Disclaimer: See first Chapter and some following...
Chapter 15: The Calm before the Storm
When she stepped out of the light she instantly knew that it would be different this time. There was no blinding light this time. She could hear birds and the foaming shore. And her hand – she immediately noticed that – was still lying in the gentle grip of John's. With the other one she held their son tight. It took some time before she became aware of her surroundings.
She turned to make sure that everyone else was fine. Then she let her eyes wander over the scenery. It looked a lot like the place they had just left. You could find many places like that in Southern England. A hilly countryside with lush green meadows on which the sheep could feed and thick clouds, which didn't allow the sun to break through. But if they did the country was bathed in a pale and mysterious light that made everything seem so unreal, but wonderful.
And though this place looked like one of many on the British Isle Marguerite knew that there was something special about it. It was just a feeling, but somehow she sensed a certain energy linked to it. It felt very familiar to a part of her; like home...
"Welcome to the holy island of Avalon." Marguerite heard a voice she already knew too well from behind her.
"We were expecting you." Without turning Marguerite knew that it was Rhianne standing behind them. Her fair hair was swirling in the wind and she had opened her arms as if to embrace them.
Marguerite was surprised that she looked even more beautiful in reality than she had in her visions. She was the complete opposite to Marguerite. Not only that that her hair was a light blonde, but she looked very light in general. On first sight you wouldn't believe that she was related to Marguerite in any way.
Marguerite's heart was beating faster than usual and a strange feel of uncertainty crept over her. Now it has begun and there is no way back for you, she thought.
And as if Rhianne had sensed her doubts she gave her a reassuring smile.
"Now follow me, my friends. There is someone who's waiting for you."
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George, Marguerite, John and Alasdair who was now alternating between walking at his father's hand and being carried by him were led over a small sandy path which was winding its way through the hills.
When they reached a valley they could make out an accumulation of simple wooden huts. They path was a bit wider now and lined by apple trees some blossoming, some even bearing fruits. George instantly noticed the contradiction.
"Blossoming and bearing fruits at the same time?" Challenger asked in surprise. "That's a most incredible thing. Miss Rhianne, is there an explanation to it?" Rhianne smiled.
"You are in Avalon, Professor. It's the realm of fairies and enchantresses, the centre of white magic, the place from which we watch over life... there doesn't have to be a logical explanation. It's magic." And that was the one and only time in George Challenger's life that he was left speechless. Marguerite and John exchanged a grin.
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"I didn't expect Avalon to look that... simple." John said while they followed Rhianne through the little village.
"Well, I didn't expect Avalon to exist at all." He corrected himself. Rhianne had told them that she would lead them right to the council, which consisted of the wisest inhabitants of Avalon. There, so she said, was someone waiting for them.
"Little one, stay here." John called his son, who ran far ahead of them. When the boy heard his father's calling that was obviously meant for his ears, he slowly turned as if he was already thinking of the suitable answer.
"Come back here." He heard him say once again.
"No." Alasdair answered and grinned mischievously before he turned and ran even farther away. John sighed and cast Marguerite an imploring look, an obvious plea for support.
"Well, don't look at me! This definitely is something he has from you. Always the adventurer..." She replied with feigned sympathy.
"We are finally there." Rhianne explained and pointed at a building that, on the contrary to the huts, was made from stone. There were certain parallels to a medieval church, but it was far less pompous. "This is were the council meets."
"Aly!" Marguerite called her son. "Come back here! We have to go this way!" The boy stopped instantly and turned around.
"Mummy!" He called back and ran towards them as fast as his little legs allowed him to. John sighed and shook his head. Marguerite on the other hand couldn't help smiling.
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The council consisted of 10 people, sitting on the ground in a circle. On a little platform there was another man with a long white beard. Rhianne sat down next to the others sitting in the circle.
"Meet Conroy, our wise leader." She said.
"Fàilte, caileag. Ciamar a tha thu?" Conroy almost whispered the words and nodded into her direction inviting her to take a seat. Marguerite instantly recognized the language the man had addressed her with, as Gaelic. He had greeted her and asked how she was.
"Chan eil dona, tapadh leibh. Agus ciamar a tha sibh fhéin?" She answered while sitting down. Conroy smiled at her.
"So I see you still speak the old language?" His question was rather rhetorical.
"It was useful to learn some Gaelic, while I was studying in Scotland." John sat down next to her grasping Alasdair's arm so he would not run away once more. The little boy protested.
"Da'y, no!" He moaned. Then suddenly he fell silent and at first John thought Dierdre had come back again. But just then the boy started smiling.
"Is 'ronita! 'ronita an' Ned!" He exclaimed. John looked around and exchanged a puzzled look with Marguerite.
The eyes of all the other council members also became fixed on the little one.
"No, Veronica is not here, little laddie, and neither is Ned." Marguerite quickly explained to her son, starting to feel uneasy because of the many glances.
"Yes, Mummy, is 'ronita an' Ned!" Alasdair said again, but this time with more determination. At least he seemed to be convinced by what he was saying. Conroy rose from his seat and scrutinized first Alasdair and then his parents with his intense looks.
"Bring the little one to me!" He then ordered. John hesitated for a moment, not sure whether to trust this man. But then again he was family, wasn't he? Marguerite had told him that he was his grandfather.
He led the boy to the front of the platform while Conroy stepped down to take a closer look at the boy.
"Alasdair..." Conroy said more to himself than to anyone else.
"That's quite a suitable name." He continued. Then he turned to look at the other council members again and addressed them in a loud tone.
"It seems as if we underestimated the powers of this little boy. The unity of Marguerite, who once was the Chosen One to every living being and still is to our people, and John, my grandson, seems to bring forth much more powerful children than what we did expect. We will have to act even more quickly before the enemy gets to know about this." Marguerite shook her head.
"Stop! You're losing me! What the hell are you talking about? What about our son?" Rhianne stood up and placed a hand on Marguerite's arm, as a sign for her to calm down. But Marguerite didn't care whoever stood in front of her. She just didn't like people talking in riddles especially when it came to her children.
"You will understand... Bring in our other guests!" Conroy said towards one of the council members.
When the doors opened and the other guests entered Marguerite held her breath. It was Ned and Veronica with little David.
"'ronita!" Alasdair exclaimed in joy. Marguerite and John didn't even have the time to greet their friend in an appropriate way, because Conroy spoke again.
"So you see! Your son has the gift to see..." Marguerite simply had to laugh at that.
"Oh please, this could have been mere coincidence. I mean he couldn't probably have known they were here or he has seen them before we entered this hut..." Marguerite tried to dismiss Conroy's suggestion, because it frightened her, but at the bottom of her heart she already knew that he was correct.
"I mean, there are thousand of different reasonable solutions to this and none of them suggests that my son has somewhat supernatural powers. He hasn't, he just hasn't!" She couldn't stand thinking that he had certain powers. That would make his life even more complicated and she wanted him to lead a normal life. She also feared that the danger that was already so enormous for her and their daughter, would also affect Alasdair to a greater extent now.
"I'm sorry for you, Marguerite, but you can't just ignore the facts at hand." Rhianne said.
"Perhaps our guests should get some sleep now. We should delay this meeting until tomorrow morning. You can go now." Conroy interrupted and with that everybody left the room.
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They had been given three simple, but comfortable rooms. One for Marguerite, Roxton and Aly, one for George and the other for Ned, Veronica and David.
After having eaten something the three men had decided to go for a walk with the boys, leaving the two women alone in the village.
And as Marguerite had anticipated it didn't take long before somebody knocked at her door.
"Come!" she called. She knew exactly whom to expect behind the doors.
"Veronica! Come in!" She said when she saw that her anticipation had been correct. Veronica gave her a warm smile.
"I thought you might like to talk. You've been through a lot."
"Actually I don't. I can't change anything now, can I? What good does talking do then?" Veronica sat down next to her on the bed.
"Have you heard anything of Finn?" Marguerite tried to change the subject.
"Sure. She's staying with Jessie, Challenger's wife. Still learning how to behave in the English society. She obviously is a lousy student." Marguerite had to smile at Veronica's attempt to cheer her up. Suddenly Veronica's turned very serious.
"You have to go over there, haven't you? I mean, to this dark place called Zereon." Marguerite nodded.
"It seems there isn't any other possibility. I..." Marguerite's voice trembled.
"I just hope Aly and John are going to be safe afterwards. And the rest of you of course. I don't see there's a chance for me and our girl to possibly live through this though." Veronica saw that Marguerite had problems maintaining her composure.
"Don't say that!" The blonde woman said.
"I'm not going to fool myself." Marguerite hesitated for a moment.
"Tough John would never let me go on my own." She continued then.
"No, he wouldn't and he's probably right when it comes to that."
"What do you mean? I'd never take him with me! What if something happened to both of us? What about Alasdair then? I don't want him to grow up the way I did."
"Don't worry, I'm going with you." Marguerite's eyes grew wide.
"No! No, you won't. This is something I have to do on my own. Think about David! He needs his mother."
"And so does Alasdair!" Veronica snapped, sounding a bit harsher than intended. But she calmed down quickly.
"Look, Marguerite, if we go together the chance that we'll succeed is much higher. So we'll probably both live through it." She forced a smile.
"I appreciate your offer, Veronica, I really do, but I couldn't stand seeing you suffer. I was the one, who caused all this trouble, so I should be the one to end it." Veronica shook her head at that.
"You are not the one to blame for this. You never were. Marguerite, if I hadn't considered all the dangers we might face and even the possibility that I might survive this, I wouldn't have offered to go with you. And now stop being so damn stubborn and accept the help of a friend." A single tar streamed down Marguerite's cheek.
"Thank you so much. I'm so glad you're with me..." She said and gave Veronica a hug.
"What are friend's there for? But we better don't hesitate too long now. When the men find out about that..."
"I'll talk to the council." Marguerite assured her while she wiped the tear off her cheek.
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When Marguerite was lying in the bed that evening she just couldn't get rid of the thoughts troubling her mind. She probably wouldn't have another night lying next to the people she loved most. According to the council she would be prepared to leave just the other day. It was strange; she didn't know anything about the place she was supposed to go to. She didn't know anything about Dierdre, still in the body of her sister. And the thing that made her most anxious was that she had no clue on how to fight Dierdre. The council members had told her that she would know everything when it was time to know. But what did it matter anyway: Either way she was dead.
Alasdair and John! She would never see them again. And what about their daughter. She would never get to know her; she sentenced her to death. That was so unfair...
That made her weep silently. She didn't know another time in which she had cried so much apart from her childhood of course. But she had always thought that she had gotten over that sentimentality.
"Marguerite, are you alright?" The sudden sound of John's voice gave Marguerite a start. She hadn't thought him to be still awake.
"Yes, I'm fine." She quickly lied.
"That doesn't really sound like you are..." Marguerite sighed. They were far beyond lying to each other. They knew each other too well.
"Could you promise me one thing?" She asked instead of giving him a concrete answer on what was wrong with her.
"Anything you want." She heard him say so unquestioning that it almost made her cry again.
"If anything ever happens to me, will you take good care of Aly?"
"Don't say that! Nothing's going to happen to you."
"John, I think we have to be realistic about that..." She couldn't say any more, because she feared that her voice would break.
"Of course I will take good care of Aly. He's my son, remember? I will guard him as a treasure!" And he meant it. There was a long time of silence between the two of them until John finally whispered.
"I know this is probably not the right time to tell you that, but otherwise I might never get to say that. I think you're the best thing that ever happened to me. You made me see things I couldn't see before, you made me feel things I never felt before and to be honest I never thought that those feelings were possible. I really love you Marguerite..." Marguerite snuggled up to him and he put his arm around her.
"There's something I always wanted to do from the moment we first met each other." He couldn't suppress his smile.
"And that would be?" Marguerite asked.
"When all this is over: Would you marry me?" This question took Marguerite completely off guard and she was happy that it was relatively dark in the room. There were thousands of thoughts racing through her head at that moment. But after all they'd been through, after all the trouble they had faced, it was the first thing that seemed right. And it was a thing that would give her strength to eventually survive all this and return home in one piece.
"I....I guess so." Was as she could think of at that moment. And that was when he kissed her. When they finally broke the kiss she added:
"Yes, I will..."
End Chapter 15...Author's note: I'm so sorry that updating keeps on taking longer and longer, but I have to study a lot and I've been to Italy for a week... So lots of excuses, but not a real reason actually. I hope you can forgive me. So this chapter is a bit longer than the one's before.
I hope you enjoyed it...
And of course thanks to my loyal reviewers... I certainly all let you down by not updating sooner. So a really HUGE SORRY goes out to you!!! I hope you keep on reading and reviewing anyway...