Chapter 13

Etched into his mind was the image of the sword.
“You ok?” the Priestess called up.
“Yeah, you are not going to believe what I’ve found. Do you think you can feel your way down?”
“I think we’ve got no choice. It’s ridiculously steep,” she said, her voice wavering noticeably.
“Ok we can do this. It’s safe as long as we don’t move too quickly.”
“We didn’t think this through, did we.” She laughed a little but sounded less than convincing. The daunting prospect of navigating the steep stone steps in the pitch black was intimidating.
Very slowly and very cautiously they started the long descent back the way they came, groping their way by feel alone in the tight dangerous space. If he slipped he knew he’d probably tumble into the Priestess and they’d both fall into the darkness. He involuntarily gulped at the thought. The sword in his hand was starting to get heavy and he didn’t dare think of the added danger the blade would bring as it tumbled through the air should he fall. He firmly dismissed the thought from his mind and placed his entire concentration on the task at hand.
His arm was getting tired, but he had the overwhelming feeling this was part of the test; he needed to descend with the sword in one go. It was now or never and he summoned up his extra strength and resolve. She crept down step by step and he wondered how much longer he could carry on as his arm was feeling like lead. Then he remembered the lesson from the Shaman and the hidden power in letting go of unnecessary tension. He tuned into his arm and found tight knots of muscle straining to hold the heavy sword. He focused his mind on the muscles and instructed them to relax. Unbelievably the muscles released a little of their tightness and a wave of relief swept over his body.
“I think I can see a glimmer of light from the chapel now,” the Priestess said, and made her way more quickly down the remainder of the steps and into the chamber below.
Following her closely he arrived in the dimly lit chamber and turning to face the Priestess he presented her with the magnificent sword gleaming in the candle light.
“This is the sword from my vision,” he said earnestly, then instinctively added, “I believe it is yours.”

***

He didn’t know where the words came from but it just felt right. She received the sword like an old friend and held it close and closed her eyes. Her body was filled with a power she’d never known before, and she thrilled as the energy surged though her. She opened her eyes and there was a wild unknowable fire which glowed from within, the heart of the Goddess, the power of the moon, the energy of life itself. Her strength was invincible, her love fierce and proud.
He looked in her eyes and knew in his heart that to honour and serve the divine spirit in her soul was the greatest treasure and the meaning to his life. There was no higher purpose. He knelt before her and she touched the sword on the crown of his head. An electric shock of fiery red energy ran from his crown down through his body and sent a cascade of tingles up his spine.
“King,” she said and understood his heart.
They stopped a moment in complete silence, a telepathic connection established for all time, captivated by the wonder and magic of life.
“Two push together and new worlds are found,” he said.
“The lightning attracts the tower,” she finished.

***

After a long moment they came to. He stepped back into the chapel to retrieve another candle and inspected the lightning conductor and metal cage that was fixed to the the door frame.
“Look at this,” he said, shining the light so they could see it in more detail.
“The cage has a door and there’s something inside.”
He opened the cage door and picked up two large clear quartz crystals that had been too big to fall through the metal bars. Upon touching them he immediately had a vision of a marriage in a fairytale castle with a newly wed king and queen wearing crowns that had two resplendent crystals shining at their brows. There was an exceptionally strong feeling, or was it a memory, of purity and innocence. And then it was gone. He paused for a moment in silence.

***

“It looks like this crystal was shattered,” he said, and shone the candle into the chamber lighting up the tiny fragments strewn all over the floor.
“They both then found themselves gazing at the lightning conductor and following it across the chamber and up into the spire. In an instant they understood its simple mechanism.
“The lightning shattered the crystal,” he said, “the cage has been set up so that when the church is struck by lightning, the primal power of the life force would surge through the crystal.”
“And the crystal shattered with this force with the cage collecting the largest fragments,” she concluded.
“So this is a lightning-struck crystal,” he held it up and they both marvelled at the incredible clarity and luminosity of the crystal.
“What a rare and magical item we have found. It must contain the very essence of lightning!”
“Look at this here,” he pointed to another part of the mechanism.
“It looks like once the crystal was fragmented it allowed this lever to unlock the door.”
“So the door would remain locked until the crystal was struck by the lightning.”
“This is so clever!” she exclaimed.
“Do you remember the night we met during the storm? There was a huge crash and I remember hearing what sounded like breaking glass falling to the ground. That must have been these crystal fragments.”
They gazed at the myriad of sparkling lights and then at the two large geodes he held in his hand.

He shone the flickering flame further around the chamber. There was nothing else of note. It was quite empty.
They stepped back and looked at the superb craftsmanship of the door, the ingenuity of the symbol, the stained glass windows and sword, and realised that whoever built all of this were master craftsmen and women of the highest order.
“There was a double lock on the door,” she said, “that required an act of God and the arms of the stone seat to be pushed together.”
“Lightning theory. This is the very essence of lightning theory but on a whole other level,” he said, awestruck.

***

She held up the sword and he held up the crystals.
“Wow, what treasures.”
“There’s no doubt that we were the ones meant to find them,” she said.
“You’re right, but what are we meant to do with them?”
“I’m not sure, but we have to consider the incredible level of effort forethought and planning that has gone into this. Presenting these items to us at precisely the right time by a noble order of knights, from more than a thousand years ago,” she said breathtaken.
“They were meant for us weren’t they? This can’t be taken lightly.”
“Indeed. I don’t feel like this is for anyone else’s eyes.”
“When you can hold a secret all secrets can be revealed,” he recited from memory, “I feel like we should follow the guidance of the knights of St James, close the door and keep it secret.”
“But how do we close the door from the outside. There are no handles or anything we could use to pull it towards us.”
“It must be closed from the inside,” he concluded. But then how do we get out? And how do we lock it again?”
“The knights must have thought of this,” she said, “my instinct says there must be more to discover.”
They looked around again and finally came back to the door frame. This time they examined below the lock mechanism and found a niche chiselled into the stone, inside of which contained a wooden box. Opening the box they discovered a large quartz crystal.
“Look at this,” he said and handed her the crystal.
“It similar but cloudy compared to the others. They are perfectly clear. Let’s look around some more,” she said placing the crystal back in the box.
He took the candle and started inspecting the walls and stairwell. Nothing looked unusual.
“What about the floor?”
They hadn’t looked closely at the floor as it had been covered by the fragments of crystal. They swept some of them aside and lowered the candle.
“Look! A trap door,” he gasped.
“The way out,” she exclaimed.
At that moment they heard a noise from within the church.
In an instant they both knew what they must do.
“We have to keep the secret,” he said.
“Quick, grab your bag.” She pointed to where he’d left it by the stone seat in the Lady Chapel.
He slipped in as silently as he could and returned with it to the chamber. The noise from within the church was getting louder. “Someone is coming towards the Lady Chapel,” he said.
“Quick,” she said, “let’s push the door back in place.”
“We might not be able to open it again from the inside. Are we sure we want to do this?” he said.
They looked each other then put their shoulders to the solid stone door and pushed. It slid silently back to where it had been undisturbed for a thousand years.

***

They stood silently, barely breathing, straining to listen for the slightest sound. Muffled footsteps could be heard getting closer and closer, coming right up to the other side of the wall and stopped. There was silence. Whoever it was had sat down on the stone seat. The candle flickered and reminded them that without it they would be in pitch dark. A wave of anxiety swept over them both and she instinctively reached out to hold his hand. The contact made them both feel reassured. The footsteps started again and slowly receded. They were left in complete silence in an ancient secret chamber with a sword and a myriad of sparkling lights that danced and shimmered over the floor. It was beautiful, and dangerous.

Containing their fear, they bent down to the floor and cleared away the remainder of the crystals from the outline of the trapdoor. They knew that time was of the essence and it made them focus and press ahead with the task at hand.
“Talk about putting our trust in the ancestors,” he said, “but strangely I do have a good feeling about this.”
“Me too. There’s a higher power at work here, not just the order of the knights of St James. We’ve been shown these things for a reason. They are not just for show.”
“There’s a small indent here in the stone. I think I can get my fingers underneath. Here, hold the candle.”
He shuffled his fingers to get a good grip then pulled upwards. It shifted more easily that he thought and he slid the stone slab to the side. Immediately there was a gust of cool air that made the flame flicker. Quickly the Priestess shielded the candle with her hands.
“That was close,” he said, “we’re going to need that.”
She shone the light into the dark hole which revealed stone stairs leading down into the blackness below.

***

“I’ve got it, one moment,” he said. “I think I’ve worked out how to lock the door,” he darted back and placed the crystal from the wooden box into the metal cage, as he shut the door it gave a small satisfying click, as if some secret mechanism had been initiated.
“There,” he said, “looks like the door is now locked again.”
He rejoined the Priestess who, with sword and candle in hand, descended the stairs into the darkness. After about 20 feet the stairs levelled off into a tunnel that stretched into the distance.
“Onwards it is then,” she said, and they crept cautiously forward.
The stone walls were neatly hewn with the same level of craftsmanship as the chapel. Every detail was thought out perfectly and gave them a much needed sense of reassurance as they made their way into the unknown.
The candle started to flicker and they both looked at it anxiously. They could see there was not much time left before it went out and they would be plunged into a very unappealing darkness.
A myriad of doubts seemed to come out of nowhere and highlighted the extraordinary position they had found themselves in. Still, by knowing there was a sense of purpose they were able to suppress their fears and rededicate themselves to what needed practically. Finding great comfort in each other they pressed on down the tunnel until they reached some identical looking stairs, this time leading up.

She lifted the candle and they could see that instead of a clear path the way was barred by lots of tree roots that had pushed their way through the cracks between the stone blocks, displacing them so that some now jutted out at angles. The roots looked to be ancient and some were as thick as his arm. Just then the candle went out and all that was left was a memory of the path to be taken.

***

“Ok it looked like there was a way through the roots. I thought I saw what looked like a trapdoor above, before the candle went out,” she whispered, “let me see if I can squeeze through these roots. Here, take the sword.”
She started to climb the stairs in the darkness and, using her hands, she identified the roots and guided her body past them, sometimes squeezing under, sometimes going over or between them. She had to use her hands all the time to feel where the next root was and push past into the inky blackness beyond. The smell of the roots and the total darkness initially felt overwhelming but the earthiness was so utterly real that after a while it became unexpectedly reassuring.
Roots grow in the dark, he remembered from The Book. It’s all part of the secret he thought, and was meant to be this way.
“I think I’ve found the trapdoor,” she said.
She pushed upwards on the stone slab. It creaked and groaned and opened upwards, swinging on ancient stone hinges. She brushed aside leaves and branches to reveal a small section of night sky with stars twinkling high up above.
A gust of fresh air greeted them and the way was now dimly lit allowing him to pass more freely through the knotted roots. He passed the sword up to the Priestess and clambered up behind her.
They carried on climbing pushing past branches until they found they were quite high up overlooking the graveyard. They were actually inside an ancient yew tree. Looking up they marvelled at the myriad of twinkling stars that made the arched dome of the firmament. They couldn’t ever remember seeing so many stars so near or appear so brightly.

***

It was not just one yew tree but six or seven all closely packed together appearing as one giant tree. The outer trees acted as guardians in a circle protecting the ancient inner yew which was virtually invisible and impenetrable when viewed from the graveyard. The inner tree trunk had become hollow creating space for the secret tunnel, yet this hadn’t affected its health as it was still vital and full of life.
The stars gave off some light but it was still very dark and they needed all their wits to carefully thread their way through the branches. The Priestess clambered out onto an over hanging branch and then dropped down to the ground below. He passed the sword and followed landing softly beside her.
“We did it!” she whispered and held up the sword.
“We really did,” he said. They both stared at the sword with its dark metal gleaming in the starlight with a renewed sense of awe and wonder.
“Come on let’s go,” she said.
“I know it’s very dark but I’m not sure about walking through town with a sword is such a good idea. It would be good if we could conceal it somehow.”
“Yeah I know what you mean,” she agreed, “at the moment we are the only people in the world who know of the secret chamber and the sword. Would be nice to keep it that way.”
“Wait,” he paused to think, “where’s the car?”
“I know it seems like a lifetime ago but didn’t we drive to the barn for the concert?”
“The concert! Wow I’d forgotten all about it. That really does seem like another time. A most auspicious eclipse!” he said remembering the words of Jeff the printer.
“Ok let’s go. That has to have been the most memorable day ever!” she looked at him fondly and marvelled that the twinkle in his eyes were as bright as the stars.

***

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***

End of part 1

The Book – Interlude

Continues in Part 2…