World's end taom-1

by Mark Chadbourn

  They ate steak in the restaurant and drank a little too heavily in the bar before settling into their room. The wind rattled the windows and thumped against the walls and they were thankful they were secure indoors. But Church knew that however sturdy the building, it wouldn't amount to anything if the things that ranged through the night decided they wanted to break inside.

  At the window he tried to pierce the darkness, but beyond the lights of the car park there was nothing but a sea of black; they could have been alone in the void, and for an instant he was disturbed by a memory of his view into the abyss from the Watchtower window.

  "I hope Ruth and Laura are okay," he said; then, to Tom, "Do you think the Wild Hunt will be back?"

  "Devon and Cornwall is their favourite hunting ground. I have tried to mask our presence as much as possible, but they will not leave until the blood of their prey has been spilled. It is only a matter of time."

  "`Mask our presence'?" Veitch repeated. "Is that one of your little tricks?" Tom ignored him.

  Outside, the gale clattered like iron horseshoes on stone and howled in the eaves like the baying of hounds. Church drew the curtains tightly and retired to his bed.

  The stark red digits of the clock radio displayed 3 a.m. when Church woke with a start from nightmares of a pursuer that snapped relentlessly at his heels. Tom and Veitch both slept deeply, although Tom occasionally twitched and mumbled deliriously. Church stumbled out of bed and headed to the bathroom for a glass of water. On his return he had the odd sensation someone was standing outside the door, although he could hear nothing. He dismissed it as another by-product of the nightmare, but after he had slid back under the sheets it didn't diminish and he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he had investigated.

  Sleepily cursing his own obsessive tendencies, he unlocked the door carefully so as not to wake the others, his natural caution blanked out by his halfawake state. As he had thought, there was no one without. But if anything, his uneasiness had grown stronger now the door was open. Cautiously, he leaned out and looked up and down the corridor. For the briefest instant he thought he glimpsed a figure disappearing round the corner at the far end. He weighed up his options and then closed the door behind him and hurried in pursuit.

  The gale was still in full force and the creak of the inn-sign echoed ominously throughout the building; there was no other sign of life at all. But as he rounded the corner he was brought up sharply, his breath catching in his throat. Facing him twenty feet away was Marianne, as pale and dark-eyed as the last time he had seen her at Stonehenge.

  This time he was more ready to confront her. "What do you want, Marianne?" he asked softly.

  There was a ripple like a sigh that seemed to run through her whole body. Church felt the shiver echo within him, filled with the terrible ache of loss that he was convinced he would never lose. He tried to look in her eyes, but couldn't; the things he glimpsed there were too awful. But her face held the same delicate combination of beauty and sensitivity with which he had fallen in love. He bit his lip to prevent the tears.

  She didn't reply, although he hadn't expected it; he had come to believe speech was no longer within her power. Instead she stretched out her right arm and gently touched the wall. Where her pale fingertips brushed the plaster a spot of red bubbled out, like a thumb that had been pricked by a rose. Gradually she began to retreat, in that same unmoving, horrible way he had witnessed at Stonehenge, her fearful aspect turned upon him like the light of a beacon. And as she receded, the blood spread out from her fingertip as if it had a mind of its own, tracing words that sprang to life like a speeded-up film of flowers bursting in the sun.

  Somehow Church managed to draw himself from her face to look at the message, and in that instant he felt as if he had been blasted with an arctic wind. It said:

  Murder. Avenge my death.

  Church thought for a moment his legs were going to buckle. Marianne had reached the far end of the corridor and was now fading into the wall as if she were slipping below waves. And in the last instant he thought he saw her expression change. The look that frightened him so much became, briefly, tender and sad and if he had had any doubt this was truly Marianne it was gone then. But it was too quick, and he was left with an aching emptiness that made him feel sick.

  Back in the room he couldn't sleep. Suddenly his whole life felt like it had been turned on its head; his guilt that he had been somehow complicit in Marianne's suicide had been a part of him for so long, he could barely consider the prospect that she had been murdered. It was such an upheaval that he considered whether it had been some instance of supernatural trickery designed to destabilise him. If that were true, it had worked well. But he knew it was Marianne as well as he knew himself and instinctively he felt her message was genuine. He was shaking so much he could barely consider what that meant for him. To calm himself, he took out the locket the young Marianne had given him and rested it in the palm of his hand. Although he couldn't explain why, it seemed to do the trick.

  At that moment he became aware of a strange, unearthly cold that washed out from his jacket on the chair next to him. Anxiously he pulled the Roisin Dubh from the inside pocket and examined it secretively. All of the shining black petals were spotted with droplets of blood.

  Ruth, Shavi, and Laura spent the next morning studying information about Glastonbury in the local bookshop Gothic Image. A mountain of words had been written about the town, more than any other place they had visited, and most of it formed an intricate tapestry of tradition, fact and romance, with little sign where one ended and another began. But after wading through numerous books, they stumbled across a locally printed pamphlet which gave them their breakthrough: the translation of the Latin phrase.

  The Chalice Well lay at the foot of Chalice Hill, the third and gentlest of the three hills that surrounded Glastonbury; of all the many mystical sites in the Isle of Avalon, it was the most revered, and the most ancient. The well was fed by a spring rising on the slopes of the hill which provided water so iron-impregnated it flowed red. That had earned it the alternative name of Blood Spring, adding to the ancient legend that the Grail was hidden somewhere near.

  Following its centuries-long veneration by pilgrims from around the world, a garden had been established to create a tranquil atmosphere for contemplation and prayer. Shavi, Ruth and Laura entered it just before noon, in the bright of the sun beneath clear blue skies. They recognised the same rare, sanctified atmosphere they had experienced at the abbey.

  "In Celtic and pre-Christian cultures, springs were renowned for their magical, life-giving properties," Shavi noted. "They were sites of worship, the homes of fertility spirits. Genius Locii. Sacred groves often grew up around them. And Christianity has always followed in the footsteps of pagan worship. At all the most important sites, the old religion was there first. Who is to say," he mused, "that they were not worshipping the same power?"

  The path to the well wound around the outskirts of the garden like a route of pilgrimage, twisting through clumps of trees and bushes where hidden seats surrounded by fragrant flowers were placed for meditation. Eventually it folded back on itself and they found themselves at the wellhead, set against mediaeval stone beneath the hanging branches of ancient trees; the light in that one spot seemed to have an unusual quality; an uncommon calm lay over everything. The well itself was covered with a lid of wood and fine wrought-iron which showed two interlocking circles revealing at their centre the ancient symbol of a fish. The pamphlet they had been given at the entrance called it the Vesica Pisces. The design pre-dated Christianity and represented the overlapping of the visible and invisible worlds, yin and yang, the conscious and the unconscious, masculine and feminine natures. More duality, Ruth thought.

  Shavi noticed the troubled expression on her face. "Are you okay?"

  "That design is similar to the layouts of some of the stone circles. I think it has something to do with the earth power, the Blue Fire." She chewed on a nail. "Ever
ywhere I look I see hidden knowledge, signs, portents, things that point to something unimaginably big. It makes me feel so … uneasy."

  "We always feel that way when we glimpse movement behind the curtain," he replied. "And, as you rightly point out, the signs are everywhere if you only look."

  "More signals behind the noise," she said wearily. "I don't think I can cope with it all." Ruth half-expected Laura to make some sarcastic comment, but she stayed staring at the well, her face impassive behind her sunglasses.

  They were about to return to the path when Ruth became aware someone was behind them. She spun round with a start. In the shadows under the trees stood a man in his late forties, his pate balding, but his greying hair bushy at the back. He was wearing the dog collar of a cleric, a black jacket and trousers, and around his neck hung a gold crucifix, glinting in the morning light.

  "I'm sorry," he said. He smiled gently; his face was honest and open. "I didn't mean to startle you." There was a long pause while he looked into all their faces, then he said, "I saw you at the abbey yesterday. You discovered the message, didn't you?"

  "Yes, and it said Don't talk to strangers," Laura blurted defensively.

  He laughed bashfully, his hands rubbing together in faint embarrassment. "I suppose I deserved that, sneaking up on you this way."

  "Are you going to try to stop us?" Ruth asked combatively.

  He shook his head, still smiling. "The path is there for everyone who has the patience and insight to look for it. If not, do you think we would have kept those particular tiles there in that particular position? Hundreds more were unearthed and discarded. I simply wanted to be sure you were aware of the risks." The others eyed him cautiously. "Shall we sit?" he said, motioning towards a seat near the wellhead.

  Shavi nodded and joined him on the bench, but Laura hung well back, with Ruth hovering somewhere between the two.

  Once they had settled, the cleric said, "My name is Father James, or Jim if you like. I must apologise for approaching you like this, but it seemed the best time and the surroundings are certainly conducive to contemplation." He paused, as if to search for the correct words, then continued, "We keep watch on the tiles in the abbey, just in case, but I don't think any of us ever expected the secret to be discovered."

  "Who's we?" Ruth asked.

  "A few of us, chosen every ten years from the local parishes and abbey establishment. People who can be trusted to keep the secret. We're known as the Watchmen." He laughed. "I know what you're thinking: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes!"

  "Yeah. That's just what I was thinking," Laura said sourly.

  "A vast amount of knowledge has always been stored at the abbey," he continued. "In the early days, the library had a collection of ancient manuscripts that was unmatched in all Christendom. Great wisdom. And much secret knowledge handed down the years. It was all supposedly destroyed in a great fire, and any manuscripts that escaped were lost during the dissolution."

  "But it was not all lost," Shavi mused.

  "Typical double-dealing Christians," Laura said spitefully.

  James didn't seem offended by her words. "The great twelfth century historian William of Malmesbury was allowed to study some of those manuscripts before he wrote his Antiquities of Glaston. He quotes the story of Joseph of Arimathea's arrival at Glastonbury, and his burial here, recounted in several manuscripts. And although his reading was heavily censored, he dropped broad hints about a `sacred mystery' encrypted in the mosaic of the church floor. William had no idea what that mystery was. But we, as I'm sure you can see, had every idea and it has been passed down among a select few of us throughout the centuries. That, and another … prophecy? … legend? I'm not quite sure of the right word. Of a saviour rising in the world's darkest hour. Although the word is in the singular, in context it seems to be plural. Curious." He eyed them thoughtfully. "And these are certainly dark times."

  Shavi nodded. "We are aware of these things."

  "Excellent. I am particularly interested to find out what this has to do with King Arthur. William speaks of reading a connected manuscript referring to him, but that knowledge has been lost to us." Jim nodded excitedly and clapped his hands. "This is like being at the end of history. So many different threads leading to this point. You know what you are to do next?"

  Shavi stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Take some of the water from the well-"

  "Yes, yes, the strong water," Jim interjected.

  — up to the top of the tor."

  "After that we get a bit vague," Ruth added.

  "Of course, part of the guidance is lost. And do you know what this all leads to?" To Ruth's surprise, Jim actually seemed pleased with their discovery. She had warmed to his pleasant, optimistic manner very quickly; and more, she trusted him, which surprised her even more.

  "I would guess," Shavi answered, "the Grail."

  "Of course. All the legends, all the mythology, centuries of stories would suggest that is the only answer. But do you know what the Grail is?" He seemed to be enjoying the intellectual game he was playing with them.

  Ruth glanced at Shavi, but he didn't respond so she said, "Everyone knows the Grail is the cup that was supposed to have been used to catch Christ's blood at the crucifixion. It had amazing magical powers, and in the romances the Knights of the Round Table spent their time searching for it."

  "To heal the land. To bring purity to the world," Shavi interposed.

  "But we're actually looking for a Celtic artefact," Ruth added. She turned to Shavi once again. "I suppose, of the four, the nearest to a cup would be the cauldron?"

  This time Jim laughed aloud. "We live in a universe where the language is one of symbols. Through it, the cosmos speaks directly to our subconscious, the sym bols and messages repeating across the millennia. Words written by man are only interpretations of those symbols, so it's never wise to trust them implicitly-"

  "Does that include the Bible?" Laura said pointedly.

  The cleric ignored her. "Grails and cauldrons. Same thing, different names. A vessel of great power. Do you feel comfortable enough for a little instructional dialogue?"

  "I suppose you're not going to let us go until you do it," Ruth sighed.

  "Officially, the Church doesn't believe that Joseph brought the Chalice of the Last Supper to Britain," he began. "Our scholars recognise that the myth surrounding it goes back much further than Christ's death. Back, in fact, to the pagan cup of plenty, the Graal, which had power over life and death, healing and riches. But somehow the Graal became the sangreal or the sang real-Holy Blood. You can see the connection. The Church has always been very good at using the religions of other cultures to further its own ends-and I don't mean that in any disrespectful way. But the Graal is one of those symbols I spoke about, representing the ultimate prize, only attainable by the most pure. Something that we constantly strive for, but can never reach. And in all the stories about it, there are always the same elements: the King, a Good Knight, a Maiden, the powers of Life and Death, a Hermit. What is the universe trying to say to us? Well, I could spend ages discussing that with you, but there's no way of truly knowing. It is simply a matter of faith."

  "So it's a big prize-how come you and your crew haven't cherry-picked it?" Laura asked.

  "More than anyone, I would say, we're aware of responsibilities. It isn't meant for us."

  "For something that's so unattainable we seem to have broken into the mystery remarkably easily," Ruth said.

  "You haven't got it yet." There was some quality to his reply that made Ruth shiver. "Come, let us collect your water."

  He led them from the wellhead along a path to a partly walled area where the water tumbled from a lion-headed fountain. Shavi filled one of the two goblets that stood nearby and tasted it.

  "Amazing!" he said. "I can actually feel it lifting my spirits."

  "I bet you love it when the doc gives you a placebo." Laura still refused to stand with them.

  "Doubting Thomas," Jim said with
a laugh. "Did you know the Elizabethan magician John Dee announced that he had discovered the elixir vitae-the water of life-at Glastonbury?"

  "You seem remarkably at ease with the fact that so much of your religion is based on older beliefs," Ruth said as Shavi filled a plastic water bottle from the spring. "Don't you feel it undermines your faith?"

  Jim shrugged. "I can be very pragmatic. But Christianity still speaks to me more clearly than anything else; I can't ignore that. And I suppose, in my heart, I don't see a conflict between the Old Ways and the new. There are always higher levels."

  Once Shavi had taken enough water, they continued along the path past two yew trees to another decorative pool in a sun-drenched lawn area.

  "I'm very happy to be here," Jim continued. "Glastonbury has always been somewhere special, sacred even, right back to neolithic times. The druids set up a college here to pass on their beliefs and wisdom. What is it about Glastonbury? You see, I believe the power of Christ is here, in the land itself. And I'm sure the pagans recognised the same thing, although they called it something different."

  Ruth wondered how much he knew about the Blue Fire, but she didn't raise the point. "You said you wanted us to be aware of the risks."

  He nodded, suddenly serious. "No one has ever followed this to its conclusion, the Grail itself. But we know enough. We know it isn't buried in any physical sense; it's in some place that lies alongside our own world. I can't really explain it any better than that. The ritual you're about to embark on will unlock the door-that has been done before, once, long ago. But after that … Well, we only have the stories to go on."