Ides of the May (Children of the May 2 - updates weekly)

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Padded Cell (part two)

The husk that had been Epicene was in the next cell, which was more brightly lit than the other. Neave opened the door, and the three of us stepped inside. Christian – Galahad – went to the moving form of the fire-sorcerer and tugged at her robes, trying to get her attention. His smile turned to a frown as she ignored him. The husk of my friend was intent on walking south, even when locked in that underground cell. The jailors had strapped several mattresses to the wall to prevent her from hurting herself against the stone. Time after time she walked headfirst into the padding, took a couple of shambling steps backwards, and tried again. I slumped down against the opposite wall, feeling horribly sad that she, who had taught me so much, was reduced to this ungainly figure. Neave went forward and peered at her.

‘Can we do anything?’ I said.

‘Mmm,’ said Neave, ‘Perhaps when I have cleansed the spear and Merlin is destroyed. It is possible that the weapon will return what it has stolen when it pierces the wizard’s flesh.’

‘To Mother as well?’

Neave paused in her examination of Epicene. ‘Yes, Mother’s powers may also be returned to her. Which may be a problem for us both, as I think you know.’ She returned to her examination of Epicene. ‘I felt the thrill in you when you saw the Lady of the Lake reduced to a similar state. I found it... No, I suppose I did not find it distasteful. I felt it was rather just of you.’

Galahad, prompted by the attention his mother had paid to me, crossed the cell to where I sat. ‘M’Uncle,’ he said, and I was struck by how much he resembled Natalie, Nerina’s daughter. He reached out to touch my face.

‘Well met, nephew,’ I said, as his small fingers twisted my lower lip. ‘Well met again, I should say.’

I fully expected Neave to drag her boy away from me – I had seen in Alisander’s mind how she had kept Galahad apart from the others when she was disguised as Norma – but she did not intervene. She simply watched the child toying with my lip.

‘I suppose I should thank you, brother, for what you did for him,’ she said coldly. ‘He may not have drowned in the shipwreck as you feared – though in all honesty I feel that he has very little of our magic – but lost in the waves he might have starved or been consumed.’

I did not quite know how to respond; I think this was the first time a member of my family had ever thanked me for anything, other than for providing the subject of a cruel amusement. The moment passed, and Neave seemed embarrassed by what she had said. ‘No,’ she said, lifting Epicene’s eyelids to examine the fire-sorcerer’s cloudy eyes, ‘there is nothing I can do for her now.’ She stroked Epicene’s bald head. ‘They’ll keep going like this, blank-eyed and hollow: this one and Garnish and Mother. And then their empty bodies will simply give up.’

‘How long have we got to save them?’

Neave shrugged. ‘I do not know. Put it out of your mind. Galahad, come here.’ She reached out to her son and the boy toddled towards her.

‘I’m not going to give up. Epicene saved us all on Avalon; she discovered how to break the spells that made fools of us all. I’ll examine her books; I’ll find a cure.’

Neave lifted Galahad up to her hip and went to the door. ‘If you insist,’ she sighed.

I went to Epicene and kissed the back of her head. I felt nothing from the touch of her skin. There was nothing left inside her.

As we left the cell Neave spoke again. ‘There are things in your mind, brother, things of which you’re ashamed. Your ridiculous quibbles about connecting with others, for instance. How would Mordred have been able to use Garnish of the Mount’s petty betrayals if I had not done what comes naturally to us?’