Eternal (27 page)

She brings back life for al !”

Then the picture changed with a swirl of color. Now I saw the people sitting together, sharing a meal around a fire outside their huts. A woman was milking a goat.

Children played and tumbled in the grass. The next moment the place was fil ed with screams as yel ow-haired men on horseback gal oped through the vil age, scattering the food and slaughtering the men, who had been caught unawares. They snatched the women and children, hauling them away and throwing them over the backs of their horses. Sounds of lamentation fil ed the air.

The last picture showed a band of the men who had been defeated by the invading tribe. They were roped together and wore chains around their wrists and necks.

Dead bodies were heaped up at the edge of the peat bog on the moors. The victorious tribesmen threw the corpses into the black mud, where they sank slowly into the marsh.

Then the living prisoners were also thrown into the bog, weighed down by their chains, sinking, slowly suffocating, swal owed up by the earth.

“No . . . ,” I protested, coming back from the vision. “It’s too cruel, I don’t want to see any more. . . .”

“It is a true sight. These things happened. We were cursed by the men who kil ed us and took our women. We could not die and pass to the land of fathers. So we slept in the earth and changed to bog men, caught between this world and the next. Every hundred winters we wake for a little time, and dwel in the caves of the earth kingdom. We feel pain and shame. We look for the new queen, but we do not find her. But now the Spirit Woman has bound us with fire and magic. She makes us slaves.”

“She wants to make al of us her slaves,” I said.

“She is an evil spirit. Not like our queen. Only the queen brings life to the Kinsfolk.”

“How?” I asked, my heart racing. “What do you want me to do?”

“The queen goes down into Death. She finds the living Tree that never dies. She comes back with a gift from the Tree. It is a sign that the Kinsfolk are safe, for many winters. Then the queen is safe too.”

“And what if she doesn’t—doesn’t find the Tree?”

“Then she is not the real queen,” Kundar replied simply.

“She stays in the earth with Death.”

Now I knew the truth about the Kinsfolk, and this truth would either lead me to triumph, or to destruction.

Kundar raised his hands high over my head, holding the bronze circlet. I looked up at it, and it seemed to me that even in that lightless cave the sun shone through the leaves. Mother Earth, help me, I begged silently. Great Creator, protect me.

I looked at Kundar’s strange, deformed face, which somehow stil had an air of tired dignity. His eyes were black and bril iant in the torchlight. The drums began. His face changed to a grinning mask. But his eyes were ful of love. They were the eyes of an untamed boy with a proud, deep heart, someone who knew me, good and bad. . . .

“I’m ready,” I whispered. “I’m ready.”

Kundar placed the circlet on my head, and the creatures of the Kinsfolk rushed forward to strike with their polished stone blades. Pain stabbed though me, such pain—

I fel .

I was fal ing, fal ing like a leaf in the wind.

I was in a deep trench that had been dug in the ground, lying on my back. I opened my eyes. Far away, stars glittered overhead. I saw Cal in the stars, then my mother’s face, then the shape of a white swan. Pain was pinning me down. I was bleeding. My life was pouring away into the wet earth. Someone came to stand at the edge of my grave. It was Kundar. He threw a handful of dust onto me and said sorrowful y, “Down into Death.”

Then I saw Evie, looking down at me sadly. “For your long voyage,” she said, as she threw a handful of earth into the tomb. The stars turned again. Helen took Evie’s place.

“For the way ahead,” she said, and she threw in a faded garland of flowers. Then the earth began to crumble from the sides of the grave, fil ing up the space as rapidly as water floods a stricken boat. I was drowning in the earth, I couldn’t breathe, there was dust in my mouth and death in my lungs. The Tree, I thought faintly. I never found the Tree. Then panic engulfed my mind as the black earth smothered me, and every light and sense and sound was extinguished forever.

Into the earth you went, my sister,

Into the earth you sank.

The stones were calling you,

The hills held your heart.

Into the earth you went.

Fear crushed you, stole your breath.

Earth held you like a lover.

Who will see with your eyes now?

Who will comfort those you left?

Into the earth you went.

The grass grows, the river swells,

But the birds are silent.

White swan, leaving us.

You have gone, my sister.

Into the earth you went.

Into the grave you went,

Down into death’s arms.

When will I see you again?

A white swan flies across the moon,

And is silent.

It was Helen’s voice, waking me from a long sleep. I opened my eyes. I was in a forest, surrounded by tal , slim trees. Bluebel s shimmered like a violet mist in the distance. White flowers dotted the rich grass. I was wearing a long green gown, embroidered al over with flowers and fruits and intertwining leaves. The bronze circlet was on my head, and there were roses in my hair. A silver charm hung from my neck. I had seen it before; twisted silver strands clasping a bright crystal. Of course, I remembered. It was the Talisman. I remembered everything.

“Use it wel ,” Evie said. “It is your time.”

I spun around to find her, but she wasn’t there. I was alone in that hushed, secret place. Al the colors seemed more bril iant than I had ever known, as though blue and yel ow and green had only just been thought of at that moment. The air was so pure that it made my head sing.

Here everything could grow, and be renewed, and find peace.

A white peacock stepped slowly across the grass. I fol owed it and we soon left the forest behind. The land rol ed away into a lush val ey, with ripe corn growing in fields as golden as the sun. Scarlet poppies brushed against my ankles as I walked through the fields to a wide, glittering lake.

In the middle of the lake, on a grassy mound, a huge tree was growing. It was like the tree of stone that I had seen, but this was alive. It was the living Tree. Its bark was golden and its leaves were every color from pale green to deepest red. As I stood and gazed at it, I heard the rustle of new leaves unfurling, and felt the swel of its fruit growing. This was the root of al trees on earth.

The peacock wandered idly by the banks of the lake, pecking in the grass for seeds. I didn’t know how I could cross the water to reach the Tree. It was deep and clear, too far for me to swim. If only Evie were here, I thought, then I remembered her words. Use it well. I unfastened the Talisman and trailed it across the water. “Please let me pass,” I said. “I am a child of the earth. I mean no harm.”

A spray of ivy at the water’s edge began to stretch and grow, curling itself around like twisted wire, spreading out across the water to make a swaying green bridge. I ran across it to where the Tree was growing and breathing and living.

“Welcome, little sister,” said a voice, though I couldn’t see who had spoken. “You have great courage. This is your reward.”

A single leaf twirled down from one of the upper branches, hovering on the air, until it rested on the palm of my hand. “Go,” said the voice, “and be a queen.”

The next second I was slammed back into the darkness.

A mildewed grave cloth covered my face and there was a weight on my eyes. For a moment I panicked. Had the Kinsfolk tricked me? Was there no way back? Making a great effort, I moved the hand that stil clutched the precious leaf, then I heard voices.

“She moves . . . she wakes. . . .” I felt hands pul ing me upward and tugging the cloth from my face, and then I was back in the cavern. The ropes that had bound me were lying in shreds on the ground, and I was standing in a circle of the Kinsfolk. I was stil dressed in green, and in my hand was a delicate leaf, fashioned out of bronze. It was the gift from the everlasting Tree. I had done what I had promised.

“Here is your sign,” I said shakily. “Another piece for your crown.”

“She brings a gift! She is the true queen!” Kundar took the bronze leaf and twisted it into the circlet on my head.

Then the Kinsfolk swarmed around me, touching my robe and crown and feet and hands. And as they touched me they stood up straight and broad, their chains and col ars fal ing from them. They were no longer hunched and wizened but were the men I had seen through Kundar’s eyes, Wyldcliffe’s original inhabitants hundreds or thousands of years ago, before they were murdered and cursed. They had dark eyes and red hair, and were crowned with garlands of oak leaves and ears of corn.

“You bring life. You free the Kinsfolk. The queen has come!”

Kundar looked at me with eager, glinting eyes. “Now we wil sleep wel . Now, when the earth ends, when time is finished, and al come back from Death, our womenfolk wil know us. Speak your wish. The Kinsfolk serve you.”

There was only one thing that I wished for. “I want to see my friends. I must go to them.”

Kundar bowed. “You are the earth queen, but you live in the sky world too. We wil take you to them, then sleep again until you cal .”

“If you ever need me, I wil come back,” I said.

“That is your promise?”

“Yes. I promise.”

He made a funny clicking sound as though he were laughing. “Come,” he said. “Now we wil go to the stone circle.” As Kundar turned to lead the way, I could only hope that I would find my friends there, waiting for me.

I pushed past a tangle of brambles and ferns and stepped out of a hidden cave mouth into the night air. We had reached the end of the secret underground tunnel that led from the cavern to the foot of Blackdown Ridge. The wind was fresh and the sky was black, dusted with stars. Was it real y the same night that we had entered the caverns under the White Tor? It seemed that I had lived a whole life since then. Kundar came and stood next to me, while the rest of the Kinsfolk folk hung back in the shadows.

“We are in the sky world now.” He looked up at the stars. “The stars have changed. Al things change.”

“I shan’t change,” I said. “Stay here please, Kundar. I’m going to walk up to the Ridge. I might need you.”

I made my way up the rough slope as quickly as I could in my long gown. The sound of low voices carried on the night air, and soon I saw Cal and Josh, Helen and Evie sitting on the ground. They were overshadowed by the megaliths and talking softly. I suddenly felt shy and not sure what to say, and pul ed the circlet from my head. But Helen saw me and jumped up. “I knew you’d come back.” She smiled and kissed me. “I knew you’d make it.”

“Thank God!” Evie rushed to hug me. “Oh, Sarah, I’m so sorry for everything. If I hadn’t been stupid enough to be fooled by Mrs. Hartle’s lies and deceptions, I would never have caused you al this trouble. I should have known that it couldn’t be Sebastian waiting for me by the gates. I just wanted to believe that miracles might happen.”

“Miracles do happen,” I replied. “Just not how we expect them to. It was Sebastian—or a vision of him—who told us where to find you. But it was Josh who cal ed you back to life.”

“I know.” Evie glanced at Josh with wonder in her eyes, before turning back to me. “When I was asleep in that stone coffin, it was as though I was drowning in dreams. I seemed to see Sebastian again, as clearly as when he had been alive. But he was different, so gentle. He told me that he had been permitted to reach out to help me just once because I was in mortal danger, and that now my sisters were searching for me, and someone else too, who

—wel , someone who loved me as I deserved to be loved.

He smiled at me and his whole face was ful of light—just light and beauty—and then he was gone. And I knew that I wasn’t ready to fol ow him yet, not even into al that beauty.

I wanted to come back to the world. Then I heard Josh cal ing me. Oh, Sarah,” she whispered. “I know now that Sebastian has left this world forever. I mean real y know in my heart, not just my head. He won’t come back again.

There’s a time for everything, isn’t there? A time to grieve, and a time to heal. And I’ve been given a second chance, and I’m so grateful for everything. . . .” I hugged her tightly.

We had al learned so much about ourselves and one another in these past weeks and days. “Thank you so much,” Evie said as she let me go. “Thank you for what you did for al of us.”

“And thank you for this.” I gave the Talisman back to her, then I hugged Josh too. “I couldn’t have saved Evie without you,” I said. “Helen was right. We’re al in this together now.”

Final y I stood before Cal.

“Sarah—oh, Sarah,” he said hoarsely, staring at my strange robes. “What have they done to you?”

“It’s fine, I’m okay—”

“I thought I was going to go mad, sitting here waiting for you. I wanted to go back down to the caves, but the others stopped me. I couldn’t bear you to face that alone.”

“I wasn’t alone,” I said. “I was with the Kinsfolk. They are my people now.”

Cal took the bronze circlet from my hand and placed it gently on my tangled curls. “And you’re my queen,” he said, kissing my forehead and drawing me to him. “Now and always.”

“For al eternity,” I whispered, and Cal sighed with relief.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get back to the school and away from here.”

But at that moment there was a deafening rumble of thunder. A shape of thick mist formed in the air, and Mrs.

Hartle appeared out of the gloom, wrapped in a fume of fog and bitter ash. The Priestess had returned.

“How very touching,” she sneered. “How this love of yours makes you al so weak and sentimental. Fortunately, I am not troubled by your infirmity. So you escaped the caves and came to the stone circle. Very wel , it makes no difference to me where I take your souls. Here is as good as anywhere else.”

I couldn’t understand how she had found us, but she seemed to read my thoughts.