The Power of Seven

by Peter R. Ellis

  “Look, Mother. It has nothing to do with God or what you believe in. The People needed me to clear the Malevolence from the Land as they needed you before me. I don’t understand why time passes differently there, but it does. You were there a thousand years before me. It is real, I know it is. Look.”

  September opened her hand. In her palm was the starstone, the Maengolauseren, clear as glass, cracked into two pieces.

  “My stone!” Breuddwyd gasped.

  “It’s broken!” September cried.

  “I found it before I went to the Land,” Breuddwyd went on, reminiscing. “It was cloudy at first and then became as clear as it is now. I looked through it at the stars and suddenly I was surrounded by light and then I was there. But when I woke up at home after I performed my task it was gone. I haven’t seen it since.”

  “It was the same for me. I found it, or perhaps it found me. It took me to the Land one night. I only stayed a few hours then, but a couple of weeks later, tonight I suppose it must be although it doesn’t feel like it, it took me again. What does it mean that I still have it? Why is it broken?”

  Breuddwyd was thoughtful.

  “You knew that I had dreamed the same dream?”

  “It was not a dream. I was told that the last Cludydd was called Breuddwyd and that we looked similar and that the Cludydd is always the seventh child. Our family has had some kind of link with the Land thoughout their history and the stone appears when the Cludydd is needed at the Conjunction.”

  “Seventh child. I am the seventh child of my mother, but you’re not, you’re my sixth child.”

  “You’re forgetting my dead twin, Mother.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She was born before me, wasn’t she?”

  “So that was why you asked me if I had given birth to any other children. I wondered how you could have guessed. She was dead in my womb. They had to get her out first so that they could save you.”

  “She may have been dead but she counts and she exists in the other world, in the Land.”

  “She does?” Breuddwyd looked excited and happy, “Mairwen lives?”

  “She’s a servant of the Malevolence. She doesn’t know the name you gave her.”

  “A servant of evil? No!” Breuddwyd’s expression had changed to one of horror.

  “She calls herself Malice because that’s what she feels. She wants to destroy everything because she couldn’t live a normal life. She is what stopped me from finishing the task as you had done. She attacked me as I was trying to stop the Malevolence coming down to Earth. I had to get away from her. The starstone brought me back here.”

  “My child, part of the evil?” Breuddwyd cried, “I was right all along. It is a test from God to prove my faith in his love.” She paused to sob; great breast-shaking sobs. Then she stopped and looked straight at September. “It is not finished yet, is it? I have to go back and turn my daughter away from sin so that she can rest in peace.”

  “What are you talking about Mother? God’s got nothing to do with it. I’ve been sent back; Malice and the Malevolence have won.”

  “No, it’s not over. You still have the stone. It can take you or me back there. Perhaps I can go and rescue Mairwen.”

  “Is it possible?” It was September’s turn to ponder. She looked at the stone in her hand, “Could I really have another chance to save the People?” She was September, the flabby dumb teenager of whom nobody expected anything, but now she had a memory of being fit and mature, of being powerful and someone that people respected and looked to for survival. Whether she had been away for months or no time at all she was changed. She was the Cludydd and perhaps she still had a chance to defeat the Malevolence.

  “Yes,” Breuddwyd replied, “Once I had used the power of the starstone to drive the Malevolence away from the Earth I found myself back in my bedroom and my hand was empty. That is why I thought it must have been a dream or vision after all. There was nothing to show I’d really been away. The fact that you still have it must mean that the vision is not over.”

  September looked at the two pieces of the Maengolauseren. The stone had been cut precisely in half but both parts were clear as they had been when she had used the stone to travel to the Land.

  “But why is it broken in two?”

  “Perhaps it isn’t broken,” Breuddwyd said, thought creasing her brow, “Perhaps it has divided itself into two starstones, each able to act like the one did.”

  “Two starstones?” September picked out one piece from her palm and held it between her thumb and forefinger and manoeuvred the other piece to hold between the finger and thumb of her other hand. She held them up and looked through each in turn. The image seemed to swirl in both of them but there was no whirlpool of light.

  “Two starstones for two Cludydds,” Breuddwyd said, “You and me.”

  “You mean we could both go back to the Land?”

  “Why not? Together we could deal with Mairwen and get rid of the Malevolence.”

  “We could save the People.”

  September gave one piece of starstone to her Mother. Breuddwyd closed her hand around it and a blissful look came over her face.

  “Save them from sin and bring them to God.”

  “I don’t think there is a god, Mother, either there or here.”

  “We shall see my dear. Now shall we try?”

  “Yes. No. Wait.”

  “What is it? You know time passes more quickly there than here. Who knows how much time has passed since you came back.”

  September leapt to her feet and went to her desk, turning her computer on. A thought was burning through her brain.

  “I know, but I need to find something out before we go.” The screen lit up and the processor began its laborious boot up sequence.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “You know how different the universe of the Land is to here. The Sun, Moon and five planets orbiting around the Earth, or Daear as they call it. The stars which are not stars like the Sun. Nothing else – no galaxies, no other planets. And just the seven metals with amazing powers tied to the planets. Manifestations that are formed from the four elements.”

  “Yes, I remember Heulyn telling me all that.”

  “But don’t you get it? It’s what people thought our universe was like, oh, four or five hundred years ago. Here and now we know that our universe is not like that, but there it really is.”

  “I don’t understand. I never learnt much about space or science. What do you want to find out?” Breuddwyd was mystified.

  “I need to understand how the metals and the elements are linked and I want to know what the starstone is made of. I thought it was diamond but the stars aren’t diamonds so I wonder what people used to think the stars were made of.”

  Her computer had woken up and September quickly logged into the internet and started googling frantically. Pages flickered across the screen. Breuddwyd watched from behind her shoulder bemused by what she was seeing. Finally September exclaimed “Yes!” and shut off the computer.

  “Have you found out what you wanted, Em?” Breuddwyd asked.

  “I think so.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’ll tell you when we’re there. Let’s go.”

  Breuddwyd looked at the stone in her hand.

  “Will it really happen? Will we go to the Land?”

  “I don’t know, but if there is a chance that I can save the people I met then I’ve got to give it a try.”

  “You’ve changed, September. You’re not the silly girl I despaired of anymore. You’re intelligent and decisive.”

  “I’ve had months to change, Mother. I learnt a lot while I was there. I learnt to use the powers of the starstone. I helped people and they respected me. I had a body I was proud of. Now I’m back here and I look like this,” she picked up a roll of fat from her waist. “I’m sick of being this fat, blobby thing. If we get through this I’m going to make sure I’m fitter; and I want to
show I’m not a thicko.”

  Breuddwyd hugged her.

  “You’re not. You are my darling, brave daughter. We will defeat evil and open people’s eyes to Christ.”

  September didn’t reply but pushed herself away from her mother. She reached across her desk and pulled the curtains apart. The sky was dark but for the full Moon now well past its zenith. Only a few stars were visible.

  “Let’s get going, Mother. You know what to do.”

  Mother and daughter stood side-by-side holding their pieces of the stone up to the window. September looked through her piece. There were more stars, and yet more appearing, filling all of space, replacing the dark. They coalesced into a bright spot that grew and grew.

  The avalanche of violet light burst through and overwhelmed her. She had a glimpse of her mother by her side submerged in light and then she closed her eyes, staggered, reached out to steady herself on her desk. There was nothing within her reach. She fell.

  16

  She hit the ground, rolled, and continued rolling down a slope. She twisted, dug her heels in, came to a stop, lay on her back and opened her eyes. It was dark; night time without stars or Moon. She was sitting on a hillside. Her hip was sore. There was a smell of burning and decay.

  “Em, are you alright?” Breuddwyd ran to her side, hand outstretched to pull her to her feet. September stared at her mother. She was clad in violet light with her white waves of hair framing a young pale face.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Mother, you look like, uh, me.”

  “And you, my daughter, look like I remember myself appearing when I was your age.”

  “It must be the Maengolauseren – it gives us the body we wish we had.” She rubbed her hip; it was itching terribly.

  “What’s the matter? Why are you rubbing your side?” Breuddwyd asked.

  “It’s my birthmark. It always itches and gets sore when the Malevolence is near.”

  They both looked around apprehensively.

  “I don’t see any manifestations,” Breuddwyd said.

  “No, but I feel spirits all around me.”

  “I feel them too. Their hate burns like fire.”

  “It felt like that when I passed through the sphere of stars into the Dark.”

  “I didn’t do that. I visited each of the planets but didn’t wish to go beyond the stars.”

  “I thought I could defeat the Malevolence before it came to Earth but I was scared stiff. I was surrounded by all their hate. It was the same at the Conjunction when the Malevolence came down and Malice stopped me from doing anything about it.”

  Breuddwyd gave her a look of sympathetic love.

  “Em, my darling. You experienced things here which I never had to face. At my Conjunction I just raised the starstone. It exploded and that was the end of it; I found myself home in my bed.”

  September shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

  “They are here now. Their hate is everywhere.”

  “You’re right. It’s like a persistent chant in my head.”

  “The Malevolence must have spread across all the Land after the Conjunction.” September felt the consequences of her failure but she saw her mother was thinking.

  “They will be aware of us. The Maengolauseren is like a torch that attracts insects. They will take on the form of manifestations and attack us.”

  “We must cloak ourselves, to hide us from the Malevolence, and Malice.”

  “A cloak? How?”

  “Like this.” September waved her hand holding her starstone in a circle over her head. Silvery grey threads appeared winding themselves about her until she appeared to be enclosed in an almost invisible cocoon.

  “What did you do?”

  “It’s alcam and plwm. Do you remember? Tin and lead. They make a shield against the Malevolence. I made it using the emotions, joy and sadness.”

  “Ah, yes, joy for Iau and sadness for Sadwrn. It’s coming back to me now.” Breuddwyd copied September’s movement and soon she was similarly cocooned in a faint grey shield.

  “It seems I have the skills still,” Breuddwyd said then looked around. “Now Em, where are we? I don’t recognise this place.”

  September examined their surroundings. There was very little light but she saw that she had rolled a short distance down from a ridge. She took the few steps back to the top. The grass under her feet crumbled to dust. Down below she could just make out a river, a black shiny snake amongst dull black trees.

  “I think we’re at Amaethaderyn, or to be exact the ridge of the Refuge above the village.”

  “Amaethaderyn? I don’t know it.”

  “It’s where I arrived both times after the Mordeyrn summoned me.”

  “Ah, Heulyn.”

  “No, Mother, Aurddolen. Heulyn was your Mordeyrn, a thousand years ago.”

  “I keep forgetting the time. Where is this Refuge?”

  “At the top of the hill, this way.” September set off eastwards. After a few paces she spoke.

  “Something’s not right.”

  “What isn’t?”

  “Well, both times I arrived before there was cool damp fresh grass under my feet. This feels dead.”

  “It feels burned.”

  “And the air was clean and fresh.”

  “It smells of death now.”

  As they approached the summit of the ridge, a dull red glow spread up from the eastern horizon revealing the sky to be covered by an overcast of brownish cloud. The light revealed their destination. September gasped.

  “The first time I came there were rings of trees around a stone altar,” she explained, “The second time I arrived they had been blown down by a Draig tân.”

  “It looks as if more than one Draig tân has been here,” Breuddwyd said. The fallen trees had been reduced to grey ashes. In the centre was a heap of white dust.

  “I think Malice has been here and destroyed every trace of the Refuge out of spite.”

  “I can’t imagine a daughter of mine being so vindictive.”

  “She may have been your child but she guides the Malevolence now.”

  Breuddwyd looked sadly at the destruction.

  “I wonder if there is any of God’s love left in her.”

  “I didn’t see any love of any sort, just hate.”

  Breuddwyd turned away hiding her face from September.

  “Well, there’s obviously no-one here. Where is the village?”

  “Down by the river. Shall we go?” She pointed down the hillside across what had once been a gently sloping meadow of grass and wild flowers and now looked to be a barren wasteland. “We don’t have to walk. Shall we fly?”

  Breuddwyd turned back to her, wiping a tear from her cheek.

  “Fly, ah, yes. Now how do we do it?”

  “Remember the seven emotions, one for each planet?”

  “It’s coming back.”

  One moment Breuddwyd was standing in front of her and then there was a giant raven with iridescent blue-black feathers. It flapped its wings and took off. September transformed into her eagle form and joined her mother in the sky. They circled around each other.

  “You are beautiful, my love,” Breuddwyd cawed.

  “And so are you, Mother,” September squawked back, “follow me.”

  She climbed with the raven close behind her. The light was spreading across the ground below, but the Sun was hidden behind the sulphurous clouds. September was dismayed by what she saw. All the grass on the hillside was scorched and the trees beside the river were blackened stumps. The river moved sluggishly as if a thick, oily emulsion. Across the river the clearing where the village stood was an indistinct chaos.

  September swooped down and landed beside the lake in what she thought was the centre of the village. She returned to her normal self. The raven landed beside her and became Breuddwyd. September looked around. Nothing was as she recalled. Every wooden hut was flattened, the posts and thatch reduced to splinters and dust. The lake was no more, jus
t a dry shallow depression of cracked mud, the reeds burned to ash.

  “This was Amaethaderyn?” Breuddwyd said.

  “Yes. It was where Berddig and Arianwen greeted me and Eluned, Catrin, Iorwerth and Padarn gave me gifts. I sailed away from here with Cynddylig and Tudfwlch.” Saying the names filled her with a great sadness which fought against the hate she felt from the spirits that occupied the world.

  Breuddwyd walked around, kicking at the dust and ashes.

  “There’s no one here now.”

  “They must all be dead,” September cried, “It’s all my fault. I let the Malevolence through. Perhaps everyone in the world is dead.”

  “You don’t know what happened to the people who lived here. Maybe they escaped. Look there are still trees standing.” Breuddwyd pointed to the edge of the clearing. There were burnt stumps of trees at the margins of the village but beyond there seemed to be trunks with branches and leaves.

  “Let’s explore,” Breuddwyd said, transforming into a blue-grey wolf. She ran off. September changed into the panther and followed. They ran across the scorched soil of the allotments where the villagers had grown crops and on into the forest. At first the trees were mere dead poles of charcoal but further on they found signs of life: brown bark, moist green leaves. The trees were packed close together so that Breuddwyd and September had to slow down. They paced warily between the trunks. It was dark as little light filtered down through the canopy from the overcast sky. September noticed a flash of something pale, some distance away between the trees. She set off towards it with Breuddwyd close behind. There it was again, a glimpse of white before it was hidden from view. September hurried, weaving between the trees. This way, that way; there a tail, a leg, a head.

  September planted her paws in the leaf-mould and skidded to a halt. In front of her a white tiger stood poised ready to leap at her.

  “Eluned?”

  The tiger took a step towards her warily, sniffing the air.

  “Cludydd?”

  The wolf closed up behind her. The tiger retreated. September transformed.

  “It’s me, Eluned. Don’t be afraid.”