The Necromancer - Ch. 2

One of Alek’s few friends was a woman named Illyana. That was the tricky part of Alek’s relationships. He had countless people who would say they were his friend, but he would only return the favor to a handful of people. Illyana was different, though.

Illyana had been put through a program by their government to replicate Alek’s powers. They had isolated a unique energy signature in his cells and had managed to replicate a number of times. It was a radical and exotic radiation shower that few survived, but Illyana did. And what did Illyana’s astonishing luck get her? Horrible, agonizing experiments to see just what kind of weapon they could make her into. Like Alek, she seemed to be immortal and contain unbelievable healing properties, but unlike him, she couldn’t raise the dead, making her ‘worthless’ as she was.

That was what made Illyana unique. They had implanted uranium in her body, using what mystic rituals they had to bind her very being to it. It left her in a constant wasting condition, much like people who suffer from tuberculosis. She even had the same coughing fits, horrible pale and sickly skin, and was always dewy with sweat, but couldn’t die, forever caught in her hellish life without death. To make matters worse, she had a constant cloud of radiation around her, forcing her to live in isolation. It even made her impossible to use in combat, as her mere presence would likely kill friend and foe alike.

All of it made Alek like her more and feel like a kindred spirit. Both would view death as a friend, and had their unfortunate circumstances forced upon them. They had tried to be each other’s lovers for a time, since Alek was just about the only man on the planet that wouldn’t be killed by her radiation. Unfortunately, before things got far enough for along for Illyana’s liking, they discovered he couldn’t touch her without severe radiation burns. Quick kisses and embraces were all they could achieve before the burns set in. The radiation even seemed to bleach the color out of her clothes. The dress she was wearing now had started out as a vibrant, full yellow, now reduced to a faded out white with a ting of yellow to it, much like the long, flowing blond hair that went halfway down her back. The only things around her in her massive mansion that had any color still were her beautiful emerald eyes.

“So, the young woman that got on the train for you…” She took a trembling sip of tea. Illyana spoke in a slow, methodical and proper manner. She spoke weakly and quietly, but fortunately, Alek had excellent hearing. He did have to speak up for her, sitting across a large room from her to keep contamination low on his clothes. “Tell me every little miniscule detail or your love making. Do not be shy. You know it is all I live for.”

“I do not know why you like hearing about the women so much. Does it let you picture yourself in their shoes?” Alek spoke and took a sip of tea. He had to wonder about Illyana, like how she was still sane after being alone for all these years. Even when their government’s men dropped off supplies in their biohazard suits, they would rarely talk to her. “I would not blame you, but…”

“Actually, I have decided if I am going to love anyone to death, it is going to be a woman. I am so much fonder of our shapes compared to yours…” Illyana spoke with very little fear in her voice. She wasn’t going to worry about what other people thought about her, even Alek, the only person in the world who’d really speak with her. “I assure you that it has nothing to do with the fact that the only body I have access to is my own, female body.”

“That would explain all those art books you have…” Alek chuckled under his breath slightly. Now that she had said it, it was incredibly obvious to him. He took another long drink of tea to give himself some time to process it, though he already knew how he felt about it.

“Alek, I hope this will not prove to be a problem between us, but I…”

“You like adult women, correct?” Alek interrupted before she could say that she was sure she couldn’t change. He knew that had to be where she was going, having known her for years. It was as intimate as anyone knew her.

“Yes…appropriate women, as loosely as that fits in this scenario…” Illyana chuckled again. “It is…one of the few decadent eccentricities I allow myself…Woman-love, exotic teas that made it out of Hayabusa before the…incident, dark chocolate, commodore’s private stock spiced rum, and ripe strawberries…”

“That is a good list.” Alek joked with her. “It keeps it almost literally a handful of excess.”

“The best part is, should I be able to get near another woman without killing her, I can easily combine all five…” She laughed again. “You will forgive my failings, I take it?”

“When you have lived as long as I have, you learn that there are more important things than what gender a person happens to be attracted to.”

“That is good…” Illyana had a small but violent coughing fit. She had them periodically through the day and was use to quickly getting them under control. Still, she always gestured for Alek to stay back. “Now, will you please describe the girl in enough detail to easily fuel my twisted fetish for women?”

“I do not know if this one would be your type. She was younger than I usually care to go…but she was incredibly radiant with her youth.” Alek put down his cup. “There was nothing particularly large about her body, but every inch was supple but strong…And it all tasted like the finest, most pure vodka I have ever tasted.”

“And I take it you drank deeply of it?” Illyana smirked. “You will have to literally draw me a picture of her, since you cannot bring film near me without erasing it…Though I am not sure if photographs would be erased or not by my mere and pathetic presence.”

“It would not erase developed pictures, so I am sure I can get you a photo of her.” Alek wiped his mouth on a handkerchief from his pocket, getting a few drops of tea that escaped his lips. “I will spend the money to make sure it is a color photo, because to have her in anything less would be a travesty…I honestly loved her, but how could I condemn her to life with me?”

“Should that not be both of your decisions, not just yours?” Illyana had to ask. Unlike Alek, she easily remembered being mortal. Alek wished he could, grinding through existence one day at a time. Life and emotion lost their meaning when you know it will never end. Immortality was a curse no one would want if they gave it any thought. “If it makes her happy, why not do it? You are not wasting your own infinite time, after all. And who knows, maybe you would actually enjoy companionship.”

“Illyana…”

“Not all women are as frail and useless as I. She could be useful as something other than a living sex-toy.” Alek knew Illyana was right in her normal blunt and unafraid way. That seemed to be the only purpose women would play in his life, though he rarely used them for that anymore either. Illyana was just about the only person he spoke to at all outside of work. “Though if you would not mind feeding my vulgar imagination with a few more sordid details…”

“I have actually written them down in a small journal for you…” Alek reached into a satchel and pulled out a small leather-bound notebook and placed it on an end table next to him. “It felt more dignified than speaking it, and I wanted to record every detail of it for myself actually. This is just a copy, but it is identical, I assure you.”

“…Why are you so damned adorable, Alek?” Illyana said through a series of uncontrollable chuckles. “You know that it is important enough that you will want to save it through the grind of our eternity…something which, as I recall, only Matryona invoked in you before…yet you deny yourself what will most certainly be a period of ecstasy and love that will stretch that gorgeous girl’s long and fruitful life…”

“Illyana…”

“I imagine with a good man to take care of her, she could crest eighty before she had any serious decline in her faculties…” Illyana was definitely over-estimating the probable age before Lily would start giving up the ghost just to try to convince Alek to go back to her. The average life expectancy in Rusinova was around sixty depending on where the person lived. Since Lily lived in a small town, she wouldn’t be exposed to the constant stream of toxins the wretched factories in the cities put out. That would add roughly ten years to her life as long as her mind didn’t go out first. “And so what, you might have to deal with losing her some day. You would be no worse off than you were before. Plus, with her not by your side, she becomes Schrödinger’s cat. She is either alive or dead at any given moment if you cannot say for sure either way.”

“I will make a deal with you.” Alek thought of a way to buy himself some peace and quiet from Illyana. It was a desperate plan, but he hoped that it would work. “Should I ever run into Lily again, I will confess my literally undying love to her and we will spend all our time together, making love whenever possible, until…we can no longer be together for…some reason…”

It may have been sad to some people, but Alek actually hoped to die some day. It would be a massive relief to him. He had made sure Illyana and the few he had would know to be happy for him instead of sad if he died. It wasn’t really the end anyway, he knew that well enough. So, even if he died, they’d meet in the afterlife, unless either he or whoever would be joining them angered god in some way and literally went to hell.

“Alright, but if I find out that you have lied to me, I will find you and I will cook you until you glow in the dark…” Illyana was always true to her word. Alek wasn’t sure if she could literally make him glow in the dark, but he was sure she would do her best. “…All I have is people’s word, Alek…That and my imagination…”

“I am still looking for a cure for you. You know that, right?” Alek had to reassure her, as he had done countless times before. He had travelled the world for her, looking into every possible way she could be saved. One option he had learned about was bathing in the blood of virgins in a special ritual that he dared not tell Illyana about. It wasn’t even a relatively small amount of blood, either. It would require a large tank filled with what would likely be every last drop of blood from at least thirty girls. To say it was horrific would be one of the greatest understatements in the history of mankind. Alek didn’t know that while he was travelling the world, Illyana was following in books. She had heard about the ritual and already decided against it. She couldn’t take the life or freedom from one person just to have her own.

“That is good to know…Though I should tell you…” Illyana had told Alek about her officially being a lesbian, but that was just sex. This was something much more intimate. “…I have thought about increasing my radiation field on purpose…frying the convoys that drop by to give me supplies…see if I could starve to death…”

“Illyana…”

“I have not seen another living soul…like…really seen, met them, and gotten to know them since I was sixteen and ‘volunteered’ by one of the government’s old Amot seers…I barely had my first kiss before that. I have never even felt another warm body pressed against mine.” Illyana hung her head. “I have not known any pleasure other than the kind I shamefully bring on myself…so please, go to this girl and tell her what a colossal ignorant jackass you are and that leaving her was the single biggest mistake you have made…which is actually saying something for you…”

“Hey…” Alek paused for a moment, thinking things over. He knew they both completely agreed on some of his massive mistakes, but this had to be the worst. Now, he was haunted by Lily. After all, she saved herself for him specifically, and he just used her and dumped her. He tried to ignore the fact that he was obsessed with her, but he knew it would just be a matter of time before he would be kicking himself over the whole thing. The worst part was that he had literally all eternity to dwell on this massive mistake.

“Just do not make it so poor Lily spends the rest of her life like me…with only fantasy to keep me warm at night and fulfill my desires.” Illyana finished the last bit of tea in her cup. She looked over at her antique grandfather clock. She was use to keep track of time for Alek. He had been ageless for so long that he could easily lose track of time if he wasn’t paying attention. “You said you had a train to catch a quarter past eleven, correct? If you leave now, you will get through decontamination with plenty of time to catch your train…”

“You know I do not mind rushing a bit for you.” Alek reassured her, but she just shook her head in response.

“If what I have heard is right and the Atalanta Republics are actually invading us, then our military will need you to show them the errors of their ways…” Illyana poured the last bit of tea out of her pot and took it off the ancient hot-plate she had underneath. It barely had enough for a full cup, but she lived by the ‘waste not, want not’ creed. “I know you ‘raise the dead’, but you really should try not to wait until they have built up a sufficient supply at the battlefield…”

“Alright, if that is how you want it…” Alek stood up and got his coat off the rack behind him. He dusted it off with a couple quick smacks. He put it on, quickly tugging the sleeves and collar to make it tight and neat. “I will be sure to send you any interesting medals the ARA soldiers have on them.”

“Look for their coins and guns as well…Since they stopped using silver for their coins, I cannot convince the importers that I plan to use them as jewelry any longer…As you can easily guess, I have fallen flat on my back when it comes to collecting…” Alek was going to ask why soldiers would have their own money on them in a foreign country, but let it go. It wouldn’t hurt anything to tell the soldiers to keep their eyes opened for things like that while they were burning the bodies of the soldiers.

He hated that they burned the bodies instead of sending them home to be buried. It was the government’s paranoia that prevented it from happening. They worried that if they were able to replicate the energy in Alek, the ARA could do the same after examining soldiers resurrected and controlled by Alek. They weren’t sure if it would lead to the ARA to making their own necromancer, or if it could help them develop a treatment to prevent him from controlling their own soldiers. They weren’t willing to take the chance either way.

“I will visit you again on the return trip, Illyana, so…”

“Do not waste your time…” Illyana pled with him. “While we both may have an eternity to waste, I know you have better things to do than keep me company…” She took out an ornate ivory pipe from a small chest next to her chair, tapping tobacco into it. It was a half-and-half blend of tobacco and marijuana. It didn’t get her high. It just numbed the pain from everything. It was far healthier than drinking away the pain, or at least that was how she viewed it. “Besides, the longer you stay away, the more you will have to tell me next time…”

“Alright…” Alek smirked slightly. “I will be able to spend more time with you in a month anyway. I am sure I will have the ARA retreating by then.”

“Cocky and sure as always…you never disappointment me, Alek.” Illyana watched as Alek walked off into her huge, dusty mansion without saying goodbye. Neither one would say it to the other. After all, neither could die, so it was definitely never the last time one would see the other.

Once Alek was completely gone from sight, Illyana slumped down into her chair. She no longer had to pretend to be strong and sure any more. She wasn’t willing to let the only person she could talk to think she was weak or depress him with her constant abysmal health. Alek knew she was hiding it, but let her play the game. Image was everything to Illyana.


Alek got to the train station with well over an hour to spare. The decontamination procedures were easy for him, just a change of clothes and a shower. Still, it gave him time to think. Once again, he wondered if it was truly impossible for them to make love. Since both were impossible to kill, he thought he might be able to build up his tolerance for her radiation. Maybe he wouldn’t even get burned after a while. More than likely, he wouldn’t be allowed to be with her. The government wouldn’t risk Alek being irradiated long term and not able to join the troops without making them sick. They would never want to give him more ‘troops’ that directly.

He knew he would have to vain like he was actually looking for Lily. He already decided he couldn’t damn her to a life with him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be pen-pals with her. He knew it would probably do him some good to have someone else he could talk to. Right now though, he was focused on reading his mission briefing for after the battle. A rich man had bought enough favors to borrow Alek’s services momentarily from the government. He hated doing stuff like this, bringing back the dead as false hope so the government could make a few cheap bucks.

Suddenly, he felt a familiar presence and looked up from his briefing. He saw her radiant face crushed with sadness and rage, but instantly knew who it was. He didn’t get to say her name before she slapped him with an incredible strength that left him reeling for a brief moment. He refocused in an instant, seeing Lily standing on her new prosthetic leg. Tears were pouring down her cheeks, forming waterfalls like she was a goddess, reforming the world with her sorrow.

“Lily…” Alek was relieved to see her again. The instant she was near, the part of him that was saying to spare her the torment of life with him instantly and permanently silenced by the rest of him. He didn’t regret it for a moment. “Lily, what is wrong?”

“I…I should hate you…so…so much right now…” Lily sobbed, trembling with rage that was dissipating into an unbelievable and euphoric joy that engulfed her whole body. “But no matter what…I will always love you, Alek Vanyusha…”

“I tried to deny it…but I love you as well, Lillian…Lillian…” Alek stopped, desperately trying to dig through his memory and to find Lily’s last name buried in the mines of his mind. He went through, atom by atom, scouring every resource he had, but turning up nothing. He stuttered for a second, but Lily didn’t let him spin his wheels for long.

“It was Lufian…and I did not tell you, because I am hoping it will be Vanyusha soon…” Lily sniffed, trying to stifle back her tears but to no avail. Alek put his arms around her, holding her close. She put her hand against his chest, her bad arm attempting to do the same. “I…I have something horrible to tell you…but you have to swear you will not hate me after I tell you…”

“I could NEVER hate you, Lily…” Alek assured her. After all, they were clearly fated to be together if they should just randomly run into each other again. He didn’t know that Aleksandra had told Lily where she needed to be to get to him again. It didn’t matter, though. He had fallen hopelessly in love with her the moment their eyes met again.

“Fine…just promise me that you will…still love me…after I…” Alek put a finger over her mouth to silence her. He didn’t like it, but it did stop her frightened rambling. It was still a far too dominating gesture for his liking.

“Lily…” was all Alek had to say to reassure her again. Lily knew he wasn’t the type to mince his words, and trusted him completely. She felt completely safe in his arms, like he could shield her from flames and Death herself. “What happened?”

“There was a slave girl…” Lily looked around, tears still showering from her eyes. She was scouting the area, realizing just how surrounded by the public they were. Alek didn’t go anywhere without attracting a cloud of people. It was the cost of being a hero, sacrificing any privacy he had in the public. “Can we…can we go somewhere…anywhere…other than…”

“Of course.” Alek swept Lily up into his arms, a grand heroic gesture he was used to making. If they weren’t the center of attention already, they certainly were now. Lily blushed a bright red, just glad to be this close to Alek. The embarrassment of everyone seeing her flaws, her freckles, and her missing leg as she looked like a helpless, lost little girl being carried off to her mother by the legendary hero was something she was willing to put up with for it.


Lily held nothing back when she told Alek about what happened. She could only hope that Alek wouldn’t deem her unworthy after everything that Aleksandra’s master did to her and made her do to buy Aleksandra’s freedom. It gave her unbelievable joy when, instead of casting her out like a leper, he suggested they ‘purify’ her by doing everything she and the master did and more.

After they had spent many countless hours enthralled in passion, they laid spent in bed. Alek kept his arms around Lily, holding her close. He didn’t want to hurt her, pretending to be exhausted to give her time to rest. The only thing that really sapped his strength was raising the dead. Even now, that was becoming less and less of a problem. Remembering to have limits, especially now with Lily, was the biggest problem he had faced in his memory. He could easily spend an eternity finding what solace he could in Lily’s body, a deadly truth for her.

Alek had watched her sleep on their train ride to battle for a few hours now, mesmerized by the gentle cresting and falling of her chest as she breathed. It kept him from drifting off into one of his waking dreams over night. He knew it was only a matter of time before they started again, though. His mind could handle the lack of sleep, but not the lack of dreams.

He took a deep breath, accidentally stirring Lily from her sleep. This was a happy accident at least. It told Alek that Lil was a reasonably light sleeper, and would prevent him from accidentally waking her up in the future.

“Morning…” She sighed a happy and contented sigh. Alek had promised her he would never leave her again, which to her meant they’d never be apart again. She rubbed up closer to him, wishing she could just melt into him. “Do you think we could…one last time…”

“We do not really have the time.” Lily was a little crestfallen to hear that news pass her ears. Alek rubbed her arm. “I do not want to rush things between us…I want every time to be glorious and legendary, not just a cheap thrill.”

“Alright…” Lily smiled. She did want every time she and Alek made love to be special and not just a way to kill time. She rubbed up against Alex again, deciding to just enjoy being close to him. “At least this train’s a LOT cleaner than that piece of crap train last time…”

“Being on that train was a run of bad luck for me until you came along, to be perfectly honest. I think that bastard purposefully arranged things so that I would be on his train AGAIN…” Alek shuttered slightly. Aleksandra’s master was obsessed with him to say the very least. Alek viewed it like her master had a school-girl crush on him. He wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to spy on him while he was taking showers. Now though, it was far beyond just a creepy thought in the back of his mind. Alek had to wonder how many of his previous lovers fell victim to him like Lily. Whether or not Aleksandra’s master had done the horrible crimes Alek imagined didn’t matter, though. He had to pay for what he did to Lily. It would only take pulling a few strings to see that the man was entirely broken and destitute before the end of the week. “Do you want him humbled or broken completely? Because I can do either.”

“Punishing him…” Lily took a deep breath and closed her eyes, not believing what she was about to say herself, “…will not change what he did to me…no matter how excessively you do punish him.” Lily rubbed her eyes, giving herself time to think. There were times to be calm and times to strike with the wrath of God. “I did volunteer for everything, after all…despite wanting with every inch of fiber of my being to have you be the only man I…knew in my lifetime…” Then, Lily remembered it. Her fury was ignited and in full force, crushing all the barriers of understanding and tolerance she had in her mind. “But…he RAPED Aleksandra…”

“So, what level do you…”

“Burn him to a CINDER!” Lily snapped. The rage felt good, giving into it feeling like submerging her whole being in a hot spring. It soothed a pain Lily had developing in the pit of her stomach since it happened, denying the rage that was slowly devouring her. “Be sure his slaves find good homes, though…Aleksandra said…said that he was using them as his personal brothel…”

“Unfortunately, most slave masters do…” Alek had always avoided buying slaves just for that reason. Having complete control over someone’s life was a seductive power to say the least. Many slave masters even used it to make more slaves to either sell or keep and start the process all over again. “I may have an idea…”

“What’s that?” Lily had to ask. She idolized Alek so anything he thought up clearly had to be brilliant. She waited on pins and needles to hear what he had to say.

“After I break the master, we can send his slaves to nunneries…” Alek heard the words leave his mouth and couldn’t believe he was saying them. Still, it was the only option and he knew it. “They might be able to heal them there…undo the horrible damage he has done to them…”

“That’s not too bad an idea…” Lily sighed, coming to the same conclusion Alek did. Nunneries were the only place they’d be safe from slavers looking to put them back in the market. It would definitely be hard for some to get use to the life, specifically the ones that were the master’s willing partners. Giving up all physical pleasures was a price both Alek and Lily would be willing to give up for freedom, but could they count on the slaves to do the same? “I hope you do not mind…but I set up Aleksandra with an expense account…like you gave me…using the authority you gave me when you…You get it…”

Lily always tended to ramble when she was confessing things she thought she would get in trouble for. It was actually what kept her out of trouble most of the time. She was too afraid she’d start confessing things that weren’t even related to what happened.

“That is fine.” Alek stretch slightly now that he didn’t have to worry about waking Lily up. He had lived with a severe pain in his legs since about four o’clock in the morning. “I have an unlimited account, after all. It could support Luxemburg with it without noticing.”

“That’s good.” Lily stopped when she realized she was using contractions, biting her lip. She realized she had to have picked up the habit from Aleksandra. She hoped that Alek had somehow managed to not notice, but he soon dashed that hope.

“Why are you shortening everything?” He had to ask. From what he had learned about Lily before, she was always very proper when she spoke. It had only been a couple days since he had left her. How could she have changed so much in so little time? Alek did realize he was exaggerating when he said she was shortening everything, though.

“I spent a LOT of time talking to Aleksandra…She’s a fascinating girl…and it does take a lot of the frustration out of saying ‘is’ every two seconds.” Lily sat up slightly. “I do not think it’s disrespectful, even if it is a ‘slave’ habit…I guess sort of a ‘if it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me. She’s gone through all this hell…and somehow survived it…I think…now that she’s away from her master, she will be fine. She might even get to be happy one day…have a nice big family.”

“I thought you said you did not want children.” Alek had to say, worrying Lily was telling him whatever she thought he wanted to hear just to get to sleep with him. It wouldn’t be the first time he was tricked, and he knew it wouldn’t be the last.

“I do not, for me at least…” Lily smiled and shook her head slightly. “Did I not tell you about how I was adopted and wanted to adopt a child?”

“Oh, I remember now…” Alek got up out of bed, looking around for his clothes. He was sure he was going to be late because of Lily, but he didn’t care. She brought a spark of hope to what had been a bleak black life. To top things off, he knew the military would give him preferential treatment, not wanting to anger their secret weapon. As long as he arrived and won the battle, they’d be happy no matter how many casualties there were on their own side. “…though it is going to be a long time before I ever want a child. I have gotten use to the fact that I would never have a child of my own.”

“Do not worry too much.” Lily stretched out herself. She loved that Alek was one of only a few people she knew that didn’t look at her like she was insane when she stretched her bad leg and arm. No one stopped to think about the fact that what was left of both still had muscles in them. She was a little bothered by the fact that he seemed to be staring at her horrible scars. “I am still in that phase where kids annoy me more than anything…There are kids, then really bad colds, and then unforgiveable perverts as the top three things that bug me to death…”

“Well, you do not have to worry about catching colds from me. I cannot carry any sickness, fortunately.”

“Hey…” Lily had had enough. She couldn’t take Alek’s constant staring at her scars. “I get they are gross, but could you please stop staring at them…”

“They are not gross. They add to your beauty if they do anything…” Alek gently caressed her bad arm, leaning in and kissing the big disfiguring scar at her elbow. Lily was speechless. Most men had forced her to hide it in ridiculous ways. Her own father made her get what were basically socks to put over her knee and elbow. “You do not have to hide anything from me, Lily. Nothing about you could be foul or disgusting to me…”

“Alek…” Lily sighed and kissed Alek passionately. For a second, Alek was drunk with passion again, caressing her until the harsh reality of duty flashed into his mind. He pushed her away gently, seeing the same look of disbelief on her face that he knew had to be on his.

“After the battle, we will have plenty of time for love. It can be glorious and triumphant in victory…” Alek told Lily while telling himself the same thing. He didn’t have a single idea or decision made about what Lily was going to do during the battle. He didn’t want to risk Lily in any way, but knew she was too strong to listen to his pleas to stay behind in the nearest town or military base. The field hospital was far too grotesque a place to subject her to, but where else could she go? “I have my own barracks at the base nearest to the battle. If you do not mind waiting there, I could…”

“I could not stand to be that far away from you…Not during battle…” She sat up, finally not worrying about modesty any longer and letting her bed sheet covering her fall away. She didn’t care if Alek saw her anymore. She’d almost be willing to damn all modesty and walk around naked if that was what Alek wanted. “Besides, I have told you, I am a very good shot…”

“There is a difference between hunting animals and clay pigeons and taking a life, Lily…” Lily bit her lip and looked away, blushing ever so slightly. Alek knew something had to be haunting her, already learning the minor habits of her body. Lily didn’t bother trying to hold back what happened.

“I am…almost an old maid in my village. Most girls…get married as soon as their bodies start blossoming into full womanhood…”

“I am…familiar with that practice…” Alek didn’t mean to interrupt, the words just commanding their way out of his mind into the real world. It was worse in his day, girls married off at ten or eleven tended to dominate the society. They spent the next few years as what most people would consider house slaves, learning exactly what their husbands expected of them. They wouldn’t consummate the marriage until usually the fourteenth birthday, which would actually signal that the rough times for the wife were over. Alek couldn’t help but remember that if it weren’t for Matryona’s angelic singing voice, she would have been married for four or so years when she finally came back into his life.

“I told you that no one wanted a cripple for a wife…Well, that was not completely true…” Lily didn’t like to cry in front of Alek, but she couldn’t stop a small trickle of tears coming out of her eyes briefly. “There was a wretched man…one of the local policemen, actually…who always just had all of their horrible acne sores on his face and all this dry and almost like…blistered skin under his stubble…and he was easily three times my age. My parents tried to make me like him, since he was the only man in town to show any interest in me at all. Well, I finally completely rebuked him…and he…he was not going to take no for an answer…He started trying to force himself on me…He tackled me and was sitting on my legs…and started ripping off my clothes…threatening me with a knife that if I did not give him the key to my chastity belt, he would slit my throat…I panicked…and…and grabbed the pistol off his belt and emptied it into him…and a few imaginary bullets after that…I almost think killing him was worse…worse than letting him rape me…”

“Do NOT think like that!” Alek snapped, walking back over to her with his uniform on perfectly. He had put it on so often that he could put it on more precisely than a general in his sleep, not that Alek had to sleep, of course. “The ONLY thing you should regret was that you did not give that son of a whore a slower and more agonizing death.”

“Thank you…” Lily kissed Alek. “You have no idea…how much…” she had to stop talking for a minute, fighting back her tears, “…how much that has haunted me and how…how my parents…” Lily couldn’t control her tears anymore, starting to cry uncontrollably. Alek embraced her, letting her bury her face in his chest for a moment. “My parents told me if I had just accepted his proposal…he would not have attacked me and I would not…would not have had to kill him…My father went into a rage because of the whole thing…would not let me leave the house for months…”

“Do not worry. Everything is going to be alright…” He rubbed her back slightly to try to calm her down. He stopped when he realized that it was what his mother did for him when he was a toddler. He decided to just hold her close for a minute until she was calm. “Trust me when I say time heals all wounds. Someday, you will look back and think to yourself ‘how did I survive this?’, but it will not haunt you like it does now.”

“I can only hope that you are right…”