In The Oblivion of Shadow

[Leopold]

Ruby and Leopold Winchester

Leopold and Ruby had always dwelt between bliss and rage. They had averted countless disasters and not all of them were by their own hand. Never had they encountered such trials and tribulations as when Duffy Bracken had entered their lives. Nearly six centuries later, he still vexed them utterly.

“What he is asking us to do is impossible.”

“Is impossible to achieve, or impossible to understand?”

Ruby Winchester never used such definite terms. She believed that if you set your mind to a task, anything was probable. All the same, she found herself with no choice but to admit defeat with Lysander’s request.

“Both.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that word.” Leopold reflected on their many years. He was right. Ruby had never said impossible. It was not something she believed in.

“I’m not in the mood for frivolities, Leopold.”

“I’m just surprised. We made a pact to see this through, to free our souls of this endless nightmare. Yet, posed with a solution to our troubles, you turn your cheek?”

“I will when we’ve spent half our lives trying to keep the oath alive!”

Seated opposite one another, the couple lounged in wing back chairs nursing delicate drinks and fragile egos. Their discussion had started at midday, and now, as the evening faded long past midnight, the sound of the dawn chorus told them a new day was dawning. The stalemate was solidified as the grandfather clock in the distant hall sounded the seventh hour.

“In the last few months business has never been better. Granted, the little shit blew up our house, came back from the dead again, and now he has asked us to literally shear him from the history books. What about any of this isn’t impossible?”

Leopold’s sincerity and frankness gave Ruby pause for thought.

“You’re right. We are used to the fantastical happening wherever we go. But this has a finality to it I do not like.”

“Everything dies, Ruby. Even us.” Leopold’s sincerity turned to blunted truth.

“We’ll lose him. For good this time.” Ruby frowned. “I’m not sure how he intends to do it, given he’s been too stubborn to die for centuries.”

“It’s a heavy torch to bear. We will all sacrifice much to put an end to this charade of gods and monsters.”

“Yet we’ll be short of our leading man.”

“Hardly. Young Duffy will still be here.” Leopold wrinkled his nose.

“That’s hardly a fair substitute,” Ruby chuckled.

“Lysander has promised to teach him everything he knows before the end. He will pass on the torch as each of our former lives has to the new face of the troupe.”

Ruby’s resolve faltered. She could not argue with that. Over the centuries they had lived so many lives and every time they had to change faces, they carried with them some of that experience until they had difficulty remembering who they were. They were all an amalgamation of heroes and villains etched into the sands of time.