The Secret of Excalibur

of magical mumbo-jumbo as well. I’m sure you saw plenty of it in the village. Fairies, ley lines, UFOs and all that.’

‘Some of it might not be mumbo-jumbo after all,’ said Mitchell.

Chloe gave him an odd look, as if expecting a punchline and being surprised at his sincerity. ‘Well, anyway. According to legend, after Arthur was mortally wounded at the battle of Camlann, he was brought to a place called the Isle of Avalon, which is where he died and was buried. “Avalon” is one of the earlier names of Glastonbury - and since the surrounding marshes were often flooded . . .’ ‘. . . there’s your isle,’ Nina finished, indicating the Tor.

‘Precisely.’ They all stared up at the strange hill before Chloe turned to address the others. ‘Would you like a closer look?’

Holly opened the front door, reacting with pleased surprise when she saw who was standing there. ‘Uncle Eddie!’ ‘Hi, Holly,’ said Chase, managing something that was more or less a smile.

‘I thought you’d gone abroad?’

‘I did. Now I’m back. Is your mum in?’

‘Yes, in the kitchen.’ She ushered him inside and led him through the house. ‘How was your trip? Did you have a good time?’

‘Had better,’ he said stiffly.

They entered the kitchen, and found Elizabeth loading the washing machine. ‘Eddie?’ she said, surprised and far from thrilled to see him. ‘What’re you doing here? Come back to destroy the rest of town, maybe?’

‘Hi, Lizzie. How’s Nan?’

‘She’s all right - no thanks to you. But I’m sure she’ll appreciate your belated concern.’ She slammed the washer’s door. ‘What do you want?’

‘Can I talk to you? In private.’ Holly looked peeved, but exited the room.

Elizabeth leaned against the counter, arms folded. ‘Well?’

Chase took a long, slow breath. ‘I wanted to tell you that . . .’ He paused. ‘That you were right all along. About me.’

She was confused for a moment; then a triumphant, almost gloating expression spread across her face. ‘Well, I never thought I’d hear you say that! Eddie Chase finally admitting that he’s wrong, that he’s not perfect! I should get Dad on the phone. I’m sure he’d love to hear you own up—’

‘Elizabeth.’ The hardness of Chase’s voice as much as his use of her full name stopped her mid-sentence. ‘Someone’s died.’

‘What?’ The triumph faded, her eyes widening in shock. ‘Oh, my God! Not - not Nina?’

‘No,’ said Chase, feeling a deep shame and guilt for the relief the single word brought him. ‘Not Nina. But somebody else I cared about, and . . . and she’s dead because of me.’

‘How?’

‘Doesn’t matter. But she’d still be alive if I hadn’t got her involved. And it made me realise you were right - about me walking away rather than . . . rather than facing up to losing someone,’ he said, the admission almost physically painful. ‘But I couldn’t walk away this time. I had to go to two people I knew, friends - and I had to tell them their daughter was dead. And that - that it was my fault.’

‘My God,’ Elizabeth said softly. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘No need for you to be - you were right all along. I did just walk away when Mum died. But I was never able to admit it before. And . . . fuck!’ He turned away, banging his hands down on the worktop. ‘I just walked straight out after the funeral and joined the army without even looking back, and left you to deal with everything else, with Dad, fucked up your degree . . . Christ, no wonder you hate me.’

‘I don’t hate you, Eddie,’ Elizabeth said, crossing the room to join him. She hesitantly extended a hand, then placed it on his arm. ‘You’re my brother. That doesn’t mean I don’t still have some very strong feelings about the things you’ve done . . . but I never hated you.’

‘Yeah, but it still messed things up for you, didn’t it? You were the smart one, had all the big plans for after university, and if you hadn’t had to quit to sort things out at home—’

‘If things had turned out differently,’ said Elizabeth firmly, ‘I wouldn’t have had Holly. And I wouldn’t change that for anything.’ She squeezed his wrist. ‘I’m sorry about your friend, Eddie, really. And I know you feel guilty about it - but it’s normal to feel guilt when someone you love dies. I did when Mum died, even though there was absolutely nothing I could have done to change things. It was cancer, what was I going to do?’

‘But I didn’t feel guilty,’ Chase protested. ‘I just left and joined the army because with Mum gone I didn’t see any reason to stay in that house a minute longer. I was too busy with training to feel guilty. I hid from it. But this time, I couldn’t hide. I had to face it.’

‘And it hurts.’

He let out a bitter laugh. ‘Yeah. It really fucking hurts.’ ‘Eddie,’ she said softly, ‘there’s nothing wrong with that. I know you’ve been this tough, fearless super-soldier for all these years . . . but you’re also a human being, you’re still my little brother. You had all these feelings, all the time - you just kept them hidden. But the time to be worried would be if there was nothing to hide, if you really didn’t care. And I know you’re not like that.’

He had no real answer to that. Instead he stood silently, contemplating her words.

‘Have you talked to Nina about this?’ Elizabeth asked.

‘No.’ Chase sighed. ‘I don’t . . . I wouldn’t know what to say.’

‘Say what you feel. She deserves to know. You’re going to be marrying her - she should know what her husband’s really like.’

‘But what if I lose her, too?’ Chase said. ‘What if I can’t protect her either? I couldn’t handle that, I wouldn’t be able to cope!’

She moved her hand over his and gripped it. ‘Eddie, whatever you think, it’s not your job to protect everyone.’

‘It is, though,’ he insisted. ‘It’s what I do.’

‘You’re going to be Nina’s husband. Not her bodyguard. You know you’ve got to tell her all of this.’

‘I know, I know,’ Chase admitted wearily. ‘It’s just tough. I’m not exactly good at this sort of thing.’

‘You did okay.’ A hint of humour, the no-limits commentary of siblings. ‘You know, considering it was the first time you’ve ever talked about your feelings.’

‘Always have to get in a jab, don’t you?’ Chase warned, but there was a glimmer of lightness in his voice too.

‘It’s still progress. Maybe you should call Dad.’

‘Now that’s not funny.’

‘Yeah, somehow I thought that wasn’t going to happen.’ She let go of his hand. ‘But you definitely need to talk to Nina.’

‘I will,’ he said. ‘I will. Just need a bit of time to think through what I want to say to her.’

‘Well, in that case, you might as well at least be comfortable. Go on, go and sit down.’ She nodded at the door. ‘I’ll get you some tea.’

Chase finally managed a small but genuine smile. ‘Thanks . . . Elizabeth.’

A brisk twenty-minute walk brought Nina, Mitchell and Chloe to the foot of the Tor. Even though the route they were about to take to the summit was the easiest, Nina realised it was still deceptively steep. The even steeper alternative path on the northern slope was probably less suited to humans than to goats.

Or cows. She was surprised to see several black and white Friesians making their languid way around the terraces, munching on the grass. ‘A lot simpler than mowing it,’ Chloe told her. ‘You just have to watch out for the - oops!’

‘Eurgh!’ wailed Nina, extracting her right foot from a recently laid cowpat.

‘For the poo,’ Chloe concluded. ‘Sorry. Although it’s supposed to be good luck.’

Nina scraped her foot through the grass. ‘Funny, I don’t feel lucky.’

The shoe as clean as it was going to get, they continued up the hill. ‘Is this the path of the labyrinth?’ Nina