Origin of the Body (21 page)

‘So you don’t think he believes in what he’s doing?’

‘Now I didn’t say that.  Who knows what’s going on in the inner workings of his mind, or what he really thinks, but it seems a bit rash to resort to a fake return of the relic when we’ve tried so little else so far.  What if Austin’s right?  What if there is another way?  What if the Gods punish us, and especially the Descendants, for going along with a lie of such enormous magnitude?’

‘You think they would?  Punish us, I mean?  Even if we were only trying to do what was best for the people?’

‘How do you know that’s what’s best for the people if you haven’t heard Austin’s plan yet?  What if Bas’ plan isn’t the only way?’

‘That’s what I tried to tell Bas, but he wouldn’t listen.’

‘Because, no doubt, if Austin’s plan is the one to succeed and not his, then Anita will have no reason to reconsider her decision about Bas.’

‘You think we should try to stop him?’

‘I’m not sure we have the power to do that, even if we wanted to,’ said Patrick, pretending to ponder his options, ‘but there are those who do have the power.’

‘Austin,’ she replied immediately.

‘He certainly would.’

‘You think we should tell Austin about the plan?’

‘I just don’t know,’ he replied slowly, ‘I don’t know him at all, and you know him so well.  What do you think?’

‘What would he do to Bas?  I don’t want him to get hurt because of this.’

‘He’ll only get hurt if Austin thinks Bas is the instigator.’

‘Then who?’

‘The one who causes Bas more torment than any other.’

‘Anita?’

Patrick shrugged innocently, ‘Austin already hates Anita for what she did to Marcus and he hasn’t tried to exact revenge for that.  I’m sure Anita would be perfectly safe, whereas if he found out Bas was involved, he’s an easy target, so I’m not so sure.’

‘And it would be for the good of us all.  We don’t want to unduly anger the Gods,’ said Gwyn.

‘And it would more than likely mean Anita would lay low for a while; she’d probably go back to the Wild Lands for a bit and leave Bas in peace.’

‘Will you come with me?’ she asked, her mind made up that it was her duty to inform Austin of the plan, but not feeling quite confident enough to go through with it on her own.

Patrick hesitated; he hadn’t wanted to get so personally involved, but he supposed it wouldn’t hurt if he went along for the ride, and Austin may even reward him for his part.  ‘Of course,’ came his resolute reply.

*****

Alexander and Anita had arrived back from Wild Flower earlier in the day and were now sitting in Cleo’s apartment recounting the story of their journey through the Wild, drinking fruit smoothies spiked with rum.  ‘I wish my dad would tell me what he gets up to in the Wild Lands,’ said Cleo longingly, ‘he must have done some crazy things over the years and got into and out of some terrifying scrapes.’

‘Well he certainly seems to have friends everywhere,’ replied Anita, ‘no matter where we went, he knew everyone.’

‘Typical dad,’ she said, rolling her eyes.  ‘I can’t go anywhere without someone recognizing me as his daughter and asking after him.  One day I’m going to insist he takes me with him.  Just think of all the gossip to be found out there.’

Anita laughed, ‘glad to see you want to go to broaden your horizons,’ she said, sarcastically.

‘I wouldn’t mind going to dig further into my latest archive discoveries actually,’ she said, with mock offense.

‘Oh yes?’ said Anita, playing along.  ‘You’ve become a proper little academic recently,’ she taunted, ‘do tell.’

‘Well I’ve been looking into a couple of things.  Firstly, how the relic was discovered and by who; there’s definitely something fishy about it…’

‘…why?’ Alexander asked lazily.  ‘Why’s there something strange about it?’

‘Well there are hardly any records relating to it, and for such a momentous moment in our history, you would think there would be stacks of stuff written.  But also, because from the little there is, it seems like it all happened so quickly.  A group of academics were out in the Wild Lands, they stumbled across the relic, and hey presto, the prophecy was discovered.’

‘How else would it happen?’ asked Anita, not really sure what Cleo was getting at.

‘I’m not sure, but it just doesn’t feel right; there must be something the archive isn’t telling me.’

‘I’ll take your word for it,’ said Anita, thinking the rum may have gone to Cleo’s head, ‘and the second thing?’

‘Ah yes,’ said Cleo, taking her time to build the usual suspense before sharing a secret.  ‘So I was in the archive, the place devoid of people as usual, when this man came in and entered one of the locked rooms at the back of the floor.’ 

Alexander raised an eyebrow, ‘I can count on my hands the number of people allowed in those rooms,’ he said, surprised, ‘and they very rarely go into them.’

‘Well he was in there filing a document I think, but he left the door open behind him, so naturally I took the opportunity to have a look around.  At first he was panicky, telling me I had to leave the room or he might get into trouble,’ she said, not giving a second though to the white lie; she wasn’t going to tell them how it really happened, ‘but I managed to calm him down and started asking him questions about what he was doing.  He wouldn’t give much away but it was to do with something called The Great Hall of the Magnei.’

‘The what?’ asked Anita, intrigued.

‘According to the research I’ve done since, they’re an elusive group of individuals who live in some secret location in the Wild Lands,’ said Cleo conspiratorially.  ‘No one is sure who they are or what they do, but every now and again one pops up somewhere to run an errand, usually demonstrating some kind of crazy skill in the process.’  They both looked at Alexander, questions behind their eyes.

He paused, considering his answer carefully, but knowing full well whatever he said would result in a barrage of questions, he went for the fullest answer he could.  ‘I have heard stories about them,’ he started, ‘but I thought it was just rumour; you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff they make up about the Descendants, so why not about some other group of people?  Anyway, the rumour I’ve heard is that there are a number of people, a large number of whom display significant Mind, Body and Spirit skills, who live out in the Wild and meddle in our affairs.  I’m not sure how they’re supposed to meddle, as I’ve never seen any evidence of it, and neither have the other Descendants as far as I’m aware, so we’ve never paid much attention; we’ve never had any reason to.’

‘But they’re powerful,’ said Cleo.

‘Apparently,’ he replied.

‘What could they possibly be up to?’ wondered Cleo.

‘Nothing probably,’ said Alexander, ‘people love to make up stories about things they know nothing about.  They’re probably just a group of hermits who turn up at trading posts occasionally to get supplies and because they look a bit different to everyone else, people make stuff up about them.’

‘Hmm,’ said Cleo sceptically.  ‘There’s no smoke without fire.’

‘How many of those have you had to drink?’ teased Anita, motioning towards her friend’s empty glass before refilling it from the pitcher in the middle of the table.

‘Not nearly enough,’ Cleo replied, taking a large gulp from her now full glass.  ‘Anyway, I think the guy in the archive might live in the Wild Lands too and he might even be one of them, but I found a document that suggested a lot of them are mad; I think it could be like some kind of asylum.’

‘And at that point, you’ve got to question some of the documents in the archive,’ laughed Alexander, brushing aside the notion, ‘and given the kind of people allowed in those rooms, it’s tremendously unlikely he’s anything other than an extremely senior academic; someone rigorously vetted by the Descendants.’

‘Well I don’t know,’ said Cleo, ‘there’s got to be something to it, don’t you think?  People don’t make things up with no reason whatsoever, and there’s something else I haven’t told you; the reason he told me about the Magnei was because he touched me and knew I’d seen the Great Hall.’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Anita.

‘I mean the Great Hall of the Magnei is the place in your head we meditated to, the one where the cylinder is.’

‘You told him about the place in my head?’

‘No, of course not!  As I said, he touched me, then he went all weird.  He knew I’d seen it but hadn’t actually been there and he asked me how.  I didn’t even know what he was talking about until I realised the hall in your head was the only place it could be.  I told him it was via a meditation and it was like he immediately understood.’

‘So what did he tell you about it?’

‘Absolutely nothing.  He freaked out.  He pretty much pushed me out of the room and then just disappeared.’

‘What did he look like?’ asked Alexander, a feeling of foreboding settling in his stomach.

‘Medium height, quite slim, dark hair tied back into a ponytail.’

‘And his name?’

‘He disappeared before I could find it out.’

‘And you haven’t seen him anywhere since?’

‘No.’

‘Sound like anyone you know?’ asked Anita.

‘No.  However, as I said, only a handful of people are allowed in there, so I can see if that description matches anyone on the list.’

Cleo’s eyes came alive, ‘you have access to those rooms?’ she asked, excitedly, continuing before giving him a chance to answer, ‘because I saw a book in there about the relic and how it was discovered, but didn’t get a chance to look through it.  If you could get me in, I might be able to find out something meaningful.’

‘Sorry, no can do.  None of the Descendants are allowed in there.  A few decades back Austin’s father got a bit power hungry and started doctoring records.  Since then the Descendants have only been given access to stuff they really need, and only with two impartial academics present.  But I can get a list of who is allowed in, so at least that gives us something.’

‘I suppose so,’ said Cleo, disappointed.

‘Can you find anything else out about the Great Hall of the Magnei?’ Anita asked Alexander, ‘you never know, it might help us open the cylinder.’

‘I can try, but it sounds like Cleo has already looked into all the publically available stuff and I can’t get into any of the private rooms without drawing attention to the reason why.’

‘Is there anyone you know who has researched them, or who might know something helpful?’

Alexander shook his head.  ‘As I said, even the existence of the Magnei is considered to be a fairy tale; no self-respecting academic would ever research them.’

‘That’ll have to be the purpose of my first trip into the Wild then,’ said Cleo frivolously, ‘to find the lost asylum of the Magnei and expose their secrets to the world.’

‘Careful,’ said Anita, ‘they might lock you up and never let you go; you are kind of crazy after all.’

*****

Alexander and Anita left Cleo’s as the sun was going down; Cordelia was visiting a friend in Kingdom, so Anita had to take Thorn for a walk, and Alexander needed to run a few errands.  ‘I’ll come over later?’ he asked, kissing her goodbye.

She nodded, ‘perfect.  I’m sure Cordelia’s left me something delicious to eat, so I’m afraid you won’t get to sample the delights of my cooking,’ she said playfully, giving him another quick kiss on the lips.

‘I sampled quite enough in Wild Flower,’ he teased, adding quickly, ‘and it was all entirely delicious,’ when Anita’s eyebrow arched aggressively.  He gave her a last quick peck on the cheek before parting ways, both of them elated from Cleo’s outlandish theories and far too much rum, neither of them noticing Marcus watch them go.

Chapter 12

Gwyn and Patrick arrived at the castle, the door opening before they reached the top of the steps, Amber providing a hostile greeting.  ‘What are you doing here?’ she questioned, intrigued both by Gwyn’s nervous body language and the weak little man accompanying her who seemed to be doing his very best to melt into Gwyn’s shadow.

‘I um, I need to talk to Austin,’ said Gwyn, feebly, looking anywhere but into Amber’s eyes.

‘I see,’ she replied at a leisurely pace.  Most people she would send away and tell them to make an appointment, but Gwyn had never come to one of Austin’s residences asking to see him before, and she had never seen Gwyn look so uncertain, so she took a risk and let them in.  ‘In here,’ she said dictatorially, ushering them into Austin’s study.  ‘Sit on a sofa and don’t touch anything.  I’ll go and let Austin know you’re here.’

A few minutes later Austin entered the room, surveying the scene, his lip twitching as he tried to hide his smile; Gwyn’s appearance was exactly as Amber had described it; this had all the hallmarks of something entertaining.  He sat purposefully on one of the leather sofas, taking in each of them in turn, before finally asking, ‘how is it that I can help, Gwyneth?’

‘Well, um, you see, um…’

‘…Anita’s found a way to make it look like the relic has been returned to the Gods and she’s working with the Institution to go through with it,’ Patrick blurted, unsure Gwyn’s resolve would hold if he didn’t intervene.

Austin raised his eyebrows, now fully amused, ‘these are very serious accusations, ah...what was your name?’

‘Patrick,’ he said, regretting his intervention under the scrutiny of Austin’s unnerving stare.

‘Patrick, these are very serious accusations.  How could you possibly know about such a plan?’

‘I work at the Observatory, as does Anita, and I overheard her talking about it,’ he said, too quickly.

‘I see.  And what does this plan entail?’

Patrick shrank back into the sofa, momentarily paralysed by fear, wondering what he could possibly be doing here, willing Gwyn to jump in.  Inevitably she didn’t, so he eventually answered.  ‘She wants to try and send the relic back using a kind of energy slingshot.  It would send the relic into the sky and appear to all who watched that it had been returned to the Gods.  In actual fact it would just have been thrown to another location where someone would be on hand to pick it up; the point being the world would think the relic had been returned and the Institution would have bought themselves some time to work out how to truly return it to the Gods.’

Austin’s mouth tightened into a thin line.  ‘But this plan could only hope to succeed with the help of the Descendants.  And there would have to be credible witnesses stating that we had indeed returned the relic to the Gods.’

‘The Institution are going to try and convince the Descendants to take part.’

Austin turned his gaze to Gwyn, ‘which is where you come in I suppose?’

She nodded, ‘but I know you have a separate plan as to how to solve the crisis and I didn’t think it was right to go behind your back and do something like this when there could be another way.’

Austin softened.  ‘You were right to come to me,’ he said, reassuringly.  ‘Thank you, both of you, for bringing this to my attention.  I’ll investigate further at once.’

‘What will you do to Anita?’ asked Gwyn, her hands trembling furiously.

‘That will entirely depend upon what I find out,’ he said gently.  ‘As you know, my son is very fond of Anita, so of course she will come to no harm.’

Austin’s words did nothing to reassure Gwyn; his eyes were steely, devoid of emotion, and dread ate away at her stomach.  They left the castle and said goodbye, Gwyn sickened by Patrick, who seemed positively over the moon at the evening’s events.  She went directly to the Body Temple to pray to the Goddess, hoping against hope that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

*****

Austin was still in his study with Amber, discussing their plan of attack when Marcus arrived home.  ‘Bring him in here,’ Austin ordered the guard by the door and moments later Marcus was sitting with them by the roaring fire.  Austin told Marcus about Anita’s plan, then, sipping whisky from a crystal tumbler, waited patiently for his son’s reaction.

‘What are you going to do?’ he eventually asked, trying to tread lightly, not sure what his father wanted from him.

‘What do you think we should do?’ he replied, Marcus noticing the use of the word ‘we’, which apparently meant he was now a part of this.

‘Find out more about the allegations to see if they have any truth in them?’

Austin sniggered cruelly, ‘after everything that girl has put you through, you still think she could be innocent?  What a fool you are.’

‘I’m no fool,’ Marcus retaliated forcefully, ‘but nor am I so intent on revenge for the way she’s treated me that I’m willing to act harshly based entirely on the say so of Gwyn and some unknown.’

‘Do you know where she’s been these last few weeks?’ he asked cruelly.

‘With Alexander in Wild Flower,’ he replied evenly.  ‘Do you know where she’ll be tonight?’ he continued without waiting for an answer, ‘having a romantic dinner with Alexander at Cordelia’s cottage.  You think it doesn’t eat away at me?  Some things you just have to live with.’

‘Not in my world you don’t.’

‘So you’ll do what?  Torture her again?  Kill her?  Regardless of the truth?  You’ve been wanting to do that for quite some time, so I suppose any excuse and you’d take it.’

‘Fine, you’re right,’ said Austin, unexpectedly changing tack.  ‘We should investigate further before taking action; you go and find Alexander and see if you can glean any information from him.  Gwyn said she’d been approached by the Institution to help them with their plan, so it makes sense that they would approach Alexander as well.  Go to him and see if he’ll tell you about it; say you want to help them but need to know what’s going on first.  I’m confident he’ll confirm Gwyn’s story and we can decide what to do from there.’

Marcus was taken aback, ‘you trust me to go?’

‘Of course.  Alexander won’t see you as a threat, and you sought his help when freeing Anita last time, so why not again now?  If Alexander thinks you’re trying to help his beloved Anita, he’ll fall over himself to go along with it.’

‘Okay,’ said Marcus, ‘I’ll find him tomorrow.’

‘No.  You have to go tonight.  Who knows what the Institution is up to; we can’t afford to waste any time.’

‘Fine, I’ll go now,’ said Marcus, elated to be a key part of his father’s plan.  ‘Hopefully I’ll be able to catch him before he goes to Anita’s, otherwise I’m afraid the conversation will have to wait until the morning.’

*****

Bas arrived at Anita’s just as she was returning from walking Thorn, which by the looks of them had been more of a run, and somewhere muddy.  He crouched down to pet Thorn, wiping his hands on the back of Anita’s already muddy t-shirt when he was done.

‘Just passing by?’ asked Anita, stretching, Bas sitting on the old, rickety swing.

‘Not exactly,’ he said.  ‘I think I’ve found a way to make the slingshot work.’

‘Really?’ she asked quickly, breaking her stretch, ‘how can you be sure?’

‘I can’t.  But I’ve made the concept work on other things, large rocks and so forth, and have been sending them increasing distances using the same method.  Dad’s been helping me actually.’

‘What?’ asked Anita, surprised.  ‘He hates anything to do with the Institution.  How did you change his mind?’

‘I didn’t.  I told him about the concept of an energy slingshot and asked for his help.  He jumped at the chance to spend some time with me and I think he’s found it quite therapeutic to use his brain for something other than arguing politics, which is all he seems to do at the moment.’

‘So it’s ready to go?’

‘Almost.  It’ll take another couple of weeks to perfect, but it’s almost there.  The problem is we need the Descendants to help us make it look real and Gwyn’s not keen to help.  Do you think Alexander will?’

‘I should think so; I’ll talk to him about it.  The Gods only know what Helena’s planning to do about Austin though, but we didn’t get anywhere with opening the cylinder, so I’m not sure what else we can do.  I’m worried though Bas, what if the Institution puts in place a system that’s even worse than the one we have at the moment?  We don’t even know who their leader is, yet we’re all dancing to their tune.’

‘Do we have any choice?’ he replied.  ‘Unless someone can come up with a better idea, and soon, this seems to be the only way forward.’

‘I suppose so.  But what about Gwyn?  How are you going to get her to help persuade Peter?’

‘Helena thinks we should skip Peter and get Gwyn to take part instead, she is after all the only remaining female member of her line,’ he looked embarrassed.  ‘I mean, of course that’s all fake too, you should really be the one to do it, but it might be a bit much explaining that to the people at the same time!  At least we won’t have a problem persuading you to help when we work out how we really send it back.’

Anita smiled sympathetically, ‘do you think Gwyn will do it?’

‘I’m honestly not sure.  We had a bit of an argument about it, but hopefully she’ll come round eventually.’

‘Sorry to hear that,’ said Anita, as she finished stretching.  ‘Cordelia left some pecan and maple cake.  Want some?’ 

‘Do I want some?’ Bas joked.

Anita laughed, ‘come on then,’ she said, heading inside.  ‘Has anyone come up with any ideas yet for how we actually send the relic back?’ she asked.

‘No!  One step at a time Anita!  But I’m worried about what could happen when we try; the relic’s a powerful object and we have such a rudimentary understanding of it.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Anita!  Watch out!’ shouted Bas as they entered the kitchen, Bas throwing Anita aside.  Anita looked up and took in two things simultaneously.  First, she saw Bas’s body on the floor, a kitchen knife sticking out of his ribs and blood leaking from him.  Second, she saw Austin’s cold eyes gleam from across the room, moving menacingly towards her.  Without thinking, she grabbed the knife from Bas’ chest, pulled it out and sent it flying towards their attacker, the knife easily finding Austin’s heart, hours of Body skills practice saving her life as Austin collapsed to the floor.  She felt disbelief and anger fill his energy; even when faced with imminent death, he couldn’t help but think of himself as superior.  For a moment she thought he was going to get up and come after her, but then felt the life go out of him; a sudden rush of energy that seemed to surge from the room, before a weaker, secondary, energy lightly left him, fluttering into extinction, dissipating into the air around them.

Anita crashed to the floor beside Bas, cradling his head in her lap, frantically trying to stem the bleeding from his open wound.  ‘I’m so sorry.  Bas, I’m so sorry.  He was here for me, not for you.’

Bas’ eyes flickered open, focusing on Anita’s distraught face.  ‘Not your fault,’ he whispered, as Anita stroked his hair with her free hand. 

‘It’s going to be okay,’ she said, tears flowing freely from her eyes.  ‘I’ll get help.’

‘No.  Stay,’ he said, the words barely audible as Anita leaned down and placed her face against his.  ‘I’ve always loved you,’ he whispered into her ear, his eyes closing for the final time as the life slowly drifted from him.

‘I love you too,’ she whispered, feeling his familiar energy slip away, scattering outwards, Anita longing to chase it, to catch it and force it back into his body.  She strained for the final, helpless traces of her friend disappearing into the air around her, treasuring this precious energy that she would never feel again.

Anita sat there, silent and still, blood from Bas and Austin mingling with her tears and forming tragic pools around them.  She cradled Bas’ head, willing him to wake up, then willing herself to wake up from what must be a terrible, terrible dream.

Hours later, two strong hands reached for her, pulling her away, drawing her upwards into a warm, safe embrace.  She buried her face in his chest, still praying to the Gods this was some brutal joke when she felt Marcus’ familiar energy come down the corridor into the kitchen, a muted cry of alarm confirming it was him.  The air seemed to compress as the shock thundered into him; Marcus rendered paralysed for several never-ending heartbeats.  Then, just as suddenly, reality sprang back and hit him, his pulse roaring in his ears.  He turned and fled.