The Land Of K.

26

02:15

Jacob would visit her every night in her chamber and did exactly the same. He explored her body, played with it, licked it, touched it, which gave her tremors of disgust to him and herself equally, as he found her attractive but she didn't find him attractive at all. He was still handsome and a team of specialists were taking care of his looks, clothes and health. But you cannot help not to abhor the body that you don't love, don't care about and don't desire. She was desired and that made her nervous system weak and unstable. She was afraid of his touch and felt every pressure of his fingers with pain.

Gemma knew she wouldn't be able to stand it for a long time. The situation was exhaustive both to her mind and her body. She had to act quickly. She had to hatch a plan which will prove successful.
First she checked whether she could maintain contact with K. She could send letters and did that in the most complicated manner she could think of at that time. She sent messages to her previous job with an instruction to redirect them to Martha. Martha received messages in the wrong order but she knew from the first message that she had to reverse the order and send messages to K. Half of them she sent to someone named John, half of them to a man called Adam. None of them Martha knew, and none of them was she ever going to meet. Gemma never mentioned Melquiades in front of anyone. Melquiades was to take messages sent to John, as John was asked to give them to the old man. If the receiver was unable to collect the letters they were to be left at his place. Gemma was sure that at least no one in the nearest proximity could read them, as there were very few who could do that. Schools appeared to be a failure. What children knew were basic arithmetics.

When she managed to organize this strange way of communication, she was ready to act on a different level.

Jacob spent most of his time in his palace, either receiving important officials or wasting his time on performances or feasts. Gemma had to accompany him and soon she realized what made his previous wives so unhappy. Jacob laughed at her and humiliated her in front of the crowd, sometimes he threw the plate with food at her feet and ordered her to eat from the floor. He called her an ungrateful slave, a silly peasant girl, a sexless sack of bones. Hurtful little words of failed admiration. The crowd was amused. Gemma was furious, but she wanted to maintain the safety she really needed. She didn't want Jacob any angrier, so she obeyed, biting her teeth every time he wanted her to do something hurtful. She thought that his problems in the bedroom resulted in him wanting to punish her since obviously, she was his ideal woman. He desired her and she saw that in his eyes.
And the worst thing was that Jacob was fond of hunting. He and his fellow officials would take a few people from K. placed them in the field and made them run for their lives. And then the chase began. With swords, spears, and bows Jacob and his friends would run after the prey and once they caught all of running wild, they stuck their heads in pikes and left them to rot outside of the palace. Then they ate the meat.

A few nights a month, however, Jacob was away. He didn't mention where he was going but, apparently, he was going there every month over the scope of decades and his new wife wasn't going to change that. He simply disappeared and when he came back he was the same cruel, terrifying man she had to deal with every single night. Those days when he was away were a relief. But instead of rest, Gemma chose to do something different. She decided to log on the system and now as a royal, she had an unlimited access to all the data and all the necessary information. But all that was there wasn't all that she wanted to obtain. After days of searching, she was hopeless, since she couldn't find things for which she came there in the first place. She didn't know yet how people were counted and she couldn't discover the logic behind the transportation of the people to N. There were blank spaces in the system and it seemed that only Jacob had all the answers.

Angry, she had another idea.

"Mouse. An ancient creature. An animal. In old mythology it is the embodiment of deity, which you should obey at all cost and at all cost protect, giving it all the respect it requires. A mouse cannot be hurt, killed, wounded or stabbed. One should treat it better than one treats a child of one's own. The appearance of mice stands for the upcoming end of the world. "

She wrote a concise definition, attached a drawing of a mouse and put the information into the system. Then she sent a message to Adam and asked Martha to hire carriers who would carry the cargo from the train station to her old apartment on the outskirts of N.

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25

02:30

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24

02:38

Melquiades was fully aware that Gemma was at that exact moment with Jacob. He couldn't sleep for days in a row. He was waking up, sweating, worrying, dreaming a nightmare after a nightmare and was terrified. He remembered times when Jacob was fucking those girls from his neighborhood, he gorged on their breasts and buttocks, he fulfilled his wild desires in a sickly youthful way. People rarely change. They cannot be shaded by the years of events, their true nature might sooner or later see the light of day. But what was Jacob's true nature?

Melquiades had doubts. He vaguely remembered times he spent with Jacob. Jacob was always outside, always occupied by his mates, while Melquiades had none of them and would rather spend time alone, reading. When they talked there was no communication between them as lives that they were leading were completely separate. Their conversations were disconnected as a talk about agricultural machinery and a tale of love.

And now Jacob was having his girl. A woman that he was sheltering, bringing up and educating for years. It wasn't jealousy on the part of Melquiades. It was once and again the feeling of being defeated.

When he went outside and saw the crowds of men who couldn't properly count, who talked only about food and their wild, unexplained customs and didn't want to change a bit, he had doubts. He felt hopeless when he saw how his schools failed since fewer and fewer were willing to attend classes, and fewer and fewer were able to teach. People saw no profits in knowing more than they did as there were more interesting things to do and the knowledge didn't make them any happier; quite the reverse. He observed as the elderly saw that the profits of the old ways were far better for them and they stopped visiting him altogether. They needed no changes, they supported no reforms. All they wanted were young women ready for everything just to taste a bit of their wealth. There were no meetings, no discussions and he saw that his scheme slowly deteriorated.
The young man from N. also stopped coming to sleep in his house and Melquiades stayed there completely alone. Failed. Everything he knew failed him and every effort he made seemed to be futile.

Why did he come here in the first place? Why did he start this hopeless activity of saving the unsaved instead of staying where he had spent the major part of his life? Life had no problems there. Going gray might be easy and pleasant. And peaceful. Death might be a slow passage into the tunnel of unknown.

And now the only woman he cared about was in the mouth of a predator whom he hadn't seen for years. And while his back was getting rounder, his legs - thinner, his joints - less flexible, his face - wrinkled and his hair - whiter, he still hated one thing the most. His one youthful trace was in him alive as always. Impatience. He hated waiting.

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23

02:16

John woke up and moved the girl aside to take a deeper breath. This one was really clingy and she spent with him the last few days. He was a different man. He would waste hours observing people and trying to get to know as much as possible about their lives. He forgot N. Life there was fake and pretentious. Here he could finally feel at home, among these people, among these ugly, dilapidated buildings. He scarred his body and took part in the fights so common among local men. He had bruises all over his face and lost one tooth. But afterward, more women approached him, as the longer he stayed in K., the more he was treated as one of them. They forgot that he was from somewhere else. They trusted him enough to allow him nights in their rooms, to give him food and to tell him stories about their lives.

They were only afraid of N. Death was not something fearful. They lived with the bodies of their friends for years, stored them in empty rooms, or threw in pits. They were cheerful when someone died and no one cried, as there was no reason for crying. They were poor as he had never been in his life, they owned just one set of clothes throughout their lives, although they didn't pay attention to all those silly items but they appreciated a human wearing them. They had mates, colleagues, and acquaintances in a number of hundreds. They knew each other and remembered about little details from each and everybody's lives. They hugged and caressed each other, gave kisses on no particular occasion and they were close. They didn't mind sleeping with so many people in one room. One could easily forget the smell of sweat, but one could with difficulty forget hours of laughter and the atmosphere that these nights created. They were so welcoming and accepting that they didn't mind couples making love in their company, old men snoring, women farting and children playing around. John was looking at all of this with fascination and desire. Then he took their customs as his own and started to behave the way they did. He didn't come back to Melquiades. He took only his notebook and what he was wearing at that time. The old man got his pass and he didn't look for him at all.

John chose his constant lodgings and spent there every night. He woke up with the rising sun and went out with people to eat and prepare food. He laughed, talked and lied for hours under the shade of trees. He felt free and stopped answering his mother's letters. There was no home for him in N. He found another home, waiting for him for so long in K.

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22

02:12

It was going on so fast. The process of selecting candidates was carried out very scrupulously. They checked girl's appearance, they assessed their adequacy and value. They provided Jacob with ten pictures of the most likely candidates. Jacob invited five women for an official dinner held in his palace. Ladies were sat by the table and allowed to gorge on delicious food and drinks. Jacob didn't talk, only observed.

And the next day Gemma received an official letter stating that she had been chosen.

While for Gemma it might have been a surprise, for one person definitely it wasn't and that person was Melquiades.

When he first received news about a beautiful girl living in one of the communal houses, he had an unexplainable hunch and had to visit the place. When he first cast his eyes on Gemma, he was sure that she would grow up perfect. He was sure that she would be ideal not only for N. He remembered Jacob's long talks about women, he recalled traits of appearance which were so important to him, he distinctly remembered exact features which he liked in a woman. He had a clear recollection of all the girls with whom he was hanging out, dating or sleeping. Gemma had all the right qualities. Her teeth, waist, eyes, limbs, arms, lips, the oval of her face, the roundness of her bottom, the shape of her knees, the shade of her skin and the color of her hair was everything Jacob had ever desired in a woman. Melquiades was growing and feeding that woman. And now he was to give her to him like a dinner on a plate.

'He will kill you.', he said to her seriously.

Gemma didn't say anything. She knew it was true. She knew that being so close to Jacob was to live in a permanent state of fear. She was, however, determined.

She had never felt the same amount of stress until the day she was dressed in a beautiful white gown ornamented with diamonds and sapphires. Her ears were pierced, her wrists were carrying a collection of bracelets, her neck was surrounded by the number of thin golden chains. Her hair was plaited and in between her locks flowers, jewels and pearls were woven, which made her head heavy and difficult to move. She was given silk shoes and a long white lily to carry in her hands with fingers ornamented with rings and white tattoos.

The crowd of people in front of Jacob's palace blended into one noisy mass. People were cheering and smiling to her, while she was terrified like a child for the first time in life alone. Women were throwing petals on the streets and she felt every petal through her thin silk shoes.

The ceremony was long and boring. Jacob was awaiting her in front of the entrance. A crown was put on her head, a ring was placed on her middle finger and a kiss was bestowed on her by Jacob. Jacob didn't smile but she sensed that he liked what he was seeing.

People were cheering for three days, given food and drink. They were celebrating the new queen with love and admiration.

And Jacob took Gemma to his chambers and one by one he took from her the jewels, flowers, and ornaments, and when he finished, he looked at her, admiring her body with an unhealthy interest. And then he took off his clothes and lied on her, spread her legs and for hours he was touching her with his hands. She was expecting to be raped but none of that happened. After he finished exploring her body, he rose and walked away.

Left alone in her chamber, she cried releasing her stresses and anxiety. The chamber was huge, both in comparison to her flat in N. and her room in K. It was the biggest, the most glamorous room she had ever lied her body to sleep. She covered herself with white sheets. And then she cried some more but this time with happiness. Jacob was impotent and she couldn't believe her luck.

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21

02:07

Adam sat up upright in the middle of the night. He was woken up by a couple making love just next to him. He glimpsed at the bodies in hectic movements and turned around. It was hot and wet in the room and their sweating clinging faces and limbs in uneven position made it just worse. He was thirsty, so he went outside to get some water, jumping over the bodies sleeping on the floor. He went downstairs. Walking along the corridors, he felt the stench of the rotten bodies stored in the basement due to the lack of finances to bury them properly. Communal pits were usually too crowded to deal with every remaining dead. And with so many people, deaths occurred usually more than once a day. Those attached to their lovers could keep their bodies next to them, dressing them and washing, and watching them rot. In time they turned into mummies and in time they were disposed of as everyone in the end. For some love was in the beginning too strong to leave the beloved in a basement or to throw them into the pits in the ground. Some decided to leave the bodies in the mountains. Others had a peculiar habit of eating the body and dividing it among the members of their room as if the flesh could give them strength. People believed in the power of the human meat.
Adam also believed in the extraterrestrial qualities of a body. He felt that N.'s prosperity was a result of eating all of the people in K. There was something God-like in the human flesh and blood and this Godly power was filling everyone in this small selected place, giving them peace, stability, beauty, and wealth. He often wondered whether Gemma was also eating K.s and whether her diet was the result of that sudden change. She was no longer the same person he loved. She was the other forever belonging to N.

Adam grew stronger and more manly. His muscles thickened from the hard work, his feet hardened from kilometers he walked together with his mates. His voice lowered from hundreds of conversations he had with the elderly. His scars deepened from the hundreds of friendly fights, which to an objective observer weren't looking friendly at all, but were aggressive, hostile and dangerous. They liked those fights and they liked their women. Boys could release their anger and frustration. They felt that they were alive. No one died during those battles. Blood was something to boast about. The women licked their wounds like juice from the smashed fruit. The more fights they had, the more women visited them at night. The more pain they suffered, with more pleasure they were rewarded.

He liked his new self. Gemma wouldn't be able to appreciate it. She taught him how to read and write. How to understand the world which wasn't his. But she would disapprove of the world that ran in his blood. He knew that he would have to pretend that he was different, better, smarter, wiser, while in fact, he wasn't. He was true to oneself in K. He would never leave. He felt that he belonged to these fights, these women, this land, these fruits and vegetables and these corpses stored in the basements.

He fed mice. The colony was getting bigger every day. They were reproducing with the same intensity as the citizens of K. He and Gemma started the breed with just a couple of caught creatures, now there were thousands which needed constant nourishment.

But above all else, he liked wandering alone at night along the empty streets of the city to watch its dilapidated buildings, to smell the scents of his place and to know that he is completely safe in this area, among these people. Safe until N. decided to close its districts, put them all on the train and ship to an unknown destination. He didn't want that to happen. He didn't belong here enough to die.

For that reason, he was wandering all alone at night. He needed at least a few moments of isolation from the rest. There was something in him that didn't belong here. It was a bug that Gemma gave him years ago. It was the knowledge that he didn't have to agree with everything that was lying in front of him. He could question the reality which was his reality, knowing that there were other places following opposing rules. He knew one thing in particular. He didn't have to die.

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20

02:00

Melquiades hated this little grown-up boy. He came here so cheerful and naive with the looks of Jacob's childhood friends. He asked him so many silly questions that the smile which Melquiades pretended was continually more and more difficult to produce. He was fascinated with people and he started wearing some ridiculous shirts which made him look like a pathetic imitation of a K. man, covering the grown body of N. He grew his hair and beard. He stopped washing.

He was taking advantage of the girls who were probably dreaming of a better life in N., of being married to him and transferred to N. for their safety and security. Melquiades thought that John wasn't a marrying type. The more he blended in the culture of K., the less frequently he was at home.

Melquiades' only sanity was counting the days for the pass that had been promised to him. He was hatching a plan of a murder. He would use every possible means to make his brother non-existent but he didn't know where to find him and how to isolate him for a short while from the guards, security officers and his closest employees. He didn't care about the rest. Afterward, Melquiades might be killed or punished but there was one thing he had to do. He wouldn't be able to find peace if he stayed in K. and observed. The lump in his throat was getting bigger as he saw the children of K. grow literate just to appear on N. plates.

Gemma didn't come as often as she had in the past. She sunk in her life in N. and Melquiades was glad for that reason, even though she didn't make much progress. He shouldn't have expected that from a girl her age and her background. She was a natural K., looking like N., with education and experience of somewhere in between. She did what she could best. Besides, she was his only contact in N., and, as a matter of fact, a valuable one. She fitted in their ordered world and could live there all her life, sending precious information, having access to data, sheltered from any havoc in K.

John finally provided the pass. Melquiades had about three weeks to find Jacob. He was thinking of so many places that the ruler might be spending his days. He was considering his habits and events he might attend to. Melquiades wasn't the type of an assassin, as he had never killed anyone in his life, but Jacob was a different matter. He killed so many people. He was still doing so and couldn't be stopped. Melquiades was thinking about the weapons. What would be the best way to kill his brother. A knife? A rope? Maybe he would be able to buy a gun there? Maybe adding poison to his meal would be a good idea? That would be easy and effortless but how could he get the full access to the most important person in N.? What were the possible means of accomplishing it, taking into consideration that he, in fact, was from K. and was a long time forgotten relative that came back to his motherland after such a long time?

He was about to pack his things and enter the train. He gave himself a week of serious planning. He prepared ten different tools and substances that might be of use. He put all of these in his suitcase.

On Saturday he was bound to set off.

On Friday evening Gemma stormed the door with a mixed triumph in her eyes and said something that made Melquiades sit down.

'I'm going to be Jacob's wife! They chose me.'

All of Melquiades' plans were suddenly put to a halt.

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