The Witch of Glenaster (28 page)

I had heard that there were
fire-drakes there, asleep since the dawn of time, and I wakened them, and at
first they were angry, and threatened to destroy me; but I promised them domain
over the world of men, so long as they served me, for I had learned much of the
Old Powers, and they would find me a formidable ally. And they looked at me
slyly, and licked their lips, and told me they liked my plan.

And so I set them loose upon
the world, and much misery did they do; and others, refugees from
Calmir
, came to me for help and guidance; and I sent them
to all the corners of the known world, but especially to the court, to learn what
they could of the emperor and his seed, and what chaos I could inflict thereby.

And many others too, beasts and
men, rallied to me; and I became feared, and a name that mothers use to scare
their children; and I came here, to
Glenaster
, and
made it my home; and soon the land was deserted except for me and my followers,
and I realized I had become powerful.

Many years passed. I do not
know how many. But when my heart was full, and the rivers ran with the blood of
my enemies, I felt a great weariness come over me; and one day I settled down
to a sleep from which I did not awaken for over a thousand years. And when I
saw my face on waking, I realized that I had hardly aged, but that many of my
followers were dead, or scattered, or in hiding; and I realized also to my
dismay that the same foolish men still held sway over the land, and that I
still had work to do.

And then I saw you, Esther. I
saw you from afar. And I knew you were coming to kill me. And in truth, I could
have destroyed you long before you crossed the Soar with that foolish guardsman
and entered my domain. But I did not. Do you know why?”

I could only shake my head, my
throat dry.

“Because I am so lonely,
Esther. Everyone else fears me, but not you. We could almost have been sisters,
you and I; we are so much alike. I want company, a companion. And I think you
could be the companion that I seek. And so I have allowed you to come this far,
to meet me. Come: get up. Let me show you something.”

And she gave me her hand, and I
rose out of bed; and she kissed me on the forehead, and on my face, and finally
on my lips, and led me from that place.

We walked across a green
meadow, the grass damp with dew, and the Witch of
Glenaster
sang as we walked:

I have been wandering

The wide world o’er,

And all the faces

They shut the door;

But when I come

To you again,

I know I’ve found

My truest friend…

And her voice was keen and
high, and I thought it the most beautiful thing I had ever heard; and we walked
together through the meadow, hand in hand, like sisters, and the sun retreated
before our light.

I could not understand how I
could have hated this woman – all she had wanted was justice, for herself and
her family, and the man she loved. Were we so very different? I looked at her
strange, ageless face, and realized that I loved her, and wanted to protect
her; despite her age and power, and my youth, I would not let any harm come to
her. I swore to it. And she smiled at me, and laughed, and sang some more; and
so we made our way in the gloaming, through copses and small bunches of
woodland, until we came to a low hill, with the sun falling fast behind its
back. And the Witch looked at me, and stroked my face, and was for all the
world like a girl, hardly older than I; and she gestured to the brow of the
hill, and I lifted up my eyes, expecting to see beauty, and love, and all the
wonders of the seven worlds laid out before me.

But I did not.

What I did see hit me like a
hammer. For upon the hill there was a large wheel, made out of beams of oak,
nailed crudely together, and riveted with iron; and the sun caught its shape in
silhouette against the horizon. And upon the wheel, tied fast, arms and legs
spread out almost as far as they could go, was Joseph Hollis.

His clothes were stained and
worn, his face a study in pain; and he seemed broken in every sense, and almost
wasted away. And I saw that there was a dirty bandage covering his eyes - and
that it was scarlet with dried blood.

I think I must have given a
start, the terror I felt suddenly visible on my face, for the Witch turned to
me and smiled.

“Is it not beautiful?” she
said. And she laughed again.

But I could see no beauty in
it. I saw only death. I wanted to retch; but the Witch caught me as I fell.

“Now, now, Esther: this is what
it means to be truly alone,” she said. And she laughed once more; but there was
no life in it. She walked around the great contraption she had devised – this
instrument of torture and pain which now held my friend fast, and made him
whimper like a child. “You recognize him?” she asked, her voice now drained of
its earlier kindness. I nodded, but I could not speak. My throat was thick with
tears. “I have already removed his eyes, of course. Unpleasant, but necessary.
Soon he will be much more -
compliant
…” She smiled at me, and caressed
the young man’s back. “He was coming here to kill me, you understand, Esther.
Me, and those like me. They don’t need much excuse. That I am a woman is enough
for many men; that I am a powerful one is enough for the rest…” And suddenly
her face grew dark, and her eyes became pools of black; and the light fled from
the sky, and I saw that it was night. And now I realized my folly, in believing
her vulnerable and afraid. I realized my stupidity. Whatever injustice had been
done to her, it could not possibly justify the legions of dead whose murder was
her responsibility. It could not justify the horror, the destruction, the havoc
wreaked by the fire-drakes, or the misery inflicted by the
drooj
and their followers. It could not justify the deaths of my parents, or the
burning of my village. It could not justify the slaughter of Thomas Taper’s
wife and children, or of Thomas himself. This woman - if one could still call
her that - had a heart so twisted out of shape by anger and desire for revenge
that she was no longer recognisably human. I had been ensorcelled; she had
convinced me it was she who was wronged. But now I saw the truth, and it was
dark, and empty.

The sky bled upon itself, black
on black, and I said these things to the Witch of
Glenaster
,
though my voice shook, and my palms were dry. And she watched me, thin-lipped
and savage and full of hate, as I told her I hated her, I hated her as all the
others hated her, and if this meant my death then I would welcome it, just to
be free of her. And there was a silence and a stillness then, such as I had
never felt; and after a while it became oppressive, and painful, and the earth
was scorched of words.

But then someone did speak. And
it was a familiar voice.

“Be gone from here, Erith of
Calmir
. You do not frighten her, and you do not frighten me
anymore. Your name is fit only to scare young children, and fools who do not
know any better. You are already myth. You must be able to feel it.”

The Witch turned her head with
a sudden jerk to face this stranger, and, following her gaze, I saw that it was
true: there, not fifty yards away, was Thomas Taper, the Captain of High
Meadow, bruised and bloody, but standing full upright, his hand on the hilt of
his sword, and his eye fixed on the Witch.

“Let the girl go, and cut
Joseph down. Then submit to your punishment; for it has long been in the
coming, and you are old already, and have lived far beyond your natural span.”

They regarded each other for a
long moment, Thomas and the Witch, each as serious as death, and neither
looking away. Then the Witch smiled.

“Poor man! Who are you to come
here
– to my domain – and make such demands? I will tear you apart without a second
thought. The only thing keeping me from doing so now is your friendship with
this girl, and that is not long for this world. Why do you stare at me so,
without chattering your teeth or crying like a little boy? Do you not know who,
and what, I am?”

And then I saw Thomas draw something
from beneath his coat, and hold it up for the Witch to see.

“This is why. And I know you
recognize it, from the look upon your face. They say the magi of old knew when
the hour of their death had come: look upon yours, Erith of the cursed lands,
and tell me I lie.”

I looked at the object Thomas
was holding, but to me it seemed like nothing more than an old book, its
binding weather-beaten and frayed, its pages stained with time. But the Witch
was staring at it intently, her eyes wide and bulging,
her
face bloodless and strange. She began to mutter to herself, and seemed to age
in front of us, and flecks of spittle appeared at the corners of her mouth. She
actually looked frightened.

“Give it to me…” she said,
after a while; quietly at first, but then louder, and louder, until she was
screaming, her voice frenzied and hoarse: “
GIVE IT TO ME!!
”

But Thomas stood his ground,
and held her gaze, and all at once I knew what it was he must have; what the
thing was he held aloft, that terrified the Witch so. All at once I remembered.

The Veil
.

The
Veil,
that
Thomas had told me did not exist; the Veil, that was made by the
magi long ago, but whose spells had been forgotten; the Veil - the one thing in
all the known world that could destroy the Witch of
Glenaster
.

She roared at him then, and the
sound broke the sky like splintering rock, and the stars quivered in their
frames. And as she lunged at him, she forgot about me; and I saw Thomas throw
me the book, as he put up his hands to protect himself, and fell beneath the
weight of the Witch’s fury. And I looked at the object in my hands, my heart
hammering against my chest, and panicked: in my elation at seeing it and
knowing what it was, I realized I had forgotten that I had no idea how to
use
it, and, frustrated, I began to weep. I flicked desperately through the
pages; but the symbols and writing on them were so much nonsense to me, and
without the knowledge of its
spellcraft
I knew it was
worthless. But then I heard a voice, and it seemed far off, but it spoke urgently:

The pages, Esther - the pages!
Pull them out!

I could not understand the
meaning of this: it didn’t seem to make any sense. But then I realized it was
Thomas Taper who was speaking, as the Witch pinned him to the ground, her
fingers grown as long and thick as tree roots as she gripped him round the
neck, and slowly suffocated the life out of him.

“Esther, the pages…! Do it!!”

 His eyes started to roll
back into his head, and his lips become blue; but still the Witch in her anger
did not stop, but kept on pressing, pressing, till I thought she would sever
his head from his body.

I looked down at the book, and
knew that I had only moments before Thomas would be dead; and then, most
likely, I would be too, or otherwise a slave, a plaything of the Witch, and I
could not decide which was worse, for cruelty came so easily to her. I grabbed
the pages of the Veil and pulled; and at first they would not budge, and I
feared I would not have the strength to tear them away. But then, miraculously,
they started to move, and come away from the binding, and I saw what I was
looking for.

The book had felt unusually
heavy, even for something so old, and now I understood why: there, tucked
neatly into the spine, where the pages had been, was a small dagger, its hilt
glinting darkly in the starlight.

As I pulled it out, I saw there
were runes written along the blade, but I could not decipher them; and it sang
slightly as I held it aloft. And I saw now that Thomas was staring at me with
pleading eyes, and the life had almost gone from him. And so I ran forward,
and, thinking little of the consequences, thrust the Veil hard and deep into
the heart of the Witch of
Glenaster
. And the world,
and everything in it, went black.

The years have made a jumble of
my memories, and many thoughts and recollections of what happened next are lost
to me now.

I know I fell, and lay upon the
ground for a long time. I remember being carried, and seeing someone cut Joseph
down. And I remember the long journey south, through the woodland of
Glenaster
, across the Lessening Lands, and once more over
the Ice Bridge, that crosses the River Soar. Then my mind grows dark once more,
and I feel things, but cannot recall them.

I do know that I slept for a
time, and woke in a small clearing, the trees dancing above my head, and the
sky a wash of light and colour. Lifting my head, I felt its full weight, and
set it back down again; but soon after that I pulled myself up gingerly from
the ground, and stood on shaking legs. I leaned against a tree for support, and
stared round about me, and all seemed still and at peace. I was meanly dressed,
in clothes more suited to bed than a brisk winter’s morning; but I felt quite
calm, as if no harm would befall me. And I walked a little, over limestone
rocks that punctured the grassland at my feet, and past stiff birches that
swayed sadly in the wind. And so, rounding a corner, and following a path whose
end I did not know, I came upon a large party of men and horses; and they all
stood watching me, hardly moving in the morning air. I could see their breath,
and watched the twitching of the animals. And I saw by their raiment that they
were the emperor’s men, his ambassadors, and I could not understand what they
wanted, or why they were there. And I looked at them, and they looked at me, as
if we were all ghosts; and I thought for a moment that the whole morning would
pass in this way, until one of them stepped forward, a kindly looking man, with
hair silvering at the temples, and deep knots in his brow.

“Esther Lanark?” he asked, and
I nodded. “The emperor wants to see you.”