by John Booth
“My mother would never tell me, except to say it was unforgivable,” Mrs. Kelly explained when the staring got too much for her.
I decided to push my luck.
“So you don’t know, and Jen and Kylie don’t know. Should we let ourselves get killed instead of you reforming the circle and fighting because of a crime nobody can name?”
Everybody looked at Mrs. Kelly who struggled to come up with an answer. “Do what you want,” she said finally, and stared down at the floor.
“Mum, you should do whatever hocus-pocus you have to do to make Jen a member of your circle. Hurry up, because we don’t have much time.”
“Don’t rush me, Andrew. I can’t think when I’m rushed.” Mum dithered on the stage while the women in the hall waited for her to get her act together.
Before she could say or do anything, the door to the hall crashed open and two ambulance men walked into the room maneuvering a stretcher on wheels. On the stretcher with only a thin white sheet covering him was Brian. He was moaning and sweating with his head turning restlessly from side to side.
The men left the stretcher in the gap between the chairs and the wall and walked out again. I don’t believe they had the slightest clue what they were doing and I was sure they were acting on hypnotic suggestion.
Sally, Jane and Peter rushed to Brian’s side as the lights dimmed and a howling wind swept through the hall knocking over the chairs people weren’t sitting on. I tried to get Mum off the stage, but she pushed me away and went to help Mrs. Kelly who had fallen off her chair. I retreated to Kylie because I believed we had just blown our only chance of survival and I wanted to be close to her when we died.
As my Mum helped Mrs. Kelly back onto her chair, Lady Suttor appeared alongside Lord Bron in the front of the stage. My Mum was so busy fussing over Mrs. Kelly that she didn’t notice them appear from nowhere.
Everybody else did though and the room became deathly silent as the winds died down.
18. Death Comes Stalking
I am trying to make sense of what happened as I write it. This next chapter is difficult for me to write because it involves the death of someone I love. Seeing their throat being torn out and the light of life fade from their eyes is not something I ever expected to have to do. It isn’t something I take any pleasure in writing and it was all my fault. I thought I was being clever, but I badly underestimated the three spirits.
I’d worked out before Lady Suttor and Lord Bron appeared that they were behind the strange things that had been happening; our inability to leave the village and our gathering at the hall. My theory was confirmed as soon as I spotted the three of the four usual suspects that had used the spell to free them.
Everyone in that room was either a member, an ex-member, or a potential future member of the Association except for me and Peter. Even Jen and Kylie were from the fiftieth female line that had fled the village so many years ago. Peter and I were connected to the spirits through the snakes in my case, and the freeing spell in his.
This confirmed that the spirits were behind everything because only they could know who all the players were. And that meant there was one person missing. He wasn’t present because he was in hospital in Sutton awaiting an operation.
I made the mistake of thinking this gave us time to sort things out, and instead of rushing to Mum and forcing her to make Jen a member of the Sisterhood I sat back and let events overtake me. People were going to die because of I wasn’t clever enough.
There was no mistaking the power in Lady Suttor as she stepped to the front of the stage. Whorls of force spun around her as she stood looking down at us contemptuously. It was harder to estimate the power of her son, Lord Bron, who stood to one side and did his mother’s bidding while appearing to take no pleasure in it. But he had taken his parents side the last time they were on Earth and it was clear he was still working with them.
“Listen to me, Sisterhood,” Lady Suttor hissed at the crowd. “Ten thousand years ago I ruled this world with my husband, Dar and my son, Bron. The world was different then; this land was part of a great continent covering half the globe. Lions and elephants roamed the plains where now there is only a cold shallow sea.”
“We ruled the world from this place because this valley is sacred. It alone contains the stream that runs between the worlds. That stream is here still, ten millennia later, only a short distance from where we stand. It is the source of the magic in all the worlds.”
Apparently all that time in confinement had given her the opportunity to write a long speech. I was already bored but it didn’t look as though we were going to get the condensed version.
“The Gods punished us for our actions; that they dared in their arrogance to regard as sins. When the Goddess of the Moon trapped our spirits between the worlds, she came to us and told us she had placed the means of our freedom within the Sisterhood with the promise of great power for those who would free us. She told us that surely human greed would release us soon enough, if we would but wait.”
Her face hardened to that of chiseled stone.
“It was a ploy to stop us trying to escape at once. The tree holding our spirits grew its roots deep into the mountains and my husband’s body rotted to dust. We did not see through the Goddess of the Moon’s deception for many years, and by then it was far too late.”
“The Sisterhood became the only magical power left in this world and as the years passed we swore vengeance upon you, your children and their kin when we finally gained our deliverance.”
She looked down at our pale faces.
“That time is upon us, but I want you to know how our freedom was achieved. And those who performed the ceremony shall be made to suffer agonies for their lack of rigor in carrying it out.”
Jane, Peter and Sally shrank back, as well they might. Those three and Brian were the root cause of our imminent deaths, though I was beginning to suspect that they had had some unexpected help.
Lady Suttor continued her lecture, gloating over us.
“We could not influence the Sisterhood while its unity protected it, especially after your ancestors chose to desecrate the Fell by building homes along its banks. Your proximity to its power blocked everything we tried and time moved inexorably on.”
“A chink in your armor occurred when a bloodline split from the Sisterhood over lust for a mortal man.”
Lady Suttor turned and faced Mrs. Kelly who sat white and stone faced behind her. My mother had disappeared from the stage and it took me a second or two to locate her in the hall. She was behind me holding Jen Lord’s hands. I saw her lips moving, but she spoke too softly for anyone, but Jen to hear her. I realized she must be taking Jen into the Sisterhood and it was also pretty clear from the look on her face it wasn’t going to be a simple process. It would take Mum time to complete the rites, time somebody would need to buy for her.
“Your mother,” Lady Suttor intoned pointing at Mrs. Kelly. “Your mother lusted after Thomas Murdock, but he was betrothed to Anna Smith. Your mother could not sleep for the jealousy possessing her; it ate her insides like acid. She committed terrible crimes and laid the blame at Anna’s feet. She persuaded the women of the Sisterhood to corrupt the Goddess’s power, by using them to burn the Anna and Thomas alive in their home.”
Mrs. Kelly looked bleakly at Lady Suttor, but when she started to turn to look into the hall, Mrs. Kelly spat at Lady Suttor’s feet and shouted. “You lie. You are nothing but a whoring evil spirit who forsook her husband’s bed for that of her brother.”
Lady Suttor turned back to Mrs. Kelly and her words dripped with ice cold venom, “I see the old harridan still has a little life in her, but it will not last long. I had reasons for not bedding my husband and it was at his request. I think I will not kill you yet. I want you to hear how your mother’s actions have sealed your fate.”
Lady Suttor stooped over Mrs. Kelly. I was sure Mrs. Kelly was trying to buy Mum the time to finish the ritual. A glance at Mum and Jen showed
they were still in the middle of doing whatever they were doing and Kylie was helping out by holding candles for them.
Some of the women in the Sisterhood had moved closer together to block what Mum was doing from Lady Suttor’s view. I’ve never been as proud of the women in my village as I was just then.
Lady Suttor continued her lecture, now talking only to Mrs. Kelly.
“Once the fifty were an inferior forty nine, it became possible for us to breach the walls between the worlds and corrupt your children. At first we tried to make the Association leave and we wasted much time and effort to in an attempt to end this miserable village’s existence.
When this generation were born, we concentrated on filling their minds with lust and greed.” Lady Suttor waved her hand in the direction of the usual suspects.
“We took their innocence and corrupted them. We helped them find and take the book describing the ritual to obtain our freedom. Your own children are the ones that set us free.”
Mrs. Kelly looked straight into Lady Suttor’s eyes. “They are not evil, they’re just children and all you’ve done is led them a little astray before they return to the fold.”
Lady Suttor laughed and turned towards the hall. Before she could spot Mum and Jen, Mrs. Kelly flung herself at Lady Suttor, clawing feebly at Lady Suttor’s cloak as she slid to the floor. Mrs. Kelly tried to get to her feet but could only sit as Lady Suttor focused her attention on her again.
“I think it’s time you died, old woman.” Lady Suttor made a complex gesture with her hand.
Mrs. Kelly’s flesh fell from her body like badly set jelly and pooled onto the floor. People screamed. Only Mrs. Kelly’s eyes and a bloody skull were left of her head. Then her eyes and brains ran from her skull like water, as did the organs from her body. Finally, Mrs. Kelly’s frail white bones fell on top of a steaming mass of blood, flesh, and sinew, which flooded out across the floor of the stage to drip down into the hall.
Lady Suttor turned towards us. Bron looked away from the pool of destroyed humanity with a look of disgust on his face. I couldn’t tell whether it was because he disapproved of Mrs. Kelly’s death or because of the mess his mother had made of her.
“Come forth my incompetent rescuers,” Lady Suttor intoned solemnly. “Had you done your task as ordained, you would be joining us as lieutenants in our empire. As it is, I shall subject you to years of torture before I finally put you to death.”
Bron stepped off the stage and shooed the frightened children towards the stage. He approached Brian’s stretcher and called to his mother, “This one is sorely injured and cannot walk.”
“Then heal him, Bron. Surely you have healed enough people after torture for you to know how? How else will I have the pleasure of repeatedly breaking their bodies before I grant them death?”
Bron made a gesture and a flash of pure white light shot from the palms of his hands and into Brian. He pulled the boy off the trolley and pushed him towards the stage. Brian tried to hold onto his bed sheet, but Bron pulled it away impatiently and Brian was forced to walk onto the stage naked. On the plus side, he looked well and no longer needed his balls amputating, so I suppose it was a reasonable trade, all in all.
The four children stood on the stage in a line facing Lady Suttor. She looked them over impassively.
“We hoped your parents would whip you longer and harder. In the time of our Empire you would have been tied to a tree in the center of the village for any to whip you for the things we did in your name. We were partially bound at that point, because you had failed to free us. It took us time to work the hole you created between the worlds wide enough to let us through.”
She smiled at the children. It was not a nice smile.
“Did you enjoy the punishments we arranged for you? You will come to look back fondly on them when you compare them to the hell you are yet to face.”
Sally looked up at this creature of power and vengeance and laughed. “Did you know you’re pretty ugly for a queen? Have you been taking ugly pills or something?”
Lady Suttor held out her hand and Sally was dragged into the air. She choked as whatever lifting her did it by her neck. I saw she was unable to breathe and decided it was time to get involved.
I had seen Lord Dar attack the Goddess using the snakes on his arms. It was time to see if I could do the same. I sensed Kylie come up behind me and I turned and shook my head. I wanted to attack them alone. Better only one of us risked death at this time. She understood and stopped where she was. I launched myself onto the stage and thrust my right arm towards Lady Suttor with fist clenched.
Somehow I knew that was the way it would work. A light the color of sunset surged from my arm and knocked Lady Suttor to the floor. As she fell, Sally dropped to the stage clutching at her throat.
I saw she still couldn’t breathe as Lady Suttor had crushed her windpipe. Sally’s arms flailed wildly as she ran out of oxygen.
I stood over Lady Suttor with my arm pointed at her, “Heal her now or else.”
She laughed at me, “Why should I heal her, boy who has stolen my husband’s power? You are the reason why he’s not fully here. Bron has the stone and I have the tree to tie us to this world. But my husband’s body rotted to dust and all he has to bind him here are the snakes he wore on his arms. But you took the snakes before he could retrieve them.”
She looked me over speculatively. Like the super-villains in comics she seemed obsessed with her own voice.
“We speculated on who the Goddess would pick to take the armlets as virgin males of your age have always been difficult to find. If the Goddess picked a female to wear them, she would have had to be the opposite of you. The Goddess does not approve of such things, so we reasoned she would find a boy and keep him pure and unsullied, and here you are.”
Lady Suttor looked at Sally who had slumped to the floor and wasn’t moving. “That was why I never had sex with my husband. For him, power is his life and he achieved much power from the snakes by staying a virgin. He encouraged me to have sex with my brother. I believe you have lost your argument about saving this girl.”
“No, you have lost the battle,” I said, grinning at her. “You can’t torture her now she’s dead, so I have robbed you of years of pleasure and given Sally a swift and merciful death.”
Lady Suttor hissed at me and swung towards Sally with her hands raised. Power surged through the hall and my hair stood on end and crackled. Sally gasped and started breathing.
Despite what she thought, that was round one to me.
Bron stepped back onto the stage. When I attacked his mother I could sense he came close to attacking me. Now he looked at me with amusement on his face.
Lady Suttor turned back to me now Sally was recovering.
“My husband will be pleased that the bearer of the snakes has come to our call. We were not sure we could conquer your will so easily. He can retrieve the snakes and once done he will be able cross over to this world rather than visit.”
She turned back to the three usual suspects who still waited on the far side of the stage. Sally was making her way back to them.
There was a commotion at the Hall door and it swung open. I heard barking and saw Shep drag my father into the room as if his life depended on it.
I think Shep calculated he had to bring my father to open the door because he could have slipped his collar anytime. Shep and Dad moved toward the stage. Dad was apologizing to the women he pushed aside as he was dragged past them.
“Sorry everyone, I don’t know what’s got into the dog. I didn’t have a choice,” he said.
Shep arrived at the stage steps, slipped his collar and bounded towards me as if he was a three years old. While I was glad to see him, this was hardly the time or the place and I got ready to try to calm him when he got to me.
A few feet from me, his face took on a vicious snarl. All German Shepherds have a lot of wolf in them and as his hackles rose, I knew he was going into kill mode. I couldn’t believe
my own dog was going to attack me. He jumped towards me and I crouched down, as there was no way I would use my new found powers to stop him.
There was a scream and yelp as Shep drove his body into the demon dog form of Lord Dar who materialized out of the air also diving towards me. Shep snapped at the demon dog trying to rip his throat out in the way that dogs fight. Lord Dar fought back and the two dogs rolled over each other each snapping and snarling as each tried to get the other by the throat.
Lady Suttor and Bron stepped forward to assist Lord Dar, but the dogs moved so fast that no one could have aimed a blast of power without hitting the wrong one or both.
Shep had come to save me. He must have sensed the spirit of Lord Dar approaching. However unlikely that may sound, I’m convinced it is the truth. Why else would Shep have come to this place and launched an attack aimed right at the demon dog even before he became visible?
There was a terrible scream of anguish and the dogs parted as one slumped to the floor. Shep lay with his throat ripped out, his lifeblood oozing out over his beautiful ruff.
I cried out and ran to him while the demon dog stood over him. The demon dog opened his mouth and grinned in triumph as I approached.
He leapt at me as I came within range, but I ignored him and I knelt to hold my dog’s head up and stroke him for one last time. Lord Dar passed through me and vanished. He had used up the time he could stay in this world while fighting Shep. Lady Suttor screamed in frustration and rage.
I couldn’t be bothered with her, I was too busy telling Shep what a good boy he was and how much I loved him. I had no idea what was going on about me as I comforted my dog and watched him die.
19. Kylie Takes Over
This is me, Kylie. Andrew was so shocked after the death of Shep that he doesn’t really know what happened during a vital part of that time in the hall. Rather than leave his journal incomplete he’s asked me to write down what happened next.
