Mrs. Hartle turned to Miss Scratton. “You have done better. I am pleasantly surprised. Your reward will be of another sort.” Miss Scratton didn’t move, except to bow her head and lower her eyes.
“But all judgments can wait,” Mrs. Hartle went on. “The night draws deep. At midnight all will be fulfilled. The foolish girls who dared to rise against me are prisoners at my feet. And I bring you another prize—our former master. He is ready to do our bidding.” She kicked Sebastian viciously, then forced him to his knees. The Talisman swung heavily around his neck, like a great burden. “Prepare the girl.”
The cloaked women dragged Helen and Sarah away. Miss Scratton stepped swiftly over to me and made me kneel opposite Sebastian. Now we faced each other, as though we were going to be betrothed in some mystical ceremony. Evie and Sebastian, together again at last, but now only one of us could survive. The rain wept over us. The last minutes of the day were dying. Soon the bell would toll for midnight. Sebastian’s head hung down and he swayed slightly. I couldn’t see his face. It was better like that, I thought, better not to see the end.
My mind was slow and blurred, as though I had been stripped of my own self by the High Mistress’s overpowering will. I was helpless against her. Celia Hartle had won, and I had lost, and there was nothing I could do about it. She pushed the silver dagger into Sebastian’s grasp. Holding his weakened hands in her own, she raised the dagger over me. “When this strikes your heart, the Talisman will be his, and immortality will be ours!” Then she turned to Miss Scratton with her final order. “Sister, make her ready for the end.”
Miss Scratton bent down and tore my shirt open, laying my neck bare for the bite of the knife. As she leaned over me, I thought I heard her whisper, “Your necklace, Evie, give her your necklace….”
I looked up at her, suddenly jerked awake from my lethargy and despair. My necklace…the little locket…it still hung, small and insignificant, around my neck. I stared into Miss Scratton’s eyes. I can’t believe it, Sarah had said. Any of the others, but not Miss Scratton… And as I looked into those cool, pitying eyes, I recognized her at last. A wise woman, a holy sister, a healer…
“Come! Out of the way!” said Mrs. Hartle impatiently. “Let the blow be struck!”
“Your necklace, Evie, your necklace…” Miss Scratton whispered again.
Without stopping to think, I grabbed the little chain and twisted it until it snapped, then flung the locket at Mrs. Hartle.
It soared across the space between us in a wide arc and burst into flames with a dazzling light. Mrs. Hartle screamed, and her will and concentration wavered for a moment. The ropes around our wrists melted away, and Sebastian struggled to his feet.
“My brothers,” he cried. “Ride, my brothers! Ride!”
All at once, the air was alive with the sound of hooves beating the ground. I looked behind me and saw Cal galloping wildly up the slope, leading a band of ghostly riders. Their horses flew over the turf like enchanted shadows, like a dream I’d once had…a long-ago dream…. The wild Gypsy riders were back from the dead to haunt the living, keeping their old vows to be true to their brother Fairfax James. The Dark Sisters began to howl in anger as Sarah and Helen cheered the riders on.
“How dare you!” Mrs. Hartle screeched insanely. “Get back! Get back!”
Sebastian stood tall and unafraid. “Ride, my brothers! Ride to our aid!” His beauty shone through the mask of his pain, and his blue eyes flashed like stars.
This is the moment; you can do it, Evie; you can do anything…. Agnes was calling me, and my mother, and Frankie, telling me to believe in myself, telling me to fight for what I loved.
I flung open my arms and welcomed the rain. It drove down at my command like a flight of stinging arrows and blinded Mrs. Hartle for one precious moment. I lunged forward and knocked the dagger out of her hands, then pulled Sebastian toward me. Snatching the blade from the ground, I slashed the turf at our feet until we were standing in a protected circle, just the two of us. The noise and confusion of the hilltop fell away as though a curtain of water hung between us and the rest of the world.
Time seemed to stop. We were alone.
Sebastian fell to his knees in front of me, exhausted by his efforts. “Forgive me, Evie,” he pleaded. “I can’t explain the madness that overtook me last night. I only know that it has passed now, forever, whatever happens next. When you turned the power of fire against me last night it burned the fear from my soul. I was myself again. I called my brothers—to help you.” He dragged the Talisman from around his neck and pressed it into my hand. “This…this is yours. Protect yourself with it. Forgive me.”
I knelt down next to him.
“There’s nothing to forgive, Sebastian. Nothing.”
He held my hand to his lips for a moment. “All I can do…is say good-bye—before my master comes.” His voice faded to a sigh. “I’m glad—so glad—that you are with me, my girl from the sea.”
Sebastian sank to the ground and closed his eyes. I gently lifted his head and laid it in my lap. As his life in this world ebbed to its final flicker, I felt more alive than I ever had before. This was the moment that I would save Sebastian, and nothing would stop me now.
Forty-six
I held the Talisman up and called out, “Lord of all creation, hear me! I summon your sacred elements! Let their powers be my powers; let their justice be my justice; let their light shine on me!”
A crack of electricity leaped from the sparkling jewel.
“I serve the living waters and the eternal fire,” I cried. “I claim my right to approach the sacred flame!” Everything began to spin and I seemed to fall a long way, falling endlessly. Then I was alone in the deep cavern of crystal that I had seen before. The pillar of fire twisted and turned in front of me, and a voice spoke from its depths.
“You are welcome, sister. You may approach.”
I plunged the Talisman into the heart of the flame and cried, “I release you!”
And then…and then…I was light and air and fire. I was all my past and all my future. I was myself and yet I was Agnes too. She was standing by my side, and I had her memories, her thoughts, her knowledge. Scenes from her life flashed through my mind at top speed. As Agnes, I seemed to feel again the joy of Sebastian’s return from his journey abroad; I saw him press the Book into my hands; I felt the touch of his kiss; I felt the pain that Agnes felt as he descended into the dark. I saw everything through her eyes. I understood everything. I forgave everything, as Agnes had done before me.
The fire burned inside me. Now I knew every one of its secrets; I understood its powers that would heal and cleanse, bringing life and strength. But I knew more than that. The fire of our desires…the power of love…stronger than life…stronger than death… Now I knew what Agnes had preserved in the Talisman. She had no anger for Sebastian’s weaknesses and mistakes, only love and forgiveness. I turned to the girl at my side and said wonderingly, “Your real power…it’s love, isn’t it? All along, all this time, that was it….”
“Yes,” said Agnes. “Love is the greatest power of all, and it can never be corrupted. You cannot snatch Sebastian from the Unconquered by giving him immortal life, which would make him as evil as they are. I could not do this. You cannot do this. That is not the way. The Talisman bestows other gifts.”
“But what can I do to save him?” I begged.
“Love him,” she said simply. “It is enough. Let your love show you the way.”
Love. A light in the darkness that can never be destroyed. The only reality.
My reality.
The next moment I was kneeling next to Sebastian on the cold ground, and I knew what I had to do.
“Sebastian, listen to me. I’m going to help you. I’m going to give you something.”
His eyes fluttered opened, and he tried to focus on my face.
“I have a gift for you,” I said. “Please take it.” I saw that Sebastian understood what I meant, and was afraid. The
Dark Sisters had done this willingly, hoping for a greater gift in return. Laura had been forced to do it, and had paid with her life. But I wanted to do this. No one was forcing me, and I didn’t expect to get anything back. I was doing it freely, from my heart, for Sebastian. Now it was my turn to feed him with my life’s blood, my very soul. “Let me do this for you, Sebastian. It’s the only way.”
“No,” he groaned. “I won’t accept this gift. I won’t let you sacrifice your life for me.”
“I’m not talking about my life. Just one day, that’s all. It will be enough.”
“Enough for what?”
I looked into the blue of his eyes and smiled. “Enough for me to give you my real gift. Please, Sebastian. If you love me, let me do this.”
I grasped the Talisman tightly in my trembling fingers, and its light filled my mind. Unknown words sang in my head. I saw the two of us walking together by a river of endless light. The fire blazed inside me. I leaned forward and kissed Sebastian. At that moment, we knew every secret of each other’s minds; we knew our pasts and our futures; we saw eternity stretching out around us. We knew the truth: The greatest of all the powers is love…. I felt a part of my life’s breath leave me and flow into him. With that long, sweet kiss, I had given Sebastian a day of my life.
When I opened my eyes, the fatigue and pain had gone from Sebastian’s face. He was young and strong again, just for one more day. We were ready to face whatever would come. Together we stepped out of the circle, back to the noise and confusion of the storm-lashed hilltop.
A battle was raging. Helen and Sarah, together with Cal and his riders, were fighting for their lives against the coven. Sarah had torn the earth open and uncovered ancient cairns of weathered stones, and Helen was sending them hurtling down the wind like a shower of hail onto our enemies. But the Dark Sisters were still fighting back, led by their High Mistress. Her hair had fallen around her face, and she was savage with fury and madness. As soon as she saw Sebastian she screamed, “Seize him!”
But even as the crazed words fell from her lips, the thin chimes of the church bell began to float across the valley from the little gray church.
Midnight had come at last.
A deathly chill spread over the hilltop, and a mist rose from the ground. The fighting stopped, and everyone fell silent as a black shape emerged from the gloom. It was the mighty figure of a king that glimmered in the night, as though we were seeing a dark angel reflected in a deep, black pool. His long robes swirled around him like smoke, and he was crowned with tongues of red fire. His face, once gloriously beautiful, was now wholly corrupt, twisted by scorn and hatred. It was the king of the Unconquered, ready to claim his prize.
“This is the hour. Sebastian has failed in his quest. I have come to bind him to the Shadow world as our slave.”
The High Mistress was the first to speak. “No—no, you cannot take him yet,” she protested wildly. “He is mine…leave him to me…. I will make him reach out to grasp immortality, and then eternity shall also be mine…please, just a few more moments, I beg you…”
The Unconquered moved his head slightly toward her. “Silence! You will not deprive me of my prey.”
“But I already have,” I said quietly.
“You?” He turned his terrible glare on me. “What can you have done that would concern me?”
“Sebastian is no longer fading,” I said, trying to speak without fear. “You cannot take him. I have given him one day of my life. He is healed.”
“One day! One day! What will that achieve? In twenty-four short hours I will return and take him then.”
“No, you will never touch him now. Being your equal or being your slave—they are as bad as each other. You are evil and Sebastian is not. He doesn’t belong with you.” I held the Talisman high, and its glittering light made the dark king stagger backward. “My gift for him is greater than you know, and I am stronger than you are. I always will be, because I haven’t forgotten how to love.”
Then the Unconquered blazed with anger and disgust. Sparks fell from his shadowy garments, and his fury made the earth tremble. “Love! Love! You dare speak to me of love?”
“What will be the use of your feeble love when death comes to take you in the end?” said Mrs. Hartle bitterly. “Oh, you are young; you think life will go on forever, but it won’t. Love dies. Hope dies. Everything dies in the end.” She seemed to collapse in front of us, turning into nothing more than a sad, frustrated woman clinging to an impossible dream. “I have given all my life for this moment,” she moaned. “I wanted to live forever, and you promised me, Sebastian Fairfax, that it would happen…you promised us…”
“Death is the gateway to immortal life, not these twisted spells,” said Sebastian. “I was wrong—and you are wrong to cling to this mania that is poisoning the only life you have.”
“What good is life if death will destroy everything I have ever worked for?”
“You have a daughter,” said Sebastian. “After your death, her life will honor yours, and her children—”
“Oh, spare me your sentimental drivel,” she sneered. “‘You can die and rot, but your children will take your place, like little flowers springing up in the sunlight….’ I do not wish anyone to take my place!” Mrs. Hartle suddenly bowed to the Unconquered lord. “If I cannot live forever in this world, take me into your world, I beg you. Take me into your kingdom as your servant. I will be faithful to your sublime powers. I will have immortal life through your greatness.”
“No! Mother—no!” Helen darted forward and tried to drag Mrs. Hartle away.
But the High Mistress twisted from Helen’s touch with a cold laugh. “I don’t need your love, my daughter. You have chosen your path. I have chosen mine. I am the High Mistress—now and forever.” She stepped into the shadows that were swirling around the dark king and threw herself down at his feet. The next moment she gave a terrible cry as his steel-clad hand gripped her throat.
“I will take you in place of the other.” He laughed. “So be it! You will serve me well!”
She fell back, lifeless. A pale figure, like ash, rose from her body and hovered next to the Unconquered and was then sucked into his darkness. The next moment they had gone. Only Mrs. Hartle’s body was left behind, as still as the heart of silence, and her blank eyes stared up into eternity.
Forty-seven
The storm was over. The women of the coven had gone, melted into the hills, and the spirits of the Gypsy riders had returned to their resting place. We hugged and wept and held one another through the darkest part of the night, trying to let it all sink in, trying to comfort Helen. Then I stood close to Sebastian, and Sarah leaned her head against Cal’s shoulder, while Miss Scratton and Helen knelt by Mrs. Hartle’s body and mourned. We didn’t move or speak for a long time.
“And so…so, is she dead?” said Helen at last, as the first gleam of dawn crept over the hills.
Miss Scratton sighed. “Her mortal body is dead, but her soul is chained to the evil places her new master inhabits. I am sorry, Helen.”
Helen’s eyes were red with crying. “Is there any hope for her?”
“There is always hope.” Miss Scratton stood lost in thought for a while; then she beckoned the three of us to follow her down the hill a little way, leaving Cal and Sebastian to embrace as brothers and talk quietly together. We stood and looked over the valley to where the Abbey lay beneath us in the morning mist. “The night is over,” Miss Scratton said, “and although the way ahead is still unclear, a darkness has left us. My hope for you now, Helen, is that this will not make you bitter. You have already had a lot to bear.”
“I just wanted…I just hoped…that she would love me,” Helen said fiercely. “There’s no one left now who ever will.”
Miss Scratton took Helen’s hands in her own. “Your sisters love you, Helen. And you have a father, and one day he will find you. After that, there will come another, neither mother nor father nor sister nor brother, and he will lo
ve you beyond the confines of this world. This I can promise you. It is your destiny.”
“How do you know all this?” asked Helen. “Who are you?”
“I saw you,” I interrupted. “I saw you long ago, Miss Scratton—singing and healing and praying—”
“Yes, you saw me, Evie. You have the gift of divining the past, through the river of time.”
“So you were there, all those years ago….”
“I was there. And I am here.”
“But I still don’t really understand,” Helen said.
“Some things we can never truly understand,” Miss Scratton replied. “Who can understand the miracle of creation? Who can understand the depths of the oceans and the life of the stars? And the human heart, which one of us really understands that?”
“But how can you have lived at different times?” I asked. “After all that has happened with Sebastian, we know it is wrong for humans to seek immortal life; it’s not possible—”
“Not for humans, I agree.” She smiled, and as I frowned up at her thin, plain face, I saw that she was no longer plain, but filled with radiant inner light, like a picture in a church, like an angel….
“I am a Guardian, Evie, sent by the Great Power to wherever I am needed. This valley is both sacred and cursed. The story of Agnes and Sebastian and Evie is only one of many in its long history. You know that the hills beneath our feet are scored with tunnels and caverns. In one of them is a crack between this world and the shadows. The valley has seen great marvels because of it, both good and bad. And I have been here to see some of them, to play what part I can. I have known failure and success, but the battle between the light and the darkness never ends. It is enough for you to know that much.”