An Unholy Communion
Page 27
“Oh? I thought Nancy and Lydia were still here.”
“Lydia left right after you did. I haven’t seen Nancy all day.”
“I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to desert you.”
Chloe smiled. “That’s OK. I didn’t really mind, but the day did get a little long.”
Felicity ran in to the retreat house to use the facilities and to leave a note for Antony. She grabbed a sweater, too, as it could get cool along the coast when the sun went down.
“Where are we going?” she asked as she rejoined Chloe. “Back to Caerbwdy. As soon as I saw the natural arch out on the point I knew I had to return at sunset.”
“I thought it was a long way. You rented bikes.”
“It was a fun ride out from town, but it’s only about a mile and a half walk.” Chloe continued to chat about her photo journal and comments she had received on her blog, and Felicity found it easy to push the earlier shades from her mind. There would be a rational explanation. When this was over, she would be embarrassed that she had given in to such alarms.
They walked on over the flat, barren land with the sun hanging low in the sky to the west when they approached the blue waters of a bay. To their left, the warm evening sun bathed a greengold headland extending far out into the water with a tiny teardrop of a rocky island just beyond it. “Ryan said the promontory is the site of an Iron Age fort dating from about 3000 BC.” Chloe snapped several photos. “He said the purple sandstone used to build St David’s cathedral was quarried here, too.”
“Is this what you came to photograph?”
“Not really. This is Caerfai Bay. We want the one on the other side of the promontory.” She put the cap back on her lens. “Let’s hurry. The sun is sinking fast. I want to frame it in the natural arch.” Chloe set out across the jutting point at a trot. Even with her long legs, Felicity had trouble keeping up.
When they arrived, though, Felicity saw instantly that their trek had been worth the effort. On the shady side of the headland, the rocks were no longer warm and golden, but cold and black. The women stood at the top of a sheer cliff, the surf splashing white on the rocks far below them. “How do we get down?” Felicity asked.
“Around here. Ryan knew the way or we’d never have made it before.” Chloe led her along the path to a draw that was invisible until they were almost on top of it. The land sloped steeply up on either side of a narrow track. Rough rocky outcrops thrust through coarse grass. Clumps of pink, white and yellow wildflowers grew in the shallow soil, clinging to the cliff side.
The path delivered them to a half moon beach covered with shingle and pebbles. Chloe crunched ahead. “We’re in luck. We wouldn’t be able to get there at high tide. I was hoping I’d timed it right.”
Beyond the beach they made their way around the base of the promontory, scrambling over boulders and clinging to any handhold they could find. Occasionally spray from a large wave showered them. “Aren’t you worried about your camera?” Felicity called to Chloe above the crash of the waves.
“Waterproof case!” Chloe shouted back.
Well, my clothes aren’t waterproof, Felicity thought. She was beginning to be seriously concerned about the wisdom of this venture when they rounded the tip, and the rose and peach evening sky that had been blocked by the cliff came into view. The fiery ball of the lowering sun sat on the horizon. “Perfect!” Chloe shouted.
Chloe knelt on a boulder and leaned forward so that the natural arch extending into the water made a perfect frame. Felicity watched in amazement at the glory of the scene before her. Nothing could have been a sharper contrast to the horrors she had been dealing with only a few hours before.
The sun continued to sink as Chloe shot photo after photo from various angles. At the last, breathtaking moment, the glowing ball seemed to flare brighter, and then it was gone. “Did you see that?” Felicity cried. “It turned green. At the last second it turned green before it disappeared. I haven’t seen that since I was a child watching the sunset at Seaside with my brothers.” For just a moment she clutched the cold, wet rock so hard it bit into her hand. The other side of the world. The other side of her life. Encompassing a security she had left behind her.
“Let’s get back to the beach before it gets dark.” Chloe interrupted Felicity’s long ago and faraway thoughts.
“Summer solstice next week,” Felicity said. “We’ll have a long twilight.”
Back on the crunchy shingle, Chloe began examining the rock formation of the cliff wall. “Mm, great shadows.” She adjusted the settings on her camera and sought a firm perch to steady herself. “I’m going to try some timed exposures. This could make a cool line of Halloween cards.”
Felicity wandered up the tiny, secluded beach, looking out for the tide pools she had so loved as a child visiting the Oregon coast. Closer to the water where the rocks were larger, she found what she was looking for. Hollows in flat rocks, exposed by the receding tide, held seaweed and tiny snail shells. Then, as she went further out, the pools formed between the larger boulders contained beautiful grey, green and purple anemones growing on the rocks; tiny fish and spider crabs swam in the water.
Chloe joined her and they continued to move along the edge of beach, fascinated with their findings until the lingering glow in the sky was inadequate to spot marine life in the pools. Felicity was ready to suggest that they should be getting back, especially since her stomach told her they had missed dinner, when Chloe pulled a torch out of her pack. “Here, shine this on the pool. That will be a great effect if I can capture it.” She adjusted her camera. “No, don’t shine it straight down. Angle it right at the waterline.” This called for the intricacies of more timed exposure photography. “Can you hold it still?” Chloe asked, as the light shook in Felicity’s hand.
“Sorry.” Felicity concentrated to control the shivers caused by her wet clothes.
“You more of them nutters?” The harsh male voice coming out of nowhere made both women jump and cry out.
Felicity looked at the stooped old man with long white hair and missing teeth. The deep lines in his weathered face spoke of years of exposure to wind and weather. She hoped Chloe wouldn’t ask him to pose for her. “Nutters?” she laughed. “I don’t think so. What do you mean?”
He jerked his head toward the gaping dark hole in the cliff on up the bay that suggested a cave. “That lot what do their hocus-pocus in there.”
As he spoke, Felicity glimpsed a shadowy form approaching the mouth of the cave. “Hocus-pocus? What do they do?”
The old man coughed and spat. “Nowt much. Burn candles. Mumble ’n’ chant. All foolishness, but each to ’is own, I says.”
Sure enough, Chloe asked if she could take a picture of the stranger. The idea seemed to amuse him. He told them his name was Emrys, and he and Chloe walked closer to the cliff where she could pose him against the jagged rocks for her flash photographs. Felicity, watching for more dark shapes to enter the cave, moved as quietly as she could across the gravel toward the entrance. ‘Hocus-pocus. Candles and chants,’ he said. Had they stumbled on a meeting of the Orbis Astri that was less public than their lectures? Did their hocus-pocus include hexing iron nails to embed in soft toys?
She was almost to the cave mouth when a flickering orange light on the far wall told her their informant had been right about the candles. She held her breath and edged forward, hoping the loose shingle under her feet wouldn’t give her away. Indeed, the rhythmic, sing-song chorus coming to her on the breeze could be described as a chant, although she couldn’t make out any words or identify a language. A few phrases sounded vaguely Greek, or maybe Latin, but certainly nothing she could have translated for a Classics paper.
She jumped when a hand touched her shoulder. “Shhh,” Chloe whispered in her ear. “It’s me. Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. Sounds like Emrys was right about the nutters.”
“I want to see what they’re up to.” Felicity put a finger to her lips, and moved forward stealthily.
Pebbles turned under Felicity’s feet with a crunch that made her heart leap. She froze, but there was no break in the rhythm of the dancing shadows to indicate that they had heard anything. “Go on,” Chloe nudged her.
At last they gained the shelter of the rock screen. Squatting down, Felicity flattened herself against it, then slowly raised up to peer over the top. The cavern was lit by a circle of thirteen tall, fat candles. In the center of the floor, five additional candles lit what Felicity guessed to be the points of a pentagram—or the angles behind the menacing snake emblem. The swaying figures wove an undulating pattern between the candles. The robed dancers blurred almost as if one body, but two caught Felicity’s attention—one so fat the motions were more a rolling than a bending, and one so tall and thin Felicity could think only of a dancing stick.
In the center, a statuesque figure stood as a still point amid all the circling motion, arms extended high, hands clasping a dark object. Against the back wall, three additional robed figures sat on a rock ledge, observing. At least, the two larger appeared to be observing. The small one in the middle looked to be asleep or dazed.
Chloe nudged Felicity to the side, and balanced her camera on the top of the largest boulder. Felicity held her breath, praying no one would hear the telltale shutter click. But there was no sound as Chloe adjusted her settings and continued to take exposures.
The speed of the dance increased, as did the intensity of the chant. With the repetition certain words began to form a pattern in Felicity’s mind: cum, cum, cum, congregatio… The chant repeated over and over, then changed: dies sanctificatus only once, but very clearly. Then new words floated out from the mouth of the cave as if the cavern itself were speaking: potentiae, obiectum, potentiae, potentiae, obiectum…
At last the dance ended, and the votaries stood against the wall. The central figure, obviously some sort of leader or priest, moved for the first time, to sprinkle powder on the candles. When the powder hit the flame, a cloud of smoke rose and the smell of sulfur reached the hidden observers. Felicity pinched her nose to keep from sneezing.
The priest nodded and the three figures sitting against the wall rose and moved to the center, the smaller one supported— almost dragged—by the two larger. They knelt before the tall figure and those along the walls began a high-pitched wail that sounded an odd mix between anguish and ecstasy.
The priest extended long arms as if blessing the suppliants. The ululation rose in pitch, echoing and reverberating against the walls of the cave with its importuning tone: come, come, come…
And then it stopped. The silence rebounded as loudly as the chanting had.
And then Felicity sneezed. The priest pivoted toward the mouth of the cave. This time the long arm pointed directly at the spot where Felicity and Chloe crouched. Felicity froze.
A rough hand grabbed her from behind and jerked her toward the cliff wall beyond the cave. Away from the lightspill from the cavern mouth, she was blinded. Her abductor pulled her toward the cliff until she felt her body slam against the rock wall. Then a hand pushed her head forcefully down into the ground. She barely had time to turn her face to avoid getting grit into her eyes and nose. She realized Chloe was lying beside her. Apparently Felicity’s captor had snatched Chloe with his other hand.
“Stay still! They’ll give up soon enow.” She recognized Emrys’s voice in her ear.
For all his warning, she looked up. Robed figures, carrying tall black candles were combing the beach and searching both directions along the path. Felicity quickly ducked her head down again.
Eventually the priest blew a long, deep note on an instrument that must have been related to the auroch’s horn used by Druids, and the searchers dispersed up the path Felicity and Chloe had descended hours before.
Emrys raised his head and sniffed the air. “Right. The stench is gone. Off wi’ ye. And have better sense next time. This lot don’t take kindly to bein’ spied on.”
Felicity hugged Emrys and thanked him, wondering what Antony would say about her evening’s adventure, then gratefully accepted the torch Chloe held out to her and turned to ascend the steep path. She had no idea what time it was, but it must be getting on for midnight. And they still had the walk back to the retreat house ahead of them, through desolate country. What if one of the cultists was lying in wait for them along the path?
It wasn’t a robed occultist waiting for them at the top of the cliff, however, but a uniformed police officer with the blue light blinking on the patrol car behind her. “Felicity Howard? I’m Constable Gwen Owen.”
Felicity took a step backwards and almost knocked Chloe over. “What have I done?”
“You’ve driven me to distraction, woman!” Even filled with irritation as it was, Antony’s voice was the most welcome sound Felicity could have imagined. He emerged from the patrol car and strode toward her.
“Oh, thank God! How did you know where to find us?” She threw herself into his arms, not the least bit worried about how angry he might be with her.
“At least you had the sense to leave a note. I didn’t worry until it started to get dark. Then I was so foolish as to think you might be in trouble, so I called the police. Ryan knew Chloe wanted to photograph the arch and gave us directions.” He returned her hug. “Oh, Felicity. I had visions of you being trapped by the tide and washed out to sea. What have you been doing all this time?”
A shiver shook Felicity’s body. “I’m cold. Could we talk in the car?”
A few minutes later, they were heading across the peninsula back to the retreat house and Felicity and Chloe were talking, in turns and in tandem, about the night’s adventure. “It was the Orbis Astri. I’m sure of it. And now you know where they meet.” Felicity spoke to Constable Owen, “you can watch for them and arrest them.”
Gwen Owen laughed. “Unfortunately, you can’t arrest people for being nutters. Well, maybe fortunately. The jails wouldn’t hold them. There’s no law against dancing around in robes on public beaches.”
“Yes, but they’re evil. They do awful things. I’m sure they’re behind Hwyl’s death. And who knows what all else?” But Felicity knew her protest was futile. It sounded insubstantial to her own ears.
She snuggled into the warmth of Antony’s arm, but when she closed her eyes she saw the grotesque shadows of the dancers writhing on the walls of the cave. The image was so strong she smelled the sulfur again and exploded in a sneeze. Antony pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.
The gesture was so comforting she had to squeeze her eyes and clench her teeth to keep from crying.
Chapter 24
Saturday
St David’s
At first Antony thought the pounding was the surf dashing rocks against the cliff below St Non’s; then he realized it was someone knocking on his door. “Just a minute.”
He staggered out of bed and pulled on the clothes he had left on a chair the night before.
“Antony, come quick. You’ve got to see this. In Sister Nora’s office. Chloe uploaded her pictures from last night.” Felicity raced ahead of him down the stairs, her long golden hair flying. Antony wondered how she could be so energetic after last night’s experience.
But when they got to the little room he saw that she was anything but the picture of health she had appeared. “Felicity, are you sick?”
She sneezed and blew her nose. “It’s just a cold. I’ll be fine. Sister Alma gave me some Lemsip. It’s very energizing.”
He could tell she was trying to make light of it, b
ut she looked dreadful. “Did you sleep last night?”
“Not much, but it’s not important. Look at this.”
Chloe sat before the monitor manipulating the picture on the screen. “I’m afraid that’s the best I can do. It’s pretty fuzzy. My telephoto lens is a prime, but it loses some quality with the time exposure… Still, I think Felicity is right.”
Felicity bent toward the screen. “Oh, that’s better. You brought the contrast up, didn’t you? Yes, what do you think Antony? It’s him, isn’t it?”
Antony examined the image on the screen. A small figure in a white robe with a hood covering half the face. Could be a boy or a girl. “Who?”
“Adam, of course! The Orbis Astri have kidnapped Adam. And not only that, I was doing some Internet research on the Orbis Astri. There’s a blog called ‘Witch-finder’ and they say the Serene Imperator of the Orbis Astri is known to have said prepubescent boys make the best sacrifice. Now maybe the police will listen to me.”
Antony peered closer. “Yes, we should show these to the police, but I’m not convinced that’s Adam. Have you asked Lydia?”
“Oh, Lydia, of course!” Felicity stopped to blow her nose before rushing off to find Adam’s sister. “We should have called Lydia first.”
“Someone looking for me?” Lydia appeared in the open doorway. “I was coming to find you, Father. We found the prodigal.”
“Adam? You found him? Where?”
“I was certain he would be hiding out with a friend, so yesterday I rang everyone I could think of from his old school. Then in the end, they rang me. Sure enough, he was holed up with a friend from Builth Wells. The parents just returned from holiday—thought their son was in school, too. They’ll deliver Squib back to the arms of his loving housemaster today. Pity they’ve outlawed caning—it’s what he deserves.”
“Still, you must be so relieved,” Felicity said.
“Yes, of course. If he’ll just buckle down now. It all comes of his being so spoiled.” Lydia tossed her auburn hair. “What did you want to see me about?”