The Dead Have No Shadows (13 page)

Mickey stood in front of the assembly of village elders and the
Kovaks
family.  He could feel the blood slowly seeping into the leg of his jeans.  Considering that I’m dead, he thought, my leg doesn’t half hurt.  Despite that he was still interested to see the variety of expressions on the faces of the people in front of him.

The elders clearly looked as if they’d been backed into a corner that there was no escape from. 
Janic
had the look of someone who had just been caught with his hand in the biscuit barrel.  Olga and Elena, who had been deep in conversation with one another both had looks of relief and, possibly, cautious hope on their faces.

The leader of the elders glared down at Mickey.

“
You are victorious
,” he said in his own language, which
Janic
translated for him.  “
Do you claim this woman as your prize?
”  The elder indicated Elena with the merest nod of his head.

“I want to speak to Elena before I give you my answer,” said Mickey.  “She has the right to be heard before anything is decided.”

“That woman has no such right,”
Janic
translated the elder’s growled response.  “She is your prize, if you claim her.”

“That woman is called Elena.” Mickey emphasised each word, especially the girl’s name.  “And she has every right to have an opinion about what is going to happen to her.”

Elena was shocked but secretly pleased whilst her mother positively beamed when Mickey’s statement was translated for her. 
Janic
however, couldn’t have looked more embarrassed.  He had lauded Mickey as his honoured guest and now here Mickey was flaunting village customs and meddling in things that were none of his business.   His views seemed to have been shared by some of the villagers who had remained in the field.  A rumbling of discontent began to grow.

The village elder huffed and puffed and blustered but Mickey stood resolute.  Finally, the elder conceded defeat and, with a stern word to
Janic
, ushered his cronies off the trailer and out of the field.

“That told him,” Pester laughed and clapped Mickey on the back.  “But you’ve turned a lot of the village against you.  You need to do something about that wound, just in case you do need to make a run for it.  I did warn you that injuries don’t heal.”

“I tried to not get caught but the bastard tricked me,” Mickey replied.

“I think the term is ‘whatever’,” Pester said.  Then he changed the subject.  “So, what are you planning to do with your lovely new bride over there?”

Mickey realised that Elena and her parents were staring at him.  Trying hard not to limp, Mickey walked over to where they were sitting.  He suddenly found himself tongue tied and struggled to find the right words to say.  He ignored
Janic
who had started to protest about dishonour and disrespect, looking instead, directly at the old man’s daughter.

“Elena,” Mickey began.  “You told me that you wanted to leave here and complete your journey.  Now you can.”

“How?” Elena asked.  “I have no guide.  I will not know where to go.”

“What sort of husband are you?” shouted
Janic
.  “You claim the girl and then abandon her.”  He spat at Mickey’s feet.

Olga snapped off a retort that turned her husband’s face crimson. 
Janic
rounded on his wife, who ignored her husband and concentrated on Mickey.  Her look was full of pleading.

“You’re right,” Mickey said to Elena.  “You haven’t got a guide – but I have.  I don’t suppose he’ll be able to help you.”  He looked at Pester who shook his head in confirmation of Mickey’s guess.  “But I can help you.  I’m giving you the chance to travel with me and I promise to stay with you and help you get to the end of your journey.”  Mickey paused.  He had to get this next part right.  He wanted Elena to realise that the choice was hers and hers alone.  Yet at the same time he wanted her to have some idea of how he felt about her.

“It would make me happy for you and I to make our final journeys together.”

Elena couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.  For two years she’d wanted to do what she had felt was her destiny; and here was a man, who she had only known for one day, giving her the chance to do that very thing.  Now that the chance had arrived Elena suddenly felt nervous.  The road ahead was dark to her and she would be leaving her parents behind.  Staying here in
Koprno
had a known outcome, everything was predetermined – unpleasant though it was.  Leaving with Mickey would be a giant step into the unknown, but it was a step that she’d wanted to take ever since she’d arrived over here.

Elena looked towards her parents for help in making her decision. 
Janic
was still bright red with fury, the depth of his anger making words impossible to form.  Elena could guess what he was thinking though.  He’d lost face with the village and he’d lost the chance of gaining some prestige and social standing by marrying his daughter to one of the villagers.  Though it was something that Elena had argued with her father about for many years, both alive and dead, she felt sorry for him and couldn’t hold any anger.

Olga was in tears but she was smiling radiantly.  She had wanted to leave and take Elena with her but
Janic
had forbidden it.  Though she knew that she would have to stay behind, Olga was delighted that her beloved daughter would be able to go on and do what was right.  She held her hands clasped together, as if in prayer.

“
Thank you, Mickey Raymond
,” she said haltingly in her own language.  “
You have saved my daughter.
”  Elena translated with heavy emotion in her voice.

To Mickey, it seemed as if Olga had already made Elena’s decision for her.

“
What do you mean, thank you?
”
Janic
had finally found his voice.  “
He is stealing my daughter.
”

Mickey didn’t understand a word of the next exchange.  Given the anger in the tone of the two
Kovaks
parents he was glad he didn’t comprehend anything.

“
Shut up you small minded little man.
” Olga scowled.  “
You wanted to marry her off to a dead beat or a bully and condemn her to staying in this cemetery.  By your old fashioned rules Mickey won.  She is his.  Yet the first thing he does is set her free and gives her a choice.  A choice to do what she has wanted to do from the day she arrived here.
”

“
What?
” blustered
Janic
, wrong footed by his wife’s verbal assault.  “
Why did I not know of this?
”

“
Because you have never given Elena more than a passing thought,
” Olga shot back.  “
And don’t act so concerned.  It would not have made any difference to you even if you had known.
”

“
Stop it,
” cried Elena in her native tongue.  “
Stop it both of you.
”  She turned to Mickey and switched to English.  “I cannot go.  I cannot leave my mother.”

She then told her mother what she had just said to Mickey.  Again, Mickey didn’t understand the reply.

“
You can leave and you will,
” said Olga firmly.  She kissed her daughter.  “
I will take my place by the bandstand happy knowing that you have gone on.
”

Elena hugged her mother.  Both women were weeping freely, not caring who saw them.  They both turned to Mickey.

“Thank you,” said Elena.  “But what does ... your guide say about this?”  She avoided using
Pester’s
name to prevent any further outbursts from her father.

Mickey turned and seemingly looked at empty space.  His unseen guide shrugged.

“Like you said, I can’t help her directly. If guiding you guides her then ...”

“Are there likely to be any consequences?” Mickey asked.

“There always are when a choice is made,” said Pester.  “They may be good, or they may be bad.  There’s no way of knowing.”

“We’re already dead though,” said Mickey.  “Things can’t really get any worse can they?”

Pester’s
reply with devoid of humour and it chilled Mickey.  “Oh aye.  Things can get worse, much worse – for both of you.  Don’t forget that Mr Jolly will be waiting for you somewhere along the way.  That won’t be easy for you.  But remember you’ve made a choice to help Elena and you’re now bound by it.  You’ll have to see it through.  You won’t be able to abandon her along the way if you decide you don’t like her anymore.”

Mickey turned to Elena.  “He says he’s fine with it, but to warn you that it won’t be easy and there’s no way of knowing what lies ahead for us.”

Elena smiled grimly.  She’d already guessed as much.

“Thank your guide for me,” she said.  “I will be happy to travel with you on your journey.”

Olga’s smile faded.  She feared that there would be no wedding; and if there was then it would be a sham.  The two young people would be leaving on a quest.  There would be no time or opportunity for them to enjoy being man and wife.  The thought stilled her happiness but only briefly.  This was a small price to pay for Elena’s final release.

Janic
either hadn’t realised this or had chosen to ignore it.

“We will follow tradition,” he said grudgingly.  His smile and joviality slowly began to return but Mickey felt it had a forced quality to it.  “The bride and groom will lead us out of the field.  The village will want to welcome them.”

Olga looked at Elena and rolled her eyes.  The girl giggled though she was annoyed at her father.  Most of the spectators had crowded around
Marek’s
now defunct body and so had missed the exchange between Mickey and Elena and her family.

As Mickey and Elena left the combat area together they looked, to the small group that had remained, like any other pre-wedding party.  Any previous loyalty towards
Marek
had been swiftly forgotten as the assembled villagers cheered and clapped the couple as they passed.  Mickey knew that any goodwill was directed entirely at Elena.  Behind Mickey and Elena walked the
Kovaks
parents.  One of these was forcing a smile on a face that refused to wear it.  The other one couldn’t have wiped the happiness from their face at any price.

Many people had left the arena as soon as
Marek
fell and had already returned to their homes.  A few stood in their doorways or on their balconies. Some called good wishes on the procession as they went by; most though just watched in silence.

Unseen by all but Mickey, Pester brought up the rear.  It wasn’t his job to care about people or form attachments but he was becoming concerned about how things would play out now that Mickey and Elena had paired up together.  Two different people with very different previous lives didn’t bode well for the days ahead.

Two more chairs had been occupied by the bandstand. 
Marek’s
body had been cleaned and
reclothed
and was now sitting in the position that had been allocated for it.  Ivan, the defeated claimant for Elena’s hand, had also taken his seat.  A handful of people were crowded around him trying to persuade him not to be so premature and to leave his seat for its allotted time.  Ivan was adamant though.  Whether through the severity of his injuries or the shame of having been bested, Ivan had decided to withdraw from the village completely.
 
Judging by the amount of blood that Ivan had lost and was still losing, Mickey thought that the man may as well stay where he was – he didn’t have a lot of time left.

When everyone reached the
Kovaks
’ house the neighbours who had formed the returning procession filed past to congratulate Elena and Mickey.  They shook hands and kissed the young couple on both cheeks.  Last in line was an old woman, the widow
Banovic
; by far the eldest of the villagers.  She had lost the use of her legs long before the mudslide had consigned this section of the village to its living death existence.  She was wheeled past Mickey and Elena by an old man who couldn’t have been more than a couple of years younger than the venerable widow.  Mickey and Elena greeted the old man then Elena bent down to the widow’s level.