by Richard Swan
‘Aren’t you coming with us to see Corann?’ Melody asked, surprised.
‘Not immediately. There are one or two people I want to see first, now I’m in London.’
‘More “sources”?’
‘You might say that. I certainly want to know what’s going on here, as far as I can. London seems to have changed since I was last here, and the weather’s not up to much.’
‘But we will see you?’
‘Oh, yes. I’ll come out to Ealing as soon as I can. Watch out for me. In the meantime, have a good journey – and keep safe. Keep your eyes open.’
‘We will. And you look after yourself too.’
‘No fear of that. It’s not me in danger.’ Without explaining his last remark, Ieuan waved to them and headed for the exit. Tamar picked up Melody’s bag and led her towards the Underground to get the train.
On the way they exchanged news. Melody told him all that had happened on her visit to Lichfield, while Tamar explained that a number of events had taken place since her departure. He’d seen more shadows in the sky, though he’d never been able to identify them, and Ruric reported having seen a pack of wolves on Ealing Common. He’d gone to try to speak to the dryad that Melody had met, but the wolves had kept him at a distance and there would be no sign of the dryad while they were there. Corann was convinced that all these events were connected, and he was impatient for Melody’s return. He had things he wished to discuss with her.
Melody had a thousand things she wanted to discuss with Corann too, and could hardly contain her impatience as the train made its halting progress towards Ealing. She never stopped talking to Tamar the whole way, and she realised how comfortable it made her feel to be with him again. This older Tamar was so sensible, so concerned and thoughtful; she could hardly remember the irritable and aggressive boy she’d first met.
At last they emerged into daylight at Ealing Broadway, and although the clouds were lighter here the sky was still completely overcast. She looked back to where the storm brooded over the centre of London, and wondered whether it would break, or whether it was waiting for her as everything seemed to be.
They hurried across the grass and made their way to the house. Melody smiled to see the front door, the one she’d helped to break and then to make, seemingly years before. Tamar opened it, and called out, ‘We’re here’ as he went along the hall to the kitchen.
Corann rose to meet her as she entered, took her by the shoulders and held her at arms’ length so that he could subject her to an intense scrutiny. His kind face held a hint of doubt, which gave way at last to his more familiar smile. He did embrace her then, holding her almost as warmly as Tamar had done.
‘Welcome back. It’s been a long road already, and I fear you’re not at the end of it yet.’
Melody disengaged herself and looked him in the eye. ‘You mean more killing?’
Corann gazed at her evenly. ‘I don’t know that. Neither of us does. You didn’t expect death when you went north, but that’s what you met in your father’s forest, and you dealt with it as you had to. I don’t know what you’ll meet when you head east, but I know you’ll be prepared for whatever it is.’
‘East? Are you sure?’
‘Everything points to it. Have you seen the weather?’
‘You mean the storm? It’s as black as coal over Central London. I saw it from the train.’
‘Exactly. Storms over Central London, but no lightning and no thunder. At least not yet. I think that will require your presence.’
‘I thought so. I had that feeling as soon as I saw it. What does it mean?’
Corann shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. But I think we’re near to knowing. Ieuan phoned me from your father’s, told me you’re being pursued.’
Melody nodded. ‘By a dragon, he says.’
‘Yes. That would do it. A dragon. Ah well, such a thing hasn’t happened in any time I’ve known, and I’ve no idea what will follow. But killing, I hope not.’
‘Maybe not. But it may still mean death – my death.’
Corann regarded her seriously. ‘I trust that isn’t the case. There’s something about you which suggests to me that you’re not marked for death; certainly for a long time yet. I hope that you may find the resolution of this without death for any creature.’
‘And do you know yet what kind of resolution I’m seeking?’
‘No. But it’s close, I think. Let’s pause and eat, and wait for Ieuan to join us, and we’ll discuss what we know.’
‘He didn’t say how soon he’d be able to come.’
‘No. But I’m sure it won’t be long.’
Corann busied himself preparing a lunch of scrambled egg on toast, and they ate in troubled companionship, talking over everything that had happened. The one thing Melody didn’t mention was her mother. If it was true that Corann had known her, she wanted to discuss that separately without Tamar there. Just after they’d finished eating, the door opened and Ruric came in. A moment later Melody was startled to find him hugging her, almost as Corann had done.
‘Melody! You’re safe! You seem to have the ability to wriggle out of danger, even when you aren’t clever enough to avoid it in the first place.’
Melody wasn’t sure whether this was a compliment or not, but Ruric’s relief at seeing her seemed genuine.
‘Thank you, Ruric,’ she said. ‘Yes, I’m back, not too much the worse for wear, I hope. But I gather you’ve been in danger of your own.’
‘Not at all. I’m not in danger because nothing wants to attack me. Which is just as well, seeing I no longer have power to defend myself. But you’re in grave danger, at every step. There are powers massing against you, I fear, and closing in.’
‘Thank you, Ruric,’ interrupted Corann, ‘for being so cheerful. I think Melody is aware of the gravity of the situation. We’re trying to work our way through to a solution.’
‘Of course, of course,’ said Ruric. ‘What else have I been doing these past days?’
The argument continued until Melody found herself growing weary of it. She wanted time to be by herself, to think calmly and in her own way. Making an excuse about tiredness, she escaped to her own sanctuary in the attic and sat on her bed, her mind a confused whirl of impressions and sensations.
She forced herself into calmness and attempted to create an order to her ideas. She tried to think back to discover the beginning of the sequence, but there was no beginning. She thought that it had been her decision to come to London in the first place, but she realised that there was much more before that – her childhood, her mother, her mother’s own life and experiences. All the same, her arrival in London had triggered the sequence that led to the present. The people she had met, the events that had taken place, all had led her into Faërie, and Brocéliande, and then back to face whatever she needed to face. She was being pursued, Ieuan had said, by a dragon of all things, but what was ahead of her? Was the dragon driving her to some fate of its own choosing, or was she being led? There was no way of knowing. Melody didn’t feel in control of events in any way, and she hated that. She’d been used to making her own decisions, living her own life. Now her life was entwined with a thousand other people and beings, and she didn’t like the responsibility. She wished she could be alone, and the feeling became a burning desire to escape.
As if in answer, a mocking denial of her wish, there was a sudden crash in the sky above her head, and the roof rattled. There was darkness outside her window. She leapt off the bed and ran downstairs, thinking that the storm had broken and that the house had been struck by lightning. The others were still in the kitchen, and she burst through them and into the back garden. Looking up, she saw a sight that brought her to a standstill.
To eyes that had difficulty registering it and a mind that couldn’t comprehend, the dragon appeared huge. It was dark, almost impossibly black, and it seemed to block out the sky and shadow everything beneath it. It was winged, and the wings stretched to the horizon, casting an om
inous gloom like a storm cloud across the earth. Its talons had brushed against the roof like lightning, ripping a few tiles loose and sending them crashing to the ground. Its head, on a vast extended neck, craned forward and down, searching for its prey. From its nostrils smoke curled like fog on the wind. Its eyes were yellow and burning, and Melody dared not look into them. She knew her peril, and although she had gazed into the eyes of the unicorn, that had been out of love and without fear. She wouldn’t look into the eyes of a dragon, and fear was all she felt.
For seconds she stood there, and the dragon loomed above her. Then it was gone, and the skies were clear. Only there remained an emptiness, a space where it had been, and a blankness in the mind where its presence had become lodged and couldn’t be understood.
Slowly, very slowly, she became aware of her surroundings once again. The world looked normal, the sky was overcast but pale. It was as if nothing had happened at all, save for the shock in her mind, and the scattered tiles on the ground around her. Looking up, she could see the gouge in the roof above her attic room. She heard voices, and turned to see the others crowding out from the kitchen door.
‘What happened?’ cried Ruric. ‘Why did you run out?’
‘Didn’t you see?’ asked Melody, confused. ‘Didn’t you see?’
‘I heard thunder, I thought,’ said Tamar, looking puzzled. ‘A sudden crack of thunder as if the sky had split. What was it?’
‘It was a dragon,’ said a new voice, and Ieuan appeared on the path beside the house. ‘Or rather, the dragon, the one that’s been hunting Melody. Now it’s found her, or she’s found it.’
‘Then why didn’t it attack me?’ Melody demanded, shaking with the shock and the suddenness of it all.
‘I don’t know,’ said Ieuan, coming forward to stand beside her. ‘It flew off eastwards. I’m not sure that it saw you.’
‘How couldn’t it have seen me? I was standing here plain enough.’
‘Dragons don’t see quite like you and I would do. Perhaps it would be better to say that it sensed you. It was aware you were here, that’s why it attacked the house, but it may not have been able to see you directly. It may have been confused by the other things here, other people, other noises. Remember, dragons don’t belong here. Our world is alien to them, and they don’t appear here willingly or often.’
‘Then why’s it here at all?’
‘Like I said, it’s hunting you. Why, we’re not sure. That may even be why it didn’t attack. Hunting doesn’t necessarily mean destroying. It may need to find you for some reason. Perhaps it wants you to follow it.’
‘Follow it? You must be joking. I’m not following that thing. How could I, anyway? It’s got wings, it flies, it’s huge, it could be anywhere. If I do anything, it’s going to be running away, very fast, or hiding in a very large and deep hole.’
Ieuan came close to Melody and looked up into her eyes. ‘You don’t have that choice. You know that. And you can’t run or hide from such a creature. It would find you even if you fled beyond the ends of the world. You must turn and face it, confront it. Only then will you know what it wants.’
‘And if it wants me dead?’
‘Then it will kill you. That’s inescapable. Let’s hope that’s not its purpose.’
‘You’re almost as reassuring as Ruric. So do I go and find this thing, or do I wait for it to come back?’
Ieuan turned to look east. ‘You follow it, I think.
Not in the air,
Not in the ground,
Not on water,
Not on land,
Not in fire,
Not in the sun,
Not in all,
Not in one.’
Melody was startled. ‘How did you know that?’
‘I found it out. My “sources”, as usual. I think it tells you what you need to know.’
‘But what does it mean? It doesn’t make any sense.’
‘Not in the normal way. Like I told you, other creatures don’t see as you and I would do. You have to see it their way.’
‘All right. Tell me their way. Tell me where there’s a place “not in the air, not on the ground, not on water, not on land”. How could that be?’
‘Oh, that bit’s easy.’
‘Really? Where?’
‘Tower Bridge.’
Not in the Air
It was obvious. Why had none of them been able to work it out before? Because they’d tried to think like ordinary people, Ieuan explained, and they refused to believe that apparent contradictions could make sense. They were sitting in the kitchen of the Ealing house, discussing what to do next, and Melody was nursing a cup of hot tea and trying to calm her trembling. Her brain accepted what Ieuan was saying, but her mind was struggling to make sense of it all. She could see from the faces of the others that they were having similar difficulty.
‘OK then,’ said Tamar, gradually absorbing the ideas. ‘So the first part of the verse refers to Tower Bridge. If you’re on top of the bridge you’re not exactly in the air, you’re definitely not on the ground, nor on water, and not really on land. And Corann’s explained how significant Tower Bridge is as a place. He told Melody that when she arrived, how it’s on the straight track that leads through Hyde Park. So that makes a kind of sense. But what about the rest of the verse. “Fire” and the “sun” could refer to a dragon, they’re fire creatures, you said, but what about the last bit – “Not in all, not in one”. That seems like mumbo jumbo.’
‘We don’t know,’ Ieuan said honestly. ‘It doesn’t have a meaning that’s plain. I think that’s the bit Melody needs to work out, why she has to go to Tower Bridge herself. I’ve no doubt that’s where she’ll find the dragon, that’s where her destiny lies. Presumably when she gets there she’ll discover what it means.’
They all looked at Melody with compassion and concern. None of them disbelieved Ieuan, but none of them wanted Melody to risk her life on such a mission. She sat, silent and thoughtful, turning over in her mind all that Ieuan had said.
‘Ieuan,’ she said at last, with an attempt at a smile, ‘you told me when we met that dwarfs are honest. I think you’ve proved it. What you say makes sense, all of it, and it explains most of what’s happened to me. So I believe the rest too, that it’s for me to make this journey, to seek out this dragon, to see what it wants. I’d like to think it doesn’t want my death, but I’m not sure of that. It may see me as a threat. I’ve been to Faërie, I’ve been touched by a unicorn, I wear a special ring. Perhaps it doesn’t approve of all that, or can’t allow it, or perhaps it disturbs the balance of the worlds, and it needs to destroy me. I don’t know. But I do accept that it’s my job to find out.’
Corann was the first to speak. ‘When you arrived here, I knew at once that you were special. It wasn’t easy for us. Tamar and Ruric both resented you, for reasons you know. But the years have passed, for us if not for you, and I’m glad that you’ve proven to be all that I thought you were. I will accompany you on your journey, if you’ll permit me.’
‘As for me,’ said Tamar, ‘I’ve grown up. I hardly remember the boy who hated you as you smashed down the door. I still don’t know why you needed to do that, but I don’t need to know any more. I’ll go with you, if you’ll have me.’
‘I too,’ said Ruric, less emphatically, ‘would want to go with you to the end of this quest. I do not know what awaits you, but I would wish to see it.’
‘There you are then’ said Ieuan with a smile. ‘Four brave companions; or fairly brave ones at least. I said I’d come with you back at your father’s. I won’t stop now.’
Melody smiled her thanks at them all. ‘I’m honoured to have such friends,’ she said. ‘You know I wouldn’t want you to come, because I can only think you’ll be in danger. But I’ll be glad to have you there.’
So it was decided. The five of them would travel together the next morning to Tower Bridge, to see what awaited them. There was no point in going earlier, Ieuan said, because i
t wouldn’t be a good idea to be there before dawn.
‘Darkness is a time for dark creatures and dark acts,’ he said. ‘We’ll want to see what we’re doing.’
Little was said during the rest of the day. Each of them was alone with their thoughts, each preparing in their own way for the unknown adventure that lay ahead. They went to their rooms early, but for most of them there was little sleep. Tamar and Ieuan sat in self-appointed vigil, in case anything happened to disturb Melody’s rest. Corann and Ruric sat and talked long into the night. Melody alone went to bed, and to her surprise she slept, a quiet sleep where only the rustle of leaves and the faint sound of distant rivers entered into her dreams. She awoke refreshed and ready to face her ordeal.
The others were sitting round the kitchen table when she went downstairs, and looked expectantly at her as she entered. They were evidently waiting for her to take command, which a quiet corner of her mind found rather amusing. They watched as she ate toast and drank a cup of tea, but they didn’t speak. None of them seemed able to talk of trivial things, and none wished to refer to what lay ahead. It was all left to Melody.
‘Come on, then, if we’re going,’ she said when she’d finished. ‘All aboard.’
She found herself in the lead when they left the house, although she was pleased that Tamar came up to walk on one side of her, while Ieuan came to the other. As an escort, she thought. Corann and Ruric walked behind, like guards.
The sky was murky as they walked across to the station. Cloud brooded over Central London as it had done the previous day, storm black without rain or thunder. Nobody commented on it, but they all knew that they were travelling towards the heart of the darkness. Buying tickets for the Underground was a mundane activity totally at odds with their mood, but Melody was glad of the triviality, and the practicalities of boarding the train and finding a seat. The first part of the journey was above ground, and all the time the gloom gathered above them as they moved towards the city. When the train finally entered its tunnel and bore them underground, there was scarcely a change in the feeling of enclosure and oppression.
