The curse of Kalaan (36 page)

“Here? But Isabelle, shouldn’t you be on the levee with your family?” Jaouen, surprised, asked gently as he pulled up the strap of his heavy bag, which was falling off his shoulder. Dorian stood at his side, transfixed with fear, watching the young woman carefully.

“That’s not Isabelle,” he growled in a low voice.

The two old brothers let out a small cry of astonishment and laughed nervously despite the situation.

“Sir, please forgive me for saying, but you must be having trouble with your eyesight,” Clovis said mockingly.

“I suffer from nothing at all!” Dorian coldly snapped in reply. “There is strong magic at work in this place and although that is Isabelle’s body standing before us, Isabelle is not here!”

“Correct, child of the gods,” Isabelle replied turning to plunge her amber-green eyes into Dorian’s. “And if you want to recover that woman, you will have to assist me.”

“Who… who are you?” Jaouen stammered, not understanding why he couldn’t feel the vibrations of magic. Like Dorian, he was trying to pierce through Isabelle’s psychic barrier.

“I am a shadow of the past, lost in time and forgotten. But now I have the possibility to return to my home. I once was a child of the gods, like you. I believe if we work together, uniting our powers and if the gods are indulgent, I can make up for the injustices I have suffered.”

“So that is what happened.” Jaouen finally understood. “A cursed soul has taken possession of Isabelle’s body.”

“I am not cursed!” insisted the entity. “The woman you love is only dormant. She is well. I am not evil, but I could be if one of you were to try anything against me! I have only committed one error in my life, to be taken by and desire this jewel. And that has become a curse.”

“Another curse!” Jaouen spat.

“Calm down,” Dorian interjected, raising his arms in a gesture of peace. His heart almost stopped beating for fear that Isabelle would be harmed. “What can I do to help you?”

“You will take me to my home.”

“Very well, my friend Kalaan’s boat is ready to…”

“No! Not by boat.” the entity interrupted. “Come, give me your hand. If the gods grant my request, they will help us. They know who I am and that I never turned away from them. I have always remained faithful and devoted to them, until…” The spirit stopped speaking and a long sigh full of melancholy escaped her. “If they refuse, if the injustice cannot be repaired, then I will free Isabelle and return to the darkness of my prison. You have my word.”

As she said these words, she touched the lavish ancient jewelry. The gold shined brilliantly under the rays of the sun. This was the object that had sheltered the sprit, which explained Isabelle’s change in behavior since she started wearing it.

“The paths of our destiny are traced from the beginning,” Jaouen explained. “What are the chances that both a living child of the gods and the spirit of one be found on the same island? Dorian, accept his request, please. What is one more curse to us?”

Dorian nodded his head and held out his hand. He would do anything to deliver Isabelle from that creature! The young woman took his fingers and interlaced them with hers, then turned again to the sky. A powerful energy passed from one body to the other and the feeling was so intense, so exhilarating that Dorian’s breath was taken.

Isabelle, or her body, began softly chanting in a language no one knew. Her voice became more and more powerful as an immaculate whirlwind of clouds took shape high above their heads. Then she fell quiet and smiled, her eyes still raised towards the strange phenomenon above them that was getting larger and was now giving off bright silver flashes.

“They are here,” she murmured, “and they give me their blessing.”

Dorian, Jaouen and Clovis also looked up at the rapidly growing miraculous creation and held their breath. Loud violent thundering sounds started coming from it, much like a powerful storm.

“What is happening?” Clovis had to shout in order to be heard. He was frightened by what was happening, but courageously remained with his brother and friends.

“The impossible!” replied the old druid in the same tone, when he realized before all the others, what was really happening.

A high, gray tornado slowly descended from the whirlwind and anchored itself on the water’s surface just at the foot of the cliff. It was emitting a strange sound, a lamentation, and foam formed at its base. At the same time, the knoll where they were standing began to vibrate.

Dorian groaned in pain. The spirit was drinking in his magical powers as she would have with blood. He was getting cold, very cold and his limbs were stiffening. If this didn’t stop soon, he would die.

“It’s almost finished,” Isabelle, or whatever had taken possession of her, assured him.

“Who are you?” Dorian shouted feebly over the din, his breathing becoming more and more labored.

“My name is Amenty, daughter of the knowledge of Origins…”

Dorian couldn’t hear the rest. A thundering noise covered Amenty’s words and the earth began to tremble violently. How could they manage to remain standing there as if their feet were nailed to the ground while everything around them was in movement?

Soon the tornado base and the rocks below began to rise from the sea. Five immense stones followed by the plateau on which they were held. Everything rose up to the level of the broken circle and in one last rumbling sound bonded with the knoll on which they were standing.

Dorian, who had almost lost consciousness, was vaguely aware that the cloudy phenomenon and the tornado had disappeared. However what gave him the strength to hold on and remain conscious was his shock at realizing he was now standing in the middle of a complete circle of standing stones.

“The gods have forgiven us!” Jaouen fell to his knees in the center and let his tears of joy flow freely down his cheeks. “The door is rebuilt...
Awen
[85]
!”

“
Awen
,” Clovis murmured. The legend of the broken circle came back to him and he turned white as a sheet.

“We must leave, now!” Amenty ordered taking Dorian’s hand back in hers.

Before he knew what was happening, another whirlwind rose around them. The light around them was so radiant the young man had to squint, and he tried to pull his hand away to shield his eyes.

“No! You mustn’t let go of me under any circumstances,” she shouted, “Or you will be lost in the halls of time forever.”

Jaouen and Clovis, transfixed, watched this new phenomenon, powerless to move. But then Dorian and Isabelle’s silhouettes began to fade into something otherworldly and the old druid quickly recovered his senses and jumped on the young Saint-Clare.

“Jaouen!” Clovis called after his brother. “Not without me!” He swore and then, gathering strength he jumped into the whirlwind too, and gripped his brother’s arm.

A moment later all four had disappeared, right before the horrified eyes of Kalaan and Virginie.

“Isabelle!” Kalaan called out to his sister, running towards the center of the knoll. He stopped in his tracks and, reeling, paced around the inside of the circle. “But... I don’t understand. The… circle…”

“...is whole,” gasping, Virginie finished his sentence. Kalaan remained silent, looking pale and lost.

“What have they done now?” The count asked, somewhat regaining his composure. “I hate magic and its curses!”

“My love,” Virginie said, trying, with difficulty to calm him down while she herself was trembling from head to foot. “There must be an explanation. And the standing stones are reunited, which is certainly the beginning of an answer.”

“True, you’re probably right. According to the legend, the circle would be complete again the day the gods forgive the people of this land. And if that is the case, then this place is quite simply a portal to the Sidhes!”

“Oh, my Lord,” moaned Virginie. “Then we will never see them again.”

“Oh, yes we will!” Kalaan insisted, determined, as he took her hand and strode out of the circle away from the site.

“Where are we going?”

“To the Highlands, of course! To find Dorian’s family, and with their help we will get my sister back.”

“And Clovis, and Jaouen! We can’t forget them!”

“Nor Dorian,” Kalaan added gritting his teeth. “And he’d better give me a good explanation for the fear he has caused us! Damned magic!” he shouted in his baritone voice, frightening the gulls that were perched on the newly emerged stones and eating the mollusks that had made their home on the standing stones.