Guardians Book One - Magic Rising

Chapter Eighteen

Kath leaned back in her chair, contentedly full. The meal had ended in silence, but the food had still been amazing.

"You can have the spare bedroom, first on the left, dear," Vicky told Kath, motioning to the corridor down which Lady and Pes had exited. "Take a few moments to make yourself at home. Alex will come and get you in a moment."

"Sure. And thanks for the incredible food!" Kath grinned at Vicky; the woman gave her a brilliant beam in return.

"My pleasure," she patted Kath's shoulder like she'd known her all her life. "Now go and take a moment. There's a little en suite if you want a wash."

"Thanks," said Kath, considering the idea. As she ambled down the oak-beamed corridor, she heard Lady's voice, soft and low, from further down the corridor.

"...always. Is it never enough? Why would he...?" To Kath's amazement, she heard a little hiccup of a sob.

"She's brave, and she's got a lot of...spirit," Pes murmured. "I don't think she'll be hurt, you know. It'll be OK. But...I know — that's not the issue..."

"If I had known, that this would bring her only more danger, I never would have brought her," Lady whispered. "Can I trust nobody but you? Were it only I, I can...I can handle it, I always have...I know what is at stake. I know what I have to do. What I mean...what I do not mean. To him. To everything."

Pes exhaled, long and hard. "Don't ever think that! Don't say it. You...you're...the world." He voice trailed off for a moment, before he apparently rallied and carried on, "He...please don't think...I know — in spite of it all - he does care, he..."

Kath flushed, aware she should not be listening in on the conversation. Basic honour caught up with her and she forced herself to duck into the room Vicky had allotted her before she could hear the end of Pes' sentence, although the tone in Lady's voice had shaken her, and she'd have been lying to herself if she said she wasn't a bit hurt at Lady's assumption. I'll be fine. I will. She can trust me. She threw back her head, tightening her jaw.

The spare bedroom was chintzy and charming, all whitewashed vintage furniture and pastel, floral decorations, with a huge, comfortable bed layered with a patchwork quilt. Another lace curtain just about hid the endless contoured greens of the hills and border hedges outside from immediate view. Kath kicked off her shoes and collapsed flat on top of it.

Perhaps she had dozed off again, but the next thing she heard was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" she called, sitting upright and hurriedly spiking up her hair with her fingers, straightening her clothes.

Alexander pushed the door open, and he was not alone. In her half-sleepy state, the images and sounds hit Kath right in the face.

Dusty libraries and motes in the sunlight...old books and buttery leather bindings. And...children laughing. An endless sky, the world is so large!

She stared one to the other at the two figures. A tall woman, skin and eyes as dark as Kath's own, long slender face, eyes penetrating. And a boy, half the woman's height, with short white-blond hair and bright blue eyes, grinning broadly at Kath. A less likely pair she couldn't have imagined, but they both bowed to her in unison, the stately woman's long hair brushing the floor as she did so, the boy keeping his eyes trained on Kath's face, still beaming at her.

"Please allow me to introduce the Guardians of Wisdom and Innocence," said Alexander, motioning at the pair. "Hopefully they can explain to you their role and some history." He stepped back. "These two have been with the Lord for several of his previous incarnations. It was they who explained to me, when I was discharged for..." he paused for a small laugh. "'Combat stress', precisely what I had become caught up in."

"The Vessel learned impeccably," said Wisdom, glancing at Alexander with affection. "It is my hope you also shall learn with speed."

"Oh, don't scare the lass, now!" Innocence grinned up at his partner. "This is the exciting part! The beginning is always the best."

"I prefer the additional knowledge of hindsight," retorted Wisdom, but she followed Innocence into the room; the boy had bounced in and hopped up onto the quilt beside Kath, swinging his legs up and sitting cross-legged opposite her.

"I'll leave you to it. If you need anything, please call us," Alexander said, and pulled the door gently to. Kath wondered if he would go to see Lady, but she could just about feel his presence walking off the other way.

"I believe you are aware of how you came to be who you are?" Wisdom sat herself in the wooden chair beside the night table; someone had painted it with stencil flowers and stylised waves. Kath nodded.

"That is good. My Lord's twin has tried before now to manipulate other Seers, because they can track the position and power of other Guardians. We have rarely found one in a position to help anyone." Kath nodded again and tried not to be put off by that.  Lady said as much. But I'm not mad. I'm in control. I had someone to tell me I wasn't mad...but...one of my parents should've had the same thing, surely. Mum, since gran was her mum. Why didn't she...? She hated me talking about it. She told me I was dreaming and gran was old and ill. She wanted me to be like Ben — all about the smarts. Couldn't she hear them, too?

Wisdom was still talking. "You can sense us, can you not?"

"Yeah," said Kath. "When you're coming. And what you...are."

"We're easy to find," Innocence broke in, "'coz we don't try an' mask ourselves. Some of the others do. A lot of us are still...confused. No matter how many years go by. Know how old we are? Hundreds of years! But that don't help. 'coz we ain't human, like you. Even Pestilence, who's halfway there, I reckon, growin' up all close with Lady like he did, that rubs off. An' Lady herself, poor lass, she knows a bit how it feels, bein' a force of nature who happens to have a personality, now, but she is human, still. We're not. We're..." He stuck out his tongue, groping for the words.

"We were not meant to exist," Wisdom finished, impassively. "Although I suspect it would have been inevitable. Humans seek. Someone would have found the heart of the earth and torn it asunder. Perhaps that it was this way, was not the worst outcome. We are lucky; our Lord's desires have always only been to allow the power to assimilate back into the world, if it cannot be reformed."

"How? What?" Kath asked.

Wisdom sighed, shifting on the chair. "I..."

"She doesn't know," Innocence sniggered, ignoring Wisdom's glare. "You see, lass, we do know soon, 'coz the power is split and each element gets more powerful with  more people an' lifeforce, it'll be too much for the world to handle. That's why some of the Guardians are...angry, confused."

"Like Dream," said Kath, remembering the creature. "She just...wanted power...she didn't say anything else...?"

"Indeed," said Wisdom. "She is unaligned, but a lot of the rogues seek power to control what is around them. They are — in a way — neutral to the struggles of humans, unless they are in their way. The Dark Lord promises freedom and power to those who follow him, once he has destroyed any fetters — our Lord, and the constraints human belief places upon them. Our Lord believes if he can defeat his twin brother once and for all...he can seek to rejoin the elements." She sighed. "Only time will tell. For the moment, I content myself that the Lord of Light does not wish destruction. Like it or no..."

"People an' us are linked up now," Innocence finished, his grin faded slightly. "Even if one of the old boys dies, we're still stuck with you lot. You made us, in a way, and we made you. We're all made of the same stuff. The lifeforce of the planet. Animus and anima, ain't it? What makes living things more than just...things."

He glanced at Wisdom, who nodded.

"So what do I do?" said Kath, knotting her hands in the blankets under her. About the only solid thing I've got to hold on to! "Apart from...not die, I guess..." She tried to laugh and mostly succeeded.

Wisdom smiled, her teeth a white flash in her face. "That...is what we are all here to learn."