Belonging

by P M Cole

  We quickly passed overhead, and I steered to the left, heading northwest.

  Daniel lay back in his chair, while Lucas enquired if Katerina wanted an apple he had stashed in his satchel. I looked away from the coming day, and into the sky that was still mostly black, and thought about what lay ahead.

  *****

  Beautiful sunbathed snow-covered peaks and glens rolled by beneath us, only disturbed by crystal clear bodies of water cutting into them. Most of the conversations behind me had receded to mere whispers which I was glad for, as it gave me time to untangle my own thoughts. Even though what lay ahead was unknown I was glad to be moving further away from my fa… Hades. It disturbed me how easy his proper title almost fell from my lips. I had looked upon his true form and there was no trace of humanity within it. It was obvious to me now that the Lord that paraded around the halls of Parliament was just a mask.

  My mind slipped to Olivia, Bernard and the others that were discovered at the Crystal Palace. What could have become of them? Were they rotting in a dank cell somewhere in a forgotten corner of the capital?

  I sighed, then thought about the paper in my pocket. My connection to Mr Gladwell. I pulled it out, wondering if I would see anything different, but on opening, it still showed a line from where we had been to the mysterious location at the top left corner of one of Scotland’s biggest islands. I looked out my side window at the increasingly barren terrain below that was succumbing to shadow as the sun headed for the horizon. We were going to be arriving at our destination in darkness. Not the ideal scenario. If the council wanted to be hard to find, they certainly picked the right spot.

  Colin, seated to my left, moved, scratching his nose but seemingly still asleep. I sighed again. In the confined space that was now floating a thousand feet up across the highlands, he was the only one without powers. A ‘casual’ and therefore the most vulnerable, despite his protestations to the contrary. He still bore the scars of his encounter with Hades' forces from weeks before; would he survive another?

  We moved out over a large body of water which unlike the others did not seem to have an obvious end point, so I presumed it was the sea. The coast of an island was ahead, some miles off. We were close.

  “Not far now,” said Gloria in my ear, startling me out of my own head.

  I looked over my shoulder to her and nodded. “Have you been here before?”

  “When I was a wee bairn with ma and my sisters. She took us on a kind of a pilgrimage around the forgotten magical places of Scotland. We were all bored out of our minds!” She smiled. “Couldn’t wait to get back to the city! But looking back, it was one of my fondest times I had spent with her…but the stones themselves? The location had an energy certainly. Katerina felt it more because she could feel the stones, but we just played in the fields, just another stone circle. I think we visited about five that summer.”

  “Any idea of what we should do if the council is actually there?”

  She shook her head. “That’s beyond my knowledge, as it is most that walk within this realm.” She rested her hand on my shoulder. “You have the godly power within you. And from what you have told me, you can take care of yourself. Just keep your wits about you and you’ll be fine.”

  I don't think my brief smile to her did a good job of hiding my true emotion, which was fear. What did I know of such things? But both Athena and Mr Gladwell wanted us to come here, so I had to trust in that.

  A pebbly beach almost lost in the gloom moved by far below, and I started to descend.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The propellers whirred, and I brought the dirigible gently down on even ground covered in snow. The landscape was breathtaking in its bleak serenity. The moon above gave enough light to see the hills and coves not far from us and standing proud on a slightly raised plateau were the tall stones, like a group of old men who had lost their way. If this was the entrance to wherever the council resided though, I expected something different. Something more… magical.

  I looked back to Gloria. “You sense anything?”

  She shook her head. “Not really, but we are still too far away from them.”

  Daniel pushed the door open and the chill wind which swept through the cabin made him and the rest of us grimace. He pulled his coat around his neck and climbed out. Lucas and Gloria both lit their oil lanterns then everyone else followed but I remained in my seat. I took a deep breath, made sure my garments were securely fastened and finally climbed between the seats and then outside.

  I looked around, just about making out the dark shapes in the largely featureless landscape.

  Auto chirped something.

  “Not letting you out just yet,” I said in reply.

  “Let’s get this over with,” said Lucas.

  I nodded and we all walked forward across the patches of snow and frozen ground, then up a small embankment until we got to the first stone. It stood almost double my height, and appeared to be one of a number which formed a rudimentary border to a path which led to the main circle.

  Melanie walked on ahead, stepping through the ankle-deep snow.

  “Mel! Not so quick!” said Gloria. Daniel tried to keep up with her.

  “I want to get this over with, so we can get back! Or at least find a village or something!” she shouted back, her words almost being lost to the wind.

  She had a point, the only lights I had seen on the ground was about an hour before we landed, and I think that was a lone fisherman’s cottage.

  I quickly caught up with her, and we all emerged into a small ring of upright stones. The centre was a mound of snow, which three other knee height stones peeked through. The wind blew again, reminding us how isolated the location was. I gingerly walked forward and placed my hand on one of the smaller monoliths.

  “What do you feel?” said Lucas.

  “Cold stone… but that’s all.” I looked at Katerina.

  She reached and placed a hand on the stone close to her, then closed her eyes. “Hmm… there is magic here, but it’s residual. Ancient. I’m not sensing anything else.”

  “Blah!” said Melanie. “All this way for nothing!”

  Gloria nodded towards my coat. “What does your map say?”

  I pulled the parchment out and opened it, rubbing my numbing fingers. Those with lamps moved closer.

  The dark red lines were unmoved.

  “I don’t understand…” I said. “There must be something here, he wouldn’t lead me all this way for—” I noticed Gloria was looking off to my left, away from the silvery ripples of the nearby bay and further into the darkness, where the land became hillier. She started walking in that direction. “What is it?”

  “Umm… I’m not sure, there’s something over there, on the side of the hill. I need to get closer.”

  As she led the way across the frozen ground, I began to glimpse a rectangular shape amongst the slope ahead. A structure of some kind.

  “Oh… lots of magic coming off of this place,” said Gloria. She and Lucas lifted their lanterns up to reveal what to me looked like a half-buried series of brick like stones, with a large opening. All of which were covered in show.

  Lucas leaned closer. “It’s a chambered cairn. They’re usually burial chambers, or otherwise known to be passages to other realms…” He looked at me.

  I steeled my nerves and stepped forward, taking his lantern from him.

  “Maybe I should go—”

  Before he could finish, I had ducked into the confined space and walked slowly forward into the dark tunnel. It wasn’t long before the howling winds were replaced with a deathly silence. My heart beat in my ears and we all walked along, our backs bent to not hit our heads on the knobbly ceiling.

  “We’re going deeper into the hillside,” said Daniel.

  The tunnel floor had also become a slope moving us further beneath the ground.

  “Whatever is ahead of us, is giving off some of the strongest magic I’ve seen in my days,” said Gloria.


  Out of the darkness I became aware of a source of light up ahead. We quickly moved forward and emerged into a corridor, with doors, hundreds of them on both sides, stretching to our left and right to what seemed infinity.

  “There’s something you don’t see every day,” said Colin.

  I moved to the one directly in front of me and twisted the iron handle, but it remained firmly closed.

  Daniel tried the one to my right, while Melanie the one to my left, but they were both unsuccessful.

  I noticed Katerina with Lucas at her side were wandering past door after door, her hand briefly touching the handles.

  “Where you going?” I shouted after them.

  She suddenly stopped, some twenty yards away. She looked at the door in front of her, Lucas, then back to me and the others. “There’s something different about this one!” she shouted.

  We quickly caught up to her. I stepped forward and placed my hand on the cold metal rounded handle and turned. The door creaked opened a few inches, allowing a blue light to escape into the dimly lit space we were already in.

  I pushed the door open wide and stepped cautiously out into a much larger space, a domed chamber, but that wasn’t what everyone was taken aback by, for in the centre of the room was a swirling mass of light and cloud which resided at the top of a few well-worn stone steps. The scene reminded me of what I had seen at Wraith manor.

  “A portal…” said Lucas.

  I stepped closer to the first step for across its top surface were some letters. “Con… cil… io.”

  “Council in Latin,” said Daniel.

  “Good!” said Melanie, then rushed towards the steps. “I’ve never been to another—” Before anyone could stop her, she surged into the spinning light show, and with an even brighter display was promptly thrown through the air a good few feet before landing on her posterior. Daniel ran to her, but she brushed his help away. “I’m fine!”

  Gloria frowned at her younger sister, while Katerina and Lucas moved close to the portal. She moved her hand towards the fizzing, warping, magical opening being careful not to touch it.

  She shook her head. “This is an entrance for celestial beings, for gods.” She looked at Lucas. “We cannot pass through here…”

  They looked back to me.

  “Only you and Daniel can pass through, Cog,” said Lucas.

  “Right…” I said, trying to sound as if I had known all along. I looked at Daniel. “You can stay if you wish.”

  He smiled and walked to the first to the steps. “And miss the chance of seeing the council of the gods?”

  I turned to Colin. “I’ll be back, I promise.” He walked forward and we hugged and briefly kissed. I joined Daniel and looked back to the others. “I don’t know how long we will be but take the dirigible and fly to a village or town when you need to.”

  Gloria smiled and nodded.

  I turned to Daniel and we both walked up the steps, and into the light.

  *****

  I stood at the top of stone steps. Daniel was at my side. The words almost left my mouth to ask if we had gone anywhere but then I realised the rest of the chamber was empty.

  We both descended to the floor. I turned around to what appeared to be the same portal as the one we had just gone through, but there was something about the stones around us that felt different.

  “Look,” said Daniel, looking down at the bottom step.

  I leaned over. The letters had changed, I looked at him for a translation.

  “It says ‘return’.” He slid his finger over the step. “It’s not worn…”

  I looked up at the structure around us; the walls were smooth and free of moss. It looked like it had just been constructed. I turned to the entrance to the tunnel, then Daniel. We both stepped forward, me taking the lead, and walked into the confined space. Immediately I could smell the air was different, fresher, and more earthy.

  “It’s not as cold as it was…” said Daniel.

  He was right, in fact the air was warm, so much so that I started to unbutton my coat. A chirp came from inside making me jump.

  “Your toy came through as well?” said Daniel surprised.

  “Yes…” I was somewhat surprised as well, but also relieved to have more than one friend with me. I pulled Auto out and held him in the gloom. “We have gone somewhere. Through a portal but I do not know where we are.” Another chirp. “Good idea.”

  The mechanical bird fluttered his wings then took flight, moving quickly towards the brightness ahead of us. We increased our pace and an opening appeared, brightly lit as if it was… daylight outside.

  The stench of grass and dirt became stronger as we neared the way out, and we squinted as we emerged from the small opening into a forest.

  Huge trunks surrounded us, and a full canopy shielded us from above. Pockets of sun littered the forest floor illuminating twigs, flowers, and grass.

  A clacking heralded Auto’s return.

  ’S…t…o…n…e…s…!’

  “What stones? Where?”

  His head rotated away from us, and I realised there was the faint outline of a path through the trees.

  We walked forward, trying to make sense of where we had been transported to.

  “I think there’s a clearing up ahead,” said Daniel.

  He was right, for through the trees was an immensity of light. As we neared it, we could also see standing stones, but these were not weathered by the eons, but were perfectly cut. Seven of them in a perfect circle and at the centre a flat stone slab.

  “Stay close,” I shouted up to Auto.

  We emerged from the forest to a sunbathed plateau, the same one we were just exploring minutes before, but the landscape, far from being devoid of detail, was a series of wooded islands, and a sparking sea between.

  “It’s the same place, but… different,” said Daniel.

  I nodded and we walked forward between the monoliths and onto the clean central surface that the upright stones seemed focused on. I felt the electricity in the air and the ground shook, almost making us both lose our balance.

  “Which god summons the council?” said a voice to our left. We swung around to the radiant face of an elderly man with only one eye. A face which belonged to a head, which floated above the stone, without a body.

  “M… my… name is Cog… I mean Corine Arturo, err, sir.”

  “I have no interest in your corporeal name!” boomed the head.

  “She is Hephaestus and the other is Apollo.” We spun around to face the exact opposite direction. Athena’s smiling beauty looked down upon me in similar fashion to the one-eyed man.

  “She is the one that Chronus asked us to protect…” Another voice, another head, but this one wasn’t human, for it was dog-like with tall ears and umber coloured skin.

  “And just—” A chill ran through my spine for I knew the next voice to echo around the stones. “—as we all agreed that his false accusations against me were groundless, I ask the council to return to me those that I had brought forth into the earthly realm.” I slowly turned around to a sight from my nightmares. It was the head of the creature we fought at the manor. My father’s true demonic form floated above another of the plinths.

  “He… he lies!” I shouted at whoever would listen.

  “What… does… he—” I turned, and then recoiled at a head of a serpent, its tongue tasting the air between words. “—lie about young thing?”

  I spun around all of the heads that were now waiting for answers, creatures and faces from the far corners of civilisation.

  “Everything! He wants to kill the humans! Destroy their cities, take them for himself!”

  The old man looked at the blood red face of Hades. “Is this correct? You know we must not alter the fate of non-celestials Hades.”

  “She is misinformed, but there is something that I must confess that might allow this great council to make a more informed decision…”

  I wondered what new poison would spill
from his mouth.

  “This child is my daughter. Unlike the boy and the others I mentored, she is my actual earth-born offspring…”

  Even on the non-human looking faces I could see surprise.

  “Oh…” said the one-eyed man. “That does change things.”

  “I want to put it to a vote that they be returned immediately—” I whirled around to Athena desperate for a response.

  “There is something else the council needs to consider….” she said.

  “Yes?” said the old man.

  “She has passed her twenty-first birthday, therefore she is of age, and not a child. She has the right to prove herself in trial to determine her own fate. They both do.”

  Trial?

  I looked at Daniel, he shook his head being as confused as I was. We looked around the faces looking down upon us; each appeared to be pondering the request.

  “No!” shouted Hades. “She is of my blood! And I demand—”

  “And if she was younger, then your claim would be valid, but you know the rules Hades. She is of an age where she can determine her own future. I second the motion for a trial.”

  Sounds of agreement came from the other gods, apart from one, whose face was a picture of fury.

  “Hephaestus and Apollo—” We both turned to the one-eyed man. “—the council has agreed that you should be allowed to choose your fate if you win the trial. You will both fight against two fighters from the one that opposes you, Hades.”

  “I… OK…”

  The old man turned to the dead eyes of Hades. “Do you have two that will stand for you in the trial?”

  “They have been chosen.”

  The one-eyed man nodded. “Then let the trial begin…”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “But… but…” I spun around. The faces of the council had gone, their plinths empty. Even Athena was no longer there.