Sarwat Chadda - Billi SanGreal 02 - Dark Goddess

by Unknown

  Of course. Guard duty. Arthur must have arranged a rotation of knights to protect Vasilisa. The werewolves weren't going to give up their prey that easily. Sooner or later they'd come around here, trying to sniff her out.

  Billi sat at the table while Lance stirred up a cup of hot chocolate. She could only remember being made breakfast once before.

  Kay had dished up her usual: muesli and a dollop of honey. Exactly two months and nineteen days ago.

  Lance knew his way around a kitchen. The Frenchman had been a patisserie chef in Marseilles. He'd also been a smuggler before getting involved with the Templars. Billi didn't know the full story, but that's how he'd lost his eye.

  Billi rocked back on her chair and looked around. Her wakizashi was leaning against the table. She picked it up and checked the blade: clean and perfect.

  "I thought you might like that back," said Lance. "I found it in the farmhouse."

  "Thanks. I'm seeing Percy after school. Wasn't looking forward to telling him I'd lost his favorite sword." She put it down on the table. "What else did you find?"

  "Little of use."

  Billi glanced at yesterday's newspaper, which her dad had spread out to soak up the oil he used for weapons cleaning. The usual blah-blah. Political scandals. More trouble in the Middle East. Football reports and who was wearing what at some charity do last night. Her gaze rested on the image of a smoldering volcano. Out in Italy, Vesuvius was rumbling, as it had been on and off fora month. Half of Naples had been evacuated; half couldn't make up its mind.

  She was doing Vesuvius as part of her Latin course. It was the one subject she excelled in. There were plans for a school trip in the summer to look at the ruins of Pompeii, the Roman city that had been wiped out by the last big eruption, back in a.d. 79. It would be cool to go, and Billi knew if she asked her dad he'd say yes.

  Billi scrunched the paper up. No, she had her Templar duties. Only they mattered.

  A plate clattered in front of her. The croissant had been gently torn open, and butter lay, molten and puddled, within it.

  "Voilà." Lance leaned against the table, waiting. "Eat, please."

  Billi took a bite and the croissant nearly dissolved in her mouth.

  "Wow," she whispered.

  He shrugged like it was nothing; excellence came easily to him. Then he started to set up another meal on a tray: breakfast for Vasilisa.

  Billi glanced toward the door and the stairs. The girl felt like an uninvited houseguest, an intruder. Why? She didn't mean anything to Billi, so what was it about her that made Billi so uncomfortable? She should be glad: if Vasilisa was an Oracle, she'd strengthen the Order. But Billi wasn't glad, and couldn't understand why.

  "How is she?"

  "Still asleep." Lance glanced up at the clock over the doorway. It was almost half past six. "I will leave some food; you will take it later?"

  Billi nodded and popped the last of the croissant into her mouth as she stood. The conclave was starting.

  Billi ran across the courtyard. God didn't like to be kept waiting. Neither did her dad.

  Billi rushed across the ice-covered Temple courtyard in her tanned army greatcoat that, despite her height, swept her ankles. Collar up, chin down, she blinked as the frosty breeze stung her eyes. The Temple Church was hidden behind towers of scaffolding and sheets of heavy-duty plastic. The repairs were moving slowly—you didn't rush on a nine-hundred-year-old building. The stained-glass windows were all boarded up, and it would be another year before they could be replaced.

  She paused by the side door, her hand touching the cold stone. The official story was that a forgotten UXB—an unexploded bomb—had gone off in the catacombs. The building had been bombed during the Second World War, so it was possible that one of the devices had somehow been buried, and sat silent and dormant for all these years until a freak event set it off.

  It was logical. It had a basis in reality. It was a lie.

  The truth had a basis in another reality. Had she really met the devil here? Had he really unleashed his celestial numina, his supernatural light, almost blinding her and nearly destroying Temple Church?

  Like the thrones of ancient kings, nine high-backed chairs had been arranged in an irregular circle between the effigies of the ancient patrons lying in stone on the floor.

  Elaine and Father Rowland sat apart on smaller stools, observing, but not belonging.

  The Knights Templar. Arthur, the Templar Master, looked tired and was turning his wedding ring around, never a good sign. Gwaine sat opposite, in his usual position of conflict. In the gloomy light his wrinkles looked like deep crevasses, and his eyes were lost in the pits under his lined brow. Gareth, Bors, and Mordred watched impassively. Billi looked at the Sieges Perilous—two chairs draped in black cloth, commemorating the Order's dead. Kay and now Pelleas. Percy's old position, marshal I, was now Lance's.

  Billi kept her head low as she crossed the circle to her seat between Mordred and Bors. Mordred gave her a sympathetic smile as she passed. The church was unheated, and Billi's breath puffed out in a great white cloud as she took her seat.

  "Now that we're all here, maybe we can get down to business," Arthur said. He stood up and went to the center of the round. "Pelleas's death and the girl: Vasilisa Bulgakov." He lowered his head.

  "Father Rowland will lead a requiem Mass for Pelleas tomorrow night. Attendance, it goes without saying, is mandatory." He beckoned Elaine forward. "Tell us what you know."

  Elaine came to the edge of the circle. "While you've all been catching up on your beauty sleep, I did some sniffing around. Vasilisa and her family came to England four years ago, when she was five. They're originally from Russia—from Karelia. It's up north on the border with Finland."

  "That's important?" asked Gwaine.

  "It's pretty wild. Lots of wolves." Elaine opened up her folder and handed out a sheet of scanned pictures. "Of all the packs, they hunt Spring Children most eagerly."

  The photos were of the patio outside Vasilisa's parents' farmhouse. The light exposed something Billi hadn't noticed last night. The flagstones bore strange carvings.

  "These are petroglyphs. Copies of the ones found in Karelia. The original is over five thousand years old. This one"— she pointed at a stick figure with two circles for breasts and branchlike hands. In one hand was a disk, in the other a crescent—"it's the Polenitsy's goddess image."

  "Eorpata," muttered Gwaine. Billi frowned. He would always use ancient Greek or Latin when English would do just as well. Fortunately, she knew ancient Greek. Unlike Mordred.

  "Man-killers," Billi whispered to him.

  Elaine nodded. "The Polenitsy are an all-female werewolf pack descended from the original Amazons. Out of all the werewolves, they follow the ways of the goddess closest. You might call them fundamentalists."

  "They're a long way from home," said Arthur.

  "They could be desperate. Oracles aren't common. The Bodmin pack no longer hunts Spring Children, and neither do the Irish wolves, the only other big pack nearby." Elaine tapped her nails on the top of Gareth's chair. "I'm convinced they're the ones after Vasilisa, and they are not going to back down quietly. They're old-school."

  "And we'll deal with them the same way we've dealt with all the others," said Gwaine.

  Elaine didn't reply, but Billi could see her doubts. She turned her attention to the photographs. There were markings above the image of the Polenitsy goddess symbol. She could just make out a crucifix. Not like the plain cross of Western Christianity, but the Russian Orthodox cross, with three horizontal bars, the lowest one slanted.

  "What's this?" She pointed at the cross.

  Elaine continued. "I think the Bulgakovs were, in their own crude way, trying to guard against the goddess. A lot of people believe the crucifix is the perfect defense against all the Unholy."

  "It didn't work," snorted Bors.

  "Believing in something doesn't make it real," said Arthur. "So is Vasilisa an Oracle?"

  El
aine shook her head. "I don't know yet. Her parents knew something was up. But she's young, and even if she does have powers, they'll manifest themselves irregularly and she'll have no conscious control of them."

  "But Kay was showing telepathic powers at nine—the same age as this Vasilisa," said Billi.

  Elaine laughed. "Kay was an extraordinarily powerful psychic. We won't come across his like again. No, if Vasilisa has some talent, it won't be at Kay's level."

  "Don't you have tests or something you could do?" Billi continued.

  "You can't just stick a meter in her and get a reading." Elaine held up her hands, fingers out. "There are six classes of Oracle: mentalists like Kay—mind reading and all that telekinetic stuff. Then you've got the mediums, or spirit-talkers, as they're called nowadays. Healers. Elementalists. The fire-starters, and finally the prophets." Elaine closed her hands into fists. "Youngsters usually have a bit of ability in each, but that settles down into one or two fields by puberty. Kay was amazing... " There was more than a hint of pride when Elaine talked about her last, best pupil. "He still retained powers in mind-reading, spirit-talking, and prophecy well into his teens. But it'll take time to pin Vasilisa down, assuming she is psychic, of course."

  "You still haven't answered the question," interrupted Gwaine. "Is she an Oracle?"

  Elaine scratched her chin. "The werewolves would call her a Spring Child. They believe the goddess will reward them with a good spring and bountiful hunting if they sacrifice Oracles to her during the full moon. The spirit of the child is taken by the goddess, renewing her, and the body is eaten by the pack."

  "Good God," whispered Mordred.

  "They're called the Unholy for a reason," replied Billi. "But human sacrifice was fairly common in primitive religions." She'd studied how the followers of the goddess would take their victim, all garlanded in flowers and jewels, to a sacred spot, be it a cave or glade or lake. After killing the victim, the priestess, in the guise of the goddess, would then butcher the body and pass it among the faithful.

  "And this goddess? Who is she?" asked Mordred.

  "Gaia. Hecate. Morrigan. lsis," said Elaine with a shrug. "She's the goddess of nature, the wild, and of magic. She's been revered since prehistoric times, and each culture had a different name for her. But the Polenitsy call her by her old, old name." Elaine looked around the circle. "Baba Yaga."

  "But she's just a name from fairy tales," said Mordred. "She's not real."

  "No, she's real, all right. An ancient, wise, and very evil old witch." Elaine's eyes narrowed as she observed the young squire. "And once people worshipped her as much as we do our gods now."

  "The tales must have begun with someone, I suppose," said Gareth.

  Elaine nodded. "Imagine someone coming to your tribe. She can control the elements. Read minds and speak with the animals. Heal injuries with a touch. What would you think?"

  "You'd think she was a god," agreed Mordred reluctantly.

  Elaine pointed at the crucifix on the far wall. "Is her story so different from his?" Arthur snorted. "You're saying Baba Yaga is like Jesus? You're going to burn in Hell for that, Elaine."

  "Time passes," continued Elaine. "Baba Yaga's powers wane. The new religion rises, Christianity, and together with advancing civilization it drives her deeper into the wilderness. Year by year, century by century, people forget. Only a few still remember the old religion, and among them are the Polenitsy. They feed her the souls of the Spring Children; she absorbs their powers, memories, and lives and is kept going, weak and decrepit, but alive."

  "Is that possible? To be alive for so long?" Billi asked Elaine. If all this were true, then Baba Yaga must have killed thousands—tens of thousands—over her vast life.

  "It's called the Ritual of Devouring, and it is the darkest maleficia," said Elaine, using the Templar term for black magic. "A powerful psychic is able to rip the life force from another psychic, which is why Baba Yaga consumes only... gifted children; a normal one wouldn't benefit her at all."

  "Consumes?" asked Billi.

  Elaine opened her mouth wide and mimed putting food in. "Eats them whole." She patted her belly. "That's what a sacrifice ritual is, after all. The soul of the victim goes to renew the life force of the god. In Baba Yaga's case it is literally true."

  "So Vasilisa is food for this Baba Yaga," muttered Mordred. "If she's an Oracle."

  "And if she isn't?" snapped Gwaine. "Pelleas would have died for nothing."

  Arthur stood up again. "We don't leave innocent children to be kidnapped and eaten by werewolves. Pelleas did not die for nothing." He nodded at Elaine, and she sat down. He looked around the circle. "Vasilisa will stay with us until we find out if she's psychic or not. If she isn't, we'll arrange for her to be adopted somewhere safe. If she is, she'll be recruited into the Order and will begin training." He looked at Billi. "If God wills it, Vasilisa will be a Knight Templar."

  "Hold on, Billi!"

  Billi had been hurrying out after matins prayers when Elaine dashed across the courtyard, calling to her. She stopped beneath the Templar column, a thirty-foot-high stone post topped by the Order's emblem: two knights riding a single horse. Billi checked her watch. An hour before school. She'd drop off breakfast for the girl, then head to the armory and get some sparring in. Next time she met those loonies she wanted to be ready.

  "Just a sec." Elaine stopped to catch her breath.

  "Those cigarettes will kill you."

  "A lot of things will kill you." Elaine put her hand on Billi's arm. "Just wanted to find out how the poultice was holding up." She glanced over her shoulder to make sure the other Templars had gone. "Maybe we could have a chat? You had breakfast?"

  "A bowl of Purina. Delicious." The wounds still itched, but that meant the herbs were working their magic. A few more days and she'd take them off, fully healed. But Elaine's attention wasn't on Billi's injuries; the old woman had something else on her mind. "What do you want, Elaine?" Billi cupped her hands and blew into them. "It's freezing out here."

  Elaine glanced in the direction of Billi's house. "How's our young guest?"

  Billi shrugged. "How d'you think?"

  "Remember when Kay first came? It was just like this."

  Billi's eyes narrowed. "Was it?"

  "You and him were as thick as thieves." Elaine looked deep into Billi's eyes. "He was a frightened little boy, and you looked after him, Billi. It wasn't your job to, but you did. That's what the old Billi did."

  Billi moved Elaine's hand off her arm. "I am not that child anymore."

  "I'm just saying that girl needs a friend, someone who's been where she's been. Things are going to be hard for her."

  "Oh, and they weren't hard for me?"

  She'd been forced into the Order at ten. The next five years of her life had been an utter misery of endless training and bruises and lying at school. Her friends had slowly dwindled, and when Kay had been sent off to Jerusalem for further training, she'd spent all her time alone.

  "That's not what I'm saying and you know it. Don't you care what happens to her? Don't you care—"

  Billi interrupted. "No, I don't care."

  She couldn't afford to. "All I care about is the Order now."

  "You cared about Kay."

  "That was a mistake."

  Elaine shook her head. "I was wrong about you, Billi." She started across the courtyard. "I thought Kay's sacrifice meant something."

  "It means I should have been a better Templar." If she had been, Kay might have lived.

  Elaine shuffled away, head lowered and weary. "You are your father's daughter."

  Chapter 5

  BILLI KNEW SHE SHOULD FEEL DIFFERENTLY BY NOW. But there was a hollowness inside her that nothing filled. No matter how much she trained, how hard she fought, the emptiness only seemed to grow. She'd cared too much, and only realized how she felt after he'd gone.

  Never again.

  She sat in the kitchen, looking at the tray Lance had left.

&n
bsp; Elaine was too soft. But then she could afford to be: she wasn't a Templar.

  Billi had her priorities, and looking after a little girl was way, way down on the list. Her job was to fight the Bataille Ténébreuse, the Dark Conflict. There was no room for weakness.

  She carried the tray up the flight of stairs to the top floor, and stopped outside Vasilisa's bedroom. She knocked and went straight in. The quicker this was over and done with, the better. She had no desire to lull the child in to a false sense of security if her destiny was to be a Knight Templar.

  Vasilisa sat in an old wooden rocking chair with her back to Billi, gazing out of a small window. They were high in the eaves, overlooking Middle Temple Gardens, so all she could see were bare, black branches against the white winter sky. The chair creaked as she rocked back and forth.

  She was wearing Billi's old clothes: a faded brown jumper and pair of blue jeans with sequin flowers stitched around the ankles. Billi had no idea that her dad had kept her old stuff. Vasilisa looked tiny in that big old chair. Her skinny shoulders were slumped, her head low.

  She could be me, thought Billi. The girl was so small and alone. For a second Billi felt awkward seeing Vasilisa so vulnerable. But she flicked her head and reminded herself Vasilisa was safer here than anywhere else. If the Templars hadn't come along, she'd be dog food by now. Still, Billi couldn't shake the discomfort. Looking at the child, she thought of Kay, how afraid he'd been when he'd first arrived. Vasilisa didn't deserve this.

  It was unfair. But since when was life fair? Never.

  Billi put the tray down on the table. "Vasilisa?"

  "When can I go?" asked Vasilisa. Brittle twigs scratched the windowpane like a witch's fingers, and a low wind moaned through the loft void above.

  "Where?"

  "Away from here. You're not my family."

  "My dad will sort something out." Billi began straightening the bedsheets, doing anything to distract herself. She picked up a plastic garbage bag and shook its contents over the bed. Out fell a jumble of stuffed animals: elephants, tigers, and a few patched-up bears. Billi rummaged around the bottom of the bag and found something else, curved and solid. She pulled out the Russian doll. She'd first seen it last night in Vasilisa's bedroom.