He smiled at her. ‘I was Grigori once, Emma. Perhaps sometimes I can remember what that was like.’
The Pelleth had fallen silent in awe at the sight of him. Emma went towards him and took his hands in her own. ‘He must love you, Daniel. You will reach him. Don’t worry.’
They walked in silence down to the cove below Meggie and Betsy’s garden. Since seeing Daniel, Emma’s mood had changed. She could feel the magic of the land throbbing all around her. She felt like weeping and laughing at the same time. When Lissie caught her eye and smiled in complicity, warmth ignited in Emma’s heart. She felt as if she’d finally come home, to people who had always been her people. Women working magic together, a tradition as old as the earth Herself.
The sea lunged angrily at the shore as the women filed into the cave. Emma felt the hair on her skin prickle and rise. Power gusted all around them. While the Pelleth busied themselves with lighting candles and incense, Daniel went to stand before the chair. Emma stood beside him. ‘Are you all right, Dan?’
He shook his head, his eyes wide. When he spoke, his voice was a whisper, for Emma’s ears alone. ‘Em, he’s been here!’
‘Are you sure?’
He looked at her, his brow creased into a frown. ‘No... I don’t know. Perhaps he will come here. I can sense him in this place. He’s connected to it in some way. Maybe because of the chair...’
‘Will you tell the others this?’
‘I don’t know...’ He shrugged. ‘Something doesn’t feel right.’
Emma squeezed his arm. ‘Stay cool, Danny. I’m with you.’
He smiled at her uncertainly. ‘My guardian spirit.’
She leaned over and kissed his cheek, reached out to smooth his hair. ‘Always that, my Daniel. Always that.’
Once the preparations were complete, Daniel sat down cautiously upon the chair. Only Emma noticed that he winced slightly as he did so. Then the Pelleth began to circle him slowly, and intoned their ritual chant: ‘Om Sefer, Tu Sefer, Sefer, Sefer, Sahar!’
Lissie took Emma’s hand and led her round the circle. Emma whispered the chant beneath her breath for a few circuits, then wanted and needed to speak it aloud. Lissie let go of her hand. She was with them now, enfolded by their magic. The chant became louder and faster. Their feet stamped the ground, as the circle became a wild, shamanic dance. They clapped their hands, slapped their thighs, spun around so that their hair flew out in whirling arcs. ‘Om Sefer! Tu Sefer! Sefer! Sefer! SAHAR!’
On the chair, Daniel’s breathing became more rapid and more shallow. He groaned and gripped the stone arms beneath his fingers. His head jerked backwards, and he uttered a female-sounding cry. ‘Ma-ta-har! Rani!’
The women fell silent, and stopped dancing. Their panting breath steamed in the chill air. Their hair hung around their shoulders in damp rags.
‘Ai! She comes!’ Daniel cried. ‘She rises from the sea! So cold! Her winter hands enfold my heart!’
‘Seference speaks through you, my son,’ Meggie said soothingly, stepping forward. ‘Let her come through.’
Daniel was breathing quickly now, as if fighting for breath. His eyes had rolled back in their sockets. Then he spoke, and his voice was low and raw, a woman’s voice. ‘He will go back to the old kingdom.’
‘Where?’ Meggie asked.
Daniel’s head rolled on his neck, then his chin sank onto his breast. His eyes stared out through a fringe of hair. They glowed with a greenish light. ‘Down to the sea. He will go down to the sea with her. They will drink the jewels of the old kingdom and make salt upon the ancient altars.’
‘Is Shemyaza in the underworld?’ Meggie asked.
Daniel’s head twisted painfully to the side. He regarded the women like a bird. His voice was a sibilant rasp. ‘In the darkness he is, waiting for the serpent’s breath. In the dark. She is there. She is with him.’
‘Who?’
‘The Maiden. His love.’
Meggie glanced at Emma.
‘Ishtahar,’ Emma said. ‘It could be.’ She addressed Daniel. ‘Is it Ishtahar?’
‘She has made herself so. Her cup is the grail for his loneliness.’
‘Daniel,’ Emma said in a slow, steady voice. ‘Speak to Shem. Call to him.’
Daniel whined and threshed his head around. When he spoke, it was in his own voice. ‘No! No! She has covered him with her veil! He cannot hear me! Shem! Shem! It is I, your vizier. Turn to me!’ He paused for a moment, and closed his eyes. Emma feared he had lost consciousness, then he spoke again in a voice that was barely more than a murmur. ‘Shem, I love you. I have worn your wings, held you inside me. Why do you turn away? Remember our contract.’ He shook his head. ‘Ah, she dances before you on the yawning beaches, and you can see nothing else. You are powerless and entranced. It is as it was before.’ His voice rose in bitterness. ‘Ishtahar, you deceived me! You want him only for yourself. You have seduced him and doomed him.’
For several minutes, all was silence. The Pelleth instinctively joined hands, Emma among them, and projected a tide of strength towards the chair. Then, Daniel opened his eyes and raised his head. He looked directly at Emma. ‘It is no good.’ Slowly, he lowered his head again until it rested upon his raised palms. He wept.
Meggie nodded at Emma. ‘It is over.’
Emma let go of Lissie and Rachel’s hands and ran to the chair. She took Daniel in her arms. He leaned against her shoulder and rested there, shuddering. Against her hair, he whispered his pain. ‘Em, I could see him, but it didn’t make sense. He couldn’t hear me or sense me. He didn’t even want to. Something’s blocking me. A female influence. Ishtahar. But she’s my guardian, my goddess. Why is she pushing me out?’
Emma held him close, kissed his hair. ‘Give it time, Danny. We’ve made a start. Try not to grieve.’
‘You don’t understand,’ Daniel said. ‘He gave me everything. We are one, Emma. I can’t bear this separation. If Ishtahar and Shem are together again, I should be part of it. Why is she doing this? I’m no threat to her. It hurts!’
‘I know, I know.’ Emma made a sound of distress, wishing she could do something to help. Meggie came and touched her on the shoulder.
‘Let’s get him home,’ she said.
Emma looked up into the old woman’s face and saw only love there. All her reservations about the Pelleth had fled. She nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Do you think it would cause trouble if you stayed at my house tonight?’
Emma sighed and stood up, helping Daniel to his feet. ‘The Grigori probably won’t even notice we’re missing. Daniel means very little to them.’
Meggie put one hand on Daniel’s face. ‘You’ve done well,’ she said. ‘Now, take your rest. I’ll give you the best night’s sleep you’ve ever had. No nightmares. Not even a dream.’
Daniel smiled at her, and wiped his eyes with the heel of one hand. ‘Thank you.’
Meggie held out her arms and he went to her. The embrace was short, but poignant. Emma was surprised to find she didn’t feel jealous or wary about it at all.
As the days slipped by towards the solstice, the temple at High Crag was in use continually. Rituals took place designed to help and guide Shemyaza through his lonely journey. After a couple of days, the Parzupheim became suspicious of Sofia’s claims that Shemyaza had gone into the underworld. If he had, surely the serpent would be awake by now? Strange phenomena abounded in the land, but the earth energy was still dormant. Sofia, visiting the house every day, argued that in the underworld time passed in a different way. The Shamir would awaken on the solstice and then Shemyaza would rise up from the serpent’s lair. Reluctantly, the Parzupheim accepted her explanation.
Privately, Sofia rejoiced. How easy it was to manipulate everyone around her. The Parzupheim were stupid and short-sighted: Salamiel was a gullible fool; Daniel was nothing more than a lovelorn sycophant, while Tamara Trewlynn... Sofia smiled to herself. The silly witch was drunk on sex and highly suggestible. She believed every word spo
ken by her Grigori friend, Barbelo. Sofia had intuited by now that Emma and Daniel had joined the Pelleth, but as her opinion of the Cornish witches was so low, this did not concern her. Once the serpent was awake and Shemyaza was in her power, Daniel must be brought to Pharos, but until then, she was prepared to let him indulge himself with the Pelleth.
Sofia visualised that shining strings emanated from each of her fingers and connected with the souls of her puppets. All she had to do to get them to perform was lift a finger and tweak a string. Simple. Occasionally, she longed to make herself known to Shemyaza, but knew it was best not to intrude on his dreamtime with Tamara. As Barbelo, she experienced Tamara’s adventures second-hand. It was not enough, but there’d be time in the future for her own adventures with the Fallen King.
The land itself, sensing the change to come, shuddered in its sleep and dreamed strange dreams. The Grigori and Pelleth alike observed the weird phenomena with excitement and vigilance. The tides became unnaturally low, almost as if the sea was drawing back from the land to disgorge the lost cities hidden beneath its waves. A new pole star appeared in the sky. Freak weather occurred: the sun burning bright by day, while at night, freezing storms tore slates from the roofs and broke the backs of trees. There were minor earthquakes as the serpent turned over in its sleep. A child was swallowed by a fissure on the beach, which closed up again before the child’s screaming parents could pull it free.
Emma announced to Aninka that she was now staying at a bed and breakfast in the village with Daniel, because Daniel had been upset by the way the Parzupheim had treated him. Aninka was furious about this, as she missed having her new friend around. She told Enniel what had happened, hoping he’d rectify the matter, but it seemed Daniel was no longer important to the Parzupheim. ‘He’s just a plaything,’ Enniel said. ‘Get that straight, Aninka. He’s worthless without Shemyaza, and Shemyaza could use anyone for Daniel’s purpose, anyone at all.’
Daniel carried on working with the Pelleth, attempting to reach Shemyaza in the underworld, and help and guide him. His efforts continued to be frustrated, but he trusted that the love and strength he directed at Shem would have a beneficial effect. Like the Parzupheim, the Pelleth believed that the serpent would finally awake on the solstice. On that night, they would enact a ritual on the cliff edge at the bottom of the Penhaligon garden.
Meggie had sensed that Daniel was a very special person. She suspected that, like Emma, he had been given extended life. His power was great, and she couldn’t understand why he was failing to reach his master. Perhaps it was destiny that Shemyaza should travel alone to his fate. Meggie would have liked to keep Daniel as the Pelleth’s oracle for years to come, but sensed that he might have to be sacrificed on the solstice night. She felt regret about this, but knew that the serpent might demand it, and if the Pelleth were to take control of the serpent power, they must satisfy its hungers. Still, if the sacrifice could be avoided, it would be an added bonus. Daniel was unlike any other oracle she’d known. He was no unformed youth, but a vibrant young man. If he survived the solstice, he might well survive for a long time to come. There was something feminine about him that suggested he could be trusted with women’s secrets. Unlike Delmar, he was far from virgin, but she realised that this did not affect his abilities. If anything, his sexual experiences had enhanced his sight. She sensed that no woman had touched him and never would. Her beliefs balked at what this implied, for the worship of Seference revolved around the male-female polarity of nature. Anything else was regarded as impure and unnatural. A man who turned away from women could not, in Meggie’s eyes, have magical power, yet Daniel clearly did. Times are changing, she thought. The new age brings new ways. She was wise enough to know that the death of one belief system and the birth of another sometimes entailed discomfort on a spiritual level.
At Pharos, Lily sensed the rising tension in Salamiel. One night, after dinner, she offered to massage his shoulders for him, to ease the tightness in his muscles. In the drawing room he sat on the floor between her legs, while she sat on the sofa above him and dug her fingers sensually into his flesh. His silky red hair fell over her hands. He felt so young to her touch. She asked him to remove his shirt, for she couldn’t reach his shoulder-blades properly. Smiling, he obeyed her, revealing a torso liked furred marble. Lily asked him to lie on his belly on the carpet. She knelt beside him, working her fingers up his spine.
‘Do you like women?’ she asked him.
‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘Why shouldn’t I?’
She shrugged. ‘Well... I just wondered. Because of how you feel about Shem.’
Salamiel rolled over and fixed her with his dark gaze. ‘I make no distinctions concerning gender, at least not when desire is invoked.’
Lily carefully put her hands on her knees. ‘And is it?’
He just raised his eyebrows, lying there with his arms behind his head.
Oh well, thought Lily, in for a penny...
She leaned over and took his face in her hands, lowered her lips to his. He curled his arms around her and drew her to him. After a while, he broke away from her and said, ‘Do you want to make love with me?’
Lily couldn’t suppress a laugh. ‘Well... I thought we were.’
He sat up. ‘Not here. Come.’
He took her to his bedroom and left her alone while he went into his dressing room. Lily tore off her clothes and climbed into the high bed. Where was he? What was he doing? After some minutes, he returned, wearing a silk dressing gown decorated with embroidered peacocks. Lily had to smile. She felt like a bride on her wedding night, being given a few minutes to prepare herself discreetly for her new husband. Salamiel sat on the edge of the bed and removed his robe. Lily admired the long curve of his spine, the shining fall of hair whose longest strands caressed his waist, the sweet cleft where his buttocks began. He turned to her and cast back the quilt. He laid one hand flat upon her belly. ‘You are lovely,’ he said.
‘So are you.’
He smiled and lay down beside her, ran his hand down her lean flank, let his fingers lightly tease the hair at her groin. She opened her legs for him.
‘The temple of the goddess,’ he said, and gently slid a finger inside her. She felt her belly convulse in a single stab of pleasurable pain. He seemed to touch something deep within her soul.
For a while, they played in the outer court of the temple, then Salamiel placed himself sinuously over Lily’s body and slowly slid inside her. Buried to the hilt, he paused, resting his weight on straight arms and looked down into her eyes.
Lily reached up to his face. ‘I love sex,’ she said. ‘It’s the best thing in the world.’
‘It is,’ he agreed, ‘and with the right person, it’s true magic.’
Lily sighed and closed her eyes, surrendered to the bliss conjured by his slow, deep movements. Even when she wanted him to thrust harder, he kept the rhythm lazy, until she stopped wriggling beneath him and matched her movements to his. Her orgasm came like a slow dawn breaking over the sea. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, before allowing his own climax to occur. He uttered a single sound of wonderment, and lay down upon her body, his hair covering her face. She wrapped her arms around him and, perhaps a little belatedly, the earth shook beneath the house.
On the eve of the solstice, everyone in High Crag was so jittery that the atmosphere sparked almost visibly. The Parzupheim, who had been coming and going from the house all week, were all in residence again, and psyching themselves up for the ceremonies to come.
Emma came up to the house in the morning to have coffee with Aninka. The sun was unseasonably bright, hanging in an aching blue sky. They sat outside on the patio at the back of the house, on either side of an old, wooden table.
‘It’s like August,’ Emma said, lighting a cigarette. She was wearing sunglasses and a sleeveless dress. ‘You know, it was a bit like this in Little Moor. When Peverel Othman arrived the weather went freaky. It was very hot.’
Aninka’s sto
mach turned over as, nearby, the ground rumbled and slightly shook. I’m scared the house will fall off the cliff!’ She poured coffee from a silver pot. ‘Anyway, I want to know why you haven’t been here much this week. You’ve been really off with me. What have I done?’
Emma shrugged. ‘Nothing. I’ve just been with Daniel.’
Aninka knew Emma was lying. She wished she could see her friend’s eyes. ‘Do you blame me because the Parzupheim were nasty to Daniel?’ She pushed a mug of coffee across the table top to Emma.
Emma shook her head, picked up the mug. ‘No. But you don’t like him either, do you?’
Aninka leaned back in her seat. ‘I don’t know, Emma. He was very cruel to Taziel, and I just feel a bit strange when he’s around.’
‘He wasn’t cruel to Taziel,’ Emma said. ‘Taziel got greedy, that’s all.’ There was a harshness in her voice to which Aninka took exception.
Aninka made a sharp remark back, to which Emma responded hotly, and within seconds they were arguing heatedly about Daniel, about Emma’s opinions of the Grigori, about Emma and Daniel’s closeness to Shemyaza, and its undoubtedly contaminating effects.
Emma was aghast at the bitterness spilling from Aninka’s mouth, but couldn’t rein in enough to think about the reasons behind it. She leapt to her feet. ‘I’m not staying here to listen to this crap!’ she cried. ‘We’ve made new friends in the village, Aninka. Neither Daniel nor I need you or the Grigori now.’
This surprising revelation eclipsed Aninka’s anger. ‘What new friends?’
Emma too sensed the winding down of emotion and realised she had spoken without thinking. Still, what harm could it do if the Grigori knew about the Pelleth? No doubt they’d simply scorn them. Briefly, she explained to Aninka how she had met Meggie Penhaligon and that Daniel was now working with the Pelleth.
Aninka took this information in with incredulity. Like most Grigori, she’d had no idea that humans in the area were aware of Shemyaza’s existence.
‘So that is where I’ll be!’ Emma concluded. ‘When, or if, you come to your senses and want to apologise for being so rude to me, you’ll find me at Meggie’s.’ With these words, Emma stalked away. In some ways, she’d rather like Aninka to turn up at the Penhaligon house, because Meggie and Betsy would be astounded. Emma did not agree with their view of the Grigori, and felt they really should make contact. But she doubted Aninka would lower herself to coming to the cottage. Did this mean her friendship with Aninka was over? Emma realised she didn’t want that to happen.