Always Forever (3 page)

Not long after, Ruth and Laura encountered Shavi for the first time, and the
three of them embarked on a desperate race across the countryside, with the
Hunt in hot pursuit. They escaped only with the coming of the dawn, eventually winding up in Glastonbury.

Meanwhile, Church found himself imprisoned in a Fomorii den, deep
beneath Dartmoor. His cellmate was Ryan Veitch, who had been captured earlier, and soon Tom was brought into the cells too; he had suffered greatly at the
hands of the Fomorii since his capture in Salisbury. It wasn't long before Church
met Calatin, the Fomorii half-breed and leader of one of the main factions, or
tribes, in the Fomorii hierarchy. If you can attribute any human abstract to the
Fomorii, it would be Evil, but Calatin was worse than the others, somehow. Perhaps it was just the fact he looked less twisted on the surface, so that whatever
lay beneath was amplified. He put Church through appalling torture in search
of information, but Church gave nothing away.

There seemed little hope for them until Niamh appeared in the cells, identifying herself firmly as Church's patron. She helped them to break out into a
maze of tunnels with the Fomorii hot on their heels, and finally they made their way out across Dartmoor. Soon after, Church made the shocking discovery that
his girlfriend, Marianne, had not committed suicide; she had been murdered.
He vowed to find her killer.

Glastonbury turned out to be the location of another talisman, so Ruth,
Laura, and Shavi continued the search. In the grounds of the Chalice Well, they
encountered a man of the cloth named James, who doubled up his job with the
Christian Church as a member of a secret society called Watchmen. The group
had existed for centuries, perhaps millennia, with members drawn from various
religious orders, generally operating independently of each other. Their role, I
suppose, was as some kind of body to organize a defence against the supernatural
powers represented by the Fomorii and the Tuatha De Danann, if they ever
decided to return to our world. They were keepers of vital information that could
be used in any coming fight, while at the same time overseeing important sites
in the landscape, particularly areas where the Blue Fire was strongest; they all
characterized that energy as their own religion's spiritual vitality. Perhaps it is.

James told them of the mysteries surrounding Glastonbury and of how the
Grail was hidden beneath the Tor; not in an earthly space, but through some
gateway into another place: T'ir n'a n'Og.

While this was happening, Church, Tom, and Veitch were trekking across
Cornwall to Tintagel, the legendary home of King Arthur. There they found the
mystical Sword Caledfwlch, but before they could get away, they were trapped
on a cliff top by a Fomorii force led by Mollecht, the leader of another tribe.
Mollecht was a sorcerer, but his experiments to gain greater power had done
something terrible to him. His body had completely disappeared and the only
thing preventing his life force from dissipating was a murder of crows constantly
flying in a tight, ritual pattern around it. A figure made up of swirling crows
must have been frightening enough, but then the crows parted to allow a burst
of that awesome power. With no way to turn, Tom dragged the other two over
the cliff into the churning sea below.

On top of Glastonbury Tor, Ruth, Laura, and Shavi were shocked to see
Church and the others fall out of the sky, heaving up sea water at the highest
point in the surrounding landscape. In a last desperate act, Tom had summoned
up all his power and knowledge and moved the three of them along the lines of
earth energy between two potent nodes, Tintagel and Glastonbury. It showed
the potential of what they all could achieve if they learned to master the Blue
Fire, but even Tom said he didn't know if he could repeat the act without the
pressure of death at his back.

Introductions made, they opened the doorway and crossed over to T'ir n'a
n'Og, where they recovered the cauldron-the Grail-from a mysterious structure.

Their next destination was South Wales, where they found the last of the
artifacts, the Spear of Lugh. With all four talismans, victory was within their
grasp, but they still had to face up to the awful threat of the Wild Hunt. After
a terrifying confrontation on a storm-swept night, it was Ruth who saved the
day, showing a depth of character she hadn't before exhibited. She plunged the
Spear into the chest of the Erl-King, the two of them rolling down a hillside out
of sight. There Ruth witnessed an astonishing transformation as the Erl-King
became Cernunnos, another nature deity; this was the "other half' for which the
triple Goddess had been searching. Like all of the gods, Cernunnos had different
aspects, and he had been trapped as the Erl-King by the Wish-Hex, becoming
a tool of the Fomorii. He thanked Ruth for freeing him by burning his brand
into her hand and promising to aid her if she ever needed him.

With the Wild Hunt departed, everything was in place for the return of the
exiled Tuatha lle Danann and the defeat of the Fomorii. But the next morning,
while Laura guarded the talismans, she was attacked by Callow, who had been
secretly stalking them since Salisbury. He had thrown in his lot with the
Fomorii for the promise of greater power. He took the artifacts, but not before
leaving Laura at death's door, one side of her face carved up by his razor.

After getting her barely adequate hospital treatment, they raced across
country in pursuit of Callow and the talismans, eventually ending up in the Lake
District. Here Tom revealed himself as an unwitting Fomorii tool, giving the
group up to Calatin and Callow. While in the Dartmoor cells, the Fomorii had
inserted a Caraprix into his head, one of the small, shape-shifting, symbiotic
creatures which all the Fomorii and Tuatha De Danann carry. The Caraprix
allowed Tom to continue his normal actions while subtly bending him to the
Fomorii will and preventing him from revealing the truth about what had happened to him.

Escaping capture, Ruth hid in the house of a woman who showed her the
potential of the powers promised by the Mother-Maiden-Crone. Ruth led the
way in freeing the others from the Fomorii, aided unconsciously by Mollecht,
whose desire for supremacy in the Fomorii hierarchy led to conflict amongst the
opposing powers. Callow was left behind to pay the price of his failure.

The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons made their way to Melrose in Scotland
where they crossed over once again to T'ir n'a n'Og, seeking to save Laura's life
and free Tom from the Caraprix. They were aided by Ogma, one of the Tuatha
De Danann, at his immense library that contained all the secrets of existence. It
was here that Church finally consummated his doomed relationship with Laura.

With time running out, they returned to our world and set off for Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye, where the ritual to free the Tuatha lle Danann had to take place. Naturally the Fomorii did everything they could to stop
them: the Skye bridge was destroyed; the Kyle of Lochalsh was in flames, their
dark forces massed on the island. But the companions commandeered a boat to
sail to the castle, where Church and Veitch guarded the approach while the
others carried out the ritual.

Church, however, was severely debilitated. The Roisin Dubh gifted him by
the spirit of Marianne was actually a mystical Fomorii item called the Kiss of
Frost. Its icy power crept into his veins.

In a grim battle with Calatin, Church was slain, but his sacrifice allowed the
completion of the ritual and the missing Tuatha De Danann returned. The
Fomorii, sensing potential defeat, fled the scene. Beseeched by Ruth and Tom,
Nuada, one of the Golden Ones, allowed the cauldron to be used to bring
Church back to life. And so he was reborn, like one of the heroes from legend,
with the taint of the Fomorii and the power of the Tuatha De Danann coursing
through his veins.

As before, the victory that was so firmly in their grasp was snatched away.
They had achieved everything expected of them, but still the returned Tuatha
De Danann refused to help them to drive out the Fomorii, even though the two
groups of gods were bitter enemies. The reason: the Fomorii corruption within
Church made him a lesser person in their eyes, too tainted to be an ally.

And then the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons were hit with the bitterest
blow of all: since birth they had been manipulated by the Tuatha De Danann to
achieve their potential, so they could aid the Golden Ones in just such an eventuality as the one that had transpired. The key to making the five companions
true Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, with all the power that entailed, was the
firsthand experience of death. And so the Tuatha De Danann had caused Witch
to fire at Ruth's uncle, had used an unidentified human agent to murder Lee,
Shavi's boyfriend, Laura's mother, and Church's girlfriend, Marianne.

In all their dealings with the higher powers, the theme was constant manipulation. The Fomorii, too, had directed them like rats through a maze, allowing
them to escape from the Dartmoor cells so the other talismans could be recovered; transforming Tom into an instrument to keep track of events; holding
Callow in reserve to strike when their defences were lowered. At that moment,
the five felt they had badly failed their calling as the champions of the land.

Devastated, they watched as the Tuatha De Danann rode away, knowing
they had made the situation much, much worse: another alien force was loose in
the land with little respect for the lives and values of humans. The season had
turned; humanity's rule had passed to a higher power.

At this low point, the fibre of the five Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, and of Tom, their guiding light, came to the fore. Many would have given up in the
face of such an overwhelming force, but the companions shouldered their
responsibilities well; they decided to fight on. Church vowed to free the spirit
of his dead girlfriend, Marianne, and to gain revenge on the Fomorii human
agent who had made them all suffer so much. They knew their only option was
some kind of guerrilla action, but time was short. The four ancient Celtic festi-
vals-Imbolg, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain-marked periods in the great
cycle of existence when the powers behind the gods were at their peak. Lughnasadh lay three months away, and that was the day that would mark the beginning of the end; what would become known as the End of Everything: for the
Fomorii had set in motion their scheme to bring back the greatest danger
humanity had ever faced, the ultimate urge to entropy. The Celts had characterized it in their myths as the Fomorii leader Balor, the one-eyed god of death,
otherwise known as the Heart of Shadows, believed slain at the second battle of
Magh Tuireadh when the Tuatha De Danann had driven the Fomorii from the
land. But none of these gods ever truly died; they could never be described as
truly living.

Somehow the five had to find a way to combat this tremendous power. Tom
led them to a lonely spot on the west coast of Scotland, where they performed a
ritual to summon the spirits of long-dead Celts, the original Brothers and Sisters of Dragons. The ghosts gave them guidance, but like all information offered
by the dead it was couched in such vague terms it was easy to misinterpret. Yet
three vital nuggets shone out: to prevent Balor's rebirth they should travel south
to Edinburgh and the
Well of Fire
; to defeat the Fomorii they needed to find the
Luck of the Land
; and one of them was a traitor who would betray the rest.

Armed with this knowledge, they set off for Edinburgh, pausing at a small
island in the middle of a loch to make an offering to Cernunnos, a likely ally in
their struggle. In strange circumstances, Laura was given the mark of Cer-
nunnos-the same one Ruth bore; the reason was never explained.

Back at the van they made a disturbing discovery: a severed finger was left
as a warning to them.

They broke their journey in Callander. That night Niamh appeared to
Church once more, and it was apparent her interest in him was much deeper
than he had imagined; love lay there, certainly. All such considerations were
driven away by a shocking discovery-Ruth was missing, and in her room was
another severed finger: hers.

Laura had an inexplicable vision of Ruth being taken by an enormous wolf.
Yet after a fruitless search, their only option was to continue to Edinburgh-but
not before the local police put out an alert for them.

In Edinburgh, the source of the evil was unmistakable; the Old Town was
shrouded in shadows that were almost alive. The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons
made their base in the sunlit New Town and set out to investigate the ancient
quarter that night. In a pub, they met a rogue member of the security services
who suggested everything they had experienced was a great lie, masking the
truth of a coup by dark forces in the Establishment. Drugs, psychological
manipulation, and disinformation had served to present a picture of supernatural powers so the real social upheaval could continue unhindered. While discounting his story, it touched several deeply held fears that they could no longer
trust their perception in any encounter with the gods.

Leaving the pub, they came face-to-face with the tremendous power the
Fomorii had somehow managed to shackle to protect their plans in the Old
Town. The Cailleach Bheur, or Blue Hag, was a nightmare out of ancient myths
that carried around with it all the force of winter. The companions fled back to
the New Town, realizing now the terrible extent of the struggle lying ahead.

It would be wrong of me to give the impression that this was simply a tale
of tremendous forces; human emotions were just as important. Indeed, they set
in motion events that would have powerful repercussions. Against the great
backdrop, the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons were riven with loves and jealousies, petty dislikes and deceits.