Game?
We lapsed into silence once more, and eventually the Sidlesaghe led me into a side
tunnel, as narrow as that which once had brought me to the approach to London Bridge.
This time we did not emerge before the bridge, but just before the great west gate of
London. In former times, when I had been Cornelia and the sad, abused wife of Brutus, this gate had been called Og‘s Gate. Now the people called it Ludgate, after Lud Hill.
The gates—thick wooden constructions—hung between two ten-pace-high stone towers.
The towers had narrow slit windows so that archers could shoot at any approaching enemy—I
half expected an arrow to speed towards us at any moment—and parapets at their tops where
archers and spearmen could let fly their missiles.
Beyond the gates stretched the ancient stone and brick walls of London: part Roman
construction, part British, part Saxon and, from what I understood of them and of what had
founded them, of part magical construction as well.
I looked back to the towers to either side of the barred gates. I knew that, normally,
guards watched atop these towers at night. I peered closely, and saw motionless shadows just
behind some of the stone ramparts.
I looked at the Sidlesaghe.
―Will they see us?‖ he said softly, returning my querying look with one of his own.
It was a test, but of understanding rather than of power.
―No,‖ I said, ―we do not exist within their perception. We are here, but not within their
own expectations of reality. We are beyond what they expect, or can even imagine, and so they
will not see us.‖
―And if it were Asterion, or Swanne, or William watching on those towers?‖
―Then we would be discovered.‖
―Aye. Come.‖
We walked forward and when we reached the gates they swung open as if by invisible
hands, closing silently behind us once we had walked through. The Sidlesaghe led me through
the empty street leading to St Paul‘s atop Ludgate Hill, and as he did so I thought about what I
had said.
The guards could not see us because we existed beyond their expectations of reality;
beyond what they could even imagine.
If that was so, then what could I see if I truly opened my eyes?
The instant that thought passed through my mind, and I had opened myself to
possibilities beyond what I expected, the empty street suddenly filled with life. A great shadowy crowd thronged the street. These people were not alive, not in this present, but they were the
memories of people who had been and the possibilities of people who would be.
I stopped, gazing open-mouthed at people dressed in the strangest of apparels: the great
draperies of roman senators, or the tightly-clothed passengers who sat in horseless vehicles that
seemed to move of their own volition, placing burning fags in their mouths, as if in enjoyment!
“Don”t!” the Sidlesaghe said.
I jerked my eyes to his face.
―We have not the time for this now,‖ he said.
And I heard his unspoken thought: Besides, if you see the myriad possibilities inherent in
the many futures which await you, then you may not have the heart to continue.
I blinked, suppressing…not the vision as such, but the understanding of the possibility of
it.
Slowly the shadowy, unnatural throng faded from view.
―You have the power to see too much,‖ the Sidlesaghe said, more gently now, ―and you
will overwhelm yourself. Now, come with me, and we will walk softly for a time.‖
In a short while we stood at the base of the steps leading to the western—and
main—doors of St Paul‘s. I raised my foot to begin the climb, but the Sidlesaghe‘s grip on my hand tightened, and I stopped.
―We do not enter?‖ I said.
―No.‖
―Where do we go?‖ I said.
―Tonight we will move the closest band. Brutus hid them within the city, and around its
boundaries.‖
I turned slightly so I could look down the street we had travelled to reach St Paul‘s.
―Ludgate?‖
―Aye,‖ he said. ―An obvious choice, and one Asterion himself thought of.‖
―Why couldn‘t he find it, then? There cannot be many places to hide a golden kingship
band for one who is prepared to raze everything to the foundations and beyond.‖
―Because the band must be approached in a certain manner.‖ He faced me completely,
taking both my hands in his. ―Caela, what do you understand of Asterion? Of his nature?‖
I thought, remembering all I had been told, and what I had gleaned during my long wait
in death. ―He is the Minotaur, the creature in the heart of the Labyrinth whom Theseus slew.‖
―Aye. And…?‖
―Asterion controls great power, dark power, the power trapped in the heart of the
Labyrinth which is…which is…‖ I did not know quite how to phrase it, and the Sidlesaghe,
seeing that I understood but lacked only the ability to explain in words, finished the sentence for
me.
―Asterion controls the dark power in the heart of the Labyrinth, which dark power is kept
in check by the Labyrinth, by the Game itself.”
―Yes, thus Asterion wants the Game destroyed so that he and his dark power can ravage
free across the world.‖
―Brutus hid the golden kingship bands using the power of the Game, which—‖
―Which Asterion does not yet know how to use or control, thus he cannot find them!‖
The Sidlesaghe laughed in delight. ―Yes!‖
Now it was my turn to smile. ―But you know the Game, and you are of the land. Both
land and Game know where the bands lie. You know how to approach them.‖ I paused. ―But only
I can touch them.‖
―So I will show you the path, and walk it with you, but when it comes to the band itself,
you are the only one who can touch it. You are the only one who will be a part of their future.‖
I thought of my lover, running wild and free and strong through the forests, the bands
glinting about his limbs. ―Apart from…him.‖
―Aye.‖ Again he squeezed my hands. ―Caela, I must say something. When we reach the
band, there will be a shock waiting there for you.‖
I did not like the sound of this. ―A shock?‖
―Brutus,‖ he said.
TEN
She swallowed, and the Sidlesaghe could see the fear and want and the desperate love in
her face.
―I do not know if I dare see him again,‖ she said, and began to weep.
The Sidlesaghe groaned, and gathered her to him, rocking her back and forth until her
weeping had abated somewhat. Caela might face dragons and imps from hell, and the Sidlesaghe
knew she would face them with courage and resolve. Confront her with the man she had loved so
desperately, however, and Caela‘s resolve and courage vanished in an instant.
―You must,‖ he eventually said. ―It will not be as difficult as you think.‖
―How so?‖ she said, leaning back and dashing away her tears with a hand.
―He will not know you are there, but only, only if you do not allow your eyes to meet
with his. I will be with you, and I must abide by the same command myself. Neither of us can
allow our eyes to meet with his. If we keep our eyes cast down, then he will overlook us, just as
the guards in the towers overlooked us.‖
She nodded, some of her composure regained. ―And if he sees us?‖
―Then we, and this land, are undone. The band will vanish, turn to dust. Asterion will
have won.‖
Caela closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, held it, then let it out. ―Long Tom…where
are we going to move the band to?‖
The Sidlesaghe laughed, and stroked one of her cheeks with a thumb. ―We will move this
one in honour of your brother, Harold.‖
She frowned, puzzled.
―To the west of Westminster,‖ the Sidlesaghe said, ―is a small manor and village where
once Earl Harold held court in the hall of a trusted friend.‖
Her frown deepened, then suddenly cleared. ―Cynesige, who controls the estates and
village of Chenesitun. He has ever been a true friend, not only to Harold, but to our entire
family.‖
―Aye. Chenesitun is the place to where the Game wants this first band moved.‖
―Why there?‖
―Because the earl‘s court will become a focal point in the Game which is yet to be
played,‖ the Sidlesaghe said, then grinned wryly at the confusion on Caela‘s face. ―Or where it is
playing, in some corner of the Game‘s existence. This is what the Game requires, and so this is
what we shall do. It will make the land a little stronger. Once the band has been moved, you will
feel the renewed strength within yourself and within this land.‖
―Long Tom,‖ Caela said, frowning a little, ―how is it that you—and your kind—and the
Game ‗talk‘? How do you know these things?‖