Excalibur Rising (15 page)

      “It might be time to split our forces,” he said. 
      Violet was again reminded of a hound dog being pulled in two different directions by two conflicting scents.
     “I’m not going with her,” Violet said. “You go with her, you’re the historian.”
     “I’m not permitted to take him,” said Elaine.
      Ryan shrugged his shoulders. “It’s out of my hands,” he said.
     “I would prefer to take him,” Elaine said wistfully.
     “Then take him,” said Violet.
     Ryan managed to look both apologetic and impatient at the same time.
     “I think the search of Griffinwood would be a much better use of my time and skills,” he said.
      “I thought we were partners,” said Violet.
      “Yes,” said Ryan.  “We’re doing this together.  I’ll go to the Manor and you go to…wherever it is that she wants to take you, and then we’ll meet up and swap notes.”
      Now, Violet thought,  he was positively straining at the leash.
     Elaine looked sideways at Violet. “What do you have in that bag?” she said. “Do you really have to bring that large bag with you?”
      Violet clutched her purse for reassurance. “I’m not going with you anywhere,” she said.  “You’re going to tell me what you know and then you’re going to leave.” 
      “No, you’re coming with me,” said Elaine. “You are to meet your sisters.”
     Violet’s heart skipped a beat and she forgot about everything else.      “Sisters? Do I really have sisters? ”she asked incredulously.
     “That is what I am told,” said Elaine, “although I see no family resemblance. “
      “So you’re going with her?” asked Ryan
     Violet made a snap decision.  Despite the fact that Todd and Maria were legally her siblings, having been adopted into the same family, they were not blood relatives.  She could only imagine what it would be like to meet actual sisters.  Perhaps they would have her violet eyes, or her problem with weight.  “Yes,” she said, “I’ll go her. I even have my passport with me.”
     “Our border is not crossed with a passport,” said Elaine.
     “Stop being so mysterious,” Violet snapped. “Just say what you mean.”
     Elaine turned  back to Ryan. “Did you bring the jewel?” she asked.
     “What jewel? “Violet said.
     “He knows,” said Elaine, “It is the passport into our realm.”  She held out her hand to Ryan.  “I will take you as soon as I can,” she said to him. “Time is short.  The dam is almost complete.”
     “What dam?” Ryan asked.
     “The one we’ve been protesting.  The protesters will never win, The valley will be flooded and all will be lost.  This matter is urgent.  I need the jewel.  Some have said she can pass through without the jewel, but we are not certain.  I will use the jewel.”
     Violet glared at Ryan. “I thought we told each other everything,” she said.
     “Almost everything,” he said.
     Ryan put his hand into the pocket of his jacket and produced a fragment of gold, set with a dull red stone.
     “Is this what allowed me to go through?” he asked.
      Elaine nodded. “Give it to me, please.”
     “I’m holding it in my hand  now,” Ryan said, “so, why isn’t anything happening?”
     “You’re not at a gate.”
     “Where is the gate?” he asked.
     Elaine’s glance shifted to the ruined chapel and then shifted back again.  “This one is of no use to us,” she said.
     “Oh, just give her whatever it is she wants,” Violet said impatiently. “Obviously I’m the one who has to go with her and I’m not going to stand out here all day. Do I have to remind you that there are two children waiting for us to find them, or has Miss Blue Eyes made you forget about everything else?”
     “No,” said Ryan, his face suddenly serious. “I have not forgotten.  You misjudge me, Violet.”
      With a look of deep hurt, he placed the fragment of jewelry in the palm of Elaine’s hand.
     “Now what?” he said to Elaine.
     “Now we go,” she said, grabbing Violet’s hand in a painful grip and leading her off the driveway and into the trees.
     “I expect it back,” she heard Ryan shout and then she turned her attention to following Elaine through the woods.
     They came out from among the trees  onto a side road where a small blue car was parked with one of its wheels in a ditch.  Elaine unlocked the doors and indicated that Violet should get into the passenger seat.
     “Wait a minute,” said Violet, “what was all that talk of gates, and mists, and portals or whatever, and now we’re going by car?  Just where are my sisters? ”  Disappointment welled up in her chest. “You’ve been lying, haven’t you?  I don’t have any sisters.  What do you really want?”
     “We’re going west,” said Elaine, bunching up her skirts and climbing into the driver’s seat.  “We could have gone through the Griffinwood gate, but travel on the other side of that gate is difficult. We don’t have cars, or trains, or buses, only horses, and I can’t imagine you on a horse.  So, we’re going by road to the next gate which will bring you where we need to go, and then you will see your sisters, if they are your sisters.  Get in.”
     Violet struggled along the ditch between the hedge and the car and squeezed herself through the passenger door.  Elaine stamped on the accelerator and the little car rocketed out of the ditch and onto the road, and they set off in the general direction of the mountains that Violet had seen, purple against the rain-washed blue sky.
     Violet struggled to find the seatbelt.
     “What’s your relationship with the professor?” Elaine asked suddenly.
     “We’ve been hired to work together,” Violet replied, reaching down beside the seat to find the other end of the belt.
     “But that’s all?” Elaine asked. “It’s nothing personal?”
     “No, it’s nothing personal,” Violet replied. 
     A small smile lit up Elaine’s face.
     “Oh wait a minute,” said Violet, “are you …?”
    “Maybe just a little,” said Elaine.
     “For goodness sake,” said Violet caustically, “don’t tell me you have some kind of pathetic crush on my partner.”
     “It’s not pathetic,” Elaine said. “We’re encouraged to bring back the right kind of men.  It’s just that I’ve never found one before and__”
     Violet’s anger came upon her quite suddenly.  She was angrier than she had ever been before, so angry that she had no room in her brain to think rational thoughts. She could only think that she was being used as a means for Elaine to make her mark on Ryan, or perhaps the girl saw Violet as a rival and intended to get rid of her.  Obviously she was getting Violet away from Griffinwood as fast as the little blue car would carry them. People were dying, children were being kidnapped, women were losing their husbands, and this girl, this waiflike child, was setting it aside in order to chase a man.
     Violet abandoned her attempt to fasten the seat belt and abruptly flung open the passenger door.  Elaine brought the car to a screeching halt as the door slammed against the hedge at the side of the road.
     “What on earth?” she asked.
     “Exactly what I want to know,” said Violet, climbing shakily out of the car. “I am going to stand here by the side of the road, and I’m going to refuse to move until you tell me what’s going on.  You lured me into this car with hints that you know something about my birth mother, but quite obviously you don’t.  If you’re abducting me, or kidnapping me, or whatever it is you think you’re doing, just to get me away from Marcus Ryan, then you’re crazy.  I’m sick to death of hints and half-truths, and mysterious jewels, and disappearing swords and promises that I have a pack of sisters.  You are going to tell me everything you know, or I will simply refuse to get back into this car; and don’t try to make me.  I’m considerably stronger than I look.”
     Elaine leaned forward and rested her head on the steering wheel.  For a moment they were both speechless, with nothing but the sound of Violet’s heavy breathing to break the silence.
     After a few moments the birds, who had stopped singing when the car screeched to a halt, began to chirp again with a first few hesitant notes, and then with full song.  Insects hummed and buzzed.  Violet could hear the sound of vehicles on a distant motorway, and, somewhat closer, the clattering of a tractor engine.  She considered reaching into the car, taking her purse, and simply walking away.  She would retrace the route to the Manor, walk up the driveway, find Marcus Ryan and tell him that it was over. The case was finished. They had fallen into the hands of lunatics.
     Elaine drew in a shuddering breath and turned to look up at Violet.  She spoke in a small, pleading voice. “Please come with me,” she said. “This is more important than you could possibly imagine.”
     “No,” said Violet, “no more mysteries.”
     “Your mother was one of us,” Elaine said. “We don’t know who she was. In every generation we send women into your world to learn your ways and to listen for any word that might be said about the king, or the sword.”
     “What king?”
     Elaine appeared not to hear. “Some of them never return,” she said. “Perhaps it was your mother, or perhaps it was your grandmother. Our elders think they will be able to tell if they meet you.  Don’t you want to know how you came here?”
      “I suppose so,” said Violet.  She was growing uncomfortable standing in the ditch with the sun blazing down on her head. “But that’s not what this is about, is it?  What I want to know is where you came from?”
     “It’s another place,” said Elaine, “please come back into the car.  I’ll tell you everything, but we have to hurry, time is running out.”
     Violet hesitated.
     “Please,” said Elaine again. “I’m sorry about Marcus...Professor Ryan.  I was being silly.  My feelings were totally inappropriate for the situation.”
     “Well,” said Violet, thinking of the many times she had lost control of  her own emotions, “we can’t choose our feelings.”
     She clambered out of the ditch and back into the car.  Elaine put the car in gear and they started off again, heading towards the mountains.
     “Well?” asked Violet.
      “Our kingdom is called Albion,” said Elaine.  “It exists in another reality.”
     “Oh please,” said Violet.  “Do you really expect me to believe that?”
     “I expect you to listen,” said Elaine, “because you have asked me to tell you the truth.  You may reserve judgment until we arrive at our destination.  All you have to do until then is to open your mind to hear things you have never thought possible, and when I am finished, I will show you the proof.”
     Violet sighed. “Very well,” she said, “but Albion isn’t new to me.  Britain used to be called Albion, didn’t it?”
     “Yes,” said Elaine, “but our Albion was never your Albion.  Our Albion exists in another world, a world that lies close to your reality, but is not your reality.  Our Albion has followed a different destiny and it has never become Britain.  There has been no British Empire, no Industrial Revolution, but we have had our Dark Age. We are still in our Dark Age.”
     “What do you mean?”
     “You’ll understand in a minute,” said Elaine, “and the story will be very familiar.  You may not realize it but your world has been aware of us for a long time.  Let me continue.  Albion is placed just as Britain is.  It’s an island in a northern sea.  The northern and western territories are wild and mountainous and the south is a fertile land of rolling hills where great rivers water the land. Our summers are gentle and fruitful and our winters bring deep snow and soft rains.  The people of Albion were once united under one great warrior king.  The king taught them to build stone castles for defense against enemies from across the narrow northern sea.  Nobles learned the skills of war and that led to the wearing of armor and the practice of knighthood.”
     Elaine pulled up at a crossroads.  For a moment she seemed to be getting her bearings, and then she started forward again.  They were drawing closer to the mountains.
     “That’s what Albion was once,” she said to Violet. “What I’m telling you is history.  It was a peaceful and idyllic land until the High King, Uther Pendragon, coveted Ygraine, the wife of the King of Cornwall.  When Merlin, Uther Pendragon’s magician, wove an enchantment that allowed Uther to possess Ygraine, the peace of the land was ended.”
     “Wait a minute,” said Violet. “You’re telling me the Arthurian legend.”
     “Yes,” said Elaine. “Does that surprise you?”
     “Does it surprise me?” Violet repeated. “Of course it surprises me.  In fact I’m way more than surprised.  I’m….well, I don’t even have a word to describe how I feel.  I don’t even know if I believe you.  Why should I believe you?
     “Have you ever wondered where the legend came from?” Elaine asked.
     “Well, certainly not from some alternate reality,” Violet declared.
     “I will prove it to you,” Elaine said, gesturing forward through the windshield, “as soon as we reach those mountains.”
     “I saw the movie,” said Violet.  “Are you trying to tell me it was the truth?”
     “No,” said Elaine, “the movie you speak of was very imaginative, but not the truth.”
     Violet’s memory flashed back to images from books and movies. Uther Pendragon with the dragon crest on his shield. Merlin the magician lurking furtively in the background in his long black scholar’s robe. Ygraine blonde and beautiful seduced by a magic spell, giving birth to Arthur  the secret heir, carried away to be kept until he was old enough to claim the throne.  She remembered epic poems about the deeds of the Knights of the Round Table and the sword Excalibur which Arthur accepted from the Lady of the Lake.  And there had been the sordid side to the story; Arthur being deceived into conceiving a son with his half-sister, a son who grew to become Arthur’s enemy; and, of course, Guinevere committing adultery with Lancelot. 
     “So you’re saying that there’s no truth in the legend, ” said Violet, “or at least not true in this reality that you supposedly come from?”
     “I am telling you our history,” said Elaine.  “You can decide for yourself when we reach the mountains.”
     “And what’s so damned convincing in the mountains?” Violet said impatiently.
     “You’ll see,” said Elaine.  “Let me tell you where history differs from romance.  You have to understand that King Arthur was not seated firmly on the throne of Albion.
 
He lacked a legitimate heir, and there were knights and nobles who looked for the boy Mordred, Arthur’s illegitimate son, to be the next king. For some years the land was at peace, and the knights grewe bored.  They’d been trained for war and, when they found no wars to fight at home, they invented quests and rode the length and breadth of Albion looking for ways to prove their worth either to the king or to Mordred.  So far as the peasants were concerned, the knights were a nuisance, crashing around and fighting everything and everyone they came across.