Relic

XLII: Maius 20 Year 242, A.H.

The fire has warmed my body. My muscles sing from the long run, but I am not tired. As if in a dream, I follow Lukas to a corner of the solar where my Apple Relic sits on a table. Bluish light emanates from the Apple symbol, and very thin, seamless skeins of black rope connect the Relic to another silver box.

What are those for? They don’t look like the sealskin ropes to which I’m accustomed. “I’ve been able to get it to work,” he explains.

“Thank the Gods,” I say. “I’m glad you didn’t hurt it.”

Lukas glances over at me with an odd expression, but remains silent. He then pulls over the solar’s two chairs to the table, and we sit before the glowing surface. He taps a few of the squares on one side of it, and the face comes alive again. “I found one more post from Elizabet, and a bunch of books that she kept on the computer. I thought you’d like to see everything.”

I nod. My throat feels very dry. “Do we have time?”

“I think we can cram in the most important stuff before you have to go back.”

My heart leaps at the sight of Elizabet, almost as if she’s a friend just back from a trip beyond the Ring. A friend in desperate need of help. She looks more haggard than when I saw her last, even though she’s in the same clothes and in the same room.

Tears pour down her face, and she makes no attempt to wipe them off. She makes no effort to look pretty anymore.

“Robert, where are you? It’s been two days since your last post, and I’ve heard nothing from you, my kultanen. Nothing.”

She clasps a small, leather-bound book between her hands and strokes it like some kind of talisman. The book has a lower-case letter “t” on the front. I hold my breath, waiting for her to tell me her secrets again. She draws very close to the computer face and reaches out to touch it. As if she’s stroking a Betrothed’s face. “I keep praying. I keep studying the Bible, and looking for some kind of sign that you’re still out there. Alive. When so many others are dead. Are you, my kultanen? Are you still alive?”

There’s a crash. The entire room in which Elizabet stands tilts to the left. All the objects on tables fly to the floor. Water starts pouring down the walls. And Elizabet is nowhere to be found, but I hear her screams.

I find myself screaming, too.

In a few ticks, Elizabet’s face reappears. Blood streams from her forehead and she’s breathing heavily, but her gaze is steady. The wound is not fatal.

“I’m okay. The captain told me this might happen. The ship’s GPS gave out yesterday, and we are sailing blind in waters littered with icebergs. I’m pretty sure we just hit one. What else could put a huge hole in a ship this size?” She laughs crazily and wipes the blood out of her eyes. “I don’t know if I’ll have the connectivity to make another post again, Robert. But if you’re still out there, my kultanen, please know that I love you.” She places her fingers on her lips, kisses them, and reaches them toward the computer screen. “And if you can, when all this madness is over, look for me on that Arctic island I told you about. If I make it there, that is. They call it New North.”

The computer face grows fuzzy. Elizabet fastens the amulet around her neck, straps her pink pack on her back, and closes the computer. Then the screen goes black.