The Lord of Obsidian [Quest for Earthlight Trilogy Book 2] Page 19
Peter was consumed by curiosity. “What on earth are you doing down here? Why aren't you with Giddeon?"
"I am the Guardian of the Lake. As you already know, the Lords of Corruption stole the statue from the grove just outside the City of Light. You saw them cast it into this lake, putting the spells of Sujad the Great on it and setting the monster to frighten anyone away."
"Yes. But why?"
Judita seemed not to hear. Her eyes had a faraway expression in them.
"They killed the man who reassembled the statue, you know,” she said softly, her face twisting with pain and bitter anger. “Sujad the Great's power must be very potent to have enabled him to kill one of the Reborn—and such an important one. He was a descendant of the wise man who made the first Obsidian Orb and wrote the Book of Obsidian for the Earthlight. That was in the days just before King Arthur's reign. The same wise man made the first statue and placed the Book of Obsidian in its base to protect it for the Earthlight."
"Gosh! The statue didn't look that old! So it wasn't my action of putting the face on the plinth that restored the statue?"
"Well, without the face the statue couldn't be reassembled, could it? The Lady told us you had the face, though, so nobody was worried."
Peter peered into the darkness, holding out the glowing twig, impatient at its inadequate light. “Where is it?"
"Safe.” Peter waited for her to answer his question. When she said no more his face fell so much that she laughed gently. “I'll show you when you have sent the demon of the lake back where it belongs."
Peter stared at her, aghast. “But doesn't it belong to the Evil One?"
"Sending it back to the sea and returning it to its normal size, nature and appearance will be best,” Judita suggested gently. “The Lord of Obsidian is not kind to his slaves and servants—whether they be man or beast. If you send the giant squid back to the sea it should be safe. Sujad's hardly likely to waste power trying to distinguish it from the rest of its kind or destroying every giant squid in the sea."
Peter swallowed. He was about to ask, “How on earth am I expected to send it back?” when the willow twig jerked in his hand. He looked down at it and lifted it to his face. With the twig only inches from his nose, Peter focused both mind and eyes on the nucleus of the light. The light appeared to split itself—first into two and then into several dozen long, small lights. The lights drifted from the twig and started rising.
Peter tore his gaze away from the twig to watch the lights as they drifted together and converged into one. He looked back at the twig and found that it was now leafless; but the light from it continued glowing with its original strength.
The light from the combined leaves rose steadily. Peter and the Guardian of the Lake silently watched as it disappeared up the tunnel to the bed of the lake. They waited, eyes and ears straining upwards. There was little else they could do.
* * * *
"OH DEAR!” Jamie sighed and shifted his gaze from the water to scan the banks of the lake. There was no one around. “I don't know which is worse—facing danger myself or having to wait while someone else does."
Before John could answer, the water around the lake's center started churning. The boat rocked wildly. Bubbles broke the surface as the churning subsided.
The twins gaped in horror at the rising bubbles.
"I think we should fetch Bart,” John suggested nervously.
This time it was Jamie who was given no time to answer. From the depths of the lake came the strange singing sensation, and they knew everything was all right. They waited again for what seemed ages.
All this waiting is making me sleepy, Jamie told himself. Then he thought he heard a voice—deep, slow and hypnotic—saying, “Sleeeep ... sleeeep ... sleeeep.” His eyes started closing. It was only John slumping against him that brought him back to consciousness. Fighting the urge to close his eyes again, he grabbed his twin and shook him. “Wake up, John! Wake up!"
John jerked up. “What's the matter?"
"Something's trying to put us to sleep."
John blinked, looking around dazedly. “I'm sorry. It must have succeeded with me."
They hunched forward, elbows on knees, determinedly gazing at the middle of the lake. Their uneasiness deepened as they sensed that all wasn't well below. Before they could decide what to do, they heard a high, piercing scream, seeming to come from far below. They knew, with relief, that the cry wasn't from Peter. With all their senses concentrated on the center of the lake, they waited. They didn't have to wait long. Every nerve in their bodies quivered as they became aware of something evil rising from the lake's center.
Jamie and John sensed when the creature emerged from the tunnel into the lake, although it swam through the tunnel so quietly that it didn't disturb the water. They traced its path to the end of the lake and were aware of its frustration and pain.
"Peter must have wounded it with the willow twig,” Jamie said in relief.
"But it's still there,” John countered nervously. “It's not badly hurt. It'll recover."
By tacit consent John fixed his gaze on where the monster settled to nurse its wounds and Jamie kept his on the center of the lake. It was therefore Jamie who first became aware of the glimmering light moving across the surface. He nudged John and pointed. As John turned to look, the light split into several dozen smaller lights. They moved silently to the end of the lake where the monster skulked. Jamie and John waited with tense expectation.
The second high, piercing shriek when it came was ear-splitting. They clamped their hands over their ears. Something shot out of the lake in a huge fountain of water, and the shriek became louder. Jamie and John strove see what was inside. But the fountain appeared to be empty. It gushed high in the air, making them tilt their heads back to see its top.
Moments later it collapsed with an almighty crash. Great waves surged thundering towards them. The first one struck the boat and capsized it. Jamie and John hit the water before they knew what was happening. They both expected the boat to come down on top of them but, tossed around like corks, were helpless to do anything about it. Then they felt something reach out to them. Neither saw anything, but were both aware of being propelled out of the boat's way as it turned over and was swamped. Jamie just managed to grab Peter's clothing. Then from a safe distance he and John watched in disbelief as the boat sank.
* * * *
PETER AND Judita, acutely aware of the commotion above, hardly felt the violence as they stood swaying at the bottom of the cavern with all their senses craning upwards. Both received a mental picture of the great fountain that shot from the end of the lake, and saw the giant squid, now its normal size and no longer deformed, swimming rapidly from the area where Sujad had captured it. They looked at each other and smiled with quiet complacency.
Peter's grin was short-lived, however, for he suddenly realised the consequences the waterspout could have for Jamie and John. Horror-stricken, he instinctively flexed his knees to propel himself to the surface.
Judita gently pulled him back. “It's all right. They're quite safe. While you concentrated on doing your part I helped them get out of the way. They'll tell you something pushed or pulled them."
"They'll be anxious about me."
"They know you're all right. Unfortunately Susan Brown is already suspicious that you three are involved in something unusual with her husband, so we'll have to make sure the boys don't go back to the farmhouse until they're dry."
"But that'll take ages, and they must be frozen!"
"It won't—and they won't be—if you will it, Peter.” Judita's voice was full of confidence. He looked at her in astonishment. “Have you forgotten your struggle with Sujad in front of the mirror?"
His surprise deepened. He was about to ask how she knew when he realised that of course the Earthlight would know his every action and everything that happened to him. He felt himself flushing. “But that was all Sujad's doing—his power. He was too strong for me."
Peter looked aghast. “You mean he used my own power against me—that I nearly turned myself into Sujad the Great?"
Judita nodded. Her eyes reflected only sympathy. There was no reproach in them. The depth of Peter's distress and horror at what he had so nearly done surprised her. What a sensitive boy he is! Perhaps he's a little too sensitive. He's certainly old beyond his years and undoubtedly a perfect choice for the Earthlight's First Chosen One.
"You must think I'm dreadfully immature—an awful idiot."
Judita's silvery laugh echoed in his mind. It was, he realised with shock, something like Morgause's laughter, but it filled him with delight rather than sending shivers of repugnance down his spine. “Certainly not! You're actually a very mature thirteen. As for being an idiot, if making mistakes makes one an idiot everyone in the world is an idiot!"
Her laugh turned to a throaty chuckle, and Peter treated Judita to his wide smile. When she had recovered from its impact, Judita suddenly remembered why Peter was with her in the depths of the lake. “Thank you for ridding the lake of Sujad's hideous creation. You've done the Earthlight a tremendous service. I don't think I could have kept the secret of the lake from Sujad the Great much longer."
Peter's heart jumped. “Secret? What's so secret about the statue? Even Sujad knows about it. He placed it here."
She smiled mysteriously. “Come. I'll show you."
She turned and moved off. His heart thumping high with excitement and hope, Peter followed.
Chapter 17
The Secret of the Lake
JUDITA SEEMED able to move through the water without any light, but Peter kept close to her side to light the way. To his surprise, however, she didn't go very far, and he found himself facing a rocky wall.
Suddenly, Judita started glowing, the faint light seeming to come from her white robe. I've been through all this before, Peter thought with a sense of shock. Then it came to him. Giddeon's ghost in the City of the Reborn had glowed in almost the same way. But whereas Giddeon's form had been insubstantial and fragile-looking, Judita's was distinctly solid and vibrant with life. She was no ghost.
The Guardian of the Lake stretched her arms above her head and placed the palms of her hands on the stone wall ... and the wall disappeared. Peter gasped involuntarily as he found himself standing on damp but solid ground. In a split-second his eyes registered that the cave's confines were too vast for his light to reach either walls or ceiling.
"The river used to run underground here,” Judita explained. “But that must have been a long time ago, for this cave's very old. Nobody knows it's here—they'd probably open it up and bring tourists down. It's very damp, though, so watch your step."
Judita had stopped glowing as soon as they entered the cave. As she led Peter forward he became aware of the steady dripping of water, the vastness of the cavern magnifying the sounds a hundredfold. Then he saw what the sounds had led him to expect: stalactites hanging from the unseen ceiling, straining to join up with the stalagmites growing from the floor. He craned his neck upwards, holding the light as high as possible. Then abruptly he dropped his hand.
"Glow-worms!” he breathed in delight. Is this the secret of the lake? Marvelous though they were—and undoubtedly still a secret from most people living above—he had been expecting something more momentous.
Judita chuckled. Her senses were clearly alive to his every emotion. “Haven't you seen glow-worms before?"
"Yes—in the Waitomo Caves. But it's not the same when you're with a crowd."
There was a brief pause. “I was glad of the crowd last time.” The grave, quiet tone of Judita's voice spoke volumes. Peter instantly understood to what she was referring. He jerked his face down to look at her in swift sympathy. It was hard to imagine what it must have been like to be one of the Reborn. The grave expression on the face lifted towards the glow-worms showed that Judita was reliving the experience. Quickly sensing Peter's empathy, she turned back to him with a bright smile. “Well, we haven't come to admire the glow-worms.” And she moved towards some of the larger stalagmites.
Peter followed, his heart beating fast with excitement and hope. They were almost abreast of the nearest stalagmite now. The stalactites stretching down from the arched ceiling had managed to join the stalagmites here, forming great sweeping pillars and arches that gleamed pearly white in the light from Peter's willow torch. As they drew level with the nearest pillar, Peter suddenly experienced the yearning that he felt only when something drew his thoughts to the Lady, or when he heard her music. But his keenly attuned ears could hear nothing but the amplified dripping of water.
They rounded the pillar, and there lay the statue. With columns on both sides arching up to the ceiling, the scene looked like the tomb of someone's long-dead ancestor in a cathedral. At first Peter saw little more than the bottom of the plinth. He moved forward, and suddenly the sightless eyes seemed to be looking straight at him. His heart plummeted with disappointment. Well, it was what I expected, he told himself. In a reclining state, the statue's outstretched hand looked incongruous. Peter's eyes darted anxiously over the marble surface.
"She's not damaged. I told you she was safe.” Judita spoke aloud this time and her musical voice had a smile in it again. The walls of the cave whispered her words back to them.
Peter moved slowly to stand by the outstretched hand, which now looked as though it might be reaching towards the arched roof. Although the statue was larger than life, the hand was still below Peter's eye level. He looked straight into the serenely impassive face. And suddenly the eyes were no longer blank and sightless.
A few bars of the Lady's eerie music drowned the sound of dripping water. The peculiarly plaintive melody echoed strangely in the vast spaces of the cavern. Peter's spine tingled—both with the shock of seeing the statue's eyes come alive and the thrill of hearing the sounds that told of the Lady's nearness. It took him back to Christmas Eve of the previous year when the statue had suddenly appeared on the empty plinth and the eyes had seemed to look at him for a split second with life in them. Until now he had thought it just his imagination, for his own sight had been blurred.
He put out his hand to clasp the upraised fingers. As he did so, the light in the eyes faded. The hand was as cold as the marble from which it was made. He was about to drop his arm back to his side when he felt something—a mind—reach out to his.
"Please—leave your hand there, Peter; it makes it easier to talk to you,” the Lady's voice said faintly into his mind.
Peter replaced his hand on the cold marble fingers. “Where are you?” he asked, also using mind-speech. “Are you inside the statue?"
"Yes. Although he doesn't know it, Sujad has done what the Earthlight wanted. By bringing the statue to this place of power—which Sujad knows nothing about—he has given me the opportunity to renew my own power quicker than I would otherwise have been able to. The monster that he placed in the cavern that is our only safe entry to this sanctuary was the one threat to our plans. Thank you, Peter, for getting rid of it for us."
"How long have we got?"
"Still not long enough.” The Lady's voice seemed to get fainter. “But we will win, Peter—we will win. And now, farewell...” Peter couldn't hear the last syllable, so he knew she had gone even before the few fluttering, barely heard notes of her music drifted to his ears.
He dropped his hand from the icy fingers and stood for a few seconds looking down at the statue with blurred vision, totally oblivious to Judita's presence. As awareness of his surroundings returned, he sighed—a heavy, unsteady sound that the cavern mockingly echoed back to him. He blinked and looked over his shoulder at Judita. The Lady's last words kept repeating themselves in his mind. “We will win;
we will win."
He tightened is jaw in determination.
"What do we do now?” he asked.
"I'll take you back to your friends. They need you now.” Judita glanced at the statue. “The Lady is safe here, and so is the statue—I promise you."
"But Sujad will know we've sent his monster back to the sea. He'll soon discover that the statue is no longer where he placed it."
"He won't find out where it is though.” Judita's voice was soft, but strong with confidence
Peter gave a watery smile. Briefly again he thought he heard the Lady's last words whisper repeatedly around the cavern. He turned his face towards the roof. The magnified sound of dripping water receded and for several moments it seemed that a starry sky stretched above him and he could hear the stars and planets murmuring to him. They are all on our side, part of the Earthlight itself. The thought made his heart flutter with hope. The sky seemed to wheel above him. One by one each star and planet called to him by name. From each he received a gift of light as it came close to him before moving on.
Then suddenly he found himself back in the cavern. The arching darkness starred with magic lanterns became a glow-worm grotto again. He strove to recall the vision of wheeling stars, but they refused to return. He thought he heard their murmuring song briefly before the reverberating sound of dripping water returned.
Peter now became aware of the cold and dampness. He shivered and turned to Judita. She smiled sympathetically and stretched out her hand for his. As he gave it to her, he made to turn and call a silent farewell to the Lady, only to find himself back in the black water below the lake. Judita no longer had hold of his hand and when he turned to say good-bye she wasn't there. He was left with only the piece of willow and its light.
Resolutely pushing aside his disappointment, Peter held the willow wand up and was about to propel himself to the surface when he became aware of another light far above his head. His heart jumped in relief. It's the leaves from the twig. They've come to guide me back. Keeping his eyes on the distant light, he kicked upwards vigorously. As he rose in the water, the light above moved away, guiding him into the tunnel that led to the lake, and then split itself into over thirty long leaf shapes. The leaves homed in on the twig and abruptly became one with it. When Peter reached the bed of the lake the light from the willow twig went out. He carefully placed it back in his trouser pocket before making for the surface as fast as he could.