Dance of the Stones
Page 1
BOOK TWO
THE SUMMER OF MAGIC QUARTET
DANCE OF THE
STONES
ANDREA SPALDING
ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS
Copyright © 2003 Brandywine Enterprises BC Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Spalding, Andrea.
Dance of the stones / Andrea Spalding.
(The summer of magic quartet; bk. 2)
Electronic Monograph
Issued also in print format.
ISBN 9781551437927(pdf) -- ISBN 9781554694556(epub)
I. Title. II. Series: Spalding, Andrea. Summer of magic quartet; bk 2.
PS8587. P213D36 2003 jC813’.54 C2003-910057-X
PZ7. S7319Da 2003
First published in the United States, 2003
Library of Congress Control Number: 2003100407
Summary: In Book Two of The Summer of Magic Quartet, the four children from The White Horse Talisman seek Ava’s circlet, buried within the ancient stone circle of Avebury.
Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council.
Cover design: Christine Toller
Cover and interior illustrations: Martin Springett
In Canada:
Orca Book Publishers
PO Box 5626, Station B
Victoria, BC Canada
V8R 6S4
In the United States:
Orca Book Publishers
PO Box 468
Custer, WA USA
98240-0468
www.orcabook.com
05 04 03 • 5 4 3 2 1
For Kathy and Don Mills.
Your quiet and constant appreciation and support of Canadian children’s literature has not gone unnoticed.
AS
Old English Circle Dance
(danced by the author as a child)
Honor your partners.
Circle to the left (16 steps).
Circle to the right (16 steps).
Circle left again (8 steps).
Circle right again (8 steps).
Men to the middle, clap, then back.
Women to the middle, clap, then back.
Swing your partners, leave women in the middle.
Women circle left, while men circle right.
Men circle left, while women circle right.
Find your partner, everybody swing.
Grand Promenade around the Circle.
Acknowledgements
Many people help in the creation of a book.
Sincere thanks to Kathy for taking us around Avebury and sharing modern archeological thinking with us; to Terry the Druid for sharing his love of the Stones; to Gavin and Janet for the car and hospitality; to Penny for comments; to Jock for bailing me out with the computer; to Maggie and the Orca pod for making it all happen; and, as always, to Dave for ongoing support and background research.
NOTE: Celtic spelling was used for two names in the story. “Myrddin” is pronounced “merthin” and “Hewll” is pronounced “hewl. “Traa dy liooar,” which is pronounced “trae de lure” and means “time enough, and “Lhiat myr hoilloo,” which is pronounced “lee-at mur hoylew” and means “to thee as thou deservest,” are phrases in Manx, the Gaelic language of the Isle of Man.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 Honor Your Partners
CHAPTER 2 Forest Magic
CHAPTER 3 Circle to the Right
CHAPTER 4 Circle Magic
CHAPTER 5 The Final Stone
CHAPTER 6 Swing Your Partners
CHAPTER 7 The Naming Day
CHAPTER 8 The Night of Destruction
CHAPTER 9 The Golden King
CHAPTER 10 Everybody Swing
CHAPTER 11 The Dance of the Stones
Author’s Note
1.
HONOR YOUR PARTNERS
Dawn broke and magic filled the air. Deep in the heart of England, strange things stirred.
The first sunbeam darted through a stand of ancient forest and lit the trunk of a centuries-old oak. For one shining second the features of a face appeared in the bark. Green eyes flashed as the sunbeam passed and the features faded.
Deeper in the forest, a wild boar yawned. The sunbeam glanced off wicked teeth and tusks. The mouth closed. The beam moved on and the boar melted once more into shadowland.
The second sunbeam slid across the downs and kissed a conical green mound that swelled up, apart from the other hills. Only the lark that rose from its nest on the summit heard the greeting from the ancient king beneath. The lark wove the greeting into its song to welcome the sun.
The third sunbeam shot its magical light into a valley. There towered a Stone Circle, great gray stones veiled in morning mist. The golden beam lit the dew-covered grass. The dew became a carpet of flashing diamonds. The dancing light pierced the mist veil and caught a night-prowling wraith, forever struggling to enter the Circle. The wraith fought the light, seeking shelter in the shadows between the stones. The light triumphed. Veils of mist swirled, and the figure dissolved.
The tide of light flooded and washed each Sarsen Stone. The stones were ready. As gray became gold, the largest stone spun on its axis, then stood sentinel as before.
The magic happened quickly, without a witness. That was to change. Four ordinary children were about to be called to the Circle.
* * *
The Wise Ones watched the Earthdawn from their place among the stars.
As the first stone stirred, Ava’s cry of happiness shivered the sky.
“The stone has turned! My magic is ripening at last. It’s time to call the children.” Ava stretched her wings “Myrddin, Equus, join me. Send blessings down to Gaia. Old Magic stirs with each new dawn, but the Dark Magic also grows. Help give the human children strength to resist one while embracing the other.”
“Light and Dark, Dark and Light,” rumbled Myrddin.“Children, may you learn that one will always bring the other on its coattails.” He spread his arms and shook out his cloak of hidden colors. A shower of stardust sparkled and fell on the blue planet below.
“Light and Dark, Dark and Light,” murmured Equus. He shook his mane and stamped his hoof. A fiery star streaked the dawn-washed sky. “Children, may you seek strength from the light and be unafraid of the dark.”
“Light and Dark, Dark and Light,” whispered Ava. She spread her magnificent wings and her hawk-like beauty shone unchecked, dimming the stars of the Milky Way. “Children, the time is near. The light calls as the darkness gathers. May its circle always protect you.”
Ava soared upwards and spun a rainbow that circled the setting moon.
* * *
The four children were sleeping.
The golden finger of dawn sneaked through a gap in the curtain and touched one child’s face. Owen Maxwell woke instantly. He swung carefully out of his upper bunk to avoid disturbing his Canadian cousin Adam in the bunk below. He padded across the floorboards and pulled aside the curtain. “Weird light,” he muttered as he hung out of the open window to see better.
The rising sun blazed from the horizon on one side of White Horse Farm, and the setting moon gleamed on the other. A brief shower blew over the ground, releasing earthy aromas, and suddenly the moon was frame
d by a rainbow. High above hung the bright morning star.
A shiver went up Owen’s spine.
“Is this it?” he called softly. “Wise Ones, is this the star message you promised to send us? Is it time for our next adventure?”
The cry of a hawk was the only answer.
Owen squinted up into the light.
The hawk circled below the morning star. The circles became wider and wider as she dipped closer to the earth. As the hawk banked one way she was bathed in gold; as she banked the other way she was washed with silver.
“Awesome,” breathed Owen. He held his breath.
The hawk folded her wings and plummeted like a stone toward the pasture.
Owen gasped.
In the same second the sun leaped into the sky. The banished moon fell below the horizon and the morning star faded.
Only the hawk remained, hurtling toward the ground. Within centimeters of the earth she unleashed her talons and spread her wings. Wingtips brushed grass. Razor-sharp claws stretched and grabbed. The hawk swooped up with the tawny body of a weasel hanging in her deadly grip. She flapped heavily toward the nearest patch of woodland and disappeared with her prey.
Light and Dark, Dark and Light. The light grows but dark things waken. Ava’s words were transferred thoughts, but they filled Owen’s head as loudly and clearly as true speech. The stones have stirred. Tell the others. The time is near for the Circle Dance.
* * *
“Adam . . . Adam . . . WAKE UP,” Owen hissed in his cousin’s ear. He shook Adam’s shoulder.
Adam squinted at the dawn light, pulled a face and tried to burrow under his pillow. “Too early.”
“Adam, it’s happening. Ava spoke to me.”
Adam’s eyes shot open. “YOU heard from the Wise Ones?”
Owen nodded, his eyes dancing.
Adam rolled out of bed. He stood in the middle of the room, rumpled and annoyed. “Why you? What did they say?”
“I’m getting the girls. I’ll be back.” Owen lifted the catch on the bedroom door and disappeared down the corridor.
Adam ran to the window and stared up at the sky. Everything seemed normal. His eyes scanned the hills beyond White Horse Farm. In Canada, where he and Chantel lived, they would have been called hills, but his English cousins called them the downs. Carved into the downs was the gigantic figure of a white horse. It had been cut through the grass to the white chalk beneath over three thousand years ago. The carving had started their adventures.
Chantel’s and my adventure, thought Adam resentfully. If he and Chantel hadn’t come to visit from Canada, none of it would have happened. He hunched his shoulders. Why were the Wise Ones talking to Owen? It was Adam they should be talking to. They talked to Chantel last time; now it was his turn. Adam gazed up at the chalk carving.
The chalk horse had become Equus, a wise being from the stars. Equus had spoken to Chantel in her dreams. When Chantel had ended up in hospital with a broken leg, she had directed Adam and her two English cousins in helping Equus search for his mate, the Red Mare. They also recovered his magical talisman. By the end of the adventure, all four cousins had met the Wise Ones and promised to help them recover other magical tools.
Adam remembered the exhilaration of the wild ride through the stars when Equus and the Red Mare had taken all four cousins to the Place Beyond Morning. He remembered his awe at meeting two other Wise Ones, Myrddin, a cloaked man, and Ava, a beautiful being who seemed to be half-woman, half-bird.
Adam trembled as a wave of fear washed over him. Part of the adventure had been terrifying. A terrible dragon had tried to control his mind and make him do dreadful things. Maybe this adventure would be scary too. Maybe they shouldn’t get involved. He turned nervously as the bedroom door opened.
* * *
Chantel, his seven-year-old sister, hopped in, her leg held up so her cast wouldn’t bang on the floor. “Did you speak to the Wise Ones?” she whispered.
“No,” said Adam. He pulled out the chair from Owen’s desk so she could sit down and rest her leg. “They spoke to Owen.”
The door opened again and Owen and his eleven-year-old sister Holly joined them.
“What’s up?” Holly hissed.
Owen grinned. “We’ve had a message from the Wise Ones.”
“About time,” said Holly. “I was fed up with waiting. What happened?”
“The light woke me. It was really weird,” said Owen. “So I hung out of the window to see better. The sun and moon were shining at the same time, and there was a rainbow around the moon and this big star, the morning star I think, between them. Then I spotted a hawk. It circled around in the light, turning silver on one side and gold on the other. It dived toward the earth. I thought it was going to crash, but it caught a weasel . . . ”
“Ugh!” Chantel shuddered.
Owen ignored her. “ . . . and flapped off to the woods. Then Ava spoke.” Owen’s voice deepened as he repeated Ava’s words. ‘Light and Dark, Dark and Light. The light grows but dark things stir. The stones have stirred. Tell the others. The time is near for the Circle Dance.’ He paused. “At least I think I heard her voice . . . only it wasn’t a real voice. It was in my head.”
Chantel nodded excitedly. “That’s how the Wise Ones speak. It’s in your head but as clear as clear.” She thought for a moment. “I think they only spoke out loud when we were in the Place Beyond Morning.”
Holly agreed.
“Yup, and know what’s neat? You can think your answers back. You don’t have to speak out loud.” Chantel raised her eyebrows at her cousin. “Didn’t you do that last time?”
Owen shook his head. “It was you two and Holly who had most of the adventures.” He grinned. “I guess it’s my turn now.”
Adam shifted.
‘The stones have stirred. The time is near for the Circle Dance,’ quoted Holly. “What’s that? What do we have to do?”
Owen shrugged. “Dunno. That’s all Ava said.”
Chantel hopped up from the chair and held out her hands. “They can speak to us best when we are asleep, but sometimes they spoke if we helped by making a circle. Let’s try. I hope Equus will come. I miss riding on him. He hasn’t visited my dreams for ages.”
“None of them have,” Adam grumbled as he grasped his sister’s hand and offered his other to Owen. “I’ve hated waiting.”
“Me too,” said Holly. “But I sometimes wonder if it really happened.”
The other children nodded.
“Well it did happen,” said Owen firmly. “Now it’s going to happen again. Are you in or out?” He held out his hand toward his older sister.
Holly laughed. “Don’t be an idiot. In, of course.” She grasped Chantel’s and Owen’s hands and completed the circle. “Okay, now what?”
A soft knock sounded and the bedroom door creaked open.
Four startled faces turned.
A head appeared. “Good, you’re awake.”
The children let out their breath.
“Mum, you scared us,” said Holly.
“Sorry.” Lynne Maxwell looked curiously at the circle.
The cousins hastily dropped hands.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt your game.” Lynne smiled. “I was coming to wake you. Hurry up and dress. We’ve an early start this morning. We’re going on a trip.”
Shock rippled over the children’s faces.
“We . . . we are?” stammered Adam.
Lynne pushed the door wide open, carried in four backpacks and dropped them by the bunks. “Your Uncle Ron got a call late last night. A stud farm in Wiltshire needs his advice for a few days. It’s a lovely part of the country and our entire family, including Adam and Chantel, is invited down to stay.”
“But we can’t leave here,” blurted Owen.
His mother’s smile faded. “I thought you’d be pleased.” She looked puzzled. “You’ve been moping around like lost dogs for the last few days. I thought you’d jump at the chance to go some
where else.”
Holly spread her hands. “We’ve made plans, Mum.”
“So’ve we,” her mother snapped back. “Sorry we couldn’t consult you, but it happened too fast. Most people would give their eyeteeth to spend a week at Avebury.”
“A week,” gasped Owen. “Seven whole days . . . you’re kidding?”
“Where’s Avebury?” whispered Chantel to Adam.
Adam shrugged then looked across at his Auntie Lynne. “What if Mom or Dad phone?” he said.
Chantel froze.
Aunt Lynne gazed steadily back at her nephew and niece while Holly and Owen dropped their eyes. Everyone knew that Adam and Chantel’s parents wouldn’t phone. They were too busy fighting about their divorce. That’s why they had shipped Adam and Chantel to England in the first place.
“We will let your mum and dad know where we are and leave a forwarding number on the answering machine in case they forget,” said Lynne gently. She put out her hand to pat Adam’s shoulder, but he jerked away.
“Avebury?” said Holly after a moment of silence. “My teacher’s mentioned Avebury.”
“I should think so,” said her mother briskly. “It’s one of the most important prehistoric sites in England. That’s why your dad and I thought you would like to see it. Avebury is much older than the White Horse carving you’ve all found so fascinating. Five thousand years old, I think.”
Owen wasn’t listening. He felt as though he would burst with frustration. Just as something magical was about to happen to him, his mother and father made stupid plans. “Mum, can’t you and Dad go on your own?” he burst out. “We can stay here. Mr. and Mrs. O’Reilly will look after us. You’ve done it before.”
“Yeah, we don’t mind staying. We like spending the summer in Uffington Village,” Adam said, jumping in to support his cousin.
Chantel slipped her hand into her aunt’s palm. “Do we have to go?” she asked softly.
Lynne looked down at Chantel and across at the other children. “Why can I never second-guess you kids?” She scratched her ear. “Is there something going on that I should know about?”