Live Wildrow

Chapter 8 Live Wildrow
It was late at night and the moths were coming out to hover around the street lamps. There was a moon, luminous and full. Its silvery outline stood against the velvety darkness like a window into other worlds. Men have lost their souls contemplating Luna’s eerie light, and shunning the rosy fingers of day.
In this darkness a single form moved down the street. He was unnaturally tall and walked with a slight hunch; two whitish eyes made beacons in the darkness. Mr. Live Wildrow was a shrewd calculating type of man. Nothing escaped his greedy gaze as he raked he streets with his eyes. He paused to watch the shadow of a woman laughing in her lighted bedroom – it was reflected clearly against the shade. Twinkling sounds of wine glasses touching broke the silence. Licentiously he chuckled. His thin lips pursed as he continued walking, rubbing his hands together. The burgundy robe swept the pavement unmercifully, driving midnight insects and filthy cockroaches before its wake. He was nearing his destination.
Set against the stunning backdrop of city lights a ramshackle house squatted. Its frame leaned inwards like a giant had once sat on it. The door was a patched dark green which contrasted oddly with its grand gold knob. If nothing else that door had been kept in good repair for when Mr. Wildrow lifted his hand to tap, it swung open without a squeak. Stooping the man went in and the door shut with a muffled click.
Inside was no better than outside. A few dusty shelves hanging on rusty nails clung precariously to the walls. They were overloaded with papers and file boxes; here and there one had tipped sideways and spilled its contents on the floor. Mr. Wildrow wrinkled his nose distastefully and accepted a chair offered him by the bungalows sole inhabitant.
“You really should clean up a bit Teaser, it’s no wonder you never get visitors” he commented.
“I’d like to see a man, women, or child, try to come within twenty feet of my front porch. I’d shoot ‘em on the spot.” Teaser replied amicably.
The man Teaser was as different from Mr. Wildrow as two creatures can be and still expect to be called human. Teaser was short and almost anthropoid in appearance. His arms were too long for his short torso, hanging past the knees, and the hands were gigantically gnarled like tree roots. It seemed all his appendages were destined to be oversized because his shoes would never fit in the shoe boxes you and I buy. He’d never been able to find shoes that fit him comfortably so he made his own, and a raggedy affair they were.
Teasers face was startlingly enchanting compared to his hideous body shape. It was not exactly a pretty face, nor was it one to be trusted. But the teeth were very white and straight and the eyes had long brown lashes, hiding the malevolent beams underneath. When Teaser talked his cheeks lit up with a ruddy brilliance and he smiled bewitchingly.
Mr. Wildrow shifted in his seat.
“I’ve come on business Teaser.”
“Ah but of course, of course!” the short man said pulling a heavy leather up with ease and sitting beside his master.
For such was the relationship between the two. It was strange because while neither considered the other inferior, Teaser acknowledged the higher intellect of Mr. Wildrow. And Mr. Wildrow in his turn saw the great potential Teaser was developing and valued the effusive energy of his younger pedogue. Teaser was the cogs that made his schemes go round, through Teaser wishes became reality. The tall lean man brushed a few dank locks of hair out of his eyes.
“Today the Atlantians have met their fate. Doom stares them in the face, its eager footsteps will not be dodged this time. I knew this opportunity would come someday – a civilization in rebellion like there’s cannot be hidden or completely erased from the minds of men.
Teaser seemed to know what his master was talking about taking it all in good stride and grunting his agreement.
“No doubt the time has come Mr. Wildrow, tell me what to do and I’ll stick to my post like a leopard its prey.”
“I have complete faith in you Teaser, thought leopard-like is hardly how I would describe you.” Mr. Wildrow smiled briefly.
Teaser let out a course laugh and flexed his massive arm muscles. They bunched up like prize melons.
“That’s right; I’m more bulldog I am.” He agreed.
“To get back to the point, a man named Art Skew has discovered something we could not – the map to the hidden city. He and his office partner, a guy named Frank, have set out to find and join the rebels.” Mr. Wildrow seemed to know a good deal of information.
“Would you like me to catch them sir? I understand one of them is wanted for reading blogs illegally. I could take care of the whole thing nice and quiet, it would be a cinch.” Teaser wore a delightful smile as he contemplated his methods of capture, and later, perhaps, torture.
“No Teaser, I don’t want you to apprehend them. That would ruin the hopes of many years” his pale eyes glistened as he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a plain silk hankie. He dabbed his brow and closed his eyes.
“Art Skew and Frank are completely worthless as individuals. Right now I couldn’t care less what their personal motives may be. (Whatever the government may say) Atlantis is all that matters and these stupid society wrongers are going to lead me straight to it!” Live was mopping his brow vigorously no. His cool demeanor and chilly reserve had melted into a puddle of fire. Beneath his shaggy eyebrows Live’s eyes had become focused, they lost their pale listless gaze and stared intently into space. Some unseen vision made his cheeks flush hectically pink and his throat constricted. Teaser twitched his fingers nervously. Mr. Wildrow was in a world of thought where the ape like man could not follow. His beastly appetites and common sense struck inspiration to the ground like flies beneath a rolled magazine. Teaser began to shift in his seat.
Wildrow returned to awareness as the clock struck midnight.
“You are going to follow the miscreants wherever they go and – if it is possible – join them on their quest. We cannot risk losing the map in a scuffle, and there may be tests along the way which we may as well let the idiots attempt. Better them than us. Also this Art fellow, he has studied the city for years, it’s a family thing I think. Sooner or later they will either find what they are looking for or give up. I am inclined to believe they will find the city. In any case, when the time comes you may deal with them as harshly as you like, but for now they must live.”
Teaser sighed and said “Well sir, I’d rather deal with them properly right off – my way you know. But while you need them I’ll stick to them like a burr. No sir, they won’t escape me.”
“See they don’t. If you lose them my years of waiting will have been wasted. My life depends on this Teaser, do you know what will happen to this old mans heart if you fail? It will lose its grip on reality – such as we see it to be – and fade away like smoke in a strong wind.” The mans face twisted up in strange agony.
“Don’t worry sir” Teaser said, getting up and putting on a bright red baseball cap, “I’m on my way.” He glanced around the rickety house and, almost as an afterthought, stuck a rusty screwdriver in his back pocket.