Circle of Nine: Circle of Nine Trilogy 1

by Josephine Pennicott

  The Lightcaster grinned, testing his pricker for its sharpness. Over the centuries he had helped to entice noblemen, doctors and church clergy to kill and to torture in senseless frenzies, in murderous madness. He had stood by as entire villages were razed to the ground and the inhabitants butchered. He had controlled hands that wrote laws forbidding women to inherit and own property, to be educated, to have abortions.

  Two hundred thousand deaths had been accredited to him, but the Pricker knew that figure did not even touch the surface of his achievements. So many records had been destroyed and lost to history, so many recent killings had not even been recorded. There was so much killing on the Blue Planet, and now it was time to begin anew on Eronth. He sighed, lost in fond memories of how easy it was on the Blue Planet to bring terror into the hearts of people, to entice them to rape and torture and worse in the name of their gods. Over the centuries his work had continued. A whisper here . . . a dream placed there. He knew there were some that believed the Lightcaster’s work was obsolete, that the old witch-hunts had climaxed and run their course.

  Still giggling, he began to polish his tongue presser, secure in the knowledge that nothing was further from the truth, and hundreds of Bluites were still persecuted as witches every year. He might have lost most of Europe — for now — but he was still happily causing untold misery all over the Blue Planet, particularly in parts of Africa. Sometimes the hate was disguised as political or religious differences, but the results were still the same. Wherever persecution, murder or massacres took place he was there to feed on the energy. I le knew that when a country was stressed and impoverished the opportunities were vastly increased for his vocation.

  Now Faia was undergoing food shortages due to Persephone’s refusal to rise and descend at the ordained times. At the moment the Faiaites were merely irritated with the young goddess, but what if they transferred their irritation and their anger at the goddess onto Mary? Then all who were associated with Mary would be vulnerable. The Lightcaster sniffed the air, a smile on his face. He could smell a nascent fear spreading over the land. The Lightcaster, the Pricker of Witches, had arrived. His work had begun.

  *

  The proud foster parents stood cither side of the white poster-bed. The sleeping child smiled in her sleep, causing the angels to cry aloud in delight. Maya was a neverending source of joy to the Azephim couple.

  ‘The best thing we ever did!’ they continually marvelled to each other.

  Sati felt no regret whatsoever at the fate of her Bindisore sister Emma. She had transferred from her Earth form and had served her purpose: to give Sati a child.

  Ishran, to his great surprise, found himself in the unexpected position of enjoying the time he spent with Maya. As the Ghormho he had never expected to accept a child who was not first-egg-born. But in the child’s innocent eyes he saw no rejection or fear of him. Since the night Charmonzhla had left with Rachel, there had been no further manifestation of the angoli. But Ishran knew he was near.

  Jessie, seated at the foot of the cradle, watched warily. When first stolen from her Earth home she had been terrified and had fretted for Emma constantly.

  Jessie dimly remembered another time, on another world, when the baby was still with Emma and the Stag Man used to visit regularly. Emma had never seemed to be aware of his presence.

  Then the Faeries had come, stealthily, confidently, and stolen the baby, replacing it with their enchantment and Glamour. One of their own took Maya’s form, and Emma had never seemed to suspect. Only Jessie, with her keen animal’s sense of smell, had detected there was a difference. The child had grown; but it was a mere cobweb, an illusion. Then that false, stinking child had disappeared, taken to Eronth by angels with dark claws and wings tinged with blood.

  Jessie twitched her tail trying to work it all out. Then the angels had carried her here, a gift for their adopted child whom they believed was Maya. The angels were fools . . . the real Maya lay near . . . Jessie could smell her.

  Jessie wondered whether the innocent child that slept in the Azephim white poster-bed realised she was an Imomm changeling. These thoughts and others continued to occupy the dog. Then there were the dreams she continued to have, dreams where Maya never really existed, where even Jessie had never existed. There were times Jessie felt the lack of her body, the stir of the Dreamer who dreamt her. Oh, there were vague memories of a world of bones and birds and earthy smells, but the dog was beginning to suspect that all of it had never really been.

  She sighed again, watching the cooing Azephim couple with contempt, and, flopping her head onto the floor with a heavy sigh, hoped that feeding time was not too far away.

  *

  The Eom hummed silently, sensing the changes in the worlds about him. The triple alignment, a shooting star. Signs and shadows. Day turned to night and the Wheel of the Year turned. The Eom waited. On the surface he appeared dead, unresponsive, sterile. But inside, whole worlds were created and the creature within looked out through the facets, stirring in perfect silence. The Eom could be patient; it had destroyed entire universes over vast, immeasurable eons. Time to be still.

  Suspended in their cocoons, the Webx Elders stood still; comatose but providing the Eom with a charge. But now a new Webx walked the earth and the Eom longed for his energy. He could wait, patience was as meaningless to him as time itself. He had sent a message and the Webx had answered his call. Everything would fall into place. The Wheel turned, breathing out war and carnage, loss of innocence, empires collapsing, black acid rain. The night was old, the shadows that surrounded the Eom so ancient and the day so young.

  Time oscillated around him, touching him, caressing him, and he drew it in as pure sustenance. There was no time in the black veins that ran through his facets. Arteries dangled uselessly from his rotten black soul, crying to hold the energy he sucked from without. The Eom was well fed, linked as he was to all beings, but he needed a form. He required substance. He had taken form numerous times over the centuries, shifted atoms, experienced pain and death. And he would again. He reached out.

  Far out on the lonely plains, the Blest Circle of Nine stood enveloped in early morning frost. The tallest monolith, Bwani, received with gratitude the Eom’s urgent call. Through the cold hard layers of rock, a stone heart began to beat.

  EPILOGUE

  It is so light above the earth. So light. My eyes have now adjusted and I can see the sky, the moons, the sun. The days have been glorious when I have walked with Demeter arm in arm and I have felt her grief slide away like an unwanted skin, revealing the radiant shining being below.

  I have tasted grains that have been kissed by the sun and wine that is sweeter for having been distilled in the Overland. Being in the Overland means I can stand tall, I am no longer stooped. There are friends to visit — new worlds to explore. The light makes me dizzy! It brings me to life. I burst with the fertility of spring, with hunger. Demeter watches me and shakes her golden hair ruefully.

  ‘Enjoy the light, Persephone,’ she says sadly. ‘For only too soon he will summon you to return.’

  The grief then flares in her turquoise eyes and I feel bowed with shame. I have run through fields of flowers and danced naked in sacred moonlight. I have stood on the soil and caressed her with my bare feet. I have tasted the rain and felt the wind make love to my skin and hair. All simple, priceless pleasures; I have had them and many more.

  The days pass so quickly in the Overland. Too quickly. I begin to panic and Demeter is there to sympathise, sensing my fear. Never were mother and daughter closer! Sometimes I wake at night to see her staring at the moons, her beautiful face filled with longing and prayers.

  ‘If only they would change it,’ she says wistfully.

  But I am Persephone and a sacred contract has been made. I stare in awe at my radiant mother, at her corn-blonde hair, silver snake jewellery in her ears and around her arms. I move my hand slowly and salvanna appears.

  ‘A present for you, Mother,’ I say. />
  Trifles, it is all I have to give her.

  Our days are numbered yet are filled with joy. The Faiaites are delighted at my return and hold numerous festivals celebrating my ascension. The one I rose with has long left. I miss the contact I had with her in the underground, her breath so near my face . . . since then I have risen and descended many times. Her sparrow flies free and she has become the air, the moon, the sun. We are now closer than when she inhabited a form and clung to me as we rose through the soil.

  The Faiaites are filled with fear about the Azephim and the child that they have kidnapped. Yet Demeter and I do not concern ourselves with such gossip. There is little time left to me once more . . . so little time . . .

  There are moments when I can smell Hades’ grief and longing for me, but when the light shines his needs fall away from me like clay washed from my hands. My eyes are opened and now I can see. I am Persephone, loved by my people. Hades cannot touch me in the Overland. I am here to dance in light.

  I’ve grown accustomed to the light, my friend. I need the sun, the stars, the moons. The love that Demeter gives me is all I will ever need. For we are one and should not be separated.

  Demeter is afraid. ‘It is a sacred contract,’ she whispers sadly.

  It is not that I do not love Hades. For a portion of eternity, he is my Lord, and I love him then. But there is another portion that I inhabit, a portion wherein I pay him no mind. It is easy to forget him in the Overland.

  *

  When the leaves began to curl and yellow and fall from the trees, my eyes connected with Mother Demeter’s in sorrow. The White Goddess would soon be creeping across the land, the signal for my return to the underground.

  This time, however, I feel different. The Old Gods are losing so much power in so many of the linked worlds (we are all one). Does it really matter to these lives if a sacred contract is broken?

  Demeter argues this point with me. She twists her pale hands and pulls at her hair.

  ‘The worlds are dangerously out of balance,’ she informs me. ‘Blood is being spilt in many worlds, religions are ending. Doorways between worlds are being opened, doorways that should remain closed. Thought patterns are threatening to smother small worlds entirely. The Solumbi are rising, ever rising. Many species from many worlds are falling into extinction, oblivion.’

  Demeter believes if I do not honour the contract then I will be adding to the illusion, increasing the chaos. All the goddesses fear the Eom being recharged by Maya.

  Hades’ call has become stronger inside me. I hear him at night, his furious bellows, his impatient demands. But I have closed my ears. The Faiaites are beginning to protest — Persephone needs to return, they insist. But I close my ears. All I want is the feel of the sun and of light. At night I lie awake and listen to Hades’ lamentations and the moans of the underground. By day I walk hand in hand with Demeter and move in light.

  The Dreamers are shifting, moving tides, creating disasters — they too grow impatient.

  But I am Persephone and there is no love like the love of a mother in the Overland!

  Look into my eyes, friend.

  Deep into my eyes, friend.

  Answer me this question — will this be the season I refuse to descend?

  Glossary

  ALFECKLAND

  Ancient nature spirit. Is nearly extinct now in several worlds, and totally extinct on the Blue Planet. The alfecklands have retreated in ever increasing numbers to forest land near Faia, in an effort to restore their dwindling numbers.

  AMEW

  Azephim High Council. The Amew consists of voted members, eleven in all, who preside over day-to-day affairs concerning the Azephim. They have very little regard for rules and regulations and are easily corrupted.

  ANGOLI

  Child Azephim

  ASRAI

  Small, delicate female faeries who melt away into a pool of water when captured or exposed to sunlight.

  ATHAME

  Witch’s knife, used for channelling energy and casting circles.

  AZEPHIM

  Dark Angels

  AZMOME

  Poison that the Sea Hags inject from spikes on their bodies.

  BELTHANE

  The great festival celebrating fertility and fire. Robert Graves claims in The White Goddess that the Belthane fires culminated in the sacrifice of a man representing the Oak God. Belthane is a festival of human sexuality and fertility, a celebration of spring energy.

  BINDISORE

  Outcast, offspring of interbreeding, most often as a result of a union between Azephim and Faiaites, or Azephim and Faery tribes. A Bindisore is hatched from an egg which is commonly fostered by an eagle.

  BINDIWIT

  A hybrid of bat and elf. Now extinct in all the known worlds.

  BLUITE

  Earth dweller; one from the Blue Planet.

  BOGIE

  Goblin. The temperament of Bogies range from mischievous to evil. In Eronth the Bogie is a great ally to the remaining Faery tribes.

  BONELYNX

  Animal once native to Eronth, and hunted into extinction by the Azephim, who sought it for the magical properties attributed to the bone through its nose.

  THE BOOK OF LIFE

  Common term in Eronth, referring to the Tremite Book of Life (see Tremite Scribes). The Book of Life is open to interpretation and is frequently misinterpreted. There is also a Winski Book of Life which is only taken seriously by its lone scribe, Jig Boy.

  THE BOOK OF SHADOWS

  A witch’s book of spells, rituals and magical lore. Traditionally, the Book of Shadows is copied by hand by each new apprentice to its witch or Crone.

  BOWZ

  Informal Webx term to describe Hostlings.

  BRIDE OF THE STONE

  Refers to the Eronth legend of the pure maiden who will awaken the Rainbow Bird Wizards in the Circle of Nine.

  CANDLEMAS

  The feast of lights, signalling the first signs of spring inside Mother Earth. Heralds the strengthening light that is beginning to pierce the dark of winter. Candlemas is also the feast of Brighid, a fertility-bringer.

  CIRCLE OF NINE

  Nine powerful Rainbow Bird Wizards who fled to Eronth after stealing the Eom crystal from the Azephim in the Web-Kondoell. They were turned into nine stones after incurring the wrath of the goddesses in Eronth when they attempted to molest Aphrodite. The Circle of Nine stands outside Faia, and the stones are cared for and protected by the Faiain villagers and the nine Virgins, protectors of the Sacred Fires and companions to the stones. According to legend, when the masculine energy overthrows the sacred goddess and the last goddess admits defeat, the stone wizards may return to flesh and blood and rule Eronth, although the Tremite Scribes predicted that the love of a pure maiden would awaken the sleeping warriors and they would become flesh.

  CRONE

  Old woman held in high regard in Eronth. Crones normally display a vast range of magical powers and live with an apprentice.

  CROSSA

  One who is able to travel freely between all the known worlds. One who fully realises the truth that all worlds are one world.

  DARK BEAUTIFUL ONE

  A term for the Azephim.

  DAY OF ASHES

  The day the Webx race were attacked by the Azephim and the Eom abducted.

  ‘EKO OPZURI ELLE!’ or ‘ALZOURI EKO ELLE!’

  Magical banishing phrase to repel Solumbi.

  ELDERS

  Final stage of Webx life when the Webx reaches its pinnacle. Contrary to popular belief, the Webx people are not immortal although they do live for millions of years before turning to seed, when new life flows from them. The Elders are the most respected in the Webx tribe. This final great stage is only reached after decades of arduous testing and initiations in the Oakdeer stage.

  ENDI

  Flesh-eating bush that grows silver berries, found in profusion throughout the Wastelands.

  ENJOLI

  Speci
es of bird common throughout Eronth.

  EOM

  Sacred black crystal. Originally claimed by the Webx race, but abducted by the Azephim.

  ERGOM

  Rodent, similar to mice. Common in Eronth. Make satisfactory magical familiars due to their high intelligence and willingness to please.

  ERONTH

  An island existing in a parallel dimension to earth.

  ESTEO

  Eronth version of coffee. A popular drink throughout Eronth. Made with crushed hazelnuts, vanilla and ilkama milk.

  EYSTON

  Azephim word for measuring time. No equivalent in Bluite time.

  FAIA

  Large agricultural village in Eronth, under control of Mary, High Priestess, a Bluite Crossa. Is the home of the Circle of Nine.

  FAIAITES

  Most modern-day Faiaites are a hybrid of Faery and old Faian blood. Their original name has been suppressed, although it is described in the Book of Life. It is believed that if the original name is spoken in the wrong tone, or written in the wrong mood, it has the power to split the known worlds.

  FAIR-I’S

  Magical enchanted eyes that resemble pebbles and flowers. If handled, you lose your sight. Found throughout Eronth, but in particular in the Glade of the Almost Were.

  GHORMHO

  First-hatched from an Azephim clutch of eggs. The Ghormho, male or female angel, is always highly regarded and is never eaten by the Azephim Hatcher.

  GLADE OF THE ALMOST WERE

  Magical forest in Eronth, inhabited, due to a karmic gift, by materialisations from Earth. A glade of failed dreams and dreamers. By allowing the Glade of the Almost Were, it frees up the Blue Planet from the toxic materialisations that smother it.

  GLAISTIG

  Part water-faerie, part goat and all seductress, she lures all beings and then feeds on them in the fashion of a vampire. The Glaistig frequents streams and rivers in Eronth and can survive in the ocean, but is rarely spotted there.