TWENTY - EIGHT
The room could have come straight out of the pages of a Victorian era romance novel. The large four-poster bed with its heavy tapestry style curtains occupied the center of the large room. The same tapestry style material covered the windows. The three windows were shuttered against the early morning cold. Two chairs in a deep red upholstering accompanied a lace covered table with a vase of dried flowers and two silver framed pictures by the window. The coal fire laid in the fireplace, helped warm the room with a cheery glow.
Valerie took this all in with a single glance. Each item registering in a special place in her mind. Moving quickly into the room, she was followed by the butler carrying the large travel bag and the stainless steel briefcase as well as Rebecca.
The similarity between Rebecca Horthon and Elizabeth Burrow was so striking, that Valarie had at first thought they were sisters. The truth quickly came out, she was Elizabeth’s great-great-granddaughter. A fact that immediately stirred a thankful emotion deep inside Valerie. But she did not understand the reason for the feelings. They were both unusually tall for English women. Rich chestnut brown hair, soft dark eyes, and the whitest softest skin she had ever seen, so white as to be almost translucent. Elizabeth’s manor had been open and friendly, while Rebecca’s more subdued and reserved, as if waiting to see if Evan and Valerie were going to be friends or enemies. Valerie ideally wondered what action that would happen by pure randomness in the next few days that would tip the balance.
“Will there be anything else Mum,” the butler asked, setting the luggage at the bottom of the bed.
“No thank you,” and a strange question, to tip or not to tip, raced through her mind. She decided that would be an Evan problem for another time,
“The bath is just behind that door, if you’d care to freshen up a bit. We’ll meet in the conservatory in about ten minutes,” Rebecca said coldly. “You’ll find it at the bottom of the steps and then keep going straight back. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a few things to attend to in preparation.”
The butler waited until his mistress had left the room, “Or pull one of the call pulls and someone will come and get you,” He smiled like a dismayed grandfather and left.
They both left before Valerie could even thank them for their help. Quickly Valerie emptied the suitcase, hanging what was needed and placing the toiletries in the bathroom. Finally there was only the stainless steel case left to do something to. She knew that Evan would just leave it in the middle of the room. She also knew that she could not leave a million dollars just sitting there, it was too much money. Thinking for a moment and she could not come up with an original location to hide the money. Deciding to treat it like Evan would, Valerie went to the door and exited.
In a sand lot to the side of the formal gardens, Evan and Elizabeth took over the zen garden. In the chilly night air, Evan perfectly traced the pentagram of the watchtowers. Lighting all the braziers, he called forth the Watchers. With the last syllables dying in the air, the howling and braying started in the distance.
“There’s more than one Watcher coming,” Elizabeth said, shocked.
“Of course, I summoned the whole herd. Our gathering tonight makes a prime place for attack by Devlin. If he knows where or even how to look. Destroying the four of us together would just about guarantee the opening of the Dark Gate.”
A group of twenty huge black furred animals with red eyes surrounded Elizabeth and Evan. “They look bigger than Great Danes, but stouter and more muscular like Cane Corsos. They’re magnificent.”
“I know they kill when the need arises.” Just then the largest dog by several inches moved directly up to Evan. “You are the head Watcher?”
“Woolf!”
“You and five others will come inside to guard the physical remains of our party. Deploy the rest of your guard in the best defensive posture to protect this building and all others inside.” “Woolf! Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark!”
A million stars nestled in the velvety darkness of the night sky. They looked down upon them through the glass roof of the conservatory. The air was heavy with moisture and the heavy scent of orchids, lots of orchids. Tall narrow panes of glass flowed from floor to ceiling on three walls of the room. The panes of glass looked out onto beautifully manicured gardens and lawn to the dark black trees as the light disappeared. A few shadowy walls could be seen between the proliferation of dormant rose bushes and sculpted hedges. The hedges loomed high and defensively, giving the surrounding area complete isolation from prying eyes in the complete open.
Inside the conservatory, the purplish cast of the ultraviolet plant feeding lights created an otherworldly aura. The center of the conservatory, some dozen feet in diameter, was completely free of any potted palms and ferns. The flooring in the last six foot diameter changed from cobble stones to very fine porcelain mosaics. One silver circle a foot inside another silver circle. Four runes and four sigils spaced evenly around the circle, starting at true north. The center contained a detailed depiction of a dozen purple and white
orchids. The whole circle took everybody's breath away the first time seeing the old family symbol. A single purple orchid had been woven into a family totem, embroidered into the back of the dining room chairs, a monogram on the china, silverware and crystal, to be printed and embossed on every sheet of stationary throughout the homely mansion.
Six extra-large deep soft pillows had been placed between the outer circle and the furniture moved back to give the house guests lots of space. They sat in pre-arranged seating. An expectant electricity passed from one to another, as if something great and monumental was about to happen.
“If we’re all ready, then let's begin,” Evan said, his voice quiet and confident. “Rather than just projecting ourselves into the Aethyrs, we’ll be projecting towards one particular force in the Aethyrs of Lit. That force or being is named Namru, the Keeper of Souls. He should be able to guide us towards Merlinby showing us his aura. Once we know what to look for it should be a simpler task projecting ourselves through the plane to our goal. Time travels much faster in the Aethyrs than here, about ninety minutes for every five minutes here. Does everybody understand?” He quickly glanced around the circle at each face. Seeing no questioning looks or receiving no other objections he turned at last to Valerie. He reached over and took one of her hands. “Everybody take a hand and while we’re in Lit never let go. If you do, you stand the chance of not being able to find your way back to your physical body. Until you learn how to travel the higher planes you should never go alone or with somebody you don’t absolutely trust. Do we all understand?
Valerie nodded that she did.
“Do you want to stay here?”
“Are you kidding me? I’m going with you to experience everything.”
“Great,” Evan said with a smile. “Everyone close your eyes and we’ll go.”
With practiced skill, she heard Evan’s voice weave the spell that would carry them to Lit. She wondered what she would experience there? What would this plane of reality look and feel like? Who or what would be waiting for them? Evan’s voice rang in her mind as each word was being spoken like the resounding tones of a great bell, calling out, seeking. She could feel his presence next to her through his hand on her’s. She also felt the others, but not as strong and different. The difference was from one person to another from temperature and light that she saw on the inside of their eyelids.
She now felt cold and lost in the void of blackness and she squeezed Evan’s hand tighter. The darkness reminded her of becoming lost in her mind on the plane. The desire to open her eyes for confirmation that she was still with everybody surrounded her and throbbed with a power of its own. Fighting back the impulse was almost impossible, but somehow she succeeded. Afraid if she did so without permission she would be lost forever.
“It's alright. Relax and enjoy. Open your eyes and see the wonder of what we’re doing.”
The words filtered through her fear and she did relax. They were Cleopatra’s words echoing through the recesses of her nerves. She wondered how the cat was able to join them on their journey, then she remembered that she was lying curled in Edgar’s lap. “Have you done this before?”
“Never to the Aethrys, but Edgar would take me with him to the gates all the time. Then that stopped and he never took me anyplace anymore,” and there was a certain pouting to her voice
Valerie did relax even more. Her confidence grew with the passing seconds. Confidence leads to courage, so she opened her eyes. Wonder replaced every other emotion in her body. They were all there, still in a circle but different. She was now dressed in the soft
white silk toga that she had worn at the Seventh Gate. The leather sandals are comfortable but nevertheless strange looking upon her feet and up her calves. Evan was dressed in his white toga also. The silver and gold bands about his body as she remembered them at the Gate, each pulsing with energy. To her left was Edgar dressed in a simple silver colored caftan like robe. Gold embroidery edging the neck and sleeves of the garment, a single golden circlet on his brow pulsing with energy. Next to Edgar should have been Elizabeth, but instead was a woman of incredible beauty staring back at her. Her jet black hair had two streaks of white at her temples. Her skin a dusty tan, smooth and satiny, covered by a white robe tied at the waist and trimmed with the same gold embroidery as Edgar’s. She smiled and Valerie recognized Cleopatra.
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“How?” she asked.
“The cat is merely a physical presence, as this is merely a spiritual presence which pleases me for the moment. What we are does not change just because our physicality changes. Do you like this shape?”
“Yes, you’re beautiful.”
“Thank you. Your present form is very beautiful too, as is your aura.”
“Is that all we really are, just auras? Sources of energy?” “No, there is more, so much more, but so few understand this and are trapped in unchangeable forms. You set your own boundaries for what you are, will be and can be.” Cleopatra lifted her chin towards Rebecca.
“I understand,” she said with a smile.
Cleopatra smiled and closed her eyes as the others. Valerie looked across to Elizabeth. She seemed even younger here than she had in her own home, high cheeks flushed a little. A dark red velveteen robe draped over her body, hiding her lithe form. A collar-like necklace wrapped around her neck and over her shoulders
made of a dull silvery metal, but the pulsing energy from the inscribed runes and sigils gave it a lustrous shine like silver or platinum. Her hair hung down over her shoulders, different from the bun she had worn minutes before. She looked serenely content, a sharp contrast to her great-great-granddaughter seated next to her.
Rebecca was also attired in a short white silk toga adorned by a simple silver linked chain acting as a belt at her waist. Plain sandals similar to the ones Valerie wore except for silver discs which adorned the calf portion of the sandals were on her feet. Wondering if this simple toga theme for the dress of apparently all female apprentices, Valerie almost laughed out loud thinking how typical to attire them in as little as possible. Rebecca’s chestnut brown hair hung to mid back as it had back at the house. Her face was set in a mask of brooding concentration, the bottom lip protruding just a little, almost as if she were pouting.
She looked around at the blackness of the void. It was not a total darkness, but where that light came from she could not distinguish. Movement could only be felt the barest of perceptions, but she recognized that they were moving at incredible speed, higher and higher. Abruptly she felt lighter. Looking immediately at Evan , he looked thinner, more translucent. Her own body looked thinner too. Now she could see her ankle through her thigh.
The darkness was now taking shape into something more concrete. The feeling of rapid movement diminished, slowed as if passing through some substance, invisible and thick. Memories of trying to run through the snow at her grandfather’s farm in Vermont, spilled into her memories along with the numbing cold Canadian wind in January. The smell of pine trees filled her nose. The quiet noises of the forest echoed in her ears. She suddenly realized that she had closed her eyes. There was a gentle tug on her arm.
Evan was standing above her, waiting for her to stand. Snow covered everything to midcalf on Evan. She realized that she was
covered just above her knees in the cold white stuff. Pine trees traced straight lines across the mountain on each side of them. We’re in Vermont by my Grandfather’s farm, she thought.
No, that’s just what you want to see, Evan told her mentally. Puzzlement was in her eyes as she stood. What she wanted to see? Closing her eyes, she willed herself to see what existed without expectations. A dull gray-blue vastness of mist or fog swirling around their legs. Light coming from no direct source, a confusing sameness without landmarks or directions.
The Aethry of Lit, Evan told her. Then to the others he said, “This way, just follow me and stay together.”
They walked in silence for an immeasurable time and distance. She wondered if the laws of either time or distance had any bearing in this place, or if other laws of nature applied which had to be understood to fathom the mysteries of this plane. It exists within the confines of the total universe, thus the total reality of the universe. Do the same laws of nature exist and function at every level of this totality? The question was something she tried to remember to talk to Evan when they returned to their plane.
“Look up ahead,” Rebecca called, warning everyone.
Excitement was clear in her voice and she started walking faster, pulling further ahead of the others.
“No,” Elizabeth called out to her. “Don’t leave the group. We’ll approach each other with Evan as our leader.”
Disappointment and resentment burned in her eyes as Rebecca stopped to allow the others to catch up with her. She understood the coming conflict for the control of the world and the opening of the Dark Gate as Lizzy had explained it to her a little more than a week ago. She was willing to do her part in that battle, but he rebelled at the idea of placing all of their faith in a man whom they knew nothing about his abilities was ludicrous. No she took that back, he seemed to have powers farther advanced than even Elizabeth. It was devastatingly
apparent that the woman he dragged around with him knew and understood about as much as an infant understands the world around it. She was useless. She was a hindrance to any action somebody might take in a defensive posture. Lizzy had said that we must accept what this man says and does. That we had to help and cooperate in any fashion possible. He might be the One. Well she was not going to blindly follow a person she knew nothing about. She never had. She was not going to start now. The order of things were fine with her before all of this started, and this man’s foolish actions nearly killed them pulling all the energies of the world into one place. That much power should have killed anyone else according to Lizzy. Imagine all the energy of the world momentarily diverted by his command. That took incredible audacity. The fact that he would probably be the new leader of the Keepers. According to Lizzy, it did not set well with her either.
A diffuse, yet clearly visible orange glow pulsated ahead of the small group. As they grew nearer the pulsations were accompanied by a vibration that could be felt in the depths of their being. Energy, pure energy existing without form or substance, but existing. Then Evan walked into the orange glow and was lost from sight.
Valerie tightened her grip on his hand. She knew he was right in front of her, but she could no longer see him, just the orange light everywhere. The energy could be felt, by the hair standing up like static electricity back home, by the tingling sensation along her skin, by the deep vibration in her bones. Then he was there, just slightly bowing in front of her. He was hard to see due to the dazzling white light, and a creamsicle came to mind, orange on the outside, white on the inside, and she giggled. What stood ahead of her appeared to be a man-like creature, with a statue of ten or twelve feet tall, the light hurting her eyes.
“Hail, of great and wise Namru,” Evan said , his voice loud and clear. “May your name be forever remembered and honored.”
“Who seeks me and why?” The voice filled the air coming from all directions at once.
“I do,” Evan said with command, “Barramis.”
“And these others?”
“They travel to learn of the magnificence of your greatness. They travel as neophytes under my protection and tutelage,” came Evan’s response.
“What is it you seek, Barramis,” asked Namru’s voice from all directions.
“I seek the one who calls himself Merlin from my world some four to five centuries ago.”
A rumbling voice filled with laughter suddenly surrounded the group. A worried expression assumed possession of most of their faces.
“Does my request so humor my great Lord,” Evan asked, keeping his voice without inflection.
“Indeed,” and the volume of the laughter increased. “Indeed it does. I know of your Merlin. He is in Lit. He resides near by in the hopes of one day taking my place.”
“There can never be another as great and glorious as my Lord Namru,” Evan said smiling.
“This is true, but he hopes and for as long as he hopes he will stay near. Namru waved what must have been an arm. An apparition began to form to one side of the intense white light. It glowed greenly with a blue streak spiraling around the center, moving from head to toe and back again. “Heis to the west, seek and you shall find him. He waits for all to visit his imagined greatness.”
“Thank you, oh wise and glorious Namru, with your leave,” and the gentle tug on Valerie’s hand signaled they were leaving. Once the group was well past the orange aura Edgar spoke, “Does he always find your requests amusing?”
“No, but the aspirations of Merlin must seem funny to him,” Evan answered.
“Well that answers another question that has presented itself to debate for centuries,” Edgar said to the group. “It seems that other entities than humans have emotions.
Their journey continues through the dull gray-blueness and swirling mist. The miles, if there were miles in Lit, passed without notice. Time seemed to stretch to infinity. Once or twice Valerie had to quicken her pace to keep up with a pushing and driving Evan. He seemed tireless while she wanted to rest. Nobody else said anything so she trudged along silently. Was there a prohibition against conversation? Like lemmings, they walked along after Evan to the cliff or wherever.
Like a sign being turned on the green body with blue swirling stripes came into view with four other entities of various colors. As they approached the colors became more vivid, more individualistic.
“I seek the one named Merlin on the plane of Earth,” Evan said as they stood before the gathered group of shimmering lights. “By what right of ascension does one seek an audience with the great Merlin?” Now an old wisened face began to form atop the green column of light. The eyes were a sharp violet color, but danced with merriment and glee.
The phrase ‘right of ascension’ repeated itself in Valerie’s mind. She instantly understood Rebecca’s coldness to her and Evan. Evan threatened the status quo. As a stranger, because he could change the order of everything that has existed for the last several hundred years, just by saying that he would take charge. If he did so then he would have the right to select who sits at the table. In an instant he can make all her training and study useless. Evan stood as an obstacle to her right of ascension to the Sixth Gate.
“By the rights of the Star Gates, and the holder of the True Power,” and now Evan’s voice seemed to come from all directions at
once. His stature seemed to grow untitled he loomed over the group and everyone had to look up at him. “I claim all the rights, powers and privileges as confirmed upon me by the Ancient One himself, as his One.”
The violet eyes squinted close a bit as the aura surrounding Evan grew to a blinding gold intensity along with his stature. It was like looking directly into the sun.
“Impressive,” came the croaking voice beneath the violet eyes, “but not necessary. It’s been eons since one from my world has sought me out. Why now? What crisis needs the greatest wizard that ever lived?”
“The opening of the Dark Gate and the Crystal cave,” was Evan’s answer.
“You want to know the secrets of my Crystal Cave? How to use the powers that reside there? I don’t think I’ll tell you or anyone,” and he smiled mischievously. “If you’re so great then you don’t need my help to find the answers.”
“I could care less about the answers to your precious secrets. Your cave is being desecrated by the one who would open the Dark Gate from my world. Your cave sitting on the eye of the dragon makes it easier from the cave than any other place. I merely wished to restore the natural balance, but being less skilled than you I’ll use a sledge hammer rather than a tweezer and make the cave a pile of gravel. Either way, I’ll get what I want.”
The violet eyes tried to stare Evan into the ground, like this was all a giant bluff. Then with a deep sigh, Merlin asked, “You’ll save my cave for me?”
“I will do my very best.”