Phil Rickman - The Cold Calling

‘Now,’ said the minister. ‘It says here, in this little prayer book, that marriage is an honourable estate, instituted of God, in the time of man’s innocence, signifying to us the mystical union between Christ and his church. I want us to think about that, about what it means.’

‘Close friend, huh?’

‘Almost,’ Maiden said, and there must have been a fissure in his voice because Grayle suddenly clung to him, for just a second, then let him go, stepped away, blinking hard.

‘Bonding of the bereaved,’ she said. ‘Jesus, he could be in these woods. He could be just yards away from us now.’ She didn’t look around. ‘This shamanic stuff of Cindy’s. You believe he can intercede with nature, head off that storm?’

‘Do I hell,’ Maiden said.

Grayle nodded. ‘So we need to stop the ceremony.’

‘No need to make a drama out of it. We just get everybody together in one place, well clear of the circle, for safety.’

‘I know,’ the minister said, ‘that some members of Janny and Matthew’s families must think a stone circle is a highly unsuitable place for a wedding.’

‘I’ll do it,’ Grayle said. ‘I’m from New York. Everybody knows how crass and crazy we are. I got nothing to lose.’

‘Just don’t start a panic. Be playing into his hands. Be discreet.’

‘Sure. What will you do?’

‘If he’s here, I’ll find him. I have to find him.’

‘How?’

He didn’t reply.

‘… and what do we think of when we think of a wedding?’ the minister asked. We think of a ring. And here we are, all of us, inside one of the oldest rings in these islands. Joining together, in our faith — perhaps our various faiths — to celebrate love. So I’d like us all to join hands … no … come on … there’s nothing pagan about this, we’re all decently dressed …’

‘If you’re gonna be alone,’ Grayle said, ‘you make sure he doesn’t find you first.’

‘I know.’

‘Or Cindy. He’s alone too.’

‘If you don’t include the spirits of the air.’

‘I could get quite fond of that old weirdo,’ Grayle said. ‘But spirits of the air I can live without. You take care.’

I have to know , Cindy said deep inside himself. Is it blood you want? Is it the lifeblood of mammals? Is it our terror? Do you thrive on the fear of the fox before the hounds tear it apart? And do you suck the life-force released in the blood of a woman or a man at one of your shrines, at the crossing of energy lines and ghost roads? I have to know, or this is useless .

From the top of the King Stone, Kelvyn cackled contemptuously.

You old fool, you don’t even know who you’re talking to .

It was true. He’d never known. The Welsh were a contradiction, they both worshipped nature and feared the God of the Old Testament, in whose honour they built, in place of standing stones, all those grim, grey, monolithic chapels.

Shrines to cruel nature, a cruel God.

And yes, there were times when that Old Testament God would have struck down the guests at a wedding with hardly a thought. In the Old Testament, people died for being in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong company.

‘Cindy?’

He opened his eyes. On the other side of the railings stood Bobby Maiden.

‘This is a bit hard,’ Bobby said, ‘if you want the truth.’

He’d taken off his jacket, stood there, his T-shirt brilliant against the sky, torn at the left shoulder.

‘Tell me, lovely.’

‘Grayle’s trying to stop the ceremony, I’m wandering around like a spare prick. And … what I thought … anybody can find him, it’s got to be me, right?’

‘It’s an argument.’

‘Only I don’t know how to go about it.’

‘And?’

‘Possibly, you can help.’

‘I see.’ Cindy rocked a little on his shaman’s mat, working this out. ‘You want to go back into the darkness. Into the cold.’

‘Whatever.’

‘Remembering that the whole point of last night was to get you out of there. And to get it out of you.’

‘The way I see it, for a few seconds, me and him … I may be losing it a bit here, but I feel some part of him collided with some part of me.’

‘So it seems.’

‘Maybe they need to collide again.’

Cindy deliberated, taking several long, pensive breaths. Kelvyn cackling nastily in his head.

‘Don’t think about it too long.’ Bobby folded his arms. ‘I think I can hear the cold calling.’

‘Hmm.’ Cindy stood up. Couldn’t spring up, these days, like he used to; old age catching up, what a bind it was. ‘I helped to bring you out, see, but I can’t ask you to go back. You have to ask me, isn’t it? This is how it’s done.’

‘Shamanic etiquette.’

‘Bit more than that, lovely. Do you really want to ask me?’

‘I think I just did.’

Cindy made him sit on the mat — forget the shamanic posture, no time for that, sit however was most comfortable — and then blindfolded him with a black woollen scarf, pulling it tight, heedless of the bruised eye.

‘Don’t fight it, don’t try and see through it. Submit to it. Steady your breathing. Empty your mind.’

From the suitcase he brought the envelope. That , envelope. He emptied the pieces of dry soil into his palm and crumbled them into dust. Whether this had come out of Bobby didn’t matter; it was what they had found on the capstone when he stopped vomiting. And it connected directly with the worst of all deaths, the choking, in the earth, of Ersula Underhill.

‘Don’t worry about time. There will be time.’ Cindy sprinkled the soil in a thin circle around both Bobby Maiden and the King Stone. ‘Step out of time. And think dark. Think cold.’

Lifting his drum from the case, fingers finding the rhythm.

‘After me … dark.’

‘Dark.’

‘Cold.’

‘Cold.’

‘Dark is cold.’

‘Dark is cold.’

‘Cold is dark.’

‘Cold is dark.’

‘Cold is Earth …’

It was a pity. Even the older, family guests were getting into it, resistance breaking down. Charlie had charm, he had style. It was a friendly, participatory wedding. He was making more of it than most of these guys did, in Grayle’s experience, most likely spinning it out because he was having fun too. And because of the dope, maybe.

They were all holding hands, even the relatives, and now the band was leading them in a hymn. Charlie was facing where the sky was darkest, so that Janny and Matthew, the other side of the picnic table altar, could look into the last light, not that there was much of that.

See, Charlie could have had it all over by now, the ceremony part at least. Not that this would get everyone out of the circle, someone having erected another picnic table out by the pines, this one more secular, bottles of champagne on it, towers of paper cups. Getting their money’s worth out of the Rollrights this black Saturday.

While they sang the hymn, All Things Bright And Beautiful , Grayle wandered quietly among the guests, looking into their faces, fearful that one would be the rugged, corn-topped visage of Adrian Fraser-Hale.

He was not here. Neither were there any stakes or rods protruding from the earth inside the circle. What would she have done if she’d found one? Pulled it out? Would that have made everything fine, made the dark clouds disperse?

Sure, and brought Ersula back to life.

Earth is dark.

Earth is dark .

Earth is cold.

Earth is cold .

When Bobby started shivering, Cindy stopped drumming, reduced his chant to a whisper, brought out the cloak of feathers and hung it round Bobby’s shoulders.