mirror of
https://gitlab.silvrtree.co.uk/martind2000/booksnew.git
synced 2025-02-15 11:39:16 +00:00
205 lines
12 KiB
HTML
205 lines
12 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>The Shadowmaster - Chapter 30</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type=
|
|
"application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
|
|
"page-template.xpgt"/>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<div id="text">
|
|
<div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
|
|
<h1>30</h1>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack could hardly believe that he had found his father. He still hadn't quite taken in the fact that the statue on the red plain had begun to move, begun
|
|
to fight and become human. Not just any human, the man he had dreamt of finding for so long. It was all just too much to take in.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
As Jonathan Flint led them to a rocky crevasse, Jack couldn't keep his eyes off the man he barely knew, but had only dreamt about. Now he was confused and
|
|
uncertain of what to say, what to ask.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
A thousand questions crowded his mind. Where had he been? Why had he abandoned him in the ring of standing stones as a baby? What had happened to his
|
|
mother?
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
As they climbed down into the fissure. Jonathan Flint moved stiffly, as if he hadn't used muscles in a long time. Jack took in his tall frame, the scars on
|
|
his strong arms and the dark hair which fell over the brow, so like his own.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
He had always tried to picture his father, but the image was never distinct. He had no memory of his face, just a hazy recollection of strength and
|
|
protection. He had never imagined him as a cloaked and armed warrior.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
By the time they reached the shelter, the shock and emotion overwhelmed Jack and he sank down, utterly exhausted. His father leant back against the rock
|
|
and closed his eyes for a moment. Corriwen, Kerry and Rionna stood uncertainly close by, not wishing to intrude, but after a moment Jonathan Flint opened
|
|
his eyes again. He took Jack's hand in his, cupping it tightly as if to re-assure himself that the hand was real, then beckoned the others forward and
|
|
asked their names.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Corriwen Redthorn, Kerrigan Malone, Rionna Willow. I don't know you, not yet, but I can see you are friends of my son, and my guess is you've followed a
|
|
hard road at his side. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
He squeezed Jack's hand again, motioning the others to sit, turned to his son and said: "Forgive me for losing your childhood."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack tried to speak, but his father held up his free hand to hush him.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"But it was a desperate time," Jack's father said. "A truly desperate time, and I wanted you to live, no matter the cost."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="break">
|
|
***
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>It was supposed to be a peaceful time,</em>
|
|
Jonathan Flint began. <em>All the worlds were in harmony. At least for a while.</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>
|
|
We came to Uaine because of all the worlds of men, it was the most beautiful. The Copperplate binding spell had brought lasting harmony for
|
|
generations. We made a home where we could watch the sunrise and sunset and hear the waves on the shore. As beautiful a place as ever there was.
|
|
</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>
|
|
Just after you were born, Jack, Bodron gathered the Copperplates, Uaine's talismans. He brought the spells together and found ways to change them,
|
|
hoping to gain the secrets of their power. Yet power can be used for good or evil, and the greater the power, the greater the evil.
|
|
</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>
|
|
Bodron corrupted the great spells and he summoned up a Shadowlord. Perhaps he thought his summoning would give him power over it and he could make it
|
|
his creature. But Bodron was wrong. The Shadowlord had the greater power, Bodron became its puppet, spreading fear and nightmare across this world.
|
|
</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>
|
|
That was when the Geasan summoned me to ask for my help. But when I was at their council, the nightshades came in their hordes and I discovered the
|
|
Shadowlord's true purpose. It wanted the heartstone keys, and sent its nightshades to search for them.
|
|
</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>When I returned home your mother was gone, taken by the Shadowlord's minions.</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>But despite the peril she found herself in, alone with her baby, she had kept you safe. She hid you in a secret place beyond nightshades' reach. </em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>
|
|
It was then that I knew I had to get you, and the heartstone, to safety, because my next quest was to find your mother. If the Shadowlord had her, then
|
|
it also had the white heartstone, the twin of the one you wear on your neck. With both, its power would be vast, and irresistible and I could not risk
|
|
that.
|
|
</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>
|
|
They pursued us all the way to the Homeward Gate, and only luck and the Sky Queen's protection got me to Cromwath Blackwood. I put the heart around
|
|
your neck because I knew it would be safe with the Major, at least for a while.
|
|
</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>I promised you I would come back for you. It was the only promise I ever made that I never kept.</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>But I promise you this. If she is still alive, I will find your mother and bring her out of this evil place.</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="break">
|
|
***
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
For a long time there was silence while Jack took in his father's story. Back in her wildwood, Megrin had mentioned his mother. Since the major could tell
|
|
him nothing of her, Jack had assumed she had died when he was born.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Now he had found his father and discovered that he had a mother who might still be alive. It was almost too much to take in at the one time.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry, Corriwen and Rionna had listened eagerly to the tale. Later, when they had fallen into exhausted asleep, huddled together in the crevice, Jonathan
|
|
Flint drew Jack closer to share his warmth.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"The Major never told me anything," Jack finally said. "He said I had to wait until I was older."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"That's as it should be," Jonathan Flint agreed. "The secrets of the worlds and the gateways must be guarded at all costs. I discovered them by accident
|
|
when I was just a boy of your age. My friend Tom Lynn and I explored Cromwath Blackwood and found the ring of stones. Tom stepped through and vanished. I
|
|
searched for him for a long time in some very strange places."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"So that story is real? Tom Lynn came back ten years later, and he hadn't aged a day. But his mind was gone, so people say."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"There are some terrible places beyond the gates. Places where madness and terror hold sway. I have been to some. I was luckier, because in all my travels,
|
|
I was being led towards the heartstone and the Book of Ways which allowed me to find my way back to the Homeward Gate, and I also learned that the
|
|
Heartstone and the Book were created in the dawn of time to let the journeyman open the ways to all the worlds.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"This I learned from the Great Dagda after I helped him save Eirinn from the Morrigan's sea-ogres. That was when I met your mother, the Lady Lauralen. She
|
|
is the daughter of the Dagda and the Sky Queen, and she loved me enough to stay by my side in the mortal worlds."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"That's why the lady said it," Jack said, remembering the magical meeting with the Sky Queen on Tara Hill. "Heart of my heart, she told me."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"That's because you are. Blood of her blood. And she has been guiding you. She is all that is good, in the constant fight against all that is evil."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack told his father everything of his childhood in the Major's old house and his long friendship with Kerry Malone, days at school and fishing with Kerry
|
|
in the streams. He told of that Halloween night when the moving darkness had engulfed the Major's house and how the old man had kept it at bay while they
|
|
escaped down the stairs to the secret passageway and found themselves hunted through Cromwath Blackwood.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jonathan Flint listened intently as Jack recounted their adventures with Corriwen in Temair and their battles with Dermott and his Spellbinder Fainn in
|
|
Eirinn, and then Kerry and Corriwen's decision to follow him on his final quest.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
He smiled proudly as his son recounted the meeting with Megrin and their journey to Bodron's keep, finding Rionna, and the nightmare time in the Keep
|
|
before the great fight with the Monster that Bodron had become.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It was the Book that saved us," Jack said. "It swallowed the Copperplates. We fought Bodron, all four of us, and Megrin too. Then everything went crazy
|
|
and we slid into the pit and here we are."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack paused, thinking for a moment. Then he took the heartstone from his neck, drew out the great sword and offered both to his father.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"These belong to the Journeyman," he said. "You take them."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jonathan Flint was choked with emotion.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"No, Jack. My time is done. I have been in these Shadowlands too long. You have earned the sword and the name.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"The Great Dark Lord, the master of all Shadowlords, reigns supreme here and I have fought him many times in all his guises. The last I remember, he showed
|
|
me his true shape and turned his eyes on me and I felt my blood turn to stone. "Since then, nothing. Until something unfroze me and I could move again."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It was the heartstone," Jack said. "The Journeyman's heart."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's <em>your </em>heart, Journeyman."
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|