The Five Tors

by Benjamin Ford

  Rob sighed with relief. ‘Well then, I don’t see the danger.’

  ‘I can sense that this being has decided the only way to prevent Apollyon’s rebirth is to remove the Custodian and the Chosen One from the equation.’

  Rob’s face fell. ‘By removing us, you mean killing us!’

  Lilly nodded. ‘I would think that’s a logical assumption. We must prove to this being that our deaths are unnecessary.’

  ‘How do we do that?’

  Dolores and Lilly faced Rob together and spoke as one. ‘I am the Custodian; you are the Chosen One. We three must seek out this being and reason with him. That is what we must do.’

  ‘I think the being has just found us!’ muttered Rob, pointing over the shoulders of the two women.

  As they turned to find Jonathan standing in the hallway behind them, Rob suddenly found his mind linked by more than tenuous threads of thought to those of both Lilly and Dolores. They stood together as one, facing Jonathan, staring at his brightly shining eyes, each looking through their own eyes, each looking through the eyes of the other two. Rob felt a little dizzy from the sudden juxtaposition of his field of vision, but the joint mental strength of the Custodian calmed him.

  Rob knew he could not let his frail human emotions interfere with the plane of collective consciousness he was now a part of. Somewhere deep in the recesses of his singular mind, he allowed himself a brief flash of remorse directed towards Jonathan. He hoped his friend would not be harmed, but knew in the scheme of things that it no longer mattered.

  His face, like those of the Custodian, remained impassive and cold as they three spoke as one.

  ‘You know who we are. Kindly identify yourself.’

  I am Deiform!

  The voice boomed out all around them, enveloping them in its reverberation. It came from Jonathan, yet he had not opened his mouth.

  ‘Apollyon’s twin!’ gasped Rob incredulously as the Custodian shared the truth with him.

  That is so!

  ‘That is not possible,’ crowed the Custodian/Chosen One imperiously. ‘Deiform was destroyed by His brother in the Dark Twilight, an entire century before Apollyon’s defeat. I know… the original Custodian was there, and I share her memories. I witnessed His death, His body shattered into a million fragments, the pieces scattered to the four corners of the Earth.’

  In his mind’s eye, Rob shared the mental image of the Custodian’s memory.

  You should know better than that, Custodian! Like my brother, I cannot be killed.

  ‘I am aware of that, but when you did not return to aid us in the Final Battle, we feared you were lost to us forever. You have not made your presence known to me at any point since then, so it was assumed Apollyon had indeed slain you.’

  I was thrown out of time itself. I have been recovering my strength, and it is only because the situation is grave that I have returned now. My persona is not yet fully reformed. I have one fragment left to reclaim, trapped in the body of a man who is lost with the mind of a child. He will be freed and I shall be whole again with the prevention of the awakening, but to prevent Apollyon’s return, I must first destroy the Custodian and the Chosen One.

  ‘You cannot possibly believe that our death is the only way to defeat Apollyon!’ cried the Custodian. ‘Death must be the final alternative, when all other hope is lost.’

  If Apollyon should be freed from His prison then all hope shall be lost. The world as you know it will cease to exist in the blinking of an eye. He will snuff out all life without a second thought. I cannot allow that.

  ‘Killing us would make you no better than your brother, Deiform. You cannot justify three-fold murder to defeat Him when it can be achieved in a number of ways without our deaths.’

  Through Jonathan’s eyes, Deiform regarded the trio, uncertain for a moment, and the Custodian/Chosen One seized the opportunity to drive home their plea.

  ‘You know we speak the truth,’ Dolores, Lilly and Rob uttered as one. ‘Remember who we are. Reach back with all the strength of your mind. Recall the Dark Twilight and beyond. Do you not remember the creation of the Custodian? It was ordained that the Custodian alone would defeat Apollyon in the Final Battle, and that with the coming of the Chosen One on the Night of Madness, the combined might of the Custodian and the Chosen One would defeat Apollyon once more.’

  Deiform nodded, speaking for the first time through Jonathan’s lips. ‘I remember. The Chosen One is the catalyst through which the Custodian must channel her powers by the use of the original incantation that entombed Apollyon in the first place. It is almost certain to cause the death of the Chosen One, but you know there is no guarantee of success.’ He pointed to Dolores. ‘Your own death is necessary to fulfill the prophecy, in order to transfer the incantation to your successor, your daughter, and in that moment, Apollyon could gain access to those mystical words. One, if not both of you would be dead, and possibly the Chosen One too, and even then there is still more than a slim chance that Apollyon would yet gain His rebirth.’

  He shook his head sadly. ‘It saddens me to say, but the only way to prevent that happening is to kill the three of you now.’

  ‘There is only a risk of failure if the Chosen One remains a disbeliever,’ said Dolores, breaking the link with the others. She stepped closer to Jonathan. ‘Rob is no longer of that mindset. He has been shown memories from the past, has indeed witnessed things first hand with his own eyes. He is a firm believer now. Whether he survives or not, his sacrifice will not be enough to enable Apollyon’s resurrection.’

  ‘And if you were to help us, we would have even more chance of succeeding in our task,’ added Lilly, coming forward to stand at her mother’s side. ‘There’s no need to kill us.’

  Deiform sat in judgment on their words.

  The Custodian waited, breath held in anticipation.

  Rob came forward. ‘We still have a couple of days left. We can use that time to help you search for the missing fragment of your persona. I have a hunch about who it could be, though I could be wrong.’

  ‘Very well. I shall allow you to live… for the moment.’

  ‘So we can win then,’ gasped Rob with a grin, which evaporated when he saw Dolores shake her head.

  ‘All may yet be in vain, Rob. You should know by now that where destiny is concerned, there are no guarantees!’

  Eleven

  Chosen One

  In the forty-eight hours since making his presence known to the Custodian and the Chosen One, Deiform had lapsed into silence, a stillness that worried both Lilly and Dolores, and unnerved Rob. The being which inhabited Jonathan’s body, however temporarily that might prove to be, had agreed to help them in their task, agreeing also not to interfere in their plans until the last moment. However, after such vociferous protestations of the plan being doomed to failure, the Custodian could only wonder whether Deiform could be entirely trusted to keep to the bargain.

  True, He would not switch allegiance to His brother, but if He so chose He could snuff out their lives Himself, extinguish all three of them from existence with a single thought. The fact that He had not did not in anyway assuage their fear, because ultimately, having been there at the very creation of the original Custodian and the proclamation of the prophecy, Deiform should have known the plan had more chance of success than failure. That He had issued a stay of execution did not mean He would not go ahead with His own plan.

  He sat still and silent in Jonathan’s body within the library, cross-legged upon the floor. Though His eyes were closed, His senses were acutely attuned to all that went on within the house, and everything that happened close by in the village and beneath.

  In Deiform’s state of absolute silence, His mind shut off from contact with the Custodian, even Rob wondered whether it was possible that He was in communication with Apollyon, whose power could now be felt trembling beneath the ground. Ties of sibling loyalties were sometimes too strong to be ignored, as Rob knew from first hand experience. Not an ho
ur went by that he did not think of Gerry, subjugated to Val’s will, and he wondered too whether his own brother would be returned to normal with the defeat of Apollyon.

  Sibling rivalries could be the strongest bond or the weakest link, and if Deiform planned to betray them in any way, then He would soon make the grave mistake of betraying Himself.

  You cannot trust anyone, not your brother… not even your son!

  The prophetic words of warning echoed around Rob’s mind. He had a son, or at the very least a child… but he could not help but believe the secret lovechild he had unwittingly fathered with his half-sister was a son. Somewhere out there the poor lad was lost, abandoned by his mother. Rob wondered who might have taken the baby in, nurtured him, watched him grow into a fine strapping teenager. He wished that task had fallen to him. He had never once wanted children, happy with his lot in life. But now he knew he had a child he wanted to be there for him, watch out for him like any father would.

  He wanted to be a better father than his own had been – even though he now understood why his father had been such a cold tyrant towards him.

  He wanted his son to have a better upbringing than he had had, even though the child must now be twenty, and even though he had missed out on the formative years of his son’s life.

  Okay, he mused, I guess it could be a daughter.

  Which would he prefer? He found he did not really care. All he wanted was for the child to remain safe. But there seemed little chance of that happening the way things were going.

  If I survive this Night of Madness then I’m going to look for my child, try to make up for everything. My child will not go through what Gerry and I went through.

  Turning away from the library door, through which he had watched Jonathan in silence for the past twenty minutes, Rob returned to the sitting room where Lilly and Dolores poured over the few ancient texts they had salvaged from the cottage.

  ‘What about Gerry?’ he whispered as he sat beside them. ‘How do we rescue him from Val’s clutches?’

  ‘Should our plan succeed, then he’ll be released from the bonds of slavery that enshroud his mind,’ Dolores replied, glancing up from the texts. ‘And providing Deiform keeps His word, Gerry will remain safe. How is our guest anyway?’

  Rob sighed. ‘Still sitting on the library floor doing nothing. Can you read His thoughts yet?’

  Dolores shook her head. ‘It’s impossible. The secret I taught you about shielding your thoughts was originally taught to the first Custodian by Deiform Himself. He is the expert; I am but a novice. I sense some kind of deception on His part though. All I know for sure is that we must not rely solely on His support at the appointed hour tonight, and we must not let down our guard for even one second.’

  It was difficult for Rob to believe that Jonathan would betray them in any way, and Lilly picked up on his doubts.

  ‘It would be much easier if you stopped thinking of that person in the library as Jonathan Carson. To all intents and purposes, until this is over Jonathan has ceased to exist.’

  ‘Ceased to exist!’ exclaimed Rob in horror. ‘My God, you make it sound so final.’

  ‘If we fail then it will be final,’ said Dolores. ‘Terminal! So we must make every effort to succeed, and for that reason alone we cannot rely on or trust Deiform. If He thinks for one second that we are about to fail, He will kill us all without a second thought. Have no doubt about that.’

  Rob glanced at Dolores. The old woman did not seem to grasp the turmoil going on within his mind.

  Dolores smiled sadly. ‘Oh, I do understand, Rob. I understand because I experienced similar turmoil when I witnessed horrific events in the past.’

  ‘As do I,’ sighed Lilly with a tragic, wistful look. ‘When I found out what Stan was, I was horrified. I truly loved him, you see, and it shattered my heart to find he was Satan’s son. So we both understand your turmoil, and we share in it. We three are linked as one now, sharing each other’s thoughts and feelings, and we can but comfort one another. Jonathan will be returned, as I’m sure Gerry will be, but Stan can never be returned to me because he will always be Satan’s son.’

  Lilly could understand what he was going through, but Rob knew from the little he could read of her thoughts that she did not fully appreciate the enormity of his inner turmoil.

  Tonight was the Night of Madness, and since they had so far not discovered the identity and whereabouts of his child, Rob was going to die. Even if they found his lovechild, he would not be able to let anything happen to him, so he was still going to die.

  So many other people had died in the direct lead up to tonight, a chain of events that went back as far into his family’s past as his grandparents. Those he had loved openly and those he had loved secretly, and those he had not realised he had loved until it was too late; all had been taken from him, as he was to be taken from those who remained. He would give anything to have his loved ones back with him.

  I would sell my soul to the very devil himself to have them by my side once more.

  Rob did not know where that thought came from, unbidden and unwelcome.

  At the same moment, from beneath the house, the steady hum of supernatural energy that had been constant for the past week grew in strength until the room trembled.

  Rob, Lilly and Dolores leapt to their feet in alarm as the mini-earthquake shook the house, dislodging paintings from the walls, knocking over ornaments and sending the ancient texts skidding across the low coffee table until they tumbled onto the floor.

  A few seconds later, the shaking subsided once more and only the evil humming from deep beneath them remained.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ gasped Rob.

  With a frightening suddenness, the shaking and rumbling returned, much stronger than the last time, sending the three occupants of the sitting room sprawling. The chandelier above their heads tinkled ominously, showering them with crystal beads, and the large window pane cracked from corner to corner. Somewhere above, something fell over with a loud crash and plaster dust rained down from the ceiling.

  And then there was silence, no longer disturbed by the humming.

  It’s the calm before the storm, thought Rob as he helped Lilly and Dolores to their feet.

  ‘There is in our midst a traitor,’ called Deiform from the doorway. He stood staring at the three of them through Jonathan’s eyes. ‘Apollyon draws strength from the treachery of the traitor!’

  Lilly and Dolores glanced at one another. If what Deiform had said was true then He had betrayed Himself with His deceptive honesty. If there were a traitor within the walls of Naghene Hall, it could only be Deiform Himself. Neither Custodian would ally themselves to Apollyon, and if Rob had betrayed them, linked to their minds as he was, any betrayal on his part would be instantly felt.

  So, Deiform had made His fatal mistake and had betrayed His own betrayal.

  Now that Lilly and Dolores knew for certain He could not be trusted, they could prepare themselves.

  When Deiform suddenly grinned, the unexpected expression on Jonathan’s face confounded the Custodian. ‘You believe it to be me?’

  ‘Well, who else could it be?’ demanded Lilly frostily as Deiform laughed. She could not understand what was so amusing.

  ‘There is another alternative that none here has considered.’

  ‘What this thing inside Jonathan means,’ sighed Rob as he fully understood what Deiform inferred, ‘is that the four of us are not alone in this house!’

  * * *

  The two monstrous beasts, though both hairy of body and sharp of claw, could not have been more different from each other. The one that had once been Dr Val Hide-Guest still maintained an elegant feminine poise despite the bestial appearance. Her contours remained female and she moved with a grace that belied her true nature.

  That which had at one time been Stan O’Nass, on the other hand, snarled and snapped viciously at any of the Apollyonites foolish enough to step too close. His elongated jaw-line sali
vated sadistically, dripping globules of sputum into an ever-growing puddle around his feet.

  For the best part of the past three days, the coven had secreted themselves within the cavern that lay far beneath Naghene Hall, chanting quietly, offering their souls to their Great Lord, Apollyon, whose presence could be felt in the very air they breathed.

  He grew stronger with every passing moment, feeding off the loyalty of His subjects, taking sustenance from their all consuming fears, and augmenting His slowly returning strength by sapping the energy of the Chosen One in the house far above.

  The Chosen One was a potent source of nourishment indeed. Apollyon could not read his thoughts for talismans, much more robust than He yet had the strength to shatter, guarded them; but there was fear in that mind, tempered with hatred, anger and love, all emotions that strengthened the energy Apollyon drew from him.

  Oh how He would enjoy feeding upon the draining lifeblood of the Chosen One on the Night of Madness.

  As His strength increased, He flexed His muscles within His prison, causing localized earth tremors in the cavern, and He laughed as His minions scurried around, squealing in their fear.

  Oh how He would make them all do more than just squeal with fear when He was finally free. He would feast indeed tonight.

  Bestial Val, too, drew amusement from the terror a mere earth tremor caused within the coven. A large chunk of rock fell from the roof of the cave, smashing down upon her furry head. It left barely a bruise and she did not even notice. All around her, the others dived for cover as rock fragments of varying size rained down; the shaking ground made it almost impossible for them to maintain their footing, and she laughed as some fell to their knees, shielding their fragile heads with ineffective hands.

  When the ground ceased its shaking and the dust settled, Val’s guttural laughter and her brother’s growling were the only sounds audible above the whimpering of the coven members still conscious.