S. Stirling - The Sword of the Lady

And Juniper's palms glowed, two shafts of light cutting upward through the wan afternoon. They rose and merged in a twisting column. The dim gray turned bright-just on the edge of pain, but turning every twig and blade of grass into a maze of glittering diamond for an instant. Not since the old world fell had she seen such brightness, but it surpassed those ancient wonders. A moan went through the crowd, and as one they dropped to a knee. A few went on their bellies and beat their heads on the turf.

She could see, into the hearts of trees, into the roots of the mountains, into herself. But nothing was dreamlike. It was more real than that, hard, sharp-edged, definite, each mote and lingering sere yellow leaf and fir needle so intensely itself that she could have wept for wonder.

That's not a vision! her mind gibbered, and she felt her body shake, commanded it to be still and her throat to let breath pass.

The light was within her, but it was also without.

Not just a vision. It's not a metaphor. I'm not just seeing it with the Inner Eye. That's photons, by the Gods, as real as sunlight or a burning torch! Apollon Helios, Lord of Light, be with us now!

The light soared and spun, broadening into a wall that stretched into the clouds and moved eastward, fading as it went. Instant by instant it swelled, and then was gone-gone from the body's eyes, at least.

Juniper's head was tipped back, her mouth fallen open, her eyes black with the dilated pupils. Before BD could react pain hit, a pain she had only felt once before, on the day of the Change. And a voice echoed, like the wind in crags, like the growth of flowers, roaring like a lion and as silent as the fall of windless snow:

Artos holds the Sword of the Lady! The Sun Lord comes, the son of Bear and Raven! The High King comes, as foretold! Guardian of my sacred Wood, and Law! His people's strength, and the Lady's sword!

Fast and sharp, the pain was gone. Juniper brought trembling hands down to her chest level and looked at them, swaying and beginning to buckle at the knees. BD and Judy and the other High Priestesses moved forward. Nigel was faster; his fox mask pushed up on his head, he snatched her into his arms, looking at the tears flowing down her cheeks. The staff cracked across his cheekbone, unnoticed. 'Did… you see that'' she whispered.'Did anyone else see that, or am I mad'' 'I saw. And I'm a confirmed skeptic, remember' Or I was. You're not in the least mad. It's far stranger than that.'

She raised her hands to him, quivering as they touched his face. 'They're just my own worn hands. That's all they are!' 'That's what they were, my dear,' he said with tender denial.'But that's not all they are. Not anymore.'