Joyce patted her hand reassuringly. ‘Calm down, dear, we’ll cross that bridge later. Yes, what Elen did was perhaps cruel and heartless, but she did it for a reason – so that we might trust her, not so that we might like her.’
‘Mum’s right,’ said Theo. ‘If this Sawyl Gwilym is returning and is as dangerous as she claims, then we must pull together to make sure he doesn’t regain his memories before Elen can deal with him.’
Rachel thought for a few moments, and then nodded. ‘Fine. How do we do that then?’
Elen responded dispassionately. ‘He must be brought to this place. Only here can I deal with him.’
‘How can we get him here?’ mused Theo aloud. ‘We don’t even know in whose body he is.’
‘My children are working upon that problem as we speak.’
Rachel faced Elen, her face clouded with anger. ‘You mean Isabella and Peter?’
Elen shook her head sadly. ‘Such anger directed at me is misplaced, Rachel. You have no idea the importance your daughter plays in our society of Avalon.’
‘To be perfectly honest Elen, Elaine, Tree Woman… whoever or whatever the hell you are; to be honest, I really don’t care. By forcing the creation of Isabella and Peter Neville, you personally set all these things in motion. You took my daughter from me, twisted our family tree out of all recognition. I believe I would still be here had Gloria not gone back in time, though perhaps slightly different, in much the same way that Margaret and Elizabeth Ashton would have been mothers to two ordinary people had you and your sister not taken their places… and I don’t even want to ask what you did with those two poor women! Had you not intervened, I am certain my daughter would still be by my side.’
‘That may be so, but Sawyl Gwilym would be your Overlord. One way or another, it is he who has destroyed your family, not I. Even without my intervention, Gloria’s destiny would have brought her into contact with him, and he would still have taken both your daughter and your husband from you. I merely made certain there would be in existence those who would be able to help.’
Rachel held up her hand. ‘Hold on a minute; what do you mean, Sawyl would still have taken Gloria and Jeremy from me? Are you telling me Sawyl Gwilym was responsible for Jeremy’s death?’
Elen nodded. ‘I am sorry to say, but yes, he was responsible. When Sawyl’s host body died back at Ravenscreag fifteen years ago, his spirit escaped into the fabric of the house. There, he awaited a suitable new host, and he chose Jeremy. Secreted within your husband’s body, undetected because by that time Peter Neville had departed Phil’s body, Sawyl was able to hitch a lift – so to speak. He must not have made his presence known to Jeremy, but exerted his will enough to take control when the time was right, and made that fateful journey in which Jeremy died.’
Rachel clapped a hand over her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes. ‘He caused the car crash that killed Jeremy?’
Elen nodded sadly. ‘Yes. Jeremy was an easy target, but he was old and only suited Sawyl’s immediate purpose, which was to return to his lair atop Wicca Hill. He made Jeremy drive to the place that is the confluence of many ley lines, very close to Wicca Hill, where he was able to abandon his host and return to his lair. In the ensuing momentary lapse of concentration while control of his body was returned to him, Jeremy lost control of the car and crashed into the trees. I know this because I witnessed it.’
Rachel’s resentment towards Elen diminished slightly, though it did not disappear completely. Instead, an old strain of anger resurfaced, directed at Sawyl Gwilym. ‘Very well, for the moment I agree we should concentrate on Sawyl. How do we get him here? You were saying, Elen, that Isabella and Peter were working on trying to find out whose body he’s inhabiting?’
‘No, not Isabella and Peter. They have returned to Avalon, their task here, for the moment at least, complete. No, the children to whom I refer are Maxim and Thaumaturgia.’
‘Thaumaturgia is here?’ gasped Rachel.
‘Of course she is,’ said Louise. ‘You know she’s visited me recently.’
‘Yes, yes of course; I forgot. I was just thinking of what Elen has just said. If Thaumaturgia came down here from Ravenscreag with you, Louise, why did she not pick up on Sawyl’s spirit when he took over Jeremy?’
‘Don’t forget, you and Jeremy stayed on at Ravenscreag a while after the funeral and wedding; I returned down here with Mum and Dad.’
Rachel nodded. ‘Yes, of course. Presumably Sawyl did not leap into Jeremy’s body until shortly before we left.’
‘Actually, he did not take control of Jeremy until after that,’ said Elen. ‘It was when you returned to Ravenscreag the following year to pack away your family’s personal effects. If Sawyl had been with him to begin with, I would have sensed his presence when you bought your house in Elendale. Sawyl was not with Jeremy at that time.’
‘When we came back that time, Jeremy dropped me off at the cottage and went off to take some things to Louise and Phil, and that’s when he died.’
‘Sorry to interrupt, but we’re getting a little off topic here,’ said Theo. ‘We can discuss the ins and outs of the various possessions later, but for now, don’t you think we should concentrate on Sawyl?’
‘Sawyl will make his presence known to us in due course. For the moment, there are other spirits who are restless, and I feel I am partly to blame for their restless state.’
‘You mean my son?’ whispered Margaret.
‘For one, yes.’ Elen glanced around, eyes alert to sounds beyond the scope of human hearing. She was aware of the approaching presence… and another close behind.
‘Me?’ gasped Matthew incredulously.
‘Yes, child, you! This is all about you. Right from the beginning it has always been about you.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘You will. When the final few arrive, all shall be revealed.’
*
Luke crouched low, hardly daring to breathe as he watched the wood nymph presiding over the others. He recalled his last meeting with her with such clarity it felt as though it happened just yesterday.
But it was a thousand years in the past. He had survived several lifetimes since that meeting, and from what he had seen and could hear, she had changed barely at all: she looked the same, and still spoke in her infernal cryptic riddles.
That last time, the girl Lucia had been in control of their shared body mostly; this time he was in charge. He was stronger now, having drawn energy from the two times in between Lucia and Lucinda when he had been truly reincarnated and was not dependent upon the subjugated will of a host body.
His last reincarnation had been named Luke. He liked that name, having links with his original name, and as he preferred the modern English version, that was how he now referred to himself.
As Luke Gaines, he dispatched his bride Matilda with great flourish, and the young lad, Obadiah, paid the price with his life. It mattered not to Luke how many innocent lives were lost in his quest for revenge, and he would not stop until his goal had been claimed.
Each time in the past, the wretched girl’s father had thwarted him due to his lack of appearance. Luke wanted Hrothgar to know the pain and hurt that had been caused all those many centuries ago. He wanted Hrothgar to witness his daughter’s death, up close and personal, and then die alongside her.
It was the only way Luke felt he could attain his personal salvation, cursed as he was to wander through lifetime after lifetime because of his own misery. He had himself been murdered, and would not rest until he had attained vengeance upon the perpetrator of his personal purgatory.
Matthew must die; Matilda must die – Maud must die; and this time was the right time, for Hrothgar was at last here also.
At last I shall be free.
*
Hrothgar halted in his tracks, holding his breath. He had followed the young woman who shielded his daughter’s killer into the forest, and was led to the clearing where a group of people gathered around the fabl
ed Wood Witch, Elen.
He himself had met Elen only once, long after his death, when she explained to him why he had not passed through the light and into the after life. He understood why salvation had not been granted to him, and he accepted that his task was not yet done.
What he had not realised was that he would endure many lifetimes in silence, witnessing the same events playing out time after time in a ceaseless spiral of fury, a mere spectre, unseen and unable to intervene.
Until now.
He had not exactly achieved corporeal form, but his presence could be felt, and over the years, he had mastered control over his host body. When his daughter had been reborn within the body of his host’s own son, he knew the day would come when the three of them were once again thrown together. He had the knowledge to ensure events played out as they were supposed to this time, but he first had the challenge of making the other two listen to what he had to say before they either killed each other, or killed him.
Hrothgar knew it would not be easy. His daughter was still just a frightened child. She could have no possible concept of what was going on. Each lifetime that came and went, she saw her enemy and struck before he did; sometimes she was not swift enough and Lucius struck first.
And so it went on, one lifetime after another; only Hrothgar could halt the bloodshed, but until now, his mere wraith-like existence prevented his intervention.
Not so, this time.
He could see the enemy some distance from him, also watching the figures within the clearing. It was clear that his own presence thus far remained undetected. All he had to do was make his daughter and her killer see reason, and it would all finally be over.
However, he had no immediate idea how to achieve this goal now the opportunity had arisen.
*
Elen stopped talking and turned her back on those gathered beside her. She smiled. ‘The final two have come at last, finally.’ She held aloft her arms in greeting. ‘Come forward, lost souls. Lucius, Hrothgar – I bid you enter my domain.’
The others glanced at one another in bewilderment, wondering who on earth was about to step into the clearing. Only Margaret and Joyce anticipated Roger’s appearance, but even they did not know who Lucius was, past or present.
‘Dad!’ cried Matthew as he saw his father step forward from the shadows, whilst from another direction, another slightly less familiar figure came into the clearing. ‘My god… Lucinda!’
‘My name be Luke, not Lucius, not Lucinda… Luke!’
The male voice that came from Lucinda’s mouth caught Matthew by surprise. ‘What the hell is going on?’
Ignoring him, Lucinda and Roger faced each other; Luke and Hrothgar glared at one another with open hostility. Face to face at last after so many centuries, as the fury from long ago boiled over into the present Luke launched himself at Hrothgar, removing the knife from his pocket as he did so.
Elen pointed at them both, and vines shot from her fingers, entwining around the pair, restraining them effortlessly. ‘Be still and silent, both of you.’
Luke and Hrothgar ceased their struggling, but Elen did not release her grip.
‘Are we at long last about to find out what this is all about?’ asked Margaret.
Elen ignored her question. ‘Thaumaturgia, attend me.’
Somewhere above them in the canopy of the trees, something white appeared from the darkness and descended towards the group. A ghostly girl-like voice floated around them.
I be here, Mother. Hath the time come to free the girl?
‘Yes, daughter.’
The glowing white figure with flowing white hair and robes, and characteristics both male and female, floated through the air to approach Matthew. He would have backed away in terror had his feet not been gripped by tendrils that appeared suddenly from the ground. His growing terror mixed with an uneasy fascination as he witnessed Thaumaturgia’s appearance fluctuate from young girl to old hag before his eyes.
He flinched as the Seer reached out to touch his forehead.
Maud, daughter of Hrothgar, be not afeared. I grant thee the freedom from thy bonds; the time of deliverance hath come at last.
A burning sensation swept through Matthew’s mind like red hot pokers stabbing his eyes, but as suddenly as it had appeared, the pain vanished before he had a chance to vocalise his agony.
And in that split second he became actively aware that he was not alone within his mind. He could sense the presence of a young girl as she falteringly came forward, and he was astonished to realise he had known she was there all his life. She was very afraid, her fear directed solely at Lucinda.
Matthew glanced at Liam’s sister, and was surprised to find he could see another figure superimposed over Lucinda’s body, almost as though there were two distinct spirits vying for control of her body, and Lucinda had lost.
The man, whose appearance seemed inordinately familiar to Matthew, glowered at him but remained silent.
Matthew glanced at Roger – and saw only his father… twice. It was as if he also shared his body with another spirit, but curiously, that second spirit was his own.
He felt the girl begin to exercise some control over his body, and he had to fight his first instinct to do battle with her. He knew she was no threat to him, and knew she had important information to impart. He knew that if life were ever to become normal then he must relinquish control of his body to the girl, whose name he suddenly knew to be Maud.
As he surrendered to her will, he smiled reassuringly at his mother, whom he could see was unnerved by the events that unfolded before her. He was not certain whether she saw his smile or not, for in the blinking of an eye Maud had taken control, pushed him to one side, and turned to face Elen and her two captives.
‘Hello, Father,’ Maud said with a sad smile. ‘It be good to look upon thy countenance after so many a year.’
‘Likewise, daughter,’ said Hrothgar softly. ‘Long have I dreamed of this moment.’
‘As have I!’ hissed Luke. ‘The moment of my retribution. The moment of my salvation.’
Elen’s tendrils ensnared Maud too, and drew the trio closer to her, binding them tight. ‘Such things will have to wait. There is something I must show you all.’
With a swift snap of her tendrils, she wrapped Hrothgar, Maud and Luke tight against her body, and in horror, the remaining group watched as Elen and her captives disappeared into the bowels of the earth with a thunderous roar and an updraft of mud and leaves.
When the ground settled, all four were gone.
AD 43
The moment word came that the approaching Roman centurions, heading south from Londinium, had reached the neighbouring settlement, the parents of Maud and six other youngsters hastily manhandled the children into the welcoming canopy of the trees that dotted the southern side of the River Dryad, which split their valley in two.
Maud did not want to leave her father, but she knew he would not be caught by the advancing foot soldiers as he and the others sheltered in the caves high up on the hill to the north of the valley. Hrothgar warned her that she and the other children must remain very still and silent, for if the Romans captured them, they would be taken as slaves.
The two dozen or so adults from the settlement scattered amongst the caves, hoping they would all evade capture, aware that if the Romans noticed the caves their fate would be sealed.
As the footsteps of the approaching soldiers echoed down the otherwise still peacefulness of the valley, Maud shushed the whimpering boy beside her on the branch of the tree in which they hid. ‘We must be silent,’ she whispered as quietly as she could, as the first of the horse riders passed beneath them in advance of the foot soldiers.
The lead rider raised his hand, bringing the entire century to a halt. He turned the horse around and cantered back towards the rear of the group.
Maud could not hear his command to the foot soldiers who brought up the rear, but as he brought his horse back down to the front, she saw six men
heading off towards the hill where her father and the other adults hid.
She stifled her gasp of horror with her hand, and then froze in terror as she had realised the horseman had heard her. She pressed herself backwards out of his eye line as he peered upwards – just as a flock of starlings burst out of the tree somewhere above her head, startling the horses, which all whinnied and stamped their hooves on the compacted ground, distracting the rider.
He struggled to control his steed, and when he and the other riders brought their horses into line once more, he gave the command to proceed onwards.
The six foot-soldiers who had been dispatched to investigate the hill returned down to the valley floor ahead of the riders, and as she craned her neck to see, to Maud’s surprise they brought with them no captives. Her surprise turned to alarm as she wondered why there were no prisoners. She had expected to see all the adults from their settlement being herded down the hill at spear-point, or to hear the foot soldiers calling for assistance, but they were alone, and after speaking with the lead horseman, they fell back into formation at the rear of the century, and all carried on walking.
The children waited for several minutes after the century had disappeared from the valley, following the river as it wove around the edge of the hill, disappearing to the east, before cautiously scrambling down from their hiding places.
‘Did they find our parents up at the cave?’ whispered the boy who had shared her branch.
Maud shook her head. ‘It would appear not. Mayhap the Great Goddess Elen did afford them her protection this day. We should offer up thanks to our protector.’
They bowed low before the trees, which seemed to rustle their appreciation, and as she raised her head, Maud saw several figures running down the hill towards them. One was her father.
She ran to embrace him. ‘Father, I was certain thou wouldst be caught or killed.’
‘The Great Goddess did protect us with her own kind,’ responded Hrothgar gruffly as he hugged his daughter tight. ‘We did shelter in the large cave, and after we hid, a forest of trees sprang up to shield the cave entrance. The Romans checked only the smaller caves, afore returning down to the valley.’
The Master of Prophecy (The Sawyl Gwilym Chronicles Book 2) Page 32