Kthaahthikha

XIV - 1300

'And when was this?' I asked.

'Oh, many years ago. Although, time seems to run together in this place. I myself came here when I was twenty years of age, and yet if you were to ask me how old I am now I wouldn't be able to give you anyhting even resembling an accurate estimate. But you, where do you hail from?

'I am from Engliand,' I said, 'from London of current. I'm an explorer, of sorts.'

'Ah, yes,' said Clothilde. 'And have they discovered the North-West passage yet?'

'Whom?'

'The Americans. They were trying to when I came here. But then, as I said, time does tend to run together here. Do the United States of America still exist, or has someone conquered them.'

'No, the United States are going-along quite well.'

'Ah, good to know. And France is still flourishing?'

'A global power, mademoiselle.'

'Ah, good.'

We arrived on the other shore, and disembarked the boat. Another pair took the boat, and the musician took-up his instrument again as they set-out upon the waters.

Below the city walls was a long promenade, along which a large number of people were walking in dress of all times and places. We entered the city by the front gate, and on passing through the wall I found myself within a stunning melange of architectural styles. The street was of large cobbles, and to either side their rose up pagodas and parthenons, and tall gabled houses the scond and third floors of which jutted forth to overhang the street. A Japanese palace was set back from the road, and an a number of gleaming domed structures rose from the remains of a dilapidated manor. This was only a fragment of the visula cacaphony on the display, as we walked along streets lined by wooden huts that merged into long-houses and then into mot-and-bailey fortresses, and under bridges that crossed the roads and were thronged with revellers downing winde and chatting gaily into the night.

Everyone who I looked upon seemed a figure of perfection. Not a person could have been classed as ugly, or even as unattractive. Everywhere they walked, or rode in horseless carriages, or lounged in cafes and laughed and sung with faces split by joy.

'Is there some festival?' I asked.

'Yes,' Clothilde replied, 'you are, it could be said, rather lucky, for it is Maldino's birthday.'

'Then Maldino can keep track of time,' I said.

'It would seem so,' Cltohilde replied, 'although in truth few really care. What is tiem when death is but a memory. Come, we shall go to my apartments and you may dress more suitably for the ball.'

I had little chance to object, and i was hopeful that I might meet Maldino at this event. I asked Clothilde and she confirmed as much, for it was a Birthday Ball, after-all.

Clothilde lived in vast apartments over-looking the grand canal, and was served by a host of maids each as beautiful as her mistress. None of them spoke, though I attempted to engage them in conversation, and when Clothilde saw what I was trying to do she loosed a silvery laugh.

'It is no good trying to talk with corpses,' she said. 'They could not speak to you even if they understood your words.'

'Then these are corpses?' I looked into the face of one beautiful maid as she fixed my sash and buttoned my jacket. There was nothing about her, no necrotic tinge, that might lend once to assume that what Clothilde said true. If anything, she seemed more a living, breathing thing than Clothilde herself.

'Of course,' she replied. 'Who else would we get for servants. If you should introduce yourself kindly to Maldino, one day your corpse might even serve us. Who is to say?'

I wished to argue this, horrified at the statement, but before I could say anything the young woman had vanished away into her chambers, one of the corpse-maids shutting the tall double-portal tight. I sat in the antechamber, observing the servants, attempting to spy something in them that might betray their deathly nature. It later became apparent that I was thinking about the matter in entirely the wrong way.

When Clothilde emerged finally from her dressing, I quite forgot anything that I had intended to ask her. Such beauty as shone from her face never existed outside of the confines of that city, and her figure was such as to bring grown men to tears. I am both strong-willed and, I believe, a gentlemen, and so I merely acknowledged that she looked ravishing, and followed her out of the building and down the sweeping staircase and out into the street.

I know how this works, but i'm not elaborating until it's dramatic.