Door Into Faerie

by Edward Willett

  …and then, deep within the screaming, she heard a voice, a voice she’d heard only once before, months ago, but recognized instantly.

  The voice of the Lady of the Lake.

  “Take up Excalibur,” the voice said, distant and faint and yet somehow clear as a bell even within the angry roar of the frustrated sword. “Lift it up, and the door into Faerie will open wide. The gem from the hilt is not necessary for that. Take up the sword!’

  But Wally had just picked up the sword himself. She wanted to cry out to him, to order him to give it to her, but she couldn’t speak, could hardly move. She gasped for air. She couldn’t seem to draw enough into her lungs. She felt as if a vast weight were pressing down on her, crushing her.

  Flish said something. Merlin spun and struck her across the face. Wally screamed, “Don’t touch my sister!”, dropped Excalibur, and charged Merlin. Ariane gathered all of her strength, broke the strange paralysis that had gripped her, and lunged for the sword.

  Her hand closed around the hilt. The sword still screamed its frustration and incompleteness – but it also screamed with power, power that dwarfed everything she had drawn from it thus far, power that rocked her back on her knees again, gasping. “Open the door!” the Lady cried, her voice as strong and clear now as though she stood by Ariane’s shoulder…and, somehow, Ariane knew how to do that, or the sword knew how to do it. In the end, it amounted to the same thing.

  She lifted Excalibur, raised it to the sky, drew on its power – and opened the door into Faerie.

  It began as a small dark spot in the middle of the clear afternoon sky, like a rip in a blue curtain, but it quickly grew. Boiling black clouds poured out of the doorway like a swarm of flies, swiftly covering the sky, blotting out the sun. The clouds spread down from the sky to the horizon in seconds, surrounding Cannington Manor and the fields around it in a wall of swirling darkness. Lightning tore across the zenith like a bright ragged rip in the clouds, and thunder hammered the earth.

  The temperature dropped precipitously. Mist raced inward from the wall of clouds. In an instant, the world faded away, reduced to a circle maybe ten metres in diameter.

  Merlin stood stock still, face unreadable, staring around him, waiting for something. Or someone.

  And then, behind him, past the road, in the field southeast of the churchyard, mounted knights rode out of the mist, or faded into existence from it – it was hard to be certain. Ariane lowered the sword and stared at them.

  There were twelve in all, riding snow-white steeds that looked like horses until you saw the bony ridges on their foreheads and the sharp spurs on the heels of their clawed feet. Each knight’s armour gleamed in the grey mist with its own eldritch light, sparkling green and blue and white and gold. Every suit was a work of art, a masterpiece that would have brought people from all over the world to see it had it been in an earthly museum. Each knight carried a naked sword, laid across his lap as he sat his steed, one hand on the hilt, the other on the reins.

  Then, behind them, a thirteenth rider appeared. This one rode unarmoured and unarmed, for she was a woman, wearing a long flowing dress of silver, bound about the waist with a belt of diamonds. Diamonds and silver likewise adorned her hair. Ariane had never seen her in the flesh, but there could be no doubt that this was the same Lady who had appeared to her and Wally in the chamber beneath the surface of Wascana Lake as a living sculpture of water, the Lady who had set them on the quest to find the scattered shards of Excalibur before Merlin – the quest they had just completed, and yet also failed.

  “Brother,” said the Lady of the Lake to Merlin, who had turned to face her and her knights as they materialized from the mist. “We meet again at last.”

  “It has been a long time,” Merlin said mildly. “I am sorry I have not had the opportunity to come home and see what you’ve done with the place. I was unavoidably detained.”

  “The blame does not lie with me,” the Lady said. “Your choices had consequences, as all choices do.”

  “As will yours,” Merlin said.

  The Lady laughed, a sound like a mountain brook tumbling down a rocky slope. “Dear brother, do you still imagine that you can somehow reclaim Avalon and challenge the Queen? Even now, when my heir…” For the first time she looked at Ariane, and bowed her head, ever so slightly, in recognition, “…holds Excalibur whole?”

  “Not quite whole,” Merlin said.

  “Ah, yes. The jewel with which you contaminated my perfect sword,” the Lady said. “The jewel that prevented me from removing the sword from Earth, the jewel that has provided you your paltry portion of magic in all the years since. Did you really think you had kept secret from me the fact you held it still?”

  You kept it secret from us, Ariane thought, but she held her tongue.

  Wally scrambled over to her on his hands and knees. “Are you all right?” he whispered.

  “Shh!” she hissed. “Listen.” But though she kept one hand on the hilt of the sword, she reached out with the other and took his.

  “It’s true the jewel still prevents me from taking the sword back to Faerie,” the Lady of the Lake said. “But there is nothing to prevent me from taking the jewel from you.” Her face hardened. “I will have my knights seize you by force and cut your ear off – or your head – to get it if you do not give it up freely.”

  Lightning flashed again, somewhere high in the mist, and thunder rumbled. A cold wind sprang up, hissing in the reeds behind Ariane and Wally and in the nearby bushes. Light rain began to fall.

  “And you think it will take a dozen Faerie knights to accomplish that?” Merlin said. He still sounded more amused than concerned. “I’m honoured.”

  The Lady shrugged. “I have never doubted your power, brother. Only your wisdom. You had only to accept the Queen’s decree that Earth was to be abandoned to its own devices and the door between the worlds closed, and you could even now be ruling in Avalon at my side once more. Your ambition – and disobedience – are what brought about your downfall.”

  “And what are your plans for me now?” Merlin said. “Am I to be taken back to Avalon in chains?”

  The Lady’s expression hardened. “You have been banished from Faerie, by order of the Queen,” she said. “No. You will remain here.”

  “Without magic.”

  “You have wealth and power enough to live out your life in comfort,” the Lady said. “And it will be a long life, too, far longer than that of an ordinary human, even without your magic. The Queen is merciful.”

  The rain pattered down. Merlin stared at his sister for a long moment. “I think you actually mean that to be comforting,” he said at last.

  “I am still your sister,” the Lady said. “I still care about you.”

  Flish still stood beside Merlin, looking ridiculous in her red-leather outfit. The mark on her cheek where Merlin had struck her was almost the same colour. She glanced at Wally.

  “I see you brought your best knights, too,” Merlin said. “No doubt another indication of your warm feelings toward me.” His gaze flicked to the warrior at the Lady’s right hand. “Sir Koris,” he said. “Once you were the most loyal of the Knights of Avalon. Have you remained loyal in all the years since last I spoke to you?”

  Koris nodded. “Yes, Lord Merlin,” he said.

  Merlin sighed. He looked back at the Lady. “Very well,” he said. “Clearly I am outnumbered. May I request that Sir Koris be the one who takes the jewel from me? I know him to be a man of honour.”

  The Lady inclined her head. “That is acceptable.” She looked past Merlin at Ariane and Wally. “You have done well, children,” she said warmly, and her voice reminded Ariane once again of her mother’s voice, as it had when she first met the Lady beneath Wascana Lake. “Ariane, Sir Koris will bring the jewel to you. Place it into the hilt, then give the sword to me. And this will all be over at last.” She glanced at the knight. “Sir Koris?”

  Koris, his face like white stone beneath the raised visor of
his helm, lifted his sword in salute. He rode toward Merlin…

  …then spurred his horse and galloped right past the sorcerer and straight at Wally and Ariane.

  At the same instant, more knights appeared behind those of the Lady, bursting from the mist at a full charge – and attacked the Lady’s escort.

  Ariane only glimpsed that attack, saw the flash of blades, heard the clang and clatter of steel on steel and the angry screaming of the strange steeds, before she had to deal with the charging Sir Koris. With no time to think, she acted instead out of pure instinct. Water from the pond behind them leaped up and formed into a lance made of ice, which struck Sir Koris square in his metal-plated chest, lifting him from his steed, tumbling him head over heels over its haunches and strange scaly tail. He crashed face down into the reeds and lay motionless.

  Ariane leaped up, Excalibur still in her hand, while Wally dashed forward and grabbed the knight’s fallen sword. Ariane ran to join him. “Now what?” he shouted.

  Sudden as an upended bucket, the rain poured down, a deluge now, whipped by wind that had risen to a howl. Lightning flashed and thunder shattered the air in its wake. The intensifying storm hid the battle among the knights of Faerie, but Ariane could sense the Lady and Merlin’s location, somewhere off to the west. Clearly the Lady had fled and Merlin had pursued her, no doubt forcing Flish to accompany him. If they were going to somehow overpower Merlin and take the jewel, they had to follow him.

  Finish the quest. Complete the sword. Get it into the Lady’s hand. Then this will all be over at last.

  “This way,” Ariane said and, holding Excalibur, ran toward the church, a dark shadow in the rain and mist that burst into vivid life every few seconds with another flash of lighting.

  Shouts, the clash of weapons and the screaming of the strange steeds swirled all around them. Out of nowhere appeared a Faerie knight, whether one of the Lady’s or one of the Merlin’s Ariane couldn’t tell. He struck savagely at Wally, but Wally, moving with dancer-like grace and speed, ducked under the blow and drove his own sword upward. It slid between two plates of the elaborate armour and into the back of the knight’s knee, and he screamed and clutched at his leg, blood pouring from the wound, as his weird mount carried him off into the mist again.

  Wally’s eyes looked wide and frightened, but he flashed a grin at Ariane. “If only Ms. Mueller could see me now!”

  Ms. Mueller? Oh, the fencing coach. Despite everything, Ariane laughed.

  They reached the wide corner gate of the churchyard. The rain had cleared the earlier mist but was pouring down so hard visibility had scarcely improved. When lightning flashed again, gravestones stood out stark and white on the green grass for an instant before plunging back into wet gloom. Two knights battled on foot among the graves, their swords flickering as fast as the lightning, neither seeming to get the better of the other – but best avoided, Ariane thought, and besides, the Lady wasn’t in the churchyard. She’d gone farther, and Ariane thought she knew where.

  Ariane had made use of the smaller sloughs to the northeast of the townsite, but there was a much larger body of water to the southwest. She’d avoided that one because it was fenced, but a few strands of wire would hardly stop the Lady.

  She altered course. Her inner sense of the Lady’s presence grew stronger. Excalibur screamed ever more loudly in her head, a sure sign that not only the Lady but also that blasted jewel of Merlin’s was close.

  And then lightning flashed again and she saw them, brother and sister locked in their own battle, one fought without sword or shield or physical weapon of any kind.

  The Lady stood with her feet in the water of the small lake, and behind her loomed a giant, a mass of water in human shape, but five times the height of a man. Merlin stood at the top of the slope leading down to the lake, hands outstretched, and in response to his silent magical Commands whirlwinds tore at that impossible figure, ripping spray from its surface, and lightning slammed down on it, exploding chunks of it into white-hot steam – but despite all the magic Merlin hurled at it, the giant held its shape.

  Beside Merlin, Flish sat on the ground, knees to her chest, arms around her legs, head pressed downward.

  Merlin had his back to Wally and Ariane. They would never have a better chance. Ariane tried to draw the rain into her own water-woman, but the near-hurricane wind blew it away before it could form.

  Lightning flashed almost constantly now, and the sound of thunder was deafening, as bolts slammed home all around them, not just onto the water giant, but throughout the park. Ariane had to shout at Wally to be heard. “I’ll hold Excalibur, protect it if anyone tries to come after it,” she yelled. “You go after Merlin!”

  Wally nodded grimly, and hefted the sword he had taken from Sir Koris, the fallen Faerie knight.

  Ariane looked around. Not far away was a deep square hole in the ground, lined with concrete, all that remained of the flour mill that had once been Cannington Manor’s pride and joy. “I’ll take shelter in there,” she yelled. She leaned over and kissed him. “Good luck!”

  “You, too,” Wally shouted back. He took one deep breath, then pelted off into the rain.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Ruby

  The giant rising from the lake was the most terrifying thing Wally had ever seen – unless it was the lightning Merlin was calling down to fight it, bolt after bolt, their flashes leaving streaks of purple in his eyesight, their thunder making his ears ring and shaking him to his bones.

  He wondered why Merlin didn’t call lightning down on the Lady herself. Maybe there’s some magical law that prevents it, he thought. Or maybe he just really doesn’t want to kill his sister, any more than she wants to kill him.

  Although that water giant was hardly what he’d call non-life-threatening.

  His own sister crouched beside Merlin, curled up tight, and he ached to see her like that, ached when he thought of Merlin’s hand smashing across her face.

  As he recalled that, anger roared up in him again. He carried an ordinary sword – if any sword out of Faerie was truly ordinary – not Excalibur, but Excalibur was all but whole, and not far away, and it still fed his rage – not that his rage needed much feeding in that moment, as he raced toward Merlin, remembering everything the sorceror had done to them, to Flish, to Ariane, to Aunt Phyllis, to Ariane’s mom.

  Kill your enemies, Excalibur all but shouted in his mind.

  He had never killed anyone before, but there was a first time for everything. He lifted the sword…

  A downward blast of wind smashed him to the ground like a giant fist. His stolen blade flew out of his hand and tumbled out of reach down the slope. Merlin didn’t even turn around. “You’re a fool, boy,” he shouted above the tumult, as his hands wove strange patterns in the air and lightning continued to slash at the water giant. “Now lie quiet until I can deal with you properly.”

  “The Lady…will squash you…like a bug…” Wally gasped out.

  “My sister is a one-trick pony,” Merlin said. “Her giant is taking too long to form, and my men are winning the battle with her knights. They will join me shortly, and this will end – for my sister, for Ariane, for you. Now! Be! Quiet!”

  Suddenly it felt as if the air had turned solid around his chest, had become bands of steel that compressed, squeezing the breath from him. His vision greyed. His eyes bugged. He felt his mouth opening and closing like that of a landed fish, and to as little effect. He could not breathe…could not…

  “Stop hurting my brother!” Flish screamed, and sprang from the ground like a cat leaping at a bird, all claws and teeth. She landed on Merlin’s back and clung there, legs around his waist, arms around his neck, squeezing as hard as she could. He staggered, roaring what had to be oaths, though Wally could not understand them.

  The invisible bands around Wally’s chest loosened. He could breathe again. He tried to yell a warning to Flish, to tell her to run before Merlin struck her down.

  But then she di
d the last thing he would ever have imagined her doing, the last thing he would ever have believed her capable of doing:

  She bit off Merlin’s ear!

  Not all of it, just the earlobe holding the jewel. Her white teeth flashed, Merlin screamed, and then Flish threw herself free of him, thudding to the ground, blood on her lips. She spat into her hand the piece of Merlin’s flesh and the precious ruby jewel from the hilt of Excalibur, and scrambled toward Wally, holding it out, a gory trophy.

  Merlin, roaring in pain and fury, turned quick as a snake and grabbed her ankle, but her outstretched hand was already within Wally’s reach. He seized the bloody scrap, leaped up and ran back toward the old basement where Ariane waited.

  Lightning struck the ground directly in front of him. The concussion threw him backward, blinded and deafened, but he kept his fist tight on the scrap of Merlin’s ear and the jewel. He supposed Merlin was afraid of what lightning would do to the jewel, or he would have struck him directly. But now off to his left, from the direction of the churchyard, he could see four knights running toward them both, victors of the battle.

  He didn’t think they were the Lady’s men.

  He rolled over and got to his feet and staggered a few more steps past the smoking crater in the ground left by the lightning. He was almost to the basement. He could see Ariane, staring out at him over the concrete walls. Her mouth was moving, she was clearly shouting at him, but his ears felt stuffed with cotton after the thunder blast of the lightning bolt. He couldn’t hear her – but it looked as if she was saying…

  The rain redoubled in strength, and suddenly he understood.

  Even as the knights closed the distance, he reared back and threw the bloody piece of Merlin’s ear as hard as he could.

  •••

  Ariane jumped into the basement of the old flour mill, Excalibur in hand, and looked out through the screen of weeds growing along the edge of the pit at Wally, who was racing toward Merlin, sword raised. “Wally!” she screamed as wind smashed him to the ground. She tried again to do something, anything, with the water in the air, but Merlin’s control of the winds had negated all her power. With the door into Faerie open, he once more had full, or almost full, control of the magic he had once utilized in the service of Arthur, and those powers were far greater than she and Wally had ever guessed.