By late evening he stood once
again among the circles of stone. The mica-laden, blue-gray stones towered
above him, stared at him, and accused him of carrying out a dastardly deed that
they had witnessed him commit only a few days past. The stones were cold and
harsh in their appraisal of him. He felt guilty for even daring to stand on
this ground again. A sudden, chilling wind whipped across his face, and carried
upon it were accusing words…words of blame aimed at him.
He slowly trudged
toward the place where his wife had died in his arms. Ghostly echoes rang
across the circle and bounced off one stone and to another. All around him he
heard voices speaking of impending death. He heard Jadyn’s voice whisper to
him. He heard her labored breaths as she struggled to speak. He heard her cough
as she began to drown in her own blood. He clamped his hands to his ears,
trying to smother out the sounds.
This place was
cold – it chilled him to the bone. The sun had been taken from him and now all
that was left was darkness. He had prayed for this nightmare to be only a
dream. He pled for mercy until he feared it would blind him. Fate made him bear
witness to his wife’s death. He was sinking everyday and no matter how hard he
clawed to remain above the sea of sorrow, he knew he would have to give in
eventually – drown in the dark, unfriendly waters, and sink to the depths of
despair.
He had seen this
before – the darkness, the loneliness. He’d lived it for hundreds of years. How
many more would he have to endure now? He just wanted to die and get it over
with. Hadn’t he told Jadyn on this very ground years ago that if the curse
wasn’t lifted then he wanted to die, that he couldn’t go through another
hundred years of loneliness? Now, here he was and his thoughts were the same.
He didn’t want to go on without that part of him he had first lost a thousand
years ago.
He lowered the
bag to the earth. He pulled out his sword and placed it upon the ground. Next
he brought out the bag that held within it the Stone of Light and Life. Peyton
had said that it should be brought along. He hated to think of such a powerful
object being out here in the open. If an evil vampire got their hands on it
again, well, there would be a lot of trouble.
He knew Peyton
had the amulet, and of course she had her cloak. He stood and slipped the Stone
in his pocket. This was not going to be left lying around. He wanted to keep it
close to him. His eyes took in the area around him. Adrian stood to his right,
leaning against a stone with his sword at his side. Peyton was to his left and
she stood by the stone that held the carving on it that matched her birthmark.
He turned and
took in the whole of Stonehenge. Empty. That’s what came to his mind. He had to
kneel in this very place and watch his wife walk away from him for the last
time. All he could do was watch her leave. His last look of his wife when she
was alive was at this very place. All that was left was the memory of her face.
He wished he could turn back time, change what he’d done. But that wasn’t
possible. Empty. That’s what he felt. An empty space inside him and it could
never be filled by anyone but his wife.
He turned as he
heard footsteps approach. A rather large band of people was headed his way. He
glanced around and found that the sun had set. It was still well lit here
within the circle, but of course the moon was still more then three quarters
full and it cast a brighter glow than he could remember it ever having done
before.
Randu stepped up
to Christopher. “Are you ready for tonight?”
“As much as I’ll
ever be,” he replied.
“And Peyton?”
Randu inquired.
He glanced over
at his daughter who now sat in front of one of the three largest trilithons.
Her eyes were closed. “I believe so. She’s been very quiet today – has stayed
to herself.”
Randu nodded.
“You know that Jadyn did the same thing before a great struggle. One needs to
collect their thoughts, make peace within themselves.”
Christopher
turned to look upon the rest of the group. Several he knew, many he didn’t. A
couple of them looked like ones he’d seen at the Tor. They were dressed in
white ceremonial robes and appeared very somber. They walked over to Peyton
then knelt down next to her. They reached out to her. One of them drew out from
under the neckline of her blouse, the charm necklace she wore. He saw the
silver and gold catch the light of the moon and a ray of light suddenly sprang
out across Stonehenge. The other gave her something to drink and spoke to her.
Peyton nodded then rested her head back against the stone once more.
“They are
preparing her for the challenge to come. She will sleep soon. The liquid given
to her will take her to the world of dreams and aid her in drawing upon her
powers.”
Christopher’s
head jerked back to Randu. “Sleep? Now?” He turned to head toward his daughter
when a hand caught him.
“Do not
interfere, Remiel. This is not your fight. Only the Guardian…”
He interrupted
Randu’s explanation as he jerked his arm out of Randu’s grasp. “She’s my
daughter! I need to be with her!”
“And you are. But
she must do this. She won’t be alone, I assure you,” Randu replied
quickly.
“We are here.”
Christopher
stepped back and saw that Reuhial and Adrian were now standing next to him.
“It’s about to begin. How will we know what’s going on?”
Adrian indicated
the space between the three trilithons in the center of the circle. “There,” he
whispered.
Christopher
turned to look. He was surprised to see what appeared to be an invisible screen
take shape between the large, upright stones. He motioned for his youngest son
to come and join him. Adrian ran to him and stood to his left. He looked on as
a picture took shape and became sharper and more focused. He saw his daughter.
She was alone in a darkened room and across from her, along one wall, a large,
black hole grew ever larger and began to swallow up the wall.
(Continued...)