Moonheart (71 page)

Tucker shrugged. "What else can we do? Hengwr's gone. Foy's staying. I'm sure as hell not going to ask Sara to do a demo for the boys in the PRB labs— she'd probably fry me, if you didn't get to me first."

"I'd've thought..." Blue began, then nodded. "Okay. I'll go tell 'em we're ready."

"One thing, Blue."

"Yeah?"

"What Gannon told us... about Walters. It goes no further than us. Got it?"

Blue frowned. "You're not going to cover up for him, are you? Shit, ninety percent of this has got to do with him. If he hadn't been hounding Hengwr..."

"Ease up, Blue. I don't want Walters touched because he's mine. Plain and simple."

Blue studied the Inspector for a long moment, then shrugged. "I can handle that," he said.

When he and Sally left, Maggie regarded Tucker with a certain amount of alarm. "You can't mean that," she said.

"It's got to be that way, Maggie. We'll never pin anything on him. I believe in the law— without it we're in deep shit. But you know as well as I do that we can't touch him. And he's just going to start this crap all over again and screw up some more lives. He didn't get where he is by kissing ass. He got there by breaking it."

"And then what?"

"Then I'm going to carry on."

"Like nothing ever happened?"

Tucker sighed heavily. "No. Like everything happened."

"I'm not going back with you," Kieran said to Sara.

They stood alone on the field outside her tower, sharing a last cigarette.

"I know," she said.

Kieran looked past her to where Taliesin and Ha'kan'ta stood just inside the door. "I still can't face him," he said.

"He understands why you thought the way you did."

Kieran fiddled with the whistle Ha'kan'ta had given him— Taliesin's whistle. He started to pull it out of his belt, but Sara stopped him with her hand.

"Keep it," she said. "To remember him. To remember us both. Kieran. I'm sorry I was such a shit to you."

"You and me both. But it all worked out."

"We'll be back," Sara said. "Taliesin and I. We'll want to see you and Kanta again. Sooner or later you'll have to talk to him."

"Lord lifting Jesus, Sara, you make it hard. We'll wait until then,
d'accord?
"

"Sure."

She stepped forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "See ya, Kieran."

He caught Ha'kan'ta's eye. As the rathe'wen'a came to where he stood with Sara, a low drumming started up.

"That's the quin'on'a," he said. "We've got to run.
Salut,
Sara."

Ha'kan'ta embraced her.

"If you see Pukwudji," Sara said, "tell him I'll be showing up to play a few tricks on him."

Ha'kan'ta smiled. "I will tell him, Little-Otter. Be well."

Sara watched the two of them walk to where Sins'amin and her people were gathered. She stood for a long moment, staring up into the skies of the Otherworld. Then she ground her cigarette underfoot and went in to where Taliesin and the others were waiting.

3:15, Sunday afternoon.

Madison and Collins were doing the rounds of the guards watching the House.

"I don't know what you're expecting, Wally."

"Something's got to give. Sooner or later, we're going to get in, or something's going to come out."

"After what you told me you found in there, I don't know if I
want
anything to come out— if you know what I mean." He stopped to light a cigarette, but never had a chance to bring his lighter up. "Wally?"

"I hear it, Dan. Shit! We've got to get more men down here, pronto!"

"Too late."

The drumming seemed to come from all around them. They stood and watched as the black sheen faded from the House. It lost its dead look. Sunlight that had simply disappeared when it touched the House now glinted on windows and set off the highlights on its sills and eaves. Slowly the drums died away. Madison and Collins moved closer. There was a door opening on one side of the building. Uniformed city police and plainclothes RCMP officers came at a run, drawing their weapons. Madison pulled his own .38, transferring his cane to his left hand.

Jean-Paul joined the pair of them as he reached the cluster of policemen. The door opened wide and twelve fingers tightened on their triggers.

"Tucker!" Madison roared as the first figure stepped into the light. "Put away those guns. Jesus H. Christ— Tucker! You made it!"

Tucker grinned, albeit wanly.

Jean-Paul stood to one side watching the people emerge. When the last of them had come out of the House and there was still no sign of Kieran, he began to turn, stopped when Tucker called out his name. Slowly he joined the others that crowded around the survivors.

"Were you looking for Kieran?" Tucker asked.

Jean-Paul nodded.

"We found him. He's okay, but he won't be coming back. To Ottawa at any rate."

"Where is he, John?"

Tucker turned to look at the House.

"In an Otherworld, Jean-Paul," he said. "In
the
Otherworld." As Jean-Paul nodded and started to leave again, Tucker caught his arm. "I told Kieran what went down— between you and me."

"Yes. And?"

"He sends his love, Jean-Paul."

In mid-December, when the streets were cold enough for snow but the snow had yet to come, there were two items of interest in
The Citizen.
The first was on the front page, and the headline read:

The body of the article went on to describe how the business magnate had been slain by a burglar who had ransacked his house late the previous evening. Police had no suspects as yet.

The second was in the entertainment section. There was a photograph of four rather scruffy-looking individuals, under which it said:

Under that was a small symbol of a quarter moon with two antlers rising up from behind it. Beneath the symbol it read:

Nowhere did it make mention that Special Inspector John Tucker had left that morning on an extended holiday to Jamaica with his long-time friend and companion, Margaret Finch.

The preceding novel is a work of fiction. All characters and events in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

I might especially note that while there is neither a Tamson House nor an antique shop called The Merry Dancers in Ottawa, at the same time the RCMP does not have a Paranormal Research Branch, a position on its force of Special Inspector such as depicted in the character of John Tucker, nor has any past or present Solicitor General been even rumored to have committed the indiscretions ascribed to
Moonheart's
Michael Williams.

And, for those curious in such things, this book was written under the influence of Alan Stivell, Andreas Vollenweider, Neville Marriner, An Triskell, Edgar Froese, Klaus Schultz, Radio Silence, Robin Williamson, Silly Wizard, the Fureys, and Kate Bush— to name the most prominent.

DESCRIPTION:

Sixty-one, two-sided flat round discs, made of bone, with an image carved on either side; one hundred and twenty-two images in all. Divided into thirteen Prime; twenty-three Secondary (fifteen First Rank; eight Second Rank); and twenty-five Tertiary (nine Static and sixteen Mobile).

METHODS OF USE:

Questioner selects twelve Weirdin from Bag, at random, and holding hand directly above center of the Triskell on the Reading Cloth, Jets them fall. (Alternately, the Weirdin may be taken from the Bag, one at a time though still randomly, and laid on the Reading Cloth in numerical order.)

READING CLOTH:

The positions on the Cloth read as follows (see accompanying diagram):

THE TRISKELL:

The Questioner is in the center (1), the three arms signifying: Marrow, or Health (2), Attitude, or Will (3), and Heart, or Spirit (4).

THE CROSS:

These are the direct influences that affect the Questioner: North, known as the Foundation, or Past (5); East, known as Change, or the Present (6); South, known as Forthcoming, or the Direct Future (7); and West, known as Destiny, or the Far Future (8).

THE OUTER CIRCLE:

These are the peripheral influences that affect the Questioner: Future Allies or Adversaries (9); Present Allies or Adversaries (10); Course of Action (11); and General Conclusion (12).

Note:
Particular care must be accorded to both the position of the Weirdin to one another, as well as their positioning on the Reading Cloth.

THE MEANING OF THE WEIRDIN:

Prime:

1.a)
The Horned Lord— Lord
of Animals and the World's Wood; aspect of Cernunnos, Pan, etc.; supernatural power, protection.

b)
The Moon Mother— the
White Goddess in all her aspects; immortality, perpetual renewal, enlightenment.

2.a)
The Grey Man— autumn,
west, twilight, mystery, elf-friend.

b)
The Blue Maiden— spring,
east, dawn, rebirth.

3.a)
The Yellow Tinker— winter,
north, night, obscurity.

b)
The Red Queen— summer,
south, day, warmth, youth.

4.a)
The Bearded King— strength.

b)
The Scapegoat— delegated
guilt.

5.a)
The Queen of Otters— sovereignty,
healing, fidelity.

b)
The Old Fern Man— mortality,
solitude, sincerity.

6.a)
The Mage,
or
Knight— creative
power.

b)
The Apprentice,
or
Young Man— neophyte,
initiate.

7.a)
The Maiden— primordial
innocence.

b)
The Dwarf— unconscious
and amoral forces of nature.

8.a)
The Trickster
(depicted as
Cat
or
Fox)— stealth,
desire, liberty, choice.

b)
The Shepherd— protector,
guidance.

9.a)
The Harper,
or
Wren— spiritual,
change, guide to Otherworld.

b)
The Piper— harmony.

10.a)
The Wanderer— aimless
movement.

b)
The Pilgrim— follows
a direct and purposeful path.

11.a)
The Dancer— creative
energy, reinforcement of strength.

b)
The Huntsman— pursuit
of worldly ends, death.

12.a)
The Warrior— antagonistic
force, or defender.

b)
The Imp— disorder,
tormenting.

13.a)
The Weaver at Her Loom— fate,
time.

b)
The Enchantress— self-delusion,
binding/destroying.

Secondary: First Rank

14.a)
The Hazel Staff— magic
power, journeying, wisdom, inspiration.

b)
The Iron Sword— justice,
courage, authority, inflexibility.

15.a)
The Thistle Cloak— disguise,
austerity, defiance.

b)
The Mirror— truth,
self-realization.

16.a)
The Necklace,
or
Garland— both
binds and limits; diversity in union; dedication; beads or links— bring the multiplicity of manifestation; thread and connection— the non-manifest.

b)
The Bear's Cauldron,
or
Honey Cup— nourishment,
heart, life, inexhaustible sustenance.

17.a)
The Circle,
or
Serpent— self-contained,
having no beginning and no end; death and destruction, or renewing its skin— resurrection, self/created taught.

b)
The Scales— balance,
justice.

18.a)
The Book— quest,
learning, knowledge.

b)
The Net— entanglement.

19.a)
The Shield— preservation.

b)
The Flint
Knife— hardiness of heart, indifference, sacrifice, vengeance, death.

20.a)
The Flute— anguish,
extremes of emotion.

b)
The Harp— calls
up the seasons; malleability of Time; Change, if not Progress.

21.a)
The Mask— protection,
concealment, transformation, non-being.

b)
The Wand— power.

22.a)
The Sheaf of Corn— awakening,
life, unity, harvest.

b)
The Acorn,
or
Hazelnut— hidden
wisdom, friendship.