‘Think!’
‘I am! I am!’ she cried, ‘but it is so hard. My head is hurting!’ She rocked backwards and forwards holding her head in her hands.
Karne pulled himself together.
‘All right. I am sorry. Let us see now what we have. Maal enters the Sacred Circle, our Sacred Circle, goes round touching the stones with his forehead . . . goes into a kind of . . . a kind of death . . . or . . . sleep . . . and in that sleep he travels somewhere else to another, larger Sacred Circle . . . leaving his body behind here. You somehow get into his head and go with him. Other priests ‘think’ in a circle round him . . . but you do not know what they are thinking. Is that right so far?’
‘Yes.’
‘What happened then?’
‘I do not know. I was suddenly in my own body again and you seized me and pushed me down in the grass.’
Karne was silently cursing himself for having moved when he did. It was his fault she had jerked back. He sat, thinking hard, his hand automatically stroking Kyra’s hair. He could see from her eyes that she had a very bad headache. She had become very important to him and must be looked after. The germ of an idea began to grow in his mind but he had sense enough to see that Kyra had had enough strain and worry for the day and would not take kindly to his latest scheme, which was even more dangerous and daring than the last. How he wished he did not have to work through Kyra all the time. If only he had these powers himself! He wondered if she could teach him, but he knew she did not really know how they worked, nor even how to control them herself, although it seemed to him they were certainly growing. What she had done this day was so much more complicated than what she had ever been capable of before.
‘Kyra,’ he said gently, ‘how do you do it?’
She looked at him questioningly.
‘I mean . . . can you explain . . . what do you do to get into someone’s head?’
‘Nothing,’ she said sadly. ‘It just happens.’
‘But surely you notice something . . .’
‘No,’ she said firmly. ‘It just happens.’
And she would say no more. He decided to leave it for the day and led her home. Their mother watched them coming slowly along the path and was ready with a sharp and voluble stream of abuse for their laziness in leaving her to do all their chores for a whole afternoon. They would not be drawn on where they had been and eventually she gave up trying to find out and settled for doubling their evening duties as punishment.
Karne, seeing that Kyra was near to dropping with fatigue, took over some of her tasks and let her crawl into her warm straw bed early.
Although he was tired too, when he came to lie down he could not sleep for a long time. There was much to think about. A shaft of moonlight came through the doorway and fell upon Kyra as she lay sleeping, one pale arm outside the fur rug, lying beside her on the stamped clay floor, her face hollowed with shadow but curiously beautiful and peaceful.
‘She is growing up,’ he thought. ‘It will not be long before she will be given in marriage.’ And he began to feel the urgency of what he wanted to do with her pressing upon him. But he knew that if he rushed her too much, worked her too hard, he could get nothing from her. It was like watching a plant grow, nothing would hurry it beyond its natural pace, though watering and care would help a little.
Chapter 3
The Experiment
The next day Kyra would not talk of the matters of the previous afternoon. She avoided Karne and worked very hard and very close to her mother. He decided not to push her but to work on the background to his new plan by himself. When Ji and Okan called him to work on the boat he said he had more important things to attend to and that they could have the boat for fishing sometimes if they were prepared to spend time on it by themselves. They were overjoyed and rushed off to it at once.
He sought out one of the Elders of the community, Faro, and set about questioning him as much as he dared. He wanted to know all there was to know about the Sacred Circle and the priest, and how often the priest visited the circle. He really wanted to know when it would be safe for him and Kyra at the circle. He also wanted to know if Faro could throw any light on the mystery Kyra had sensed surrounding the arrival of the new priest.
No one knew when he would arrive, Faro told him, but he was expected soon. They all hoped Maal would not die before the new priest appeared.
‘He does not seem ill,’ Karne said as casually as he could.
‘That is because he is a brave man and knows how to hide it,’ Faro said. ‘Thorn says he is very ill and very near to death.’
‘How does the new priest know when it is the time to come?’
‘The gods tell him.’
‘Where does he come from?’
‘From the Temple of the Sun in the south.’
‘What is this Temple of the Sun? Is it for men or for gods?’
‘It is for both. It is a place so holy that families of importance come from all over the world to worship and to bury their dead within sight of its Sacred Circle. But it is used for training as well, and initiates from this land and from beyond the seas come to learn the mysteries from its powerful priesthood.’
‘It sounds a place of great wonder. How I would love to go there!’
‘No one of our community has ever been there except the Lord Maal,’ Faro said. ‘He was trained there. He has told me of it.’
‘What did he tell you? What is it like?’ Karne’s voice was eager.
‘There are many temples to our gods in our land but none so grand as The Temple of the Sun upon that southern plain. It is not just one circle, but several. One is so filled with magic that it controls the sun and moon.’
‘How can that be? The sun and moon are gods! No man, however holy, can command obedience from them!’
Karne’s face registered his amazement and old Faro was delighted at the attention he was getting.
‘Ah, but in this holy place the stones are taller than you have ever seen, and there is a god-like priest who commands the moon to disappear – even when it is full in the sky, blazing in all its glory, he commands it and it disappears!’
By the end of this sentence Faro’s voice had risen from the low, hushed note of awe to a crescendo of triumph. He was enjoying impressing Karne.
The boy was truly shaken. These were wonders indeed.
‘And from this place our new priest will come?’ he asked, impressed.
‘Not the very same. There is another great circle, part of the same Temple, but a day’s hard walking from it. A circle so great that we cannot conceive of it. I believe it has a wall of earth surrounding it that took a thousand men a thousand days to build.’
‘A wall of earth surrounding it?’ Karne almost shouted, remembering Kyra’s description of her experience in Maal’s sleep-mind. ‘And many standing stones, much bigger than the ones we have?’
‘Yes,’ Faro said, surprised.
‘And many priests, not only one like ours?’
‘Yes, many priests and many acolytes, initiates and students of all degrees.’
Karne was sure this was the place. He was wildly excited and had great difficulty in stopping himself dancing about and hugging the bony old man.
‘Has Maal ever been back there?’ he asked, trying to restrain himself. ‘I mean . . . since he left as a young priest to come here.’
‘It is a journey of many, many moons. Seasons of planting and of reaping would go by and still one would not arrive there.’
‘I know. I know it is a long way. But has he ever said he has been back there?’
‘He has not left this village since he arrived here when I was young,’ Faro said with conviction.
Karne tried another tack.
‘From whom does he receive his messages?’ he asked, trying to sound casual.
‘From the gods, of course,’ old Faro said impatiently, as though any fool would know that.
Karne thought about it for a while and was shrewd enough to know that he would
not find out anything more from Faro. Faro, although a long-established Elder, did not know all there was to know.
Karne decided to speak directly to Maal.
During the next few days Karne watched for an opportunity to speak with the old priest every moment of his waking time. He volunteered to dig a certain field strip that had not been dug for years and consequently was particularly difficult, because it overlooked Maal’s house. He broke many a sturdy digging stick and antler pick and worked until his back was aching. His father was amazed, but said nothing.
‘Perhaps my prayers have been answered,’ he thought, ‘and Karne will settle to being a good farmer yet.’
The boy’s determined effort gave him some rewards. He learnt something of the priest’s movements. Sunrise, sunset and midday seemed particularly holy times. Maal was often at the Sacred Circle then. He had heard from Faro, and indeed he knew from his own experience, that certain rituals had to happen at night, but the times of these he could not figure out without the star knowledge possessed by the priest. He decided against the night for his plan. The priest’s movements were too unpredictable then and the darkness, faced alone, too full of danger. There were nights when even the moon did not shine and on those nights the wolves and the spirits of darkness prowled freely.
On the third day of work on the field there was a time when Karne might have approached Maal directly. He could see the old man standing between the wooden entrance columns of his house, looking over the land to the far line of the sea. Karne fancied that he looked once or twice in his direction, and he could feel the old priest’s gaze almost like a touch upon his skin, almost like an invitation.
The second time this happened Karne put his digging stick down and prepared to run the distance between them, his heart pounding strangely, because what he was about to do was contrary to rule and custom in their community. But even as he took the first step the priest took a step back into the shadows, and Karne was unnerved. It would mean he would have to approach in full view of the old man, but Maal himself would not be visible to him. Karne hesitated, but he still might have dared to go ahead had he not seen Thorn approaching the house from the direction of the village. It must have been the sight of him that made Maal retreat so suddenly into the shadows.
Karne abandoned his plan, picked up his stick again and dug so viciously with it that he snapped it in half. He flung the pieces down with irritation, turned on his heel and strode back to his father’s house.
‘Kyra!’ he said in a commanding tone that surprised even himself. ‘Come!’
He led her away from the place where she was scouring some earthenware bowls with sand and ash.
‘What is it?’
She had to run to keep up with his striding pace.
‘There is something I want you to do for me,’ he said with such determination that there seemed to be no question but that she would obey him.
‘Not spying on the priest again!’ she cried.
‘No, not spying on the priest again.’
She was relieved, but not for long.
‘Karne, where are we going?’ She realized suddenly they were making for the Sacred Circle again and approaching it from the side away from the village so that they could not be seen. ‘We are not going to the Sacred Circle?’
‘Yes, we are. And this time you are going inside!’
Kyra stopped immediately, horrified.
‘Karne!’ she gasped. ‘You cannot mean it!’
‘Yes, I do.’
She turned to run, but he was too quick and too strong for her. He held her arm so tightly that she cried out with the pain.
‘Karne, you are hurting me!’
He released his grip slightly, but did not let her go.
‘Now listen, I have worked it all out. There will be nothing to fear.’
‘Then why do you not do it yourself?’
‘Because I do not have the powers you have.’
‘I have no powers!’ she cried miserably.
‘You have. We both know you have. Think for a moment and stop crying like a baby. Would the gods have given you these powers, almost those of a priest, if they did not intend you to use them for their benefit?’
She was silent, knowing unhappily that he was somehow going to trap her into doing something she knew she should not do. He had always had this power over her. She loved him and she hated him at the same time and somehow he always won.
‘You said yourself when you were listening to the message about the new priest that you felt there was something wrong. No new priest is coming. The Elders believe he is coming. The community believe that he is coming. Maal even believes that he is coming. But you know he is not. This is important. You must find out what is going on. You are needed. You are our only hope of finding the truth.’
‘But I may have been wrong.’
‘I hope you were. But we must make sure.’
‘But Maal’s powers are great. He would not be misled or mistaken.’
‘How do we know that? He is an old sick man. We saw how his flesh hung loosely upon his bones, how pale his face, how he stumbled after the long night of messages. His powers may not be as strong as they used to be. He may need our help.’
‘This is blasphemy!’
‘No. Believe me, we do it for the gods’ sake, for Maal’s sake. I have seen him look at you. He needsyou.’
Kyra was silent. It was true he had looked at her in a way that was no ordinary way of looking. It was true that he was old and probably ill, otherwise there surely would be no talk of a new priest for their village. It was also true that she had the strangest feeling that she could not see a new priest coming. But how could she know if this was imagination or not? When she was having these strange ‘feelings’ she was sure she was not imagining them, but once they were past she was not so sure.
Karne could see that she was hesitating, and he released her arm very gently. She rubbed it absent-mindedly where his grip had reddened her skin, but her attention was far away.
‘But it is forbidden to enter the circle if one is not an initiate of the priesthood or an Elder,’ she said at last, but her voice had no more serious protest in it.
Karne smiled, relieved, knowing that he had almost won.
‘No one has forbidden us. It is just an old custom. I admit it would be wrong to go to a sacred place to play, but to find the truth to help one’s people . . . that must surely be allowed!’
Kyra allowed herself to be led to the very rim of the circle – and there she stopped.
‘No,’ she said, ‘I cannot.’
‘You saw what Maal did that day. Do the same . . . see if it works. Try.’
She seemed to be pulled from every direction now. She was standing close to the tall stones and she could almost believe she felt them pulling her towards them. She was in many ways as curious as Karne to explore her capacities and find out more about the Mysteries, but she had a stronger respect for law and custom than her brother and feared the consequences of meddling with forbidden things.
His voice was soothing and his arguments convincing.
‘Would it really harm,’ she thought, ‘to try?’
Still hesitating, she put her hand upon the nearest stone, tentatively, compelled by curiosity. The stone itself was taller than the tallest man she had ever seen. As her hand touched it her eyes were drawn to study it. The surface seemed cold and hard at first, like ordinary stone, and then began strangely to ‘hum’ through her fingers, as though it were forming a deep relationship with her which she would find hard to break. It had seemed grey from a distance, but when she looked at it closely it was a mass of crystals pressing together, black, white, silver and grey, their myriad surfaces glinting light in different intensities, from different angles, and through them all, running from earth to sky, from sky to earth, long intricate passages of crystal, ribs and paths and channels of crystal of dazzling whiteness. Her finger traced one of the lines upwards and she had the strangest feel
ing for a moment as though she herself was within the stone and somehow flowing upwards.
She withdrew her hand hastily and took a step back. Karne was close behind her and very gently, but very firmly, propelled her forward. Her shoulder rubbed against the stone as she passed into the circle and she noticed that her flesh tingled slightly. She fancied for a moment that the stone could feel her presence as clearly as she could feel the presence of the stone. But she did not think about this for long because she became aware that she, Kyra, was within the Sacred Circle and committed now beyond recall.
She was trembling and her heart was pounding with the enormity of the sacrilege she was committing, but somehow she was held within the circle and could not have left even if she had tried.
Karne was outside, watching her anxiously, afraid now that he had gone too far, but she was not aware of him. It seemed to her she was alone in all the world and no one could help her.
And then she remembered dimly Maal’s movements on the day they had watched him, and slowly, tentatively, she went to the first stone and placed her forehead close against it as she had seen him do. She closed her eyes and waited, not knowing what to expect. She had chosen to start with the one she had already touched. Somehow she felt there was already a rapport there between them that would be less frightening than with the others. At first her own body was reacting so violently with fear she could feel nothing but the racing of her blood and the pounding of her heart. But gradually the stone seemed to take over and she quietened down, restful peace began to seep through her, and as she went from stone to stone repeating the ritual she grew calmer and calmer, till when she reached the final stone she was in such a state of peace she had no recollection of her former doubts and fears and leaned, as she had seen Maal do, as though it were the most natural thing in the world and she had done it often. She lay, relaxed and still, her arms stretched to their limits, but not straining. At first she felt nothing but peace and well-being, almost as though she were falling asleep on a grassy bank in the sunshine.
Karne, watching, had noticed the change in her and was frozen to the spot with interest. From being a frightened little girl his sister had become a dignified and elegant woman, treading the ritual round of stones like an initiate. He could see the calm confidence with which she laid herself in the last posture and was full of hope that the experiment would succeed. He noticed how still she became, how pale, but he reminded himself of the priest and refused to worry about her condition.
The Tall Stones Page 3