you’d be here. You could have presided over the Proving. You are the most senior.”
Merddyn raised a hand. “Not at all. You’ve done a wonderful job. I wouldn’t have dreamed of usurping your place.
No, not at all. I think everyone has performed their duties extremely well. Kitsune, very entertaining display.” Kitsune bowed slightly, hands pressed together. Her guards bowed with her. “Deirdre, very moving. Love a good song!” Deirdre nodded and smiled. “And Pukh, crafty. I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
The crowd watched the old man’s every move. He made a small circuit of the rock, his head down, seemingly deep in thought. Finally, he stopped in front of Brendan. The sky-blue eyes locked onto Brendan’s. They were as kind and as deep as Brendan remembered from the night they’d met in the doughnut shop. Merddyn gave him a wink and turned to the throng.
“You have done very well, Brendan. These tests were difficult and you have passed with flying colours. I, however, would like to claim my right to test you. I am the most senior here. Are there any who dispute my right?” Silence greeted his query. None would dare question the renowned Merddyn. He smiled. “Excellent.”
Merddyn stood blinking at the crowd, his eyes watering, as though suddenly confused about what he was doing there.
“Any time, old fellow,” Pukh called. There was a smattering of laughter. Pukh smirked and acknowledged his admirers.
Merddyn puffed out his cheeks and blew out a breath. “Quite right. A Proving, is it? What shall it be?”
“How about a memory test?” Pukh suggested, winning more titters.
Merddyn chuckled. “Indeed. Not very spectacular, however. People love a show. How about fire?”
He raised a hand and a sheet of flame leapt up from the ground to surround the rock. The crowd scrambled back to avoid the fire. Brendan felt his eyebrows singe. Just when Brendan was having difficulty breathing in the baking heat, Merddyn dismissed the flames with a flick of his wrist.
“Too gaudy, I think, eh, Pukh?” The crowd laughed. Pukh was silent. He gave a little shrug, obviously annoyed.
“Lightning?”
He raised a hand and out of the overcast sky, a fork of purple light scorched the air, slamming into the stone platform between Brendan and the old Faerie. The sonic boom as the lightning struck was deafening. Brendan had trouble keeping his feet, and many in the crowd were knocked to the ground or threw themselves down, covering their heads. Brendan’s nostrils sang with the metallic smell of ozone.
Merddyn stood completely unaware of the effect his display was having on the crowd. He shook his head slightly. “No, too heavy-handed. Can’t savour lightning. It’s over too quickly.” He looked at Brendan, his blue eyes no longer the watery orbs of an aged man but instead sharp, clear windows to a well of impossible power. Brendan dreaded to contemplate what the old man might finally decide on.
Finally, Merddyn snapped his fingers. “I know. A test of stone.”
Merddyn clapped his hands once, sharply. Suddenly the stone beneath Brendan’s feet became like water. In a split second, he sank into the liquid rock. He barely had time to snatch a lungful of air before the fluid rock closed over his head. Once he was submerged, the rock solidified once again, encasing him in a pitch-dark tomb of stone. He couldn’t scream. He couldn’t even breathe. Brendan felt the icy rock pressing in all around him and prepared for the end.
^ 62 Hearing Deirdre D’Anaan sing is one of the greatest pleasures in the Human or the Faerie world. Her rare recordings and live performances for the People of Metal are treasured, though she is careful to weave glamours into her music that discourage the attention of critics and award committees. Even among Faeries, her voice is a legendary force. It is said that she can split stone or call down lightning with a well-turned melody.
PART 4
Proving
Yet Another Note from the Narrator
Oh my! Brendan is trapped inside a stone. That wouldn’t be fun, would it? I went through a similar experience once. I was trapped in a closet at my parents’ house. My sister, the one who is now in prison, locked me in after telling me to search for hidden Christmas presents. She locked me in there for three days, feeding me only pita bread, a food which can be easily slid under a door. When I was thirsty, she trickled water through the keyhole. Not very pleasant. The water tasted of keys. So, Brendan is trapped in a stone and his friends and his sister are trapped in a tent. I’d prefer the tent, as I’m sure you would, too. I don’t like camping, though. I have bathroom issues. Another thing I don’t like about camping is that bears have easy access to you. Whereas bears would never trouble you in your thirtieth-floor condo suite, they tend to find tents quite irresistible. The canvas of a tent, in my opinion, is like a giant tortilla wrapper with the human inhabitants as the delicious filling. If I go camping, I usually suspend myself from a high tree branch to sleep. As a result I rarely sleep, and therefore I try not to go camping.
Why not never camp at all? I’d love it if that were possible, but camps have campfires and I’m often called on to tell tales around them. It’s a part of my job I don’t enjoy. Still, one takes the good with the bad.
I suppose you’d like to get back to the story now. I understand. There’s a lot going on. I just thought you’d like to spend some time with me. I get lonely, you know.
Where were we. Oh yes! Brendan has found a way to pass all the tests and looks to be in the clear. He’s had a little psychic powwow with his father and earned Dawn Cleaver, a very awesome sword. Just when everything seems to be smooth sailing, up crops Merddyn with a final test. Brendan is trapped in a stone! Will he escape? And what about the little party of spies captured by Pukh’s minions? What of them? We have quite a few unravelled threads to wind up. Let’s not waste any time! Onward!
THE ORDEAL OF STONE
Brendan’s first instinct was to panic. He wanted to thrash and scream, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even open his mouth to make a sound because the stone had sealed around him like the plastic wrap his mother used to vacuum-seal leftovers.
The darkness was complete. He was physically trapped. The only part of him that could move was his mind. He had to get his thoughts under control, quash the animal terror at being buried alive, and find a way out of his tomb.
Think! Think! Think! This is the test. You have to figure it out or you’re finished!
He pushed aside the urgency that was building in his lungs as the breath he’d taken was leached of oxygen. Merddyn wouldn’t have done this to him if he couldn’t survive. There had to be a way.
He tried to remember their conversation in the doughnut shop.
“The universe is full of energy. It’s alive with it,” Merddyn had said. “We could tap into it readily and manipulate it to do anything we wished.”
Energy? Brendan’s mind grasped at that straw. It seemed to be important. Is that it? Everything is energy. Every leaf and flower. Water and air? Stone?
Brendan was really in need of a breath now. He had no idea how long he’d been encased in the stone. It could have been a second or a minute. He had to figure it out.
Calm. Calm. Think… The stone. His mind snagged on the memory of the Snoring Rock. If a rock could speak, could he speak to a rock?
Worth a try. I haven’t got any other options.
He focused his mind and shouted. Hey!
Nothing.
