All Hallow's Eve (36 page)

At his estate, his house in London,
and whil
st
conductin
g
all of his
usual
business, William
had become accustomed to being
a
man of power and authority—a man in
control
of
al
most every situation
.
The events
concerning his sister
this past summer had served to teach him that no matter what he did, he could not
foresee and prevent every danger that might come to harm those he loved.
Since the
Sanun
, he had felt lost
, floundering
in this new, female-dominated society, attempting to find his place.
Internally, he had j
ustif
ied
to his pride that as their leader’s Soul Mate, he was still a man of
consequence, and
that
being in charge of
Elizabeth’s
safety was an important
task,
indeed.
H
aving
completely los
t
all
control
in such a way
as
he had today
, and becoming
the instrument of harm toward Elizabeth
had been a
severe
blow
indeed
—perhaps
one of the worst things that could have happened to him.

Elizabeth squeezed his arm gently to bring him back to he
r. Now within sight of the house, she stopped walking and
spoke firmly.
“
Truly,
William,
I do not hold you responsible
for what happened today
, and neither should you
hold yourself culpable
.” She hesitated, not exactly certain that she should go on
.

He finally turned to look at her, and she
sighed, knowing
that
though it would cause him more pain,
she must
continue
. “
I will warn you that w
hat I
say
next
will make you
only
more
confused
,
but
you
must
know the truth
.

“
William, I recognize
d
this
B
east
.
When
I
t was in control,
it
produced
the same expression as your childhood friend Wickham had in his eyes during our encounter
and
emitted
the same vibration
.

“
You had told me that
your childhood friend
changed dramatically whil
st
you were away
during
your first year of school.
It
must have been
then that
this
Olc
S
pirit
, who calls itself Cher-nog,
beg
a
n to dominate
Wickham
. The timing is right when I think of how old you were at the time that my grandfather died—it was the same.

“
Think of it, William
!
A
ll of these years
,
Wickham has
be
e
n possessed by that
M
alicious
C
reature
.
As a young boy, h
ow terrified he must have been
—and must still be
!
To be able
only
to
observe
as
Cher-nog
used his body to
behave in the manner that you
described
...
to have been
incapable of putting an end to it
... to be forced to watch
as all th
ose he loved turn away from him.
”
Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears
, and
she blinked
them away, intent on remaining strong for William
.
His
breathing had become erratic
with
repressed
emotion
.

“
I was also able to see what
it
plans to do, William,” she shuddered. “
Cher-nog
wishes
to
set free
all
of
the E
vil
S
pirits through the
Sanun
of old,
before
the Song
was changed to allow only the Harmless Ones through to Earth, and
it
would
forbid
t
he Retu
rn from being sung
—
forever.
”

William interrupted her speech,
“How
?” From his angry tone of voice and the way his jaw muscles were working, she understood that he already guessed the answer.

“By killing me as soon as the
Olc
souls
would be
freed.
Cher-nog
had already anticipated that
it
would have to do away
with
my family in order to
persuade
me to cooperate, though if
it
had to promise
not
to harm them to
convince me,
it
would have
carried through with the plan after
I was disposed of
. With all of us gone,
it
might have succeeded in preventing another Destined One from being born.”
She closed
her eyes, trying to block out the
visions
of
th
e memories
she had touched during her contact with this
E
vil
S
oul
,
thus
miss
ing
the look of pure disgust that passed over William’s countenance
.

He spoke forcefully
,
“
I
am sorry, very sorry, that your mind was exposed to the thoughts of the
Olc
.
I
could feel how revolting
this
F
iend
was—I was sick with i
ts thoughts—but I was too confused to be able to understand all of
these details
!
But, how did
it
find you
?
”

Knowing that this would be the most difficult part for William to hear, Elizabeth
flinched
.
“
This
thing
chose Wickham because
it
could stay close to
the Sword of the Soul Mate
.
Even though
the
staff
had been informed
that Wickham should not be allowed on the grounds,
one of the maids at Pemberley
hid
Wickham
whenever he came to visit her. The
Olc
instructed
her
to inform
it
immediately
if the
S
word was ever taken down from the wall
for anything other than a cleaning.
By then terrified of Wickham,
she
did as she was told
without question
.

“
W
hen Mr. Reynolds left with the S
word,
Cher-nog
followed him
here
.
The
Olc
made the identification
after you
kept
the
S
word
for yourself
—
when
it
saw us tog
ether—
when
it
saw the way you looked at me
and
the w
ay you were so protective of me.
It
knew that, being the
Soul Mate
of the High
Priestess
, you could never pay your attentions to another… and so
it
knew that I was
she
.
Whil
e
scouting the area,
it
heard that
Denny
—an old associate—
was
stationed here
.
Denny
found him
a commission
in
t
h
e
regiment
,
a
perfect excuse for
it
to
remain
in the
neighbour
hood.
”

William was
horror-struck.
“
Are you saying that y
ou are in
danger because I sent for the S
word
?
”

She shook her head.
“
If
it
had not followed the Sword, this would have come to pass in another way.
My family has
been waiting for
this
time to come
for years
—it was time
.
T
ogether we
will
send
it
back to the Otherworld where
it
belongs.
”

Chapter
10

Mary
was
just com
ing
down
the
stairs to join the others for
breakfast
as Jane entered the hallway
.
Taking
Mary’s hand
,
Jane
asked,
“
Are you well, Mary?
You did not come to practice...
”

Mary
shook her head.
“
I am not at all certain, Jane.
”

“
A dream?
”

Mary nodded and furrowed her brow.
She gestur
ed toward Elizabeth and William, who were
entering the hall.
“
I had hoped that what I saw was really a dream, but by the look of Lizzy
and William, I
believe it was
as I feared—a communication from the Otherworld
.
”

Elizabeth
held out the sachet now tied around her neck.
“
Jane,
I am afraid
we will need many
more
of these foul-smelling things.
”

Staring
wide-eyed at the sachet
, Mary
nodded
and
placed her hand on Elizabeth’s arm.
“
Lizzy,
last night Grandmama
told me that you
must learn
a new S
on
g.
They had
instructions for
Jane
and Mama
,
too
.
I wrote them out before coming down.
”

Elizabeth took Mary’s hand and squeezed.
“
W
e need to call a meeting.
”

Jane replied,
“
I believe everyone is assembled
for our morning meal
.
”

Once
in the dining room
,
Elizabeth
gave a vague explanation of what had occurred during their walk
, not wishing to be too specific
about the private aspects of their earlier encounter
.
William took up where she left off,
“
We
had
thought
that
my childhood friend Wickham had turned
wild
, but it seems that
years ago
he
was
overtaken by an
Olc
S
pirit
—
the
same
one
that
po
ssessed me briefly this morning
and used
me
to threaten Elizabeth.
”
His countenance darkened,
and
the muscles of his jaw and fists tightened at the memory.
“
Th
at
will never happen again, I promise you.
”
Elizabeth reached out and took his hand.

Elizabeth
spoke up,
“
If not for
Jane’s sachet
, I do not know what would have happened.
I was able to
force
the
Olc
to abandon William
’s body
immediately upon placing it close to his face.
We must begin wearing the
se herbs
at all times, even to sleep
.
T
he servants
will have to wear them as well since w
e cannot risk
being near
anyone who
is
unprotected
.
Do you know how long the herbs’ effects will last?
”

Mrs. Bennet asked what t
he sachet
contained, and Jane
explained
, “
A
safetida, valerian, pepper, and
garlic
.
”

The
elder lady
smiled.
“
Very good, Jane!
Excellent choices!
”
She turned to Elizabeth
.
“
As long as they are in the sachet, t
hey should be
effective
for
a few days
. W
e shall change them
often
to be certain of their potency.
”

Elizabeth
nodded and
went on to share her impressions of what she had
learned
whil
st
in contact with
Cher-nog
.
She
then asked,
“
Mary, would you please tell us about your communication?
”

“
Grandmama told me that we should wear the sachets
, and that
I should retire early tonight
.
T
here w
ill
be a
n
important dream-meeting.
”

“
P
erhaps they will be able to help us
,
”
Elizabeth said.

“
I do hope so, Lizzy
,
”
Mr. Bennet responded.
“
I
n all
of the
histories
I have read
of the Tribes, I
have
not
hear
d o
f
anything
even remotely
like this occurring
in the past
.
I am at a loss at how to proceed
from here
.
”

November 26
, 1811

Early t
he next morning, all activity stopped when
Mary
entered the ballroom, obviously excited
.
“
It was an awe
-
inspiring
communiqué
!
Every
Priestess
,
Immun
,
and
Fili
was
present—
all
of them,
spanning the entire history of the
T
ribes—except those in this room, of course.
It was the first
ever
meeting of this magnitude
!

“
Many
gave their opinion
s
of what
they felt might
be effective
to
assist in this situation
, Lizzy
, and together they came up with a plan.
The moment I awakened, I wrote down the changes in the Song that they suggested
,
as well as
the list of herbs that Mama and Jane should gather to be used.
”

After looking over the list, Mrs. Bennet
placed it in Elizabeth’s outstretched hand, giving her a pointed look before
sa
ying
,
“
We will have to go to Longbourn, Jane.
There is a book
in the library
that we will need
,
and we will
require
herbs from the stor
eroom
there.
”

As
Bingley
suggested he
and Mr. Bennet
accompany the two ladies
to Longbourn,
Mary
looked
over
t
he
Song that she had recorded after the
dream
.
She seemed
unsure of herself
as she handed it to Elizabeth
.
“
Lizzy
,
I hope I was able to remember
it
correctly
.
I do not speak the ancient language
so
well as you do.
”

“
Mary, one of your gifts is your dreams.
I trust your dream
-
memory completely
, just as the Otherworlders do
.
If you
sense that
the words are correct, then they are.
You have
never failed us.
”

Mary did not appear
relieved by her sister’s speech.
“
I can only hope that Gran
dmama was with me as I wrote it
and would have given me a nudge
had
I
made a mistake
!
”

“
I have every confidence that she was, Mary.
Reading through it, I can
feel
it is correct.
”

William watched the sisters’ discussion, thinking over this momentous occasion.
He wished to
remember, and eventually record
,
as much as he could for posterity’s sake
,
so that
future
generations
of the
T
ribes
would know what
had
happened here
.

William
roused
from his meditation when he saw Elizabeth’s
colour
change
. She said fir
mly,
“
Richard
, it makes perfect sense that we should all go to Longbourn together.
We should not be separated
until the time is right
,
not
even by a mere three miles
!
”

“
After what we
have
experienced
,
t
he risk is too great
for you to venture out
,
”
William
declared
resolutely
.
“
Even
you
were not aware
that
the
Olc
was
near when
it was
in spirit
form!
”

A few heads nodded in agreement with William’s statement.

Elizabeth
took
a
deep breath before speaking
.
“
I understand that you
all
have
been
given the responsibility
of ensuring my safety
, and
that
you take this duty very seriously
, not only because it is your duty but because you
care for
me
.
I sympathize with your feelings
on this matter
,
and I return your love
, b
ut
please keep in mind that
first and foremost—
before
the title of daughter, sister,
betrothed
,
or friend
—
I
must
take into account
the
reason
you have been charged
with my
protect
ion
.
”
Elizabeth raised her
chin
.
“
I am
the
High
Priestess
of
Sanun
.
”