Strangeness and Charm: The Courts of the Feyre (38 page)

  "The void," I said.

  "Yes!" said Gregor. "We exist in the void between universes. True magic is the borrowing of energy from these planes, bringing new energy, new matter, into the void. What we call our universe is a scratch, a blemish, on the heart of reality. Aeons from now it will be absorbed back into the four planes, but for a while, all that we know exists."

  "You can't bring things from another universe," said Blackbird.

  "They are not universes like our universe," Gregor said, "and not bring, only borrow. All that is taken must be returned. We are a vibration in space-time, and that vibration can be tuned so that it resonates with the planes beyond. With skill, we can sing to the universe and it will join us in our song. We can become giants."

  He went to the centre of the apse and sketched the six symbols in the air above each mark on the slabs. When he sketched the sixth symbol, the circle with the four lobes fell into a deep lightless hole in the stone. "This is where it was kept."

  "Where what was kept?" asked Blackbird.

  Gregor came to kneel again beside the hole and put his arm into it, as if he could not quite believe it had gone. His arm vanished where it entered the hole as if he was dipping into the blackest oil.

  "An orb," he said. "Older than the pyramids; it was brought here from Egypt long ago, but it did not come from there. Perhaps it fell from the heavens, or was stolen from the Gods."

  "What does it do?" asked Blackbird.

  "Do?" said Gregor. "It does not do. It simply is."

  "Let me put that another way," said Blackbird. "Whoever has taken it, what can they do with it?"

  "They can sing to the universe. They can wake the Gods themselves," he was still fumbling in the hole.

  Blackbird reached down and pulled Gregor up by his shirt front to look him in the eye.

  "We do not believe in Gods," she told him slowly, "so what will it actually do?"

  "It will restore balance and harmony. It will purify reality and leave everything as it was meant to be. It will cleanse the blemish that formed between the planes and make it as if it never existed."

  "You're talking about ending the universe," I said.

  Gregor looked up at me. "Yes," he said, "that too."

  "Where?" said Blackbird. "Where are they taking it?"

  "It doesn't matter," said Gregor. "Soon there will be no here or there, no good or evil. Everything will be still, cold and silent."

  "If they could just do that here, it would already be done. Where have they gone?"

  "I do not know," he said. "It takes power to use it. They will need a nexus, a convergence. There are a few such places. The great stone circles, perhaps, or one of the old places."

  "That's not good enough," said Blackbird. "How can we find them?"

  "Even if you find them, it will not help you," said Gregor. "It wards itself. Once it is active, no one will be able to get near enough to stop it."

  Blackbird dropped him and he collapsed onto the stone floor, all the energy drained from him.

  "We have to find them," she said. "We have to reach them before it starts."

  "But where?" I said.

  She turned back to Gregor. "You said it wasn't meant to be used until the end of days. Where would you take it then?"

  "I do not know," he wailed. "It was meant to be at the final battle, but where the battle will take place is… obscure."

  "An old place," I said. "He mentioned a stone circle."

  "There are lots of stone circles," said Blackbird, "and the obvious ones are not the oldest."

  She went back to Gregor, dragging him up to his knees. "If we hadn't waited for you, we could have been here first," she told him.

  "That's not helping," I said to her. "He's wretched enough as it is."

  Gregor's eyes were puffy as if he was going to cry. All the stuffing had gone out of him.

  "Do you have your cards," she asked him.

  "What cards," I asked.

  Blackbird smiled thinly. "He knows what cards."

  Gregor's expression changed, and suddenly he looked sly. "You will not take them. They won't work for anyone but me."

  "I don't want to take them, you buffoon. I want you to use them. Tell us where they've taken the orb."

  "I suppose I could…" he wavered. "But only if I come with you. You must promise to take me with you."

  "We're not waiting for you," said Blackbird. "There isn't time. If you fall behind then so be it."

  "Agreed!" said Gregor. "I will not fall behind. You'll see. We'll be there together to witness the end of all things."

  "We will if you don't get on with it," said Blackbird.

 
 

Gregor took a box from his pocket from which he extracted a deck of cards.

  "Tarot cards?" I asked her. "Are you serious?"

  "I need a table," said Gregor.

  "We can use the altar," said Blackbird, turning towards the end of the apse.

  "No!" I said. "You can't use an altar for tarot cards. That's… that's…"

  "Oh for goodness sake," said Blackbird. She grabbed Gregor's lapel and dragged him through the church to the back where a table had been spread with souvenir leaflets and postcards. She swept the lot from the table in a single gesture.

  "Do it," she commanded.

  He sat down and took the deck from its box. "I can't do it with you staring at me like that," he said.

  She turned her back ostentatiously. I stood in front of her. She caught her tooth on her lip and narrowed her eyes.

  "What does it say?" I asked Gregor over her shoulder.

  "I am still shuffling the cards," said Gregor.

  Blackbird balled her fists. If he didn't get on with it there would be blood.

  "I will do a simple reading," said Gregor. "We do not have time for a more sophisticated divination."

  "Really?" whispered Blackbird under her breath.

  "The fool. Oh," he said, "I think that must be me."

  Blackbird shook her head in despair.

  "The priestess and the hanged man. You see? I told you."

  "Get on with it," she called behind her.

  "Have patience. These things cannot be hurried. Do you wish me to make an error?"

  I could see her holding back her retort.

  "The Sun, The Moon and the Star? Where have they come from? I do not understand. One more – the Devil. There is evil in this."

  "We're getting there." she said, "Slowly."

  "Now we come to it," he said. "The world, flanked by justice and judgement. A moment of truth."

  "Nearly…" she said.

  "The lovers, and the wheel of fortune, flanking the seven of swords. Everything hangs by a thread," he said, "but why the seven of swords?"

  "One more…" she whispered.

  "Death." His voice held the loss of hope.

  "Do it again," she said.

  "It makes no difference," he wailed. "We will only repeat what we have in different ways."

  "The last card," she insisted. "Turn it again!"

  There was a pause. "The Tower," he said, as if he was seeing clearly for the first time.

  "Glastonbury," she said. "Glastonbury Tor, that's where they are."

  She grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the aisle of the church.

  "We will go together," said Gregor. "I will call the taxi. We can hire a car in Hereford."

  "Sorry Gregor," she said. "I told you, we won't wait." She mouthed a single word to me.

  
Follow.

  She stepped into the aisle of the church and I realised what I had missed in all the fuss. We were standing on a Waypoint. It hummed beneath us, under the flags. She stepped forward and the air twisted. She vanished.

  "What the…?" I heard Gregor behind me and turned.

  He stood with his mouth open.

  "Sorry," I said. "You heard what she said."

  "Wait!" he called, but I was already turning and stepping, feeling the Way rise beneath me, whirling me away on the breath of night, into the dark.

 

Eve held the orb out in front of her, cupped in her hands as she walked up the path towards the summit. As she moved, the colours in it swirled and twisted. It reminded Alex of photos she'd seen of the planet Jupiter, except there was no red spot.

  "It knows where it's going," said Eve.

  "Which is more than I do," said Alex. "This is the middle of nowhere."

  "On the contrary," said Eve. "This is the middle of everywhere. Everything converges here – human and fey – everything and everyone."

  "But there's no one here," said Alex, scanning the top of the hill.

  "Don't worry," she said. "They'll know when it's time. You can be sure of that."

  Eve pushed on for the summit. Alex thought they would head for the empty windowed tower, but Eve stopped short in the flat space before it. "Here," she said. "This is a good place."

  Alex exchanged glances with Sparky, who was carrying the bag with all the things they'd stolen in it. He shrugged, "I don't need to go any further if you don't." He dropped the bag, holding it out and letting it fall from his outstretched hand.

  "Careful!" Eve glared at him. "If you damage anything in there at this late stage, you'll suffer for it."

  "All right," he said. "Keep your hair on."

  "Save your flippant remarks. We are at the culmination of years of research and painstaking study. Have you never wondered what happened? Where they all went?"

  "Where who all went?" asked Alex.

  "Long, long ago," said Eve, "the world was a different place. Creatures walked the earth that we now think of as myths and legends, but were as real as you or I. Griffons, manticores, dragons – even unicorns. The universe was a different place. Magic was a core part of existence. Without magic you were meat, something to be caught and eaten."

  "Lovely," said Alex.

  "Then came the universe of men, shaping the world to suit themselves. They forced the world of magic back where it came from, shaping the world into a poor facsimile of what it was, the world we see spread out before us now." She gestured out to the land around them, fading into distance in the haze. "But we can change it back. We can remake the world as it was."

  "But we're part human," said Alex. "It's what we are."

  "And they despise us for it," said Eve. "We are not of either tribe, but a melding of both. We are as much human as we are fey, but neither will have us. They have refused us at every turn, they have tortured us in their hospitals, and their laboratories…"

  For a moment there was an expression on Eve's face that frightened Alex, but then her face softened.

  "…and when we turned to our brethren, our true heritage of magic and power, they turned their backs. They sent their assassins, their killers, they held the knife to our throat."

  She smiled, looking at Sparky, then at Chipper, then at Alex.

  "But we are better than them. They are old and weak, and we are young and strong. They were arrogant and complacent, and we were ready for them. Weighed down by concepts as irrelevant as honour and duty, by corrupt deals done in dark corners, they have shown themselves to be unfit to carry us into the future."

  She held up the orb. "We are the torch bearers; it is up to us to show them the way."

  "What do we need to do?" asked Sparky.

  "Gather the items together. Alex, take the rod and the key and stand there."

  She pointed to a spot in the grass. Sparky dipped into the bag and handed her the items. "It'll be OK," he said quietly. "You'll see."

  "Chipper," said Eve, "take the scourge and the feather and stand there."

  Chipper moved to collect the items and stood in his appointed place. Alex watched him, thinking that for once he was here in the real world with them, and not some virtual reality. For once he looked focussed and attentive.

  "Sparky, bring the arrow and the cross and stand there." Eve pointed to a spot that would mean they formed a large triangle around her.

  He moved across, winking at Alex as he passed. When he was in his place, Eve turned slowly, checking each was in position.

  "Now," she said. "Now we will change everything. Hold out your arms to each other."

  They did as she said, and as they did, each felt a connection being formed.

  "It's working," said Sparky. "I can feel it."

  "The circle is complete," said Eve. "Four elements for the four corners of the universe: earth, air, fire and water."

  Alex could feel the power vibrating in the air. She grinned nervously at Sparky. On the other side of her, Chipper's eyes were wide open as he lifted his face to the sky above. She looked up and saw that the clouds were changing. The cloudscape twisted around them, pulled inwards. A giant spiral formed in the air above the Tor, dipping down over the spot where they stood. For a moment Alex was afraid it would form some sort of tornado, but it stabilised above them twisting tattered streams of cloud, tighter and tighter.

  Eve lifted the orb in her hand and held it high in the centre of the triangle. Above her the clouds dilated, opening gradually into a circular aperture.

  Alex stared upwards, fascinated by the sight that greeted her. Above the clouds it should have been the last vestiges of the autumn sunset, but what appeared was far from that. She was looking into the heart of the universe, she was sure. The spirals she saw mirroring the way the clouds turned around them must be galaxies, and the dust that formed them must be stars.

  "It's beautiful," she said quietly.

  "Everything that ever was, and will be," said Eve. 'The universe in our hands, to remake as we will."