by June Wilson
“Ah, my Jessica,” Helaine said. “You have brought them to me. I knew you would not fail me.”
Alice felt her hackles rise. Had Jess led them into a trap, after all? She was about to berate Jess when the woman seized her hand, tears spilling from her eyes.
“You are the one – the one who will find him for me. I know it, for you and he are of the same blood, and will be bonded for all time.”
Alice had no idea what she meant about the blood. She had no brothers or sisters – not even a cousin, as far as she knew. Perhaps Helaine was quite mad. “Find who?” she said. “The boy you’re looking for?”
“My son, yes.” Helaine dropped her head and a tear rolled down her cheek. “Cruelly taken from me – so cruel.”
“I’m not sure how I can find him,” she said and reached nervously for the Doom Stone. It felt cold and strangely brittle. Worse - it felt like the second Stone just before it had splintered into a thousand pieces. Shocked, she wrenched herself free. Irrational fear or not, she didn’t want Helaine to touch her.
“I’m sorry,” she said firmly. “But I think you’re mistaken. I have no idea where your son is.”
“Alice!” Jess hissed. “You can’t say that. I promised - like swore this special oath – that you’d help her. She’ll send me back to that hell place if you don’t. Please try – please. You owe me that much, don’t you?”
Alice supposed she couldn’t blame Jess for making such a bargain. Not when it was Alice’s fault that Jess had died in the first place. And what harm would it do to help Helaine find her son? It was a mother’s right, after all. And there might be a way she could work it to their advantage.
“Okay - but you must do me a favour in return.”
“Must?” Helaine’s eyes hardened. “No one tells me what I must do, Stone Keeper.”
Alice didn’t flinch at the title. “If you want my help…” She shrugged.
Helaine stared at her a moment, then said, “Very well. State your desire.”
“It’s simple – I want Will. I know you’ve got him somewhere.”
*
Josh figured he’d spent way too much time following weird people through underground tunnels or up ridiculously high mountains. And here he was again, charging through the backstreets in the dark, trying to keep up with some woman who looked a lot like a drag queen as far as he was concerned. But Madame Varia had promised (well, sort of promised) to help Molly and it wasn’t like they had any other options. Alice had told them not to leave Molly’s house but it was obvious they weren’t going to achieve anything by sitting around doing nothing. And anyway, why should Alice and Toby have all the fun?
Not that he’d describe the last half hour as fun exactly – far from it. Molly had barely said a word since leaving the house and right now she was clinging on to his hand as if her life depended on it. As for Madame Varia, all she’d done was bark instructions at them: turn left; turn right; keep your head down; don’t speak – it was worse than being at school. Once they reached the woods by the canal she told them to hurry – the Lady was waiting for them at the abbey.
“We don’t have to go there do we?” Molly said, drawing to a halt. Even in the dim light, Josh could see she looked frightened.
“Of course we do,” the medium snapped. “You want to see your brother don’t you?”
“But it’s haunted,” Molly protested.
“That didn’t bother you at the séance.” Madame Varia gave Molly a push forward. “Enough of your nonsense, you’re trying my patience.”
“Don’t worry Molly.” Josh tightened his grip on her hand. “Nothing bad will happen while I’m around.”
“There’s a headless monk in that abbey. I never go there. No one does.”
Josh suspected that was an old wives tale but who knew. “I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he said.
That seemed to reassure her and she stuck close to him as they forged their way through the woods. Josh figured that Toby and Alice could be at the abbey too. And the three of them together would be more than a match for the medium and this Helaine woman.
But by the time they reached the ruined building there was no one in sight. Madame Varia gave a shout of frustration then marched to the altar and muttered something unintelligible. There was the sound of stone scraping across stone and the altar swung back to reveal a dark stairway.
“Down here.” Madame Varia commanded, producing a small globe that gave off a golden light. It was enough to guide them whilst keeping what Josh suspected were the worst bits hidden - rats, spiders, even sewerage for all he knew. The stairs certainly stank badly enough.
“This is an ancient passageway,” Madam Varia announced as if reading his mind. “Used by countless pilgrims over the ages. Count it as a privilege that you are following in such footsteps.”
Privilege wasn’t the word Josh was thinking of. As for pilgrims, well they were always mixed up with some God or another. With any luck the medium was referring to Freya, the one that looked out for Alice. In which case...
“Stop!” Madame Varia came to a halt and Josh saw she had stopped in front of an elaborately carved door. “Before you go any further, you must take an oath.”
“Where’s our Will?” Molly said suddenly. “I’m not taking any oath unless you tell me he’s behind that door. You could be tricking us for all we know, taking us all this way down here.”
“Foolish child,” Madame Varia sneered. “You have no bargaining power with me. I could end your life like that.” She snapped her fingers and the sound echoed in the enclosed space.
“It’s okay Molly,” Josh whispered. “Just do as she says.”
“You sure?” she said.
“Course I’m sure.” Molly was depending on him and the good thing was, now they’d reached the door, he could sense Alice’s presence. And where Alice was, Toby was.
*
At Helaine’s command, a flagstone behind the altar swung open to reveal a flight of steps. Toby, in his Toby way, insisted on going first and Helaine didn’t challenge him – if anything, she seemed amused by his bravado. Alice and Martha followed, with Jess flitting between them.
A few minutes in almost total darkness brought them to a stout door. “You are all sworn to Freya,” Helaine announced suddenly. “Except you boy.” She pointed at Toby. “You must wait outside – else take the oath.”
“There’s no way I’m waiting here. An oath? Fine. Get on with it.”
Alice exchanged a quick look with Martha as Toby repeated some ancient words she didn’t recognize, but which had the ring of Middengard about them. The ritual completed, Helaine unlocked the door to reveal a surprisingly large chamber. There were torches flaring in sconces and, like Freya’s temple in Skellstor, it was octagonal in shape. But there the similarity ended. There were no murals, no marble floor and no statues. A simple stone table stood at its centre, consisting of two great slabs of stone: one standing short and vertical, the other long and horizontal. An altar - one that looked even older than the one in the abbey.
Remind you of anywhere?
Alice started. She could hear Toby but he hadn’t spoken. They’d often known what the other was thinking, but this was the first time they’d communicated like this. It was the natural progression of their Intuition skills she supposed – but why now?
Skellstor of course, she replied. The temple. But there’s something off about it too. I don’t like it.
Me neither. Look at the altar stone.
Alice looked. Toby was right. There were strange marks on the flat top – crisscross lines, the kind you might see on a chopping board. Then it hit her. Knife marks. She swallowed hard, trying to quell her feelings of revulsion. This was an altar all right – a sacrificial altar. She looked across at Helaine, who was watching them from the shadows.
“A prayer room,” she murmured. “Nothing else.”
Alice didn’t believe her. Another quick look at Martha told her the Guardian was horrified too.
She’s lying. Toby’s response came instantly. There was more than ancient blood on the stone. Helaine was no disciple of Freya – she’d tricked them all.
We need to get out! Toby’s thought came just as the door opened once more. A figure materialized in the gloom: Madame Varia, still dressed in the flowing robes she had worn at the séance. And she had company.
“Told you Alice and Toby would be here,” a familiar voice said.
“Josh! Oh, thank goodness.” Alice felt relief flood through her. She’d half expected another Nifl demon.
“I’m just glad we’re out of that bloody tunnel,” Molly said as she followed in Josh’s wake. She was brushing dirt and cobwebs from her dress but when she saw Helaine she pulled up short, her face stricken.
“Ma! I don’t believe it! Has Madame Varia summoned you?”
They all stared, even Jess. Whatever Alice had been expecting to happen next, it wasn’t this. Helaine couldn’t possibly be Molly’s mother.
“My darling Molly.” Helaine extended a pale hand and stroked Molly’s hair. “How well you look.”
“I can’t believe it!” Molly said excitedly, turning to Josh. “See – Madame Varia ain’t as bad as we thought she was! She wanted me to see my ma’ again.”
What’s going on? Toby looked just as confused as she was. Molly had sworn she had seen her mother at the séance, but this made no sense at all.
No idea, she shot back. Then she noticed Madame Varia was staring with great intensity at Helaine, her hands clenched at her sides. And then it clicked. Of course! It’s a glamour. But why?
Search me. I can’t keep track of any of this stuff. Hey – do you think Josh can hear us?
I can actually, Josh replied, keeping his expression carefully neutral. Neat trick. Seems our superpowers have gone up a notch, eh?
Yes, but be careful. We can’t tell whether she can hear us, Alice warned. And even as the thought left her head, she saw Helaine flinch. At first she thought it must be because she suspected something, but then she realized her eyes had darkened and that there was something odd in her bearing- she was rigid, as if her movements were not her own.
I think Madame Varia’s controlling her, Toby said. Look.
Sweat had broken out on the medium’s forehead. Her eyes were half closed, her head bowed. Maybe Helaine was being used too. But the bigger question was: who by?
“And Will – he was so small when I left him, it broke my heart.” Helaine said now, her voice shaking. “I hope he’s not lonely. It must be hard, being a motherless child. But I know you take good care of him.”
“Will’s fine ma’ – growing like a weed.” Molly gave a half smile. “But the thing is, he’s gone and got himself lost. We’ve all been looking for him, but we haven’t found him. Do you know where he is? Given you can probably see everything like?”
“Molly darling – of course I know! He’s here. He ran away, which was a very foolish thing to do. But I found him and kept him safe. And now you can take him home with you, once you’ve helped me with one little thing.”
Molly nodded but drew away, frowning. “You’re talking a bit funny ‘ma. Foolish – that’s not one of your words. Daft – that’s what you used to call us. Remember?”
Helaine laughed but Alice could see Molly’s question had unnerved her. “Daft then – Will was being daft, leaving the house like that. I should box his ears, shouldn’t I?”
Molly nodded again but made no answer. Alice could almost see the other girl’s mind working, but before she could ask any more questions Madame Varia broke her hold on Helaine and disappeared into the shadows. Helaine gasped and put her hands to her head.
“The pain,” she said. “How it binds me!” She stumbled towards the altar and then everything happened very quickly: Jess yelled something about Murdo, Madame Varia reappeared with a wriggling Will in her grasp and Helaine disappeared.
MIDDENGARD
Chapter 22
When the Fae had first taken Orla, she had been frightened. Not because she was afraid of them – she knew that even sighting them was a privilege – but because she sensed that she was on the edge of something momentous. Ever since meeting Isolde, her life had changed dramatically. But even after all Isolde’s teachings, she still felt she was Orla. Orla the girl who was so keen to learn yet made a mess of things sometimes; Orla who loved grandmother and Suri and her home in Skellstor.
Follow me or go, the Queene had said. Orla knew that was the decision from which there would be no going back. She could have refused and returned to her old life. She could have studied with Isolde for a lifetime and never fully mastered the earth power. She could even have married one day and had children of her own – children who would have become servants of the earth power too.
Follow me or go. She looked into the Queene’s eyes and it was if her life thus far had been as nothing. She was like a leaf turning in the wind, blown this way and that. She looked into the Queene’s eyes and knew what she must do.
Orla gasped, wrenching herself away from the vision. She had been standing with the Faerie Queene in her bower below the earth. Follow me, the Queene had said, and Orla had followed. But now she was in Hel’s cavern and Ellie’s shade stood before her, straining at invisible bonds. Hel was laughing and there were other sounds too – crawling, sucking sounds as if creatures were rising from the deep. Orla felt evil rising all around her and it was worse – far, far worse – than the suffocating feeling that had overwhelmed her at Odin’s Well.
“Do not deny her,” Hel said. “You think your power is great, but it as nothing compared to that of the one true deity. The one who was buried but who has risen, the one who is Odin’s heir and Freya’s doom.”
The lake began to churn and heave. Orla looked on in horror as an elongated form rose above it, a swirling pillar of light, with a face that wasn’t a face, and eyes that were not eyes.
“You!” The form towered over Ellie and its voice filled Orla with dread. “At last! You will not escape me this time. You and your daughter are murderers both and you will pay the price.”
Orla felt as if her feet had taken root in the cold stones beneath her feet. And yet the earth power flowed strong in her veins, hope in the darkness.
Resist her! She sent the thought with all the strength she had. When she reached Ellie she felt the faint beat of her heart – and something else. Eleanor of Skellstor, a daughter of the Gods, was afraid.
“You will feel my pain a thousand times over,” the dark Goddess intoned. “Once your daughter has found what no other can, I shall take her. And then you will watch her suffer for all eternity.”
“No!” Ellie’s shout thundered through the cavern. Orla could see the strain on her face and the green fire in her eyes. For a minute it seemed as if her bonds would break and she would defy her tormentor. Then she fell to the ground, senseless.
The dark Goddess laughed and disappeared, leaving a stench of decay in her wake. Orla turned to Hel, who was surveying Ellie’s body with undisguised satisfaction.
“Is Lady Eleanor dead?” she asked, wishing with all her heart it was not so.
“Not yet. Death isn’t what my mistress has in mind for her.”
“Your mistress?”
“Now don’t be coy. You know who that was - the Queene told you. For hasn’t she seen the future that is to come?”
Orla made no reply. She closed her mind to Hel’s sly probing, until she was in the land of the Fae once more. She had made her choice and followed the Queene down ancient tunnels, to a bottomless chasm that was darker than the darkest night. If the Queene had not been with her she knew she would have died - not of fright but of despair.
“Where are we?” she asked, dread clawing
at her throat. “What is it you want me to see?”
The Queene gestured to the chasm. “Behold the tomb of Mimir, Odin’s daughter.”
Mimir – daughter of Odin by a Jotun, who fought against the Gods in the Final Battle.
Mimir, who was forgiven, only to transgress once more.
Mimir: mother of Jonas.
“But no one knows where she is – only the Gods themselves,” Orla said.
The Queene laughed, the sound echoing in endless repeats. “Is that what Isolde told you? Nothing is secret from the Fae. And besides, even the Gods need spies. Mimir cannot stir without us knowing.”
“She is bound then?” Mimir had sinned many times over, but to be entombed in such a way was not merciful. Orla felt the earth power recoil within her.
“Imprisoned in an endless maze. She is free of limb to seek the exit, but may never find it.”
The Queene smiled and in the dim light her smile looked cruel. Even in this terrible place, it seemed she could play tricks.
“Do you mean there is a chance she could find it? Or that she will never be allowed to?”
The Queene fixed her with her searching eyes. “That is something that depends on the choices that others make. Including you, Orla.”
Orla backed away. “Me? That can’t be right. I’m nobody – no one that matters.” Even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t true. Her life had changed the moment she followed the Queene.
“It’s too late Orla. You have already accepted my gift, though you did not know it. Tell me – will the sacrifice be worth it?”
Orla felt the earth power kindle and grow in the presence of darkness and knew there was no answer to make.
*
The first thing Ellie knew when she woke up was that she had a terrible headache. It was as if someone had placed an iron band round her head and screwed it tight, until she was on the edge of pain so complete she would have fallen on her own sword, if her sword had been to hand.