Vega Jane and the End of Time, page 17
My heart went out to them, yet I didn’t know why I was here. What did this have to do with Elythia?
The mists appeared and cleared once more.
I was at another burial ground. Now, there was but one grieving parent.
Jason was also lying on a slab dressed in his burial clothes. Next to him and sitting in a chair was someone I could only believe was the elusive Elythia.
She was tall and regal, and there was an aura about her that I had never seen with anyone else, not even Alice. It was as though she did not belong to our world.
She was not sobbing like Uma’s mother. Nor did she look in any way overcome with grief. She stared stonily at the body of her son. But in her eyes, which were like starbursts of blue, I saw something that was powerful, unassailable.
And terrible.
As I watched, she stood, a figure of barely contained power the likes of which I had never before witnessed. Her hands were fists, her spine straight and her features granite.
With one last glance at the body of her son, Elythia turned and left.
The mists gathered around me once more.
When they cleared, I saw a mountain.
I spread my arms and took to the air, the silent links of Destin moving slightly underneath my skin.
I alighted on top of the highest peak on the mountain and looked around.
There it was: the tallest, straightest tree I had ever seen. This must be where Alice had come to receive her wand, and paid the price.
My heart fluttered when I saw next to the tree a simple cottage with two windows, a curved wooden door and a thatched roof. Smoke rose from the stone chimney.
I walked towards it on unsteady feet.
My gaze once more went to the tree, and I marvelled at how Alice had managed to climb to its very top in the middle of a terrible storm and have the courage to lift her hand to the sky, willing to sacrifice anything – she didn’t know it would only be a finger – in order to seize the life she demanded for herself. A life that her terrible father refused to give his only daughter, a person who would become her kind’s greatest hero, besting all her male counterparts.
Men could be so stupid, I thought.
I reached the cottage’s door and knocked. There was no answer. I put my ear to the wood but heard nothing from inside.
I steeled myself, put my hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door opened wide.
Necro sat in a chair by the blazing fire. His dead face and black eyes were staring right at me.
My wand came up, pointing at his heart, that is if he had one.
On my lips was the killing incantation.
‘Rigamo—’
The air started hardening around me and I could not finish the curse. Just as it had when Necro was nearby.
A trap.
And then, before my very eyes, Necro disappeared and another figure took his place.
Elythia quietly rose from her chair and looked me over. She wore robes of pale blue. Her hair and features looked the same as when I’d seen her sitting with her dead son.
‘I apologize for what I just did,’ she said; her voice was low and pleasant. ‘I had to make sure you were not one of them.’
I found my voice and said as firmly as I could, ‘I am not a Maladon. My name is Vega Jane.’
She appraised me again. ‘Jane? You are descended from Alice and Gunther?’
‘I am.’
She nodded. ‘I see the resemblance.’
‘And you are Elythia.’ It was not a question. ‘I have great need of your help.’
She sat back down, steepled her hands and stared at me.
‘Go on.’
‘My father, Hector Jane, is very ill. He was struck by a commingled spell. He lies at death’s door. We have tried everything to cure him, but we have failed. I have come to you as my last resort.’
‘And who told you of me?’
‘Two people. Astrea Prine and Alice.’
Elythia nodded. ‘Are they well?’
‘Astrea is. Alice died in battle long ago.’
She nodded again, seemingly unsurprised by this news. I had the feeling that she simply wanted to know if I knew the things she already did.
‘Do you know what I am, Vega?’
I thought best how to answer this. ‘I know two things about you.’
‘And what are they?’ she asked.
‘You are a goddess.’
‘What else?’
‘You are a mother who believes she has lost her son.’
She rose from her chair and looked across the planks at me. ‘Believes she has lost her son?’
‘Yes. Your son lives.’
‘Jason lives?’
I cocked my head. Though she might be a goddess, she wasn’t exceptional at hiding the truth.
‘You already knew that, didn’t you?’
‘Of course I did not.’
I have read the features of many people who were lying to me. And I was convinced that Elythia just had.
We watched each other for a long moment. Then she seemed to relax. ‘You are perceptive beyond your years.’
‘I’ve had to be. To survive.’
She nodded and in that simple gesture much was communicated between us. Perhaps everything.
‘You wish me to heal your father. That is all?’
I could tell that she knew this was not all.
‘I want you to destroy the Maladons. All of them, and Necro. They must be vanquished.’
She shook her head. ‘I can help your father. I cannot destroy the Maladons.’
‘But you can, if you want to. You’re a goddess. Your power is infinite.’
‘You are wrong, Vega. I am not a goddess.’
My mouth fell open. ‘But you said you were a goddess.’
‘No, you said I was. My mother was a goddess; my father was not. He was just like any other man.’
Now something started to make sense. ‘Your mother, a goddess, fell in love with a man who was not a god?’
‘That is correct. Such happens in life, Vega. Nothing is guaranteed, even for gods.’
‘And did you fall in love with Necro?’
‘I thought that it was love. At least it was, on my part.’
‘How came you to be with our lot at all?’
‘Isn’t it obvious?’
I gaped as what she was implying struck me. ‘You were . . . shunned by the other gods because you had fallen in love with someone who wasn’t a god?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then Jason is at least part god.’
‘Blood runs in funny ways. He never exhibited any celestial tendencies.’ She paused and said in a measured tone, ‘I do not necessarily consider that a bad thing.’
‘Why?’
‘Gods cannot love, Vega. At least not like you people can. Not even my own mother. There was always an aloofness. The knowledge that a barrier would always separate their two hearts, no matter how much they may have desired otherwise.’
‘But you’re not a goddess,’ I pointed out. ‘And you loved Jason. There was no barrier between the two of you.’
‘For me, love was mightier than any power.’ She frowned and I seemed to sense her now looking into the past, at a slab with a body on it.
‘How did you know?’ She asked. ‘That I knew he was alive?’
‘You didn’t cry at the sight of his body,’ I said simply. ‘You knew it wasn’t him.’
She nodded.
‘Which makes me wonder why you can’t destroy the Maladons. Even if you’re not a full goddess, you are far more powerful than they are. Even than Necro.’
She looked away from me.
‘I’m sorry, Vega. I cannot.’
I shook my head, trying to hide my disappointment. ‘What about my father?’
‘Reach into your right pocket, Vega.’
I did so and pulled out a small bottle with clear liquid inside.
‘Wash your father with this, and all will be well.’
I held her gaze. ‘Thank you.’
‘I wish you luck in your battle with the Maladons.’
Then the mists gathered around me.
And she was gone.
32
THE END OF THE DAY
Back at Empyrean, I held the bottle over my father as my mother stood poised with a cloth.
I had told the others of my encounter with Elythia.
Behind us stood Astrea, Delph, Archie and my brother.
I let the liquid from the bottle drip onto my father’s head. My mother used the cloth to wash him all over with it.
When the bottle’s contents were exhausted, my mother and I stepped back and waited. At first nothing happened. Had my trip to find Elythia been for naught?
Then my father started to writhe. My mother reached out to him, but I grabbed her arm and held her back.
‘Let it work,’ I said to her. ‘Trust Elythia.’
Right before our eyes, the bottle’s contents did indeed start to work. My father’s body grew stronger, his burns healed, his lips lost their blue tinge and, at last, his eyes started to flutter open.
My mother rushed to him and helped him to slowly sit up, wrapped in a cloth. Tears ran down her cheeks and my own were wet. I looked at John; he merely looked interested.
Astrea reached out and clenched my shoulder. ‘You have done well, Vega. You have brought back a miracle.’
Delph added, ‘’Tis a miracle. ’Tis.’
Archie chimed in, ‘You did it, Vega. You did it.’
I sat down next to my father and took his hand. He was still groggy and spent, and I could only imagine what he had gone through. He was terribly thin and weak, but we could sort that out soon enough with Mrs Jolly’s cooking and with tender care from the rest of us.
‘Dad? It’s me, Vega.’
My father’s gaze met mine. It had been so many years since my father had been able to truly look at me.
He gently touched my cheek, rubbed my skin, the familiar lopsided smile appearing at his mouth.
‘Vega,’ he said in a weak voice. ‘My child. At last.’
I put my arms around him and held him tight, even as my mother did the same from the other side. We three sat there holding on to one another, crying and shaking.
When I finally looked up, John had left the room.
It troubled me, as everything about John did now. But my melancholy didn’t last long. My father was back. Hector Jane was back! Now my entire family was here with me. We would fight together. We would win together. And we would emerge from the war unscathed.
I held that absolutely naive thought for at least a good ten minutes.
My father was weak for the next few days, and he took his meals in his room with my mother. I visited him every day, spending hours talking with him, catching up on many things that had occurred in the years we had been apart.
My mother doted on him, but she was chagrined that John did not come often. I defended him to her, but inside, I was worried. My mind kept returning to his hand, with its missing mark.
I was sitting in front of the fire in the library after dinner one night when Astrea came in and took the seat across from me.
She cut straight to the chase. ‘How did she look?’ she asked. ‘Elythia. Did she seem sad?’
‘I think she was more angry than sad. And determined. I told her Jason was not dead, but imprisoned.’
‘And still she will not move against Necro?’ said Astrea, shaking her head in disbelief.
‘Apparently not,’ I said. ‘Why did she stay with him?’
As the flames flickered in front of us, Astrea said, ‘Because of Jason. She would not leave him to Necro.’
‘But, Astrea, she could have taken Jason with her, started a new life.’
‘That’s true. She could, for example, have even taken him to her cottage and lived there. But she didn’t.’
I sat back, puzzled. ‘That doesn’t make sense.’
‘It makes sense . . . to Elythia.’
She rose and walked to the door. She turned back and said, ‘It was quite brilliant what you did, Vega. Your father would not be with us if you hadn’t thought of it.’
Before I could respond, she had left.
I got up and sat in front of the fire. I had suddenly felt a chill racing through my bones, and the warmth of the flames was welcome. But it wasn’t merely a matter of the cold. It was the thought of what was coming.
Would any of us survive? Had I collected my entire family here, only to see them perish at the hands of the Maladons?
The door to the library opened once more, and Delph looked in on me.
He joined me on the floor.
I told him of my concern about bringing my family here to die.
‘Nobody can tell what’s coming in the future.’
‘Jasper Jane saw me in the future,’ I blurted out.
‘He told Alice. I think that’s why Alice gave me the Elemental on that battlefield, Delph.’
‘Maybe Jasper saw you lead us to victory, Vega Jane.’
‘Or maybe he saw me perish, Delph.’
Delph shivered. ‘Why won’t he tell you?’
‘He told me that if he did, the results would be disastrous. For me.’
Delph nodded and fell silent.
I put a hand on Delph’s large shoulder. ‘The odds are against us, Delph.’
Surprisingly, he gave me a silly grin.
‘What?’ I said.
‘Vega Jane, when haven’t the odds been against us?’
I had to smile. I mean I really smiled. And then I laughed. Like I hadn’t in, I don’t know, forever.
And we sat there in front of the fire for the longest time.
I had never felt such warmth.
And it had absolutely nothing to do with the flames.
33
A SINGULAR REQUEST
I was asleep when I heard it.
I sat up. Harry Two was at the foot of my bed but he hadn’t stirred, which was strange, since he usually sensed things before I did.
‘Vega?’
It was Uma. She was hovering above me. As I watched, she slowly floated down to sit next to me on my bed.
‘Uma, are you OK?’
‘I was wondering if you had word of Jason?’
‘No – I . . .’ My voice trailed off. I had promised to find out more about him and I had failed. Her tone was sharper than it had ever been before. ‘You were the one to tell me that he was alive. That he loved me. You said you would find out more. I am running out of time, Vega.’
This last was an odd comment for someone who was already dead.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I was startled by her appearance. Uma was barely visible now.
‘I’m really sorry, Uma.’
‘Better that you had never told me he was alive,’ she said.
‘Uma, I will try. I have been trying to fight a war here, though. It’s hard—’
She let out a cry of frustration. ‘Don’t you see? Jason has been with Necro all this time, doing his bidding. He knows everything that goes on there. Don’t you think Jason would be a very valuable tool in helping to defeat his father?’
As she said this, her image seemed to burn a bit brighter.
And then she was gone.
I tried to go back to sleep, but it was impossible.
Uma was right of course; I had just been too stupid to see it.
I glanced out my window. It was still dark, but the dawn was coming. I decided to dress and go downstairs. I left Harry Two still sleeping on my bed.
I made my way into the entrance hall, where I was immediately confronted by Pillsbury.
‘Do you require anything, Mistress Vega?’
‘What, oh, no, Pillsbury. I’m fine. I just couldn’t sleep any more and decided to start my day.’
‘Ah, like your brother.’
‘What?’
‘Your brother is also up. He went outside not ten minutes ago after having some breakfast by the fire in the kitchen. Fascinating lad he is.’
‘Is he often up this early?’
‘Almost always.’
‘What does he do outside?’
‘I’m sure I don’t know,’ said Pillsbury. ‘I don’t watch him. If he requires anything, he lets me know.’
‘Right, thanks, Pillsbury.’
‘Do you wish to eat, Mistress Vega?’
‘No, not quite yet. I think . . . I think I’ll go for a walk and get some fresh air.’
‘Very good.’
He clicked his heels and was gone.
I quickly headed outside.
The air was crisp and a bit cool, and I was glad of my cloak. I could glimpse a seam of the coming dawn against the blackened horizon.
I heard noises and thought it must be John. Then I heard two voices, and one of them was female.
I hurried forward and then ducked behind some bushes when I saw them.
It was Petra.
And Chauncey Cyphers, Lackland’s brother. They were hand in hand!
Not wanting to interrupt them, I hurried on in search of John.
I found him in the far back corner of the estate.
He was also not alone; Miranda Weeks was with him.
They were talking, and I heard Miranda laugh at something my brother said.
I felt a bit guilty spying on them, but for some reason I didn’t move.
John took out his wand and pointed it at a bush.
It lit up and snow began to fall down on it. Miranda was delighted and clapped her hands.
Then John showed her how to perform the incantation, and a few moments later, I was watching bush after bush go through the same transformation as Miranda quickly got the hang of the spell. My brother grinned and called out encouragement.
A few minutes later, Miranda took her leave.
I was about to call out to my brother, when I stopped.
He had taken his wand, pointed it at the sky and made a whipping motion.
Suddenly, the sky above us was filled with fire. As I watched, both fascinated and appalled, the fire took shape.
My fascination ended, and horror took over. It was the shape of an enormous jabbit.
I stepped out and said, ‘John!’
He whipped around, saw me and immediately lowered his wand. The jabbit vanished.
