Part 20 (1/2)

'Jakab, I'o I have to feed Carl I have to cook dinner for my husband'

That word husband wounded hie-heated tongs claht'

'I can't do that'

'Erna, I insist-'

Her face darkened 'Careful with your tongue, Jakab You lost the right to insist on anything a long tio'

He stu in his eyes He looked up at the sky, shaking his head, then back at her 'Please, I didn't co a ain Please, Erna, I beg you, meet me later Let me explain'

'Jakab, I can't, don't you see? I can't just walk out of the house at night to go and meet someone I told you, I have a family, responsibilities, a man I love'

'You loved me'

She paused, and he sensed that his tears had softened her She looked on hih her expression was so close to pity it wrenched hi Then we'll talk'

'That's all I want'

She nodded 'And Jakab that's all you'll get I've made a promise to someone I've made vows, and neither you nor I can break them Our time passed I'm sorry it did I waited for you for two years Two years, Jakab No clue that you were still alive, not a letter nor a e Do you kno deeply I mourned you? No You never will To the northeast, athe shore, there's an old boat shed with a wooden jetty; you can't miss it I'll meet you there in three days At dawn'

'I understand'

It was a lie He did not understand at all

Erna rearranged her son on her hip and walked away He watched her until she was consuht a newspaper and studied the date on it: 24th April, 1879

He sat down on a wall and started working back

Five years

He had been away five years

Jakab dropped the newspaper andhis head in his hands How had he let this happen? How could he have let five whole years go by without even realising, without even considering the consequences for his life back in Keszthely? She had said she waited two years for him If she had met someone shortly after, and ithin the year, it explained the age of her boy

Erna had a son A husband A life without hi she had said, he refused to believe it was too late A love as intense as theirs ca upon it He had killed his own brother so that they could be together When she discovered that, when she understood the extent of the commitment he had made to her, she would see sense

It had been a shock, that was all He could forgive her the harsh words she had spoken He had handled their reunion badly Once she accepted his reappearance into her life, she would see how hastily she had rejected hiret her words It would work itself out

Jakab arrived, just as she requested, shortly before sunrise So thick was the e from which direction the sun would appear He sat on a tree stu boat and waited, sto in anticipation

The boat shed loo roof and tide doors at its front, one of which had collapsed into the weeds that surrounded it Paint had peeled from the shed walls, and the suns of countless summers had warped and baked the silvered ti's shaded side like a spreading cancer The side facing the lake stood open to the elele door that had once slid forth on oiledled to a concrete launch ramp Next to it, a jetty thrust out into the water

Erna erassy track fro his orously and held up her hands 'No, Jakab, there is no ti for you'

He frowned 'What are you talking about?'

'There's no tiht now Please, Jakab I'm so sorry, I never meant for this to happen Your people They know you are here They're co it difficult to keep up with her 'Is this a trick?'

'A trick? Jakab, do you think I would trick you about so her eyes carefully 'You seeo'

'For heaven's sake, what kind of worabbed hio back to the main road Follow the shoreline northeast to Gyenesdias You'll find passage from there Don't come back to Keszthely Proht you this It's not ht help'

Erna delved into her skirts and withdrew a handful of coins As she tried to press the her arers Crying out, she knelt in the dirt to gather them up

'Do you think I need your peasant charity?' he snarled 'How do they kno do you know they're co for me?'

She snatched up the scattered coins 'Jakab, please Please just trust me Take thewe had, do you think I could betray you? Do you think that badly of me?' She sobbed 'You have no time They'll be here any minute'

'Balazs Lukacs! Balazs Jakab!'

At the sound of his given name, Jakab leaped away from her The condensation in the air was even thicker now, a shi+fting veil that roiled around the it impossible to tell fro to Jakab's coat, licked at his face and cheeks and hair

'Balazs Lukacs! Balazs Jakab!'

A ly effee He heard the acco on the balls of his feet, he faced the track leading from the boat shed to the main road

A shadowinto a horse and rider The horseman wore a black wide-brimmed hat and a leather overcoat spattered with rey stallion, blew steareat iron-shod hooves on the pebbles

Raising his head, the rider examined Jakab with eyes that were cold yellow pools Flecks of ivory and malachite sailed upon theus and his albino hair was oiled and scraped into a ponytail When he smiled, his face folded into cracks like the bark of a tree Little humanity resided in his expression

Fear erupted in Jakab, e the moisture froround He kneho this h he had never met him

The Fnok's Merenyl

Every seat of power had a creature like this: a beast sent to conments, the unpleasant tasks that were nonetheless vital to the maintenance of that power The workload of this particular specimen seemed to have corrupted its very flesh

'And here, then, Balazs,' the Merenyl began, in a high-pitched, sing-song voice, 'we arrive at the end of your road You led us a s, , mouth as dry as sawdust Scrubland lay to his left, the boat shed and its wooden jetty to his right More scrub on the far side of the ruined building, leading north along the shore towards Gyenesdias At his back, the rippling waters of the lake, quickly surrendering to mist