Angel Fall (7 page)

A moment later Alex sprawled onto a platform of dusty stone and there he lay in an exhausted heap. Outside everything grew still. With an eerie abruptness, the howling stopped and the dogs ended their attack. He struggled to his hands and knees. Through a small crack he could see the street. It was filled with black dogs. Each sat in absolute silence, with its eyes fixed on the statue. What had made them grow quiet? It was almost as though they had heard a command.

Suddenly, the feeling came over him once more. He was being watched.

And the Watcher was somewhere above.

He looked up.

The moonlight had vanished. Suspended in the dark was a glowing blur. For a moment everything was still. Then, as he stared in horror, the blur began to descend. He heard again the scream that had brought the phantoms, coming from a face with huge luminous eyes, but this time there were words in it. Over and over it shrieked…

“
Unclean
…

Unclean
…

Raging colors

In rotting green
…

Lord of Shadows…

Unclean…

Unclean
.”

T
here were no soft dreams for Tori.

In fact, there were no dreams at all.

When she awoke, she found herself wrapped in a warm blanket, alone on a bed in a small bedroom. Always before, waking up in strange places would frighten her. But now there was only confusion.

Where was she?

It seemed to be the middle of the night.

And there had been some kind of sound.

She sat up. Everything was quiet. Pale moonlight shone in through a gabled window. Of course, Bellwind’s house. She smiled as she remembered. This must be one of the rooms in the tower. With a yawn she was about to lie back down when the sound came again.

Voices talking.

As the youngest of her family, she assumed she was missing out on something. It was always that way. She went to bed while everybody else stayed up having fun. Amanda was probably downstairs right now, stuffing her face with ice cream. It wasn’t fair. And all because she couldn’t stay awake. Sliding from the bed, she tiptoed across the room and cracked open the door. The voices became clearer. There were two of them, and if her sister was there, she wasn’t doing any of the talking.

Cautiously Tori crept out of the bedroom. Beyond was a circular landing with a spiral staircase, and around the landing were more doors probably leading into other bedrooms. Dropping to her hands and knees, she crawled to a place where she could look down.

The voices were very clear now, but she still couldn’t see anybody. The talkers were in the living room just out of sight. One voice belonged to Bellwind, but the other was new. And Amanda wasn’t there. Tori was sure of it. The new voice was rough and gravelly as though it hurt to form words. With agonizing slowness it rumbled, “
You are…you are…to send them…on the morning light…
”

When Bellwind answered, there was fear in her voice. “But Seeker…what, specifically and utterly, is to become of them? I, yes, I myself, have brought them here. They trust me. Are they to be endangered if there is no hope? The moment, the very moment they leave my island, they will be pursued.”

“Ended…Ended. No more answers will be…no more answers can be…given.”

There was a long pause. When the old woman spoke again, it was with great weariness. “Forgive me. It has been so long, so very long and ever, since you have been among us. But you know my ancient heart. These Earth ones…I love them. It is I, yes I, who have watched them grow and known their sorrows. Already they have carried a terrible burden. Can I not go with them? For such a joy I would give my life.”

“The Law…Watcher…the Law…remains. Upon the land…no foot of yours must travel until Mountaincry.”

A great shadow fell at the bottom of the stairs, and Tori could almost see the strange speaker. But he didn’t come quite close enough. She was sure they were talking about her and Amanda. And what was the word he had said?
Mountaincry
? It made her shiver.

“And what of the other one, the Alex one?” Bellwind seemed to be fighting back tears.

Tori leaned forward. Most of all she wanted to know about her brother. But all that came were more strange words.

“Walking in shadows…until the end.”

There was a long pause. Desperately she wanted Bellwind to ask more questions about Alex. Instead, the old woman moved into a part of the room that Tori could see. Standing in front of the fireplace, she looked up at the seven frames. “And what, what of these? You have walked the land, Seeker. Why and why have they not answered for such an immeasurably longness of time?”

“Lost in pain…lost in sorrow. Sing to them. Yes, sing.”

“But I’ve sung and sung for years upon centuries. And no one ever answers.”

The voice whispered so low that Tori could barely hear. “
Sing
.”

Drawing a deep breath, Bellwind bowed her head and nodded. Then she circled the room three times making peculiar reaching motions with her fingers. On the fourth circle she began to sing in a dreaming kind of language. Bellwind’s voice was beautiful. As she walked and sang, a thick vapor began to grow. Rising up out of the floor around her, it swirled and shimmered as though the song itself were taking form. Higher and higher it rose until the room was enveloped in silver radiance.

Six times.

Six circles.

And at the end of the last one the sparkling mist gathered around the frames. Something was happening. In all but one the midnight blue was fading. Only in the seventh frame did the darkness remain. Bellwind had stopped and was staring up at them. Behind each glass was a struggle of swirling fog. Then the third frame came into focus. It was a portrait of a bell tower, surrounded by rays of light. The tower was made of blue bricks and the bell was silver. From out of the frame came a deep, echoing peal. Bellwind didn’t seem surprised. Her attention was on the others and the vagueness moving in them.

Suddenly a dim outline appeared in the first frame—a dark, forbidding shape with wings and glowing eyes. It was some kind of bird. From it came a distant, haunting scream that rose, and echoed, and died away. When the sound was gone, the picture faded. Nothing more happened and in a few moments all six were as dark as before. But the old woman was ecstatic. “Rindzac, my little brother, he was almost here. The first, the only-only in time upon centuries. For so long, all I have seen has been my own tower. Something is happening. A message. He was trying to give it.”

The Rough Voice answered from the shadows,
“Allowed not…before. Shaken. Death and awakening.”

“Not-not
allowed
?” The joy left Bellwind’s voice. “How, and tell me how, for I do not understand, could anything stop a Worwil from answering the call?”

There was no reply. The Great Shadow vanished from the floor. Bellwind called out, “Seeker, wait. Where-where are you going?”

Still no answer.

“When, please, when will you return?”

The Voice was filled with sadness. “
Perhaps again…never. But in the garden…now…walk with me…toward the shore.”

Tori heard them leave the house. Unable to control her curiosity, she crept down the stairs hoping to see the one who had sounded so strange. Something in his last words had made her want to cry. However, by the time she got to the window, no one was visible in the misty forest.

Disappointed, she turned back and headed upstairs. Maybe she could find Amanda and tell her what had happened. Walking through the moonlit room, she passed beneath the frames. Suddenly she was afraid of them. Shivering, her step quickened. She had almost reached the stairs when an icy breath touched her…and a soft voice whispered her name.

She stopped.

Her eyes grew wide.

Something was in the room.

Something she could feel but couldn’t see.

Rushing to the stairs, Tori began to climb. But on the third step she froze. An icy wind was blowing on her. Without wanting to, she turned and looked back.

The moonlit room was changing. Once more it was filled with sparkling mist, but this time it was oily green, and it was drifting from the seventh frame. The glass had transformed from midnight blue to jade and in the center was a swirling Shadow that began oozing down the wall. Softly the voice called her name again.

And she knew who it was.

Her mother!

Tori tried to answer, but the sound froze in her throat. Terrified, she watched as the Shadow crept across the floor. She tried to run but her legs wouldn’t move. She tried to scream but no sound came out. Now it was on the stairs…around her shoes. It was swirling up her legs. And when it touched her, the fear vanished. Her mind became drowsy. The voice of her mother told her to sleep.

Sleep and don’t be afraid.

Higher and higher the Shadow rose until it enveloped Tori’s body. Then she was lifted. But all she knew was that her mother was calling…calling her home. And she wanted to go to her. She wanted to go home. And the way was through the frame. She would sail through the Shadow like a little star…back to her mother’s arms.

Suspended in the cloud, Tori floated across the ceiling to the frame.

Closer and closer…until she could feel the coldness of the glass…

Then she was sliding through…

A
t that instant Bellwind rushed back into the room. With one look the old woman saw it all. From her came a scream of terror and a raging command. Lightning answered. Out of her mouth streaked fire that smashed into the seventh frame. Thunder shook the house as she leaped, trying to grab Tori.

Bellwind touched Tori’s ankle, but that was all. Then, like a feather sucked into a hurricane, Tori was gone. Instantly the black vapor disappeared and the frame was nothing more than scorched wood and broken glass hanging empty above an oily stain.

The old woman collapsed, sobbing. Behind her there was movement in the shadows and the rumbling voice spoke again. “
The journey…it is now. Do not…any longer…delay.”

Bellwind turned to cry out. But the giant of the moonlight was gone.

N
ight.

And there was something wrinkling the air.

A kind of rustling disturbance just on the edge of hearing.

Amanda felt it as soon as she awoke. Without taking her head from the pillow, she looked around. She was in a room that flickered with dim light. A figure was standing at the foot of the bed holding a candle. It was Bellwind and her eyes were full of pain.

“Wake up, child.”

“What’s wrong?” Amanda sat up. The rustling was growing and it frightened her.

“This world and all that’s in it. That’s what’s wrong.”

“Something’s happening outside.”

“My people are preparing to defend their home. Now, hurry. No time to talk. Breakfast awaits.” Placing the candle on the dresser, she left the room.

Amanda got out of bed. It wasn’t cold but she was shivering. She found that she was still dressed except for her shoes; they had been removed and placed beside a chair. Pulling them on, she went to a window and looked out.

The island was undergoing a transformation. Below, in the moonlight, indistinct shapes were sweeping through the fog. Some looked like bushes and vines, others had the vague appearance of men and women—but not human—more like smoke drifting across the ground. Suddenly a shape passed in front of her and she screamed. It was a tree, and in the heart of its branches glistened a lovely phantom with wild eyes staring at her. As Amanda watched, the tree began to change; its branches moved as though blown by a strong wind. Masses of leaves dropped away, and out of every branch grew a blood-red thorn. When the transformation was complete, the phantom gave a terrible cry and flowed away with the rest.

Amanda rushed to the door. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she found Bellwind waiting. The living room was ablaze with light. Candles of every shape and size burned everywhere. And dozens were gathered beneath a broken frame.

“What’s going on?”

“Breakfast is going on. That precisely. And it is right now.” On a table sat a plate heaped with bacon, eggs, and sweet rolls.

“I’m not hungry. What happened to that frame?”

“Eat, child, you must. Strength, the very strongest of it, will be needed for what is ahead.”

“Where’s Tori?”

There was an awful pause. “Amanda, Manda-Manda…” The pain returned to Bellwind’s eyes. “How can this be told? Your little sister is not here.”

Amanda stared at her. “Where is she?”

“She has begun her journey.”

“What are you talking about? She isn’t supposed to go anywhere without me.”

“Both…you both…were to travel together. But now, that…immeasurably…has changed.”

“Where has she gone?”

The old woman looked toward the blackened frame.

Amanda followed her gaze. And slowly a creeping horror came over her. Within the frame she saw a vague shadow burned into the broken glass. It was the barest outline of a girl.

It was the outline of
Tori
.

Amanda started to scream, but the scream died. Something was behind the glass. A Darkness that she could sense but not see.
A Darkness that was alive
. She felt invisible fingers groping, probing in her mind, peeling away layers of memory like scabs from a rotting wound. Slicing open every ragged scar. Squeezing the pus from all her rancid sorrows. And in the horror of that moment she felt
eyes
. Felt them knowing, yearning, hungering to taste every brokenhearted agony.

And she
knew
those eyes.

Then it all turned to sobbing, shrieking rage. Picking up a burning candle, she smashed it on the broken fragments of the glass.

“No, no, my child.” Bellwind grabbed her and took her in her arms. But Amanda fought her with all her strength, spitting, gnashing, screaming every vile word she knew, desperate to murder, to destroy. On and on the old woman held her until the rage turned into exhausted, half-human croaks.

Finally a black stillness settled, and Amanda hung like a dead thing in Bellwind’s arms.

“My daughter, would you do something, please, now do something for me?” Rising, she lifted Amanda to her feet and handed her a candle. “Will you climb my tower? Yes, climb…even all the way to the very top. At the top many questions will be answered. I will be waiting when you arrive. Will you do it? Will you climb?”

Amanda stared at her barely able to understand. “I…I can’t,” was all she could get out.

“Yes, you can. And you must. Climb, my child.” And then Bellwind vanished.

“Where are you?”

A voice echoed from high above, “Climb, daughter, now.”

The rage returned. Amanda yelled, “No. You come back down here. Where is my sister? What have you done with her?”

Silence.

“Answer me.”

But there was no answer. So then, now was her chance to destroy with no one to stop her. Snarling, Amanda turned toward the frame. But the instant she did so, she felt long invisible fingers wrap around her throat and drag her toward the frame. Strangling, gagging, she flailed to escape, desperately trying to reach the stairs. Flopping onto the first step, the fingers loosened. Pulling herself up, she struggled to climb, and slowly the fingers fell away.

Then Amanda ran—past the second floor, higher and higher, sobbing, gasping.

Soon the walls became a blurry spiral and only the cold dampness of the banister told her that everything was real. In her terrified rage, Amanda stumbled and fell many times, raking her flesh until the blood ran. Each time she screamed and swore. But then Bellwind’s calm voice would whisper, “
Keep climbing. Don’t give up
.” Which made her even more furious.

Finally, from the gloom of the staircase, Amanda rushed out into crimson moonlight. She was in a large, open bell tower surrounded by an iron rail, and above her hung a gigantic bell. She was
alone
. She almost screamed again, but then she looked out into the darkness. What she saw drained her rage away.

The climb had brought her above the clouds that covered the island. In the distance, soaring into the sky, stood a jagged peak so vast and majestic that it seemed to rise beyond the stars. Like a King in splendor it stood, crowned in crimson brightness. Never had she seen such a Mountain. Walking to the rail, she gazed up at it. Then a soft voice whispered, “Amanda. Manda-Manda.”

She turned but she was still alone. “Where are you?”

“Look up.”

Amanda looked. Inside the bell shimmered a face of silvery loveliness surrounded with masses of softly drifting hair. It was Bellwind, but it wasn’t.

“What happened to you?”

“I have become myself. Walking down below makes me old and tired. And my words stumble with my feet. Here, I am as I was at the beginning.”

“But…where’s your body?”

“All around you. I am the bell and the tower. This is my place to see and remember. Isn’t the Mountain beautiful?”

“It’s so
huge
.”

“Yes, it is greater than all. And you have come because the Mountain has called you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Amanda, listen to the song of a dying world.”

Amanda shivered. As she stared out toward the dark land beneath the Mountain, she heard strange, moaning cries. “What is that?”

“Desert and forest, swamp and rock, crawl with things that were never meant to be. That is Boreth now, once the land of the whispering garden. My island is a fading memory of all that was. What you hear are the ghosts of those who gave their souls away.”

“Were they people?”

“Yes, creatures like you.”

“What happened to them?”

“Death and choosing. Lying and listening. They lived in golden cities across this world. At their creation, seven powers were brought to guide them. The Worwil—the World Walkers—and you must learn their names. Thunderer. Weaver. Watcher. Caller. Singer. Painter. Healer. These are the Seven, and in the beginning they walked together. Their joy was in the Song of Songs. But then one turned and broke the chain forged when stars were born. It was he who went to war against the others. And he has almost conquered, for strength was held in oneness. The people followed him…and they are gone. The memory of his shadow was what you saw in the frame.”

“I saw something else. I saw Tori. Where is she? And where is my brother?”

“All that’s happened is because of the baby.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was born in blood in a time of horror and was taken to your world to hide him from their eyes. But they found him and stole him. And if they could, they would have killed him. I was the messenger sent to bring him back, but now my work is done. Every moment they grow more desperate. They will stop at nothing to keep him from reaching his home. Amanda, I brought him through the stars, but the most dangerous part of the journey lies ahead. He must be carried to the Mountain. That is why you and your sister were brought here…and now you must go alone.”

“What…?” Amanda stared at her.

“He is very light and will not be a burden. Provisions are ready. There is no other way.”

“But you didn’t ask us whether we wanted to do this. You just kidnapped us.”

“If I had asked would you have come?”

“No.”

“Then what would have been the point of asking? Child, if the decision were mine, I would surround you with armies and march across the darkness with the strength of light. But it is ordained that he must be carried by a child unprotected. And for this purpose you were born.”

“I can’t do that by myself. You carry him and I’ll go with you.”

“The Worwil are bound by law. Unless I am called, I can never leave my island to walk upon that shore. And since Boreth was formed, I have never disobeyed.”

“So, you’re one of those…
things
.”

“Indeed, yes, one of those things. I am the Watcher.”

“Well, if you’re a Watcher, maybe you watched where my brother and sister went.”

“I will tell you what I can. Alex is alive, but his steps are hidden. He has entered Boreth in another place. The purpose I do not know. And Tori
…” There was a long pause, and Amanda felt warm drops falling on her. Bellwind was
crying. “Your little sister has been stolen from my house this very night. She has entered a place from which no one has ever returned.”

Amanda stared at her, then whispered, “Is she…dead? Is my sister dead?”

Silence.

And in the silence Amanda knew. In the silence she saw the burned image in the glass and heard the echo of Tori’s screams and heard them die. Suddenly, over her swept all the pain of her whole life in a single drowning wave. And it was more than she could bear. Something tore within her. If her little sister was dead, she didn’t want to live anymore. She couldn’t live all alone. If Tori was dead, she wanted to be dead too. If death would take her to her little sister, then let it come.

No, make it come.

With a scream Amanda rushed to the rail and looked down. All she had to do was drop into the soft darkness and the pain would end. Closing her eyes, she climbed over the iron. Now, all she had to do was let go.

And she did let go.

But at the edge of falling something caught her. Something pulled her back. Invisible arms wrapped around her. Not the arms of Bellwind. The arms of the one in her dreams. Strong yet infinitely caring, the way she had always wanted her father to be. At first she fought them, then finally sank into them, sobbing until the desire for death passed into a stillness not unlike death.

For a long time she lay on the floor and felt the arms fading. When she opened her eyes, she was alone. Struggling to her feet, she caught sight of the Mountain. How close it was. And out of it flowed soft waves of crimson light. In that light there was glory. Exaltation. The light was the source of all loveliness, and it wasn’t far away—just at the top of the Mountain. If only she could touch it. Live within it. As her heart flew toward it, from the Mists came singing, lovely voices calling her name. Among them she thought she heard her little sister calling her to come.

Amanda leaned against the rail. But this time she was straining upward. Her sorrow remained, but with it there was a terrifying, mysterious joy. It wasn’t pretend. All of it was
real
. The Mountain had called her to walk away from everything that she had ever known…to follow a path that led into shining. And with that call came the strength to carry the baby home. She still felt small and weak, if anything, smaller and weaker. But somehow what
she
felt no longer mattered. Her questions were still there. But for every one there was an answer. To learn them all meant walking, then climbing, even if it took forever. And forever wasn’t far. Not when the Mountain knew your name.