‘Endor,’ said the voice in his head. ‘That was its name when it had a name. It was my home.’
Endor? That rang a bell. The biblical Endor? The place where Saul went on the night before his death on
the slopes of Gilboa? Where he went to seek out – a witch?
‘That is what they called me, aye,’ she chuckled dryly in his mind. ‘The Witch of Endor. But that was long and long ago, and there have been witches and witches. Mine was a great talent, but now a greater one is come into the world. In my long sleep I heard of him, this mighty wizard, and such were the rumours that they awakened me. The dead call him their friend and there are those among the living who fear him greatly. Aye, and I desired to speak with this one, who is already a legend among the tomb-legions. And lo! – I called and he came to me. And his name is Harry Keogh . . .’
Harry stared at the earth where he sat, put down his hands and pressed upon it. His hands came away dusty and dry. ‘You’re . . . here?’ he said.
‘I am one with the dust of the world,’ she answered. ‘My dust is here.’
Harry nodded. Two thousand years is a long time. ‘Why did you help me?’ he asked.
‘Would you have me damned for ever by all the teeming dead?’ she answered at once. ‘Why did I help you? Because they asked it of me! All of them! Your fame precedes you, Harry. “Save this one!” they begged me, “for he is beloved of us.'”
Again Harry nodded. ‘My mother,’ he said.
‘Your mother is but one,’ answered the witch. ‘She is your chief advocate, certainly, but the dead are many. She pleaded for you, aye, and many a thousand with her.’
Harry was astonished. ‘I don’t know thousands,’ he said. ‘I know a dozen, two dozen at most.’
Again her chuckle, long, dry and mirthless. ‘But they know you! And how may I ignore my brothers and sisters in the earth?’
‘You wish to help me?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you know what I have to do?’
‘Others have informed me, aye.’
‘Then give me whatever aid you can – if you can. Frankly, and while I don’t wish to seem ungrateful, I don’t see how there’s a lot you can do.’
‘Oh? But I controlled some of these same powers you control two thousand years ago. And are my arts forgotten? A king came to me for help, Harry Keogh!’
‘Saul? Little good it did him,’ said Harry, but not unkindly.
‘He asked me to show him his future,’ she answered defensively, ‘and I showed him.’
‘And can you show me mine?’
‘Your future?’ she was silent for a moment. Then: ‘I have already looked upon your future, Harry, but of that ask me not.’
‘That bad, eh?’
‘There are deeds to be performed,’ she answered, ‘and wrongs to be righted. If I were to show you what will be, it would not make you strong for the task ahead. Like Saul, perhaps you too would faint away upon the earth.’
‘I’m going to lose . . .’ Harry’s heart sank.
‘Something of you shall be lost.’
Harry shook his head. ‘I don’t like the sound of that. Can’t you say more?’
‘I will not say more.’
‘Then perhaps you’ll help me with the Mobius dimension. I mean, how may I find my way about in it? I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t guided me out of there.’
‘But I know nothing of this thing,’ she answered, obviously puzzled. ‘I called to you and you heard me. Why not let them also guide you who love you?’
Was that possible? Harry thought it probably was. ‘At
least that’s something,’ he said. ‘I can give it a try. Now, how else can you help me?’
‘For Saul the king,’ she answered, ‘I called up Samuel. Now there are also some who would speak to you. Let me be the medium of their messages.’
‘But it’s self-evident I can speak to the dead for myself!’ he said.