by M S C Barnes
done tonight. I want the honour of having my place with you and Dierne in this task.”
“Thanks for that!” Zach mumbled, craning his neck round to glare at Alice. Alice shrugged.
“You were pretty good too, Zach.” He smiled.
“Seb,” Mr West interrupted. “I am sorry to scupper this neat plan but you are now, it would seem, our sole remaining Custodian. If one of the other three should weaken, slip, succumb to pressure, then you would all be trapped and then where would the groups be? We need a Custodian.”
Seb had no answer. Having geared himself up to undertake this monumental responsibility he was at a loss at the thought of now being denied the chance to do it. And Dierne’s words rang in his head. He had been the one to kill Mr Duir and, as if that burden of guilt weren’t enough, he had also, it seemed, damned his noble soul. So now the debt he owed that soul was to ensure that the seal was never broken. He knew beyond doubt he could trust Dierne to do everything within his power not to break it. Zach he knew, out of sheer stubbornness, would never transgress! Alice? Well, Alice was his twin and he had already seen the power of that bonding – for good or ill. Alice would do right by them all.
So, taking the pliers from Mr West’s hand, he said, “I killed him. I damned him. I cannot leave anyone else to finish the job he wanted doing. If Nature likes balance, then Nature will see to it that you always have a Custodian.” With that, he knelt on the hard ground. He couldn’t see what he was doing, the fog was so dense he had to feel for the bands that joined the four segments of the knot. He was relieved to find that they were obvious just by feeling with his fingertips. Placing the teeth of the pliers on one of the bars, he twisted his hand and the silver metal end snipped off. He caught it with his other hand, stuffed it in his pocket and, handing the pliers to Alice with a small smile, walked away.
Before Alice could move, however, The Caretaker approached him. The look of upset and pain on those delicate features was heartbreaking and Seb realised they had all disregarded this person, who was actually the only remaining member of Heath’s original group.
In a voice racked with emotion The Caretaker said to Alice, “They were my brothers, Heath and Braddock. I worked for centuries in communion with them. I have since worked with Aelfric.
“I have been betrayed by two and trusted and respected by the third. I would like to repay all three in the way they deserve.” Reaching a hand towards the pliers The Caretaker waited for Alice to respond.
Alice gave it a moment’s thought and then, handing the pliers to The Caretaker, smiled and flitted over to join Seb.
The Caretaker spoke to Zach and Dierne. “Will you accept me?”
“Gosh this is getting needlessly dramatic,” Zach sighed. “Come on board!” He smiled cheekily. Dierne simply nodded.
The Caretaker turned to Seb. “And you?”
“Of course,” he answered.
Everyone watched in silence as The Caretaker, kneeling in the fog, clipped the next bond and then placed the metal remnant into a pocket of the blue hoodie, stood up and offered the pliers to Zach. Zach took the tool, knelt and paused. His head only just appeared over the top of the rising fog. He smiled at Scarlet, then, out of sight beneath the fog there was a clipping sound. He stood up, walked over to her and, with a bow, lifted her hand and kissed it. Then, turning it over, placed the piece of metal in her palm, the white jewel glowing in the flamer light. Scarlet stared at him and then slipped her hand in her pocket.
Finally came Dierne. Zach gave him the tool and in a split second he had knelt and snapped off the final bar. Instantly the fog around them disappeared, revealing the lustrous gleam of the silver Shield Knot and the sparkling of the tiny crystals in the sandy earth around the inlaid stone.
Thrusting the pliers into Mr West’s hand, Dierne flitted over to Mr Duir’s body, holding the piece of silver metal tightly in his fist. He didn’t look up.
Everyone seemed a bit uncertain as to what to do now.
Zach asked, “I guess it worked then – that fog disappeared. I am assuming that was Braddock?”
Mr West agreed. “Yes it has worked. There is no reason why it would not. And now they are trapped.”
The mood of the gathering became more sombre at that thought. The job was done, and Aelfric Duir, along with the two hateful souls of Braddock and Heath, was now damned to spend eternity in that black void.
Concealment
As if sensing that they were no longer needed, the wolf-stags, with the exception of Cue, padded away, disappearing into the darkness.
And now Mr West said, “I know of only one other occasion when the Shield Knot was used and the parts hidden so well that none have ever discovered their location …”
He was about to continue but Aiden interrupted.
“If it has been used before it can’t have worked. Braddock was able to get out.”
Mr West shook his head, his jowls wobbling. “The Shield is an individual binding, not a securing of the Soul Drop itself.”
“So it is a lock against Braddock … well, Braddock and Heath. So can Mr Duir come back out?” Scarlet asked.
Again the dwarf gave a shake of his head.
“Scarlet, it is the event that has been warded. They were all part of a simultaneous banishment and it is that point in time, that specific event that the Shield protects. It prevents the undoing of that.”
Seb felt guilty again. Because he had dealt the blow to all three souls in unity, they were now an inseparable part of the same banishment. It gave a partial answer to a nagging doubt he had too with regard to the gytrash souls and the multitude of bats he had consigned to the void. Ordinarily, these souls would surely have been returned to Áberan, but for responding to a summons Seb had unwittingly sent, they had received a penalty above what was normal. He felt sorry for them. Knowing that Braddock had been able to escape the Soul Drop he had hoped, in the back of his mind, that these souls could be released and dealt with correctly.
“The gytrash souls, the bats from before, can we set them free then?” he asked.
A puzzled look crossed Mr West’s face but it was Miss West who challenged.
“Why would you even want to?”
“They weren’t meant to be banished there, were they? I mean, the Soul Drop is for souls beyond redemption, isn’t it? Surely we can’t leave those other souls in there just because at the time I was too … well, dumb, to send them anywhere else?”
The teachers were silent. Dierne watched in interest.
“Seb, does it really matter?” Zach asked.
“Yes it does,” he answered. “It really matters. It would be unfair for those souls to spend eternity in there for doing no more than lots of others have done!”
The teachers exchanged awkward glances.
“So Aelfric was right,” The Caretaker eventually said.
Mr West nodded. “He was.” He looked at Seb. “Seb, Aelfric was the most noble and fairest of souls it has been my fortune to meet, and I have met a few.” He beckoned to Mr White who joined him. “And it was Aelfric’s view that above all a Custodian must care. They must care about all the souls, the good, the misguided, the wayward. He lived by that creed because he believed that if you care, you will do to them what their actions require you to do, not what you want to do.”
Mr White asked Aiden for his tin as Mr West continued.
“Aelfric said that your doubt in yourself came from your fear of doing the wrong thing. That was why he believed you would be a Custodian of note, you would strive to do the right thing, not the easy thing. I suppose you have just proved his point!” He smiled. “And in answer to your question, sadly no. Remember this, those souls did more than simply trespass. They attacked the Custodian, they tried to invade a Custodian body. It may not have been by choice that they came here, but to attack the Custodian was by choice. The punishment is sound.”
Seb nodded and now realised just how much Mr Duir seemed to have championed h
im to the doubting members of his own group. He looked at the lifeless body until Mr White coughed gently. He had opened his tin.
“There is a door there.” He pointed to the stone behind Seb. “Seb, it is the Custodian’s will, dictated by a need, as I am sure you have gathered, that decides the location to which a door leads. You will now enable each of the others who broke the seals to travel to a place, only known to them, where they will leave their piece of the knot and return.”
Seb nodded as The Caretaker approached the door.
Mr West said, “Seb, you have to will that the door opens where The Caretaker desires.” He turned to The Caretaker. “Morgan, tell Dierne when you are ready to return.”
The Caretaker nodded. Seb waved his arm, hoping the door would lead to where The Caretaker wanted to go. He watched as the wood panels and silver knob materialised in the monolith.
Opening the door, The Caretaker walked through. They all waited. Moments later Dierne said, “Open it.”
Seb opened the door and the hooded figure stepped through.
Repeating this once more with Scarlet, hiding Zach’s piece and sending her message through Alice that she was ready to return, everyone then waited as Dierne, having no use for a door, flitted away, returning minutes later to sit beside Mr Duir.
Now all that remained was for Seb to conceal his own part of the knot.
Making the door reappear, he took hold of the knob and felt a well of sadness inside himself as he twisted it. Giving a push he walked