Slick did not answer this; he was too busy looking nervously behind him and fighting a strong desire to gnaw on his fingernails.
‘You want to know all about us?’ resumed Hecaté. ‘Starting with Cindy?’ she added with just a slight lilt in her voice, which told Slick that he had not fooled her at all.
‘You know that she and Finvarra are together?’ asked Hecaté, just a little disapprovingly.
‘I thought they might be,’ admitted Slick. ‘Only I wasn’t sure, I mean they don’t seem exactly … well she doesn’t seem to … Oh, I don’t know …’
‘If Cindy were not as devoted to Finvarra as she might be,’ said Hecaté. ‘And I personally do not know that that is the case. It would not be you that she would turn to. I will say no more.’ she added in order to forestall any impertinent enquiries.
‘I think this might be the last door,’ he said, in order to change the subject.
‘Why so?’ asked Hecaté.
‘It’s the seventh,’ said Slick. ‘I just have a feeling.’ He shrugged. ‘Seven doors to every cave …’
Slick’s feeling turned out to be correct. Beyond the seventh door was a ruined kingdom that had clearly once been magnificent. There were people.
This was not entirely unexpected. If the stories were true, then these were the ancients who had built this kingdom; they were even older than Tamar. Nor were they terribly surprised to see that the men were almost catatonic and seemed very primitive.
‘Like cave men,’ said Slick in a voice hushed with awe.
‘Yes,’ whispered back Hecaté, ‘it is very sad.’
‘But … Tamar, I mean – she’s pretty old. Well, I don’t mean … but, what I mean is … surely immortality didn’t do this on its own?’
‘Who knows,’ said Hecaté sombrely. ‘These are men. They were not supposed to have so many years on the Earth. Perhaps they have not lived for all these centuries. Perhaps they have only existed, learning nothing new, growing inward until their minds turned in on themselves and their hearts froze.’
‘Sounds boring,’ said Slick. ‘“Live fast, die young” sounds better to me.’
‘You are wise to think so,’ said Hecaté, smiling. ‘It is the way of men to do just that. The lives of men are but brief candles flickering before our eyes, and this is how it was meant to be.’
‘Do you want Jack to do that?’ asked Slick with what he believed was great shrewdness.
‘I will not hinder his natural path,’ said Hecaté serenely. ‘Could I be selfish enough to wish him to become like this?’ She gestured toward the blank eyed ancients, some of whom were drooling, ‘Just to have him by my side. When I have strayed so far from wisdom, I too will die.’
Slick was silent.
‘Loki was not here,’ said Hecaté briskly. ‘It is time we returned.’
* * *
Ray was startled out of his usual laid back composure by the terrifying primal scream that heralded the return of Stiles and Melissa. As Stiles appeared in the computer den clinging on to her tightly, she suddenly appeared to go limp and fell to the floor.
‘What’s the matter with her?’ asked Ray, horrified. They had only been gone a few minutes.
Stiles knelt down beside her with a deep sense of foreboding. Then he straightened up with a grieved look on his face. ‘She’s dead,’ he said quietly.
‘N-no,’ said Ray. He started to shake.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Stiles.
‘You’re sorry?’ snarled Ray in disbelief. ‘You bastard! You were supposed to be looking after her.’
‘I know.’ he looked Ray straight in the face and, without flinching, told him. ‘I’m sorry, I guess I just don’t know what the hell to say.’
* * *
The funeral was a private affair, presided over by Hecaté, who considered it her responsibility particularly in the absence of Cindy, who, in other circumstances as her sister witch, would have done this duty. Melissa was cremated according to her wishes, and a small service was held in the garden, by the small lake, or large pond, as you prefer.
It turned out that, if she had a family, no one, not even Ray, knew about it. He spoke for her in shaking voice – no one else was sufficiently acquainted with her to do this task. Fenrir had yet to show his face since the fateful day when he and Denny had taken David to the void. He did not even know that Melissa had died. No one knew where he was, and no one cared very much.
Ray, it seemed had been far fonder of Melissa than anyone had guessed. He had begged Tamar to save her, but she had reluctantly been forced to admit that there was nothing she could do. Hecaté could have brought her back, but it seemed cruel to tell him this, since the price he would have had to pay would have been too high and there seemed little doubt that he would have paid it and then suffered accordingly.
All Tamar could do was take his pain from him, and he was not sure that he wanted her to do this although she offered. It would feel like a betrayal, he said. But Tamar assured him that he would not forget her. He said he would think about it.
The service was, fortunately, more or less over when they were unexpectedly interrupted.
As they stood in a sombre group before the lake contemplating, their own thoughts, three blonde women appeared in the water.
They were standing on the surface of the lake, hands on hips, lips curled in a manner irresistibly reminiscent of teenage harpies. The queen bitches of the school.
Only Tamar failed to react. Everyone else gasped in everything from shock (Slick – who was not used to this sort of thing) to indignation (Ray – who was not used to this sort of thing either but had other concerns on his mind)
The tallest and prettiest of these girls addressed Tamar. ‘Woglinde’s very upset,’ she informed her in a tart voice and folded her arms defiantly. This was evidenced by the traces of tears on the face of what was apparently Woglinde.
‘Aren’t you Woglinde?’ asked the first speaker, pushing her forward for inspection.
Woglinde nodded obediently and scurried back behind the third girl, who had so far said nothing, but stood there looking as defiant as it is possible to look, without actually having anyone to defy.
‘Flosshilde?’ said Tamar as if she were not quite sure, although she was. She had a horrible feeling that she knew what this was about and was stalling for time.
But Flosshilde was not to be put off. ‘Where is she?’ she snapped, looking around in vain for Cindy.
‘Who?’ asked Tamar with a sinking heart. As if they did not have enough problems.
‘The bitch who stole our Rheingold,’ Flosshilde said.
‘Ah, shit!’ said Tamar. ‘I had to ask,’ she added. ‘Look, she’s not here, but we will find her and … Oh my God!’ she stopped and slapped herself on the forehead.
‘What is it?’ asked Denny who recognised a “Eureka” moment when he saw one.
‘Water,’ said Tamar mysteriously enough pointing a shaking finger at this perfectly innocent element in an accusatory fashion.
‘Yes?’asked Denny.
‘Rhine maidens,’ she added even more inexplicably.
‘We worked that much out …’ Denny began and then he got it. ‘Oh my God,’ he repeated. ‘I can’t believe we went all over the sodding place when the answer was right here all along,’
Their eyes met, shining with excitement, Tamar was bobbing up and down. ‘It was so obvious,’ she said
‘Er, does anybody have any idea what they are talking about?’ asked Slick.
‘Not the slightest clue,’ said Stiles dryly. ‘But I think Loki’s time is up.’
‘He’s not the only one,’ said a voice behind them.
‘There!’ screeched Woglinde pointing, but everyone had already turned.
Dramatically backlit against the setting sun, Cindy stood still as a statue, and as cold.
‘Cindy?’ Denny tried and was rewarded with a scornful glance. He frowned, trying to understand.
Cindy turned a savagely cold
glare on everyone present in turn until her eyes reached Woglinde. Then she gave a mocking smile. ‘Looking for this?’ she asked, and held up a small golden ring. The Rhine maidens, as one, howled in fury.
Denny’s Wagner came back to him. ‘Cindy don’t!’ he called. She ignored him.
‘Cindy!’ said Tamar warningly.
No one else spoke; there was a sense that the wrong thing said at this point would be disastrous.
‘Cindy please,’ said Denny. ‘Don’t do this. The power of the Rheingold will destroy you. It’s not worth it. Have you really forsaken love?’
Now she looked at him. ‘You ought to know,’ she said pointedly, and Denny winced. Then she began to laugh. A bitter, cold laughter that emanated from an entirely empty heart. Everyone shuddered.
‘Okay,’ snapped Tamar unwisely, ‘enough with the Cruella De Ville. Give it up and we’ll say no more about it. I know it must have been very tempting, but it’s really not a good idea.’
Cindy snorted derisively. ‘You,’ she cried furiously. ‘What the hell do you know about it? When was there ever anything you wanted that you couldn’t have?’ She looked at Denny again just to make sure her point was taken.
‘You mean apart from my freedom for five thousand years?’ retorted Tamar, stung into sudden anger by the unfairness of this remark.
‘Steady,’ said Denny putting a restraining arm on her shoulder. Unfortunately, this was the worst thing he could have done. Up until that point there had been a chance, however slim, of reasoning with Cindy. But not now.
‘Power lasts longer than love,’ she declaimed impressively. ‘I hope he’s worth it,’ she sneered at Tamar. ‘Personally, I’d rather have the power. The power of the gods.’ and she put on the ring.
‘Everybody down,’ yelled Tamar falling flat on her face and pulling Denny down with her.
Luckily, everyone followed suit immediately as Cindy was enveloped in a bright golden light, which beamed out in all directions like a supernova flattening trees and turning the world white. Even with hands over their heads, the light seared into their eyeballs painfully, and the ground shook.
Then after an eternity of seconds, it was over. Everyone stood up shakily; even Tamar was not quite as steady on her feet as she would have liked.
Cindy treated them all to some more cold laughter.
She looked different now, although it was difficult to put your finger on it. She looked somehow, more beautiful and yet harder, like a perfect statue. The fire of humanity at her heart had flickered out, bounded by an encroaching frost.
‘We could take her out,’ muttered Denny.
‘But we won’t,’ said Tamar. ‘And she knows it. She’s counting on it.’
Cindy came forward slowly, smiling triumphantly, an icy, silvery glow surrounded her and her eyes flickered like a blue flame.
She stopped in front of Denny. ‘You know,’ she said taking him by the chin and forcing him to look her in the eye. ‘I wouldn’t care now if you died. I could crush you like an insect without a second thought if I had to. But … I still don’t want to. I still find you attractive. Strange. She looked reflectively at him for a moment then her face darkened. ‘But don’t try me,’ she added threateningly. Then she vanished in a shower of sparks.
‘Ah shit!’ said Tamar again.
~ Chapter Twelve ~
‘I swore I wasn’t going to ask,’ said Tamar to Denny as the last sparkle faded, leaving the shell-shocked mourners standing in comparative gloom. She thought about it for a minute. ‘And I’m not,’ she added firmly.
Denny bit his lip. ‘I will tell you if …’ he began.
‘I don’t want to know,’ she cut him off. ‘Ever.’
They had now lost both Melissa and Cindy from their ranks in one day, but while Melissa’s loss was a sad one, at least it was over and done with. The loss of Cindy was a lot more worrying.
‘We’ve lost her,’ said Tamar, when Denny suggested trying to help her in some unspecified way. ‘She’s gone. There’s really nothing we can do except be on our guard, because she will come after us – especially you,’ she added.
‘In the meantime,’ said Denny, ‘we still have Loki to deal with.’
‘Gosh,’ said Tamar sarcastically. ‘I almost forgot.’
‘And that’s it?’ said Slick disbelievingly. ‘I thought she was your friend.’
‘She was,’ said Stiles. ‘Was, being the operative word, or weren’t you listening? We’ll mourn later. Right now, we have other fish to fry.’
Slick looked mutinous. ‘Seems like you don’t care,’ he muttered.
‘We care,’ said Tamar. ‘We care very much. But we can’t help her no matter what we do. She made this decision for herself. Only she can undo it. It’s not like alcoholism or something. An intervention’s not going to do it, do you understand that?’
‘Sounds like you know all about it,’ he said.
‘I-I’ve seen this before,’ she admitted, ‘a long time ago.’
‘What happened?’ asked Stiles.
‘You don’t want to know,’ said Tamar. ‘Look,’ she addressed everyone. ‘Cindy will be back for us. There’s no way of knowing when. It could be years from now, or it could be next week. But she will be back. You all need to understand that she’s not who she was anymore. When she comes … well it’ll be bad that’s all.’
‘Vengeance,’ muttered Denny remembering what Tamar had said – “Especially for you!”
‘For now, we have to concentrate only on finding Loki and stopping him,’ continued Tamar in a lecturing tone. ‘And fortunately I now know exactly how to do that. If I hadn’t been so stupid before, we might already have him.’
‘All the wrong answers …’ muttered Denny consolingly.
‘You said something about the Rhine maidens,’ said Stiles encouragingly, as Tamar had stopped with a self-condemnatory frown. ‘Where are they anyway?’ he added.
‘Gone,’ said Tamar. The Rhine maidens had slid back into the water at the same moment that Cindy had put on the ring, but only Tamar had had the presence of mind to notice this.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ she added. ‘We don’t need them.’
Tamar raised her voice so that everyone could hear. ‘The fact is,’ she said. ‘We don’t need to find the particular body of water that Loki is looking for.’ She pointed to the lake. ‘It’s in there – somewhere, just as the Rhine is. And all bodies of water come to that. All the waters of the world are a tributary to the one source and all lead to each other. That’s how the Rhine maidens got here. If it’s water, they can travel within it. To any pool, pond, lake or river that exists. And not only the Rhine maidens, the Lady of the Lake travels the same way, (I knew something about that was bothering me.) It’s all connected, you see. And we can do it too.’
A flabbergasted silence greeted this pronouncement. The truth was, only Denny believed her. Everyone else was shaking their heads doubtfully.
‘You all saw the Rhine maidens,’ Denny pointed out.
This was indisputable.
‘How will you find it in there?’ asked Stiles doubtfully.
‘I’ll look for it,’ said Tamar crossly. ‘It’s like teleporting. It’s a different plane. There’s no time, so it doesn’t matter how long it takes me to find it. It’ll still be now when I emerge. This is the quickest way in the long run.’ she finished confusingly.
‘But you don’t know what you’re looking for,’ pointed out Slick.
‘No, but I know what I’m not looking for,’ said Tamar obscurely.
‘Well, I suppose you know what you are doing,’ said Hecaté. ‘You usually do.’
‘But … I’ve written a program.’ blurted out Ray. ‘I mean, I’ve already found it. Sort of, I think.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Denny at the same moment that Stiles chose to say. ‘And you’re only just telling us this now?’
Ray ignored Stiles. He was still angry with him for one thing and, for another, it was clear that S
tiles already knew what he was talking about and Denny did not. He explained briefly how he had made a program for finding the mythical places that were not filed. And how, after he had sent Stiles and Melissa to Shangri La – here he choked a little on his words – he had realised that he could do the same with the place where Loki had reportedly lost his powers, by using the available material on the story to create a file that they could save to mainframe and enter in the same way. Material was in short supply and no names were given, as they already knew, but he was sure he had created a viable file that they could use.
‘Bloody hell, that’s clever,’ said Denny genuinely impressed.
Tamar was nodding in agreement. ‘Very impressive,’ she said. And under this combined approval, Ray hung his head and went red with pleasure.
Okay,’ said Tamar briskly business-like. ‘Attack on two fronts. From the files and from the water. And let’s just hope that Loki hasn’t got there already. Now, who fancies a swim?’
‘Aren’t you going that way?’ asked Slick.
‘Yes, and I think Denny should use the files.’
‘I agree,’ said Stiles. One each of the most powerful among us. To make sure at least one of you beats Loki to it.’
‘I meant,’ resumed Tamar looking amused at this summation, ‘who’s coming with me?’
* * *
Since Stiles had a previously unrevealed and unsuspected aversion to deep water, it was decided that Tamar would take Slick with her and Denny would go with Stiles. Ray would stay behind to research the Tuatha. They still thought it might be helpful if they knew why Loki had a grudge against them and seeing if they could find a reference to them in the Norse mythology might give them their answer. So far, no such references had been found, but it had to be admitted that little attention had been paid to this aspect of their research, it had been shunted aside by the more urgent task of finding Loki. As Tamar had said. ‘If we find Loki in time, it won’t matter anyway.’
Denny had disagreed with this attitude. Details could be important, and Tamar’s habit of single-mindedly charging at a problem like a mad hippo at a muddy lake often caused her to miss the bigger picture.
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