The Dark Citadel (The Green Woman)
Page 23
Chapter 27
The Centaurs stamped impatiently as they prepared to leave. The darkening sky above them was suddenly clear of the obscuring cloud and filled with tiny pinpricks of stars. The night air trembled and shimmered with a silvery light.
“Look,” a fair Centaur cried out in an excited voice, pointing to a brilliant light high in the eastern sky. “Something great was born or died this night.”
They all stared in silence at the star that shone hard and unbearably bright in a sky washed clean of all the hanging rags of grey fumes. The star seemed to grow brighter and stronger, and even to move higher, pouring a pure silver light over the velvet darkness.
* * * *
Far away, beyond the Great River of Death, high on the slopes of the northern mountains, a girl who used to be called Deborah in another life sat wrapped in her own thoughts while a great grey horse cropped the grass beside her. She sat alone, the loneliest girl in the world. What she had always yearned for she had not found; what she had found to love she had lost. She was empty. Hollow. Nothing. Just a void in the air. Her old life had died, and she was not sure another had begun. She had learned so much, let so much of her arid bitterness go, and all she could see ahead was death. All she wanted was to walk the paths of light, to follow behind Samariel and Jonah.
The girl raised her eyes and through a veil of tears watched a bright star as it rose in the sky. The star glittered, bright as the sparks of a funeral fire, and the girl understood the light of that star would follow her all her life.
* * * *
The black Centaur broke the silence. “Come. The star moves, and so must we if we are to meet the others at the Queen’s gate.”
While the wounded Centaurs were helped back to safety across the river, the rest prepared to take Maeve and Zachariah to join the Queen’s host. The time to open the prison of Providence had come. Zachariah looked at Maeve, at the conflicting emotions that flew across her face, and felt a surge of courage he had not known he possessed. Ezekiel and Grania were perhaps dead by now, the Dananns torn to pieces by the mob, whipped up by the Elders’ lies. Maeve’s face was pale but determined, and Zachariah knew she was struggling to master her fears. She would fight the demon, whatever form it took. And he would fight with her.
Chapter 28
The wastes of Providence glittered with an unaccustomed brilliance. The brown desert had sprouted pennons and banners. Red, green, and gold cloaks fluttered; red, gold, and green gems gleamed; bronze spear points sparkled. The best horses in the world galloped the trackless wilderness while bright-haired warriors bared white teeth in uproarious laughter as they discussed the coming conflict. The army of the four provinces advanced, bringing with it a hint of green mists, storm-lashed cliffs, placid rivers, and white strands. The army yelled with one throat and dashed for the meeting place, their wild horses shaking their manes and snorting excitedly.
Oscar’s heart swelled within him. His kinsmen were around him, his friends with their magicians, each with a little of the old magic in his fingertips, all racing to answer the call. The broken Pattern was to be mended; the world was to be renewed. But there was something else too, another call was drawing his heart, and the feeling was at once exhilarating and daunting. It was a feeling stronger than any he had felt before, and he longed to see the lips, the throat, the face of the woman, for he was certain it was a woman, sending out the call. Yet his excitement was run through with a ripple of fear—fear that he, Oscar of the Fianna, nephew of the High Queen, would lose his heart somewhere in this wilderness far from home.
Here ends the first book of The Green Woman trilogy.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the people who helped turn this story into a book: Harriet McWatters, my friend and reader, who encouraged, commented, and suggested until I had a plot that bore close scrutiny, with events in a logical order, and most of the daftnesses removed; Susan Sipal who edited with great sensitivity, as if she was sitting next to me and nudging me in the right direction; my father John William Dougherty and great-grandfather James Brennan, both poets and writers, who must have passed on a little of their love of words and some of their gift for expressing it.
Other books by Jane Dougherty in The Green Woman series
In the Beginning is a collection of three stories intended for readers of The Dark Citadel curious to know more about the dark world of Providence and the harsh desert wastes surrounding it.
Of Dreams and Horses tells how Rachel discovers the magic and the burden of the Memory. Plucked from the clutches of the Protector, she is set on a path of discovery and creation that leads to a bittersweet destiny.
Fathers and Brothers is about Hector, his childhood introduction to cruelty and loss at the hands of his father, and how Abaddon’s choice falls upon this small, broken creature to be his instrument.
Jonah’s Story tells of another child with a tragic childhood, but unlike Hector, Jonah’s humanity is not snatched from him: it matures and grows in the solitude of the desert, until the time comes to fulfil his destiny—helping another to fulfil hers.
The Subtle Fiend, second volume of The Green Woman.
When reality becomes a nightmare, only dreams can save the world.
Deborah, daughter of the fabled Green Woman, has disappeared, and Hera, another grey-robed schoolgirl, has become the hostage in her place. Hera fears she will be left to languish, unnoticed and forgotten, in her prison cell. But the honesty in her eyes touches a young Black Boy, her prison guard—Amon.
Amon is destined for a military career, but convinced of the innocence of his prisoner, he begins to question the laws and values of his city. In befriending Hera, he risks his life by standing between her and the most powerful man in Providence—the Protector.
The Protector’s new hostage will serve her purpose. After all, one veiled girl looks much like another. But if Deborah has joined her mother and her host of myths and stories, the sham will be revealed. To hang onto power the Protector determines to destroy the Green Woman's allies within Providence by lighting the sacrificial fires of Moloch. When the flames have burned out none will be left, not even the child at its mother's breast.
As the flames of evil leap and dance in Providence, Hera and Amon resolve to defy the Protector, with courage as their only weapon.
About the author
Jane Dougherty is a product of the Irish diaspora. She was brought up in Yorkshire, educated at Manchester and London, then moved to Paris to work in the wine trade. She now lives in Bordeaux with her family, a Spanish greyhound, and a posse of cats. She writes fantasy with a touch of history and mythology and enjoys retelling Celtic legends. She is a sucker for anything Viking. Following a family tradition, she also writes poetry and has been published in Poetry Nook Magazine and The Bamboo Hut.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Part One: The Eternal City
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Part Two: Infernal World
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Acknowledgements
Other books by Jane Dougherty in The Green Woman series
About the Author