“Farewell,” Aurddolen called, “I had hoped to be beside you when you faced the Malevolence for the last time but I accept that your plan is for the best. Our best wishes go with you.” There were loud calls of agreement.
The three travellers pushed forward and dragged the sledge over the remaining few metres of rough rock. They reached the ice and as the runners began to slide more smoothly, they emerged from the tunnel and were surrounded by the white wilderness. Their breath froze in the air and fell as fine snow.
They headed north. At first all three of them pulled on the sledge but it soon proved easier for Sieffre and Hedydd to walk while September, in the form of the panther, towed the load. They travelled for hours under the star-filled night sky until Sieffre decided that Hedydd needed to rest. They set up camp with September calling up a protective dome of plwm and using the power of aur to warm them. After eating, Sieffre and Hedydd slept together in the single tent while September watched.
In the morning they set off before it was light, setting the pattern for the following days. It wasn’t long before the first attack by a manifestation; a Pwca in the form of a giant polar bear. September vapourised it, and destroyed all the other forms of the Malevolence that harried them.
Day after day they pushed northwards through blizzards and fair weather, meeting manifestations time after time. The Sun spent less and less time above the horizon until one day they did not see it at all. All the while, Hedydd directed them. She carried an instrument which she referred to frequently. It was a metal-framed box, with sides of a clear material.
“What is that instrument you use?” September asked Hedydd.
“Eryl gave it to me just before the Arsyllfa fell. He said that we should both have one just in case something happened to his.”
“I can see from the red colour that the frame is made of copper, but what is the clear material?” The only glass September had seen on Gwlad was cloudy and occurred naturally.
“Eryl told me it was cut from a material found in the rocks of Daear.”
September was little the wiser. Inside the box a needle hung from a thread so thin as to be almost invisible. The needle was able to swing horizontally and vertically. When Hedydd held it really still it stopped swinging and pointed in one direction, somewhere northwards and at a steep angle to the vertical.
“The needle is made of haearn,” Hedydd explained, “but carries a tiny piece of another kind of rock that exerts an influence on the haearn.”
“It’s a compass!” September exclaimed.
“I do not know that word,” Hedydd said, “But Eryl said that when the Cysylltiad approaches we should follow the direction pointed to by the needle. We will be at the focus of the Malevolence’s arrival on Daear when it hangs vertically.”
September didn’t understand fully how the instrument worked but she knew that it was vital if they were to arrive at the correct place.
Whenever the sky was clear Hedydd also observed the stars and checked her observations with figures in a book she carried. She told them precisely how many days it was till the winter solstice and the day of the Conjunction.
The days went by and they travelled constantly but September saw the effect that the cold and the constant attacks by manifestations were having on her companions, especially Hedydd. They got slower and slower and covered fewer and fewer kilometres towards their destination. With a few days to go to the Conjunction it was apparent that they would not reach the point that Eryl had calculated. As they rested in their grey cocoon, September made a suggestion.
“We are not going to be in position if we go on as we are so I suggest that I carry you.”
“You cannot carry us and our sledge, Cludydd,” Sieffre said.
“I know. You must leave it hidden here with the tent and most of the supplies. Just bring enough food with you to give you energy to walk back here. I can carry you to the place of the Conjunction quickly but it will take you days to make your own way back.”
“Can you not bring us back after your confrontation?” Sieffre asked.
“No, I probably won’t be here. You know the stories about the last Conjunction better than I do. You know that Breuddwyd never reappeared once the Malevolence was defeated.”
“That is true,” Hedydd nodded.
“You are exhausted,” September went on, “I think you should rest for a couple of days, get your energy back so that you can walk once you have led me to the place I need to be.”
“Your suggestion is sensible,” Sieffre said, “We should bury most of our equipment in the snow but make a beacon that will guide us back here.”
They built a snug igloo from the ice in which they stored the equipment and food and rested in comparative warmth for two days. Sieffre devised a flag and pole that he hoped would survive the fierce winds that blew across the ice.
On the morning of the day before the solstice according to Hedydd’s calculations, September changed again into the panther. Hedydd and Sieffre mounted her, wrapped in their thickest, warmest clothes and carrying packages containing food rations. Hedydd grasped her instrument. September set off, racing across the flat plain of ice and snow. She leapt across crevasses, bounded up hills of ice, galloping as far as possible in a straight line in the direction given by Hedydd. They moved so fast that attacking manifestations were left behind. They travelled through the dark day and into the night. Hedydd leant forward to shout in September’s ear.
“Stop please, I must check the instrument.”
September skidded to a halt in a flurry of ice fragments. Hedydd sat perfectly still.
“We are nearly there, just a few hundred more paces in that direction.” She pointed across the white wilderness. September trotted on for a few minutes more until Hedydd called a halt again and dismounted. September returned to her normal self and the three of them looked into the instrument. The needle glinted in the starlight hanging vertically from its thread.
“We’re here,” Hedydd announced, “and the solstice will not be long.”
“Right, that’s it,” September said, “Go now. Get as far from here as possible. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I don’t want you harmed.”
Sieffre and Hedydd knew she was right.
“Goodbye, Cludydd. May all the planets be with you,” Sieffre said.
“They will,” September agreed, “Make sure Hedydd gets to safety. The Land needs her knowledge.”
The man and woman trudged off occasionally looking back over their shoulders.
September watched them go feeling a great sadness. Was this the last time she would see them or any other inhabitants of the Land? Was her time in this universe really nearly over? She looked up into the sky. There was no cloud and it was full of the sparkling points of stars. She knew that there were no planets to be seen. They were all lined up with the Sun on the other side of the Earth. At this very moment the Moon was sliding across the face of the Sun causing an eclipse. All seven heavenly bodies were hidden from view. The time of the Conjunction had arrived.
14
The air was still and September felt calm too. This was the moment all her time on Gwlad had been aiming towards; her destiny, if anyone believed in that idea. She wasn’t sure if she was afraid because she did not know what she had to fear. She just stared up at the hemisphere of stars, almost as bright as when she travelled amongst them.
Directly overhead there was a spot of dark amongst the stars that seemed wider than others. She looked at it, intrigued. The patch of black grew, but unlike a cloud obscuring the stars it seemed to push the stars around it apart. Space itself was being distorted. The circle of dark grew and the bunched up stars formed a bright ring around it. She watched, uncertain what she was seeing. The air around her started to move. Air was blowing down on her from the sky and then she understood. Her birthmark was hurting. The Malevolence was coming.
The circle of darkness covered a quarter of the sky above her and the wind had grown into a hurricane
that swirled about her. The darkness from above the stars was coming down to Daear and blowing away everything before it. Descending to her was a funnel so black it didn’t just absorb light, it destroyed light.
Then she heard the spirits. They didn’t make any noise but they were in her head. There were no words, just a single raw emotion – hate. They were coming down to her, descending from their realm above the stars to claim the world. This wasn’t just the few hundred or thousand spirits that gave a semblance of life to the manifestations, but millions, billions of them, all with one aim – to destroy.
She knew what her task must be. She had to stop them, send them back to their place above the stars. They must not be free to roam across the Land. Now was the time to use all the power of the Maengolauseren, all the power of the stars, to throw back the tide of Evil.
The wind whipped her hair but her glowing raiment was unaffected. September stood firm and raised her hand bearing the starstone high above her head. Now she was scared. The Malevolence filled her with fear for the people of Gwlad, for the communities, for the rivers and forests, the mountains and plains, the desert and the ice. If she was unable to stop the evil coming then all would be destroyed. Oh yes, she was afraid. But fear gave her power. There were other emotions that filled her- anger at the Malevolence, compassion and love for the people of Gwlad, sadness for those that had died, joy that she had the power to oppose the evil, surprise that she, September, was here as the saviour of the universe and lastly hope that the final battle would be won. The energy of all the stars in the sky and all the planets was channelled through her.
“YMADAELWCH!” she shouted, “BE GONE!”
A cone of violet sprang from the stone and rose up into the sky spreading swiftly. It climbed higher and higher, opposing the dark, throwing back the screeching spirits.
“You won’t do it you know.”
September flinched, dropping her hand and turning around. The light died. Malice stood on the ice, clothed in darkness, with her arms folded nonchalantly.
“You!” September cried and was left speechless. She had expected Malice to appear but her casual stance took her by surprise. The wind roared around her but her twin appeared unconcerned. She looked at September with a sly grin. September felt her anger grow stronger, wilder.
“What do you mean? I have the power of the stone and all the stars and planets to call on. I will push the Malevolence away from the Earth.”
“No you won’t. Your tiny universe is nothing compared to the infinity of the dark. You cannot plug the hole caused by the Conjunction because you do not hold all the power of the stars.”
“But I do. I am the Cludydd o Maengolauseren.”
“No, I told you once before. It should have been me but regardless of which of us lived and which of us died we grew in the same womb. There is a bond between us. I realise that now and it is what gives me strength. The power in the universe is shared between us, but whereas you have just a few thousand stars to help you, I have the billions of spirits that have been driven into the dark.”
September didn’t want to believe what Malice said but what confidence she felt was ebbing away.
“You haven’t seen me for months. You don’t know what power I’ve got.”
“I have and I do.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have followed you for every moment of your crusade across this pitiful land. I have been your shadow, hidden from sight, but there behind you or by your side. I have watched you show off your minuscule powers to oppose the forces I sent to test you.”
“You were there?”
“Every moment. I saw you proudly come to the rescue of those feeble creatures you called friends. They hailed you as their saviour but they didn’t know how mistaken they were. And now you think you can oppose the Malevolence. You have no chance and I will dispose of you myself.”
Her grin was replaced by a grimace of concentration and she thrust her arm towards September. A bolt of pure blackness hit September in the chest. She sprawled on the ice, the gale roaring around her filled with the screams of the descending spirits. She raised herself up onto her knees and threw her own violet light at Malice. Malice staggered but didn’t fall. She took a few paces towards September and fired another black hole of darkness at her. September fended it off, but the force pushed her down again. Another followed, and another. She sank lower and lower, stretched out on the frozen plain. Above her, the dark spread across half the sky.
Malice stood over her.
“I could have just blown you away, but I wanted you to know that you had failed.”
September tried to lift her hand holding the starstone. It felt so heavy. She opened her hand and willed the violet beam to ignite. A pale wisp of light appeared that Malice just dismissed. September sank back exhausted for the first time since she had returned from the planets.
“Seventh born you may be, but this is the seventh coming of the Malevolence and now, with me, it is has grown to such power that no Cludydd can oppose it.”
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be, September thought, I am not strong enough.
“And now I will destroy you, take your power for myself,” Malice went on, extending her hand down to September, “and claim your spirit for the Dark.”
A dark shadow sprang from Malice’s hand, enveloping her. September felt bitter cold touch her skin, the cold of the Dark. Her body was becoming numb, her mind filled with the chants of hate. Her limbs stiffened, her heart-beat slowed. She must get away from Malice’s power. Symudiad was the only way out. She forced her hand holding the starstone to open.
A trickle of blue light sprang from the stone, it ran down her arm, flowed across her chest. Where it met the darkness it crackled and spat. The trickle became a stream washing across her body, fizzing and spitting where it met the cold shadow. The two forces fought for supremacy. September could no longer see Malice or the darkness of the Malevolence. She could not feel the wind or the ice on her back. She was engulfed in blue light.
Part 4
~
Partnership
15
She kept her eyes firmly shut, her fists clenched and did not move. The ultimate cold of Malice’s black light no longer burned her skin. The symudiad had worked; she had moved out of Malice’s reach. The surface beneath her was not hard, cold ice. The softness and warmth was familiar and yet she did not recall experiencing it recently. There was something between her and the surface, something that covered her body but was not the incorporeal light which had clothed her for weeks. Memory came.
Home! She was in her bedroom, lying on the floor, the carpet beneath her, wearing her sleep shirt. Relief washed over her. She was safe; no longer the subject of the Malevolence’s hate; away from Malice’s spite. Relief was soon replaced by another emotion – regret. No more was she the Cludydd o Maengolauseren with miraculous powers. She was back to being simple September Weekes, fat and weak and stupid. She cried and sobbed for the fit, firm body she had lost and the respect that people gave her.
Another memory and emotion washed over her – guilt. She had failed. She had left the Land under the Malevolence’s dominion. Malice was free to wreak her vengeance. She had failed the task that had been set her and now Aurddolen, Hedydd, Sieffre all the other cludyddau and the people of Gwlad were left to their own defence. It was too much to bear. She screamed and thrashed, hammering her hands and feet against the carpeted floor.
Distantly through her tears and misery she heard movement. Running, shouting, more hurrying feet. Fingers gripping her flailing arms, her body held against another, her closed hands pressed against her chest, a face close to hers. A familiar smell and feel - Mother.
“What’s the matter, Ember? A bad dream?”
She struggled to speak. Words spilled out incoherently
“Starstone. Malevolence. Land. Malice.”
Breuddwyd gasped and held her tighter.
“Go, Julie. Get a glass of water or someth
ing, but leave us. Ember needs quiet.”
Feet retreating. Peace.
“What did you say, Ember? Slowly now. Tell me what is troubling you.”
She drew a deep breath, “I failed. I couldn’t send the Malevolence back above the stars. I failed the Maengolauseren. I let everyone down and now they will all die.”
“No. It can’t be true. That is my dream.”
September opened her eyes and saw the horror in her mother’s face.
“A dream? No. I’ve been away for months.”
“No, Ember. You have been nowhere. It is still the night of your birthday. You’ve had a bad dream.”
She couldn’t believe it. Her experiences were so real, particularly the most recent ones - the ice and cold and the disappearing stars, the descending spirits, and Malice’s assault.
“No, I was there. I travelled across the Land. I was the Cludydd o Maengolauseren. I had powers. I disposed of all sorts of manifestations that were killing people and destroying their homes. I was supposed to send the Malevolence back. I didn’t.”
“But that was my dream. I had it more than thirty years ago, before I had April, before I met your father. Dream or vision, it was God testing me. He sent me to a place that was a kind of hell. A hell filled with kind people who respected me but knew nothing of Jesus or our Father in heaven or the goodness of the Holy Spirit. They did not believe in the love of God. They just believed in evil, the Malevolence as you and they called it. I did what they wanted and learnt their ways hoping they would turn to Christ, but the vision ended.”
“It wasn’t a vision, Mother. It’s real. I don’t know where or how but I was there and you were too.”
“I don’t know how you could have the same dream. Or perhaps God is testing you too but it was not real for me and it is not real for you. Like you I thought I was there for months but no time had passed when I awoke, so it could not be real. It has stayed in my memory, but it was a dream, it must have been.”
The Power of Seven Page 19