The Tied Man

‘You stupid, mad cow,’ Finn continued.  ‘Jesus fuck, Lili, you could have gone. Why the hell did you come back to this?’

I pushed away just enough to let my eyes meet his.  ‘Why do you think?’ I asked, and was pulled back in so hard that the breath was squeezed from me.

‘You’re shivering,’ Finn said.  ‘Go and run yourself a bath, a chuisle.  Get warmed up.’

‘What did you call me?’

‘Ah.  A chuisle. Gaelic. ‘My darling’.  I prefer the proper translation, mind you.’

‘Which is?’

He gave a bashful smile.  ‘My pulse.’

Finn

I waited for Lilith to move, but she stood rooted to the spot.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.

‘I really don’t want to be alone right now.’

I didn’t even start to argue.  Didn’t want to, truth be told.  ‘Give me ten to get cleaned up a bit, huh?  I’ll come to your room.  Coyle will be out of his skull by now, so we should be safe enough.’

Lilith sighed with relief.  ‘Yeah, I saw his face gurning at me from behind a bedroom blind when I came up the path; he looked pretty hammered.  Thanks.  Thanks a lot.’  She turned on her heels, gave Henry a quick hug, picked up her bag and headed off to her quarters.  The simple promise of my company had reassured her enough to move, and I was still smiling like an idiot as I lit my cigarette.

‘Don’t say it, Henry,’ I warned.

Henry raised an eyebrow.  ‘Would it make any difference in the world if I did?’

‘Nope.’

‘Then I won’t say it.’

‘Good man.’

*****

I was on my way to Lilith’s room when  Henry called me back.

‘One moment.’  He disappeared into his vast larder and I heard him rifling through whatever the hell he kept in there.  When he emerged, he was cradling a wine bottle that was encrusted with a good century’s worth of dust.  He passed it to me with the tender care of a midwife handing over a newborn baby.  ‘Carpe diem, Finn.  Well, carpe noctem to be accurate, I suppose.’

‘It’s a bit fuckin’ grubby, isn’t it?  Haven’t you got a clean one?’ I teased.

‘Philistine,’ Henry tutted.  ‘For your information, that is a Ville de la Domaine Romanee Conté worth approximately eight hundred pounds on today’s market and considered to be a king amongst wines.  If you gulp it back in the same manner you insist on imbibing most alcohol, you will hear an entire chorus of angels sobbing.  At least Lilith will appreciate it.’

‘Thanks for this, little man.’ I was suddenly awkward with the enormity of what we were all doing.

‘She’ll never miss it.’  He brushed my words away with his hand.  ‘An insignificant gesture, all things considered.  Just raise a toast on my behalf, would you?  Perhaps ‘To a courage few possess’?’

I grinned.  ‘How about just, ‘Eat, drink, for tomorrow we die’?’

‘Don’t.  Now go, wash.  And don’t forget to clean your teeth – your breath smells worse than a pub carpet.’

I saluted, and turned to go.

‘Oh, and one last thing -’

‘Yeah?’  I braced myself for some dire warning or other.

‘That’s not the full quote.  If you must know, it’s ‘Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.’’ Henry grasped my hand.  ‘So go, be merry, dear boy.  God knows, you deserve it this once.’

Lilith

‘You decent yet?’ Finn called from behind the door.

I emerged from the bathroom, clad in my new winter pyjamas and thick white Albermarle bathrobe, with a towel wrapped around my newly-washed hair.

Finn was already waiting for me. He sat on the edge of my bed with Bran at his feet. ‘Better?’ he asked.

‘Nearly, but it would help if I could stop shaking.’  I rubbed at my hair with the towel.  ‘I’m still bloody freezing  – but I suppose that’s what you get for driving with all your windows down for six hours.  And a couple of gallons of adrenaline and speed still swilling around my system isn’t helping much.’

‘I’d probably be a wee bit jittery if I’d just pulled your stunt.’  Finn patted the bed next to where he sat.  ‘C’mon, take a seat.  Henry’s sent a present that might help take the edge off.’  He picked up a bottle of very decent red from my bedside table.