Excalibur Rising (16 page)

     But then, just as matters were reaching a head, with the peasants threatening to revolt, the king growing older, and Mordred becoming more demanding, a rumor reached Camelot of a great quest that could be made.  Merlin, equally bored with life at court, had expanded his powers and had had opened a gate into another world.  Your world.”
     “You mean Britain?” said Violet.
     “Yes,” said Elaine.  “Merlin had discovered another reality; your reality. He went through the gate himself and found an island identical in all respects to Albion, except it was ruled by a different king, and a different religion.  Christianity.”
     “You don’t have Christianity?” Violet asked.
     “No,” said Elaine. “We had magic.”
     “Oh.”
     “The first person to pass through the gate was Sir Percival,” Elaine said, “and he was very much affected by the Christian religion.  Apparently he received a vision of a golden chalice, which he said was the cup used by the Christian God-Man to create a mystic communion between man and God.  With Merlin’s encouragement, Percival returned to the court at Camelot to raise a brotherhood to ride in quest of the cup that he called the Holy Grail.  The truth was that Arthur was desperate for any activity that would occupy the Knights and delay civil war, so he ordered Merlin to open yet more gates, and the Knights of the Round Table, resplendent in shining armor, and filled with chivalrous and religious zeal rode into another world.”
     “The Dark Ages of Britain,” said Violet.
     “History and legend,” said Elaine.
     Violet tried to absorb what Elaine was telling her.  Some of it made sense, or at least enough sense that she was forced to consider it might be plausible.  Elaine’s story explained why no source could be found for the Arthurian legends.  Of course Arthur couldn’t be placed among the English kings, and Camelot couldn’t be found because neither of them they had ever existed in British history.  They had come through Merlin’s gates from another place, another time, a parallel world.  No wonder the legend appeared to have sprung up suddenly with no foundation, there was no foundation.  The Knights of the Round Table had ridden through the misty portals and descended on the population of Britain even as Britain sank into the abyss of the Dark Ages when scholarship was forgotten and ignorance reigned, and they had been remembered as figures of legend and bringers of hope.
     “While the knights were away questing, Mordred rose up in rebellion,” Elaine said.
     “Smart move,” said Violet.
     “What do you mean?”
     “If all the king’s most loyal knights were away in this alternate reality or whatever you want to call it, obviously that’s the time for the enemy to make his move.”
     “So you think our king was stupid?”
     “No,” said Violet. “I was just pointing out____”
     She was interrupted by Elaine jamming on the brakes and bringing the small car to a shuddering halt.  They had rounded a curve and come upon a line of stationary vehicles.
     “Traffic jam,” Violet said. “Where on earth are they all going? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
     Elaine muttered to herself under her breath in a language that Violet could not identify. 
     “What are you saying?” Violet asked. “Is that some kind of spell?”
     “No,” said Elaine, “I am simply expressing my frustration in my own language.  What makes you think I can cast spells?”
     “I don’t know,” said Violet, “that just sort of slipped out.  No, of course I don’t think you can cast spells.  So far you haven’t proved to me that you can do anything.”
     “Oh, I will,” said Elaine.  “I’ll prove it.  I’ll prove what I’ve said is true.”
     Elaine backed up and made a U turn, narrowly avoiding the car that was pulling up behind them, and headed back in the direction they had come.
     “I don’t do magic,” Elaine said angrily. “You’re the one with the magic.”
     “No, I’m not,” said Violet. “Where are we going?”
     “There’s a place just down the road here,” Elaine said. “It’s supposed to be abandoned, but I think we can get some help there.”
      She reached into the pocket in the car door and handed Violet a cell phone. “Call the number in there for Gavin,” she said, thrusting the phone into Violet’s hands.
     “What do you mean?”
     “Call the number,” Elaine said. “It’s under G for Gavin.  It’s illegal for drivers to talk on the phone and the last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves.  Just get Gavin on the phone for me and I’ll tell you what to say.”
     Violet stared at the phone. “I don’t know how,” she said helplessly.
     “He’s under my contacts.”
     “I’m sorry,” said Violet.  “I don’t know how to use this phone.  I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
     “You don’t know how to use a phone?”
     “Not a cell phone.”
     Elaine pulled over at the side of the road.
     “What’s the matter with you?” she demanded, taking back the phone and bringing it to life.
     “I don’t do electronics,” Violet said.
      “Are you stupid?”
     “No, of course not.”
     “You sound stupid,” Elaine said.  “Why don’t you know how to use a phone?”
     “I have people to do that for me,” said Violet.
     “Well,” said Elaine, “your people aren’t here, are they?  Do you know how ridiculous you sound?  I’ve had to learn everything, your language, your culture, how to drive a car, how to use a computer, how to live in your modern world, and you, well, you can’t even use a phone.”
     Violet watched Elaine’s fingers dancing over the phone’s tiny keyboard.  Why don’t I know how to do that, she asked herself.  When had she decided that she didn’t need to know how things worked?  She thought back over the past few years.  She remembered her first encounter with a computer and her impatience when the screen had suddenly gone blank.  She remembered a supercilious technician who came to her house and talked to her unintelligibly about firewalls and viruses, rams and gigs, and asked her if she wanted to sync her desktop to her laptop, whatever that meant.  Fortunately Todd had returned from a tour with a black-box-fly-by-night theatre company, put the teenaged computer nerd in his place, and offered to take over the technical aspects of Violet’s business.
     And then Maria came home, having flunked out of design school for being too creative.  “As if…” Maria had said by way of explanation.  Suddenly Violet had an unpaid staff to relieve her of the burden of electronics.  From then on it had just been easier to let Todd and Maria take care of everything high tech.  She never discussed technical details with clients, preferring that they know only that Violet Chambray was possessed of certain mystical powers of deduction that rose far above internet searches and e-mails.  So far it had worked well for her, but not today.
     Elaine spoke softly into the phone, ended the call and pulled back onto the road. 
     “They’ve done it,” she said.  “They’ve closed the valley.  That’s why the traffic is backed up.  No one can get through.”
     “What valley?”
     “It’s just over that last hill, but we won’t get there that way,” Elaine said, hunched over the wheel and driving fast.  “The police are all over it.  Everyone’s being evacuated.  No more protests.”
     “You’re talking about the dam,” Violet said.
     “Yes, I am. We knew it would happen, but we’ve been trying to hold it off as long as possible because we really believed that you and Professor Ryan would find the sword.”
     Elaine threw the car into a sharp turn and onto a small side road.  They were climbing a steep hillside with open moorland on either side.  They paused at the top of the hill.  Before them lay a wide valley nestled among hills that rose to become the purple mountains that Violet had seen in the distance.  Sunlight sparkled on a series of waterfalls that cascaded down the hillside and formed a river that snaked across the wide bottomlands.  At the narrowest part of the valley the hillside was scarred with signs of construction, the grass ripped away and the land laid bare.  Huge yellow construction vehicles crawled across the hillside, and the concrete dam was immediately visible closing off the valley. 
     “That’s the dam you’re talking about?” Violet queried.
     “It will flood this whole valley,” said Elaine.  “Water for the suburbs.”
     “What?”
     “A reservoir,” Elaine said.  “They’ve already demolished the houses in the valley and moved the people out.  But that’s not the end of it.  Look, do you see what’s down there?”
     “No,” said Violet.
     “You don’t see those large animals running around?” queried Elaine pointing out the windscreen.
     “Are they cows?” said Violet, taking note of the shapes moving along the valley floor.
     “Horses,” said Elaine, “the last wild horses in Britain.”
     “Ponies,” said Violet.  “Do you mean wild ponies?  Why don’t they just get out of the way?”
     “They’re not ponies,” said Elaine. “They are an ancient breed of horses.  They’ve been in that valley for centuries, and they’re protected by law.  The government says they’ll be fine.  They say there’s plenty of grazing land left, and the reservoir won’t make any difference, but they’re wrong.  Those horses are not going to move.  The horses are waiting.”
     “What are they waiting for?” Violet asked.
     Elaine left the question unanswered.  “At least they haven’t demolished Taliesin Farm yet,” she said.
     She pulled the car into a gravel driveway and then through an open gate into the walled yard of an old slate-roofed farmhouse.  The house looked abandoned with no glass in the windows, slates missing from the roof, and the door hanging open on rusted hinges, but a dark green jeep-like vehicle was parked in the yard, and two young men came running as Elaine stopped the car.
     “We were just leaving,” said the taller of the young men, a gangly youth with a patchy beard and pale watery eyes.
     “It’s alright, Gavin,” Elaine said. “You did your best.”
     “We couldn’t hold them off,” said the other young man.  He was smaller and much darker than his companion, with brown eyes and dark curly hair. “Everyone just left us.  They said they couldn’t bear to watch.  The horses won’t move, and they’re going to drown, and no one wants to watch that.  I heard they’re going to try to frighten them away with helicopters, but I know they won’t move.  They’ve never left this valley.  No one remembers them ever leaving this valley.”
     “I told the guys we need to stay here ” said Gavin, “but Justin had heard about some oak trees in Wiltshire and they all just took off.”
     “Bloody Druids,” said the other boy. “Like trees are more important than animals.”
     “I’m sorry, Robby,” said Elaine. 
     “They’ll drown,” said Robby. “They’ll drown before they leave this valley. Bloody stupid horses. ”
     Elaine closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “They might,” she said.
     “Yeah well,” said Gavin, “no one’s gonna want to see that on the 6 o’clock news.”
     “But by then it will be too late, and then they’ll just go on about how we’re idiots who worship oak trees,” said Robby.
     “Is that what these people do?” Violet whispered, completely out of her depth in the discussion of drowning horses and endangered oak trees.
     “No,” Elaine whispered back, “Druids worship oak trees, but these are not Druids, they’re followers of Arthur.”
     “They believe in him?”
     “They believe they are his descendants,” Elaine whispered back. 
     “How can they be?”
     “They might possibly be descendants of some the questing knights,” Elaine said, “and it’s interesting that they feel a kinship with the horses of this valley.  The important thing is that they believe that I have spiritual powers. That’s all we need them to know. Now get out of the car and act mysterious.”
     “How about mystified?” Violet asked. “I can do mystified.”
     “This is nothing to joke about,” Elaine said sternly.  She climbed out of the car and revealed herself to the young men who were obviously impressed by her clinging blue dress and the commanding way she carried herself.
     “You look different,” said Gavin.
     “This is an important occasion,” Elaine said.  “I have brought another of my people.  This is the Lady Violet.”
     She gestured to Violet to leave the car.  Violet climbed out, feeling more overheated than dignified in her suede jacket and uncomfortable boots. 
     “We need to go into the valley,” Elaine said. “Can we get there in the Land Rover?” She indicated the battered green open top vehicle that stood by the farm gate.
     “Oh yeah,” said the dark youth.  “We do it all the time.  It’s a bumpy ride.”
     “Can we get to the waterfall?” Elaine asked.
     “Not all the way there,” Gavin said.  “We can get you down to Dai Gwynn’s pasture.”
     “Used to be Dai Gwynn’s pasture,” said the other youth. “He’s gone.”
     “Yes, Robby, I know,” said Elaine. “He really didn’t have any choice.”
     “He should have held out,” said Robby.
     “I always thought he was one of us,” said Gavin.
     “Loyalty is a rare commodity,” Elaine said, “and it brings its own reward.  But let’s not talk about that now.  We don’t have much time. “
     Gavin jumped into the driver’s seat of the Land Rover and Robby waved an inviting arm towards the back of the vehicle.   Despite her encumbering skirts, Elaine somehow managed to vault lightly into the back seat behind the driver, but Violet was immobile.  She could not imagine any combination of moves that would allow her to levitate high enough off the ground to clear the side of the vehicle and land next to Elaine.
     With an impatient sigh, Robby tilted the front passenger seat forward and Violet climbed clumsily into the back.
     “Sorry there’s no seat belt,” said Robby.  “Just hang on tight.”
     Violet sought desperately for a handhold as the Land Rover careened down a barely discernible road into the valley.
     “We have to make this quick,” Gavin yelled as he held onto the bucking steering wheel.  “The helicopters will be here soon.”
     Halfway down the hillside the graveled track joined a smoother, wider road and passed through a sad collection of partially demolished houses, roofless with stone walls and gaping windows. They left the road again and shot off across the floor of the valley, paralleling the river.  As they bounced across the rough dry grass Violet caught glimpses of the wild horses, brown, black, and white, racing away from them with their manes and tails streaming in the wind.
     The Land Rover eventually screeched to a halt at the base of a steep, stony hillside at the point where the waterfall crashed down to form the river.