The Obsidian Pillar

Chapter Thirty-seven - The Beast

Stood nervously at the top of the tower steps, he called down calmly, swallowing his pride and guilt. 'Rosa,' his voice cracked. He realised that it had been days since he had drunk anything. A tray had been left outside his door; it was the only evidence that she was still present in his tower. He waited impatiently in the silence, watching the spiral stone stairwell, focussing on the darkness that threatened to engulf him.

Finally, he heard the scraping of the iron bolt and the echo of the squeaking hinges from the only other room in the tower. Her footsteps were slow and steady as she climbed. It felt like an age as he stood and waited, eager for a glimpse of her.

When she finally turned the corner, her slipper scraped the last step and he let out a relieved sigh. Her round eyes softened when she saw him. Rosa swept him into her arms and together they relished their embrace.

His head rested on her shoulder. 'Where have you been?' he whispered softly, as a single tear drifted from him, travelling across the bridge of his nose to trickle down to her plain gown.

'You don't understand how difficult it is for me to see you after...' She cleared her throat awkwardly, but didn't release him, '...after your transformation. The man I love is kind and gentle. He wouldn't hurt anyone. But the beast would. He does.'

He straightened and pulled back to look at her. Stroking dark wisps of hair away from her face, he drank in the sight of her. 'I've missed you,' he said simply, before taking her hand and leading her into the tower room.

She looked around nervously, before dragging a finger across the chest of drawers, turning her nose up at the grey clump of dust that coated her finger. 'Have you been out there since...?'

'No,' he answered promptly, fixing her with his haunted stare.

'Why did you call for me?'

'I've been calling you for weeks.'

'That was different. You sounded...'

He hesitated, wondering how to phrase what he was about to tell her. He sank down onto his bed and clicked the bones in his cold fingers. 'I need you to help me.'

'That's what I'm here for.'

'Not as my maid,' he snapped, ruffling his tawny hair out of his eyes with a shaking hand. 'You are not my servant here. You know that. Don't insult me by pretending otherwise.'

'Alright,' she answered, barely concealing her surliness.

'Ever since that night...things have been happening. Things that I can't explain,' he began slowly. He sucked in a breath and the air whistled out unsteadily from his lips while his stomach somersaulted within him. His leg was trembling, bouncing up and down in his nervousness.

Rosa rushed to his side and placed a calming hand on his knee. Her other hand combed his hair from his forehead, now drenched with sweat like a man with a fever. 'What is it?' she cooed calmly to him, hushing him and caressing him until he felt calmer.

Gods, how I've missed her.

'I think that the woman I...devoured...I think that she's haunting me.' As soon as the words were out of him he felt better, as though he had dispelled a sickness from him. Somewhere in the room he heard the spirit sigh as light as a lazy afternoon breeze. 'She's here right now.'

Rosa made to get up, turning her head spasmodically around the tower room, her eyes flickering worriedly. He tugged her arm and turned her to face him, his eyes pleading. 'Don't be scared, she won't hurt you. She's...well...she's lovely.'

'Lovely?'

'That's part of the problem; I feel so guilty, its kept me awake and barely a morsel of food has passed my lips for the anger and sadness I feel at being the one to end her life. It turned out that her being here was the cure for my behaviour. More effective than you, or Mauden, could ever be. She has taught me the severity of what it is to be the beast. I can't let him out anymore, Rosa. I can't do it.'

She squeezed his hand tightly. 'Perhaps it's the fact that you haven't been eating or drinking. I meant to punish you, but never to make you ill.'

'You don't believe me?'

Rosa sighed and cupped his pale face in her hand, his brown eyes wide and tormented. She didn't say anything.

'I need you to help me, Rosa. Please. I need to be free of her.'

'But what could I do?'

'I think that she needs to pass on. She has come to me for help. It's her daughter. She has a message for her daughter.'

'Her daughter?' Rosa's eyebrow raised itself into a thin arch as she pulled him to the pillows, tucking him under the sheets as a mother would. His heart ached at that.

'Yes. I want you to find her.'

'How?'

'You could go to the village? You could ask about the dead woman? They would know surely?'

'That seems easy enough.' She smiled warmly. 'Now rest, darling. I'm here.'

He lay back into the pillows, dank with his own sweat. But Rosa was there, her face and smell invading his senses. He closed his eyes.

The woman's face appeared above him, her smile wide and happy. She was so beautiful, her blue eyes lit up the dark of his eyelids like stars in the night sky.

'She's here too,' he replied, clutching Rosa's hand as though it were a life line.