castles

Golden Door Chapter 8 Morning Matters, part 2 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“But we only saw one castle,” David said. He tried to turn his mind from the sight of Ashtoreth.

“Castles.” Inaros underlined the plural.

“Yes, you see, this place is in the second heavens, which is not like on earth under the first heavens. Things are different here.” Mrs. Aster spoke quickly.

“An understatement,” Chris muttered, and James got a very broad grin.

Deathwalker held up his hand for quiet before he tried to explain. “There is only one castle, but four castles in a sense. It is all in how you look at it. In the same way, there is only one island, but many, many islands in the sea. They are separate islands, so you can sail to them and all the way around them, but you can also go from one island to the next without ever crossing the water.”

Mrs. Copperpot interrupted and spoke to James and to all by extension. “Most of the monsters now on Castle Isle belong on other islands, but the demon-goddess is now controlling the doors and has Avalon cut off from the Earth, and she has made the innumerable islands of Avalon leak into each other. She is using the monsters to guard the ways to the castles.”

“Enough.” Deathwalker regained the floor. “So there is one castle, but four that are one and the same. There is the Castle on the hill that you have seen. It is called Castle Perilous or Castle Turning or the Castle of the Kairos or Nameless’ Castle.” Mrs. Copperpot cleared her throat to stop the litany. Deathwalker swallowed before he continued. “Yes, it is where the spirits of the Earth reside and where the Kairos usually makes his or her home, but then there are three other castles as well. One is the castle under the earth, Castle Sidhe or the Castle of Darkness, you know, Danna’s Castle.” He paused long enough to stare at Mrs. Copperpot before the next cough. “The castle underground is where the dark elves and fire sprites reside. Lord Deepdigger is master there right now, and his Lady Goldenvein is in the dungeon.”

“He has his own lady in the dungeon?” Beth asked.

Deathwalker waved off the question. “He is enchanted. All the Lords of the Dias are enchanted, and the ladies are all in the dungeon. We think the ladies are all together in the same rooms with your mother, but who can know?”

“You forgot Lord Noen, the Dwarf King is in Nameless’ Castle and his lady is Lady Biggles,” Mrs. Aster interjected.

“Yes, and the Castle in the Clouds, the Castle in the Sky, the Castle of Light, Junior’s place is presently ruled by Lord Oak of the fee.”

“Fairies,” Mrs. Aster whispered.

“It is where the sprites of the air live, and Lord Oak’s lady is Queen Ivy.” Deathwalker nodded to Mrs. Aster and then looked at a contemplative Inaros. “The fourth castle is called the Golden Palace under the sea where Amphitrite used to rule over the winds and waves. Lord Galadren, the Elf King has been made ruler over the water sprites and mere people. He did the most to resist Ashtoreth and his punishment is to be assigned under the sea.”

“His lady?” Chris asked.

“Lisel.” Deathwalker said.

Inaros spoke. “Galadren means strong heart, and he was very hard to enchant, and Lisel means beauty, and that she surely is. My own lord and lady confined to live with the seaweed.” He shook his head.

Mrs. Copperpot rapped her spoon on the table in front of the old man. “I should say Lord Sweetwater and Lady Wavemaker might take exception to your sentiment.”

“To those it suits, dear Lady. To those it suits.”

“Anyway.” Mrs. Aster took the floor again by fluttering down to stand on the table. “We thought we might be able to liberate one or more of the lords from their enchantment and they might know a way to overcome the demon-goddess. After all, and I mean no offense, but what can a bunch of old has-bins and human children do against the likes of her, even if you are the children of the Kairos.”

“Hey. That’s right.” David sat up and looked pleased, as if two and two just connected in his mind.

“That makes us what?” Chris asked. He was going to say nothing special, but Inaros spoke first.

“Like a prince of the realm, and a princess for Miss Beth, in whose blood runs all the power of the rightful king.” He tipped his hat toward Beth.

“More like demigods,” Deathwalker said quietly to Chris and James, but he found his hand slapped by Mrs. Copperpot’s spoon. He popped his hand into his big mouth while she spoke.

“Truth is, if you don’t want to do anything, we can’t make you even if we had all of the power of the little ones on earth.”

“You’re not has-bins.” David backed-up in the conversation.

“Kind of you to say.” Inaros smiled for him.

“I want my mom safe and my dad well,” James said, quietly. Beth nodded, and Chris spoke for the group.

“We’re in,” he said.

Mrs. Aster likewise looked around the table. “As are we,” she said, and it would have been a beautiful moment if Deathwalker had not removed his hand from his mouth to mumble.

“Probably in for the dungeons.” He jumped to get away from the cooking spoon.

“Beth.” Mrs. Aster ignored the exchange and got Beth’s attention. “You are the eldest. We are first.” They all looked again at the open door and the garden-like scene outside.

“It doesn’t look too bad in daylight,” David admitted.

Beth walked to the doorway but hesitated while Mrs. Aster turned back to the others. “We’ll meet you in the Castle in the sky,” she said. They moved through, and the door closed.

“Well, Gentlemen,” Inaros said. “And the ever-blessed Mrs. Copperpot. Who shall go next?”

The thump came and the door opened on pitch blackness. “Looks like the decision has already been made,” Deathwalker said, still out of reach of the cooking spoon. “Come on, Chris.”

“But it is totally dark in there. I can’t see a thing,” Chris protested.

“Now that Holy One gave you eyes.” Deathwalker told him. “And I will admit that those creatures know what they are doing, so I would guess all you have to do is use them. Try looking at the dark in a different sort of way.”

Of course, that honestly explained nothing, but suddenly Chris said, “Wow!” in a way that suggested he saw something, and they stepped through the door together, and the door closed.

“You go next,” James said.

“No.” David immediately protested. “You go.”

James shook his head, but then the next thump came, and the door opened on a real forest scene. They saw a path through the trees, but otherwise the forest looked dark and thick with plenty of bushes and large clumps of fallen leaves at ground level.

“I think I know this place,” Mrs. Copperpot said, as she stepped up for a closer look.

Inaros put his old hand on David’s shoulder. “I think we will call it ladies first,” he said.

Mrs. Copperpot turned around. “Come along, James. At least you won’t starve.” She held out her hand. James reluctantly took it as he looked at his brother. Then he broke free and came back to give David a hug and whisper in David’s ear.

“Good luck. If I can do it, so can you,” he said, and he turned and rushed out to follow Mrs. Copperpot before he changed his own mind.

David nodded, and then he set his courage and he became determined to see things through. His face became stern and stubborn. Inaros noticed but said nothing as the thump came one more time. This time the door exposed a view that looked more like highlands. The trees were strewn sparsely among great rocks and boulders and heather of some kind for beneath the feet. Many of the trees were evergreen trees, and in all they smelled the aroma of cold stone and late spring flowers where spring came later in the highlands. David did not look encouraged by the scene, despite his determination. He hated camping out, but Inaros slipped his arm all the way around David’s shoulder and began to walk, alternately leaning on his stick and the boy.

“Reminds me of Nova Scotia where I sailed with the great Captain Hawk on the Golden Hawk.” He lifted his cane to use again as a pretend sword and leaned more heavily on David as he did. David, kind heart that he was, kept the man upright and helped as much he could.

“Why was he called Captain Hawk, because of the ship, the Golden Hawk?” David asked.

“No,” Inaros said. “It was because he had a great aquiline nose.” He used his cane hand to represent the nose with his fingers. “Made him look a bit like a hawk.” He laughed. “Elizabeth loved him for his quick wit, you know.” Then to David’s curious look, he responded. “The queen, boy. The queen.”

David looked around suddenly, but they were already outside, and the golden door had gone.

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MONDAY

David gets in trouble with a fish and James has a fine conversation with a tree on Monday. Until then, Happy Reading

*

Golden Door Chapter 8 Morning Matters, part 1 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The children awoke to the sound of church bells, far away; a lovely, soft and comfortable way to wake. Beth had to lay for a few minutes longer to figure out what she was hearing. Chris smiled, but in his usual fashion, he did not want to get up right away. James felt hungry. He always ate a good breakfast. David, with the nightmare journey completely behind him, only remembered his wonderful dream about elves and fairies.

“Get up boy.” David heard the words and sat straight up in bed to find Inaros looking down on him. He realized it had not been a dream. “Sleep all day ‘oft gang aglay,” Inaros said, and though it did not entirely make sense, the tone was clear. David got up.

Beth looked for a change of clothes, but there weren’t any. She looked for her own clothes, but they were not to be found, either.

“No, dear.” Mrs. Aster fluttered there. “Just think to freshen your clothes and then shape them and color them as you wish.” Beth did that, with a deep grin, and thought that she might never have to do laundry again.

“Yeah, yeah.” Mister Deathwalker seemed inclined to agree with Chris. He would not have minded a few more winks himself; but Chris got up, and having overheard Mrs. Aster’s instructions, Mister Deathwalker thought he ought to say something, too. “Freshen up and let’s eat.”

“Why?” Chris asked about the freshening, not the eating.

Mrs. Copperpot outdid herself with the rich variety and quality of breakfast choices. The children tended toward the sweet rolls and Danish type dishes, but James had some eggs, and Chris liked the sausage. Even finicky eater David had more than enough to keep his face stuffed.

 “Maybe we should have shown them before they ate,” Deathwalker said, suddenly. The three little spirits looked at him as if in agreement, but then Mrs. Copperpot appeared to change her mind and shook her head.

“Even that one can’t upset my good cooking,” she decided.

“See what?” Beth asked.

“What we’re up against,” Chris guessed, and the spirits nodded.

“We?” David asked.

“Of course, boy.” Inaros eyed the young man with a knowing eye. “We may be old and all that rot, but once more into the breach, say what?” David just swallowed and nodded.

“Better get it over before Davey changes his mind,” James teased.

“Not funny!” David’s words sounded sharp, even if he knew his brother was only teasing.

Mrs. Aster gave an equally sharp look at the boys but held her tongue as she fluttered up to the wall. The ceiling light, which had been at full glare, softened in anticipation of what was to come.

Mrs. Aster could not get a picture at first. The wall filled with swirling colors, but they would not congeal into a viable picture. Mrs. Copperpot came up with her cooking spoon to help, and Mister Deathwalker also tried flinging some dust at the wall which he pulled from a small pouch he carried at his side. By then, Mrs. Aster shook her stick and looked bewildered, as if something clogged up the magic. Inaros stood with a dour expression.

“Amateurs,” he mumbled. “All together now. One, two, three.” And he pointed his walking stick while the others tried their stick, spoon, and dust at the same time, and at last the picture came into focus. The children came up to stand around them as they all watched.

The room that they looked into did not appear to be all that big, though the ceiling looked cathedral-like, as it went up and up. It ended in beams of wood that were big enough to come from redwood trees and set in the shape of a dome, but the room itself looked relatively small, like the inside of a great tower. The floor looked all inlaid marble, though no one could quite make out the pictures set in the stone. Apart from that, there appeared to be only one noticeable piece of furniture in the room. A three-legged, waist high stand or table of a sort sat in the very center. The tabletop looked shaped like a three-fingered claw of wood, and it held the crystal which beat bright and soft, bright and soft, exactly like a heart. They all recognized the crystal—the Heart of Time.

The creature beside the crystal seemed of general human shape, though little could be determined through the long black robe, and nothing of the face, since it faced the crystal with most of its back to the watchers. It appeared to be staring into the crystal before suddenly, the creature picked up its head and turned around.

“Eh? What is this?” It looked straight at them all, and they saw, for all practical purposes, what looked like a classic hag, or a witch, with only a few straggly strands of gray hair that still clung for life to a skull whose ancient skin had turned a gray-green color. There were bumps and knobs, perhaps warts all over the head, except where the two horns protruded from the skull. These were no knobby little devil horns, but real bull horns, discolored and chipped in a few places, but ready to rend anything that got too close.

“Ashtoreth,” Deathwalker whispered, and Chris thought the goblin looked like a tame puppy compared to this horror.

“Looks like Gollum.” James suggested, and it did look a bit like someone who should have died ages and ages ago.

“I see you watching.” Ashtoreth raised a hand and flashed her teeth. The children expected to see few teeth, if any, in that ancient skull; but the teeth still looked as sharp and pointed as they had probably ever been. Beth imagined those teeth tearing apart live rats while the demon-goddess stayed in hiding for two thousand years.

“I hear you speaking my name.” Ashtoreth turned her head to the side and put a hand to her ear as if listening. Those nails, which may have once appeared human, were so long and thick and sharp they looked more like knives than fingernails.

The head turned again, and they all saw the blood red color come up into those eyes and noticed the darkness around them as the eyes seemed to sink a little further back into that horrible, ancient, decrepit face; and at once they all realized that when Ashtoreth hid herself for a time inside Lydia, she picked up more inside herself than perhaps she bargained for.

Her scream was enough to still the heart as she stretched out her right hand and ran straight at them.

The little spirits moved fast, and whether in concert or just accidentally at the same time, they managed to shut down the picture, but not before Ashtoreth stuck her right hand into the room, right up to the elbow. It grabbed at the air three or four times before it went stiff and turned as white as the wall and as brittle as plaster of Paris. It crumbled to dust. A thump shook the floor ever so slightly, and the golden door opened. A breeze came, swept up the white dust without missing a grain, and blew it out to be scattered in the wind of the world.

Everyone stared at the scene outside the door. It looked like a park, or perhaps an orchard, with the trees spaced liberally about, and only grass and a few ferns and flowers growing beneath. Mrs. Aster quickly turned everyone back to the table. “We’re not ready,” she said to the ceiling.

“I can’t go there,” David said straight out what everyone honestly felt.

“Fortunately, we won’t have to,” Inaros assured him as they took their seats.

“Thanks be,” Deathwalker added.

“Then, what are we doing?” Beth asked.

“We thought we would go to the castles,” Mrs. Aster responded.

Golden Door Chapter 5 Finding the Way

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“My dad is connected, somehow, to women and men in the past?” Beth seemed to have a hard time grasping that idea, and less concerned with the sudden darkness.

“And future lives, too,” David said.

“That doesn’t sound right.” Chris got skeptical.

“What light?” James asked the practical question. They all looked around and saw no light to speak of.

“Anyway,” Beth spoke quickly. “Now that we are together, let’s stick together and try not to get separated this time.”

“But which way?” Chris asked for a change. “Maybe we should make a campfire and stay here until morning,” he suggested.

“I’ve heard that earthquakes usually have aftershocks,” Beth said.

“Oh thanks.” David did not want to hear that.

“Got any matches?” James asked. “Gonna rub two sticks together?”

Chris did not answer, but he realized that his had not been a very good suggestion.

“This way,” Beth said, and if she was not going to head toward the giants, bees, or banshees, she knew only one other direction on the compass. She started to walk. Since Alice called this an island, she wondered if they could find their way to a beach. She imagined sleeping at the edge of the forest where the trees touched the sand might not be so bad as long as the moon stayed up and the stars stayed bright. Then again, the thought crossed her mind to wonder what sort of monsters might be down by the water. She tried not to think too hard about that.

After about an hour of carefully picking their way through the woods as quietly as they could, and hearing very little signs of life around them, they came to a small open area and paused to look at the sky.

“Orion.” David pointed, and then he had to explain about the three stars in the belt.

“But we’re not on Earth,” Beth objected.

“I guess Lady Alice made this place as Earth-like as she could,” Chris suggested. James was going to suggest much the same thing, but as it was, he merely nodded in agreement, which no one noticed in the dark.

“Why don’t we stay here?” David suggested. “Like in the middle of the clearing where we can watch the trees.”

“Like we could hear and see anything before it came out on to the clearing and run the opposite way if necessary.” Chris agreed.

“No, no.” Beth already set her mind on sleeping on the beach. She started to walk again, because she could not think of an immediate reason not to agree with David and Chris.

“Hey!” James raised his voice and that gained everyone’s attention. He walked to the side of the others, more in the center of the clearing, and he stepped inside what turned out to be a rather large circle of plain stones. He shouted immediately after he passed the border of that circle. In his eyes, the whole area lit up like morning. He could even see the green grass and tree leaves and the blue in the sky, though the stars were also still present.

The others joined him, but only David echoed his brother. “Hey!”

“Is this the light?” James immediately wondered out loud. Chris and Beth looked at each other and shook their heads.

“I don’t think so,” Beth said.

“But we could sleep here,” David suggested, hopefully. He did prefer to sleep with the light on, after all.

“Mmm.” Beth nodded. She would not be against the idea, and James did not seem to mind the suggestion either.

“But what is that?” Chris pointed. Everyone saw a whole series of little lights close together, flying just inside the shadow edge of the trees. They flowed slowly up and down which made them appear like a school of fish out for a swim. “The moon sparkling off dragon armor?”  Chris suggested. That was not what any of the others were thinking, but it felt a little unnerving because they all admitted it might be true.

“And there.” James pointed off in the direction from which the sparkling lights had come. A light, terrifically bright, appeared in that place. It looked like a narrow beam search light, but it stayed partially hidden behind many trees and it did not appear to be moving.

“And there.” Beth pointed in a direction just at the edge of the trees which meant that they were surrounded by a triangle of lights.

“Hey!” David protested. “How come I didn’t find one?”

“Let’s check it out,” Beth said. She referred to her own find. No one had an interest in checking out what Chris had called a dragon’s glittering neck, and the other light seemed very far away.

“Lady Alice must have meant one of these lights,” Chris said. And Beth’s light did seem the most inviting and earth-like. It had started out dim, but it looked to be slowly warming and growing stronger.

They all felt a bit of a shock when they stepped back into the night, but they had a purpose in going, so it did not shock them so badly. The light strengthened, but slowly. “Hey!” David yelled for the third time as he rushed ahead when he recognized something. He could see his own living room. It looked fuzzy, but grew clearer every moment, and David remembered turning on the light when the house got cast in the late afternoon shadows. “It’s home,” he shouted with undisguised glee.

The others jogged up, happy for a second. They had forgotten about the beasts, and suddenly one appeared in the glimmering circle of light that appeared to be slowly forming into an opening between the worlds. This time they all saw it. The creature, not a great cat and not an overgrown dog, looked more like part hyena and part bear with odd rectangle ears. It looked fast, mean, and it began to drool altogether too much from a mouth that sported the sharpest, longest looking teeth any of them had ever seen.

The children stood in shock for a moment while three other beasts came up behind the first. It looked like they were waiting for the portal to open so they could pass through and get their prey. No one had to say run. Only David, for a change, directed their course.

“To the other light!” he yelled, and they all followed. They crashed back into the woods even as they heard the snarls and howls of the pursuit begin.

“Ahhh!” Beth tripped, but she did not waste her breath cursing. James had a bit of trouble pushing through a bush. David started in front for once, but Chris caught up as they neared that other, blazing light. They heard the pursuit, but then they all saw the source of the light ahead. The golden door stood wide open, and the light, sunlight strong, streamed out from the inside. It seemed as bright and as pure white as a never-ending camera flash. Surely their eyes should have been burned, and Beth would not have been surprised if they all ended up blind. But Chris did not hesitate, and David ran right on his heels. James went across the portal a moment later, and then, like before, Beth dove and whirled around to see; except this time the door did not close.

Beth felt a presence beside her and made herself as small as she could. She saw the beasts and took a deep breath as they stopped at the edge of the light. They snarled, growled, and began to pace. Their eyes never wavered from the door and the children inside that brightness.

Then Beth saw something else. It looked for all the world like a knight in shining armor riding to her rescue. She thought of the castle on the hill and wondered about who might live there. The knight’s armor glistened in moonlight that looked more like sunlight. The valiant, glowing white horse, snorted as it charged through the trees. The lance, held tight beneath the knight’s arm, looked certain to pierce one of the beasts, if not two with one blow. Beth had to blink. The light around the knight began to grow brighter and brighter until Beth had to look away. It felt like Beth might be trying to look directly into the sun, itself.

“Begone.” The presence beside Beth spoke, and the light that shone off that glorious knight reached out and grabbed all four beasts at once. Suddenly, their angry, hungry sounds turned to baleful moans, and the creatures literally melted in the light until at last, four mere wisps of dark smoke rose up to be scattered away on the wind. When Beth looked up again, the knight had gone.

The presence moved back from the door and Beth turned slowly. She saw Chris, David, and James all on their knees, trembling, and she knew why. Somehow, in that light, she felt utterly naked, not unclothed, but in her soul. It felt like every dark corner of her mind and heart filled with that light, and she could not lie, not even to herself. Every wicked thought, every bare mistake, every intention, blessed or cruel stood wide open to examination. Even innocent nine-year-old James trembled in that presence, and David, who never imagined hurting a flea, had his eyes shut tight. At last, the words of the presence helped a little.

“Do not be afraid.”

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MONDAY

Do not be afraid seems a good motto, especially in a strange land full of monsters. Making friends is not a bad idea either. Until Next Time, Happy Reading

*

Golden Door Chapter 4 A Light in the Darkness

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“I am Alice,” the woman said, as she came to the ground and plain sandals appeared around her otherwise bare feet. “Come, let me look at you.” The children stepped carefully forward. “Beth.” Alice named her, “And Chris.” She hugged them both. She turned and hugged David. “And my Davey-boy needs a hug, I can tell.” David felt grateful. He did need a hug, but an eyebrow went up. Only Dad occasionally called him Davey-boy. “And James.” Alice squatted down and hugged him as well, and then she held him at arm’s length and talked to them all, but she kept her eyes focused on James and David. “And I wanted your first visit to Avalon to be special,” she said with a sigh.

“Avalon?” David had heard the name, probably from his father.

“A generic name for this island, for the whole string of islands, and there are many other names, but I did hope to give you a wonderful treat as soon as your father found his way here, only now I can barely hold things together, and with your father so sick…” Alice paused, turned her head, and sneezed, twice.

“Bless you,” James said. Lady Alice nodded and took a hankie from her sleeve.

Father might be sick, but this woman did not look too well either, Beth thought.

“This is the second heavens.” Alice stood to explain what she could. “It is the dividing place between the Earth and the throne of God. The laws of physics do not exactly apply here. Things fold in and back on themselves in impossible ways, but I have made this place stable and a place of sanctuary for my little ones. But now that Ashtoreth is here, there is no telling what may happen. The Lords of the Dias have come under her control, and they rule the castles. The Ladies are with your mother.”

“Mom is here?” David interrupted when he heard something he understood. He had hope in his voice.

“Yes, but she is in the dungeon with the Ladies, and that is not a good thing.”

“And what about Dad?” James asked in his almost whisper voice. Alice squatted down again to face him. She placed her hand on his arm and spoke.

“Sweet James.  I do not know how much of this you may understand—any of you. I do not wish to confuse you, or tell you wrong, but some things you will have to learn in time and through experience.” She stood again, shut her eyes, and spoke as clearly as she could.

“Your father is a very old and wise person called the Kairos. He did not know this before he got sick, and why he did not know is very complicated. But suffice to say, your mom did not know, and you did not know. But in this life, he is the Kairos.” Alice paused and took a deep breath.

“The Kairos stretches back into the most ancient days, even to the beginning of history.” She smiled. “I am also the Kairos—at least the one that will live fifteen hundred years from now. You see, the Kairos has lived many times in the past, and will live again in the future, except I don’t know what Ashtoreth may do. She may yet find a way to kill me, by which I mean she may find a way to kill your father.”

“The demon Ashtoreth?” Chris wanted to be clear about the Ashtoreth they were talking about.

“For the most part,” Alice said. “As like to a demon as can be.”

“The Kairos. It is like a title passed down from person to person?” David asked.

“Not exactly, but near enough,” Alice said. “It may be easiest to think of it that way.”

“You’re from the future?” James caught that.

“I am,” Alice admitted, and smiled for James.

“But wait. My father. He is this Kairos person in the present day? Okay. I don’t know what that means, but I have no reason to disbelieve you.”  Beth had another thought. “So, how many different Kairos people have there been?”

“Sixty women and sixty men, so far. He is the sixty-first, a male life. And to be more honest, Chris, Ashtoreth is not exactly a demon. She was a goddess in the ancient days, but not a nice girl even then. Now, after hiding here on Avalon for nearly two thousand years, she has been transformed into something terrible; something horribly wicked and twisted.”

“But what about my dad?” David asked. He did not entirely understand what Lady Alice meant when she said he was this Kairos person, and so was she, but his mind stayed focused on what he saw as the present and most pressing problem. “We have to save him.”

Alice smiled again, though this time, it looked like a weak smile. “Your father is in a coma, but he is resting comfortably for the moment. I don’t think Ashtoreth has decided what to do with him. In the meanwhile, she has opened doors and let all sorts of unsavories into Avalon. Monsters and the like have invaded this sanctuary. With your dad unconscious, though, she has also opened the door for me to act. I have been straining against her to keep Avalon and the whole system of islands from collapsing into the natural chaos of the second heavens, but I don’t know how much longer I will be able to keep it up without help.”

“What can we do?” Beth wondered.

Alice shook her head. “I worry about my future life, and about your father, to be sure, but I am worried about Avalon as well. If this system, this sanctuary world should be destroyed, the little spirits of the earth would have no place to run but to Earth, and that would be an unimaginable disaster for the human race. The whole future of humankind, overrun by elves, dwarfs, imps and all would be irrevocably changed, forever. It is possible that I might never be born.” Alice sneezed again. “You have no idea how keeping this place open for my little ones has kept human history moving forward in human hands.” Poor Alice appeared to be genuinely sick, and suffering, but she tried hard not to show it.

“But what can we do about all that?” Chris asked. Beth nodded. David looked up as if surprised by the idea that they might be able to do anything in a land filled with giants and monsters. James remained his usual, unreadable self.

“Go to the light. I have prayed that you may find help there. See if there is anything you can do or not. But you are your father’s children. You are the children of the Kairos. You are hope. I do not know how to hope for myself, but I will hold the land and the sea and the sky together for as long as I can. Now I must go.” A look of relief lifted to the Lady’s face as she laid her sweet hand once more against David’s face and said, “Courage.” Then she vanished. She just utterly and completely disappeared and left four children to stand in the sudden darkness.