‘We have to remember that we don’t have their powers,’ said Jack. ‘We’ll have to be careful. We don’t know what we might find.’
Iffie disregarded this advice. Her dad, at least, had been to some pretty dangerous spots before he had had any powers at all and he had managed to survive somehow. In fact, it had been as a prisoner in a vampire’s dungeon that he had found the Athame in the first place.
According to the files, they could expect to meet the Celtic gods in Avalon. But they both knew they would not. Hecaté had taken care of them some years ago when they had tried to help Loki start theRagnoroc rumble.
Other possible denizens included the personalities of the Arthurian legends.
It was also expected that there might be dragons.
The file took them to a misty lake apparently in the middle of nowhere. There was a boat. They untied the boat and got in. There were no oars, and whatever the motive power was, it was invisible to the passengers. The boat just seemed to float off on its own, into the mist.
They floated through the mist for a few minutes until it suddenly rolled back and parted like a pair of curtains (which is not a romantic simile but that is what it was like).
The scene it revealed was breathtaking. The isle of Avalon was perched high above them apparently floating in the air. From its shores, a vast waterfall fell steaming and hissing into the tranquil lake beneath. It was just possible, from their vantage point below, to see the cliffs of Avalon rising from the shores, and these cliffs had waterfalls of their own, falling from who knew what pools and lakes higher up.
There was a decision to make, and they had to make it fast. The boat showed no signs of stopping but seemed set to take them through the falls and out the other side, possibly right to the other side of the lake.
Jack acted quickly. He spread his wings – Faerie wings very unlike Ashtoreth’s muscular, solid and heavily feathered wings. Thin and translucent with a myriad of rainbow colours shimmering through them. You would not have trusted them to hold up a puppy let alone a full grown man plus passenger. But Jack took hold of Iffie around the waist and rose easily and gracefully out of the boat and up the waterfall and further, high above the shores of Avalon to the summit of the cliffs where he landed softly and placed Iffie gently on the ground keeping his hands on her waist just a fraction longer than was strictly necessary – just to steady her of course.
Iffie barely noticed; she wriggled free and ran to the nearest lake to look in. Jack’s arms dropped to his sides, and his head drooped for a second as he became conscious of a sense of disappointment that he did not really understand. But then Iffie ran to him like an excited child and took him by the hands and dragged him forward. ‘Jack!’ Jack, you’ve got to see this.’ She tugged insistently at him.
The lake was absolutely choc full of gleaming swords.
‘What do you think it means?’ she asked.
Jack shrugged. ‘Spares?’ he said, and Iffie fell about laughing. She stopped abruptly as Jack, with a curiously intense look on his face, reached into the water to take one.
‘Don’t!’ she screeched in a panic.
He turned and looked interrogatively at her. ‘Why?’ he said. ‘It might come in handy.’
‘It … just might not be a good idea that’s all,’ she said lamely. ‘We don’t know what will happen. It could be a test or a trap or something.’ You could see that she had been paying attention to her bedtime stories over the years.
Jack took a reluctant step back from the lake. ‘You’re right,’ he said, and forced himself to turn away.
But now it was Iffie who was staring in utter fascination at the lake. There was a good reason for this, however. Jack turned back to follow her gaze and saw a sword rising vertically from the lake, it was followed by a hand gripping the hilt, and that was followed by an arm.
The arm shook slightly, and a muffled, waterlogged voice suddenly said. ‘Well, come on, are you going to take the damn thing or not. I can’t do this all day you know. I’m not as young as I used to be.’
‘God, it’s just like dad always said it was,’ said Iffie. ‘Every magical maiden has an attitude on her like a fishwife.’
‘Should I take it?’ said Jack uncertainly.
Iffie nodded. ‘It should be all right now that you’ve been offered it. It’s not like stealing it. Take it, go on.’
‘That’s right,’ said the voice, ‘unless you want to fight the Black Knight without it. Just hurry up will you?’
Jack grabbed the sword. The arm disappeared.
‘Black Knight?’ he said.
‘Oh, yeah,’ said Iffie. ‘I think I read about that somewhere. You have to prove yourself worthy to enter Avalon by defeating the Black Knight in combat.’ She shrugged. ‘Medieval code. Different moral values I guess.’
‘But I can’t sword fight,’ said Jack.
‘You can fly,’ said Iffie. ‘That should give you an advantage.’
‘What am I, Peter Pan?’ said Jack grumpily.
‘Anyway, I don’t think it works like that in this sort of place,’ she added comfortingly. ‘I mean dad beat up all those ninja dudes that time, and he’d never held a sword before either. Maybe you just have to have like a worthy heart or something. And I reckon if anyone has, it’s you.’
‘Will I have to kill him do you think?’ he said. ‘’Cause I don’t think … Uh oh!’
‘Time to see what you’re made of,’ said Iffie confidently.
Jack held up the sword tentatively as the black armour clad figure clanked heavily toward him.
The Black Knight slashed at him cutting his arm open, blood flowed down his sleeve, and Iffie gasped in horror as she suddenly realised this was real.
Jack staggered back and clutched at his bleeding arm. A sudden, rare anger filled him – he had never liked bullies, even though he had rarely been bothered by them himself, being tall and somewhat well built.
This guy was bigger. Not to mention well armed and protected, but well … Iffie was right, he did not have wings.
Jack lifted off as the next stroke came at him – it went under his feet and Jack turned in the air and slashed downwards at the helmet knocking it right off. A chain mail hood still concealed the features of his opponent, but it offered far less in the way of protection than the helmet had. Iffie cheered.
Now the Black Knight was slashing futilely at the air – Jack was keeping just out of his reach seeking an opportunity to strike.
He drew back further and then, with a faint buzzing sound, which was the whirring of his wings, he bore down fast on the Knight and kicked out hard at the sword arm knocking the sword out of his hand. Then he landed behind the knight and held his own sword out at the side of the knight’s throat.
‘Forfeit!’ he said coldly. The knight fell on his knees and held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. Jack kicked him hard in the back so that he fell on his face. Iffie watched in horror as he raised his sword in both hands and brought it down in a stabbing motion towards the inert figure. Then she breathed out again. He had only stabbed through the chain mail pinning the knight to the ground.
‘That wasn’t too bad,’ said Jack. He sounded more relieved than triumphant.
‘Oh, but your poor arm,’ said Iffie. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Fine,’ he said. And he meant it too. The adrenaline still rushing through him was overriding the pain, at least for the moment.
‘You were really great,’ said Iffie admiringly. ‘I told you, you could do it.’
‘If I hadn’t had the wings, I don’t think my “worthy heart” would have done me much good though,’ he said wryly. ‘So does this mean we get to go further in now. I was kind of expecting a welcoming party or something.’
‘I think he’s the welcoming party,’ she said pointing to the knight. ‘From now on we’re on our own.’
‘I don’t have a problem with that,’ said Jack. ‘’Specially if that’s the kind of welcome we can expect.’
‘But we don’t know where we want to go,’ said Iffie. ‘Don’t they have like a tour guide or something?’
‘It’s not Disneyland,’ said Jack impatiently.
‘I know, but …’
Merlin’s Citadel,’ said Jack. ‘If anyone can help us, I reckon it’s him, don’t you? It’s supposed to be in the centre of Avalon so we should head sort of … inland.’
‘Well, why didn’t you just say so?’ she said.
It was not to be expected that Merlin’s citadel would be unguarded, and it was not. In fact, despite the fact that the citadel itself was, like Avalon, floating free in the air above them, there was a whole city all around – or rather below – it. This then was where the inhabitants of Avalon were gathered. Human, elven (not to be confused with Faeries – elves are the messengers of the gods) the walkers ofWeyland – not human, but they had been once, so the legends tell, and also ogres, goblins and dragons.
‘We aren’t safe here,’ muttered Jack.
‘No one is safe anywhere,’ said a voice behind them. ‘But there is no evil here.’
They turned to see a tall grim faced man in gleaming armour covered by a black velvet cloak and wearing a horned helmet reminiscent of the Norse style. He also carried a large horn as well as the obligatory sword. He was smiling at them. ‘I amGafael,’ he said. ‘The gatekeeper. I have come to bring you to Merlin.’
‘Well, that’s a relief anyway,’ said Iffie.
‘Is it?’ saidGafael, with a strange smile. ‘We shall see about that. Come with me.’
Merlin was pretty much as they had expected him to be – sort of Gandalf on steroids.
‘You do not belong here,’ he said. But not as if he was unduly disturbed by the fact.
‘We’re looking for someone,’ said Jack boldly.
‘Are you indeed? You know I think our lady of the lake took a bit of a shine to you,’ he said confidentially. ‘She sent word that I should see you, otherwise … well I’m very busy you know. And you evidently are not evil or anything … no evil gets in here you know. It all ends up …’ And he pointed downwards. ‘So if you are “looking for someone”, as you put it. You might have better luck in the nether realms below us. Go and seeNecromon, he rules the netherworld.’ He started to laugh at their horrified faces. ‘No, no,’ he chortled. ‘A mere jest. I would not send you to him. Brave you are, but young yet. Not ready for that, not yet.’
‘But if we are going to find Ashtoreth …’ began Jack.
‘Ashtoreth eh? So that is his name, is it?’
‘He’s not here is he?’ said Jack, looking downcast. ‘He never was, was he? Well it was a bit of a long shot I suppose.’
‘A very good idea though,’ said Merlin encouragingly. ‘You mustn’t give up hope.
‘Do you know where he is?’ asked Iffie suddenly. ‘You seem to know an awful lot about it.’
‘No, no, I don’t really. An old man’s hubris, that’s all you have heard. A little trick to make me seem wise. I have been out of the world for a long time now. But I do know all who come and go within my realm, and you two are the first visitors to Avalon for many a century.’
‘Oh,’ said Iffie. ‘Uncle Jack does that too, I should have realised.
‘Is he a sorcerer?’
‘No, he’s a policeman.’
‘You expected to find gods here?’ said Merlin, instead of replying to this.
‘Not really,’ explained Iffie. ‘You see, we know what happened to the Tuatha de Danann …’
‘They were not the true gods,’ said Merlin surprisingly. ‘They took their form and their names, but before they came, there were the true gods of the Celts who were manifested in the same way as all gods are, through the sheer power of belief. Some of those gods still remain. Our lady of the lake is one.’
‘And you?’ asked Jack. ‘What are you exactly?’
‘A mere sorcerer,’ said Merlin modestly.
‘And if you believe that you’ll believe anything,’ said Iffie quietly, nudging Jack.
There was a silence.
‘Before you go, ‘said Merlin suddenly.‘Perhaps a little advice from an old man. You were on the right track. Your quarry is indeed “hidden in plain sight”.’ Suddenly he clapped his hands with a loud boom and they were back in Iffie’s bedroom before they could reply.
‘He knew’ said Jack when he had got his breath back. ‘You were right. He knew all about it. And I bet he knows where Ashtoreth is too. Damn it, why wouldn’t he tell us?’
‘Hidden in plain sight,’ said Iffie. ‘He said we were on the right track – oh stop sulking, it’s obvious that he couldn’t tell us for some reason. All that free will garbage probably. Now just think … where else could he be hiding in plain sight?’
‘And just where the hell have you been?’
They spun; Tamar and Denny were standing in the doorway. Tamar had her arms folded in that pose that tells you: “You’re in trouble now”.
‘You met Merlin?’ said Denny. ‘I’ve got to admit, that’s pretty cool, what was he like?’
‘You shouldn’t’ have gone off without telling us,’ said Tamar automatically.
‘He was pretty much what you would expect,’ said Iffie, ignoring her mother, who did not mean it anyway. ‘You know long white beard, wizardly robes, talked a lot of mystical nonsense.’
Denny laughed. ‘I can see we’ve turned you into a cynic,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or not really.’
‘That arm looks nasty,’ said Tamar to Jack. ‘What happened?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Iffie answered for him. ‘He had to fight the Black Knight. He was really great you know. It was amazing. He …’
‘Shut up Iffie,’ said Jack turning red. ‘It wasn’t anything really.’ Denny never boasted about his conquests and Jack did not want him to think he was getting above himself. He was forgetting that usually Denny did not have to boast because Tamar did it for him.
Denny merely raised an eyebrow. ‘Impressed were you?’ he asked Iffie.’
‘Yes,’ said Iffie, looking at Jack defiantly. ‘Very.’
Tamar smiled. ‘Well, I hope you aren’t too macho now to let me heal that for you,’ she said.
‘Don’t be silly Mum,’ said Iffie, a little nettled. ‘Jack isn’t macho! He’s got too much sense for that.’
‘If you wouldn’t mind,’ said Jack holding his arm out. ‘It does ache a bit,’ he admitted.
‘What did Merlin say?’ asked Denny shrewdly, as Jack was having his arm healed. ‘I know he must have said something about why you were there, was he any help?’
‘Not really,’ said Iffie. ‘He just said that we were on the right track – sort of anyway. Said that he was hidden in plain sight, just like we thought.’
‘And that’s all?’ said Denny, disappointed.
‘Hey, it’s all right Dad, we’ll find him, don’t you worry,’ said Iffie patting his arm.
‘Hidden in plain sight,’ said Denny thoughtfully. ‘That’s quite clever really. I wish I’d thought of it.’
Iffie beamed with pride. She always flowered under her father’s praise.
~ Chapter Ten ~
Ashtoreth had never dreamed, when he sent out the call, that so many would answer. The world was full of his brethren. Descendants of the Nephilim populated the earth in their millions. An army. An army of righteousness. All his to command. Their diluted blood made them less powerful than him, and they were easily bent to his will. It would be selfish to use them only for personal revenge. He saw his way clearly now.
God had taken his mother to show him the pain that evil caused in the world, and he had sent him an army to purge the world of that evil.
He would still have his revenge, but it could wait. Let them see first, what their evil had wrought. They would see their evil associates fall one by one and wait, trembling, for their turn.
* * *
Tamar had had an idea about finding Cindy’s hiding place, where Ashtor
eth might still be, but Denny was not buying it.
‘But we know she wasn’t hiding in a deleted file,’ said Denny. ‘Haven’t we checked them all? And besides, it’s a bit obvious, isn’t it?’
‘Okay, yes and yes,’ said Tamar. ‘But we don’t know that he hasn’t moved to a deleted file since then, but I doubt it …’
‘And so do I.’
‘… But it wasn’t a deleted file, I was thinking of. It’s more like a deleted folder.’
‘Ah, I am intrigued, do tell.’ said Denny steepling his fingers and looking mockingly over the top of them.
‘Well, you ought to know,’ she said. ‘You were the one inside the mainframe.’
‘I was a bit busy at the time.’
‘Crash and override,’ she said. ‘I remember. So you must know that there are whole sections of the mainframe that are … not exactly deleted files more like rewritten programs. Entire ages … Look, I’m thinking of the mythological age.’
‘They overwrote it to turn it into fiction. But the files it contained originally are still deleted files,’ said Denny without hesitation. And the new files are just ordinary historical files such as anybody might get into. With the right access codes,’ he amended, realising that it would be a pretty narrow definition of “anybody” that would fit his criteria. ‘That’s what they always do,’ he added. ‘All deleted files are created that way, filled with stuff that “never happened”.’
‘Yes, but when I said deleted files, that’s not exactly what I meant …’ Tamar stumbled on. ‘I can’t explain what I mean. It doesn’t make any sense, but I know what I mean … damn … just let me think a minute.’
‘Look,’ said Denny. ‘We’ve looked thorough all the files, deleted or otherwise, it’s taken us fifteen years. She wasn’t there, and he isn’t there now.’
‘I know,’ said Tamar impatiently. ‘But … she, and now he, has to be somewhere. Just let me think will you?’
Denny held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. ‘Okay, okay, I’m sorry,’ he said, and made a motion with his hand across his face as if zipping his mouth shut.
Rise Of The Nephilim (The Tamar Black Saga) Page 8
