by M S C Barnes
Struggling to talk now, Aelfric turned on the bed and, wincing with pain, leant back against the headboard. It was a few moments before he could speak again.
“When I understood what the wolves intended, I had no alternative. I couldn’t see you — or any of our friends — suffer or even die. So I tried to pull the influence, and the injury onto me, intending afterwards, to use the wolves to heal myself more slowly. They, however, were now caught in a dilemma; they needed to save you but were unwilling to allow harm to me. The whole pack resisted me; battling to transfer the injury away from us both. It took almost all my strength and willpower to stop them.” He paused to catch his breath.
“The second time it happened, Seb, so many of our friends were near us and, therefore, in danger. I very nearly wasn’t able to stop the transfer to one of them. I was weakened and the wolves’ instinct so strong.” He shook his head. “You and I, and all the group, owe a debt of gratitude to Zach. When that third attack came I was so slow to react and, if I am honest, I doubt I would have had the strength to overpower the wolves again. Zach bought you time to understand your own ability to protect yourself before you suffered a further injury.”
Seb didn’t speak. He watched the spreading patch of blood on Aelfric’s side and the small dot of blood that had now appeared in the centre of his chest, unwilling to accept that he couldn’t use the wolves to help this man.
Pace had leapt onto the bed and Aelfric put a hand on his back, keeping the other on Cue. “I can use the wolves to heal myself,” he said, quietly. “But when I use them, I instantly feel their need to take the injuries from me. The diluted power of just two of them is sufficient to aid my recovery, but I cannot risk using more — or allowing you to. I do not have the strength to stop them transferring these wounds onto another. Seb,” he said, giving a small smile, “I will be fine. Their power works quickly and I can draw it into me to help me heal. It will take a while though, because I am having to use some of my strength to temper their instincts. But an hour or so and I will be as good as new.” His green eyes had lost their usual sparkle and his face looked drawn. “Now, could you ask Greg to please come and see me.”
Seb dithered for a moment. He had believed he could do something worthwhile and undo what his own, pathetic ignorance and self-doubt had caused. But Aelfric had shown him that wasn’t possible. He gazed once more at the blood-soaked towels and shirt and then spoke firmly.
“I’ll get Greg,” he said and Aelfric nodded. “But I will also deal with all the trespassing souls between now and dawn. And if you are not better by then, I will deal with them until the Restoration.”
Aelfric gazed at him, weighing up what he had said.
“Are you sufficiently recovered from the asrai soul Seb?” he asked.
Seb felt a stab of depression but then forced himself to remember the pinpoint of light. He gave a stiff nod. “Yes,” he said.
Aelfric smiled weakly. “An hour. Give me an hour. That will be enough for the wounds to heal,” he said.
Seb, although nervous about what he was committing to, also felt relieved that Aelfric had accepted. He smiled back awkwardly. “I’ll get Greg then,” he said.
“Thank you,” Aelfric answered and laying his head back against the headboard, closed his eyes.
Coincidence?
Dom was waiting outside the door when Seb opened it.
“Well?” he asked, but knew, instantly he looked at Seb’s face, that things hadn’t gone as hoped.
“He says he just needs time,” Seb mumbled.
Dom looked saddened then gave a brusque nod. As Seb took a step away from the door he stopped him.
“These attacks,” he muttered and shook his head as though dismayed. Then, straightening his shoulders he said, “To cause such harm in such a way takes incredible acumen and ability. Do you need additional help with your defence?”
Seb realised he hadn’t given another thought to trying to defend himself from a further attack. All around him he could see the auras of the group members and it seemed that this reminder was sufficient to shore up his belief in the power of his own aura to protect him. But then, maybe the soul who was attacking him had simply given up for a while?
“I’m not sure,” he replied, honestly. “It might be that I have managed to stop another attack, but it might be that the person hasn’t tried again.”
“Yes, it might be either,” Dom said. “Do not underestimate yourself young Seb.” He smiled. “But, better to be safe. I will just take this to Aelfric,” he showed Seb a small bottle containing an ochre coloured powder, “and then, while we have time, let us see what else we can do to firstly protect you and, secondly track down this attacker.”
“Aelfric asked me to get Greg,” Seb said.
“All right then; you go and ask him to tend to Aelfric,” Dom said, handing Seb the bottle, “while I fetch a few books.” The answer to everything, for Dom, seemed to lie in books. So like Aiden, Seb thought, wandering over to Greg.
Greg started as Seb and Alice approached. He had been so deep in thought he had not noticed until Seb was right by his elbow. Now he turned and stared up at him, looking miserable, then he gave a deep sigh and put his head in his hands.
“What have I done?” he whispered.
“What you thought was right,” Seb said, sitting down beside him.
“I nearly got him killed! Zach, my sister, you…” his voice trailed off.
“We’re all still here,” Seb said and Alice smiled.
“I just didn’t realise what would happen if Aelfric had no conscious awareness. I was so stupid.” Greg looked up at him, bewildered and then stared into the fire. “The asrais, having no Custodian to guide them, stopped piloting the boat. That’s why it hit the rocks. There was nothing we could do to prevent it. Dierne tried calling you, but he couldn’t get through.” Greg looked questioningly at Alice, who shook his head.
“Where we were, I couldn’t communicate with him or any Dryads,” he said.
Greg turned back to Seb. “What if you hadn’t come when you did? What if Zach hadn’t been able to free Trudy? What if Zach had drowned? And what if Aelfric or you, or both of you…” Unable to continue, he buried his face in his hands again.
Greg, Seb realised, was determined to damn himself. He recognised that tendency towards self-blame and guilt; they were familiar feelings to him. However, he rarely, if ever, saw them in other members of the groups.
“I can’t remember properly what Aelfric said.” Seb frowned, trying to recall the exact words. “But it was something like: there are a million ‘ifs’ in any event. You shouldn’t dwell on them. You have to focus only on what actually did happen.” Greg looked up again, his eyes wide. “And what did happen,” Seb continued, “is that you tried to give Aelfric the time and rest he needed to heal. What also happened is that we all got back here safely.” Greg looked shocked.
Now Seb stood up and holding the bottle of powder out to Greg, spoke quietly, “You know Aelfric won’t judge you; he will only appreciate what you tried to do for him.” Greg appeared lost for words. “He asked to see you. I think he is worried about you. He doesn’t need that — to worry, I mean.”
Greg blinked a couple of times and then, as if mentally dusting himself off, he grunted.
“Yes, right. Yes. Mm, goldenseal root,” he read the label on the bottle, “I will get this to him. Should help stop the bleeding.” Seb nodded. “Okay then,” Greg said and wandered off towards the bedroom door. He paused outside momentarily and suddenly Dierne zoomed through the door. He placed an arm across Greg’s shoulders and Greg lowered his head. After a moment, Dierne opened the door and, with his arm still around Greg, escorted him through. The door closed quietly behind them.
“That was nice of you,” Alice said, smiling.
“I know how it feels to believe you have let everyone down. And he was just doing what he could for Aelfric,” Seb said. “It’s not his fault it went wrong.”
They made
their way around to Nat, who had been watching them all through the fire.
“Whatever you said helped.” She smiled at Seb as he approached.
“I hope so,” Seb said. “He only did what he thought was best.”
“I know,” Nat sighed. “When Dierne called for help, he told us what Greg had done. But without you or Aelfric, we can’t make doors appear, so we couldn’t get to them. Dierne tried to call you Alice, and so did I,” she said, turning to him, “but we couldn’t contact you. What happened? she asked, turning back to Seb. “Were you in trouble?”
“No, not really,” Seb answered. “We don’t know why, but where we were, Aiden couldn’t read anything in his tin and Alice couldn’t communicate with anyone silently.” Alice nodded. “Once we moved a bit Aiden’s map worked again, so he was able to find us a door,” Seb continued. “When we went through, we found the boat, stranded on the rocks. Trudy was trapped, and Dierne and Greg couldn’t move Aelfric.” He suppressed the urge to tell every detail. “Fortunately, other than Aelfric’s boat being wrecked, everyone’s okay.”
“Well, it’s good you got there when you did then,” Nat looked relieved. Then she frowned. “Where were you?”
“Hellfire Caves,” Seb said. “It’s where the door took us, to deal with a gytrash.”
Zach bounded up to them, wearing a blue hoodie over a jumper, jeans and some canvas shoes.
“What do you think? The Caretaker hasn’t got anything to wear other than these blasted hoodies and jeans. Still, better this get-up than Trudy’s stuff!” Zach snorted.
Seb was surprised at how well The Caretaker’s clothes fitted Zach. He had grown a few inches in height in the last few months and was now around six feet tall. The trousers and top were a bit tight, where Zach’s frame was muscular compared to The Caretaker’s slender one, but other than that, they could have been made for him.
Zach didn’t wait for anyone’s opinion on his clothing though. “Where’ve you all been anyway Nat?” he said. “You guys have been gone ages. Did you find anything? Where’s the eeevil person who’s been using Voodoo?”
“We couldn’t find them,” Nat sighed. She glanced up as Dom, Aiden and Scarlet joined them. Dom carried a few heavy books in his arms. Aiden brought his own, tattered book and was just finishing telling Scarlet about sympathetic influence. They settled on the next bench seat and Scarlet gave Seb a worried look. Zach perched on the plinth as Trudy and The Caretaker also came over, Trudy hobbling quite badly. The Caretaker handed out drinks to everyone.
“So did you manage to find this attacker Nat?” Scarlet asked.
Nat shook her head. “No,” she answered. “I was just telling Zach. We were so hopeful at first. When we got to the woods around the cottage and the school, I could definitely feel what I had felt before, the presence of something dark. It was faint and unclear, but still there; like a residual track. Then we went to your home and I could feel the same thing outside the house. But I was only able to follow it to the next door house, strangely to the area around the fish pond in the garden, where it weakened and I lost it. Dom could see nothing on his map and I had no idea how to trace where it had gone. So we went back to the woods, hoping that, because I had felt it a few times there, rather than leading us to where this person had gone, it might lead us to where they had come from, and so help us find out who it is.” She shivered. “And we were right. Because I now knew what I was looking for, I was able to tune in to the dark trail more easily and backtrack it.”
“It led us to the school, ” Dom said, frowning. “To The Lake, outside the main corridor.”
“What?” Zach demanded. “What does that mean?”
Dom’s frown deepened and he looked at Zach from under his silver-grey eyebrows. “We don’t know,” he muttered.
Over-dramatically, Zach threw his arms in the air. “Oh great. So you spent all that time on your little exped and all it did was lead you back to the school? You still don’t know who this is?”
“There is more, Zach,” The Caretaker said, moving to stand next to him. They looked striking, side by side, wearing the same clothing — one with dark skin and eyes and tightly-curled, short black hair, staring with annoyance at Dom; the other with pale skin and eyes and glossy long black hair, looking calmly at the gathering.
“Well I would hope so,” Zach said, sitting back down. “Go on then.”
It was Nat who continued. “While we were at the school,” she said, sadly, “I felt the next attack on you Seb.” She turned to him, looking hurt. “It was cruel and vicious.” She shook her head. “But as bad as that was, it gave us some help. It acted like a flare in the night. When Dom opened his map, he was able to see the source of it; it came from the area of Camberley —”
“We have just been in West Wycombe!” Aiden squeaked.
Dom raised his eyebrows. “That is strange,” he said, his droning voice making him sound bored rather than curious. “Where in West Wycombe?” He looked keenly at Aiden.
“Hellfire Caves,” Aiden squeaked again. “And my map didn’t work and Alice couldn’t communicate with anyone. Hellfire Caves!” he repeated. Everyone around the fire, other than these two, looked confused. “The obelisk and the church of St Lawrence?” Aiden looked at them all as if what he was getting at was plain to see. Dom was rubbing his chin, frowning in contemplation. “It can’t be coincidence!” Aiden announced.
“What can’t?” Scarlet asked. “None of us know what you are talking about Aiden.”
Now he blushed. He looked at Dom but Dom was leafing through one of the books, having cast the others onto the floor at his feet. Losing confidence, Aiden stammered, “Maybe I am wrong. Maybe, maybe it is a coincidence? Doesn’t matter,” Aiden said. “Go on Nat. Sorry I interrupted.” He hung his head.
Looking confused, Nat smiled kindly at him then continued.
“Well, after Aelfric dealt with a trespassing soul, before returning to you all, he helped us through to Camberley and we have spent the last couple of hours in that area trying to track Seb’s attacker. The darkness was really strong there, but I just couldn’t locate the source.” She sounded crestfallen. “Every time I thought I was close, I lost it. Then, an hour or so ago, I felt the darkness grow, like another attack was about to happen — but it faded abruptly before I could pinpoint where it had come from. Maybe we weren’t in the right place?” She looked at Aiden and then at Dom.
“Is Camberley near Hellfire Caves then?” Scarlet was trying to understand Aiden’s point. “Do you think the fact that your map didn’t work and Alice couldn’t communicate means this attacker was in Hellfire Caves? If it’s close by?”
“It’s not that close.” Aiden had lost all his confidence. “It’s about twenty-one miles away.”
“Twenty-one? Not about fifteen or twenty Aiden? Twenty-one?” Zach said, chuckling. “How do you know that?”
“I just do,” Aiden said, glumly. “And the only reason I thought there might be a link is because above Hellfire Caves is the church of St Lawrence. The church has a big, golden ball on top of it.” That brought a snigger from Zach. “The ball is hollow and big enough to hold up to ten people,” Aiden carried on. “It was put there by Sir Francis Dashwood, who was responsible for having the caves excavated. They’re man-made you know?” No-one did. “Well, there is a theory that he had the ball put on top of the church as a beacon and it could be seen, twenty-one miles away, in Camberley, from the Camberley Obelisk, a tower erected by John Norris, Dashwood’s friend. Apparently, the two used to signal each other from the church and the obelisk. That’s all. I thought it might be significant, but it probably isn’t …” Aiden’s voice trailed off.
“If you believe it to be significant, Aiden, then it is significant.” Aelfric, un-noticed by them all, had emerged from the bedroom and, with his hand on Cue’s back was making his way to the fire, accompanied by Greg and Dierne.
It was a moment before Seb realised — his palm was aching. He stood.
“I h
ave to go,” he said, silently, to Alice.
“Oh? Again Seb?” Alice asked and he nodded.
“Seb,” Aelfric called to him and Seb wondered if he was about to renege on their agreement. Only twenty minutes or so of the hour had passed. Aelfric did look slightly better than before, but not much.
“I said I would do it,” Seb said. “You agreed.”
“I know, Seb,” Aelfric frowned. “And I know you can feel the sign but, can you not feel anything else?”
Seb didn’t know what he was talking about. The ache in his palm was steadily increasing, but that was all.
“I do,” Greg spoke firmly.
“So do I,” Nat said, standing beside Seb and putting a hand on his arm. “I feel the darkness.”
Seb felt nothing but the pain in his hand.
“Look at the boys,” Zach said, pointing to Pace who had followed Aelfric out of the bedroom and now stood beside Cue. The wolves’ hackles were up and Cue was sniffing and snorting.
“Seb, you need to be prepared,” Aelfric said urgently, as Seb suddenly felt a lurch in the pit of his stomach and a wave of sadness washed over him. Overwhelmed with sorrow, he became disinterested in anything around him.
He felt two pairs of hands grab him by the arms and now he could hear Zach chanting.
“Bubble, bubble, bubble,” he repeated again and again in Seb’s ear.
Trudy was holding Seb’s other arm, and she was muttering the word to herself too.
“Seb,” Alice shouted into his head. “Protect yourself. You know what will follow.” And those words were sufficient to make Seb realise the danger. Encapsulated within Zach and Trudy’s auras, his mind was suddenly clear. He looked up at Aelfric, who had stopped and gazed calmly back at him, as if he knew Seb was able to do what was required. Seb smiled, feeling sure Aelfric was right. Quickly, he visualised his own aura and focussed on making it an impenetrable wall. From deep inside him he felt a surge of energy and the holds Zach and Trudy had on his arms were broken, their hands thrown off him. The flames in the fire leapt as if struck by a sudden, strong gust of wind. The sadness had gone and Seb stood, feeling the energy of his soul sending out radiating waves in all directions.