Guardians Book One - Magic Rising

Chapter Seventeen

Date was aaaamazing! Second one Tuesday. ;) How was Friday club with Her Royal Huffiness? Tell me when she's a lean mean party machine! Kath stared at James' text message. It felt like a million years since she'd thought about anything normal — and it wasn't more than a handful of hours, really. Her entire body felt about ready to collapse at the thought.

Great to hear! Gonna be on leave this week tho, soz. Last minute emergency. Kennedy knows, don't worry. Won't get you in trouble, HR Boy. :P

She knew it was a useless reply and James would be too curious to not want more than her cryptic message had given, but Lady was glancing over the table at her, curious herself.

"James from work," Kath muttered. Lady nodded. She was still wearing her armour, and made for a surreal sight over the garlic bread. Kath had taken the first opportunity to unbuckle the metal plating; it had dug ugly welts under her arms where she'd dozed off in it on the train. There was an unpleasant dent on one greave.

"I shall hammer that right out for you, don't worry," Alexander had assured her, somehow managing to be entirely less-than-reassuring nonetheless.

"I recall," Lady said, and her eyes were distant. Kath wondered if she was remembering those few days of quasi-normalcy, too. "He seemed...a thoughtful person."

"James?" Kath grinned. "Yeah, he's a sweetie. You know...if we ever go back there...maybe you would like to hang out with us all?"

Lady's cheeks faintly pinked. "I...that would be...thank you." Her lips quirked up ever so slightly. Beside her, Pes smiled behind his hand.

"Please do eat as much as you wish," Lady's mother waved a hand over the table. Kath grinned, and leaned in for second helpings of lasagne. Victoria — "call me Vicky" — was an amazing cook, and despite sharing her daughter's stern features, she had a ready smile and a gentle voice. The odd collection of them all were gathered around the table in the bright cottage kitchen; as promised it sat on the edge of Widdecombe and the Dart river, just beyond a tiny collection of tea rooms and shops selling a collection of postcards, cider and high-end pottery. The moor was incredible; Kath wasn't a complete city girl but even the country ends of Surrey hadn't had this kind of rolling, ancient majesty, endless fields and rocks, and — yes, just as she'd heard — gorse bushes, prickly and yellow-flowered. A handful of wild ponies had roamed past them as they drove through the green, and Lady had bowed her head at a large stone sticking end-up in a gorse patch.

"It's a menhir," Alexander had explained. "Can you feel anything from it?" Kath had focussed, but nothing more than a faint trace of weight she'd come to associate with magic. She'd shaken her head.

"They are, perhaps, part of an old religion, or markers," Alexander had said. "When anything gathers enough reverence, magic begins to accumulate around it. That is how a Guardian begins. They attract the vital force of magic and people's belief gives it form."

"Like churches?" Kath offered. Alexander nodded.

"There is a natural force there, although the mythology is complex and fragments the belief. Many Guardians draw power from churches — Stone, Death, Knowledge." He smiled, faintly. "Plus, of course, whatever deity may or may not be in receipt of the church's reverence. That is a little beyond our concern, however. What we have, is something of this earth."

Kath scraped the legs of her wooden chair on the cobbles of the floor, reaching for the juice jug. The table was laid out with a charming floral undercloth and a vase of lilies; the scent permeated even the delicious aroma of herbs and tomatoes in the cooking. There was something else in the house, too; Kath could feel it, even under the overwhelming physical sensations. She wondered if Lady's parents had done it on purpose to see if she'd pick up on it — something beyond the brain-bending sunlight impact of Alexander himself, the familiar seawater tang of Lady's presence, and the strange sensation of the memory of pain and the scent of antiseptic burning in the back of her nose that she associated with Pes.

Why not just ask? "There's someone else, here, right?" She placed her knife and fork down. Alexander looked pleased, and Vicky gave a serene smile.  

"There is. We are not without our allies, also." Alexander leaned forward, his elbows on the table. "I shall introduce you later. You have learned fast — I am impressed, Kath. And glad. I am hoping you will..." He paused, choosing his words with care. "Use your gifts to help us. You will require training, and time is running out. Every day that passes, I feel the Darkness' power rising — and my own. Do you not see the extremity in the world these days? Everything is intertwined. Yet we have a little while. This week, I would like you to study your gifts with my allies, and learn to defend yourself...with my daughter."

"Father?" Lady, who had been listening expressionlessly, sat bolt upright in her chair.

"Kath cannot remain undefended," Alexander said, not looking at Lady. "Your skill is exemplary, and you have always worked without shirking. You are an impressive fighter."

"I have had to be," said Lady, coolly. "Yet I am no teacher. Surely you do not mean...?"

"Teach Kath to fight," said Alexander, and the room was suddenly warm and heavy with the weight of his words. Kath's fingertips tingled; in her mind's eye she could see ancient deserts, ruined temples, swords raised and crossed, and grief...endless grief. She turned her head with effort to look at Alexander, and his eyes were glowing. "I require this...this one more thing of you..."

Lady's lips were tight. "I believed...bringing Kath here would keep her safe. Will you not protect her? She should not have to fight, Father. She is...rare...and yet you ask...?" Pes placed a hand on hers as she curled her slender fingers into balls; Kath's chest tightened as the salt tang of ocean and river crept into her mouth once again, clashing with the rising heat of the Light...

And to her astonishment and relief, the heat suddenly lessened; Alexander turned to stare through the lace curtain over the window, his eyelids dropping.

"If I thought there was another way, I would take it. But the time is too short, my daughter. Leaving her undefended would place her in greater peril. You know this, daughter."

"Lady..." said Vicky, softly, moving round behind her daughter. "You know. If there was any other way..."

"As always, I have known," said Lady, and if there was any bitterness under the words, she hid it well. Her fingers relaxed; there was nothing more than resignation on her face. The faint shadows under her eyes looked darker, now, but her lips were set. "It is always this way. Now. Excuse me...please. I would like to rest." She pushed back her chair soundlessly, and with a brief nod for Kath, walked out of the room. After a moment, Pes rose, too.

"Don't worry," he said, softly, to Kath as much as anyone. "I'll go with her. She won't be on her own. She's just very tired, at the moment. Think we all are." He managed a wan smile, his distorted features twisting slightly. Like Lady, whatever he was feeling, he kept it well under wraps — for the moment, anyway. He inclined a small bow at Alexander and Vicky, and followed Lady out the room.

"It's...I mean...it's OK," said Kath, stranded alone and awkward at the table. "I want to help. I can do it. I know..." I've waited all my life for this. And...I guess I can see why Lady's upset — she's used to being on her own, or something. But she's wrong. I can do it. I can help her — she needs people around. Pes, and me. I can do it. Aloud, she finished, "I want to...and, I mean, I'm not unfit or whatever. And I've known...my gran, you see. We...we'd listen for things. She'd always know..." Even after all these years, her chest tightened at the thought of her grandmother. I miss her...always. Nobody else ever understood. My parents...it was all about Ben.

"Family can be complicated," said Alexander, with a faint trace of irony.

Kath snorted with laughter. "Yeah. Tell me about it...but I'm ready. I am...so ready." Gran would be proud.

"Then your training shall begin tomorrow," said Alexander, turning to her. "And shortly...there are a couple of people I would like you to meet." He gestured at the table. "But please. Finish your food first."