by Holly Martin
The trees disappeared from view altogether and I closed my eyes against the glare of the daylight for a moment. When I reopened them the sky was filled with dark clouds and rain was splashing down on us both. The sky lit up above us and the wind howled as it tore through the trees. The pain, though still there, had been replaced by an almost cold numbness.
‘Where are we going?’ We had to stay out the villages and Seth knew that.
‘There are clusters of houses, not villages as such just the odd dwellings. Some of them might be Zekis.’
‘Some of them might be Putarians,’ I said.
‘We just need to find some shelter, the storm is getting worse. There’s an old church down this path. It looked pretty abandoned the last time I was down this way. I’m sure we can shelter in there.’
Lightning suddenly erupted on the ground in front of us, sending a small white hot explosion up in the air, just a few feet from where we were.
The rain was so hard now, I could barely see as I blinked the water out of my eyes. And then I saw it. A large old church, though it was tatty looking, it still looked like it might be used. The bell, up in the old tower, clanged softly in the wind.
We walked up to the door, and to my utmost surprise and relief, it opened. Seth carried me inside and closed the door behind him.
His vigilant eyes scanned the inside of the building, as did mine, but for different reasons. He was under the assumption that we would be attacked at any moment, I was more curious about a church in the middle of nowhere.
It had pews, facing the front, just like any church back in England, but there was no cross or any other religious symbol at the front. It was deserted, though someone had been here recently, as candles burned brightly on a table at the front.
I shifted uneasily. I didn’t like the Marie Celeste element to the place. Who had been here and why? And would they return?
And then a horrible thought struck me. ‘Is this a Putarian church?’
Seth shook his head. ‘No, they hold their God Putus in great reverence. In their churches they have huge paintings of him on every surface, a powerful, forbidding presence that sits in judgement over their lives. There are no paintings here, whichever religion they follow here it’s certainly not Putarian.’
Hanging near the doorway were several red velvet hooded cloaks, it looked like they were used for going outside, as there were tiny bits of leaves caught in the fabric.
I shivered in my wet clothes and Seth quickly lay me down on the floor, pulled my T-shirt off and wrapped one of the cloaks round me. It was warm and dry which I was thankful for, but it also smelt of cinnamon which I found strangely soothing.
Seth rubbed my arms to get me warm, then ditched his own T-shirt in favour of one of the cloaks too.
Seth turned and slid a great wooden bolt across the door, preventing anyone else from entering behind us.
I watched how the red material rippled on Seth’s cloak as he moved, it really was quite beautiful.
‘I always wanted a cloak,’ I said, trying to lighten the mood, though I knew it sounded forced. ‘But hooded cloaks weren’t exactly fashionable at school. You look smart too, if I ever get round to getting a uniform for my Guardians, I think it will have to be cloaks, you look… powerful.’
Seth smiled slightly, then looked me up and down and he swallowed, slightly uneasily. ‘You look… like The Sentinel.’
I frowned in confusion.
‘In every vision the Oraculum have of you, saving the world, you are wearing a hooded cloak, blue I think, that’s what that old statue is, the cloaked lady, that’s supposed to be you.’
‘But… that statue is hundreds of years old.’
Seth shrugged. ‘The prophecies of The Sentinel are hundreds of years old.’
I looked down at my cloak, weakly. ‘Well the end better not come tonight, I might be dressed for it, but I’m certainly not ready.’
Seth smiled.
Seth sat down and cradled my head in his lap.
A door suddenly opened at the end, near the front and a woman, cloaked in the same red, came running towards us.
Seth stiffened, and under the cloak I felt him reach for his knife.
Chapter 9
‘What are you doing here?’ the woman asked as she reached us. ‘This is private property, you can’t just let yourself in.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Seth said, politely, though I could feel his hand tightening around his knife. ‘The door was open. We got lost, and then the rain started to fall, and well, we were just looking for somewhere to shelter for a few hours, the storm is raging fiercely out there.’ Seth protectively pulled me tighter against him. ‘My friend is badly injured, we just needed a place to rest.’
She pursed her lips, thoughtfully. Her eyes were a silvery blue, the colour of icebergs and they shone out from a wrinkled face, but the creases around her eyes were from years of laughter. Her silvery hair framed her face as it hung soft and loose about her shoulders. For some reason, I felt completely safe with her.
I shivered again, still cold from the rain and her eyes fell on me, wrapped protectively in Seth’s arms.
‘What’s your name?’
‘Daniel,’ Seth replied quickly before I could speak ‘And this is Sarah.’
‘I’m Amelie,’ she paused, hesitant, thoughtful. ‘Are you a religious man Daniel?’
I was thrown by this question, as was Seth. Would she throw us out if we said we weren’t?
‘Erm not really no. I’m more logical I guess, I believe in what I can see, what is proven,’ Seth said, carefully.
I wondered how Amelie would take to this, would she try to convert us, whip out her bible or her religion’s equivalent, and talk to us about her beliefs.
‘And you Sarah? What do you believe?’ Amelie asked.
‘Do I believe in God?’ I asked, confused. I was in so much pain and we were suddenly talking about religion.
Amelie nodded, as she licked her lips nervously.
And then I knew. She wanted to know if we were Putarians.
‘I’m kind of sitting on the fence on that one. I’d like to believe there is a God, but just because we want something to be true doesn’t mean it is. I certainly don’t believe that any God would support the torturing and murder of innocent people. If that’s the case, if that’s the only God we have, then he is certainly not a God that I would ever pray to.’
Seth shifted awkwardly and I knew his hand was very tightly wrapped round his knife.
Amelie’s eyes narrowed for a second, then she broke into a grin. She knelt down by my side. ‘How are you injured, I might be able to help?’
I stared at her, we had to trust her just like she had to trust us. ‘Are you a Zeki?’
She hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
I let out a laugh of relief and I felt Seth relax too.
‘She has multiple broken bones and internal bleeding,’ Seth said. He looked at me, clearly wondering whether to mention that my powers were blocked but although we had to trust her to a certain extent, I wasn’t ready to trust her with my true identity just yet. Maybe she would be able to inadvertently heal the link with my Guardians or unblock my powers, but if she didn’t I would just be grateful that she would save my life.
She held out her hands and they glowed with a pale gold, immediately the warm, fizzy feeling drifted through my body and I saw her frown when she realised the extent of my injuries. Slowly I felt myself grow stronger and as the pain faded away to nothing the glowing stopped and she stood up, offering out her hand to me to help me up. When I placed my hand in hers she pulled me to my feet.
‘Thank you so much, I would have died if it wasn’t for you.’
She shrugged. ‘Are you two hungry?’
I hesitated as did Seth, but Amelie was already striding back down the aisle towards the door, expecting us to follow.
‘Lunch is nearly ready so you came at the perfect time,’ Amelie called as she disappeared back thr
ough the door in which she entered.
Seth stood slowly and looked down at me. He offered me his hand and I took it, hesitantly we walked up the aisle towards the door. I reached out for my powers as we walked but they were still blocked.
Amelie was waiting for us in the other room, it was dark with only a sofa, and a small table. There was a wooden door at the far side of the room.
Amelie opened the wooden door, to reveal a large cupboard filled with more red cloaks. She gestured for us to go in, which we both did in confusion. Amelie joined us in the cupboard, closing the door behind us and locking it from the inside. She moved the cloaks to one side and disappeared into the back of the cupboard. She didn’t come back.
‘Do you think she’s gone to Narnia?’ I whispered and Seth smirked as he pushed the cloaks to one side and followed her, pulling me after him. The cupboard was a lot bigger than I originally thought and at the back was an open door. We walked through it and followed Amelie down some stairs.
At the bottom Amelie opened another door and stepped out into a large bright room, filled with tables, chairs and about fifty people. Men, women and children all standing around chatting and laughing with each other. A good many of them wore the red cloaks, the same as us. Some were sitting down and eating as they talked. The children played, running round and chasing each other, two of them nearest us, shooting each other with water pistols.
Seth laughed as he stepped out the cupboard, I just stood there and stared. It was like that moment in the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, when a whole other world had been revealed, all lurking at the back of the wardrobe.
Seth started to follow Amelie towards the tables at the end, but realising that I wasn’t with him, he quickly came back for me, took my hand and pulled me gently along in his wake.
Some of the people stopped and stared at us as we walked by, but more out of curiosity than out of hostility. Laughter bounced from every part of the room, and it was so good to hear after the darkness of the last few weeks.
Amelie led us to a table that was serving food, she piled two plates up with some kind of chicken and pasta dish and passed it to us. Then she piled up a third plate and gestured us to follow her to some empty seats, in the corner of the room.
I sat down, still staring around us in shock. Seth nudged me and I turned my attention to him as he passed me a fork. He started eating and after a few moments of looking around, I started eating as well. The food tasted so good and I wolfed it down.
Amelie ate more sedately, but she watched me as I ate.
‘We are, for want of a better word, monks. We’re a self-sufficient peaceful community. We grow our own crops and raise our own animals. We school our children here and everyone contributes. No one knows of our existence and we would like to keep it that way. Occasionally we have the need to leave our home, to collect firewood for example. But when we do, only a designated few go outside. Seemingly, to the outside world, this is a church with five peaceful monks.’
A man came to sit with Amelie, he looked at us curiously, but Amelie smiled warmly at him and he put his arm round her, rolling his eyes affectionately.
‘More waifs Am?’ he laughed.
Amelie nodded. ‘This is my husband, Kyle. This is Daniel and Sarah.’
‘Are they…?’ Kyle trailed off and I was confused by what was left unsaid.
Amelie shook her head though. ‘No, but they’re not religious fanatics either.’
Kyle nodded. ‘Well if Am sees fit to invite you down here, then you must be good people. My beautiful wife is a very good judge of character.’
Amelie blushed. Kyle kissed her on the cheek and got up and walked away.
Another woman came to speak to Amelie and she turned away to speak to her.
Seth grinned at me.
I smiled, intrigued. ‘What?’
‘You know who they are right?’ Seth whispered.
I shook my head. ‘No who?’
But at that moment Amelie turned back to us and Seth busied himself with his food again.
I finished my meal as well, more curious than ever now.
‘Are you still hungry?’ Amelie asked, once we had finished.
I nodded my head. I was ravenous.
‘Daniel why don’t you get us some apple pie?’ suggested Amelie to Seth.
Seth hesitated for a moment but then stood and walked the short distance back to where the food was being served.
Amelie watched him go, but as soon as he was out of hearing distance she turned back to me, leaning across the table to talk.
‘I know who you are,’ she said, quietly. Her eyes were serious, all signs of warmth and joviality suddenly gone.
I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat.
‘I presume you won’t be staying with us for long? I presume, once you’ve eaten and the rain stops you’ll be on your way?’
I nodded, carefully.
‘Then no one else needs to know,’ she eyed Seth, cautiously. ‘Is he one of your Guardians?’
My mouth was dry, I had no words, but I nodded again.
‘Good, so I won’t be sending you out unprotected. Would you like somewhere to sleep for a few hours?’
I shook my head. There was no way I could sleep now, every nerve in my body was alert, tense, poised to run.
‘No one will hurt you here Eve, I assure you of that. And like I trusted you enough to bring you down here, you can trust me too.’
Seth came back then. He dished out the bowls of apple pie and passed me a spoon. I took it, feeling numb and Seth knew straight away that something was wrong. He looked at me, concerned but I just shook my head.
‘Grandma, Grandma,’ a small blonde boy came running up and Amelie pulled him onto her lap.
‘My lovely Andrew, have you eaten?’
‘Yes the pie was lovely,’ Andrew grinned a toothy smile. ‘Who are these people?’
‘This is… Sarah, she’s very special.’
Seth stiffened at my side.
‘And this is Daniel, her friend.’
Andrew gave me a cursory glance but gave his fullest attention to Seth. ‘You’re so big,’ he said admiringly.
Seth shifted his gaze from Amelie to Andrew. ‘Erm yes.’
‘You’re strong too, your arms are so big.’
Amelie sighed with exasperation. ‘Andrew sits down to dinner with the saviour of the world and he’s more impressed with the muscles of the Guardian.’
Seth put down his spoon. His jaw clenched, his whole body was tense and alert.
Amelie laughed. ‘What Seth? You figured out who we were straight away, did you not think I’d work out who you were?’
Seth stood up. ‘Maybe we should go.’
‘Seth sit down and eat your pie, the rain is still falling hard out there and I’m not about to throw you out into the storm. When you’ve rested then you can leave.’
Seth sat down hesitantly. ‘How did you know?’
‘Grandma cheats,’ Andrew said, with exasperation. ‘She can see inside your head,’ Andrew leant forward conspiratorially. ‘If you have a second piece of pie, she’ll know about it.’
Seth smiled, wryly.
‘As soon as you saw us, you knew?’ he said.
‘I saw that you were scared, that you were lying about your names, which made me nervous. Then I saw the truth, I saw who you were.’
‘But you’re a Zeki, Zeki don’t have those abilities,’ I said in confusion.
‘One of my grandparents was Donum, I guess some of his abilities have passed down to me. I can’t shoot balls of fire from my hands or anything like that, but I do have an uncanny knack of knowing what someone is thinking.
And finally the penny dropped. ‘They’re all Donum aren’t they and Zeki. You’re from the villages.’
Amelie nodded and I nearly wept with relief. ‘You’re all alive, I saw the bodies, the empty homes and I thought they had killed you all, but some of you escaped. That’s fantastic, I’m so relieved.’
‘No thanks to the Sentinel,’ Andrew said, huffily, clearly repeating something that he’d heard someone else say. He hadn’t yet made the connection that he was sitting with The Sentinel.
‘Andrew you should listen less to what your father says and more to your own heart,’ Amelie turned back to us. ‘He has my gift too, but at the moment he listens more to the spoken word rather than what goes unsaid.’
I swallowed. ‘And what does your heart say?’
‘That you have a kind and generous spirit, that you would have fought for us if you could.’
‘I didn’t know Amelie, I only found out a day or so ago and I came straight down here to see what I could do, but I was too late. It makes me sick what they are doing.’
I took a mouthful of the pie, Andrew was right, it was good.
Seth leaned forward. ‘Would you be able to heal Eve, or one of the other Zekis perhaps, her powers are blocked as is her link with the rest of her Guardians.’
Amelie cocked her head. ‘That explains why you only have one with you. I don’t think it’s something I could do and I doubt anyone would be prepared to help you, as far as these guys are concerned, you left them to die.’
‘But you could… explain, tell them the truth,’ said Seth.
‘Change the mindset of all these people? That would take weeks not hours. There are those that I think I can trust, but the anger runs deep, and if I tell one person that you are here and they aren’t prepared to help you, it wouldn’t be long before everyone found out. That could turn very ugly if they did.’
Seth shifted nervously next to me. ‘How ugly?’
‘I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, you have my word on that. But… why don’t you come to my room for a bit, I suppose sitting here like this is a bit of a risk, anyone could recognise you. You can rest there for a few hours till the storm stops.’
I nodded.
‘Bring the pie,’ Amelie said.
I smiled and picked it up as I stood, Seth stood up by my side. But as I turned I came face to face with Cassidy.
‘Cassidy,’ I shrieked, probably a bit too loud, and flung my arms round her.
