Behind the Sorcerer's Cloak (12 page)

CHAPTER FIVE

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A
C
IRCLING OF
S
HADES

Ava's flight toward the vortex was a struggle. She panted and gasped, and her tiny body trembled with effort.

I must not use magic. I must not use magic, she told herself. I must be as a speck of dust, unnoticed unless it irritates an eye!

Ava forced her wings to beat slowly and steadily, to disturb nothing, to draw no attention her way.

The constant swirling of the Shades made the pull of the vortex remorseless. It dragged at her, sucking her toward its center.

Ava tried to keep control, making her wings beat harder and deeper. Forcing her body to resist the force.

One more circle should be enough, she thought. One more…timed just right.

Her body began to shake uncontrollably.

The pull was almost more than she could bear.

NOW!

Ava opened her beak and dropped the feather and hair.

Almost invisible, they were swept toward the black center.

Ava didn't stay to watch. She turned, beating her tiny wings as hard as she could.

The vortex held her fast. Her strength was gone.

Ava drifted toward the void.

PAIN. A bite of agonizing pain.

One wing tip had brushed the edge of the dark shadow.

In a last attempt to free herself, Ava folded her wings against her body and thrust her head down into a dive, away from the dark.

For a second, everything hung in balance. Ava's body was held suspended.

She gave a massive jerk, broke the hold of the vortex and plummeted down through the stars toward the sunbeam shielding Equus.

The small floatplane circled several times above the Isle of Man as Mr. Smythe requested landing clearance from Peel harbor authorities.

Chantel stared in fascination at the waves breaking against the headland below.

Myrddin had said this was a magic island, and he was right. Among the white frothy wave tops she spotted tossing heads and the streaming manes of white horses. They reared up, exposing their forelegs, and sank back into the sea again. They were the horses from her dream. She laughed and nudged Owen. “Look at the white horses,” she shouted.

Owen smiled at her description of the waves. “Good job it's sheltered in the bay,” he shouted back, “or we couldn't land.”

Chantel subsided.

She watched the waves again. The horses were there, as plain as plain, dozens of them! She wasn't dreaming, but Owen hadn't seen them. Holly had said nothing about the horses either. She must be the only one who could see them. What did it mean?

Holly ignored the sea. She stared at the land. She'd spotted a road, a causeway, joining what must have been an islet to the main island. The islet contained a ruined castle and within its walls she'd glimpsed a tall round tower.

The castle seemed strangely familiar. With a jolt, Holly remembered a fragment of a dream…She'd seen this castle before. With a second jolt she recognized the tower, but it disappeared before she got a clear view.

Holly pressed her face to the window and crossed her fingers, willing the plane to circle over the headland again.

YES! It soared directly over the ruined castle, and there was the tower again. It was the round tower from her vision, with the strange door built high up in the wall and no steps to reach it.

Everything had changed. This was no longer the bleak rocky isle in the past, but she was sure it was the same place. She stared down.

Suddenly she felt Breesha.

Breesha pulled at her heart as surely as if her invisible hand was tugging on Holly's arm.

The hair on the back of Holly's neck prickled, and the bead in her pocket seemed hard and heavy. Breesha's grave was down there, somewhere within the castle walls, and she must find it and somehow return the bead!

Cool place, thought Owen as he looked down. He liked ruined castles. He loved exploring them and imagining they belonged to him. He could see inside this one. There were walkways along the walls and even a row of cannons. Cool. In one area people seemed to be digging, but the plane flew past before he could see more.

Hundreds of birds wheeled in the air between the castle and the plane. Owen watched the nearest gull soaring effortlessly and was vividly reminded of flying with Ava the Hawkwoman, over the stone circle at Avebury. His mind flooded with anxiety. Something was wrong with Ava. He could sense it. She was scared! Why was a Wise One scared?

Owen looked over to Myrddin to see if he was picking up the same feeling.

Myrddin's eyes were closed and his hands gripped the armrest. Owen couldn't tell why.

Owen closed his eyes and sent mindspeak to his favorite Wise One.
Ava, what's wrong? Where are you? Do you
need help?

The Dark Being stopped fingering her ring. With an impatient movement of her arm she gestured to the Shades to cease circling and close the vortex. There was no point wasting energy the Shades would need for the final confrontation.

“Gather along the fringes of the Mists of Time,” she ordered. “It cannot repel forever. Others use the Mists and will wish to enter. Be poised, ready to slip through any break. Then go to Gaia and spy on the humans. Watch for magical activities that might lead us to Myrddin's staff. Be silent. Be stealthy. Gather information and enjoy making the humans uncomfortable and angry. Once I have what I seek, I will join you with the rest of my forces. Then I will reward you.”

She was so intent on giving orders that she didn't notice a tiny hair and feather drop into the gray stillness.

To and fro…to and fro…to and fro…the feather drifted… slowly the hair uncurled and separated.

The white hair floated down and caught in the Dark Being's wild mane, causing a tiny spark of white light. There it lay, a single thread of white entangled in the black.

The Dark Being tossed her head and went on with her invasion plans. The movement made the tiny feather swirl again.

It circled lower and lower and touched the cheek of the sleeping child. Once again it gave off a minute spark.

Without waking, Adam brushed his face with his hand, trapping the feather between his palm and cheek. He turned over.

Equus tensed as, without warning, the vortex closed. Had it caught Ava?

He felt two tiny jolts and he knew the feather and hair had reached their destination. For good or bad they had forged a connection with the Dark Being.

Ava did not reappear.

Equus waited and waited, growing more anxious with each passing minute.

At last he spotted her.

Something was wrong. Ava wasn't flying, she was tumbling, her wing beats jerky and ineffective.

Equus sent a cocoon of light to cushion her.

Ava managed a weak “thank you” and sprawled on his back.

Equus resumed the journey to Gaia, checking on Ava every few minutes. “The cost of your journey was great. Was it too great a price to pay?” he asked.

“The Darkness…,” Ava struggled to answer him. “The Darkness touched me.”

Equus shuddered. Ava had paid a price indeed. The dark touch would creep through her, in time freezing both mind and body.

“Ava, keep Light in your heart. We will heal you. I will take you straight to the Lady's resting place, the most powerful place on Gaia,” called out Equus. “We will surround you with light, Earth Magic and Old Magic.”

Ava could not answer.

With a great leap Equus entered the edges of the Mists of Time. They pushed back against him, refusing entry.

“Newly charged Mists of Time, I welcome you back and request your help,” he called out. “We are Equus and Ava, two Wise Ones you once knew well. We require safe passage to Gaia. Myrddin will vouch for us.”

The Mists chattered amongst themselves, thinned for a moment, and thickened on Equus's heels as he passed through.

They thickened fast, but not fast enough.

Several Shades slid through in Equus's wake.

Mr. Smythe's headphone crackled. He gave everyone a thumbs-up. The little plane darted through the gap in the clouds, toward the calm water in the bay.