I figured the best way to fight off the terror that was seizing me was to keep on talking. Perhaps a conversation would stop him from acting on whatever malevolent plan he had in mind for me. “You’re right, I can’t see anything,” I said calmly. “But what about you, how are you able to see in this darkness?”
There was laughter. “Oh, I have been down here for ages. In the realm of eternal night, like a book of endless pages. When one has been in a land of no light, one’s other senses carry on.”
“So how long have you been here?”
“Oh, I no longer remember,” the voice said. “My memories come back in bits and pieces. Faces from the distant past either seem unfathomable, or just much too alike. Hee hee, look, I can actually speak with neither wit nor rhyme. All is well with the advent of time.”
I thought about what he said for a minute before speaking to him again. “What’s the last full memory that you have of the upper world?”
“Oh, my,” the voice said as he trailed off for a few seconds. “That is a very hard question…let’s see. Oh yes. I remember the time when the world was but a forest of trees. I was sitting by a rolling stream, lamenting the loss of my lord. A little red fox came over and told me that three men were approaching the edge of the forest. I told it to warn the other animals, lest those men be out in the woods to hunt the great stag.”
“And then what happened?”
“Hold on, lad, I will get to my story, just give me some time to remember it,” the voice said wistfully. “It was so long ago, you know. The memories fade, like the waters ebb and flow.”
“But if you can’t even remember the time anymore, how do you know it was that long ago?”
The voice hissed with frustration. “Oh will you stop interrupting me! You’re breaking up my line of thought. If this keeps happening, then all I’ve said will be for naught. Now then…ah, yes. I told the birds to fly off and warn the others. Meanwhile I took my wooden staff and used it to convince the grass and the weeds to disrupt the men’s footing. I was going to make their hunt such an enormous effort that it would discourage them and make them leave the forest.”
I crossed my arms as I tilted my head in confusion. “Hold on, you first said you told the fox to warn the others, now you’re saying it was the birds. So which is it, did you tell the fox or the birds?”
“Oh, what does it matter if it was the fox or the birds? All that I remember is that I told one of them, or all of them, since I could speak with any of the animals in that forest. Now will you please stop interrupting me so I can tell you my story! What I am saying isn’t vain or for glory!”
“Sorry. Please go on.”
“Right, now where was I…ah yes. So the three men were having a hard time as they made their way deeper into the forest. The weeds would entrap their boots, the grass would refuse to part, and the trees would fall ahead of them. But still they went on. It seemed that they were very determined. I heard from the wood mouse that came over to me and it told me that the men were not in fact out there for hunting, but they were looking for a prophet of the woods in order to inquire of him to foretell their future.”
I rubbed my chin with my wrist since my fingers were dirty. “But wait a minute, if they were not out there hunting, and instead looking for a man in the woods, then that only meant that they were, in fact, looking for you.”
Some more laughter echoed from the darkness. “Yes, you are right, lad! Those three men were actually on their way to find me. But the real truth was that they were not in the forest to seek me out regarding a prophecy, they were there to kill me. The animals of the woods were telling me that the men would whisper to themselves as to what they would do the moment they found me.”
“So it was three against you? Blimey, this sounds like the start of a really good action movie.”
“Yes, yes. I would tend to agree with you even though I do not know what you’re talking about. I don’t know what an action movie is.”
I frowned. “What? You’re telling me you’ve never heard of movies, or television? You must have been living down here for a very long time if you’ve never heard of those inventions.”
The voice in the dark became terse. “Do you want me to continue, or do you want to tell your version of my story? You keep interrupting me and I shall never finish my oratory.”
“Right, sorry. Please do go on.”
“Very well,” the voice said calmly. “Now the three men carried clubs. They were planning to beat my head in and throw me into the river, where they had placed a trap of sharpened stakes. You see, I had prophesized that I would die a triple death and my words had spread out all across the land. These three men were in the employ of a rival lord, and he had planned to kill me so that I would not be a threat to his plans. But by the time I had met the three men by the edge of the river, I was on my guard. The three of them tried to lure me closer, but my animal friends attacked them. The first man was thrown to the ground when a wild boar gored him, and as he lay there with a fearsome wound I finished him off by beating him to death with his own club. The other two men got scared and tried to run but they both fell into the river. The second man was impaled on the very stake that he had set up as a trap for me, while the third drowned because his armor was too heavy, and he was unable to swim due to the strong currents. It was then that I ordered the animals not to eat one of the three corpses, so as to make it look like I had died and that my prophecy was fulfilled.”
I nodded and hoped that he saw it. “That was a very…exciting story. Thank you. May I ask what your name is?”
“I can no longer recall my original name,” the voice said. “But the people who lived near the forest called me…Myrddin the Wild. I am one with the forest, in its branches, like a child.”
I took a deep breath. He didn’t seem that dangerous. But then again, I still couldn’t tell what he looked like. “Nice to meet you, Myrddin. I’m Steve and I would like to shake your hand, but as I cannot see you I guess I can’t do it.”
“So you wish to see, do you? To sense a bit of light, to notice what is true?”
I bit my lip. If he was going to do something to me it was now or never. “That would be helpful, yes.”
Suddenly, a green ball of light appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and illuminated the tunnel around me. It was the size of a football and it glowed with a faint inner light, like a miniature green sun. Standing in front of me was a tall man with unkempt hair and a long beard. He was dressed in furs and rags, and his eyes had no pupils. His bare feet were caked with dirt. I couldn’t quite determine how old he was, but he seemed to be closer to my dad’s age, which was around his early forties.
I pointed to the floating ball of light. “How were you able to do that?”
He gestured at the green lichen that was on the ground near me. “Oh, all I did was whisper at the little moss flowers and one of them volunteered to glow as bright as the sun. It will continue to burn brightly until its task is done. Of course, it can only do this for a short time before it dies, as the heat it radiates burns thorough its fragile little body in mere moments.”
I looked around. The tunnel evidently went a bit further on than I had thought. “I need to get out of the Tube, but not back the way I came. Can you help me?”
He looked at me blankly. I was beginning to get a feeling that he was blind. “The way is fraught with danger. The tunnel is like a stranger. I can smell Fomorians nearby.”
I stared out into the deepening darkness up ahead. “But it seems that you can talk to plants and animals, and you’ve survived all this time. If you’re willing to guide me out of here then I’m sure we could make it.”
Myrddin started to giggle uncontrollably as he pranced up and down, as if performing some sort of ritual dance. “Even though you’re just a boy, you do not seem to be afraid of the Fomorians. I have met bigger men and they shudder at the sight of them. Once so brave, once so true, only to shriek with fear as their noses fill with phlegm.”
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I shrugged. “I’ve encountered them before and I’ve survived. I need to get back to Highgate and warn my sister. She’s stuck in a house and was waiting for me and her boyfriend when Mark and I got nabbed by a couple of thugs. They took my mirror and I need it back if I’m going to fight the Fomorians.”
Myrddin stopped moving as his cold, dead eyes seemed to stare back at me. “A fight, you say? Did you just tell me that you plan on battling the Fomorians? Oh such a warrior we would need, in order to staunch England’s great bleed.”
“That’s right,” I said. “The mirror I had in my possession was a sort of weapon that I think I could’ve used against them, but now a bunch of gangsters has it. I have to get it back or else all will be lost.”
He rubbed his hands together. “This has gotten quite interesting. Yes, quite interesting indeed. If thou shalt succeed, the world will forever remember your deed.”
“Are you going to help me or not?”
Myrddin began to walk down the tunnel just as the orb of greenish light began to dim. He made a quick gesture with his right hand and another polyp instantly replaced the first one and started to float beside him as he moved on. Not wanting to be left there in the dark, I quickly ran after him as we ventured deeper into the tunnel.
He swayed his head from side to side as we walked together. “You know, I have never met a boy such as you. One so unique, one so true. There is a confidence that stems from your very essence. It is as if…yes, you have touched the other worlds, have you not?”
“Very perceptive,” I said. “I’ve been to the faerie realms and I’ve gone up against a wizard. I suppose when one’s done all that, then there’s really no reason to be scared any further, is there?”
“You are correct,” Myrddin said. “But I can also sense an…inner sadness in you. It is as if you have experienced a great loss, yet you push yourself on with calmness and dedication to your cause.”
I looked straight ahead. “When I said about dealing with that wizard and those sneaky fey, I didn’t do it alone. I had plenty of help from my best mate. His name was Ray. But in the end, he didn’t make it and I still miss him terribly.”
“Ah, but what is an epic tale without loss? The heartier the meal, the more potent the sauce,” he said. “It is through sacrifice that one learns the true value of life and of friendship. Yes, you have the makings of a great journey ahead of you, young one. This will be a great tale, when all is said and done.”
I glanced at him but kept on walking. “What do you mean by that?”
“When the world was young I was gifted with visions of the future,” Myrddin said. “Some of my prophecies were believed, yet others were dismissed by the people. In the end, they all came true. An endless cycle of events, like an infinite queue. Long ago I saw that these lands needed a champion, and I was fated to meet him in these tunnels one day, so I have been living here ever since. Now that I have gazed upon you in the dark and seen your inner being, it seems that that particular prophecy has finally been fulfilled.”
I scoffed. “Oh, bloody shut it already. I’m no one special and I’m quite sure I’m not this big hero that you were expecting. I don’t have a magical hammer, nor do I have the strength of ten men, or even one for that matter. I’ve made plenty of errors and it seems I’m still making them as we speak.”
Myrddin abruptly stopped as we saw a dim light up ahead. He snapped his fingers and the glowing puffball immediately put its light out as it deflated into nothingness. Suddenly we could hear a noise in front of us. It sounded like people talking, but in a language that I couldn’t fathom. Myrddin instantly crouched down and I did the same. It was apparent that the end of the tunnel in front of us led out to another train station.
I couldn’t see him clearly since we were mostly in shadow, but it seemed that Myrddin had tilted his nose up in the air and was sniffing it, like a dog or a rat. “What are you doing?” I said softly.
His voice came in a whisper. “There are Fomorians up ahead. Stout heart, lest your spirit fill with dread.”
I hunched my shoulders as we slowly made our way forward. We walked carefully with deliberate slowness and stayed near the side of the tunnel. At one point I accidentally caught my foot on the train track and nearly fell forward, but Myrddin was able to hold onto my chest and stopped me at the last minute. As we got close to the outer edge of the passageway we could see three beings standing on the platform above us. The first was an eight-foot-tall giant, with very long white hair that reached down to his bare chest. A single, radiating eye that seemed to crackle with electricity sat in the middle of his forehead. The second creature looked like a squat dwarf with crimson skin. He was holding a sort of spiked club and his thick beard and curly hair looked like fine steel mesh. The third Fomorian was the strangest of all: he looked like an ordinary man dressed in ancient clothing. His brown beard and hair were neatly trimmed and he had a very large sword sheathed in a scabbard by his hip.
I looked at them for a bit before turning to whisper in Myrddin’s ear once more. “Are they all Fomorians? That man at the far end of the platform looks normal enough.”
Myrddin merely nodded. “The goal of our quest is through the other tunnel; there is a passageway to the left that leads to the slave lands. That is where you are fated to go. We must be quick and we can’t be slow.”
I was momentarily confused. “Slave lands? What’s that?”
“The Fomorians stash their captives across many different worlds,” Myrddin whispered. “If you are to defeat them then you must know where their conduits are and where they lead to. So many holes, so many passages, all of them true.”
“How do I know if I make it into the right tunnel or not?”
His damp finger lightly touched my forehead. “Stretch out with your senses, boy. Stroke your feelings, make them your toy. You have spent enough time across the different worlds to know what a portal is.”
“What are you going to do?”
Myrddin giggled softly. “Why, catch their attention of course. In order to distract their sails, and blow them off course. I must give you enough time and distance to evade them.”
I peered out into the tunnel mouth once more. “It’s pretty narrow. The moment I get out into the light, they’ll see me in an instant.”
Myrddin started to ready himself; I could see his shoulders tense up. “I will go ahead and draw them away. The moment they react to me it’s time for you to move. Be quick on your feet, and be in the groove.”
I started to get nervous. It was all happening too fast. “But wait…I—”
And then he took off. Myrddin quickly ran out of the shadows and into the light, waving at them while heading towards the opposite tunnel. “Hello, hello, hello! My three Fomorian friends, shall we not all run till the ends?”
The Fomorians instantly reacted. The huge cyclops trained its single eye on him and let out a shriek as it jumped off the platform and tried to grab him. But Myrddin was fast; he was already halfway across the station tracks so the giant had to scramble after him. The two other Fomorians stayed on the platform but they started running in parallel towards the other side. The more humanlike Fomorian drew his sword and made some sort of unintelligible curse.
That was obviously my cue. I exited the mouth of the tunnel and used my arms to pull myself up onto the platform. As I made my way towards one of the upper exists, the dwarf Fomorian turned and let out a shout as he spotted me. “Behold, it is a childe!” it screamed as it turned and ran towards me.
But its cry of alarm was too late as I quickly scrambled up the silent escalators. The dwarf seemed hard pressed to maintain its pursuit of me since its legs were rather short and squat. My shins were quite sore by the time I made it to the top, right where the turnstiles and the abandoned ticket gate were. That was when a strange feeling came over me. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but it felt like an inner voice was telling me where to go. I kept on running until I found the passageway leading down to the opp
osite Tube and it was evidently guiding me there. As I started running down the steps, I heard a shout behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the more humanlike Fomorian running after me as he too scrambled downwards. I quickened my pace as I jumped down the remaining steps and nearly fell over on the platform, but I was able to compensate by bending my knees and kept on going.
As I jumped onto the side of the tracks and started to head towards the mouth of the Tube, I could sense that the tunnels around the Underground were no mere passageways for trains anymore. Somehow, I could sense that each and every tunnel was leading not to another station, but to other, invisible shafts that had opened up along the sides of the Tube, and all these other passages were portals to a myriad number of different worlds. All I had to do now was find the proper one.
The Fomorian running behind me bellowed, “Cometh back hither!”
I ignored him as I ran into the darkened recesses of the tunnel. But instead of nothing but an inky blackness, I could sense the many portals all along the sides of the passageway. They were honeycombed with numerous glowing holes that looked like vertical pools of undulating liquid, radiating with bluish fire. The Fomorian behind me had almost caught up and tried to grab the hood of my pullover, but I ducked away at the last second and dove headfirst into a glowing portal to the side.
What happened next was really a blur as I was hurtling through some sort of vortex. It was like being in the eye of a tornado as I cried out in terror while the gale force winds were throwing me about. Swirling waves of energy buffeted me and my whole body was flipping up and down. All I could hear was the screaming of the air currents as I cried out for help, but there was nothing I could do. The sheer force of the cascading air had totally disorientated me and I could no longer tell which way was up or down. I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands to try and relieve my overloaded senses and the darkness finally swept over me.
The Fomorians Page 3
