loved fall one by one into the sleep of death? Could I stand aside and watch the sufferings of the world, and not yield to the crushing pain?
'It is a hard thing you ask of me,' I told him.
'It is a hard thing, yes,' he agreed. 'As it is written: many are called, but few are chosen. But if it helps to make the choice any easier, hear me when I say there will be no more guardians after you, my friend. You will be the last. You will live to see the glory of the Great King acknowledged throughout the world when the treasure so faithfully preserved by the Cele De is at last revealed. In you, the long obedience of these loyal Servants of Christ will be rewarded, and it will be the glory of the ages.'
It was then I realized what Pemberton had been trying to tell me. The pain is swallowed in peace, and grief in glory.
He had been a guardian. He had known the pain and grief that now stood before me, and he wanted me to know that it would be all right. That, in the end, the pain of my guardianship would be redeemed, any grief I suffered would be swallowed in the glory to come. Ultimately, the blessing would be far greater than the burden.
'The time has come to decide, brother,' said the White Priest. 'What will you choose?'
'It is an honour to be chosen,' I replied. 'And I will do my best to prove myself worthy. Yes, I will serve.'
Brother Andrew smiled and offered me a blessing. He then told me of the trials to come, and how I must prepare myself to meet them. We talked of this, and of other things before he went away and I awoke from the vision with the burning certainty that the course before me had been established long, long ago.
I was the last in a line that stretched back to a young man in the Orkney Isles – to Murdo, who was not willing to stand by and see his birthright stolen. Foolish, reckless, headstrong, and impetuous, Murdo, and Duncan, and Caitriona in their turn, remained true to the vision they were granted, to make of their place in the world a haven 'far, far from the ambitions of small-souled men and their ceaseless striving'. Together they made a place where the most precious and sacred objects under Heaven could reside undisturbed until the day of their unveiling, when the world should again see, and remember, and believe.
