by Chrys Cymri
‘Then that’s not likely to change now.’ I nodded at the box. ‘I’ll take her down to the church, if you’d like, and let her rest there. I’ll see if I can track down any next of kin. If not, we’ll arrange to bury her in the churchyard.’
‘You can do that?’ Mr Somersby smiled, easing the wrinkles around his mouth and forehead. ‘I’d hate to think of her, well, never having a proper burial.’
I reached over and picked up the small casket. It was very light, and I cradled the box with my left arm. ‘The Church will arrange that, Mr Somersby, don’t worry. And if you and your wife would like us to come back and say prayers in the house, or do a house blessing, just let me know.’
‘That’s very kind of you.’
‘Just part of being your vicar,’ I assured him.
‘But we don’t go to church,’ Mr Somersby said. ‘Well, except at Christmas.’
Skylar gave him a wide grin. ‘That doesn’t matter. It’s the Church of England parish system. Everyone has a right to call upon their local church, never mind how often or not they come on a Sunday. But you’re welcome any Sunday, if you want to venture down the hill. We’d love to see you, and Jesus is very patient.’
‘Indeed.’ I nodded towards the entrance. ‘We’ll get out of your way now, Mr Somersby.’
‘Oh, it’s Clive,’ he said. ‘And it’s been good to meet you. Thank you for coming. It’s taken a load off my mind.’
We all shook hands, and then I carried my precious burden to the car. Skylar held the box on her lap as I drove us down to the church, and we placed the casket under the altar. ‘It’s the ashes of someone who used to live in this village,’ I told the bats stirring restlessly above my head. ‘So please show her all due respect.’
‘It does seem strange,’ Skylar mused as I aimed the Golf back towards home, ‘that someone wouldn’t bury the ashes as soon as possible afterwards.’
‘I’ve seen all sorts,’ I replied. ‘You can buy a huge teddy bear which holds a hollow plastic ball. You put some of your loved one’s ashes into the ball, and you pop that back into the teddy bear. A funeral director told me that some people take real comfort in that. They feel they’re hugging their loved one when they hug the teddy bear. Other people put some of the ashes into jewellery.’
‘Then they’re not letting go,’ Morey declared from the back seat. ‘They need to release the person into God’s hands.’
‘Many people don’t share that sort of faith.’ I nearly managed to stall the car again as I paused at a roundabout, but my foot found the bite point on the clutch just in time. ‘Or even if they do, they still find death hard. Skylar, can you make some phone calls while I’m out? Try Rita Davis and Marjorie Hopkins. They’ve lived in the village all their lives and they know everything about everybody. See if they can give us any leads as to Edna’s next of kin. Brothers, sisters, cousins, anyone.’
I parked on the drive and, after a moment’s hesitation, opened the garage and drove the Golf inside. It did feel a little like I was claiming possession of a car I’d already said I had no intention of keeping. I wondered if my Big Finish CDs would sound much better with the more complicated sound system. Maybe I should keep the Golf until I’d had a chance to check that out.
Raven was pacing in the back garden. Well, doing his best to pace, bearing in mind that the space available to him was only several dragon-lengths long. ‘I’ve been patient,’ he growled as I joined him outside. ‘But if you’re finished with your boring church duties, it’s time we took Sasha to Tarkik so we can reclaim Abella.’
I tipped my head back to look up at him. ‘Those “boring church duties” are part of my calling, Raven. I want Abella to be freed, I want to see the submarine crew back home, but I made a promise this morning which I had to keep.’
His nostrils flared. ‘Is this what it means, to be with a priest?’
‘To be friends with a priest, yes.’ Although the day was warming up, I had taken the precaution to collect my coat, and I slipped a breakfast bar into a pocket before climbing up his neck. As he moved into take-off position, I glanced around the empty garden. ‘Where is everybody?’
‘Clyde, Jago, and Bastien went through the thin place to visit the Community,’ Raven replied. ‘Most of the snail sharks followed them. What about your Associate?’
‘Coming,’ Morey called down from the bedroom window. A moment later he landed on the dragon’s neck. ‘Stillbrook Detention Centre, if you please.’
‘I know exactly where Sasha is,’ Raven grumbled. His leap into the air felt like a sharp retort, and I winced as my back cracked against the spine behind me.
He showed the same lack of care for our comfort as he hurtled us through several thin places. By the time we were dropping down to the car park outside the detention centre, I was thanking God that I hadn’t yet eaten any lunch. I might have spewed it across Raven’s back.
Stillbrook looked like the prison it was no doubt meant to be. The front was a nearly blank wall with only small windows to break up the grey expanse. A solid metal fence extended on either side, topped by barbed wire. A woman cradling a machine gun stood by the entrance, and her narrow face gave nothing away as I slipped from the dragon’s back and walked across the concrete.
‘Reverend Penny White,’ I told her, stopping a few feet away. I’d faced down unicorns and dragons, but her gun frightened me more than any being from Lloegyr. ‘I’m expected. Could you let the front desk know I’m here?’
‘CCTV would’ve picked you up. They’ll be checking you out now.’ The woman tilted her head, and I could see that a device rested in her ear. ‘You can go in, and the gryphon, but not the dragon.’
‘You probably wouldn’t fit through the door anyway,’ I told Raven. ‘We’ll be out as soon as we can, and we’ll bring Sasha.’
‘You’d better, or I will come in after you.’
The guard’s face remained expressionless, but her eyes flicked over the dragon and her grip tightened on her machine gun.
The thick metal door swung inwards. I felt Morey’s claws tighten on my right shoulder as I stepped inside. The unsmiling guards insisted that I empty my pockets, and both of us passed through a metal detector. My iPhone was retained, and I was told that it would be given back to me upon my departure.
Only then did someone official come through to meet us. ‘Abigail Hepton-Smith,’ she said as she shook my hand. Her blue trouser suit and yellow shirt were a bright contrast to the green and brown uniforms of the guards. ‘Governor of Stillbrook Detention Centre. The minister informed us that you’d be coming.’
‘So you know we’ve come to meet Sasha,’ Morey said.
Abigail’s light blue eyes flicked from my face to the gryphon. ‘She’s not willing to come out to meet with you. We’ll have to take you inside.’
I suppressed a shiver. The place smelled of sweat and despair. ‘Lead the way.’
Two armed men fell in behind us. I kept my gaze trained on Abigail’s back and tried not to think about the cold metal resting in the guards’ hands. Morey turned sideways, angling his head so that one eye looked behind us, the other forwards. I tried to imagine how his brain managed to process two different images, but gave up when my own head started to hurt.
We walked down a long corridor past a number of closed doors, then turned and took a set of metal steps up to the next floor. Our shoes clanked on the steel floor. An unappealing combination of urine and chlorine assaulted my nose. The doors here were also shut, but better light ahead informed me that we were coming to an open section of the building.
The wall on my right came to an end. The walkway continued around an open area which extended from the ground level and up several stories. A metal railing prevented against falling. The ceiling bore long panels of glass, which allowed natural light to stream into the area. Around fifty people filled the level below us. Stocky dwarves, thin elves, and weres currently in human form.
‘Diawl, na, awn ni ddim!’ The single shout echo
ed around the space, then was taken up by others. I didn’t need to be able to speak Welsh to recognise the statement from the beat of the words. ‘Diawl, na, awn ni ddim!’ ‘Hell, no we won’t go!’
I sought out the first speaker. She stood on a plastic chair. Green-brown hair twisted down her shoulders, and her wide eyes had extra white around the dark irises. The skin of her arms was a pale green. We had found Sasha.
Chapter Nineteen
‘Thank you, Miss Sasha, everyone,’ Abigail shouted down. ‘We’ve heard all this before. And no one is trying to send you anywhere.’
The merwoman held out her hands, and the others stilled their voices. ‘Not at the moment,’ she said in English. ‘But we know you plan to send us back.’
I walked to the metal rail and leaned over. ‘How about we meet and talk about that?’
Sasha’s gaze came to me. ‘So our protests have not been in vain. Father Penny, it’s good to see you again.’
I tried desperately to remember if we’d interacted during one of my visits to the shoal. It was as bad as meeting a villager in Beckeridge and being greeted by name when I had no idea who the person was. Wedding, baptism, funeral? I’d ask myself, wondering which occasion had brought him or her to my church. ‘And it’s nice to see you, Sasha. Rather than standing on a chair, perhaps we could both sit down and talk?’
For a long moment, the merwoman remained in place, studying me. An elf leaned over and whispered something into her ear. She shook her head, then looked back up again. ‘Yes, Father Penny, let’s have a nice chat. Perhaps with some cake and a cup of tea?’
‘Didn’t realise merpeople did sarcasm,’ Morey muttered as Abigail escorted us to a set of steps. I held on to the metal banister as I followed the spiralling stairway down to the lower level.
By the time my shoes stepped from metal and onto concrete, the merwoman was seated at the chipped white table. Other Lloegyr citizens had found seats of their own, or places to lean back against the pillars that supported the upper walkway. The elf stood behind Sasha, his dark clothing a contrast to her white clothing. I frowned. What she wore looked very much like a wedding dress, much too large for her, and the top sagged in all the wrong places. I glanced at the male guards and was impressed to see that they were doing their best to keep their eyes on her face.
A dwarf pulled out a chair for me, and I accepted the seat. None were offered to the other humans, so they took places behind me. ‘I bring greetings from your shoal,’ I told Sasha. ‘They told me why you’re here.’
‘I’m here,’ she retorted, ‘because these crancod dragged me away from my shoal mate and locked me into this metal shell.’
I filed away the use of ‘crabs’ as an insult. ‘Governor? Do you know why Sasha was brought here?’
‘For the same reason as the rest of them,’ Abigail said. ‘They’re illegal immigrants. For their own safety, they’re looked after while Her Majesty’s Government decides how to return them to their homes.’
‘Dyn ni ddim am fynd yn ôl,’ the elf retorted.
‘They don’t want to return,’ I told Abigail.
‘I don’t make laws, I only enforce them.’
‘Safety,’ Sasha spat out. ‘My shoal mate wasn’t safe.’
I leaned forward and dropped my voice. ‘I’m very sorry to tell you that Elisa was found dead. My sorrow for your sorrow.’
‘I already know,’ Sasha said. ‘And the crancod are to blame.’
‘Not the akhlut?’ Morey asked. ‘Elisa was pulled from Tarkik’s tank.’
‘Tarkik would never have hurt her.’ The merwoman raised her head to look at the humans standing behind me. ‘She died because of what was in the water.’
‘That was an unfortunate accident,’ I said carefully. ‘Marine parks such as Midlands WaterWorld have to add chemicals to the water to keep it clean. They wouldn’t have done it just to hurt a merperson.’
‘It’s hurting Tarkik.’ Sasha shifted, and her dress sagged, exposing one small breast. I fought back the urge to straighten the white satin back into place. Merpeople had no qualms about nudity. ‘It hurts his eyes, and his skin itches terribly.’
‘You spoke to him?’ Morey asked.
‘As best we could, out of the water. Then Elisa went in.’ Sasha turned her face away. ‘At first, she was well. Then her speech started to slur. I tried to reach in for her, but Tarkik ordered me away. He tried to push her out. When I heard voices coming towards us, I hurried back over the fence and ran away.’
‘Drove away,’ Abigail corrected. ‘In a stolen van. Which you crashed. That’s how you were stopped and brought here.’
And who had taught a merwoman how to drive? Or how to steal a human vehicle? I clamped down on my curiosity. ‘I need your help, Sasha,’ I said. ‘As you know, Tarkik’s pod are holding Abella hostage. I’d like to take you back to Midlands WaterWorld, release Tarkik, and return both of you to your people.’
Sasha glanced around at the other beings from Lloegyr. ‘I’ll only leave if everyone else is free to leave with me.’
‘Now, Sasha, you know we can’t do that,’ Abigail said. ‘The government has only given permission to let you go.’
‘Then I’m staying here.’
‘What about Abella?’ Morey demanded. ‘Aren’t you worried what might happen to her?’
The merwoman’s face turned a darker green. ‘Of course I am. But these people are suffering here, now.’
‘No one is suffering,’ Abigail said. ‘You each have your own room, plenty of food, and you’re given free movement throughout the day.’
‘Just unlock the front doors,’ a were-wolf growled, ‘and see how many of us would actually remain here.’
‘Then agree to go back home,’ one of the guards retorted. ‘You’ve been told that often enough.’
A mixture of protests rose in both English and Welsh. ‘My colony won’t have me.’ ‘Rwy’n briod â nhw.’ ‘Byddai Cadw ar Wahân yn ymosod arnaf.’ ‘All we want is a chance to raise our families in peace.’
‘You’re Penny White,’ Sasha said. ‘You can arrange for them to stay, can’t you?’
My hand touched the empty pocket which usually held my iPhone. I had no way to contact Sue Harkness at this precise moment. ‘I really need you to come with me, Sasha. A good number of lives depend on it.’
She raised her chin. ‘I’ll only come if you promise that no one here will be forced to return to Lloegyr.’
‘I promise,’ I said steadily, Morey stiffening in disapproval on my shoulder, ‘that I won’t let any of you be sent back to Lloegyr against your will.’
Sasha dropped her head for a moment. Then she stood. ‘Take me to Tarkik.’
‘Is that all?’ the elf demanded. ‘You trust her?’
‘This is Penny White,’ Sasha replied. ‘In all her doings, time and again, she has proven herself trustworthy. Her promise is all I need. And the same is true for the rest of you.’
‘No pressure,’ Morey murmured into my ear. ‘I hope you know what you’re doing.’
So did I. But I had hopes that the safe return of a nuclear submarine and her crew might buy these immigrants their freedom. There were mutterings from her fellow citizens, but no one moved to follow us as humans, gryphon, and merwoman left the central area.
My iPhone was handed back to me at the entrance area. I sent Sue a quick text. Let Midlands WaterWorld know that we’re coming with Sasha. Best to clear the area around the orca pool.
The response was almost immediate. WaterWorld closed today. Clear for Raven to land.
The fact that she knew the search dragon’s name made my neck prickle. I dismissed my unease. Perhaps I’d mentioned him at some point. Abigail disappeared through a side door, and the guards escorted us off the premises.
Raven was seated outside, muzzle turned up to the warm sun. As he caught sight of Sasha, he stood so quickly that I heard bones creak. ‘They said you’d have legs. My sorrow for your sorrow.’
‘Hrafn.’
The merwoman strode across the courtyard to his side. ‘It was a necessary sacrifice. One of us had to be able to walk, climb, and drive. We’d hoped to have Tarkik in the sea by now, making his way through a crossing point so his pod would release Abella.’
With a gentleness I’d rarely seen in the dragon, Raven lowered his head to touch her shoulder. ‘You won’t be able to rejoin the shoal. Penny will know where I can take you.’
‘I’ll work something out,’ I said, wondering how many promises I’d have to make in one morning. ‘For now, we need to go to Midlands WaterWorld.’
‘Good.’ Raven lowered himself to the ground. ‘Watch how Penny climbs up to my neck, Sasha. I’m certain you can do even better.’
‘Thanks,’ I said drily. I had to admit that, for someone who’d had a tail until very recently, the merwoman seemed to be very comfortable with her legs. When I was in my usual place, she backed away and made a running jump, landing neatly on two feet behind me. A moment later she’d lowered herself into a space between two spines, bunching the white dress up against her chest.
Raven treated us to a smooth take-off. As he ducked us through several crossing places, he continued to fly steadily, abandoning his usual dramatics. I wondered if this were for Sasha’s sake although, whenever I glanced behind me, she seemed to be enjoying the ride.
We emerged over the motorway near Midlands WaterWorld. The visitors’ car park was empty. No doubt the place was losing a good chunk of money by the enforced closure, but I felt no sympathy. If I had the power, I would shut down any organisation which held marine life in captivity.
Raven’s wings pounded as he slowly lowered us into the space between the last bleacher and the barrier surrounding the pool. I climbed down and turned to see if Sasha required any assistance. The merwoman jumped to the nearby steps, landing on feet and hands.
Mundo, or as I knew better now, Tarkik, was resting near the gate which separated him from the other orca. As Sasha hurried over the bridge to the stage, the orca stirred. He swam over to the shallow blue ledge near the end of the platform. Sasha stopped a distance away, her bare feet stopping just past puddles of water.