"Dead Level Best"
by levelbluec/PJ
part two | part three | part four | chapter five (coming soon)
Part One
This was not exactly what she had in mind when she'd taken on human form. Uliwea looked around herself and snorted with disgust. It was hot, it was
humid, and she was ...of all things, sweating in this disgusting place that
smelled too much like sulfur.
She was at a loss completely as to why, or how the people she was looking
for managed to live here. She'd have died years ago, probably a result of
accidently on purpose stepping on something
vile and poisonous.
She turned a full 360 degrees, trying to get the full scope of her
surroundings and perhaps find a reason to her unanswered question. Why would
anyone live here, when death would be so much more pleasant? What could Lord
John Roxton of London, England have here that could hold him to this
horrible place for so long?
The turn around didn't help. It was hot and humid in every direction. Okay,
granted, it was a jungle, but shouldn't there be a breeze or something?
Uliwea had barely managed to digest this thought when she felt the presence
of something. It was there, just beyond the tree line. Not human, but
intelligent. Not one, but several. Cold-blooded. She closed her eyes and
took a deep breath. Raptors.
She sighed. She didn't come here to deal with lizards. She had things she
had to do and she wanted to get them done as expediantly as possible.
They came at her from three sides. Creatures known in legend as some of the
most vicious and dangerous dinosaurs to ever walk the planet. Uliwea did not
seem to be at all impressed by this knowledge. She raised a hand and pointed
one long, well manicured nail at the closet Raptor.
"Back ................................away."
Her voice was raspy, as if she didn't use it enough. Her words were careful
and labored. The raptor, however, began to back slowly away. The other two,
however, closed in.
Uliwea turned her eyes to one of the others. They were black, as black as
the night itself. They refleted everything around them, but as she looked on
the creature now standing in front of her, they filled with anger. The
raptor came to a stop, unable to move, unable to do anything except fall
farther into those eyes. Several moments later, it simply slumped to the
ground ...dead.
The last one backed away and ran off into the jungle. A smile touched her
lips, but did not reach her eyes. It was almost evil, but not ...exactly.
Mischevious, perhaps. Uliwea looked around herself, and then began walking
in the opposite direction. Towards John Roxton. It was time for him to make
reparation for what he had been given. It was long past time.
Uliwea reached the edge of a clearing. She could see
some kind of home, up in a tree, just beyond. It was surrounded by, of all
things, an electric fence and while she had absolutely no idea where they
had come by electricity, she honestly didn't care either. She squinted her
eyes against the sun. Having lived for so long in virtually consistant
darkness, she was highly photosensitive. She could just make out the
presence of two people inside the structure. One of them, she was certain,
was John Roxton. She knew how he felt, the aura that he exuded was
unmistakable. The other person was female, but that was all Uliwea could
discern.
She heard voices coming up behind her. Three more, two men and a woman.
She pondered doing several things at that moment. Retreating, which made
her kind of sick to her stomach, running into the house in the tree and
beating John Roxton to death with whatever blunt object she could find,
which actually held more appeal, but in the end, she opted for the less
obvious, more promising idea.
She lay down in the leaves and dragged one of her very sharp nails roughly
down her forearm. The voices came closer as she lay back and closed her
eyes.
She was aware of the voices around her. The panic striken young man who
lifted her into his arms, the wary young woman who didn't seem to think
this was a good idea, and then she was passing the buzzing of the fence,
moving upward and being deposited on what felt like it could pass for a
bed. Roxton and the other woman were being filled in on the situation. It
seemed that the men here were willing and able to care for her and keep
her safe until she came around, the women, on the other hand, did not
trust her. She didn't blame them. Women always had been smarter than men.
Uliwea almost laughed at this, and a smile did break across her face. She
heard Roxton's voice from just above her, "Well, she can't be too badly
injured. By the look on her face, I'd say she is having quite a pleasant
dream."
Another voice, not the woman outside but the other, "Or she's faking it
and is about to plunge something sharp and painful into your chest, John.
Stop hovering."
"Jealous?"
The woman didn't answer, but Uliwea felt the temperature in the room rise
a tiny bit. She was blushing. It made Uliwea wonder what exactly was going
on between Roxton and this woman, and if perhaps, she was the reason that
he accepted life in this place.
A cold rag touched her arm and another voice, the young man who had
carried her in, "Let's just clean her up, and then when she wakes up she
can go home."
"We should keep an eye on her." This from the young woman who had been
outside with her.
"I agree, Veronica." Uliwea put the name with the voice and filed it for
future use. The new speaker was an older man, one of the trio from
outside, "But I think we want to watch over her for different reasons. She
is no danger to us in that condition."
"Have you learned nothing from our time here, George?" The woman who was
inside.
"Certainly I have, Margaurite, but in this instance, I do not think were
are in any immediate danger."
"Right. I'll take first watch." That was Veronica. Uliwea silently
approved of both the women in this house. They were quite obviously
learning from experience, where as the men tended more to try to play the
hero. Normally, that would work for them, but now ...they were going to
pay with their lives.
Veronica yawned. It
was late and she was certain that her watch had been over hours ago.
Unfortunately, she was equally as certain that one of the men in the house
was supposed to relieve her, and they obviously did not feel quite as wary
about this woman as she did. She had been surprised by Marguerite, who
seemed to trust this woman almost less than she did. Then again,
Marguerite tended to distrust anyone Roxton showed interest in.
Veronica smiled in the darkness. Jealousy did not become her, but then
again, they so very rarely had visitors, female or otherwise, that were
not trying to kill them, it really didn't matter at all.
Roxton's voice came out of the shadows, "What are you smiling about?"
Veronica turned her head slowly, pinning him with eyes that said she knew
he had overslept and she was not at all happy about it. Roxton sighed, "I
know. I'm sorry, okay? I just think you and Marguerite are overreacting."
"Think whatever you want Roxton, just take the next watch."
He held up his rifle so she could see it, "What does it look like I'm
doing?"
She yawned again, "Fantastic. See you in the morning."
"Sweet dreams."
Veronica grumbled under her breath until she was out of earshot. Roxton's
chest rumbled with silent laughter. He shook his head. What was it about
other women that tended to turn the women in this house into ice?
Marguerite he could understand to a certain extent. Well, if she felt like
he did. And he was almost sure she did. He had to talk to her ...he
paused, and he would ...some other time. No, no ...he chided himself, the
next time he saw her. He would say something then. He nodded to himself.
Yes, the very next time he saw her they were going to talk about their
relationship.
Uliwea lay quietly in the darkness. One of her eyes was cracked open and
was watching John Roxton ...well, it appeared he was debating with
himself. Humans ...so strange. What could he possibly decide whilst
talking to himself? Oh well, if it made him happy, she shouldn't complain.
She certainly didn't care at all. The body she had taken possession of had
grown heavy, her eye felt as if it wanted to close. She was unsure what
these sensations meant. Should she close her eyes, but if she did, and
lost hold of her conciousness, would she come back? As she thought these
things, her eye drifted shut and Uliwea slept for the first time in her
entire existence.
John had taken up residence across the room. The chair he was sitting in
was leaning back against the wall, two of it's legs in the air. He had
pulled his hat down over his eyes and could feel himself falling into a
light slumber. That was ...until the chair came out from under him and he
crashed to the floor. One moment asleep, the next ...wide awake.
Marguerite was standing over him.
"Taking a nap, are we?"
John climbed to his feet and brushed himself off, "Not napping, just
resting my eyes. Injured, sleeping women aside, this really seems
pointless. It's like watching paint dry, Marguerite."
"And what if she wakes up? What then?"
"Then we'll offer her something to eat and see that she gets back to
wherever it is she came from. What is the problem?" John stopped. He
grasped Marguerite by the upper arm and hauled her out on the balcony. By
the time they got there, her eyes were literally sparking with anger.
Roxton stared down into her face, "Tell me the truth. What's wrong?"
She broke eye contact, "Nothing ...well, you were ..."
"What? Tell me."
"Neglecting your duties." She finished lamely. It was, perhaps, the
suckiest excuse for not telling him what she was really feeling that she
had ever come up with. Ever.
"Is that really the reason you're so angry?"
"Besides the fact that you were manhandling me?"
"Be honest with me, Marguerite. Don't I at least deserve that?"
She sighed, "Yes you do, and I'm sorry."
He reached out and touched her shoulder, making her look back up at him,
"For what?"
"I can't give you want you're asking for." And she couldn't. It would
involve risking her heart again, and she wasn't at all certain she could
do that. It had been hurt so badly the last time. Then again, this man was
not Stuart, he was better, in every way. Honorable, loyal, not to mention
terribly good-looking.
Marguerite didn't realize he was speaking until he shook her slightly,
"Marguerite?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"What am I asking for that you are so afraid to give?"
Could she risk it? Could she offer up her heart on a silver platter? Did
it really matter anymore? Not really, she decided. John Roxton already had
her heart, she just hadn't admited it to him yet. She opened her mouth to
speak, but was cut off.
"I can see now, why John Roxton ......................."
Uliwea was awake, and watching them.
John looked, to say the least, really, really pissed, "Why I what?"
Uliwea blinked several times before continuing, almost as if speaking were
an effort, "Why you ....................stay."
"I haven't got a choice, but you're right. I'd stay anyway." He glanced at
Marguerite. "I don't want to be anywhere if she's not there with me."
Uliwea smiled, but it was not a pleasant look, "I understand." She stood
in silence for several minutes before she spoke again, "In that case
...................................."
Just as Marguerite was about to prompt her again, she finished, "I will
take you both."
Roxton and Marguerite
stared in confusion. As neither one of the had a clue what Uliwea was
talking about, they really couldn't say much. Uliwea, however, was unfazed
by their silence.
"Come on now, let's go, shall we?"
Uliwea stood up, but John and Marguerite did not. They glanced at one
another, still completely stumped.
Roxton finally chose to break the silence,"Go where? Who are you?"
"Uliwea."
Marguerite heard the name and gasped, "John, move away from here. Come
back here with me." She reached out her hand, and John took it with
questions in his eyes. Marguerite pulled him back until he was standing
beside her, across the room from Uliwea.
He looked down, into her eyes,"What's wrong?"
Marguerite looked at him, "Uliwea is the ancient Egyptian word for Death."
Roxton looked away and at the woman standing across the room, "Is that
so."
Uliwea shrugged, "Yeah, so what. Look, I haven't got time for this. Come
willingly together, or go alone Lord Roxton. It's up to you. You have ..."
she paused and looked at a watch that suddenly appeared on her
wrist,"exactly three minutes."
She didn't look the same as before, but now that it had been said, Roxton
could feel that Uliwea was the same woman who had tried to make him take
his own life a year ago. She had apparently grown tired of waiting again,
and this time she was offering him something he had not been given before,
companionship. He couldn't say it wasn't ...he paused, it was tempting. To
not have to be here on the Plateau, to have Marguerite with him and never
have to worry about her saftey again, to be at peace about his brother,
finally ...but no, it shouldn't be like this. It wasn't their time, and
for better or worse, he would wait until it was.
"I told you the last time. When it's my time, I'll come. Only then, and I
certainly won't ask the woman I love to come with me."
Marguerite had opened her mouth to agree, but came to a screeching halt.
What had he just said? Granted, he had implied it before, but never openly
said it like this. She didn't know how to respond to that. She wanted to
tell him how she felt about him, that she loved him also, that he was
everything to her, but something held her back. Something kept her from
being entirely honest about everything and until she could, until he knew
the whole story, there would never be anything of any strength between
them.
Uliwea shook her head, "Too late." She snapped her fingers and a second
later, all three of them were gone.
Marguerite and Roxton reappeared standing next to one another in what
looked very much like a large pool of lava. Roxton's brain balked at this
idea; it couldn't be so, they would be dead if it was. "Not dead." Uliwea
stood near them on a large stone in the center of all the madness. She was
smiling and something about her smile made Roxton uneasy. What was going
on?
Uliwea laughed, "No one gets to die here. It's too ..." she paused, almost
as if she were searching her mind for exactly the right word, "peaceful."
A shiver ran down Roxton's spine, "You said if we came ..."
She cut him off, "Ahh, that's true, but you didn't. Well, not entirely."
Roxton's voice was growing louder, he was beginning to panic, "We're
here!"
"Yes, but not willingly. That was part of the deal too." Uliwea glanced
briefly at Marguerite, "So was she."
Marguerite looked completely confused, "What is she talking about? What's
going on?"
Roxton stared down into the lava that was swirling around his boots. He
couldn't bring himself to look up at her. Marguerite reached out for him,
but he backed up a few steps, his eyes still glued to the ground.
Uliwea clapped like a small child, the joy in her face was clear, as if
something entertaining was about to happen.
"John?"
"I thought about it." It was all he had to give her. It was all he had to
offer. He couldn't think of an excuse good enough for bringing her into
hell. He finally raised his eyes. The sorrow there cast across his face,
filled his mind and touched his heart. Nothing would ever absolve him of
this. He was sorry she had ever crossed his mind, but how could she not?
For when he contemplated his own future, she was inevitably there. How did
he take it back now? He couldn't, and he knew it. He had condemned her to
death and pain with his own heart.
"I'll just leave you kids to talk." Uliwea waved a hand and Marguerite
found herself and Roxton standing on top of the stone next to her.
"Talk or burn, your choice." She vanished.
The lava below them began to rise. Like an ocean of red fire, it rose
toward the top of the stone, lapping at the sides, cresting in waves of
what was surley pure pain.
"What is going on, John?"
He turned those soft, sorrowful eyes toward her, "Just that I ...God help
me Marguerite, I wanted you here with me. I'm sorry, that your here is my
fault."
She smiled and touched his face, "It's not a sin, John."
"To condemn you to death?"
She pressed up against him and kissed him. It was gentle, almost chaste in
a way, and yet so much passion flooded through him with that brief touch
of lips that he couldn't breath, couldn't think. All he could do was stand
there and stare at her,"No John. It's not a sin to love me."
Page Last Update: 03/07/2005