The Tapestry

by Wigmore, Paul

  Sleep did not come easily to Clara that night; her dreams were full of dragons and demons. She envisioned macabre scenes of children lying in gutters and playgrounds. Their bodies were everywhere she turned, just lying motionless on the ground, hundreds of them as far as she could see. She was at St Michaels’, the school that Seb would hopefully return to. She walked over to one of the children; she looked to be about twelve years of age with strawberry blonde hair, shoulder length, although it was pasted to the side of her face. Clara chose to ignore the red marks on her otherwise milk bottle legs for now as she couldn’t get a clear view of the girls face. She knelt down beside her and put her hand out to turn her over. As she did so she felt she felt an almost imperceptible change in the environment or the air around her. It was like the warm breath of someone close by on her neck, so she turned to see what had caused the change and found nothing there. Just a playground full of what looked to be dead schoolchildren, her heart tried to beat its way out of her chest as she saw the sky growing darker. The trees bordering the school playing field began to sway with violent intent, the wind ripping away the last of the dead, stubborn leaves from their branches. The air around her became warmer yet again, heavier even, making it difficult for her to breathe.

  She had two choices, run or stay, although running wasn’t ever really an option for her as she wasn’t the sort to run and hide, coupled with the fact that there were children here that may need her help. No, that just wasn’t going to happen and if she ran now, she feared that she would be running for the rest of what would be a very short life. She held out a very shaky hand and turned the child over to see a face covered in red lesions. The eyes of the girl opened in a snap and stared straight back at her which literally sent Clara sprawling across the ground in fright. She scrabbled to get away as the girl stood up and held her death coloured arms towards her. Her school blazer hung off her in rags and Clara saw what appeared to be a rat, fall from one of the arms and scurry away over the field.

  ‘I’m.. I’m here to help you’ she stammered at the girl. Every other child had risen to their feet now, and they all had the same red lesions, some of them black. Their bodies looked wasted and their clothes were in tatters. She noticed rats falling from the bodies of some of them, but to her utter dismay, some of the children had rats still clinging to their bodies. There was a small boy, he looked only to be about seven or eight years of age about four or five paces behind strawberry blonde girl and he had a rat perched atop his head, happily nibbling away at the boy’s ear. The boy didn’t seem to notice. Another girl to her left had one with its little rodent teeth dug into the top of her kneecap, busily chomping and burrowing away. Likewise the girl didn’t seem to notice or care as the rat bumped against her leg with each step she took closer to Clara, arms outstretched like the rest of them. She had backed herself up against the school building when she realised they had all begun chanting the same song that had been playing over and over in her head recently.

  Ring a ring o’ roses

  A pocket full of posies

  A-tishoo, a-tishoo

  We all fall down.

  The children were beginning to close in on her and by now she had realised they didn’t want her help, so felt no remorse in picking herself up and running towards the school gate. The children moved very slow and deliberately, still with their hands outstretched in front of them. Unfortunately, although they moved slowly, there were many of them, dotted all over which made it hard to dodge them. A girl of about the same age as strawberry blonde managed to grip her shoulder and then catch hold of her hair as she ran by. Trying to free herself without hurting the girl was costing her vital seconds so begrudgingly she elbowed the girl in her stomach and she loosed her grip. She made for the gates again but as she did, she noticed something odd. Something not quite right, there was something just out of kilter here. The gates were getting further and further away from her, the more she ran towards them. That was the trigger that allowed her to realise that she was dreaming all of this.

  Clara had realised her talent for lucid dreaming back when she was sixteen or seventeen. She had been in her bedroom, she could never remember what she had been doing at the time but then her brother appeared at her bedroom window, he was just floating in front of it asking her to come and play. For some reason her mind refused to accept that this was possible and also he appeared to be a lot younger than he was at the time. So her mind came to the only logical conclusion that it could and it allowed her to realise that she must be dreaming as that made more sense than what she was seeing before her. That night opened up a world of possibilities for her as from then on she was able to control her dreams and change them to her will, unbound by any physical laws of nature or reason. It didn’t happen every night, it only happened on the odd occasion that she would notice something, not quite right or if her dream was so unrealistic that her mind would rather admit to her that she was dreaming than admit the absurdity in front of her. This is how she explained it to herself anyhow. Although over the years she had done a lot of research on the subject and found that a large proportion of people had these so called lucid dreams, but most never remembered them, or as soon as they realised they were dreaming, they would wake up. She was one of the lucky few that could actually control it when it happened and take full advantage of it. It was as if she could live in her own secret world and live a whole other secret life.

  She had learnt that to be really successful at lucid dreaming , she had to ask herself trigger questions throughout the day, or try to do something in her daily routine that would be impossible to do unless she were dreaming as sometimes it can be difficult to tell the two apart. So whenever she thought she were dreaming or even sometimes when she just wanted to check that she wasn’t, she would lift herself up onto her toes and will herself to fly. Obviously if she wasn’t then nothing would happen, apart from the fact that she would feel slightly foolish and maybe a little sad if she wasn’t dreaming. If she were dreaming then that was a whole different ball game as she would then be propelled into the air, soaring without wings or even any man made machine, high above the houses and she would fly to wherever she wanted. Sometimes she could make up the scenery as she went along creating her own little world. It also helped her to overcome her nightmares as she still had plenty of them, some worse than others but if she realised that she was dreaming whilst some monster was attacking her or chasing her like in many of her nightmares. Well that always put a whole new curve on things because she would always turn on the dream monster knowing that she could not be harmed. This is my dream and I want you gone she would scream. The strange thing, which is something that had always worried her was that there were occasions when the dream monsters knew that Clara had figured out that she was dreaming and at that moment of recognition, they became angrier, as if they were loathe to have been caught out as now it was obvious they were powerless against her. She usually just had to think of them disappearing for them to be no more so Clara could create a more pleasant dream environment for herself, but as she got older, the dream menaces became harder to extinguish.

  There was an occasion when she had to actually wake herself up as this particular monster didn’t want to be gotten rid of. She had noticed a small girl in the back office of a hotel that she was in for some reason. At this point she wasn’t aware that she was dreaming but the small girl went behind the counter and came back around the other side of the counter with a completely different outfit on. Inconsistencies are part of what makes the dream world what it is, but Clara spotted it and that was the trigger that brought her to the understanding that she was dreaming. So she waved the little girl away a little excitedly as she was about to create her own little adventure, but the girl would not be shooed away. She began to tear at her own flesh and throw it to the walls around them, her eyes became red and she was no longer recognisable as a little girl. She grew in height and morphed into a sort of lizard creature, only there were bits of its body that were still
the little girl. It had one human leg and one lizard type leg and one of the arms reaching out for her still had a childs hand at the end of its scaly arm, as if it had been caught unawares and hadn’t time to morph fully. Not that it mattered as when Clara tried to think it away again and still it stood before her, Clara no longer felt invincible in her own dream, so she tried to run but the door behind her got smaller and smaller much like in Alices adventures so there was nothing else to do but scream at the top of her voice to wake up... wake up as she banged on the ever encroaching ceiling. She did wake up though, in a cold sweat wondering why her dream had turned on her.

  This memory came flooding back to her as she realised that the children now all seemed to be a little less docile. As it was her dream, as soon as she realised she was dreaming, they knew she had figured it out too and moved faster towards her. Their previously clumsy gait replaced with lithe, bold movements. She pushed herself off the ground and thankfully she propelled into the air away from the clutching hands beneath. The children were no longer children, but moon white hairless creatures with no facial features at all, apart from one big slit in what would have been a face. Hundreds of little tiny but very sharp looking teeth moved inside their gaping maws as if on little conveyor belts.

  She tried to think them away, but that only seemed to anger them more just like in her previous dream.

  ‘Wake up... wake up’ she commanded herself, only she heard another voice coming through as she spoke.

  ‘Going so soon? Such a pity, we’ve not even been properly introduced yet’. The dark silky voice came from below and Clara chanced another look beneath her feet.

  The woman stood in the middle of the vile creatures, petting them as if they were nothing more than a pack of docile dogs, but their blind faces rubbed against her legs like loving cats. Her hair was long and dark, it wrapped itself around her body as if it were alive and keeping her warm but Clara doubted she felt any cold with the flames that encircled her and her brood. Clara ignored her and once again commanded herself to wake up goddamnit.

  ‘That’s not gonna work yet Guardian’ Lilith called up to her almost nonchalantly.. ‘Come down so that we can meet, you don’t want me to come and get you now’ she added almost sweetly. Again Clara looked at the pack of ugly faceless creatures writhing around at her feet, each one scrabbling to get closer to their mistress.

  ‘Oh don’t worry about the Koarth, they wont harm you, unless I bid it’ she added.

  Clara realised there was no way out as she didn’t seem able to wake herself up just yet and as far as Clara was concerned she was still technically dreaming. So no harm could come to her... she hoped.

  She stood before Lilith and stared directly into her black eyes that were nothing more than two pools of centuries of hate and sin looking right back at her, deep into her very soul. It felt as if she were creeping around inside of her making her blood and bones chill like the air around her.

  ‘Well, I think it is time for introductions don’t you Guardian?

  ‘You already seem to have my name on your tongue’ replied Clara, ‘But I, unfortunately ...am at a loss?

  ‘Oooh, can’t have that now can we’ her tone deliberately sarcastic. ‘Well I am Lilith, mother of all Succubae, wife and sister of Satan himself, and first wife of Adam. I’m here only to pass a message. I hear you’ve had parlay the Dragons and even a message from the great Ramiel himself. How special you must feel’

  Clara wanted to remain strong and defiant, after all ,this was her dream and she still held some control over it, she was sure but the name of Satan himself made her face betray her and her jaw fell in shock at the name. She began to wonder if she were in way over her head. She began to wonder if Liu had been wrong about her. Was she meant to defeat Satan Himself?

  ‘I see doubt running through you old lady like a cancer spreading through your heart’. Liliths head swayed in an unfathomable fashion as she spoke, like the head of a snake swaying to and fro, her body following like a snake in a charmers basket ‘And at least you have that one thing right, carry on doubting old lady, as you are not worthy’ Her voice becoming louder with each word and with it the flames at her side leapt as if to match the volume of her voice. She was shouting now a near banshee cry,

  ‘Who are you to presume you can challenge the wit or strength of Saul? Ignore what you think is your destiny frail old woman, you have no business meddling with powers beyond your knowledge. Your brother Gavin no longer knows who he is but you will die at his hand should you not heed my message’

  Clara was visibly shaken at the name of her younger brother; they had been taken away from their parents when they were only young due to the violence and abuse that had occurred in their home.

  Her head was held down towards her feet and felt as if it had gained an extra few pounds in weight but she took a step forward, towards the lying demon, head still bowed down, arms straight down at her sides. She felt the rage running through her at the name of her brother.

  ‘You lie’, she said quietly, two words but it was all the information that Lilith needed. She cackled an ear piercing cry into the dream induced heavens, the Koarth became restless and stood up on all fours, their wide open maws with their vicious little teeth constantly grinding round and round, like the teeth of a bandsaw.

  ‘I thought as much’ laughed Lilith. ‘The evil one... the one that you have been warned of, the one that you must defeat, is your darling little brother Gavin, he’s with us now’. Her voice became very sweet and condescending, as if she were talking to a little child.

  ‘Gavin is dead, he can’t be with you’ Clara lifted her head and looked straight into those deathly eyes, but strangely feared nothing. The anger inside of her had begun to take over from her fear. Again the banshee type woman cackled into the wind.

  ‘What? And you think I’m alive, you think my Koarth are alive, well...not in your realm...no, but we are very much alive in our own little old lady and so is your little brother, he is our little pet, and when we have done with him, I think I’ll feed him to my Koarth’

  Each one of Liliths words struck Clara like an arrow to her heart as she realised the utter horrid significance of those words. The words of Liu came back to her and reminded her of that day in the hospital, when he passed the box to her and the little rhyme he had told her.

  “If she were to know the name but three

  Then weakest would be her authority.

  If she were to know the names but two

  Then defeat would most certainly become you.

  If she were to know the names but one,

  Then she would wield the power of the sun.

  If she were to know all four,

  Then death shall lie at the devils door”.

  ‘You bitch’ she spat and took another two steps forward, her anger now rising like an overflowing well, the Koarth became more restless at her proximity, but instead of attacking her, they appeared to slope back, trying to hide behind their mistress.

  ‘I will not stand down and I will not run away from you, you hear me bitch. I’m coming for you and it’s you that should heed my message. Let Gavin go or I will send you straight back to hell where you belong bitch’ As she spoke, her hair radiated a golden glow that cut through the darkness like a ray of sunlight, her eyes became a deeper blue and the shadows quickly receded away from her leaving her in a pool of light.

  Lilith was visibly vexed and her Koarth were now whimpering behind her curtain of flames, scurrying towards the darkness behind.

  The flames around her grew higher still as she writhed among them as if she were trying to put on a show; she hissed and spat at Clara but was evidently afraid of the light. She retreated from the light as if it were a hot flame (or a pool of holy water).The wind began to howl and the trees nearly shook themselves from their roots, but Clara knew she had somehow gained the upper hand.

  ‘I will not be buffeted by your black winds, I will not be drowned in your eternal sea, your molten fi
re shall not burn me and the soil of Agartha will not bury me, for I am The Guardian and it is I and I alone that control these elements.’

  The Guardian raised her hands towards the dream sky and from both of them she emitted strong yellow flames into the sky with a crack of thunder and Lilith cowered away into the ever decreasing shadows. The sky became a kaleidoscope of colours and the trees blossomed right before their eyes, The grass covering the playing field sprang into life and Lilith disappeared back to whence she came.

  Clara now knew it was time to wake up and fulfil her destiny

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  Why was it so cold? The man questioned himself as he got up for the fifteen hundredth time tonight to check on the boiler. The flame in the view window of the boiler confirmed it was alight along with the whirring and clacking sound that always accompanied the hot water making its way through the old pipe system.

  Admittedly his circulation wasn’t what it once was, but then if he were being honest with himself, his circulation had always been problematic due to the fact he had been largely overweight most of his life and didn’t give a rats ass about it. Like it or lump it he always thought, (most tended to lump it). This is why he was now at the ripe old age of sixty something or other, living in a run down one bedroom hovel above a curry house. He never blamed himself for his loneliness though; in fact... he preferred it that way. He had never learnt to mingle with others, they never did as they were told, so he would have to make them see things his way the only way he knew how, threats and violence, that had become less of an option as he got older though as his already impressive gut extended further and his arthritis had kicked in for real. Yeah being a loner had many benefits as he didn’t have to deal with the numskulls out there, but getting old had none. The worst was the cold, he was feeling it more and more each day, but today he was colder than a nun’s cunt.