “Any one of us affected by it will go into a state of frenzy and attack humans.” Reysha nodded.
“I recall my brother’s explanation last night,” she said.
Karlos looked down at the floor and proceeded, “Well, we have a sort of hope that you are invulnerable to it,” he said.
“Your mother, Xandra,” he continued, “Lost Gerhalt’s father after he had the Mark display on his right shoulder. My brother went into a frenzy,” he said. He had to take a deep breath before proceeding. “He killed an entire human family in one night.”
Gerhalt closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Karlos proceeded. “Some Junex heard the commotion and found him,” he said. Gerhalt turned away from them as Karlos continued his story. Karlos looked in his direction and shook his head. “As you can see, your brother remembers when they found out what happened.”
“The Junex,” Reysha interjected. “They found your brother, right?” she said. Karlos nodded at her.
“Now, don’t misunderstand me,” he said. “The Junex are not our enemies.” He paused for a moment, placing his left hand on his chin and rubbing it. Reysha remained attentive, her elbows propped on the table. Gerhalt just looked down at the floor, his back turned away from Karlos and Reysha. “So yes, the Junex found him and declared him guilty on the spot,” he said. Reysha nodded. “There wasn’t much to contest,” he proceeded. “He had the Mark fully visible on his shoulder, there were three dead humans in the house, one of them a newborn child. He had blood on his hands. That’s fairly damning.” He sighed.
Gerhalt, tears in his eyes, interjected. “We’re sorry. You don’t deserve to bear the burden,” he said.
“No, she doesn’t,” Karlos said and shook his head. “But we can’t take her place,” he said evenly, in a cold, monotonous voice.
“Damn you Karlos!” Gerhalt got up suddenly and grabbed Karlos’ throat with both hands and began to squeeze. Karlos grabbed Gerhalt’s arms to try to pry him off. Reysha looked at the scene in horror, stunned and covering her mouth as she gasped.
“Gerhalt, you know there’s no choice!” Karlos yelled while gasping for air. Gerhalt kept his arms around Karlos’ throat, squeezing tightly. Reysha recomposed herself and grabbed Gerhalt, wrapping her arms around him from behind, hugging him.
“Please brother, we have to stick together,” she said. Gerhalt closed his eyes. He didn’t remove his hands from Karlos’ throat, squeezing tighter. Karlos was starting to lose consciousness.
Reysha looked around and noticed a long, rectangular piece of wood with some hooks on one end that was hanging from the ceiling. They usually used the hooks to hang meats from it, but there was nothing hanging from them right now. She stopped holding her brother as talking to him wasn’t working and stepped on a chair to remove the piece of wood from the wires that kept it hanging to the ceiling. She twisted on the lock, unclasping the mechanism and setting the wooden bar free. She held it as if it were a bat and hit her brother on his flank, below his ribs with its flat side where no hooks were placed, immediately knocking some of the wind from him. That caused him to loosen his grip on Karlos, but Karlos was already too weak to remove himself from Gerhalt’s grasp. Reysha held the wooden bar again and repeated the swing, but from the other side. Finally, that caused Gerhalt to remove his hands from Karlos’ throat. Almost immediately, Karlos took in a long breath, sitting on a chair to rest.
“What the hell is wrong with you Gerhalt!” Reysha exclaimed while holding a wooden bar and then swinging it diagonally downwards and letting go of it, causing it to hit the floor and make a loud sound of wood hitting concrete. Gerhalt sat on a chair and clutched his sides with his hands, hugging himself. He kept silent. Karlos shook his head.
“Forgive him,” Karlos said. She looked at him and squinted her eyes as she frowned. “He’s just,” he said and then took a deep breath. “He’s just protecting you.” The comment took her by surprise. She looked at Karlos’ serious expression, and then looked at Gerhalt. He kept quiet and lowered his head toward his knees, clutching his sides.
She moved towards her brother and knelt by his side, placing her face next to his. “What do you need to protect me from?”
Gerhalt raised his eyes to meet hers. “It’s not fair,” he said. “Mother shouldn’t have done that.” She looked at Karlos.
“What does he mean?”
Xandra, holding on to one of the walls of the corridor, offered an answer. “You’re not a Deelamn,” she said. Reysha looked towards her mother in surprise. Karlos rose from his seat and went to support her. He grimaced on the way.
“You must rest,” he told the woman as he supported her. Xandra shook her head. She removed the piece of cloth that was wrapped around her forehead.
“Look at the Mark, Reysha! This is the reason!”
“I’ve always known,” Reysha replied. “At least I know I’m not entirely like you,” she said. She stood up and looked at her reflection in a mirror on a wall opposite to the corridor.
“My eyes. I have whites; you have yellows,” she said. Xandra smiled. Karlos helped her sit down on the chair he was occupying a moment ago. Gerhalt looked at their mother, then at Karlos, and finally at Reysha.
“You’re meant to resist the Mark,” Karlos said with a cold, even tone.
