Legacy of the Iron Eagle

By L. Salt

Philip Rutkowski, a son of a Polish immigrant, "enjoys" all the benefits of big city life—a boring, routine office job, the everyday long commute, a massive mortgage, and rare nights out with a few friends.

Everything changes for Philip, when his colleague and best friend, David Zilberschlag, gives him a vintage mirror to help his friend to decorate his newly-bought apartment.  The mirror belonged to David's deceased granddad, a Holocaust's survivor, who believed that the mirror hides some dark secrets from the past.

 Both friends don't believe in old man's "fairy tales", but when Philip continues to see visions of a German SS-officer in the mirror who tries to talk to him, he has nothing to do, but to try to find the answers to the questions he doesn't know.

The investigation leads the two friends to a tiny town of San Augustine del Agua, hidden deeply in the woods of Misiones Province (Argentina). There, they meet Claudia Alvarez and her friendly grandparents, the proud members of a huge German community.

Eager to find out the truth behind the mirror, lost in the woods full of evil and possessed by his visions, Philip slides deeply into madness. When Claudia does everything to help him, her own life starts to crumble, revealing secrets that her family prefers to hide, whereas David is more concerned about his own benefits.

It seems this time evil is about to win…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crazy Ink
• Release date: Feb 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386314387

Book preview

A novella by

L.Salt

Copyright 2019 Crazy Ink

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

Crazy Ink

www.crazyink.org

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

My most sincere thanks to:

Erin Lee and amazing team of Crazy Ink for publishing this work and making my dream come true.

Samantha Talarico for all her hard work and patience with editing.

Kimberly Lee, who works so hard to introduce this book to the public, and all the amazing cover designers, who created the dark and unsettling world of the Iron Eagle.

London, 2010

‘I LIKE THIS MIRROR.’ Philip Rutkowski nodded to a piece of décor in a wide wooden frame. ‘Are you sure you don’t want it? It’s from late 1910s, you know.’

His best friend, David, had never been interested in his granddad’s clock-making and jewellery business, so Philip wasn’t surprised at all when Dave invited him to help with the shop’s closure.

‘Eh...? What did you say?’ His friend responded from the far corner of the store. ‘Ah, the mirror...’ He came closer to Philip. ‘Yeah. Thirty quid[1] and you can have it. I always wanted to get rid of it, but granddad had never allowed me. It’s got a couple of tiny cracks all the way through the frame.’ He ran his finger across the top of the mirror. ‘I’m not ready to invest a fortune in its restoration anyway.’

‘The glass is in perfect condition, though.’ Philip continued to examine the item. ‘I like its unusual asymmetrical shape and this simplicity of the frame—nothing fancy.’

David agreed. ‘You need a mirror for your bedroom until you’ll buy something new. This one will do the job.’

‘With this flat’s move and a mortgage, I don’t even know when I’ll be able to finish furnishing.’ Philip only waved.

‘Look at the positive—you can enjoy your own man cave now. I’m glad this mirror has found a new owner.’ David took a seat on a chair in front of the mirror, staring at his own reflection.

‘Are you sure you want to do it—to sell your granddad’s business?’ Philip had noticed his friend’s melancholy. ‘It meant a Universe to him.’

‘I have no choice. My mother would’ve done it long ago, but she just didn’t want to upset Granddad. So I’d volunteered to pay the shop’s rent. For the last five years, it has brought me more pain in the ass than money. As I’ve told you before, it was absolutely unprofitable. Who needs wind-up clocks, hand-made jewellery, and old-fashioned watches in the era of iWatch and one-click shopping? But...at least, this shop kept Granddad occupied and happy. Zilberschlag’s family has been making and selling watches and jewellery for generations.’ He smiled bitterly. ‘The time flies. All is gone now.’

Philip tried to switch his friend from the memories of his recent loss to the more neutral subject. ‘What is different about this mirror? Apart from having an extremely long life for such a fragile piece of décor, of course...’

‘Ah, just usual Granddad’s whims and fantasies, you know.’ David only waved his hand. ‘He claimed that the mirror had survived the pogrom of his dad’s business. The Nazis took everything from him, smashed his shop and apartment to the ground, but this mirror was too plain and boring to their taste, and it had been left untouched. When Granddad returned from a camp to his parents’ home, nothing was left—everything was either destroyed or stolen, but the mirror had miraculously survived again.’ David chuckled. ‘Granddad used to say, One day, this mirror will talk.

‘Will talk? Meaning? Talk like...what?’

‘Ah, forget about it.’ David rose from his chair and started to pull clocks off their displays. ‘It’s just another legend from the Holocaust times. My granddad had always been a bit too...ehm... impressionable.’

PHILIP HAD PUT THE mirror on the opposite wall to his bed, backed down a couple of steps, squinted for a second, assessing its position, and finally, nodded in satisfaction. 

It sits perfectly here.

He caught himself thinking Lisa wouldn’t have approved this. It was too bulky and old-fashioned for her taste. Lisa... She had never shared his passion for arts and antiques. In fact, they didn’t have many common interests at all. And yet...they had been together for almost five years; they were going to settle down or... Was it really she who wanted to settle down? He said he wasn’t ready, he wasn’t sure, he... Oh, he screwed it up! She had lost her patience, and he had lost her.

The early autumnal twilight had covered the buzzing megapolis, crawling in Philip’s apartment, filling it with heavy, unsettled loneliness. Being well aware of his friend’s recent break up, Dave had offered him to go out tonight, to have a couple of drinks, to pick up ladies, and enjoy life like in the good old days of their early twenties.

‘You need to move on, mate.’ David’s words sounded in his mind. ‘You’ve done the right thing, buying this flat and moving to London. Now, show her you’re still able to enjoy your life without her.’

Philip only sighed, recalling his friend’s reasoning.

He switched on the TV, but endless, senseless shows had made him even more bored. He tried to read a book, but struggled to focus on his reading. Lisa’s pale face, her reproaches and complaining continued to torture his mind. Finally, when all available entertainments were exhausted, he decided to call his friend to join him in his late night adventures.

As expected, David hadn’t answered the phone.

‘Ah, of course. This party animal is already pissed,’ Philip snorted irritably.  

It seemed like the death of David’s granddad, who brought him up, replacing for Dave his irresponsible father, calmed him down for a short while. Not for too long, though.

Philip sighed deeply and returned to his book. He hadn’t even noticed as he fell asleep.

He woke up to the weird humming which had started quietly, but had been growing louder and louder until it filled up the whole bedroom with its annoying vibration. It sounded like falling water.

He couldn’t realize where the sound was coming from. The heavy darkness had filled the room, which made him think he had been asleep for, at least, a couple of hours. Despite the late hour and deep darkness outside, he could distinguish the silhouettes of the furniture and his own reflection in the mirror.

Ah, the mirror... He rose from his wide chair. The book slid down from his lap and hit the floor with a deep thud. 

The mirror had been glowing with cold, bluish, vibrating light. At first, Philip thought it was illuminated by the moon, but the sky looked almost black with clouds. He hesitated for a second, and then took a step closer. The glowing had intensified, his reflection started to blur, and finally, disappeared completely, leaving just dark emptiness for a second and...a man stood in front of him in the mirror.

Philip had opened his mouth to scream, but rooted to the ground, all his body became stiff, as if he had been paralyzed.

The figure was dressed in the black military uniform; an iron eagle and a skull were glowing dimly on his black cap.

Still unable to move, Philip was staring at the man without a blink. The stranger’s full, pale lips stretched into a friendly smile. His crystal-blue eyes captivated Philip, nailed him to the spot. The humming noise of falling water had stopped abruptly. 

‘Fünfundzwanzig,achtundsechzig, achtundvierzig, neunundsechzig,’ the pale lips had pronounced slowly and quietly, as if the man wasn’t sure Philip could understand him.

Deafening silence hung in the room, but Philip’s loud scream ripped it off. He snatched a half-empty cup of tea from a coffee table and launched it at the mirror.

The glass had blurred, debris of the cup had showered him with tiny, micro-needles, sharp as millions of miniature razor-blades.

He jerked, and...the