Marc Chadbourn - The Queen of sinister

Hunger nagged at them all, and the chief guard suggested they make their way to a tavern tucked away amongst the twisty-turny streets, where they would be provided with food and drink. 'But,' he cautioned, 'move quickly through the streets at night, for the court, in its munificence, has thrown open its gates to all manner of residents of the Far Lands, and many are inimical to Fragile Creatures. They reside not only in the low-town.' Following his directions, they set out along the rain- slicked cobbled streets, carefully watching the numerous dark alleys and shadowed doorways along the route.

'Was it just me,' Mahalia said, 'or did it seem as if they'd have been just as happy slitting our throats and tossing us over the walls?'

'They're cautious,' Crowther said. 'They don't want to come down on the wrong side.'

'You know more than you're saying.' There was a combative note in Matt's voice.

'He learned it all in his little college in Glastonbury,' Mahalia chided sarcastically.

'You ought to share it,' Matt said. 'We're all in this together. Any information that might help us work out what's going on…'

'All right,' Crowther snapped. 'There's no need to harangue me.' He was clearly less able to resist Matt than he was Caitlin, Mahalia and Carlton. 'I was taught by someone who had visited this place. The information he brought back, the knowledge he amassed during the period of the Fall, formed a significant part of the teachings.'

A man, or what they took to be a man, rushed out of one of the side streets and was so intent on staring fearfully over his shoulder that he almost crashed into them. He was unnaturally tall and thin and was wearing a large floppy-brimmed hat that hid his face. 'Have you heard the news?' he said, nonplussed by their presence. 'The Lord of Vengeance has been sighted roaming the Marches of Gisbourg beyond the Wish-Lakes to the east. Truth. I was told.' He made a snipping-scissor motion with both his hands. 'It's an omen. Everything's coming to an end.' He shifted his head and the torchlight caught his face. They all shrank back when they saw that his eyes had been sewn shut.

Somehow he loped away on his needle-thin legs in a straight line into the next dark alley. 'For God's sake, let's get somewhere a little safer.' Crowther nodded at a spot further down the street where they saw the tavern. Unlike many of the surrounding buildings, a welcoming light flooded out of the bottle-glass windows. A sign depicting a stylised sun with a smiling face swung heavily in the wind. By the time they had taken all this in, Crowther was already halfway to the door.

The tavern was filled with a hubbub of low, conspiratorial voices and a heady atmosphere of beer, sawdust, woodsmoke and spiced meat. But then they saw the clientele and once more they were struck dumb. There were more of the small, intense men and a few women, but the others were bizarre beyond imagining. Some were tall with insectile eyes, others swathed in fluttering rags that moved as if they were alive; some had wings, others horns; it was as though they had stepped into a scene from a child's fairy-tale.

'Bloody hell,' Crowther said under his breath.

The tavern's occupants stopped what they were doing to survey the new arrivals curiously, but their attention only remained for the briefest moments before they returned to talk of broken treaties, armies being amassed, subterfuge and deceit.

At the bar, the landlord, a stout beer-bellied man with ferocious eyebrows, offered them food and drink without asking for any recompense. He watched them suspiciously while pouring tankards of a deep black porter for the men and Carlton, and glasses of red wine for the women.

'You're too young to drink,' Matt said to Mahalia as she took the pewter goblet.

'I've killed people,' she said, and it was answer enough. Yet Mahalia still cautioned Carlton against drinking the beer and insisted on water for him instead.

They took a table next to one of the windows where they could look out into the deserted street, as the noise and warmth of the tavern wrapped itself seductively around them.

'It's time to talk,' Matt said to Crowther. It was clear to the others that Matt was highly suspicious of the professor and was not about to let him get away with anything.

'Who is Lugh?' Caitlin asked. She knew the question had come from Brigid inside her; strangely, the old woman appeared to know more than she did.

'Lugh was one of the gods of the Celts.' Crowther sipped his beer with an oddly self-satisfied air. 'When these beings, the Golden Ones as they were known, crossed over into our world millennia ago, the ancient Celts named this one Lugh and defined him as a sun god. The gods had a falling out with another group called the Fomorii, who were the basis for our myths of devils, I suppose. The gods retreated to the Far Lands — here, the Otherworld — and the loss of that battle diminished them in our eyes. They grew physically smaller, less powerful — though still imposing — and ended up walking into our stories as fairies.'

'How could the loss diminish them?' Matt said with keen interest.

'You will notice,' Crowther said patronisingly, 'that nothing here is as it seems. This land is fluid, and to a degree perception, and belief, shape Existence.'

'So because we were less scared of them, they became less powerful,' Mahalia chipped in.

'You're quite a clever girl behind that front.' Crowther gave her a smile, but she didn't return it.

'Tell me about this war — that's the important thing,' Matt said impatiently.

'Of course it is,' Crowther said blithely. 'Things don't get any more important. We're at a cusp, all of us, and it could go any way from here on in.' Carlton surprised them by leaning across the table and resting one hand on Crowther's arm. Most of the time he was invisible and for all but Mahalia it was easy to forget he was there, but sometimes Caitlin would catch him watching them all intently, and at those times she could see how much was going on inside his head. This time, his expression was grave. He exchanged a long intense glance with Crowther, and whatever passed between them made the professor grow more serious.

'The Fall was a crucible for humanity, though none of us could see it at the time. The seasons have turned, that was how it was put to me. Mankind now has the opportunity to move on from the position we've occupied ever since we came down from the trees. If we seize our chances, we can move on to the next level, the next stage of evolution. We can become…' He tried to pluck the right word from the air, failed. '… gods, I suppose.'

Matt eyed him with disbelief, but there was a glimmer of awe in his eyes. 'Gods?'

'We have the potential inside us — we were made that way. Now is our time. But-'

'But some of the other gods don't want us getting in their club,' Mahalia interjected.

'That's right.' Crowther took a long, deep draught of his beer. 'Some of them don't. Some of them accept that this is the way of Existence — always rising higher, attempting to reach… nirvana. And that is why they're on the brink of a civil war.'

'Is this for real?' Matt's voice was hushed, incredulous. 'What do we have to do?'

'Who knows?' Crowther made a dismissive gesture, but Caitlin saw his gaze fall briefly on Carlton. 'It has something to do with the Blue Fire, the earth energy. After being dormant for many years, it's now alive in the land again. I have no idea what that means, how it will affect us. It may be happening now; we may have to wait a millennium. The cycles of Existence don't operate on our timescale.' 'But if we could hurry it along…' Matt said breathlessly. 'If, if, if.' Crowther waved him silent. 'Strategically, this will work in our favour. Normally, our chances of making any headway at all through the Far Lands would be close to nil. But with the Golden Ones divided… some of them supporting humanity and others undecided and not wishing to do anything to offend us, you at least stand a chance of making some progress.' 'You?' Caitlin said. 'I'm not coming with you. I've done my bit, getting you here.' They all looked at him in surprise. 'But I thought-' Caitlin began. 'No,' Crowther said firmly. 'You won't convince me.' 'We need you!' Caitlin protested. 'No, you don't.' 'Why did you bother coming at all?' Matt said. 'I have my reasons.' 'Who cares?' Mahalia said. 'Do we need him? I don't think so.' 'But you know so much,' Caitlin said directly to him. 'I don't know much at all.' Crowther concentrated on his beer, uncomfortable now. 'But what you do know could be the difference between life and death for us,' she persisted. He looked into Caitlin's face briefly but couldn't bear what he saw there. He stared into the depths of his tankard and then said, 'I'll give you one piece of information to send you on your way, Sister of Dragons.' He looked at her from under his heavy brows. 'What does that mean?' 'Dragons are the symbol of the Blue Fire, the earth energy, that vital spiritual power that fills everything. Yet these Fabulous Beasts are more than symbol — they're reality. They are the key. The spirit-power is the key.' He took another long draught. 'The distinction between belief systems we saw in modern times is false. The Dragon Power underpins every single religion, however disparate, from ancient Chinese spirituality to Christianity. Medieval Christian art made the connection explicit, with paintings of Christ the Dragon. It makes you think a little differently about those old biblical stories, eh? The serpent in the Garden of Eden. Decode them and the truth emerges.'