“For this, I make time. So, you are the wise Ealdstan, I presume. It is good to meet you. This is a meeting that will be recorded in the legends of the future. I hope Herr Goebbels has been showing you every hospitality.”
III
Ni?ergeard
13 February 1948 AD
Frithfroth knocked on the door of Ealdstan’s study. He waited a moment and got no reply, as expected. He put a hand on the metal door loop and pushed it open a few inches.
“My lord?”
Ealdstan was at his desk, writing in a small book.
“My lord, the lifiendes are ready to depart.”
“In a moment,” Ealdstan said and dipped his pen in the ink bottle.
“Wysfaeder, if you will permit me. . Is it right?”
All that Frithfroth received as an answer was the scratch of pen on vellum.
“I don’t mean is it right that they aid you in this-aid us in this way, but is it right that we make the task so much more difficult? The heart could be brought here, with no difficulty, and any one of them could perform the task.”
More scratching.
“It’s only. . that this is the third group of lifiendes that have managed to find their way here-no easy task in itself. I am told that on the way they ran afoul of the usual perils. Surely that is test enough?”
Scratching, more scratching.
Frithfroth resigned himself to getting no response from the ruler of Ni?ergeard. He was leaving the room backward, intending to pull the door behind him, when Ealdstan pushed the book away from him, leaving it open on the top of the desk and wiping his pen on a piece of cloth.
“There are mechanisms and circles in movement of which none in this world but I have any knowledge,” Ealdstan said. “To fall down a hole in a cave is hardly proof enough for what will be demanded of them in the future.”
Frithfroth deferentially accepted this statement and made to leave again. “But, wise Ealdstan,” he said, changing his mind, “must the cost for them be so high? When the bodies of the last two were discovered, it fair broke the hearts of those that found them. Many of them left here and renounced their immortality at that very instant. Others, sometime later.”
Frithfroth chewed his lip. He had said this much, why not say all? “These latest trials are not just trials for the lifiendes, but also trials for Ni?ergeard. I have never seen spirit so low.”
“I am not oblivious to the moods of the city that I created. Threat with no real danger is no test at all. In the perspective of all the centuries, the passing of a few young lights is of little matter. All pass-one day you and I shall. The dead are happier dead. Mourn not for them. The sacrifice they are making is as the first few drops of a torrential downpour.”
Frithfroth nodded. “Just so. As I said, the lifiendes are now ready to depart.” With that, he closed the door completely and made his way back down to the courtyard under the Great Carnyx. Godmund and Modwyn were there, along with the four lifiendes and their escort.
“Ealdstan will join us shortly,” Frithfroth reported.
“I should jolly well expect him to,” said the youngest girl, who stood in her new, dyed leather riding dress. She awkwardly held an ash wood spear in her hand. “It’s our ruddy necks that we’re risking to save his!”
“Language, Sarah!” chastened Molly, her sister and one of the younger two of the four Trevellian cousins.
Sarah gave her head a flick to keep her long hair in check-a habit that Frithfroth had become accustomed to seeing. He had spent the last couple weeks with the children, showing them around the city and the tower. He had bonded with them; the others were either jaded at the long line of failures, or else too afraid to become close to the sacrificial lambs.
“He will take his own time about his own business. I am sure he knows better than we what lies ahead of us.” Molly was mousy and apologetic, the opposite of her loud and strong-willed sister. She was the peacemaker of the group, sensitive and always appeasing.
“That is true, young lifiend,” said??elwulf, the knight they had awoken and who was to accompany them on their quest. “More than you could know.”
Frithfroth shot him a ferocious look. Don’t say too much, the look said.
“Mister Frithfroth, sir.” The youngest of all the cousins, Theodore-or “Teddy” as he was called by the others-meekly approached. He wore a dagger and a mail shirt that had been altered for his small stature. He looked absurd, and Frithfroth’s heart nearly broke for him. He was almost too young to have a real personality of his own, except that he was intensely sensitive and caring, with no hardened areas of his character.
“Mister Frithfroth-what does that mean?” He pointed to the Carnyx. “‘Blow this horn and summon the next army’? What is the next army?”
“Why, it refers to all the knights who sleep beneath Britain’s soil.”
“No, that’s the old army. Who is the next army?”
Frithfroth looked up quizzically and caught Godmund’s eye. The grizzled warrior just shrugged.
“But they are not an army yet. They are just separate warriors, all taken from different points in this nation’s history. They are not yet an army, but when they arise, they will be.”
Teddy frowned and walked back to join the others.
He is eight years old, Frithfroth thought. He tried to think back to the time when eight years was all the time that he knew on this earth. Now, eight years was no more time to him than a fortnight had once been.
A clap of thunder shivered the silence and a wisp of smoke twisted from the ground, dispersing into the stale air to reveal Ealdstan. The children were awed, which was naturally the only reason for the act. They leaned in toward each other, all of them trying to put on a brave face.
The aging wizard brought his staff down on the ground three times, pounding the rock beneath his feet violently.
May the Hand that Makes guide your hearts,
May the Light that Illumines shine on your path,
And the One that Goes Between aid your steps.
“Paul Trevellian, approach,” the wizard said.
Swallowing hard and shaking visibly-but nonetheless endeavouring to hold his head up high with strong, British reserve-Paul left the small pack. He was not the oldest of the group-Sarah was-but he assumed the most responsibility. He was rather bright, but this characteristic was often hampered by his sense of duty-he tended to do what was expected of him, even if that was at odds with his own or his companion’s best interests.
Ealdstan towered over him, his face dark. Has he used an altering enchantment? Frithfroth wondered. Is he trying to terrify the lad? Has he no heart?
Reaching into the folds of his red robe, Ealdstan pulled out a knife in a leather sheath.
“This blade has many enchantments on it-it is made of stone and is the only weapon that should be used to destroy Gad’s heart. If you are to free this land from his poisonous clutches and wish to return to your home, strike well and strike true. And remember, when in doubt, follow the water.”
Paul accepted the knife and bowed low. “I will do my best to not let you down, O wisest of all rulers,” he said, straightening. And then he bowed again and returned, walking backward, to his cousins.
Ealdstan glared at them and then pounded his staff three more times, and in another wisp of smoke, he was gone.
“Come along, lifiendes,” the knight??elwulf said. “Our journey is a long one, and best started soon.”
Farewells were said. Frithfroth saw tears in Molly’s eyes. They entered the squat fortress that protected the Great Carnyx and those remaining waited until they heard the heavy stone doors within the building close before they left.
Walking back to the tower, Frithfroth prayed that they had not just sent more children to their deaths-that these would be the ones who finally completed this perverse quest.