Dark Arts (28 page)

“Ah, so mind my manners, then,” Maxwell
said. “No worries.”

Maxwell barely had enough time to prepare
for the fight he’d face during his initiation. The crossroads were
so cold, he could see his breath in the air. Something had come
into that space that was so hungry, that it sapped the heat from
the place. He hurriedly took a cutting from the oldest oak he could
find, feeling eyes looking at him from all around in the fading
light. It was something he’d have to return to and remedy, removing
the False Pastor would only be the first step.

He closed his hand around the bark and wood
he cut from the oak and thought of the twisted hanging tree. Scant
moments later, he was sure that what he held in his hand was a
descendant of that old hanging tree, and retreated from the
crossroads on his motorcycle.

Gathering what he needed from his father’s
hidden room was much faster, even though it took him at least five
minutes to find where the scabbard for his family sword was
hidden.

Bernie greeted him at the entrance to the
cave leading to the private beach with a grin. “You know this would
have been easier if you got initiated with Scottie and me.” He was
wearing a simple, two-paneled robe that was tied at the waist with
a silk belt. Maxwell resisted the urge to comment on it.

“What fun would that be? Give me the choice
between the easy way and the hard way and I’ll pick an even harder
way to do something every time,” Maxwell said as he followed Bernie
and his kerosene lamp.

He stopped a moment then looked at Maxwell.
“You’re not nervous, are you?”

“Not even a little,” Maxwell said, shifting
the sword scabbard on his back.

“You are,” Bernie said with a chuckle. “You
know, this is your only chance to turn back. Once we reach the
other end of the cave, you’re in until the end.”

“A week ago I didn’t believe in all this,”
Maxwell said. “Now I can’t imagine how it was so hard for me to
believe. If this will help me see more of the world for what it is
and help me join a family that’s wanted me along for most of my
life, then I’ll fight for it.”

“You’ll be a witness to most of what’s about
to happen, very little of it will involve fighting. What you do
have to do is open your mind and your heart to everything you’re
about to see. Don’t worry about guarding yourself until you feel
you have to, and when that time comes, you’ll have no doubt.”

“You’ve fought in a circle like this?”
Maxwell asked.

“No, but I’ve watched Samuel and my father
do it on different occasions,” Bernie replied.

“Any advice?”

“The circle removes two things that we have
to face in the world: the ability for your opponent to create
illusions, and their ability to get help. This is the only place
where you can confront something like the False Pastor and trust
what you see. Do you have a plan for defeating him?”

“I do, it’s a good one,” Maxwell said.

“Good, don’t let anything else distract
you,” Bernie said. “Here we are, last chance.” He held the lantern
up so Maxwell could see the cavern exit clearly.

“Press on, ya blonde giant,” Maxwell said.
He took a step through and was confronted by Miranda, who was
wearing a thin, cotton two-paneled dress that had no sides.

She smiled at him and held up a blindfold.
“The next time you see the world, it will not look the same.”

“I feel a little overdressed,” Maxwell said
as she tied the silk band around his head. It covered most of his
nose, his forehead and everything in between. He couldn’t help but
smell the vanilla rose perfume she was wearing the first time they
met as adults, only days before.

“We take you as you are,” she whispered.
“And celebrate what you become.”

Bernie and Miranda gently led him down the
path, across the beach, and to a short set of firm steps he didn’t
recognize. The hard surface under his boots was definitely stone,
and he could hear the quiet rustlings of people around him.

“Maxwell Percival Foster,” Samuel’s voice
addressed, sounding stronger than it had in all the time Max had
known him. “Is your heart open to those who will stand with you in
the circle?”

“Yes,” Maxwell replied.

“Is your mind open to accept what you are
about to experience?”

“Yes.”

“Will you allow yourself to be bound against
harming any of the trusted initiates and imitated inside this
circle?”

“I will allow myself to be bound,” Maxwell
replied.

“Then you may approach,” Samuel concluded.
Bernie and Miranda finished guiding him across a stony floor. He
was still outdoors, he could hear the birds, and feel the wind, but
he could not imagine where he was.

“The young initiates who entered as
uncontested legacy pledges now leave as full initiates who have
made their promise to continue learning our ways. They have pledged
loyalty to each other and everyone standing here, and go with our
love, and our promise to continue to teach and nurture them as they
become adults.”

Maxwell heard the sounds of smaller feet
walking past him, a little surprised and disappointed that he
missed the initiations of the younger attendees. There were so many
feet descending the stone stairs behind him that it reminded him of
the rush between classes in High School.

When the shuffling of feet abated, a voice
called out. “The Guardians have closed the circle once more.”

“Relax,” Miranda whispered. “I’ll see you on
the other side.”

“Which Guardian presents Maxwell Perceval
Foster to the Circle?” Samuel asked.

“Bernard Samson Webb. I present him as a
Weaver,” Bernie answered.

“Which Summoner presents Maxwell Perceval
Foster to the Circle?”

“Miranda Alexa Larson. I present him as my
Weaver,” Miranda replied.

“Please take all he carries with him in the
Circle and offer it to the altar,” Susan said.

Maxwell allowed hands to slowly take his
sword, his shirt, his knife and the rest of his clothes from him.
As they did so, people offered comments to the altar. Bernie was
the first, as his sword was carefully unstrapped from his back.
“This man fights for his friends.”

Miranda was next as his shirt was pulled
over his head. “This man has shown deep love.”

“This man has allowed his anger to provoke
him to violence,” Allen said as his knife was untied from his
hip.

“This man can release his hate for all but
two people in the world,” said Scott as his amulet was removed.

“This man is playful at heart,” Gladys said
as she pulled his belt from its loops.

“This man speaks his mind,” Bernie said as
his pants were undone and they fell to his knees. Maxwell shook
them down to his ankles and stepped out of them.

“This man would rather have a friend than an
enemy,” Miranda said as his boxers were taken down.

“Are those all the truths that you would
have known?” asked Susan. “What of his flaws? I would hear three
more.”

“This man believes he is strong enough alone
to bear any burden,” Samuel said.

“This man is stubborn,” Bernie said.

“This man is reckless,” Samuel said.

“These things all sound true to me,” Susan
announced.

“And to me,” Gladys agreed.

“And to me. The holders of the Inner Circle
are satisfied,” Samuel concluded.

“Do I get one of those lovely dresses now?”
Maxwell whispered.

A few stifled snickers were his reward, then
he heard a sword being drawn from its sheath, and Maxwell’s
demeanor became serious once more.

He winced as something sharp touched his
chest, and he remembered a photo from an initiation rite still
practiced in Europe. A strong hand kept him standing in position,
and he straightened. A drop of blood ran down his bare chest, and
he could picture himself in that old black and white image,
standing straight in the middle of the circle, nude, with the
Weaver in front of him. Sword in hand, the leader of the ceremony
held the tip to his chest. “Maxwell Percival Foster, you are now
known to the Circle, and have earned the right to hear its true
name. We are the Third Spiral. Now I ask the question you have come
to finally answer,” Samuel said, his voice strong and clear. “Do
you swear to defend the secrets of our Order, protect the innocent
from the hidden evils, and to return to the light with The
Enlightened? Answer carefully, if there is betrayal in your heart,
this blade will know.”

“I do swear,” Maxwell said.

The sword tip was taken back and lowered. “I
reveal to you the laws and beliefs that have determined our course
through one thousand three hundred and thirteen years,” Samuel
said. “There are five laws. All acts have a cost. Fear is the
enemy. Secrecy is survival. We keep our own. Act for others
first.”

“Our beliefs are simple, but have shaken the
pillars of society when proven to the innocent masses,” Susanne
continued. “The realms of life are endless, to die is to discover a
different life in a new realm. Our common patron on the other side
are travellers, spirits who have lived many lives. No person bound
to this life can know all the secrets of the next. This world is
nearing the end of the seventh and final Age of Innocence. The
Third Spiral are stewards of the natural order, protectors of
creatures that are innocent of the true darkness in this world and
the next, and we prepare for the coming of the High Days. Our
ancestors were present for the Arrival of the Goddess, and the Rise
of the Sun Prince. We will bear witness to the Opening Door and The
Calling Of Light.”

Maxwell knew all the legends she mentioned.
The Arrival of the Goddess was a story he was told as a child,
about a brother and sister who was lost in the woods. When night
came, and they could hear beasts closing in on them, thirteen
silver haired wolves surrounded them, and a woman with grey eyes
guided them out of the woods. When they arrived at their village,
the woman introduced six of the wolves to the people, and they
became their guardians. The woman left with the remaining seven
wolves, but three nights later a giant silver and black matron wolf
joined the village. War with another village came the next season,
and the wolves would not fight unless their territory was
breached.

When the decisive battle was fought, the men
and women from the village the wolves protected were slain, leaving
only a few at home for the wolves to protect. When the enemy came,
they did so, and the neighboring tribe never intruded again. The
few men and women left in the wolf village could not venture far to
hunt because their neighbors were waiting for them, so they planted
seeds instead. For decades, the wolves protected the territory,
keeping fields of wheat and paddocks of other animals that sought
the wolves protection safe so the small village eventually became a
city, and when the neighboring hunter villagers sought trade, they
were welcomed peacefully, but the wolves were ever watchful.

The Rise of the Sun Prince was something
Maxwell learned through his own reading. The older books he learned
about it from told it like a history. A young slave was born in
Ancient Egypt under a bright star, and three great harvests
followed. When he became a man, he travelled from one slave camp to
the next, preaching peace. His popularity grew, and it was said
that he was a great magician, able to extend days, heal the sick
and ease spirits back into their graves. The Pharaoh was unhappy to
hear about this slave, because it was said that the villages
thought that the preacher was more powerful.

The preacher was in the desert, meditating
and communing for three months during this time. When he returned,
he saw that the slaves were mid-revolt with the Pharaoh, and
thousands of lives were lost. Out of love for his people, he
surrendered his power to the Pharaoh, and he broke the layman
priest’s walking staff, then put him upon a stone to be flayed. He
survived a vicious flaying, and died after three days of being tied
to a flat stone. They cut the bonds, but did not let the slaves
take the body.

Another three days passed, and the layman
priest returned to life, coming down from the stone he died on. He
raised thirteen of his followers from the dead and visited numerous
villages. Twenty-eight days passed, and the rumblings of rebellion
were common amongst the slaves regardless of his message of peace.
The layman priest confronted the Pharaoh again, who was deeply
afraid. He handed the Pharaoh another walking staff, and invited
him to break it, telling him that it would bring about a peace that
would last the rest of his reign, and end the drought, but he would
have to release any slave that wanted to follow him into the
desert.

The Pharaoh did so, and the staff shattered
into hundreds of pieces. The layman priest announced that he was
the Sun Prince, and that he was gifting the Pharaoh’s reign with
abundance. He would take the followers he had risen to the desert
along with all the slaves that were willing to come with him for
the rest of his days. He would travel until he found his natural
death, and his people would build a city upon his bones.

The drought ended, and, hearing that the Sun
Prince would travel the desert for a decade or longer, a surprising
number of slaves remained to serve the Pharaoh. To demonstrate his
thanks to the Sun Prince, the Pharaoh built an empty tomb where his
history was recorded, and then named his firstborn son after him.
For twenty-one years the Pharaoh Ra was said to have miraculous
power, which he used to create a son and a daughter and to maintain
a period of plenty. It was often said that the Sun Prince returned
to visit Ra on his deathbed to forgive him, then to take his power
back so Ra would be allowed to die. They both disappeared at the
same time, ascending to Godhood.