Fiery Gemstones (A Heston Witch Novella) (8 page)

“Eden,” Edna scolded. “Give her a minute.”

“It’s alright lovely; I can hold my own if one of my offspring is getting feisty with me. You don’t have to fight everyone’s battles you know,” she ended sagely. “Telling that story reminded me of something. This has happened before, centuries ago. From what you described
Preston as doing at the dinner you had, it occurs to me that he might belong to the same order. Periodically over the ages, the children of Seth try to take over Silverline City and Red Rock Haven for one reason and one reason only. They are not after the property itself at all.
”

The sisters were quiet for a moment, absorbing Evie’s words, trying to decip
her what she was on about. Eden
got it first. She was the one on point when it came to dealing with the magical community anyhow.

“
It’s the Alichynes isn’t it?
”

Evie’s slow nod confirmed she was right.

“The Alichynes?”  Edna queried.
“
Who or what are those?
”
She’d never heard of them before. Something told her she wasn’t going to like what she was going to hear next and Evie’s next words confirmed her fears.

“
The
Alichyne Order of Black Knights
is a magical council of sorcerers who claim to be descended from Seth, Adam and Eve’s third son. In actual fa
ct they are descended from the
fourth son
of the Earth
Mother
and
Father
, Ramon
,
but they prefer the pedigree of someone who was actually named in Genesis.
” The distain Evie felt for the
Order
was evident in her voice.

“But what does that have to do with us? Or with Red Rock Haven?”

“Everything and nothing, if you can believe that
,
my dears.”

The blank looks on Ethos and Edna
’s faces confirmed that they hadn’t a clue what
she meant. She gestured at Eden
to fill her sisters in, then leaned back with her eyes closed as her eldest daughter continued.
Though she appeared relaxed, she was listening carefully to every word.

“
They are a vengeful bunch of hooligans and for some real or imagined slight that happened
centuries ago, they hate the Hestons and all that we stand for. They keep trying to get back into
the Garden of
Eden as well.”

“
But that’s impossible. No one can get back into Eden.”
Ethos
said in hushed tones.

“
Tell
that to the Alichynes.”

“
But why now?
”
Edna
wanted to know.

“
They have a
ruling
council of thirty sorcerers. Their council mem
bers get elected following a fight to the death using magical means once a council seat becomes vacant. It doesn’t happen often and once elected, the new member always tries something stupid like
trying to run us off
. Preston Williams must be the newest council member and that would explain his presence here in Silverline City and also how he knew how to combat your powers.”

“Well done,” Evie said quietly. “You
covered almost everything, Eden
. However make no mistake, the Alichyne Order of Black knights have a darker purpose than just returning to Eden. The Order is evil. They a
re also relentless and
extremely
powerful. They have targeted Red Rock Haven in the past because of the wealth of power that flows beneath the house itself and also because they need access to the River Pishon. Every person that bears the Heston name or lives within our walls is at risk. Girls, we are at war.”

Though her tone was quiet and sombre, the words she spoke echoed in the hearts and minds of
all of them.

“Right,” Ethos
said. “Alichynes, evil personified, the end of the world, got it. Any more bad news we need to hear before we get to the good news I’m dying to hear? Essentially, the news that tells us how to kick these guys asses?” She prompted when the room remained silent.

“I’m not sure we can defeat them,” Ethos said sadly and Evie did not contradict her. That in itself was scarier than anything she had said or done that evening.

“What do you mean?” Eden huffed. “Of course we can defeat them. We are Hestons aren’t we? We have the greatest witches of all time on our side and we have magic literally flowing through our veins.”

“I’m not saying we should concede defeat just yet,” Evie said. “It’s just that no generation of Hestons has been able to eliminate this threat completely. All we can hope for is to foil whatever plot they have hatched for this foray into Silverline and be on the alert against them. And pray that we are not overwhelmed by the forces of evil. It is no coincidence that we live at the border between the world and the Garden of Eden. If we fail, and the Alichynes somehow gain access to trees in the garden,
then…” Evie heaved a deep sigh. “Then all is lost and the world will be subject to a force of evil so great that I fear it will never recover.”

I have to tell them. They have a right to know.

Edna’s common sense and her need to protect her family were at war in her head. She knew she was taking a big risk but her mind was made up. If she told them about Preston’s plan to have her assassinated, they would try to interfere. Not only would they be unable to change the outcome of what she had seen, they might get hurt in the process.
She didn’t know why he was resorting to physical methods instead of magical ones but it didn’t really matter. The risk of the attack was the same. Rather than being reassuring, his willingness to commit a crime that could be policed by mortals made her more wary.

No, I have to be strong. My plan has to work. It has to.

She clung desperately to the positive mantra and refused to entertain any doubts. This was the only way.
Her path had been chosen. Now all she needed was the courage to follow it through.

Outside the windows, the winter wind wailed softly through the trees, almost as if nature herself was lamenting the possibility of the dire predictions Evie made coming true. All four women shivered and huddled into their clothes a little more. No one said anything though. Ther
e was nothing more to be said.

Let us eat and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

T
he girls crept away from the door and made their way up to the third floor of Red Rock Haven where they had rooms connected through an adjoining en-suite.  They didn’t
dare
acknowledge the fear and hopelessness that they had heard in the older
witches’
voices as they discussed the thr
eat that the Hestons were facing as a whole.

“
What’s going to happen
,
Esther?
”

“
Nothing is going to happen
,
Elvira, we are going to brush our teeth and get to bed like we ought to have done an hour ago. Things will look better in the morning.
”

“
Promise?
”
Elvira asked.

Although she looked almost the same as her cousin, she was still one year younger and looked up to her
older cousin
for reassurance.

“
Of course I promise. I don’t know what gramps and the others are fretting for anyway. There is no way we can’t beat these low lives. We just need a plan.
”

“Ok, if you say so.” Elvira replied docilely. She wanted to believe that Esther had the right of it but there was no way to tell f
or sure. Feeling very subdued
, she soon made her way to her own room, her mind whirling with thoughts on how she could help make things better.

Esther sighed as she finished up in th
e bathroom and climbed into her
bed with loads of fluffy pillows. She had at least half a dozen pillows piled all over her bed. Her
pink and purple chequered duvet and sheet set added a burst of symmetry to the ordered chaos of her bedroom.

As she fell asleep her mind drifted to her upcoming fifteenth birthday. It was less than a week away and she knew her mum and aunts had something big planned. They didn’t think she knew but it was hard for them to keep secrets.

When a Heston witch reached her maturity at fifteen, she came into her full powers. Among all the rituals and ceremonies that took place around the coming of age process, she was required to climb one of the two trees that stood on opposite sides of the River Pishon.

Climb one of those massive older than old trees, without the use of ropes or a net. Wonder who came up with that fine idea.
  

At the top of the tree, there would be a pod
growing
on the topmost branch of the tree. The Heston witch was then required to harvest the pod and climb back down without dropping it.
They
then
had to
sleep with the pod under their pillow and in the morning it would break open to r
eveal the gemstone for which the Heston witch
had been chosen and whose properties they would exemplify.
They could also draw power from their particular gem and while each witch wore a ring with a smaller version of her gemstone mounted on it, their original stones from the
pod were kept in the Harmony Den
and used only in emergencies.

Esther’s mind flittered about with the different possibilities.
Would she be get
ting
a diamond like her aunt Edna and be strong, resilient and unbreakable or would she get a sapphire like Evie? The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that she’d get an unusual gemstone like an opal or onyx.
It was just a feeling she had.

Yeah, everyone likes to think they’re unique don’t they.
She gave a mental shrug.

No matter what
I get, it’ll be me. It will suit me and I will learn to work with it and harvest all the p
ositive properties of the stone,
she
thought as her eyes began to feel heavy.

Whatever the case, she would know soon enough.
With all that was going on, it would be a good thing if the clan had one more matured witch in the mix.

She fell asleep.

Soon she was walking through the Garden of Eden again. She was walking hand in hand with her mate, Adam and the Infinite One, the Creator. He had called her Woman and this felt right because this was what she was. Yet she knew she must have another name. She turned to her mate and he smiled at her again, sensing what she hadn’t asked him.

“Eve,” he said aloud, “your name is Eve.”

She discovered that she found his voice pleasing as well. She tested the name he had given her in her mind, saying it over and over under her breath until she was satisfied that it fit her as perfectly as ‘Adam’ fit him.

“
Adam and Eve,
”
the Creator said with a smile, his pleasure in their existence evident.
“The Earth
Father
and
Mother, just as I
intended. Be fruitful, be more than what you are. Have joy in one another. This is my gift to you.
”

Without any obvious sign, he departed and left them there in the middle of the garden surrounded by the beauty of the most exquisite of flowers and the most exotic of scents.

“Come, come with me, my Eve,” Adam said, tugging gently on her wrist. “Let me show you the wonders of our home.”

Outside her room, Ethos, Edna and Eden listened to Esther crying out in her sleep.

“Adam… Adam wait. Adam…”

“Ethos, do you think we should we wake her?” Edna asked.

“No. Let her see what she is meant to see. Her time is near.” Ethos said.

“Yeah,
I guess you are right.
Even
without knowing she’s having the dreams about the Garden, it is her fifteenth birthday in a couple of days af
ter all. I can’t believe she’s
is all grown up.”

“
I wonder what gemstone she’ll get.
” Edna mused.

“Probably
something sparkly like a ruby or an emerald.
” Eden said with a laugh.

“
I do hope she can make the climb, she really doesn’t have much of a head for heights.
”

“
Stop worrying, she’ll do just fine, just like you did, and me, and all the Hestons who have gone before her.
”

“
She’ll make it
.
She’s
a Heston
and she is going to make one fine witch.”