The Cosmic Logos (10 page)

The lid popped off the cauldron, startling everyone present. A heavy vapour of red and black began to ascend from the old iron pot and a dark figure, cloaked in red, took form. The black bony digits of the crone's rotting corpse protruded from the end of her sleeves and her pupils burned red from beneath the shadows inside her hood. The crone's vaporous body remained afloat over the cauldron, as she beckoned Viper closer.

‘Tell me more, young prince.' She flirted with her new and exotic victim.

Viper proceeded to dazzle the crone, and indeed Noah, with his detailed accounts of all Mahaud's encounters with Maelgwn Gwynedd, Tory Alexander and their kindred. Had Viper been one of his history students, Noah would have been proud. Somehow, Viper had gained access to his chronicles, that much Noah was sure of. Then the Falcon pirate told of the crone's final demise at the hands of Gwyn ap Nudd and Tory Alexander, whereby Mahaud was banished into Density. Only a handful of the elite among the Chosen knew this tale. It had never been committed onto a chronicle to
ensure that no one would know what had become of Mahaud, or that she'd even reared her ugly head again.

‘This secondhand account of my death is sketchy at best. Are you sure you have it right … I was banished to beyond the etheric realms of the Night Hunter?'

‘The witness heard it from the Dragon himself. He speaks freely about the conquest when amongst close family members,' Viper replied and the crone began to chuckle to herself.

It must have been Cordella who told the last chapter of Mahaud's legend to Viper, Noah assessed on the quiet. Fortunately, dark Orme was not made mention of anywhere in the story, for Maelgwn would not let that secret slip, even to his family.

The crone went quiet for a time as she assessed all that had been said. ‘You have done me a great service in delivering this information to me, Lord Viper, and thus I shall enlighten you to something.'

Oh, no …
Noah feared he'd been discovered and his cheeks burned in anticipation of being exposed by the crone.

‘Yes?' Viper wondered what possible information this hag from the ancient world of a distant planet could have for him.

‘You been having problems maintaining an immortal state,' she began.

‘Yes, I have.' Viper was immediately excited by the topic. ‘Do you know why?'

‘You are a dark soul, Majesty. You have a dark heart, dark thoughts. I see in you the spirit of a Dark Lord, superior to any of the tyrants I have served throughout
the ages. The substance you are consuming to quicken your immortal state is attuned to cosmic light and love, and your dark nature is rejecting its aid. What you and your kindred need is a quickening agent that is black of substance.'

There could be no doubt in Noah's mind that he was the crone's source of information, she could not know about the dark Orme otherwise. He had hoped his adeptness at psychic self defence would shield his knowledge from the witch, but clearly the powers of darkness ruled in this place. He could feel the negative vibrations sucking the light from him, inducing fears he'd thought long departed from his soul — fears for his own wellbeing.

‘Charichalum Orme … is that what you're talking about?' Viper hazarded a guess. ‘The substance they use to power the shield of the dead star, Anu?'

‘Don't ask me,' Mahaud advised. ‘I'm just passing on information I perceived from your prisoner.'

‘What?' Viper turned to Cordella, his eyes ablaze with fury. ‘How does she know all this?'

The crone suppressed her amusement. ‘She is a he.'

‘What?' Viper repeated, looking back to the witch, suspecting her of toying with him.

‘His name is Noah Purcell. He's an historian and Sage of some repute in your age.'

‘I know who Noah Purcell is,' Viper snapped, circling Noah now. ‘Reveal yourself, prophet.' When nothing happened he gave his captive a whack in the jaw.

‘You forbade her to hear,' Gazelle informed, suspecting that the witch might be lying.

‘He can hear all right. Every word,' Mahaud assured.

‘Show yourself
now
,' Viper threatened and when Noah complied, the Falcon leader was enraged beyond reason to see the famed historian whose chronicles he'd been studying. ‘How long have you been in her place?' He belted the Sage when he did not reply. ‘Only the Logos knows how much he's learned already!' Viper began to pace, panicked beyond reason.

‘I know,' Mahaud boasted. ‘He knows too much. But, it is no matter, as you will leave him here with me. His means of mobility through time is on board your ship, and once you take your ship out of this time zone, the prophet will be trapped in ancient Gwynedd.'

Viper didn't know whether to be excited by her proposal or not. ‘But are you not coming back to the future with us?' he queried the crone, confused. Was she now rejecting his aid?

‘And miss out on wreaking all the disaster you just described to me … not likely!' Mahaud scoffed. ‘The device you thought was restraining your prisoner is no longer functioning. If we allow him to leave my circle, he will vanish to warn our enemy of our plans. He would have done so before now, but I am restraining him and can hold him here so long as I remain. You must travel to some future time, between now and my demise, when I am not active in the material world. Summon me forth to you and I shall accompany you back to your rightful place in time.'

Noah hung his head for shame, realising he'd practically willed this scenario upon himself. He had
wanted to stay and explore ancient Gwynedd and now his wish had been granted.

Viper, however, was most gratified by the crone's foresight and cunning. ‘And how do I summon you forth, great queen of darkness?'

The crone was tickled pink by his flattery and she motioned to an old chest by the cavern wall, which opened. An ancient scroll rose from within and floated into Viper's possession. ‘All you need to know is contained therein.'

The young lord smiled broadly as he admired his means to fulfil his ambitions. ‘Well then, Mahaud, I shall be seeing you in the future.'

‘I greatly look forward to our association and shall devise our strategy while I await our next meeting.' She pointed her crooked old finger in Noah's direction. ‘Our little Sage has much he can teach me about our foe. I foresee a dark future ahead for us, Lord Viper.'

‘I'm much obliged to you.' Viper took hold of his cowering sister's hand and led her towards the stairs.

‘No, no … it is I who am obliged,' Mahaud assured.

‘She means it,' Noah warned Viper. ‘Mahaud will use you just as she has used every living thing she has ever come into contact with.'

‘Of course she will, and I shall use her.' Viper shrugged. ‘For that is what we villains do … we use each other.'

‘Said like a true disciple of the Talas of Avichi.'

‘Talas?' Noah had never heard the term before.

‘Your beloved planes of awareness are known as Lokas,' Viper advised. ‘Each Loka has a corresponding
dark realm in Density and these worlds are known as Talas. Avichi is the name given to this group of sub-planes that constitute the eighth level of awareness and those below it. I believe you refer to them as Density.' Viper smiled at his own brilliance. ‘You really ought to get better informed. I'm sure Mahaud will be more than happy to instil a sound knowledge of the dark path in you.' He waved Noah goodbye and bowed to the witch, before disappearing into the cave.

Noah summoned his strength as he turned back to the witch.
I am a rock,
he told himself.
I hear nothing, see nothing, taste nothing, smell nothing, feel nothing … I know nothing.
He wiped blank his mind and sat down to commence a deep meditation that he would stay submerged in until such time as he was freed from Mahaud's restraint. The young Maelgwn Gwynedd would be along presently to put a stop to the crone's mischief in Gwynedd.

The witch laughed heartily at Noah's defence. ‘You cannot go five minutes without thinking of those you hold dear.'

Her words tempted Noah's memory to conjure images of those he loved.
Don't listen to her,
he commanded his mind to hold the images at bay. He had to find something else to concentrate on in order to block out her words.
What would a spiritual master do in my place?
He pondered the question but a second.
Pray.
But Noah didn't know any prayers. Then it dawned on him to recite ‘The Great Invocation' that had been the creed of the Theosophical Society of nineteenth century Gaia, whose writings he greatly respected.

The Sage felt empowered by the words and considered the piece he'd chosen as apt as any he could have thought of. But as he paused from his prayer to consider this, the witch's frustrated garble began registering in his brain once more.

‘Listen to me, you pathetic excuse for —'

No, block her out.
He ordered himself to concentrate on the Invocation, which he decided he would recite over and over until the Dragon arrived.

 

The events unfolding behind the scenes of Lahmu's first senate meeting with his new council of young bloods, were far more curious than the issues that were openly discussed.

Tory had been invited, along with Maelgwn and several other guests, to attend the meeting in an advisory capacity.

Lirathea shocked everyone when she arrived in rather extraordinary attire to be sworn into the senate — all trace of the college girl look had left her. Today she was dressed as a priestess — reminiscent of those women of the high spiritual orders of ancient Atlantis. Her dress was made of glimmering silver and fell from her neck to her toes. It was completely shapeless and unflattering to her young figure, with large long sleeves like those of a monk's habit.

What shocked Tory most was that Lirathea had shaved all her beautiful, long blonde hair off, and over her bald head her daughter wore a shimmering cowl that had a double layer of fabric so that Lirathea could veil her lovely face.

Needless to say Tory had a closed meeting with her daughter, just prior to the swearing-in ceremony.

‘I am to represent the spirit world in the senate,' Lirathea began in her own defence, ‘and must dedicate myself entirely to its service. I have thus resigned from
the position as Head of the Mind Sciences in order to focus on honing my own skills for now. Mine will be a life of solitary study, mother. All the unnecessary distractions that a social life brings with it I must avoid at all costs.'

Tory had never understood the dedicated lives of priestesses and nuns, and had always thought the veiling of the face to be an extreme and sometimes detrimental practice. ‘Who is it that you must hide from, Lirathea? Does this have something to do with a man?'

‘No.' Lirathea denied Tory's assumption a little too quickly. ‘But if I wish to be a solitary soul, it is hardly fitting that I risk attracting men with the glamour of physical beauty, therefore I renounce it.'

‘And what of your Chosen other?' her mother queried, having heard this story before. ‘He shall never be able to find you if you are hidden behind a veil all your life.'

‘There will be no Chosen male born destined to be my lifetime companion,' she told her mother, seemingly at peace with the fact. ‘For my soul-mind has already ascended beyond the ring-pass-not of the causal plane of existence, where the male and female aspect is again reunited. We then chose to return to the earth plane to aid and further the cause of the Logos, and having to choose a sex for physical manifestation, we chose a female body to promote the intuitive side of our nature.'

Obviously Lirathea had consulted her higher self on the issue, as Tory had never heard her daughter speak with such certainty about her destiny before. Tory had always wondered how those soul-minds took the solitary
spiritual path and made a go of it. ‘Is this the case with Avery, too?'

‘No.' Lirathea was quite positive about this. ‘His soul is a very spiritually adept one, but his male half has yet to learn commitment and his female half has yet to learn how to avoid being seduced by her own glamour.'

‘You refer to Fallon,' Tory probed, and Lirathea nodded in response.

‘They can each learn their life lesson from the other, but,' Lirathea gave a heavy sigh, ‘I feel theirs will be a rocky road to romance.'

‘You know about Avery's dark half then,' Tory supposed. ‘The one known as Viper, who has attempted to seduce Fallon whilst masquerading as your brother.'

‘A Falcon-Nefilim half-caste?' Lirathea raised both brows. ‘Yes, I have seen him in visions, but I did not know he had tried to get close to Fallon. That could be very destructive for her relationship with Avery.'

‘No kidding.' Her mother leaned back in her seat, worried and perplexed.