Eternal (26 page)

she murmured. “Come to me.”

Helen stumbled to her feet and walked toward her mother as though hypnotized.

“No, Helen, it’s al lies, don’t listen to her,” cried Evie, but Helen ignored her.

“I do love you!” she sobbed, as she stood face-to-face with Mrs. Hartle. “I’ve loved you al my life! I’d do anything for you.”

I felt crushed. We would al be lost if Helen turned her back on us and joined her mother, and Helen would only be hurt, again and again and again. We couldn’t let it happen. Cal and Josh writhed to get free of their bonds, and Evie looked on in fear as Helen wept. I tried to connect with the Talisman that stil hung around my neck, hidden under my clothes. Let Helen see the truth, Agnes, I begged silently. Let her know that we love her for herself, not her powers. Don’t let her be deceived. . . .

“At last, my child,” Mrs. Hartle said. “At last you have learned wisdom.”

“I—have learned—that I can’t be like you,” Helen replied with a great effort. “I’ve loved you and hated you, and now I have learned to live without your love. Here—you gave me this, but it has only brought me trouble. Take it back and forget that you ever had a daughter.” She unfastened the wing-shaped brooch from where it was pinned to her shirt and offered it to Mrs. Hartle. “Let this be the end between us.”

Mrs. Hartle stared in surprise at the gleaming token in Helen’s hand, and a strange expression passed over her face. A struggle seemed to be going on inside her, as if she had one last chance to choose good instead of evil, truth instead of lies.

“So you have found the Seal,” she said in a whisper.

“The one good thing I ever gave you. Hide it, before—”

Then she broke off, and her expression changed. “I have no time for this. Wil you join me or not? This is the last time I wil ask you to join me of your own free wil .”

“I have already made my choice,” Helen said at last, as though every word caused her pain. She looked at us, then back at her mother. “I choose to be loyal to my friends. I choose my freedom—to say no to you.” My heart was breaking for her. She looked so fragile and defenseless, yet she was being so brave.

“You have chosen defeat! You have chosen despair!”

Mrs. Hartle’s anger blew away the il usion of her appearance, and she was once again a haggard wraith.

“So be it. From this moment you are nothing to me.”

“And you are nothing to me,” said Helen, her face set like a stone. “We wil never serve you, and you wil never be free of your own wretched choice! We have nothing more to say to each other. Now stand aside and let us go!”

“Do you think you can dismiss me and come and go as you please?” Mrs. Hartle shrieked. “How dare you!” She flung her daughter away from her, and Helen fel back to the ground next to me. Then the Priestess laughed, mad and terrible and frightening. “I won’t al ow any of you to escape, not even through death’s gateway. You wil stay here, in the hidden places of the earth, and al your powers wil serve me!”

She seemed to pace up and down between us, weighing up our strengths and weaknesses, seeing into every secret of our hearts. “Welcome, sister,” Mrs. Hartle said to Evie. “You bring me gifts of fire and water. It wil be sweet to have your powers and those of your precious Agnes as my own, a fine revenge on you for al owing Sebastian to evade me. But you won’t be so lucky, I promise. There is no one left to rescue you.

“Helen, you bring me new pure secrets of the air, first and greatest of al the elements, the breath of life, the essence of creation. And even you, little earth woman,” she added, sneering at me. “Even you bring your muddy strength to my altar. When I return with my Sisters, we wil drain your souls and your powers. You wil be like Laura, bound forever to your mistress. Until then, I have other servants to guard you. They awoke with Laura, and I have gathered them to me in the shadows, as al things shal come to me in the end.”

The lights dimmed. She glided back over the water to the island in the middle of the lake, and her darkness seemed to engulf poor wretched Laura, who vanished from our sight.

“Awake, creatures of the endless night!” Mrs. Hartle cal ed. “Stand over my prey.”

Crawling from the farthest shadows, a horde of misshapen creatures emerged. Their heads lol ed over their squat bodies, and they wore iron chains at their necks and wrists. They had leathery skin like mummified corpses. Evie hid her face from them as they surrounded us, but I knew what we faced and I made myself look at this new enemy.

The Kinsfolk. The ancient, crawling creatures that had attacked Maria.

They came closer, smel ing of death. Some carried spears tipped with bronze, others had crude clubs and drums and leather pouches slung over their shoulders. I felt sick as they came near and the leader pointed his spear toward Evie.

“The girl is ours,” he seemed to say. His twisted mouth barely moved, but I could understand his thoughts. “She was lying in the stone bed, asleep in the water. You promised her to us as a new queen for the Kinsfolk.”

“Fool! I am your queen now,” said Mrs. Hartle. “I stirred your wil s and minds with the promise of the girl, but your task is to keep her prisoner until I am ready to deal with her, not enjoy her yourselves. Guard the others too.”

“Promise-breaker!” he grunted. The rest of the Kinsfolk took up his words and beat their spears on the ground.

“Promise-breaker! We curse you, Spirit Woman! Curse you! Curse you forever!”

“Silence! The girl is mine!” Mrs. Hartle raised her hand and cracked a whip of fire at one of the Kinsfolk. He began to burn like a dry torch, screaming in agony and flinging himself into the lake to put out the flames. There was silence. Perhaps it was only then that I truly believed that Mrs. Hartle was capable of kil ing us al .

“The girl is mine,” she repeated coldly. “They are al mine, as you are. Guard them until I return, or your service to me wil be more painful than you can imagine. The males you can kil . Be satisfied with that.”

There was another murmur of discontent, but the leader bowed stiffly to Mrs. Hartle. “The Spirit Woman has spoken,” he said. “The Kinsfolk hear your words.”

“Then do your work wel !” She shrouded herself in mist and faded from sight, and the cloud of her presence was lifted. The chains that held Josh and Cal dissolved into smoke, and we were released from our humiliating kneeling position. We al clung to one another as Mrs.

Hartle’s grotesque servants moved in closer, like merciless hunters.

There was no way out past their savage weapons.

There was no way out at al .

The Kinsfolk swarmed forward with inhuman speed and strength, and the next moment they had overpowered Josh and Cal, holding them down with sharp flint knives pressed against their throats. Then the leader raised his arm to hurl his spear into Cal’s heart, as his people chanted, “Death!

Death! Death!”

“No!” I screamed, and threw myself blindly at the leader’s feet. “Stop! You mustn’t do this, please, I beg you.”

The creature paused and turned the black slits of his eyes on me. “It is a blood payment for the Kinsfolk warriors. It is our right. The Spirit Woman gave these men to us.”

“I’l give you something better if you spare their lives,” I said wildly.

“What?” he demanded. “What wil you give?”

“I—I’l be your queen,” I stammered. Images flashed into my mind, of Maria sobbing, and long hands grasping for me in a glare of red smoke. I heard the drums, I felt the stab of the knife, and I thought I was going to be sick.

Terror pulsed through my whole body, but I couldn’t turn back now. I had led my friends into this, and I had to help them. Fumbling in my bag, I dug out the bronze circlet.

“Here, this is yours. Take it and take me. But you must release my friends.”

The creatures gibbered with excitement at the sight of the coronet, but Cal groaned, “Sarah, you can’t. I won’t let you!”

“They’l kil you if I don’t! What choice do we have?”

“We are al free to make our choices,” said Helen, as though seeing a vision. “Sarah has chosen a hard path.

But we can’t stop her. None of us can. It is her time. It was written—S for Sarah.”

Evie looked white and unhappy, but she whispered, “I believe in you, Sarah. I trust you to make the right choice.”

“Accept my offering,” I implored the leader, handing him the circlet. “And let my friends go free before the Priestess returns.”

“You wil do this for the Kinsfolk?” he asked. “To save your own people?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I promise. And I never break my promises.”

“You bring the lost crown back to the Kinsfolk,” the creature said with a low bow. “We wil defy the Spirit Woman and release the others. But you must stay in the earth kingdom with the Kinsfolk, and wear their crown. This is your promise? Agreed?”

“Agreed,” I said. “But you must let my friends go quickly so they wil be safe.”

“The Kinsfolk wil show them the secret path. It leads from the earth kingdom to the stone circle in the sky world.”

“I can’t leave you here, Sarah,” Cal said in anguish.

“You have to! The whole point is for you to get out. When Mrs. Hartle comes back, she’l kil you and Josh and make Evie and Helen her slaves—and me. I have to do this. At least it gives the rest of you a chance. Go! Just go!”

“Sarah’s right,” said Josh reluctantly. “She’s our only hope now. We have to do as she says.”

I hugged them one by one, and final y Cal.

“You’ve given me so much,” I whispered. “Enough for al eternity.” His eyes met mine, and I understood everything.

Cal was the one who knew me, right the way through. The one I had no secrets from. The one who loved me. Not for being good or strong, but just for being me, al of me, good and bad. And now I had to keep my promise. I had to let him go.

“I love you,” I whispered. “This isn’t the end for us.”

“It can’t be,” Cal said. “I won’t let it be the end. I’l wait for you at the standing stones—I’l be there for you—when you get through this—” His voice broke and he couldn’t speak.

“I’l get through it,” I said. “Wait for me.” I smiled, then turned from him to hide my tears. Josh gently pul ed Cal away, and there was nothing more to say.

It was time.

I was ready.

“You must take the secret path,” said the wizened leader to Josh. “My folk wil guide you.” Two other tough-skinned creatures, bent and wiry, led the way with torches in their hands. They pul ed on one of the stalactites, and with a great rumbling an entrance opened up in the cave wal . This was the way back to the light, but only for Josh, Helen, Evie, and Cal—they were al leaving me behind.

I didn’t watch them go. I closed my eyes until the sound of their footsteps had been swal owed up. And then I was alone in the deep places of the earth, and I had to fulfil my vow.

The rest of the creatures dragged me to the far side of the cavern. A huge pil ar of rock spread out in fantastic shapes like a tree of stone. Simple red lamps hung from its branches. The leader lit the lamps with a torch and they began to smoke. A heavy, drowsy smel fil ed the air. And then it began. The drums. The chanting. The long cold hands reaching for me, tearing at my clothes and tugging at my hair. Maria had known this and been terrified.

Sebastian had rescued her, but I had to bear it. Then the leader’s fingers brushed against the Talisman, which was stil hanging around my neck, and he sprang back.

“Aaeee! The girl wears a stone of power! She has great magic!”

Their drumming and singing became even wilder until the music echoed through the cave. One of the Kinsfolk took a long, coarse piece of cloth from his bag and tied it around my shoulders like a robe. Then they bound me to the tree of stone and began to whet their knives and sharpen their spears. Every instinct made me want to scream, but the heavy smoke crept into my mind, whispering of ancient stories and deadening my terror.

Listen to the drums.

Until now, I had listened to those drums with my head, not with my heart. I had heard only what I thought I would hear—fear and savagery and the dreadful unknown. But now, at last, in that deep place under the sacred earth, I listened with my secret soul. I listened, and on the other side of my fear, I final y understood. The drums were a cal to life, and a lament for the Kinsfolk’s long servitude, not a war cry. They were beating in rhythm with my own heart, and I understood that another fate was unfolding in this secret cavern, not simply my own.

“Who are you?” I asked. “Where have you come from?”

“I am Kundar,” the leader said. He touched his scarred chest. “I am the head man. We are earth people. Slaves.

The new queen wil set us free.” He reached into his pouch.

It was ful of red powder like ground clay. He spat on his fingers and made a stiff paste with it, then drew a shape like an eye on my forehead. “See with Kundar’s eyes. See like the Kinsfolk.”

The smoke and torches and the cavern vanished and I was standing on Blackdown Ridge. The farms and homes of Wyldcliffe were no longer there. The towers and gables of the Abbey didn’t exist. The only landmark that was familiar was the ring of standing stones. Down in the val ey below, I saw some wooden huts thatched with straw.

Riding across the land was a group of men; short and stocky but strong and free, gal oping on their shaggy hil ponies and shaking their bronze spears in the sunlight.

Their hair was dark, tinged with red. As they came closer I could see that some of them were wearing intricate necklaces and armbands, and their clothes were made of skins and woolen cloth. Women and children rode clinging behind them and young men ran barefoot alongside the riders, almost as swiftly as the horses.

When they reached the stones, the riders dismounted and the whole tribe stood in a circle. They carried green branches, which they waved in the air as they sang and chanted. Then a young girl, of maybe fourteen years old, was picked out from the crowd. A cry of excitement went up. The people threw the branches to the ground. The girl stepped forward, looking pale and frightened, but proud. A fine metal circlet was placed on her head. “Down into death!” they cried. “The new queen goes down into death!