Ashes Under Uricon (The Change Book 1) (16 page)

“Eluned,” I whispered, “please wake up.”

She turned her head towards me, her blonde hair now matted and streaked dark with the dust that covered the floor. As her eyes focused on me, she struggled into a sitting position. “My lady,” she said, “I beg your forgiveness. I fear sleep overcame me.”

“That’s all right.” I looked at her, my teeth chattering. “What time of day is it?”

“It must be the morning, my lady. I watched with you until the night came. I could watch no longer.”

I pulled myself into a standing position, pushing down the skirt of my shift that had ridden up as I slept. “We should go up to the house.”

“It may be your people have not left.”

“My people? You mean the Guards? They’re not my people. Not even when I lived in their world.”

“I heard them, my lady. They were searching with lights.”

“I don’t hear anything now. I need to find out what’s happened, Eluned. Are you coming with me?”

I took her hand and pulled her upright. Her limbs were obviously as stiff as mine, so I started to rub her arms, though she protested. “We’re not going to get up there with arms and legs that aren’t working, are we? Come on. You rub my arms as I rub yours. We need to get some heat back into them.”

When our arms were a little more alive, I bent down and rubbed her calves, while she rubbed my back. Eventually, we felt a little more able to move freely. Taking Eluned’s hand I set off back the way we had come the previous day. Before long she took the lead, as the route back to the usual path was more winding than I had remembered.

“How did you know about that house?” I asked as we walked, each step slow and painful.

“It was once my home.”

“Your home? But it’s been ruined for ages by the look of it. Like the rest of the village.”

“It was many years ago, my lady. Many, many of your years. It was in the time of people known as the Tudurs.”

The story of her life came back to me in a rush. “Ah,” I said. What else was I to say?

We reached the path that led down to the lake and, more importantly now, up to the house. I took the lead once again, pulling a reluctant Eluned behind me. As we came to the end of the twists and turns which hid the house, I stopped, stunned by what I saw. Most of the house had gone. Where the front had been, housing the library, there was only a heap of rubble, burned timbers resting on top, still smoking.

Eluned gripped my hand. “Take care, my lady. This I feared.”

Whoever had blown up the house knew what they were doing. All that remained of the whole of the front two storeys were two fragments of wall on either side. The front door with its two pillars, the hallway with the wonderful black and white tiles, and, most of all, the library, the study and the dining room had all disappeared under the ruins. The fire had raged most fiercely in the library judging by the blackened remains, understandable given the huge number of books it had contained. We could not possibly gain entry to the house now.

We stood gazing blankly at this terrifying sight, without speaking, without moving. There was no sign of the Guards, who must have left in the night after only a brief search of the grounds.

Eluned spoke, breaking the reverie. “Perhaps my room, my lady. It is far back. I will see.” She let go of my hand and ran down what had been the side of the house. I was still too shocked to do anything. I remained rooted to the spot, gazing on the horrible scene of destruction. It must have been at least half an hour before she returned. She was clutching a bundle of clothing. “These have been saved, my lady. Look.”

She dropped the bundle on the ground, and knelt, sorting it out. It turned out to be some of our clothes, so our room must have survived in part. The clothes smelled of smoke and were full of dust that flew off as she shook them. Once sorted, altogether there were three of Eluned’s shifts, two of mine, and two or three pieces of underwear. With what was clearly a practised skill, she proceeded to take one of her shifts and tear it into several pieces. These she then re-assembled, knotted together, and bound with strips torn from the fabric, to make a bag with a shoulder strap, into which she stuffed the other articles of clothing.

“We will wash these in the waters of the lake, my lady, ready for our journey.”

I looked at her. “Journey? What journey?”

“We must leave this place. Your people may return. We cannot allow them to discover you here. Come. To the lake first.”

She hitched the bag of clothes over her shoulder, took my hand and set off back down the path we had so recently climbed up. Passing straight through the village we soon reached the lakeside. Dropping the bag, she walked up and down the water’s edge until she found what she was looking for – a large flat stone that was half in and half out of the water. She came back to where I was standing, picked up the bag and led me along to the stone.

“Wash, my lady. You are dusty.” She lifted the filthy shift over my head, threw it into the water and then started to scoop up water and throw it over me. It was absolutely freezing, but not really any colder than the water we used to wash ourselves every morning. I realised that it would take an age to clean my hair and skin the way she was doing it, so I stepped onto the edge of the stone and waded out into the lake, immersing myself. The cold was staggering, but at least I felt clean again. As soon as the dust and dirt were gone I rushed back to the shore.

Eluned followed suit, seeing this was the best way to get clean quickly. Soon we both sat on the edge of the lake, clutching our knees to our chests, slowly drying as the heat of the sun increased. Before long, she got up, picked up her shift and the others from the bag and threw them all into the lake. She then set about beating each one against the flat stone. As she did so, the dust and dirt dispersed into the water until they began to look clean again. When each one was finished to her satisfaction, she pointed out a nearby tree with many overhanging branches, telling me to drape the clothes over it.

In what seemed a very short time, all were done. We were now both thoroughly dry, even our hair had begun to dry off. Eluned chose two of the shifts that she had washed first, passing one to me and dressing herself in the other. It still felt damp as I pulled it down over my body, but it no longer smelled of dust and smoke. We sat back down in a spot where the sun shone brightest, waiting for the rest to be dry enough to pack in the bag. My head fell forward onto my knees and I drifted off into a fractured sleep.

I awoke with a start. Eluned was standing next to me. As I was about to speak, she put her fingers to her lips. Then I heard it. At first it was very faint, but as we concentrated, it became clearer. My heart began to race. The Guards had returned. Surely they would find us in daylight. A smile began to spread across Eluned’s face. The sound became clearer. It was the voice of a child, singing.

“It is Rhiannon, my lady. I knew she would return.”

I had difficulty remembering who Rhiannon was. There was the French Professor, Mere Rhiannon, but she had presumably been taken away with the others. Then she appeared. A little girl with striking long blonde hair, dressed in a plain white shift that reached down to her ankles. The little girl who had guided us to this house. That was nearly five years previously, yet she looked exactly the same. I turned to Eluned. “But ...”

“She will guide us, my lady. She will know where we go.”

“She hasn’t aged. The last time I saw her was when we arrived at the house, almost five years ago. How can she ...”

“You ask this of me, my lady? Our time is not your time. You must not think it so.”

Rhiannon, if indeed it was her, had reached us. She bowed low to Eluned, saying, “Bonjour, Eluned.” She glanced at me and said, “C’est qui, cette belle dame?”

Eluned laughed. “She wants to know who you are. She says you are beautiful. To her you have changed so much that she no longer recognises you, my lady.” She turned to Rhiannon. “It is Non.”

“Non?” Rhiannon said. “I know no one named that.” As I remembered from long ago, she spoke English with a heavy accent.

“You brought her here. Five of her years ago. With her grandfather.”

“With her grandfather? But this is a woman. A very beautiful woman. Where is the grandfather?”

“Taken. He was here with other men and women, but the men who guard Non’s world have taken them.”

Despite looking like a little girl, Rhiannon spoke like an adult. I stood listening, saying nothing.

“You must help us, Rhiannon,” Eluned said.

“Help you? How can I help you? I am only a young girl.”

“We need to find the other house. Before it is too late.”

“I do not understand. What is this, ‘the other house’?”

“As you see, Rhiannon, they have destroyed Plas Maen Heledd. Non has much to do before she begins her work. There is only one place that she can do this. Ty’r Brodyr. You must take us there.”

“No one lives at Ty’r Brodyr. It has been empty for many years. You know this.”

“There is a library, Rhiannon. If that has not been discovered, we may continue our preparation.”

Like the child she appeared to be, Rhiannon shook her head, her blonde hair flying around it, then wandered off down to the lakeside.

“She doesn’t seem to know what you’re talking about,” I said to Eluned. “And neither do I. Though that’s no longer any wonder to me. This girl suddenly appears out of nowhere – just as she did before – and you claim that she knows where to take us. Last time I was with her she brought Taid and me to this house, then disappeared. How do we know she won’t disappear again, leaving us in the middle of nowhere?”

“It is her task, my lady. She guides those who are lost. When we have need of her she will be with us, and she will stay with us until we have reached our destination.”

“And where is this place you were telling her about? What did you call it?”

“Ty’r Brodyr. When the ancients provided the books they knew you would need, they made sure that there were two copies made. One set was left in Plas Maen Heledd, here, protected by Mererid. The other set was left in Ty’r Brodyr. Sadly, the elder delegated to protect them was ...” She broke off.

I watched her as tears filled her eyes. I took her hand and squeezed it.

“I am sorry, my lady. I should not weep. It was long ago.”

“Tell me what happened, Eluned. Take your time.”

“The men of the time, from your world as it was in days gone by, came very near to Ty’r Brodyr. To make sure they did not discover the house, the elder protector went out to confront them.” She paused again.

“If it’s too difficult to tell me, then leave it,” I said.

“No, you need to know, my lady. Before we enter the house. It will bring me much pain, but we cannot avoid it now that Plas Maen Heledd is no more.

“The elder protector found the men at some distance from the house. She tried to make them go another way, but they would not listen to her. They took her to a nearby building. It was a house for the animals. They violated her, one by one, before leaving her. Such deeds cannot be allowed. She was able to return to Ty’r Brodyr, but, in accordance with the laws of the Domina, she was … she was put to death.”

She stopped, the sobs that had punctuated her words now flowing into one.

Rhiannon returned when she heard Eluned’s sobs. She took her other hand and looked at me. “She grieves for her mother,” she said.

“Her mother? I don’t understand.”

Eluned looked up. Through her tears she said, “The elder protector, my lady. She was named Non, as are you. She was my mother.”

“No one has lived in that house since her death,” Rhiannon said. “No one has been there. It stands empty. To remind us what happens when our two worlds meet. That is why I hesitate to take you there.”

“That is no longer important, Rhiannon,” Eluned said. She was wiping the tears from her face with the sleeve of her shift. “My lady needs what is to be found there. I will suffer the pain. We have come together to heal her world. If that is not done, both our worlds will be destroyed. You have seen what they have done to this house. The protector left it and now it is gone.”

“The protector?” I said. “Mererid? She left it? I don’t follow.”

“She feared what your teachers had discovered, my lady. What they told you from reading their books. She thought that if our people tried to help your people nothing good would come of it.”

“So she left. And you believe that is why the Guards found us?”

“Mererid told them.”

“What? Is she mad?”

“She believed that was the only way to stop your teachers telling you. She was too late. They have told you, so we must complete our task.”

Rhiannon spoke, as if in a dream. “You are saying that she has been told the ancient secret?”

Eluned nodded. “Of course she did not believe it. Who could? But her grandfather convinced her. Now she has to fulfil the prophecies.”

They were speaking now as if I was not there, which irritated me.

Rhiannon said, “She believes that she is ...”

“Yes,” Eluned said, before she could complete her sentence.

“Then all is lost. There is no ...” She dropped Eluned’s hand, which she was still holding and stood up. She screamed. One long, piercing scream that seemed to echo from the trees and off the lake.

Long after the sound of the scream had ceased, Rhiannon turned to face me. “Pourquoi?” she said. “Why?”

I looked at Eluned. “I don’t understand. Why what?”

Eluned stood. She took both Rhiannon’s hands in hers. “Perhaps it is as it was foretold. This – she – may be the one we have been seeking.”

There were tears in Rhiannon’s eyes. “She is not … She is not ...”

“Not one of us?” Eluned said.

“She is of the Short Life. How can this be? How will there be enough time?”

“I know. ‘Their
days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so they flourish’.
We believed that only those of the Long Life could undertake such a task. Perhaps our belief was wrong.”

“But the prophecies? What of them?”