Meanwhile Gardens (41 page)

Coming to the clearing in the middle Jake made up his mind in a second. “Get in the well!”

Hearing the crashing come ever closer Nicky followed Jake and Ollie over the rails. They slid down the brick-lined shaft, using their outstretched feet and hands to slow their descent until Jake felt board beneath his feet. He tried not to cry out as first Ollie then Nicky landed on top of him.

With hearts in mouths they heard their assailants stumble into the clearing. “Where could they have got to?” said one breathing heavily.

“There they are!” cried the other.

Nicky closed her eyes waiting for the moment of discovery. The heavy footsteps came closer and closer. Nicky’s heart pounded ferociously against her ribs. She could feel her face flush warm as blood raced to her head.

The footsteps came nearer and nearer still then rushed past into thickets on the other side. The voices faded as the men went further away from them.

“That sort of thing could make you religious couldn’t it?” Jake whispered. He pulled the creditcard-sized torch from his pocket. The beam clicked on showing them to be some way from the surface. A system of rungs spiralled to the top.

“Let’s stay here abit,” Ollie linked his arm around one of the metal rungs.

“You bet,” Jake said. “I’m not going anywhere.” He flexed his legs, feeling the board wobble beneath his feet.

“I wouldn’t – ” Nicky began but it was too late.

The thin board wasn’t meant to carry the weight of one let alone three people. With a nasty crack it snapped, splashing into water not far below them. Ollie held tight to his rung. Nicky managed to grab one above him. Jake wasn’t so quick but he was quick enough. In his fall he clutched at Ollie’s legs. For a second they dangled there swinging from side to side, Jake sliding lower and lower.

“Hold on!” Ollie said between his teeth, the strain almost unbearable.

“I can’t!” with a final gasp Jake let go. He landed to the side of a small spring. “Come on!”

Ollie looked down to see Jake gesturing with his hands. He glanced up at Nicky, “You alright?”

Nicky automatically nodded.

Ollie moved down to the last rung. He swung his legs in the manner of a trapeze artist getting up speed.

“Now!” Jake hissed.

Ollie felt Jake’s hands around his ankles and let go. He landed with a heavy thump, Jake pulling him away from the water. Ollie looked round to find himself beside a gently bubbling spring in a large cavern. Dark tunnels led off at the four corners, the whole space faintly lit by a single flaring torch against the far wall.

“I think I’ve twisted my ankle,” Ollie grimaced, the agonising pain causing bile to rise in his throat.

Jake went to support his friend when footsteps could be heard. He looked up, “Someone’s coming. Hurry!”

Nicky needed no second urging. She quickly worked her way down until her legs were left hanging in the air.

Jake looked back as the footsteps drew near. “Quick!”
Nicky let go. Her fall was broken by two sets of hands pulling her to safety.

With Ollie in the middle Nicky and Jake hobbled into a tunnel to one side, each step causing Ollie to gasp with pain.

From the shelter of the shadows they saw beams of flashlight enter the space followed soon after by two men. One took the flaming torch from the wall and moved to the well in the centre. He looked up into the shaft through which the night sky could now be seen. “I thought they were going to do that later.”

His companion pulled the piece of board from the water. “As long as it’s done that’s the main thing,” he said, his voice tinged with the same pleasing Oxfordshire burr as his colleague.

Their faces caught in the lamplight made Ollie forget his pain for a second. The pair were identical twins.

The next sentence brought the pain back. “Let’s return to the girl,” the first one said. “They’ll be here soon.”

The twins wandered back the way they came.

When their footsteps could be heard no longer Nicky whispered, “Wasn’t that the guy in the vault?”

Ollie nodded excitedly. “They must mean Rion! Should we go after them?”

“Judging by your ankle I don’t think we’re going anywhere,” Jake looked around the dark cavern. “Don’t move.”

“Is that a joke?” Ollie asked but Jake had already gone.

Nicky and Ollie watched as he ran across the darkness to the tunnel through which the twins had vanished. They saw Jake creep up the sloping sides to a small ledge of rocks, which he ducked behind.

Within seconds he was back at their side.

“Come on.” They half-carried Ollie across the floor and
up to the ledge of rocks, “You should be out of sight up here.”

Ollie shifted about until he found the position that caused him least pain. With his back against a rock he found he could peer through a gap in the ledge to get a good view of almost the entire cave.

“I’ll go look for Rion.”

Nicky looked concerned, “Be careful Jake.”

Voices echoed into the cave as Jake made his way down the slope. Some were singing, some laughing, but all joined in a sense of excitement. Jake hurried back up to hide behind the ledge. “Too late!”

They watched as the McGraths entered at the head of a crowd of perhaps twenty people. Mary was dressed all in white. On top of her head was a simple crown. Her husband wore a frock coat and a black box hat. The people behind carried a tree trunk on their shoulders which they placed beside the bubbling pool. Under Ted’s directions the trunk was raised, its top nearly touching the ceiling. Mary looked at the open wellshaft above and nodded in satisfaction.

Others followed, many – but not all – in white. The worshippers carried flowers and small branches which they scattered around the upright trunk, creating a semblance of a garden in the ancient cavern. More torches were lit and placed in grooves in the rock hands had carved for them centuries before. Soon the vast space trembled with a flickering light.

Hidden behind the ledge Ollie, Jake and Nicky watched as Mary and two women, also dressed in white, entered the tunnel beneath them.

T
he twins tensed as people approached, their shadows dancing along the wall before them.

Beck kicked the floor. “I don’t like it.”

“You’ll do as you’re told,” Senior ordered. He moved near the young girl but saw the drug was already taking effect. Communication was impossible.

Mary came up to the flimsy wicker door. “Is she ready?”

“Ready for you,” Senior let Mary in, her two companions close behind.

“And she’s had the drink?”

“About ten minutes ago.” Although he had not wanted to give Rion the blue-tinged tablets Senior knew it was best she be drugged. The girl hadn’t struggled this time. It seemed she had resigned herself to whatever fate lay in store for her.

Mary beamed, “Good!”

As the women removed her clothes Rion had a last musing before the ketamine overwhelmed her: maybe this is what death is like, she thought, everything a blur, vaguely awake but unable to move, unable to do anything. She always thought she’d be cleverer than this – maybe her parents had been right afterall.

“She is perfect,” one of the women said as Rion stood naked before them.

“Just exquisite,” her companion caressed the girl’s long hair. Rion gave no reaction. She just stared at the middle distance, oblivious to everything around her. “And intact?”

“Of course,” Mary replied primly.

Rion was dressed by the three women in a simple white dress that touched the ground. Her long hair was combed to fall loose around her shoulders. A crown of woven flowers was placed on her head.

Mary couldn’t hide her pleasure. “She
is
perfect isn’t she?”

At that point Rion gave a loud throaty cough before flopping back into her semi-conscious pose.

Mary whipped round, the smile ripped from her face. “She’s supposed to be in excellent health!”

“She is, it’s just the cold in here,” Senior said hurriedly

“It won’t work unless she’s 100%,” Mary put her face to Rion’s and looked her level in the eye. Satisfied the cough was a one-off her smile returned. “It’s time.”

Her two companions went either side of Rion. They linked their arms through hers and stood behind Mary who moved out of the cell, Rion and the companions two steps behind.

“It’s not right,” Beck complained again.

“You’re right,” Senior agreed. “It’s
not
right.”

“I don’t mean
that
,” Beck frowned at his twin who had an annoying habit of changing his words around and giving them a different meaning. “
That’s
what we’re meant to do.” Beck shook his head unhappily, “We’ll never get away with it.”

“
We
will.”

Mary and the other dancers waited for them where the tunnel joined the main area. Mary glared at the twins as they got into line behind her. She took one last look to check
everything was in order before she nodded at Ted and smiled.

The procession began.

Holding hands Mary and Ted stepped into the large cavern. Gorby followed, a fool’s hat jangling on his head, the tom-toms under his arm.

The crowd hushed upon seeing their King, Queen and Fool move at a stately pace to the well, the starry night sky visible through the shaft above them. On one side of the spring stood the tree surrounded and bedecked with flowers. Colourful ribbons radiated out at six points from the trunk. On the other side was the cot bearing the shrunken figure of Gorby’s mother. With her head wrapped in a bonnet the poor woman gazed with blank eyes at those assembled, spittle dribbling from the side of her mouth.

Mary rapped the ground three times with her wand. There was immediate silence. “We thank you all for attending this Honouring to my father,” she said regally, her voice reaching every part of the hall. Mary bent down to kiss the frail person in the cot.

Ollie sat up with a start. “Do you mean,” he whispered, “that’s her dad?”

“Must be,” Nicky said confused.

Mary continued in the same powerful voice, “This midwinter night of the moon we will strengthen our bond with the Gods through tribute and dance as has always been done.” She gestured to the trunk next to her, “As the tree appears dead in Winter before Spring weaves her spell so we call on the Gods to bring life to their trusted servant in this midwinter of his life and let Spring fill his body this year!”

Shouts of acknowledgement and support rang out from the crowd until Mary held up her hands for quiet. She cast her gaze over the assembled before bursting into a
triumphant smile, “See what the Gods have provided on this most special of nights.” Mary nodded to the tunnel.

The crowd gasped as the two women companions stepped slowly from the shadows. Their arms were linked around Rion who shuffled unsteadily between them, her mind and body lost in a dense fog.

Nicky bit her clenched fist to keep from screaming.

Mary knelt by the pool in which the very edge of the moon was reflected. “Let Sister Moon add her power!” Mary scooped up a handful of water which she flicked gently over her father and then over Rion. Again she rapped the floor three times with her wand. At this signal Gorby began a solemn beat on the tom-tom he held beneath one arm.

Hearing the drum the six dancers entered. They were dressed identically in white shirt and breeches with gold buttons, red stockings and a red sash around their left arm. They had bells on their legs, tightfitting black velvet caps and white eye masks to further conceal their identity. Swords rested in silver scabbards on their sides. As each entered they extinguished the flaming torches until only two remained.

The dancers formed a circle around Rion who was held against the tree by the two woman companions. Each picked up the end of the ribbon in front of him, giving it a short tug to check it was tightly secured to the trunk. At some hidden signal one dancer moved around the tree, his ribbon securing Rion to the trunk. He was followed by another going the opposite way and then another so that soon all six of the dancers were weaving in and out of each other as they went their different ways, dancing around the tree as they might a Maypole.

As one they ended. The dancers returned to their original points of the circle where they stood facing the centre, the points of their swords resting on the ground in front of them.
The two women companions moved away from the tree leaving Rion there, her neck, body and arms bound to the trunk with the thick ribbon.

Mary looked on in satisfaction. She nodded to Gorby who slowly increased the beat on the drum.

The dancers moved slowly round the ring. They pointed their swords towards the centre, clashing the blades in time with the drum. Patterns of jagged angles were created with swords that the other dancers would jump into and out of. As the beat increased so did the speed of the dancers. They executed turns and half-turns, switching positions across the circle, sometimes dancing singly, sometimes in pairs, but all the time clashing swords that drew sparks in the cavernous space.

The patterns quickly changed. From the circle they moved to file formation performing a series of steps, their feet moving so quickly it was hard to follow without becoming dizzy. When they had finished one sequence it would be repeated in reverse order, the steps demanding perfect muscle control. Circles and spirals, weaving both inwards and outwards, were traced on the floor upon which feet battered as if trying to awaken Spring in the enfeebled old man.

As the tempo increased so the bells on their legs jangled ever louder, the dancers jumping higher and higher over swords in a kind of contest. A section of the audience started clapping in time with the drum. This spread and spread until everyone present apart from Ted and Mary, who retained their regal disposition throughout, were lost in the frenzy of the moment.

For a second or two Ollie forgot where he was, mesmerised by the spectacle before him. He was hypnotised by the speed and agility of the dancers, the clapping and drumming inducing a sense of euphoria in him. It was when
he found himself tapping the ground that he suddenly woke up.