London Wild (2 page)

The month passed slowly for Eggshufont. It was true that he
and his sister hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye about everything. Indeed, he and she had spent quite a few of their more tender years at loggerheads with each other over one thing or another. Nevertheless, she had been his sister, and he couldn’t reconcile the fact that now that she was a servant of the Goddess, he’d probably never see her again. In fact, unless he was chosen himself, she would be gone from his life for good.

He was still very young. He lived with his parents in their small house near the center of the
city, but they were no help at all when he turned to them for comfort. Although they were full of pride for their daughter, all they had for him were accusations for even the smallest mistake whilst he performed his weekly chores. ‘How could you have done this? You’ll never be chosen like your sister was if we can’t even trust you to do things right. How can you expect the Goddess to want you for a servant?’ They conveniently forgot that who was chosen was arbitrarily done by the spin of a wheel.

Indeed
, while Eggshufont mourned the loss of his sister, his friend and confidant, his parents seemed to have barely noticed that she was gone, other than to observe occasionally that her chores weren’t getting done. They would usually say this directly to Eggshufont as if they expected him to step in and do them for her while she was gone. They didn’t seem to mourn for their daughter at all, and why should they? Even though they might never see her again, she wasn’t dead and had instead received the highest of honors possible to one of her race, an honor that wasn’t even available to the Herbaht.

Eggshufont was alone in the house at the time of the next choosing. His parents had stayed in long enough to make sure that none of them were to be next ‘selected
,’ and then they had gone out, celebrating the one-month anniversary of the servitude of their daughter to the Goddess. Eggshufont hadn’t intended to watch the ceremony itself. He had left the television on in the background for company and had intended to turn it off when the time came. Every station in the city would have its programs commandeered by the ceremony, so the only alternative was to turn the set off. But when the latest ‘selected’ arrived at the gates of the Temple, Eggshufont found that he was unable to drag himself away. It was like watching a road accident. He knew he should turn it off but just couldn’t bring himself to do so. 

This month’s selected, a middle
-aged male by the name of Camshuhyt, moved slowly through the crowd in much the same way as Eggshufont’s sister had, bringing back memories of those events just one month previous. Camshuhyt was visibly shivering, and Eggshufont knew that the weather was quite mild at this time of the year. It wasn’t cold that was making him shiver.

‘Congratulations, Camshuhyt, on being the latest ‘selected’ of our lady of the
city,’ the Herbaht on the plinth said as the scared figure joined him. ‘Is there anything you’d like to say to the men and women watching this program?’

‘I-I can’t think of anything,’ he replied softly
. It was unusual for the ‘selected’ not to say something to the crowd. They had most of the day from when the lottery had named them, and many people made it a point to rehearse something for most of their lives just in case they should ever be chosen.

‘There are two golden rules you will be required to follow once you step across the threshold and into the Temple itself.’ These rules were repeated on the television every week
; there wasn’t a person in the city who didn’t know them by heart. ‘Don’t speak to the Goddess unless the Goddess speaks to you first, and obey the Goddess in anything she asks you, no matter how demeaning the task might seem.’

Tears came to his eyes as Eggshufont remembered his sister walking through the Temple gates in much the same way that Camshuhyt was doing now. He walked slowly along the path towards the large and impressive
-looking marble doors, stopping to admire the statues for a minute before heading on to the Temple itself. Then, before entering the Temple proper, he glanced back towards the gates. The desire to leave through them was written plainly in his eyes, but he must have remembered his family and turned back towards the Temple, hesitant yet determined. He stepped across the threshold into the Temple, and the great doors closed behind him.

  Tears flooded down Eggshufont’s cheeks as he thought more about his sister. Perhaps it was because he was so young that he was so impulsive, but he remembered that his
father had an ancient firearm in a display case on the cabinet in his study. It was a single-shot affair; it would be no match against the weapons that were carried by the Goddess’ Herbaht servants, but he might be able to wipe that smile off the face of the Compare. He might even be able to put a bullet through the center of the Goddess’ head and show the world how immortal she really was.

He took the weapon out of its case, disobeying
what his father had always told him: to leave the thing alone. He examined it closely; there was no reason the gun shouldn’t work, despite its age. Getting ammunition for it wouldn’t be a problem either, as there were five bullets in the case with the gun. They were ancient bullets, nearly as old as the gun. He didn’t know enough about weaponry for it to occur to him that the bullets might no longer work. He returned the gun to the display case, put the case back exactly where he had found it as demarked by the absence of dust, and then left his father’s study. There was a month to wait until the next selection. A month before he could carry out his plan. But when that day arrived, the entire world would learn his name: Eggshufont, the man who killed a Goddess. Perhaps they would make it easy for him. Perhaps they would draw his name in the next lottery.

He giggled to himself as he returned to the house’s main room, where the television had been left on and had now returned to its normal schedule.
If he succeeded in his intent next month, they would have to add a new commandment for all new ‘selected,’
he thought to himself,
One, don’t speak to the Goddess unless the Goddess speaks to you first. Two, obey the Goddess in anything she asks you, no matter how demeaning the task might seem. And three, do not kill the Goddess!

The moons performed their little dance in the heavens
, and another month passed by. Eggshufont waited in until that day’s lottery had been drawn. He was still half hoping it might be he that got ‘selected.’ It would make his decision that much easier to go through with, as well as easier to carry out. He almost sighed with relief when the name pulled wasn’t he, but a female by the name of Lowsiobenno. That meant he had a little bit of time before the actual ceremony to consider whether or not he was really going to go through with it. He still had ample time to change his mind, but he loved his sister and he missed her greatly. Besides, the more he thought about the fact that he was living in perpetual fear that one day he too would be chosen to walk through those gates, the more he was sure he would end it tonight one way or another.

When the opportunity arose
, he sneaked back into his father’s study. He took the pistol and its five pieces of ammunition out of the glass display case and hid the weapon beneath his shirt, holding it in place as he crept out of the study again.

A quick visit to his bedroom and he loaded the first of the bullets into the firearm and then taped the thing to his body so he wouldn’t have to physically hold it any longer. The tape and the weapon itself were both uncomfortable next to his skin, especially if he tried to sit, but it was a small price to pay to get the weapon out of the house past his mother and father.

Indeed, his mother seemed to suspect that something was up. It was obvious that she didn’t know what, because if she had she would probably have stopped him right there and then. She was, however, waiting at the front door as he approached it to leave. ‘Going somewhere?’ she asked in a tone that sounded accusing to him and almost made him think he had been discovered.

‘Out,’ he replied simply
. ‘I fancy a walk. I need to get away from the television and the ceremony of the ‘selected.’’

‘You should watch the ceremony
; it’s important to the relatives of those who are ‘selected’ that they’re known to the rest of us. How do you think we would feel if no one had shown any interest when your sister was chosen? I know you loved your sister—we all did, and we’re very proud of her—but you must get over her loss. It’s not as if she’s dead; she’s in the Temple now, doing her family proud, and that’s what you should be aspiring to.’

‘I do
, mother, I do. I would have given anything to have my name up on the lottery board today. But it wasn’t, and I don’t think I can stand to watch the ceremony as another takes the place I wanted. I need a walk. Maybe I’ll end up taking a walk over to the Temple itself to pay my respects that way. If I’m in time, I might watch the ceremony there. I just can’t bring myself to watch it on the television.’

‘Be good,’ she told him and then stepped aside to allow him access to the door and the outside. ‘Your father and I should probably come along with you, but neither of us is really dressed for the occasion. You should have given us more notice; if you want to go again next month, let us know in advance and we’ll make a day of it.’

‘Okay, I will, I promise,’ Eggshufont replied. If everything went according to plan, he wouldn’t be around next month, but he wasn’t about to tell that to his mother. Instead he just opened the door and stepped out into the world.

When he had taken his sister to the ceremony two months previously, he had taken the family buggy and then spent any time he might have saved trying to find a place to park. This time he decided to walk. It wasn’t too far to the Temple
, and it would give him the time he needed to go through the plan in his head a few times before he got there.

Once at the Temple
, he mingled in with the crowd, exchanging greetings with many, some of whom he remembered seeing among the crowd on that fateful day he had brought his sister and who, he was surprised to discover, seemed to remember him from that day too. Slowly he made his way through the crowd towards the Temple gates and the Compare, who already stood waiting on the raised plinth, all the time trying his best not to appear as if he was trying to push forward.

The sun had actually set when Lowsiobenno showed, but it was at that twilight time when the Compare would be hard pressed to claim she had defaulted and would probably let the matter drop. Lowsiobenno didn’t look all that keen on making her way into the crowd and beyond. Indeed
, she had been bought by two others, possibly her brothers, and by the look of it they had brought her by force and were still holding on to her by the arms and dragging her unsympathetically towards the crowd.

Her brothers, or whoever they were, released her at the very back of the crowd and then moved together as if acting as a living wall to prevent her from trying to head back that way.

She looked around herself as if lost at first. Perhaps she was considering the possibility of somehow getting away. But while she hesitated, those at the back of the crowd came to greet her and congratulate her and guide her through their numbers towards the Temple itself.

The two brothers looked a lot less stressed as Lowsiobenno was herded through the crowd. One of them took a moment to mop his forehead with a piece of cloth. They were probably relieved that they had got
ten her this far; after all, if they were her brothers and she hadn’t made an appearance tonight, then all of them might have found their lives forfeit. Eggshufont noticed that they stayed at the back of the crowd in much the same way that he had when he had brought his sister two months previously. It was clear that they didn’t want to mingle with the rest of the crowd but still wanted to give their sister the moral support of their presence.

Eggshufont offered to pat Lowsiobenno on the back as she approached, but she visibly moved out of the way. It was clear that every step she took was an effort. She was terrified of what awaited her in the Temple itself. As she passed, Eggshufont fell into step behind her, following her
more closely than he wanted to as the crowd pressed in from all sides to congratulate her on her good fortune.

When Lowsiobenno climbed the plinth to the Compare, Eggshufont found himself at the very front of the crowd with no one to stop him now when the gates opened. The pistol was a single
-shot affair and would take a few precious seconds to reload. He so wanted to wipe that smile off the Compare’s face, but he couldn’t help thinking that the delay in having to reload would cause him to miss the window for the Goddess. It would be a better move to go directly for the Goddess and forget Mister Herbaht, at least for now.

As he always did, the Compare descended from the plinth with the latest ‘selected’ and escorted her to the now
-opening Temple gates. Eggshufont waited patiently yet eagerly. The main doors to the Temple always opened before the gates closed. If he made his move when those doors began to open, he ought to be able to get into the Temple before they had managed to close again, and that would be the end of the Goddess.

The Compare returned to the plinth and turned to look at the ‘selected’ with that sickening smile on his face, actually holding that far
-too-long tail in one of his hands as if wanting to cuddle his own tail, something that Eggshufont hadn’t noticed before. No one else seemed to notice. Everyone was too busy watching the ‘selected’ as she walked through the garden and past the statues to the marble doors.